At that, Jiang Qingzhu answered without hesitation:
"I did it."
"..."
Liu Yangde's excitement swiftly sank, and he even felt a suffocating ache, as though his heart had shattered.
Jiang Qingzhu, who had always kept herself apart from worldly affairs, cold and upright, had actually stepped forward of her own accord to take the blame for Ye Li and lie for him...
Liu Yangde felt nothing but bitterness in his heart, yet he could not summon even a trace of jealousy.
"...You did something like this all by yourself?"
Not far away, a teacher from Qingshan First High School finally came back to his senses. His expression changed at once as he demanded:
"There are over a hundred Qingshan First High School students here, and you beat them into this state alone? Don't try to play tricks. You must give us an—"
"Is it your place to speak?" Jiang Qingzhu cut him off, her voice icy.
As she spoke, her clear eyes suddenly lit up with an icy blue radiance, exactly like Ye Li's had earlier!
Whoosh!
Visible frost poured from around her body. In an instant, a lifelike phantom of an ice maiden, identical to her, took shape behind her!
A-Grade Martial Arts Talent, Ice Maiden Proxy!
One of his companions immediately turned pale and hurried forward to grab the teacher who had questioned Jiang Qingzhu, shouting in a low voice:
"Are you crazy?! This girl is the young lady of the Northern Extreme Jiang Family!"
"What?!" The teacher instantly sobered up.
The Northern Extreme Jiang Family was a top aristocratic family with genuine High-Tier Martial Artists holding the fort, a family that had once suppressed a Level Two Disaster!
It was no exaggeration to say that if the Jiang Family wanted to deal with him, they had methods in abundance!
He had grown used to throwing his official weight around in front of students, never expecting to run into a real master today...
The teacher looked at Jiang Qingzhu and forced out an ugly smile. "Sorry, I got carried away for a moment..."
Jiang Qingzhu did not even acknowledge him. She turned to Wang Yongfeng and said calmly:
"Teacher Wang, these Qingshan First High School students are rotten to the bone. They love using underhanded methods that cannot bear the light of day.
"He wanted to make a move against us, but he lacked the ability, so we beat him into this state.
"In the record afterward, you can write that I did this alone, or that the six of us did it.
"You decide."
With that, she lightly leaped off the Combat Stage, helped up Yu Qianqian, who was still unconscious, and walked out of the Training Ground.
Leaving behind only the Qingshan First High School teachers, staring at one another in dismay.
So that was it...
Watching the girl's retreating figure, Wang Yongfeng's heart shook violently.
Having served as a guidance teacher for two and a half years, he understood the girl's temperament to some extent.
If Jiang Qingzhu had truly done it, she would never have acted so cleanly and decisively.
At the very least, she would never have made a move before reaching the Combat Stage.
And in his memory, there was only one person on the entire School Team with such a fierce fighting style and sufficient strength...
The Boy in Black who had politely greeted him just five minutes ago.
You brat, just how many trump cards are you still hiding?!
An hour later.
Inside a spacious, quiet hospital room at Qingshan City People's Hospital.
The room had been carefully arranged into a comfortable, safe treatment environment, with two full rows of hospital beds.
A figure lay on every bed, each wrapped in thick bandages, with plaster boards fixed around their heads.
These pitiful fellows were the students who had been injured and collapsed at Qingshan First High School's Training Ground earlier.
At this moment, most of them were still unconscious.
Although medical standards in the High Martial World were extremely advanced, the attending doctors had limited stamina.
Faced with so many severe injuries at once, even Qingshan City's largest hospital could not quickly heal all of them.
The attending doctors at Qingshan City People's Hospital were equally stunned. They wondered who Qingshan First High School had offended for over half of its senior class to be sent here!
Could it be a Monster Siege?
Even they had not seen such a spectacular sight in years—over a hundred martial artists being carried into a hospital at the same time.
Meanwhile, in a private room next door.
Xu Lihong, the guidance teacher of Qingshan First High School's School Team, stood beside a hospital bed with a deep frown and an uncertain expression.
"So you're saying... you really were the one who asked them to make a move first?"
He looked at Chen Deng on the bed and asked gravely, "You asked them to attack, then got knocked flat by them?"
"Yes..."
Chen Deng lowered his head in shame. The thick bandages around his face hid the complicated look in his eyes well.
It was not that he had the courage to admit what he had done. There had simply been too much witness testimony and physical evidence at the scene.
As long as the school wanted to investigate, it would only need to put in a little effort to uncover everything.
Since that was the case, he might as well confess directly. He might even earn the school's understanding.
Besides, even if Ye Li had knocked him unconscious with one punch, there were still over a hundred First-Tier Martial Artists afterward.
Even if Ye Li was a Second-Tier Martial Artist, he would surely have been beaten badly.
The current situation was most likely because Linhai First High School had suffered heavy injuries, made a huge fuss, and demanded an explanation from Qingshan First High School.
"...Are you kidding me?"
Xu Lihong's face turned livid when he heard this. He demanded, "Over a hundred First-Tier Martial Artists on your side, against only six people from Linhai First High School, and they beat you into this state?!"
"There is a limit even to lying! Do you know how serious this is?"
"Because of this, our school's Martial Exam this year has become a huge problem. Why? Because there's no one left!"
"More than half the Martial Science Students in the entire senior class are lying in the hospital now!" Xu Lihong raised his voice, the veins at his temples throbbing from agitation.
It was no wonder he had lost his composure.
The situation before him had practically ruined Qingshan First High School's Martial Exam results for an entire graduating class!
He had checked just now. Without healing from a Medical Special Ability, the students lying in the hospital would need at least two months of recovery.
Two months—the Martial Exam rankings would have long since been released!
At that thought, Xu Lihong grew so anxious that his face and neck turned red.
He had wanted to hear Chen Deng say that "the students of Linhai First High School had suddenly attacked and injured people," so he could confront them righteously and extort a hefty compensation.
Instead, all he heard was Chen Deng's confession!
Was this not telling him that Qingshan First High School had brought this entire disaster upon itself?
Utter nonsense!
Those six people from Linhai First High School had beaten over a hundred people from Qingshan First High School flat?!
"..."
Xu Lihong's fists slowly clenched. No matter what, he could not accept something so absurd!
"More than half of them are in the hospital?"
Chen Deng was instantly dumbfounded upon hearing Xu Lihong's words.
He had thought Linhai First High School's people had been completely wiped out and were demanding an explanation from his side!
But from his own guidance teacher's words, it sounded as though his own side had suffered the loss?
Impossible!
There were fewer than two hundred Martial Science Students in the senior class, all of them the finest of Qingshan City's younger generation.
Over a hundred of them had surrounded six martial artists of similar rank. How could anything go wrong?
And more than half had entered the hospital... Did that mean that more than a hundred people on their side had been wiped out?!
How could that be possible!
Those were over a hundred First-Tier Martial Artists!
Even if they were a hundred steamed buns, the six of them would have needed an entire morning to chew through them!
Chen Deng's mind trembled. Still unwilling to give up, he asked, "Teacher Xu, how many people from our school are in the hospital now?"
Xu Lihong replied with a cold laugh, "Including you, one hundred and twenty-six."
"...All seriously injured?"
"What else would they be?!"
Wiped out!
Chen Deng felt the sky spin and the earth turn, his entire body dazed for a moment.
There were fewer than two hundred First-Tier Martial Artists in Qingshan First High School's senior class. Now over a hundred had been seriously injured—how many would still be able to take the Martial Exam normally?
Qingshan First High School's Martial Exam results would probably rank at the very bottom among all Martial Arts High Schools in the province.
At that thought, Chen Deng's heart turned cold.
He simply could not understand why a flawless plan and such a wonderful opening had led to this outcome in the end.
No matter what, they had brought a lineup of over a hundred people!
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
"Now do you understand how serious the problem is?"
Xu Lihong suppressed the fury in his heart, his eyes so red they nearly seemed ready to drip blood.
"Teacher Xu."
Chen Deng's breathing quickened as he asked at a rapid pace, "Did the other side really have only six people? To be honest, I passed out pretty early. I still don't know exactly what happened afterward."
Xu Lihong's brows furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"
"Could they have had more than six people? Otherwise, how could they have seriously injured over a hundred of us!"
"I think they brought in outside help!" Chen Deng said with absolute certainty, then added:
"Or they used some unknown method. In any case, it couldn't have been only six people making a move!"
"Indeed, you got half of it right."
At that moment, a calm, cold, noble voice came from outside the door.
Then the door was pushed open, and Chen Deng and Xu Lihong immediately looked toward the sound.
They saw a girl in a black-and-white long robe walk in.
A white jade belt was tied around her waist. Astonishing sharpness filled her beautiful brows and eyes, while solid sword intent constantly spilled from her body.
She was the Young Pavilion Master of Sword Pavilion, Tang Yao—the true pillar of Qingshan First High School.
"Student Chen Deng."
After entering the room, she looked down at Chen Deng from above and said teasingly, "The one who sent over a hundred of you to the hospital indeed was not six people."
"Not six people?"
Chen Deng immediately perked up, joy flashing across his face as he blurted out, "I knew it! How could six people possibly seriously injure so many of us!"
"What are you in such a hurry for?"
The girl's cold, contemptuous voice sounded again, like a basin of icy water dumping Chen Deng awake from his joy. "I'm not finished yet."
Chen Deng asked blankly, "What else is there?"
Xu Lihong's heart skipped a beat, and a faint sense of foreboding rose within him.
Could it really have been Jiang Qingzhu?
The next second, Tang Yao gave a mocking little laugh.
"It wasn't six people. All of you, over a hundred people, were sent to the hospital by the same person."
"Ye Li made the move alone, and he tore straight through all of you."
Before you continue