"...Could you show a little backbone?"
Zhu Zhuqing fell silent for a long while and covered her face with a hand before finally squeezing those words through her teeth.
Yet when she looked up, she too froze!
Three lovely figures were walking toward them from the gates of Skywater Academy.
The beautiful woman in the lead had a voluptuous figure and an innate, bone-deep allure.
Her blue snow robes accentuated her exquisite curves, exposing a small stretch of ankle, its delicate contours lustrous and supple, seemingly boneless, as soft and full as though coated in snowy cream.
Heavy fruit weighed down bountiful branches; beneath her slender waist, her full hips were round and pert, their curves lush and graceful.
Her figure seemed drawn by a devil, its breathtaking contours swelling as though on the verge of bursting free at any moment.
This juicy peach...so big, so sweet!
Behind the beautiful woman followed two girls with exquisitely lovely faces. They bore some resemblance to each other and were probably sisters.
"You're Lin En?"
The beautiful woman led the sisters up to them, looking him up and down with interest as a trace of amusement flickered in her eyes.
"Ahem...indeed I am!"
Lin En wiped the blood trickling from his nose and replied with a perfectly straight face.
Damn it, had I been eating too well lately, or was I suffering from excess internal heat?
This was damn fiery...
"Welcome. I'm the dean of Skywater Academy, Shui Qingyue, a level eighty-five Control-Type Battle Spirit Master."
"Have you...come to challenge us?"
Shui Qingyue smiled faintly. Clearly, word of their exploits had already spread throughout Heaven Dou City.
The Four Elements Academy maintained close contact. With Lin En challenging two academies in succession, it would have been difficult for Skywater Academy not to know...
"That's right. We've already visited Blazing Fire and Godwind. Only Skywater and Thunderclap remain..."
Lin En nodded slightly, his gaze becoming calm again.
"All right. Bing'er, Yue'er, sorry for the trouble. Show them what our Skywater Academy can do."
Shui Qingyue glanced back with a smile and gestured to the two girls.
"Yes, Dean!"
Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er nodded in reply, then stepped forward to stand before Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing.
"Shui Bing'er, captain of the Skywater Team, level forty-one Control-Type Battle Spirit Master."
"Shui Yue'er of the Skywater Team, level thirty-four Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Master."
"Please give us your guidance!"
Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er cupped their hands toward Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing, a hint of fighting spirit for the spar showing in their eyes.
"Sageross, attack!"
Seeing that Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er had both introduced themselves, Lin En could hardly refuse a bout, so he simply released Sageross to fight.
"Please give me your guidance!"
Zhu Zhuqing clasped her hands and bowed, then likewise completed her Martial Soul Possession.
Shui Bing'er faced Lin En, while Shui Yue'er faced Zhu Zhuqing.
As the captain began, Shui Yue'er and Zhu Zhuqing were the first to exchange blows. Both were Agility Attack System Soul Masters, and in a flash of lightning and sparks, they were already moving so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.
Shui Yue'er's Soul Power Level was four levels above Zhu Zhuqing's, giving her a slight advantage in Soul Power, but in speed, she fell a little short of Zhu Zhuqing.
Meanwhile, Shui Bing'er also released her Martial Soul.
"Screee-"
A resonant phoenix cry suddenly rang out between heaven and earth as an Ice Phoenix apparition soared up behind Shui Bing'er.
Her appearance gradually changed. Her long aqua-blue hair stirred without wind, and a pair of ice-crystal wings slowly formed behind her.
"An Ice Phoenix? Interesting!"
Lin En clearly recognized Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul and chuckled softly.
"Sageross, Leaping Double Flash!"
Lin En pointed, calmly ordering Sageross to attack.
"Saa-"
Sageross lowered his twin blades, and two dazzling arcs immediately burst from them, slashing straight toward Shui Bing'er.
Just then, Soul Rings appeared around Shui Bing'er, her first and second Soul Rings lighting up in succession.
Ice Seal and Ice Ring Armor activated!
She cast Ice Ring Armor on herself and Shui Yue'er, while aiming Ice Seal at the incoming blades.
In an instant, two streaks of blue light landed on their bodies, forming ice-crystal-colored armor.
"Bang, bang..."
One blade was frozen solid and fell to the ground as a chunk of ice, but the other continued unabated.
Seeing this, Shui Bing'er could only condense another layer of icy rock in front of herself to block the blade's impact.
She could cast Ice Seal four times in succession, so blocking it was no difficult matter!
"Dragon Claw Twin Fang Barrage!"
Lin En's expression remained unchanged. The earlier attack had only been a probe; now the battle truly began.
Dark-purple fiery light erupted from Sageross's twin blades, then transformed into dragon-fang apparitions that whistled out at speed.
Vast energy rapidly stirred violent ripples as dozens of dragon fangs shot toward Shui Bing'er like lightning.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
The dragon fangs were extraordinarily swift, closing to within arm's reach in the blink of an eye.
Shui Bing'er drew a deep breath. The illusory ice-crystal wings behind her beat fiercely, whipping up violent winds.
Her fourth Soul Ring abruptly lit up as well.
"Ice Blade...Storm!"
Shui Bing'er's clear voice drifted slowly from midair. The next moment, a brilliant pillar of blue light erupted behind her.
"Screee..."
The ice-crystal phoenix spread its wings and soared through the nine heavens, shimmering colors appearing behind its wings. As the phoenix apparition swept its wings, countless illusory ice-crystal feathers shot out rapidly toward Sageross and Lin En.
"A little troublesome..."
Lin En pursed his lips. Rather than have Sageross return to help, he let the Eight Spider Lances pierce through the skin of his back and form an oval purple-black shield before him, blocking the shimmering illusory feathers.
Sageross, meanwhile, was far more brutal.
His twin wings swept in slashing arcs as he turned straight into a whirling top, shredding every illusory feather.
"Is that...a Soul Bone?!"
Shui Qingyue murmured inwardly in surprise, but something even more startling awaited her.
Soul Rings appeared one after another beneath Lin En's feet: yellow, purple, purple, black. Four Soul Rings in a configuration beyond the normal rules circled his body, pulsing slowly.
"In that case, I'll strike back too. Blade Storm!"
Lin En's third Soul Ring suddenly lit up, and a brilliant green halo appeared around Sageross.
"Saa-"
Countless sword blades swept from Sageross's scythe blades. At that moment, he seemed to become a huge green cocoon, his rapid rotation drawing the energy currents into a barrier, while overlapping shadows of sword blades filled its interior.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Shui Bing'er was struck by Blade Storm. The illusory ice-crystal wings behind her could no longer sustain their energy and dissipated completely, sending her falling from the sky.
Seeing this, Lin En bent his Eight Spider Lances against the ground like springs, launching himself upward to catch the falling Shui Bing'er.
"Are you all right?"
Lin En landed with Shui Bing'er in his arms, his voice concerned.
Shui Bing'er had suffered a slight injury, and Blade Storm had cut more than a dozen slashes into her school uniform. Fortunately, there was no blood.
"I'm fine...thank you for helping me!"
Seeing that Lin En had saved her, Shui Bing'er could not help blushing. She turned her head away and stopped looking at him.
In all her years, this was the first time she had been in such intimate contact with an unfamiliar man...a little shyness inevitably welled up within her.
"As long as you're not hurt."
Lin En smiled brightly, gradually releasing the hands supporting Shui Bing'er's slender waist and calves as he set her down.
"Wow, a hero rescuing a beauty. How romantic..."
Just then, a sly, teasing voice came from behind them.
Lin En and Shui Bing'er looked back, only to find that Shui Yue'er and Zhu Zhuqing had stopped fighting at some point and were staring intently at them.
Shui Yue'er's face was radiant, as though she had discovered something novel.
Zhu Zhuqing's gaze, however, held a hint of reproach, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on Lin En.
"Ahem...it was an emergency just now. You can understand that, right?"
Lin En coughed twice and spoke with a perfectly straight face.
"Ah~~"
Shui Bing'er's lovely face instantly reddened, an alluring blush rising across it.
Before you continue