Chapter 41: Cao Jinxuan Knows Which Way the Wind Blows

"I surrender!"

Splash—

Cao Jinxuan's body shot out of the water and landed on the shore.

"Cough, cough—"

Cao Jinxuan knelt in the furrow he had plowed, bracing himself with both hands. Then his back arched, and he vomited up a great mouthful of lake water.

Once the feeling of suffocation faded, he looked up and saw Lu Yi walking toward him. He immediately scrambled backward on all fours.

"Y-you—don't come any closer!"

At that moment, Lu Yi looked like a devil to him.

He had wanted to surrender back when his whole body was still scraping across the ground.

But he had been a step too late. Once he fell into the water, he could not even speak.

And Lu Yi had seemed intent on keeping him from begging for mercy, shoving him underwater again and again.

One minute.

Before the fight, Cao Jinxuan had set the passing mark for Lu Yi at surviving one minute of his attacks.

Yet once the fight began, Cao Jinxuan was the one who got thrashed for an entire minute.

Now his confidence and pride were like the clothes on his back: riddled with holes.

Lu Yi had already withdrawn his Martial Soul when he threw Cao Jinxuan out of the lake.

As the effects of his Soul Rings ended, a wave of weakness struck him. He stumbled but barely managed to steady himself.

He had kept his second Soul Skill, Berserk, active throughout the fight.

The boosts to multiple attributes came with an enormous drain on his Soul Power.

Although he now had two Soul Rings and far more Soul Power than before, a full minute of nonstop exertion had still emptied his reserves.

But it had been worth it.

Cao Jinxuan now looked at him like a mouse spotting a cat. Not a trace remained of his earlier defiant arrogance.

Zhou Sichen, who had served as referee from beginning to end and was also the only spectator, stood frozen. His throat bobbed involuntarily.

Lu Yi's usual calm, modesty, and reserve had left him with the impression of a quiet, good-natured fellow.

But seeing Cao Jinxuan's miserable state today gave him a phantom ache, as though he had been the one getting thrashed.

He had to take a fresh look at his roommate.

I haven't offended Lu Yi lately, have I?

Lu Yi paid no attention to what anyone thought of him. He merely walked over to Cao Jinxuan.

There was no condescending mockery. He simply held out his right hand. "Sorry about that. I always respect my opponents, so I gave it my all. Are you all right?"

"I—"

Cao Jinxuan had lost all face. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into the tunnel he had just gouged out.

But when he calmed down and checked himself carefully, he found nothing worse than a few scrapes.

Was Lu Yi holding back even while putting me through all that?

Once the thought occurred to him, Lu Yi no longer looked quite so hateful.

"I'm fine!"

Cao Jinxuan took Lu Yi's hand and got to his feet. Zhou Sichen came over as well.

After hesitating again and again, Cao Jinxuan finally made up his mind and raised his head. "You beat me today, and I accept it wholeheartedly!"

Zhou Sichen seized the chance to smooth things over. "That's the spirit, Old Cao. A real man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. We're going to be teammates, after all."

"No!"

Cao Jinxuan's answer was resolute. He turned to Lu Yi, his gaze solemn.

"You defeated me, so the decision is yours now. Whether you choose me as your teammate or not, I'll accept it."

Earlier, he had looked down his nose at Lu Yi. Now that Lu Yi had beaten him, he found it hard to accept at first, but he held no grudge.

And since Lu Yi had not flaunted his victory, Cao Jinxuan accepted that their positions had been reversed.

With that said, both of them looked at Lu Yi and waited for his answer.

Lu Yi found Cao Jinxuan surprisingly willing to recognize the situation, and his opinion of him improved.

He had little trouble accepting people who were decent at heart, even if their way of thinking was rather rigid.

Wang Dong and Wu Feng seemed much the same. Give them a beating, then say a few kind words, and the conflict would stop escalating. They might even become friends.

Of course, that all depended on winning the fight first.

"I have no objections. You're our teammate now!"

Lu Yi broke into a smile and held out his hand again.

Cao Jinxuan visibly relaxed and shook it.

"Great!"

Zhou Sichen was the happiest of the three. He joined in by placing his hand on top. "Shouldn't we pick a team captain?"

Cao Jinxuan burst out laughing. Playing along with Zhou Sichen's suggestion, he said with undisguised glee, "Good idea! But I think you should fight Lu Yi for it. Whoever wins gets to be captain."

Zhou Sichen recalled Lu Yi's performance and immediately shuddered. Then he gave a sheepish grin.

"I was just talking nonsense!"

The three of them were in no hurry to settle the captaincy. They still had more than ten days to decide.

Lu Yi had barely returned and had not even had time to rest before getting into a fight. Right now, he needed a break.

Zhou Sichen could handle anything that came up for the time being!

Lu Yi treated himself to a good meal at the dining hall, then returned to the dormitory for a long, comfortable medicinal bath before lying down on his bed.

In today's fight with Cao Jinxuan, he had used several spells he had only recently mastered, including one not taught until the fifth year.

Cao Jinxuan had failed to activate even his first Soul Skill because Lu Yi's Confundus Charm had muddled his thoughts.

A highly skilled wizard could use the Confundus Charm to directly influence a target's thinking, even turning that person to the wizard's own purposes.

Lu Yi was not yet proficient with it. He could disrupt an opponent's thoughts for a moment, but he could not exert any deeper influence.

Even so, the spell was quick to cast and took effect without delay. In the blink-and-you-miss-it shifts of battle, that was enough to make it a godlike skill.

Lu Yi did not know whether Huo Yuhao's Mental Interference or his own Confundus Charm was stronger. Either way, he now had a way to affect other people's minds.

As for how he had planted Cao Jinxuan in the ground afterward, that came down to a fairly harmless little jinx: the Sinkhole Jinx.

The Sinkhole Jinx counted as a minor jinx because it could do little harm on its own. It did not even qualify as Dark Magic.

Even so, it was not part of the formal curriculum. Lu Yi had found it in an extracurricular book in the Library.

It offered decent control and looked intimidating, so Lu Yi had decided to use it.

Today's fight with Cao Jinxuan had been a one-sided rout. With little worth reviewing, Lu Yi turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand.

He took the green-tinged Soul Ascension Pill from his Storage Ring.

Lu Yi had noticed before that whenever his Soul Power and stamina were badly depleted, he absorbed a Pill faster and gained better results from it.

His Soul Power had barely recovered, making this the perfect time to take the Soul Ascension Pill.

If all went as expected, the Pill would raise him above rank twenty-three.

In the time before the freshman assessment, apart from the usual coordination practice and training, he would only need to consolidate his newly gained Soul Power.

Sitting up, Lu Yi tossed the Soul Ascension Pill into his mouth, swallowed it whole, and began to absorb it.