Lu Shi raised an eyebrow. She didnât affirm nor deny.
Boling Canglan only thought that Lu Shi had gone speechless from extreme joy. In a good mood, he waved his hand and announced in a clear voice, âLet the competition officially begin!â
What he meant was that he already acknowledged Chu Yeâs identity and allowed her to help Chenzhu.
He didnât see the ridicule in Lu Shiâs eyes, hidden behind her lowered eyelids.
How funny. When her daughter hadnât shown any talent, he had discarded and driven them away. But now that she had awakened her talents, he was suddenly so eager to welcome her back and favor her.
Her docility just now was nothing more than to let Chu Ye smoothly participate in the competition and help Chenzhu regain his position as the clan heir. Did he seriously think they were still the same little women as before? That they would still come once beckoned and leave once dismissed?
Lu Shi closed her eyes. She didnât want to see this man ever again!
Boling Canglan would never expect that the woman he once had complete control over had long been influenced by her daughter. No longer was she the little woman who had yearned day and night for his occasional favor; she now had her own opinions, pursuits, and values.
Thus, he still thought highly of himself as he watched Chu Ye step onto the competition ring. The more he looked, the more satisfied he felt. Even though Chu Ye had previously gone against him many times, he now saw this as one of her unique characteristics. He could still hope to cultivate his own demeanor and so on into her. This was also the same case with Chenzhu. The more he stared at him, the more he was to his liking.
Actually, it wasnât impossible to give the position of clan heir to Chenzhu. As long as he didnât hold any resentment toward the Boling clan, he could reconsider.
Boling Canglan turned to Caroline with a smile and said, âThat child Yiliâs really good. And itâs all thanks to Carolineâs teachings. As her father, I would like to express my gratitude on her behalf!â
To his surprise, Carolineâs sole disciple was actually his daughter. Now that his relationship with Caroline had grown a step closer, maybeâŚ
The more Boling Canglan thought about this matter, the happier he became. So much so that his eyebrows were practically flying.
âWell-spoken, well-spoken. But it may be too early for Clan Head Boling to thank me,â responded Caroline in a joking manner. However, slight disdain flitted through her features.
Right now, he could thank her. But he should take caution lest he found himself slapping his own face later.
At this time, the current competition round had already begun.
Four competition rings, eight competing teams.
Chenzhuâs opponent was a dark-skinned youth who looked exceptionally stocky. If it werenât for his wizardâs robe, people wouldâve taken him to be a warrior at first glance.
The dark-skinned youthâs strength was at the peak of seventh grade. As for his teammates, one was a sixth-grade wizard, while two were fifth-grade warriors.
Overall, their combined strength wasnât that much higher than that of Chenzhuâs group.
Once they stood on the competition ring itself, Chu Ye worked out a battle plan. âChenzhu, you fight the sixth-grade wizard. Aya, Lulu, you fight the two warriors. Iâll battle that dark-skinned wizard.â
âIâll deal with the dark-skinned wizard,â refuted Chenzhu.
Chu Ye gave herself the strongest opponent. Wasnât this looking down on him?
He was already a ninth-grade wizard.
Was it possible for him to lose to a seventh-grade wizard?
How could Chu Ye not know of the thoughts circulating in his mind? Shooting him a side glance, she said, âLet me finish speaking. How many matches have you fought so far today? Youâre more or less tired by now, so you should conserve your strength for the next rounds. We should think long-term, understand? Besides, donât you know of my strength? Against that dark-skinned wizard, I will definitely win, not lose. You donât need to worry about me.â
This relieved Chenzhu. It seemed that he wasnât as smart as Chu Ye. As for how strong Chu Ye was, no one knew that better than him. Chu Ye had been fighting him every day recently, teaching him the ropes in combat. When was he ever not beaten to a sorry state? As such, he was thoroughly convinced in her combat strength.
Chenzhuâs face stretched in a smile. âOk, Iâll listen to you.â In any case, he had Chu Ye. What did he have to be afraid of?
Chu Ye nodded, satisfied. She then turned to Aya and Lulu. âYour grades are more or less the same as those two warriorsâ, but theyâre five to six years older than you. Theyâre definitely more experienced in fighting than the two of you, so you wonât be able to defeat them. You can only try to outwit them. Be as much of a nuisance to them as possible. Itâll be good to not let them retreat to help the other two wizards. Once Chenzhu and I have sorted out those two wizards, we can rush over to assist you.â
âYes!â exclaimed Aya and Lulu in unison.
Lulu was quite unusual. Although her opponent was one grade higher than her, she didnât show any traces of fear or anxiety. She directed her big spirited eyes toward her opponent, full of courage and already rearing to go.
Seeing this, Chu Ye couldnât help but secretly nod to herself. This girl wasnât bad. At the very least, she was somewhat gutsy.
Then the bell was struck, signaling the start of the round.
The eight teams readied themselves for combat. Dazzling magic and fierce fighting spirits enveloped all four competition rings. An exciting team competition had begun.
âOhhh!â The entire audience began to cheer for the team that they were supporting.
Of course, the audience paid the most attention to Chu Ye and Chenzhu. After all, Chu Ye was revealed to be the Boling clanâs seventh miss. She had become the focal character in this entire competition.
On the competition ring, they only saw her thrust her arms out, head slightly raised, as the skirt and sleeves of her robes fluttered in the wind. Rich wind elements condensed on her palms, and on her back⌠seven rings of light appeared!
In other words, Chu Ye was already a seventh-grade wizard.
The first to stand up in shock was Murong Chang.
From the time Chu Ye entered the competition area, she didnât so much as glance at Murong Chang, as though ignoring her or disdaining her. It made Murong Chang grind her teeth in resentment, almost breaking them to pieces.
Within five days after returning from the Nine-Tiered Heavenly Pagoda, Chu Ye had unexpectedly advanced from sixth to seventh grade!
Back when she and Chu Ye had clashed on their first meeting, Chu Ye had just been an unknown talented junior. She hadnât even become a first-grade wizard yet.
Meanwhile, she had already been a fifth-grade wizard who had achieved small success.
But in just a few short months, Chu Ye suddenly jumped to seventh grade. Such an abnormal cultivation speed left her dumbfounded and in disbelief.
It was like a basin of cold water was poured down on Murong Chang, who had been immeasurably proud of her promotion to sixth grade yesterday. Even stronger than her disbelief was her jealousy and resentment.
Meanwhile, the happiest in the audience was definitely Boling Canglan. From his perspective, Chu Ye was his daughter and by extension, a part of the Boling clan. Obviously, the more powerful she was, the better.
Of course, the reason why Chu Ye was able to achieve such rapid progress in her cultivation was those two Qi-Absorbing Arrays that Caroline had specially arranged for her. It allowed her to obtain the twice the results for half the effort. Furthermore, whilst in the array, Xiao Yin was able to reabsorb the part of its spiritual energy that had been absorbed by the soul pearl at a faster speed. Xiao Yinâs rapid recovery further increased Chu Yeâs speed of progress.
The sixth-grade wizard in the opposing team had planned on fighting Chu Ye. But upon seeing that Chu Ye was a seventh-grade wizard, he became weak at the knees.
Originally, because of Chu Yeâs resounding reputation, he had already been hesitant to fight Chu Ye. Now that he knew Chu Ye was one grade higher than him, he lost all intentions of fighting her.
However, the mental blow didnât stop there. A white figure flashed in his vision as Chenzhu stepped right before him in an impressive manner and shot him a grin. âYour opponent is me!â
In other words, he was up against a ninth-grade wizard. The pressure was on.
That manâs eyes widened to the shape of gongs and began trembling uncontrollably. They didnât seem to plan on letting him live. Was a seventh-grade wizard not enough? They had to send a ninth-grade wizard after him?
But since the competition had already begun, he could no longer withdraw from the competition. Besides, he couldnât afford to lose to this person.
And so, he was forced to meet Chenzhu head-on like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.
Unfortunately, there was a gap of three whole grades between ninth-grade and sixth-grade. Within just a few moves, the sixth-grade wizard was unable to hold on any longer.
In the meantime, Chu Ye was fiercely hacking at the seventh-grade dark-skinned wizard with a sharp Wind Blade.
The dark-skinned youth planned on saving his strength in order to be able to fight against the ninth-grade Chenzhu later. After all, who would expect Chu Ye, who had just advanced to seventh-grade, to already be at the peak of seventh-grade? And to be able to destroy his eight-grade selfâs attacks?
A flicker of disdain flickered on his face. He condensed two enormous Fireballs, which he mercilessly launched toward Chu Ye.
It was a pity that he had greatly underestimated the enemy.
In this first attack, he didnât use all his strength, only around 80%.
As a result, when the two fireballs ferociously collided with Chu Yeâs Wind Blade, they were easily sliced in half, splitting into four small balls of fire which dispersed to the sides.
The Wind Blade didnât reduce in speed, going straight toward the dark-skinned youth.
By this time, even the dark-skinned youth realized that he had been too rash. In a moment of desperation, he quickly set up a Wall of Fire to defend himself.
With the crispy sound of something hard breaking apart, the Wind Blade hacked at the Wall of Fire, splitting it open. With the energy fueling the wall exhausted, the wall dissipated into fire elements again, which returned to the atmosphere.
The dark-skinned youthâs expression eased, and he breathed a sigh of relief. However, another Wind Blade soon flew toward his face, fast and fierce.
Then a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth⌠more and more and more.
Chu Ye waved her hands, not needing any buffer time in between each Wind Blade. It was like the Wind Blades were nothing as she flung them at lightning speed.
This was Chu Yeâs Rapid-Fire Dimensional Wind Blade. She had recently comprehended it while in the Qi-Absorbing Array.
There wasnât a need to pause to prepare the next Wind Blade, as was usual, in between throws, so Wind Blades could be thrown one after the other in smooth and quick succession. With Chu Yeâs current strength, the most she could send out in one go was 60.
The dark-skinned youth was dumbstruck.
It wasnât just him. Everyone paying attention to Chu Ye were just as dumbstruck.
For thousands of centuries, why couldnât a wizard engage in close combat like a warrior can? It was because whenever they cast magic, they needed time to chant the incantation and mobilize the magic power in their bodies. As such, they appeared slow to act and were naturally most afraid of being too close to other people.
But Chu Ye didnât have such restrictions.
Having lost his opportunity at the start, the dark-skinned youth was doomed to have lost his advantage for the rest of the fight.
Faced with the swift and violent barrage of Wind Blades, he could only take the passive stance and condense the elements into Wall upon Wall of Fire. But how could his casting speed match Chu Yeâs?
He was already at the peak of seventh grade, and the Walls of Fire he made were more powerful than Chu Yeâs Wind Blade. But how could this many Wind Blades not break his Walls of Fire?