Starry Sky Island.
Huo Jingshu, Xia Qingqing, Zhuge Zhi, and Wu Heng walked into the training ground, ready to begin their daily practice.
A team made up of white men strode toward them, and one of them—a guy with a scar across his face—sneered, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Isn’t this Su Mu’s little squad? Where’s he at?”
His buddy chimed in, “What do you think? Probably ditched everyone else to go chase some skirt.”
“Oh~ right, now I remember. Just wonder which girl he’s after this time.”
The two white men exchanged a glance and burst out laughing, while the other four cast looks of contempt their way.
Zhuge Zhi was the first to take offense. “Shut your barking mouths! When our captain gets back, he’ll make sure to break your legs!”
“Come on, why wait? Let’s do it now.” The scar-faced man flipped his hair, which hung down to his chin, and raised an eyebrow. “We’re not gonna bully you—how about a 4v4?”
The opposing team was no joke. All of them were C-rank, and one even sat within the top ten of the Prodigy List.
But Zhuge Zhi showed no sign of agitation. Instead, a slight smirk tugged at his lips. “How about you all just come at us together? You’re one big happy family, after all. Four getting thrashed while two watch—that just doesn’t seem fair.”
Wu Heng and Huo Jingshu both fixed their icy stares on the six men in front of them, while Xia Qingqing wasted no time fanning the flames: “Exactly! You weren’t this cocky when our captain was around. Now you’re playing the clown the second he’s gone?”
“Who the hell are you calling a clown?!” The scar-faced man lunged straight at Xia Qingqing, his boulder-sized fist aimed right at her face.
Quick as lightning, a glint of cold steel appeared out of nowhere, followed by a spear that shot forth like a dragon. Huo Jingshu’s spear intent was so chilling that the mere wisp of it entering his body made the scar-faced man start trembling.
Shivering, he stammered in disbelief, “No way… how is she C-rank too?”
Huo Jingshu had the lowest talent ranking in the entire Tianjiao Camp—that was common knowledge.
“Huo Jingshu, are you declaring war on us?” One of the six—a man who appeared the most composed—stepped forward, faint sparks of electricity flickering in his eyes.
Wu Heng, meanwhile, said nothing. He simply walked in a straight line to the front of his team and flashed a contemptuous grin. “Hey, loser. Looking for another beating?”
He was ranked ninth on the Prodigy List, while the man before him—Francis from the Western Divine Church—was tenth, always one step behind. Though their fights were always fiercely contested, Francis had never been able to overtake him in the rankings.
Francis was the team captain and their spiritual pillar. At a moment like this, he couldn’t afford to show any weakness, or it’d hurt the team’s morale.
“Wu Heng, don’t think just because you’re ranked above me that you’re definitely stronger. I’ll say it again—are you brave enough to take us on?”
“Sure.” Wu Heng’s face remained expressionless, but his fighting spirit began to rise. “But we need to add some stakes, or this’ll be boring.”
“Name it.” Francis narrowed his eyes.
“We’re both teams with top-ten Prodigy List members, so the wager ought to be big—no point being stingy. How about we bet eighty percent of next month’s cultivation resources?”
Francis let out a cold snort. “Eighty percent? That’s timid. How about we bet the whole thing instead?”
Wu Heng’s eye twitched slightly. “Fine. If that’s what you want, you’ve got it.”
The deal was struck, and all ten fighters on both sides became tense and ready for battle.
Since they were in the training ground, fights between students usually went unpunished—as long as nobody ended up dead.
Per the agreement, Francis’s team set aside two members, leaving four to step into the ring: himself, the scar-faced man, and two others—one man and one woman—both of formidable strength.
Dedicated staff served as referees. At the whistle, all eight combatants collided in an instant.
The scar-faced man swept his gaze across the opponents and locked his focus on Xia Qingqing.
Captain said he could hold off Wu Heng solo while tying up Zhuge Zhi. The other two can handle Huo Jingshu. My job is to take down Xia Qingqing—one of the two weakest—as fast as possible.
With that thought, a smug grin curled at the corner of his mouth.
“Hey, I’m your opponent, aren’t I?”
Xia Qingqing’s slightly youthful voice suddenly rang out. The scar-faced man jolted—he’d been careless and hadn’t even noticed when she’d closed the distance.
Bam!
A punch landed square in his gut. The searing pain doubled him over, and he realized he’d seriously underestimated her.
But he recovered quickly—though by then, Xia Qingqing’s second wave of attacks was already coming.
“Rock Fist!” the scar-faced man roared, his hands turning as hard as boulders in an instant.
“So he’s a close-combat type. No wonder that punch I threw earlier hurt my hand and he still didn’t go down,” Xia Qingqing muttered to herself.
Mages are generally high-offense, low-defense, but there’s a subclass known as battle mages—who focus on enhancing themselves—and the scar-faced man was one of them.
His petrified fists packed a wallop, and Xia Qingqing dared not trade blows head-on. Instead, she weaved and dodged, doing her best to stay out of harm’s way.
Just when the scar-faced man thought his opponent wasn’t all that strong—merely agile—everything changed in an instant!
Xia Qingqing’s eyes suddenly turned azure, and a formidable aura radiated from her entire being.
At the same time, she swung her fist and met his attack head-on.
The scar-faced man froze. Is this little girl out of her mind? She’s actually going to clash with me directly?
BOOM!
The rock layer on his fist shattered, exposing the bloody hand beneath.
He cursed under his breath and tried to retreat—but before he could, a petite foot came flying straight at his face. He had no time to dodge, and the kick sent him crashing to the ground, knocked out cold.
“Hmph. You dared to underestimate me—I hit C-rank even before Jingshu did, you know.” Xia Qingqing pouted. Inside her Sea of Qi, three snow-capped peaks stood tall and majestic, unfazed by the crashing waves.
Meanwhile, within her line of sight, the two newly promoted C-ranks—one male, one female—were getting absolutely wrecked by Huo Jingshu single-handedly.
Like them, Huo Jingshu hadn’t been C-rank for long either—she only had two snow mountains so far.
But the girl was a straight-up maniac. Even at D-rank, she’d once pulled off a brutal victory against a C-rank all on her own. Now that she was C-rank herself, newly promoted opponents at the same level were nothing but fodder.
Not to mention, she was now the disciple of Long Tianyu—the head instructor of the Tianjiao Camp.
And who was Long Tianyu?
The man widely known as the strongest below A-rank—on par with America’s Howard, both just one breakthrough away from reaching A-rank.
With a teacher like that, and her own relentless drive, it was almost impossible for her not to be strong.
Huo Jingshu glanced over, and Xia Qingqing gave her a wink—easy peasy.
Together, they turned their attention to Wu Heng, who was locked in fierce combat with Francis.
As for Zhuge Zhi? Though he’d recently broken into C-rank, he was clearly in no position to join their fight. All he could do was stand on the sidelines and play mascot.
“Think Wu Heng can win this time?” Xia Qingqing asked Zhuge Zhi.
Zhuge Zhi flashed a mysterious grin. “Back in the day, it probably would’ve been another draw—at best, a slight edge. But now…”
He stopped abruptly, smiled smugly, and gestured for them to see for themselves.
“Seriously? You’re keeping secrets now?” Xia Qingqing rolled her eyes. She was about to say more when a massive surge of spiritual energy grabbed her attention.
It wasn’t just her—everyone present turned to look.
Five snow-capped mountains stood tall amid the crashing waves, like five upright fingers. A giant hand made of light descended from the sky and slammed Francis onto the ground, pinning him there helplessly.
Zhuge Zhi spat to the side. “Damn. That’s friggin’ cool!”
