Meanwhile, Xu Shiyue had appeared by Lin Yichen's side at some unknown moment, standing there obediently, as if she hadn't just brutally beaten a Grandmaster on the stage just moments before.
"Well done, very impressive!" Lin Yichen praised her with a smile.
"Mm..." Xu Shiyue flushed and softly murmured an acknowledgement, saying nothing more.
The people around them cast incredulous glances at Xu Shiyue. In their eyes, Li Qing's severe injuries were definitely Xu Shiyue's doing—after all, Xu Shiyue was the only one on the stage.
...
Soon, rumors spread like wildfire throughout Hushi No. 1 High School.
"Hey, have you heard? Xu Shiyue from Class 1 of Senior Three fought a suppressed-level Grandmaster for three hundred rounds and beat him to the ground!"
"Huh? Didn't she just take a few moves to beat that suppressed Grandmaster down?"
"Your news is ancient history! Xu Shiyue ended the fight with a single sword strike!"
"Exactly, exactly! And she wasn't fighting a suppressed Grandmaster at all, but a Grandmaster going all out!"
"Pass it on! Xu Shiyue defeated a Grandmaster with a single sword strike!"
"What? Xu Shiyue took down a Grandmaster in seconds with just a glance?!"
"What? Xu Shiyue is already a Martial King Level powerhouse?!!"
Although the rumors grew more and more absurd, it had to be said that Xu Shiyue had truly made a name for herself at this moment. Her current fame even surpassed Lin Yichen's, making her everyone's new top genius in the entire school.
Inside the principal's office at this moment...
"How is Li Qing?"
Principal Luo Wenhao sat at his desk with a rather grim expression. Hiring a Grandmaster to give a lecture wasn't cheap, and things had turned out like this, making him feel as though he had been scammed.
"Grandmaster Li has already woken up and left with a dark face."
"Damn it! Taking money and not delivering results! It's a good thing no students were hurt this time, or I would have taken this all the way to Magic City Martial Arts University! Pulling a scam all the way to my Hushi No. 1 High School!"
Luo Wenhao slammed the table in anger. Fortunately, he had kept his guard up and only paid a deposit; otherwise, even at the risk of a complete falling out, he would have forced the other party to spit the money back out.
As for the other party vomiting blood and fainting, he thought it was all an act. Otherwise, how could a towering Grandmaster powerhouse get injured for no reason?
As for the rumor that she was injured by Xu Shiyue, he didn't believe a single punctuation mark of it. He had just gone to check on Xu Shiyue: a Level 5 Martial Artist cultivator, she was a very promising seed who even showed signs of surpassing Lin Yichen.
But beating a Grandmaster into severe injuries? He would rather believe someone was calling him right now to claim they were Qin Shi Huang.
"Enough, let's drop that guy, bad luck! But Old Liu, let me congratulate you on striking it rich!
Having little Lin was already good enough, but now Xu Shiyue has popped up out of nowhere. I just checked that kid, she's wonderful!
You'd better train her well. If both of them get into the Four Great Martial Arts Academies this year, your future will be bright indeed—sitting in my chair one day might not even be out of the question."
Hearing Luo Wenhao's somewhat manipulative words, Liu Luo smiled and said,
"Oh, come on! It's just sheer luck, it doesn't really have much to do with me. To be honest, this Xu Shiyue really surprised me; she's changed so much in just a month. Looks like her fortune runs deep!"
Hearing this, Luo Wenhao warned him:
"Old Liu, I'm warning you, don't go hatching any crooked ideas, or I'll clean house right here and now."
Liu Luo rolled his eyes at these words, wearing a righteous and indignant expression as he replied,
"Principal, do you really see me, Old Liu, as that kind of person? You're really breaking this old comrade's heart!"
Seeing Liu Luo acting like this, Luo Wenhao immediately apologized:
"Alright, alright, my mistake. I apologize to you."
But Liu Luo clearly wasn't buying it.
"Principal, what you've hurt right now is the heart of a model people's teacher who has worked conscientiously his entire life!"
"Then what do you want?"
"You've got to pay me more!"
Unlike the two clowns dueling in the principal's office, in the training room, Xu Shiyue and Lin Yichen stood face-to-face on the sparring platform.
An hour ago, because of the incident with Grandmaster Li, the originally planned training schedule had been disrupted, and the school's combat instructor had no choice but to step in and take over the somewhat chaotic scene.
Upon seeing Xu Shiyue's current cultivation level, the instructor immediately decided to readjust the sparring pairings, and Xu Shiyue and Lin Yichen were naturally assigned to the same group.
After watching a series of rather bland and even painful-to-watch matches, it was finally Xu Shiyue and Lin Yichen's turn.
Seeing the two of them step onto the platform, everyone instantly perked up. They all wanted to see whether the "former top genius" or the "current top genius" was stronger.
Many people favored Xu Shiyue. After all, she had previously gone toe-to-toe with a suppressed-level Grandmaster. If Grandmaster Li hadn't cheated, that final sword strike probably would have landed a heavy blow right on his head. Such strength made even Level 7 and 8 martial artists feel inferior.
Yet on the platform right now, Xu Shiyue was extremely nervous—she hadn't felt this nervous even when she fought the yellow-striped fierce tiger on the brink of life and death.
She didn't want to fight Lin Yichen; she was unwilling to do anything that carried even the slightest possibility of harming him.
Seemingly sensing her nervousness, Lin Yichen smiled and reassured her:
"Shiyue, relax. It's just a simple sparring session. Bring out your true strength, don't be afraid of hurting me. I'm much stronger than you think! If you hold back on purpose, I'm going to be angry."
Hearing this, Xu Shiyue instantly snuffed out any thoughts of going easy on him. If Lin Yichen got angry over this and ignored her in the future, she would collapse to the point of wanting to die!
Seeing the determined look finally settle on Xu Shiyue's face, Lin Yichen nodded in satisfaction. He intended to use this opportunity to point out some of her shortcomings.
At the combat instructor's command to begin,
Xu Shiyue made the first move, her fierce swordsmanship sweeping toward Lin Yichen. But Lin Yichen seemed able to predict her next move, dodging every single time with split-second precision and launching measured counterattacks.
Their sword shadows flickered before everyone's eyes, leaving the spectators staring in a daze, wailing inwardly: we're all seniors in high school, why are you two such freaks?
Soon, caught off guard, Xu Shiyue hurriedly raised her wooden sword to parry, only to be knocked back several paces by a single sword strike from Lin Yichen. From start to finish, Lin Yichen's feet hadn't moved once.
Feeling her arm tremble slightly from the immense force transmitted through the wooden sword, Xu Shiyue felt a surge of utter astonishment.
*So strong!*
That was her immediate thought. Ever since her awakening, she had never suffered a disadvantage against opponents of the same realm, yet now she was being completely crushed by Lin Yichen.
Instead of being angry, however, she felt only joy at his strength, and her love for Lin Yichen grew even deeper in her heart.
...