Lin Xianhuo pulled Xiao Fan back onto the martial arts stone.
At that moment, the whole crowd erupted.
"What's she doing?"
"Is that beauty going to stand up for Xiao Fan?"
"How's she going to do that?"
"No idea."
Liu Tianguang sneered. "Student Lin."
"Reaching the martial artist ninth stage at eighteen is impressive."
"But when I was your age, I had already become a martial artist. I don't think you're qualified to act so arrogantly in front of me."
A look of utter disdain appeared in Lin Xianhuo's eyes. Her voice rang out loud and clear for everyone to hear!
"You had only just become a martial artist at eighteen?"
"Trash like you dares to mock me?"
When had Liu Tianshan ever been insulted like this? He shouted angrily, "Little girl, I won't hold it against you because you're young!"
"Don't push your luck!"
Lin Xianhuo refused to back down. Raising her voice even higher, she shouted, "This isn't about whether you'll hold it against me anymore!"
"It's about whether I'll hold it against you!"
"Watch closely."
"This is what a genius looks like!"
With a thunderous shout, Lin Xianhuo unleashed a fierce aura. Flames swirled around her as she struck the martial arts stone with her palm!
The terrifying power of the flames sent Liu Tianguang staggering back three steps, his eyes full of disbelief.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone present stared dumbfounded.
It was a flame attribute!
In all of Green Leaf City, the people who possessed attribute power could be counted on one hand. Yet this transfer student in senior year class one not only had it, but its color was incredibly vivid, a sign of its great strength!
"How is that possible!?" Liu Tianguang's lips trembled.
After cultivating to the lesser grandmaster realm, he had moved heaven and earth to obtain a cultivation technique with an attribute.
But what about Lin Xianhuo?
Her attribute power soared to the heavens!
Just then.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the martial arts stone.
The martial artist ninth stage meant eighteen layers of light!
But in an instant, it shot up again!
Nineteen layers!
The crowd gasped and erupted in shock. Liu Rushi stared in astonishment. Lin Xianhuo had been hiding her strength all along!
Then doesn't that make her as much a genius as my brother?
Wait!
It's still rising!
Martial artist first stage.
Second stage.
Third stage.
Fourth stage...
With every additional layer, the crowd gasped again.
In the end, they gasped nine times in all!
The light on the martial arts stone stopped at the twenty-seventh layer!
Eighteen years old, martial artist ninth stage! Last night's battle had given Lin Xianhuo another breakthrough!
Dead silence fell over the crowd. Everyone was too stunned to speak.
No wonder she dared to mock Liu Tianguang like that!
This was a real damn genius!
Liu Tianguang wasn't even fit to carry Lin Xianhuo's shoes!
At the martial arts stone.
The towering flames grew ever fiercer.
Lin Xianhuo stared straight at Liu Tianguang as she walked toward him, step by step.
"Am I qualified to speak now?"
"S-speak about what?" For some reason, Liu Tianguang felt a little nervous.
"To say you're a piece of trash!" Lin Xianhuo cursed.
Liu Tianguang grew angry. "I was mocking Xiao Fan, not you!"
"Xiao Fan and I are inseparable. Mocking him is the same as mocking me!" Lin Xianhuo pointed at her chest and said coldly, "Twenty-one years old, lesser grandmaster third stage."
"Jialuo Academy?"
"Those things make you very proud, don't they?"
"You call yourself Green Leaf City's number one genius, don't you?"
"Today I'm not just going to crush you in talent! I'm going to crush you in combat too!"
"I'm formally challenging you now!"
"Today, right here and now, I'll beat you at twenty-one when I'm only eighteen!"
"If I lose, I'll kneel and apologize to you."
"If you lose, I want you to kneel and apologize to Xiao Fan!"
"Do you dare!?"
The principal coughed and said, "Both of you, calm down. That's enough."
"No!" At that moment, Shao Yan snorted from below the platform. "Not just any stray cat or dog gets to mock Xiao Fan!"
"Principal, I'm calling the shots on this today!"
The principal's expression stiffened, and he actually backed away.
The crowd was shocked once again. Shao Yan really was just as the rumors said: she had more authority than the principal and a background that reached the heavens!
No one tried to stop Lin Xianhuo again. She pointed a finger at Liu Tianguang's nose and shouted, "Do you dare or not?"
"Are you a man?"
"You dared to mock my Xiao Fan."
"Now you don't dare say a word!?"
Liu Tianguang couldn't bear it anymore. When had he ever suffered such a mortifying humiliation, and on his own turf, no less?
He roared, "Fine!"
"Come on!"
"If I lose to a little brat like you, I'll stop calling myself Liu!"
The principal had no choice but to step aside in the end.
It had been mealtime, and everyone was hungry, but this peak showdown now had everyone's full attention.
They would fight right in the middle of the field, and everyone retreated to the outermost edge.
Xiao Fan stood beside Shao Yan, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Are you worried about her?"
"Her fighting skills are too weak. She shouldn't have been so impulsive." Xiao Fan shook his head.
To his surprise, Shao Yan spoke up for Lin Xianhuo.
"She stood up for you, and you're blaming her!" Shao Yan rolled her eyes.
Xiao Fan remained perfectly calm. "This will only push me into the teeth of the storm. I don't want that."
"You only want to go to the worst liberal arts university, is that it?" Shao Yan snorted.
"Yes."
Shao Yan smiled slyly. Of course, she hadn't come hand in hand with Lin Xianhuo earlier because they had truly become sisters.
It was because they shared the same goal: getting Xiao Fan into the Super God Class at Emperor One Academy!
They had already learned each other's identities. Both came from military families, held exalted status, and had seen a great deal of the world.
In their view, even the very finest geniuses wouldn't have much chance of beating Xiao Fan.
So they knew full well that his stage belonged at the center of the world, in the Super God Class at Emperor One Academy!
They weren't simply being obstinate. They had spent plenty of time with Xiao Fan, especially Shao Yan.
She knew perfectly well that Xiao Fan was worried about the trouble that would come if he exposed himself. Deep down, he actually longed to stand before the world!
Thus, her goal and Lin Xianhuo's was to change Xiao Fan's mind during this final semester!
Of course, she and Lin Xianhuo had their differences too. For example, which of them did Xiao Fan actually like?
By now, Lin Xianhuo had stepped onto the field and stood alongside Liu Tianguang.
One was an early lesser grandmaster; the other was a peak martial artist.
An entire major realm separated them, and their basic strength and speed were worlds apart.
So Liu Tianguang didn't believe he could lose!
Lin Xianhuo, however, was very cunning. Her goal in this fight wasn't just to stand up for Xiao Fan.
It was also to force Xiao Fan to act!
The battle began!
At the referee's signal, Liu Tianguang charged forward without hesitation. His weapon was a sword!
Holding nothing back, he brought his black longsword down vertically at Lin Xianhuo!
"Whoosh!" The sword sang through the air!
Every student present stared dumbfounded, clenching their fists in nervous tension.
Oh my god, isn't this fight too exciting?
He drew his weapon right off the bat? From the looks of it, he isn't holding back at all. He's aiming for Fairy Lin's head!
At that moment, Lin Xianhuo's expression changed slightly, and she hurriedly raised the Fire God Saber to block!
"Clang!"
Saber met sword, and Liu Tianguang's weapon shattered on the spot. He himself was sent flying backward!
Lin Xianhuo fared even worse. She rolled more than a dozen times across the ground before coming to a stop. Her makeup was smeared, her hair hung loose, and she looked utterly disheveled!
The students stared dumbfounded.
"Oh my god, aren't they fighting too fiercely?"
"Is that really necessary?"
"Senior Liu's blow was a little too powerful, wasn't it? He not only sent Fairy Lin flying, but sent himself flying too?"
"They both got hurt!"
Everyone thought the battle was a fierce deadlock.
But Liu Tianguang had confusion written all over his face.
I didn't use that much force just now. That's impossible. How did I go flying? Was it a ghost?
Besides, how could I have broken my own sword?
There's no way I used that much force!
How strange!
"Again!" Lin Xianhuo shouted and charged forward with the Fire God Saber in hand. There were no flame effects around her, and her movements were quite plain and simple.
Xiao Fan watched from the side, his face full of frustration.
What is this little girl trying to do?
She sent herself flying and made such a mess of herself. Is something wrong with her?
Just then, Lin Xianhuo suddenly turned her head, her face full of anxiety, and mouthed, "Help me. I can't beat him!"
Xiao Fan immediately cursed, "Screw you!"
So she's trying to set me up!
What a joke!
You can't beat him?
If you used the saber technique you used to chop the Fire Sparrow, you'd scare him into wetting himself!
He suddenly looked at Shao Yan and frowned. "You two didn't plan this together, did you?"
"Just to force me to act?"
Shao Yan coughed and cursed inwardly. Can't this little girl put on a less clumsy act?
She hasn't used any of her strength, and she even turned around and told Xiao Fan she couldn't beat him?
Does she take Xiao Fan for a fool?