The marble arena where Xia Yao was fighting was now riddled with massive craters, a complete mess.
A three-metre-tall muscular man stood there gasping heavily.
His entire body was covered in exposed, deep red muscle fibres that steamed with heat.
They brimmed with explosive power.
His body was covered in claw wounds, blood streaming down.
It was a rare special muscle-type ability. All the muscles wrapped around his exterior were ones he had generated himself.
His level had reached gold eight.
In the huge crater, Xia Yao had been slammed hard into it. One arm hung limply at her side.
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
“They’ve been fighting for almost half an hour. Is Xia Yao’s stamina really that strong?”
“Gold eight Muscle Demon Mountain, the strongest close-combat fighter in class one. For Xia Yao to push him this far is already impressive.”
“Such a shame. She was so close. Muscle Demon Mountain is almost at his limit too.”
“Two close-combat fighters. Who would have thought the battle for sixth place would be this intense?”
At this moment, Zhong Yingxue’s pretty face was covered in soot and grime. She had just lost to Gao Xingyu.
Gao Xingyu, boosted by the little ginseng, had become terrifyingly powerful. Even emptying her spiritual power, Zhong Yingxue couldn’t beat him.
She ended up in third place.
As soon as her match finished, she saw how fierce the fight was on Xia Yao’s side.
“Yaoyao! That’s enough. Don’t get up again!”
Jiang Nan exploded with anger.
Who dared to hit my big wolf girl like this?
He was about to charge up with his halberd to perform tumour removal surgery on Muscle Demon Mountain.
But right then, Xia Yao actually struggled to her feet from the crater. Her silver short hair was caked with dirt.
She coughed up another mouthful of blood, yet her silver eyes burned with stubborn defiance.
Jiang Nan took two steps with the halberd, then paused at the look in Xia Yao’s eyes.
A soft smile curved his lips.
Big wolf girl hadn’t given up. This was her fight. Let her finish it herself.
Muscle Demon Mountain narrowed his eyes. “You’re no match for me. Take two more hits and you’ll be seriously hurt. Don’t blame me then.”
Xia Yao wiped the blood from her face and flashed a brilliant smile instead. “You’ve lost.”
Muscle Demon Mountain: ???
“Have you been hit silly? Me lose? I…”
Xia Yao clenched her teeth and leaned forward.
“Blood Burn. Wolf King!”
In an instant, Xia Yao’s heart began pounding rapidly, pumping blood furiously.
Her body temperature soared, yet her skin grew even paler, like moonlight, increasingly pure white.
The blood flowing through her veins emitted flecks of silver light, forming silver totems across her body.
Three silver lines appeared on each cheek, and even her pupils turned completely silver.
Jiang Nan stared at Xia Yao in shock.
Blood Burn? Wolf King? This…
He whipped around to look at Li Bing in the stands. She wore a smug smile.
As if to say, impressive, right?
In that moment, Xia Yao’s physical functions surged dramatically.
“Swift Stride! Silver Shadow!”
“Wolf King. Steel Claw!”
“Boom!”
With a massive explosion, Xia Yao’s body became a silver arrow, almost skimming the ground in flight.
Muscle Demon Mountain was stunned. How could she still unleash such terrifying power in this state?
Had she been waiting for him to exhaust himself before using it?
His eyes darted around, but Xia Yao’s speed was too fast for the naked eye to follow.
“Wolf Howl! Awoo~”
A puppy-like wolf yelp rang out.
Muscle Demon Mountain’s body stiffened, completely frozen.
Xia Yao charged in, spun, and delivered a skyward kick, sending Muscle Demon Mountain’s massive frame soaring into the air.
“Aerial Combo Slash!”
In that instant, Xia Yao was like leaping silver light in the sky. Her claws flashed coldly, carving vicious wounds across Muscle Demon Mountain’s body, blood spraying everywhere.
Jiang Nan watched in amazement. This was extraordinarily strong.
He teleported instantly to Li Bing’s side. “What’s going on? Blood Burn. Wolf King?”
Li Bing chuckled. “The girl came to me herself, asking if she could try the blood burn reagent too.”
“I checked her physical condition. She’s perfect experimental material, honestly. I have no idea how you all train.”
Jiang Nan’s face darkened. Vigorous baths, of course.
Li Bing continued, “So I made a small modification to the original blood burn reagent for her. The girl is tough. 98% fusion rate. Not bad at all.”
Jiang Nan was stunned. “What modification?”
Li Bing said proudly, “A gene chain purified from the blood of a Dao Heaven rank Silver Moon Wolf King. Extremely rare.”
Jiang Nan’s heart raced. Dao Heaven rank Silver Moon Wolf King blood? Where did she get that?
“This is so dangerous. Big wolf girl, she…”
Li Bing rolled her eyes and flicked Jiang Nan on the forehead. “She just doesn’t want to fall too far behind you. She’s working that hard. Don’t say anything, got it?”
“Who made you such a freak?”
Jiang Nan shrank back, warmth filling his heart.
She didn’t want to be protected. She wanted to work hard to stand beside him.
Not just big wolf girl. Zhong Yingxue, Wu Liang, all of them were the same.
They were all quietly pushing themselves.
Jiang Nan smiled, a bright, radiant smile.
Having family like this around him was truly wonderful.
After the combo, Muscle Demon Mountain, now barely able to move, had been launched over a hundred metres into the sky.
Xia Yao shot up to meet him, raising her long leg high like a battle axe and bringing it down.
“Bite Kill!”
“Bang!”
Her leg struck like sharp fangs, smashing into Muscle Demon Mountain’s face. His body crashed into the arena like a cannonball and lay still.
The entire crowd fell silent. Xia Yao had actually turned it around and won?
The referee quickly announced, “Winner! Xia Yao!”
Xia Yao landed, breathing heavily as the blood burn gradually subsided. Remembering something, she looked up into the stands, searching for a certain figure.
Her gaze found Jiang Nan.
Her cat-like face, smeared with dirt, broke into a brilliant smile. She threw him a reverse victory sign.
✧*｡٩(⁎⁍̴̛ꇴ⁍̴̛⁎)و✧*
Jiang Nan: (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و Awesome!
Xia Yao’s smile grew even wider. Zhong Yingxue rushed onto the stage and fed her a little ginseng.
“Hehe! Sixth place~ Xuexue! I’m sixth~”
“Yes, yes, I see. Look how proud you are. Your injuries aren’t healed yet. Don’t move around, silly Yaoyao.”
With this, the year ranking tournament for Pioneer Academy’s new students finally concluded.
Jiang Nan took undisputed first place.
Gao Xingyu was indeed capable, securing second.
Zhong Yingxue claimed third with her overwhelmingly violent output.
Wu Liang used his super durable golden bell shield, plus “come hit me” and reflective armour, to charge into the top ten.
Xiong Er placed 23rd.
Ye Xinghe lived up to his little dragon man title, also breaking into the top ten. Very strong.
Overall, with the rankings added up, the originally least favoured class ten had actually taken first place among the classes.
They successfully claimed the title of class one for the new semester.
On the award podium, Jiang Nan, Gao Xingyu, and Zhong Yingxue stood together.
Zhao Dezhu presented them with three small medals.
Below, the ten classes stood in neat formation. Rabbit Baby, Yu Qingqing, and the others had flushed, excited faces, waving frantically at Jiang Nan.
In contrast, the other nine classes all looked miserable.
Sounds of retching rose endlessly. The stench clinging to them wouldn’t go away.
Their nine instructors stood far off, pinching their noses, faces full of disgust.
“This is too smelly. We can’t keep these students.”
“Is it still possible to apply upstairs for a student swap?”
Those students were close to tears. Even the instructors despised them now.
Damn South God! I…
But one look at Jiang Nan on the podium sent a shiver down their spines.
Better… better not.
Tao Xinyi looked at Jiang Nan with pride, then turned smugly to the other nine instructors.
Tao Xinyi: (ૢ⁼̴̤̆ᴗ⁼̴̤̆ૢ)
How about that?
Anyone still think our class is no good?
The strength in the class isn’t just Jiang Nan. All those students chasing his shadow are powerful too.
Zhao Dezhu’s expression turned serious. “After this event, you’ve all seen Jiang Nan’s strength.”
“Gold five Jiang Nan. Is he strong?”
At these words, many students below lowered their heads.
Strong? He was simply inhuman.
“You got second, third because that’s where your strength tops out. Jiang Nan isn’t like that. Jiang Nan is first because only first was left for him to take.”
“Strength isn’t just trained. It’s forged through countless real battles.”
“Luck, strategy, brains, experience. Everything, everything is part of strength.”
Jiang Nan looked at Pillar Master in surprise. Why is he talking about me?
Zhao Dezhu continued, “In the coming semester, I hope you’ll enrich your skills at the academy and take on more field missions. Temper yourselves, build yourselves up.”
“The time left for peaceful days is running out. Look at those veteran students. I don’t want any of you to fail to live until graduation.”
At this, almost everyone’s hearts sank.
Tao Xinyi’s eyes dimmed. Her delicate fists clenched so hard her knuckles turned pale.
Zhao Dezhu coughed lightly and scratched his head. Had he been too harsh?
“Um… anyway. For the top hundred in the rankings, the national inter-academy teaching guidance missions will be sent down soon. They last half a month. Pick whichever you like.”
