Page 15

Xu Jintang turned and beckoned to Song Duoduo and Song Tianqi. "Let's go."

Song Duoduo quickly followed. "Let's go, let's go."

Song Tianqi, who was surrounded by classmates showering him with praise, immediately stopped chatting and caught up with the two of them.

On the way back to the dorms, Song Duoduo suddenly ran off, though no one knew what she had gone to ask about.

When she returned, she lowered her voice and pulled Xu Jintang aside to share her intel. "I finally found out! Our homeroom teacher and Teacher Jiang from Class Two next door have always disliked each other because they pursued the same girl when they were young. Our homeroom teacher won in the end, though. Ever since then, they've been at odds over everything. Whenever they see each other, they practically want to strangle each other."

Xu Jintang was briefly stunned. "No wonder the atmosphere between them seemed off earlier."

Song Duoduo nodded solemnly. "I put a lot of effort into digging this up. It's guaranteed to be true."

Xu Jintang clicked her tongue. "Having your wife stolen really does make for an irreconcilable feud."

"Hey, don't tell anyone else. If our homeroom teacher finds out I've been gossiping about him, he'll drag me into his office for another lecture," Song Duoduo reminded her quietly.

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed," Xu Jintang immediately assured her in earnest.

"Were you two just talking about Jiang Lu?" A voice suddenly sounded behind them.

The smiles on Xu Jintang's and Song Duoduo's faces froze.

They turned to find Jiang Shiyi standing opposite them. They had no idea how much of their gossip she had heard.

Jiang Shiyi hesitated for a moment, her gaze sweeping over them. "I heard, but I'm not interested in gossiping about other people. I won't spread it."

Song Duoduo gave a couple of awkward laughs. "That's good."

Then she remembered something and hurriedly added, "Oh, right, Sister Shiyi, we won our arena match."

"Yes, Song Tianqi told me earlier." Jiang Shiyi nodded and looked at Xu Jintang. "If you win the championship, I'll give you a reward in addition to the academy's."

Song Duoduo's eyes widened. "You've prepared a reward for us too, Sister Shiyi?"

"My reward won't be any worse than your academy's. Give it your best." With that, Jiang Shiyi withdrew her gaze, turned, and entered her room.

Xu Jintang watched her disappear into her room before looking away.

"Class monitor, let's give this our best. If we really win the championship, we'll get two rewards." Even Song Duoduo's voice grew excited.

Interest stirred in Xu Jintang. "Yes, let's give it our best."

After seeing Song Duoduo off, Xu Jintang returned to her room, crossed her legs, and sat on the edge of her bed to continue cultivating.

Her cultivation speed was simply too slow. She had no choice but to spend more time and energy cultivating than others did.

Nearly four hours passed before the amplification inscription's effect wore off.

Xu Jintang stopped cultivating and slowly opened her eyes.

"Brother Long! I think my mental power has gotten stronger!" Noticing progress in this cultivation session, Xu Jintang hurriedly called out in excitement.

Awakened by the noise, the Ice Soul Dragon circled her sea of consciousness. Seeing that it had grown a little more solid, he replied, "Not bad. There has indeed been a slight change."

Xu Jintang was a little excited. "Then if I keep cultivating at this speed, do I have a chance of reaching the second tier before the joint exam?"

The Ice Soul Dragon fell silent for a while. "That'll be difficult. Although you've made some progress this time, there's still a long way to go before your sea of consciousness is completely filled."

Xu Jintang immediately deflated. "All right."

"Even if you don't reach the second tier, your first-tier strength will be enough to challenge opponents above your tier. That simulated battlefield training last time was quite effective. When you have a chance, you can try challenging second-tier demonic beasts."

Xu Jintang perked up a little again. "Okay, I'll try second-tier demonic beasts next time!"

The sky outside the window darkened.

Xu Jintang left the dorm and headed toward the academy cafeteria.

Halfway there, she received a call from Song Duoduo. "Class monitor, going to the cafeteria for dinner?"

"Come on over. I just left. I'll wait for you by the flower bed." After replying, Xu Jintang ended the call and sat on a bench beside the flower bed to wait.

Before long, Song Duoduo's petite figure came rushing over. "Class monitor! I'm here. I happened to run into Song Tianqi when I went downstairs. He's going to eat too."

Song Tianqi followed behind her, walking over with a smile. "I'll join you."

Xu Jintang stood and brushed the dust off her pants. "Let's go."

The three walked side by side toward the cafeteria.

At the cafeteria entrance, they happened to run into Xu Bohan's team of three coming out.

Xu Jintang paused. Before she could say anything, Xu Bohan cast her a cold, sidelong glance, then led his team straight around them, turned, and walked away.

His aloof manner made it seem he disdained even looking them in the eye.

"Unbelievable. Why does he act so cool all day? As if they're that amazing," Song Duoduo muttered speechlessly.

Xu Jintang thoughtfully watched the direction they had gone. "They seem to be heading to the simulated battlefield room."

Song Duoduo froze for a moment, then turned to look as well.

That direction did indeed lead to the simulated battlefield room.

"They're still going to train this late?"

Xu Jintang looked away. "They probably decided to put in extra training after seeing the effects of Song Tianqi's ability."

Song Tianqi proudly straightened his back. "Who would've thought the day would come when those top students would be wary of me?"

"That won't do. How about we train too? There are still four rounds of arena matches before the finals. Our opponents will definitely keep getting stronger. We can't slack off." Song Duoduo suddenly grew alert.

Xu Jintang nodded. "Sure. First-tier demonic beasts no longer pose much of a threat to us. Let's try second-tier ones this time."

"Sure! Then let's go after dinner!" Song Tianqi agreed excitedly.

After quickly filling their stomachs, the three of them headed to the simulated battlefield room as well.

Any student who had awakened an ability could reserve the simulated battlefield room at any time. However, each activation of the simulated battlefield consumed too much energy, so apart from classroom instruction, all other use required a fee.

The rate was one hundred star coins per hour.

"Shall we split the simulation pod fee three ways?" Xu Jintang offered.

Song Tianqi immediately waved a hand. "No need. My treat. I can afford this much."

Xu Jintang cleared her throat. "That's... not really fair to you, is it?"

"It's fine." Song Tianqi continued waving his hand generously. "This really isn't much money. Don't stand on ceremony with me."

Everyone in class knew Song Tianqi's family was rich. This amount was a mere drop in the bucket for him.

Song Duoduo also took Xu Jintang's arm and said with a smile, "Class monitor, let him pay."

Xu Jintang did not argue further and nodded.

After they paid, the room's automatic door slowly opened.

Only one simulation pod was operating inside. Its door was tightly shut, and the red light flashing on top was particularly conspicuous.

Presumably, Xu Bohan's team was using it.

Song Tianqi went to the simulated battlefield's control console, rubbed his hands together, and looked up to ask, "Class monitor, should I change the maximum demonic beast tier to second tier?"

Xu Jintang walked up to a simulation pod and opened its door. "Go ahead."

Song Duoduo chuckled as she climbed into the simulation pod. "Come on, let's enter the simulated battlefield."

Two minutes later, their consciousnesses were drawn into the newly configured simulated battlefield.

It was still Blizzard Forest.

A huge bank of dark clouds was gathering on the gray horizon.

"So cold." Song Duoduo shuddered from the cold and curled up.

The simulated battlefield could even simulate changes in the weather.

This overcast weather was also modeled entirely after the real Blizzard Forest.

"Oh no. I think I forgot to set the weather to sunny earlier. Is it... going to rain?" Song Tianqi looked worriedly at the dark clouds overhead.

Xu Jintang rubbed her hands and breathed warm air into her palms. "Probably. Let's check out the forest first. If we have to, we can die and reenter later."

After entering the forest, the three automatically assumed a triangular formation.

Their roles remained the same as before: Xu Jintang scouted ahead, while Song Duoduo and Song Tianqi stayed behind, ready to respond and provide support at any moment.

This time, they were lucky.

They walked for over ten minutes without encountering a single demonic beast.

The dark clouds overhead grew heavier, and before long, a light drizzle began to fall.

The rain gradually grew heavier, and a thin mist spread through the air.

"The rain's too heavy. We need to find shelter." Xu Jintang raised a hand over her head, but the rain was far too heavy to block. Before long, her clothes were completely soaked.

Song Duoduo pointed west. "A cave should shelter us from the rain. Let's go that way. There are mountains over there."

"Let's go." Xu Jintang quickened her pace and led the team toward the mountains.

After nearly five minutes of walking, they passed through the dense forest, and a cave two meters wide appeared before them.

Xu Jintang stopped and raised a hand to halt the two behind her, her expression growing more solemn. "There are demonic beasts in the cave. More than one."

Before Song Duoduo even had a chance to celebrate, her face fell.

"Does that mean... we have to fight in the rain?"

Xu Jintang nodded. "The demonic beasts in the cave have already heard us."

She wrung out her thoroughly soaked clothes, immediately squeezing out a large puddle of water, and gradually calmed down.

After using her domain power to probe the cave's interior, Xu Jintang shared her findings with them. "The demonic beasts inside are Fierce Spirit Green Poison Scorpions that live in groups. Their leader is second tier. There are four underlings in total, all first-tier demonic beasts."

"Their tails are poisonous. Be careful not to get stung."

"Duoduo, use your ability to coordinate with Song Tianqi and kill all the first-tier ones first. Then the three of us will fight that second-tier Fierce Spirit Green Poison Scorpion together."

Song Duoduo and Song Tianqi took a deep breath and nodded in unison. "Okay."