Chapter 21

Seeing that things had gone wrong, Gao Boshan hurried over to join Yao Wenna.

"Xu Bohan was knocked out of the ring by Xu Jintang. How can her strength be so terrifying?" Gao Boshan sounded somewhat incredulous.

Yao Wenna stared at Xu Jintang, a trace of wariness rising in her heart.

Xu Jintang walked over to Song Tianqi. As she stopped, she slowly raised her head and looked over Yao Wenna and Gao Boshan opposite her with a playful smile.

"Still want to fight?"

Yao Wenna's clenched hands trembled.

Their original tactic had been to split Xu Jintang's trio up and take them down one at a time.

Xu Bohan, who had the strongest combat ability, would face Song Duoduo and finish her off with hardly any effort.

Then, freed up, Xu Bohan would join forces with Yao Wenna to quickly eliminate Xu Jintang.

Meanwhile, Gao Boshan's hypnosis would keep Song Tianqi occupied for the time being.

Finally, with only Song Tianqi left, it would be three against one. There was no way they could lose.

But they had never expected their tactics to go awry with Xu Jintang.

Song Tianqi copied Xu Jintang, clenching his fists and knocking them together. "We're a civilized team. If you choose to leave the ring yourselves, we won't launch any sneak attacks."

Yao Wenna knew when to yield and immediately conceded. "I surrender. I'll leave the ring myself."

The sight of Xu Jintang punching Xu Bohan until he spat blood was still vivid in her mind. She had no desire to follow in his footsteps.

Of the team's two main fighters, one was injured and the other had voluntarily surrendered. Naturally, Gao Boshan did not insist on continuing either. He scratched his head with an earnest smile. "I surrender too."

Huang Binhan let out a slight sigh of relief. Glancing at Xu Jintang, he announced the result. "Xu Jintang's team wins this semifinal elimination match."

In the spectator stands, Dean Wang leaned to one side with a hand against his temple and glanced at Liu Hongfang. "Xu Jintang's physical strength is rather terrifying."

Liu Hongfang bent forward as he answered, "Even before this child awakened her ability, she always put a great deal of effort into physical training. She's always been her class's practical combat class representative. After awakening her ability, her physical strength must have been enhanced again. I also suspect it might be an effect of her ability's evolution."

Dean Wang nodded thoughtfully. "She certainly is something. This is a good thing. Our academy might produce another outstanding talent."

With that, he rose with a smile and slowly walked away, his hands clasped behind his back.

Chapter 21

After the match ended, Xu Jintang and Song Tianqi barely celebrated or showed any joy. They immediately followed the medical team's teacher to the main city's medical center.

Inside the ward, Song Duoduo lay quietly in bed on a ventilator. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were still somewhat pale.

"Teacher, how is she doing now?" Xu Jintang turned toward the medical team's teacher behind her.

The female teacher said, "The medical center gave her a full examination. Her life isn't in danger. It's just... she has two broken ribs. She'll probably need some time to rest before she fully recovers."

Xu Jintang's expression darkened, and she clenched her fists again.

Jiang Lu came over from the side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "All right, don't act rashly. Xu Bohan's examination showed even more severe fractures. This matter ends here."

Song Tianqi snorted. "The class monitor still held back. That punch should have crippled him outright!"

Xu Jintang gradually calmed down.

Just then, a wave of weakness rose from within her. Her brows knitted slightly, and her body began to tilt.

Jiang Lu hurriedly caught her. "What's wrong?"

Xu Jintang's face gradually turned deathly pale. "I might be a little tired. I'll be fine after some rest."

The Ice Soul Dragon's resigned voice rang out in her sea of consciousness. "You still can't withstand the power of dragon blood. If my dragon bones hadn't protected all the meridians in your body, you would be bursting apart and dying right now."

The power contained in a tenth-tier divine beast's flesh and blood was an immensely nourishing substance even for high-level ability users, and had to be consumed with caution.

Naturally, Xu Jintang, who was only at the first tier, could not handle it.

Before Xu Jintang could answer, a wave of dizziness struck her, and she helplessly lost consciousness.

She slept for a long time. Throughout it, a warm current kept filling her body, leaving her warm all over.

When she opened her eyes again, Xu Jintang found herself lying in a hospital bed.

There was no one else in the room.

Xu Jintang pushed herself upright against the bed. "Brother Long? Did I pass out?"

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "Yes. You slept for a day. Although using the power of dragon blood this time injured your meridians, it was something of a blessing in disguise. It helped you absorb some of the dragon blood's energy."

Xu Jintang let out a small sigh of relief. "That's good, then."

Still, it had taught her a lesson. She should avoid using power beyond her body's limits unless necessary. She might not be so lucky next time.

"Class monitor, you're awake!" Song Tianqi called out in delighted surprise as he entered with some fruit.

He hurriedly set down the fruit platter and came to her bedside. "You suddenly passed out yesterday and gave us all a fright. The medical center examined you afterward, but they couldn't find anything either. The physician said you might have exhausted yourself and gotten too tired, and that you'd be fine after some sleep."

"How do you feel now? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"

Xu Jintang shook her head. "I'm fine. I feel much better after sleeping."

Before long, Jiang Lu arrived too. The moment he entered the ward, he began scolding them with a grim expression. "Not one of you lets me rest easy. You caused such a huge commotion over a match. Once you've recovered, all of you are going back and writing self-criticisms!"

Song Tianqi hurriedly raised his hand. "Teacher, I... I don't have to write one, do I?"

Jiang Lu sneered. "Don't think you can slack off. Not just you lot-Xu Bohan's trio has to write them too!"

This incident really had caused quite a stir.

First, Song Duoduo had been admitted to the medical center. Right afterward, Xu Bohan had suffered even worse injuries and been admitted too.

Then Xu Jintang had fallen unconscious. A single match had put three students in hospital beds, and all of them were from his Class One. Naturally, Jiang Lu was both anxious and angry.

Xu Jintang cleared her throat awkwardly and got out of bed. "Teacher, I'm fine now. I'm going to check on Duoduo."

Frowning, Jiang Lu looked Xu Jintang up and down. "Are you sure you don't feel unwell anywhere?"

"I really don't." Xu Jintang forced a smile.

Only then did Jiang Lu let her leave.

Xu Jintang and Song Tianqi went to the ward next door.

Song Duoduo was awake too. Her complexion was much rosier than yesterday, and she was holding an apple and munching on it.

"Class monitor, are you all right now?" Song Duoduo's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly asked.

After waking up, she had heard that Xu Jintang had avenged her and then fallen unconscious. She had been worried ever since.

Xu Jintang walked over and nodded. "I'm fine. Focus on recovering."

Song Duoduo beamed. "Okay. I heard Xu Bohan was hurt even worse than me. Oh, right, this apple is from the physician's ability. Eating it speeds up healing. Do you want one?"

She turned and took another apple from the bedside table, handing it to Xu Jintang.

Xu Jintang accepted the apple and examined it curiously. "There are even apple abilities." And they could speed up healing, too.

Song Tianqi suddenly leaned over, his appetite stirred. "Then give me one to try too."

"Here, here." Song Duoduo took another one and handed it to Song Tianqi.

The three of them gathered like that and began munching on their apples in silence.

Then Song Tianqi suddenly spoke. "The final is tomorrow. Our homeroom teacher wants us to sit it out and focus on recovering."

Xu Jintang looked over with a frown. "Why?"

Song Tianqi said, "Well, Duoduo's injured, so she definitely can't compete tomorrow. If we fight two against three, our homeroom teacher's worried someone will get hurt again or something."

Lying in her hospital bed, Song Duoduo immediately began struggling to get up. "I can compete. My ability isn't a combat type anyway. I can go in a wheelchair."

Xu Jintang turned toward her. "Stop pushing yourself."

She pressed her lips together. "Leave the final to Song Tianqi and me."

With that, she turned and left the ward, pulling Song Tianqi along.

The two soon found Jiang Lu, and Xu Jintang got straight to the point. "Teacher, we want to compete in the final."

Jiang Lu's brows drew tightly together. "There are only two of you now, but your opponents in the final are the strongest team in Class Three. People don't know how to hold back in the ring. What if one of you gets hurt again?"

Xu Jintang was utterly firm. "If we're in danger, Song Tianqi and I will surrender immediately and ask the referee to protect us. Teacher, our team worked so hard to reach the final. We don't want to give up just like this."

Song Tianqi hurriedly nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Duoduo got injured for the team too. We can be defeated, but we can't surrender before we've even fought."

Jiang Lu sighed. "You can go to tomorrow's final, but protect yourselves. Don't end up in the medical center again."

Xu Jintang and Song Tianqi exchanged a glance and answered in perfect unison, "Understood!"

After returning to the academy, Song Tianqi immediately went to ask around about their opponents.

Before long, he ran over to share what he had learned with Xu Jintang:

"The team we're fighting tomorrow is the strongest in Class Three. The strongest of the three is called Shangguan Lang. His ability is the wind-control bell. By activating it, he can gather the wind elements between heaven and earth for his own use and summon wind to fight."

"Of the other two, there's a girl whose ability is lollipop. Eating the lollipops she summons directly increases the eater's attack damage. The other person's ability is lightning dagger. When they fight with the dagger, it carries the lightning element, making it more damaging."

Xu Jintang rubbed her chin. "Lollipops can increase attack damage too. Interesting."

Song Tianqi began analyzing them. "I think Shangguan Lang is the only one of the three we need to watch out for. The other two aren't much of a threat."

"Yeah, they don't sound that difficult to deal with so far." Xu Jintang stretched. "Go back and rest. Save your energy and get ready for tomorrow's final."

Song Tianqi nodded. "Okay."

Meanwhile, everyone in the academy was also discussing tomorrow's final.