Ye Yingluo did not understand. She simply could not make sense of it. Was the opposing team really Class 5? Surely they were not the second-year Class 5?
No. Even the second-year Class 5 could not have overwhelmed the first-year Class 1 like this. They had to be at least the third-year Class 5. That wretched dean, Long Hengxu, must have set her up.
Every cell in Wang Jinxi's body trembled. It was a feeling almost impossible to describe in words: his body was resisting the very idea of fighting the opponents before him.
"Move, you damned legs! Move!"
Wang Jinxi absolutely could not admit defeat. If he backed down here, he-and the entire first-year Class 1-would become the laughingstock of Eastsea Academy.
Pale golden sparks danced across the arena. At their center stood a giant egg condensed from soul power, with a heartbeat thudding inside it.
Crack!
The shell broke, and a slender, jade-like hand emerged. The sparks traced fine golden threads through the air, weaving themselves into soft ribbons that settled over Jiang Mingyuan and covered his body.
The spectators below the platform stared, dumbstruck. Xie Xie blurted out without thinking.
"Whoa! Who's that gorgeous woman?"
Wu Changkong immediately recognized traces of Jiang Mingyuan in that breathtakingly beautiful woman. Clearly, this Martial Soul Fusion Skill took Jiang Mingyuan's form as its basis. But why was it female?
Wu Changkong stopped dwelling on it. He had to be ready to intervene at any moment-not because he was worried about Jiang Mingyuan, but because he needed to save Wang Jinxi on the opposing side.
He felt pressure from Jiang Mingyuan and Tang Wulin's Martial Soul Fusion Skill. And he was a Shrek Academy graduate, a Six-Ring Soul Emperor, and a Two-Word Battle Armor master.
Jiang Mingyuan beckoned, and all the remaining sparks drifted toward the opposing side.
Wang Jinxi's heart lurched. He could sense the terrifying power contained in every spark. He absolutely could not take them head-on.
But how was he supposed to dodge this sky full of sparks?
Just then, a green figure streaked past his eyes. It was Wei Xiaofeng. He caught the expression on Wei Xiaofeng's face: his mouth opened, forcing out a smile.
Wang Jinxi tried to reach out and grab Wei Xiaofeng, but he was too fast.
"I'm leaving the rest to you."
Wei Xiaofeng spread his arms wide, increasing the area of his body exposed to the sparks. He took them with his flesh, forcibly opening a path forward for Wang Jinxi.
"Tsk-" Jiang Mingyuan had nothing against that spirit of willing sacrifice. But don't go blaming me afterward.
Jiang Mingyuan turned toward Long Hengxu, innocence in his eyes. He said nothing, but his gaze conveyed everything.
He ran into them himself.
Of everyone present, Long Hengxu was now the most anxious.
Anyone who was not an idiot could see that Wei Xiaofeng was using his own body to clear a path. But if Long Hengxu intervened and rescued him, causing Wang Jinxi to fail to defeat Jiang Mingyuan afterward, he would certainly bear responsibility.
Yet if he acted too late and something happened to Wei Xiaofeng, it would still be his responsibility as the year director.
Wang Jinxi followed behind Wei Xiaofeng, watching his companion become a human torch and still desperately run forward.
People lived to fight for that one breath of pride.
Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, and Wei Xiaofeng had been friends since childhood. As they grew older, Wei Xiaofeng gradually realized that his talent fell far short of his two friends'. They even had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Their future path would surely blaze with boundless radiance, while he would gradually be left behind.
This time, let him shine too.
Boom!
A spark exploded, and the terrifying impact blasted Wei Xiaofeng away. At that very instant, Long Hengxu and Wu Changkong moved together and caught the boy.
Ice-cold soul power burst from Wu Changkong and enveloped Wei Xiaofeng, but no matter what he tried, he could not extinguish those golden flames tinged with blood-red.
Jiang Mingyuan knew perfectly well that this was only a sparring match. If someone really suffered serious harm, his conscience would trouble him too. He had already restrained the flames' power as much as possible, but he could hardly let one person sweep away this entire field of sparks.
That would make me look terrible!
So Jiang Mingyuan used [Elemental Affinity] to compress a small patch of space before him into an extremely unstable little sphere, slipped it into a spark, and sent it drifting over.
The attack might not have looked particularly powerful, but it consumed more than half of Jiang Mingyuan's soul power.
Wang Jinxi was knocked down by the explosion too, but he rolled across the ground to disperse the force and instantly scrambled back up. Using both hands and feet, he raced along on all fours like a true wild beast.
Surprisingly enough, this actually let him deftly evade some of the higher-floating sparks.
Jiang Mingyuan shook his head.
"Alas. Have you even given up being human just to win? Let me end this match now."
He extended his hand and made a grasping motion in the empty air before him. Crimson flames appeared out of nowhere, finally taking the shape of a greatsword.
The moment the Phoenix King Annihilation Sword appeared-
Everyone lost their composure. Wu Changkong sensed the power contained in that greatsword. Even he could not withstand it easily.
"Don't!" Long Hengxu stretched out his hand and shouted toward Jiang Mingyuan.
But it was already too late. A vertical slash of flame cleaved straight through the ground, savagely tearing apart the Competition Platform as it hurtled toward Wang Jinxi.
In an instant, Wu Changkong donned his battle armor and accelerated toward them. Yet halfway there, he stopped. He had realized that Jiang Mingyuan had held back at the last moment.
Like a hot knife through butter, meeting not the slightest resistance, the flaming slash effortlessly severed the dragon wing and eagle wing on Wang Jinxi's left side.
With the Heavenly Frost Sword in hand, Wu Changkong's first three soul rings and Sixth Soul Ring shone simultaneously. A giant sword formed from ice crashed toward the flaming slash.
At last, he intercepted it just before it could fly out of the arena.
Deep red flames burned along the severed edges of both wings. The heart-piercing agony immediately broke apart Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi's Martial Soul Fusion Skill. They fell separately to the ground, rolling and wailing.
Long Hengxu was too dazed to speak, so Wu Changkong announced the result in his place.
"First-year Class 5 wins this Class Promotion Competition!" With his six-ring cultivation, no one present dared question him.
"Hurry and save them!" After announcing the result, Wu Changkong turned toward Jiang Mingyuan and spoke urgently.
Before the Martial Soul Fusion Skill ended, Jiang Mingyuan beckoned. He drew back the flames burning on all three boys, and three Golden Feathers floated down, one to each of them.
Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi's injuries were not actually severe. After all, the damage had been inflicted on the illusory parts of their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Wei Xiaofeng, however, was in a much worse state. Even though Jiang Mingyuan had deliberately controlled the flames' power, the surface of his skin had been scorched black from head to toe.
Ye Yingluo took Wei Xiaofeng, activated Martial Soul Possession, and hurried toward the Academy Infirmary. Watching this, Long Hengxu began to crumble inside. The injuries to these three children and the damage to the Class Promotion Competition arena's floor were all his responsibility.
"Why did you have to hit them so hard?!" Zhang Hangxu, frantic enough to lose his head, pointed at Jiang Mingyuan and shouted angrily, trying to vent his emotions.
Jiang Mingyuan extended a finger and gently hooked a lock of hair. With a slight movement of his fingertip, the strand wound around its pad in loop after loop, then slowly unraveled, wound around again, and unraveled once more.
"Tch. How is that my fault? That was just soul power leaking out while I used my Martial Soul Fusion Skill. He was the one who insisted on running into it."