"El, versus the Ning Tian Team!"
Staring at the number two lot in her hand, Ning Tian's eyes went blank.
Their team was going up against El?
"Feng..."
Ning Tian looked at Wu Feng worriedly.
The normally defiant red-haired girl had turned deathly pale the instant she heard the announcement.
No.
Ning Tian dismissed that thought.
It had started much earlier...
It seemed she had already been acting strangely back when El fought Teacher Zhou Yi.
"Why don't we forfeit?"
"No!"
Faced with Ning Tian's comforting gaze, Wu Feng shouted her refusal almost reflexively.
Only afterward did she realize what she had just said.
The Red Dragon girl bit her rosy lips, trying hard to put on a fearless front before her young mistress:
"Even that team from Class One managed to exchange a few moves with him just now! There's no reason we can't!"
Of course, she didn't even believe those words herself, much less Ning Tian, who had been smarter than her since childhood.
"Anyway, I absolutely refuse to admit defeat!"
With a hint of embarrassment turning into anger, Wu Feng paused, then shouted and ran off.
She left behind only a worried Ning Tian and Nanmen Yun'er, who found Wu Feng's behavior rather baffling.
"How could this..."
Having hidden herself in a secluded, deserted spot, Wu Feng braced herself against a wall and hung her head, strands of red hair falling past her ears onto her cheeks.
Only she knew what was really happening to her.
She actually...
She actually wanted to kneel at that man's feet!
Ever since witnessing that earth-shattering battle in the Soul Fighting Arena a few days earlier, her legs had gone uncontrollably weak whenever she thought of the black-haired boy's crimson-gold Dragon Eyes.
I want to submit.
I want to bow my head.
I want to be commanded.
I want...
"My Martial Soul..."
A suspicious blush appeared on Wu Feng's face, only for her to catch herself and cover it with anger.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Wu Feng!"
The girl screamed herself hoarse.
"Didn't you promise you would always protect Ning Tian?!"
"Why would you do this over some..."
She couldn't even bring herself to say the words "stinking man."
Red Dragon: Screw you! That's His Highness the Radiant Dragon King! Didn't you see what happened to that other dragon with the inferior bloodline? And you still want to insult His Highness?
"Ugh..."
Faced with her own body's reactions, Wu Feng covered her face in shame.
Yet the fury in her eyes burned ever higher.
She would prove herself to her young mistress!
She, Wu Feng, was the one most qualified to stand beside her!
The brief lunch break passed in the blink of an eye.
Soon, the afternoon semifinals began.
Compared with Ning Tian and her two teammates, who stood ready for battle, El was undoubtedly far more relaxed as he strolled onto the stage with a yawn.
"Hey, hello there!"
The boy smiled and greeted the three girls.
"Hello, El."
Ning Tian smiled faintly and bowed to El with the poise and elegance unique to the heir of a powerful faction.
"Would you happen to have some time after the match?"
"I'd like... to talk to you."
Ning Tian spoke softly, her face bearing just the right touch of shyness to set a young man's imagination running wild.
As expected of someone who had come to Shrek specifically to reel in a rich catch, her control of her bearing and expressions was flawless.
"Let's talk after tomorrow's final."
El shrugged.
Then he glanced toward the other competition platform.
He gave a soft sigh:
"Let's get started. I still have something to take care of."
Arrogant!
Wu Feng moved to step forward, intending to shout that word and rebuke this fellow who dared treat Ning Tian so dismissively.
But no sooner had she raised her foot than she timidly set it down again, gently advancing only half a step.
Naturally, she didn't dare voice the words on her tongue either.
"Ugh!"
An almost inaudible whimper escaped Wu Feng's mouth.
She felt a deep loathing for her own weakness.
"Begin!"
Even when the match began, she still hadn't completely shaken herself free of it.
"Seven treasures turn, and glazed light shines!"
Only when that familiar voice rang out beside her did Wu Feng come to her senses and reflexively try to summon her Martial Soul.
But...
The girl's body froze.
The Red Dragon Martial Soul, which normally obeyed her as readily as her own limbs, seemed to have entered a rebellious phase and refused to heed her commands!
Her Martial Soul Possession had failed!
"Feng?"
Unable to see that familiar red or feel that blazing heat, Ning Tian instinctively turned to look at Wu Feng.
Even Nanmen Yun'er, who had only intended to go through the motions onstage, stopped and looked over.
"Ning Tian..."
Wu Feng wanted to turn her head, meet Ning Tian's worried gaze, and tell the person she wanted to protect for the rest of her life that she was fine.
But she couldn't even turn her head.
Only now did Wu Feng understand that the pressure she had felt in the spectator stands had been nothing more than an appetizer.
The moment those orange-gold slit pupils truly appeared before her, her body no longer belonged to her.
"Not bad."
El rubbed his chin, studying the immobilized Red Dragon girl with interest.
"Your will is pretty strong."
With cultivation lower than his, she had faced him, the Radiant Dragon King, without immediately prostrating herself. That already counted as human will overcoming draconic blood.
Put her in the neighboring Dragon Raja setting, and she could at least qualify as an S-rank.
Could she overcome the suppression of her bloodline and attack him?
She didn't need to hurt him, or even use a skill. As long as Wu Feng could take one step toward him...
The Radiant Dragon King's slit pupils brimmed with anticipation.
Unfortunately...
"We surrender!"
Seeing Wu Feng in such a wretched state, Ning Tian decisively chose to concede.
"El wins!"
The referee announced the unsurprising result.
Everyone had anticipated this outcome ever since learning that Wu Feng had a lesser-dragon Martial Soul.
Given El's ability to suppress Dragon-Attribute Martial Souls...
Even Zhou Yi, with her six rings, had been suppressed so miserably, let alone Wu Feng with her two.
What good was a bloodline slightly purer than Zhou Yi's?
Simply remaining upright was already an achievement.
"What a waste of my time and enthusiasm."
El curled his lip.
He had thought he might see another Red Dragon charge at him through sheer indomitable will.
Instead, he had gotten his hopes up for nothing.
El's orange-gold slit pupils turned crimson again.
He turned and headed off the stage.
Halfway there, however, he seemed to suddenly remember something.
He turned his head and looked at Wu Feng, who sat collapsed on the ground, drenched in sweat as though she had just been fished out of the water.
Ning Tian was supporting her, trying to help her stand.
"As punishment for disappointing me..."
"For the rest of today, every sentence you say must end with 'meow'!"
"That's an order!"
Wu Feng instantly shuddered from head to toe.
Faced with that suggestive command, she instinctively squeezed her tightly closed legs together, her body growing warm.
Only when the boy's retreating figure had completely disappeared from sight did Wu Feng dare speak.
"I'm not going to talk like that, meow!"
Meeting her teammates' strange, astonished gazes, the Red Dragon girl hastily covered her mouth!
What on earth is going on, meow?!
Red Dragon bloodline: Hehehehe, it's a punishment order from His Highness Huang! Now I don't have to worry about being dragged down and killed by some dumbass fellow dragon! I'm a cat, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow!
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