Chapter 125
Chapter 125
“No Clear Sky Hammer? What a shame…”
Qin Lan looked profoundly disappointed.
It was as if he weren’t in the middle of a fight at all, but attending some convention and hunting for collectibles…
Qian Yang gritted her teeth in fury and immediately poured more curse energy into her vines.
“I was going to spare you some suffering… but I’ve changed my mind!”
Her vines could switch between different types of poison.
At first, Qian Yang had only used a paralytic toxin, intending to restrict Qin Lan’s movements.
Now, however, she had switched to a neurotoxin.
Under the skill’s effect, the target’s pain receptors would become extraordinarily sensitive. Even the slightest injury would be magnified several times over.
Qin Lan immediately looked shocked.
“No… what are you doing?!”
“Stop it!”
Qian Yang sneered, waiting to see Qin Lan writhing in agony and begging her for mercy.
“Still acting tough?”
“You were pretty arrogant when you bullied them just now, weren’t you? An outsider actually dared to bully people on our turf. You’re clearly–”
Before she could finish, Qin Lan reached out and seized her by the throat.
The seemingly unbreakable vines shattered apart the moment he exerted the slightest force.
“I told you to stop. Are you deaf?”
Qin Lan rubbed his temples, his tone hostile. “Prompts keep popping up in my head. They’re driving me insane!”
Just moments ago, messages reading [Abnormal Status Nullified] had begun refreshing nonstop in Qin Lan’s mind at an extremely high frequency.
The vines wrapped around him were continuously trying to inject poison through his skin.
Every time it failed, they tried again.
They couldn’t break through his defenses, but they were seriously noisy.
With Qin Lan’s hand clamped tightly around her throat, terror instantly filled Qian Yang’s eyes.
She couldn’t understand how he had broken free of those vines so easily.
Hadn’t he already been trapped?
Even someone with the same tier-three Origin should have found her paralytic toxin and neurotoxin difficult to handle.
Qian Yang was one of the students selected for the Elite Program.
Though her Talent was only B-rank, she had extensive combat experience.
Her vine toxins were also extremely subtle and troublesome. Many students with A-rank Talents had fallen to her before.
Even Su Xiaoyue, hailed as the number one freshman, had suffered quite a bit before defeating her the first time…
Qian Yang wanted to ask him what was going on, but all she could produce was a muffled groan. She couldn’t form a complete word.
At last, the prompts in Qin Lan’s head quieted down.
His expression eased slightly, but he didn’t let go.
“You’re being pretty unreasonable, aren’t you?”
“Those two started this whole conflict. All I did was defend myself.”
“You didn’t even bother finding out what happened before rushing over to pass judgment?”
A chill gathered in Qin Lan’s eyes, and his voice abruptly intensified. [Aren’t you the arrogant one?]
For that sentence, Qin Lan used Verbal Condemnation.
He didn’t use it at full strength, though.
The powerful mental impact directly crushed Qian Yang’s reason, instantly plunging her consciousness into a haze.
Her body went limp, and all strength to resist left her.
When Qin Lan released her, Qian Yang collapsed to the ground. Her mouth hung slightly open, and her gaze was utterly unfocused.
“What a pain. I deal with one, another shows up. Deal with that one, and here comes another…”
Qin Lan sounded annoyed. “Who’s next? Do I have to run a gauntlet and beat every last person here before this finally ends?”
His words seemed almost prophetic.
The instant Qin Lan finished complaining, he sensed an intense surge of curse energy behind him.
“A tier-three Origin?”
Qin Lan reacted quickly and immediately judged the level of the fluctuation, but he had no intention of dodging.
He had absolute confidence in his physical strength and curse resistance.
The next second, Qin Lan’s shadow moved.
Without the slightest warning, the shadow that had lain quietly beneath his feet seemed to come alive, surging up from the ground with lightning speed!
Black as ink, it had originally been nothing more than a physical phenomenon created by blocked light. Now it transformed into shackles that bound Qin Lan fast.
“Huh? This is…”
Qin Lan froze when he saw what had happened to his shadow.
It was so familiar.
He had seen this Talent before. Back then, however, it had still been immature and weak, helpless even against a measly two-star Hitchhiker Ghost.
Qin Lan had a pretty good guess who had attacked him.
Even Luo Ping beside him went pale with fright, his voice turning shrill.
“Brother Xue! Run!”
“It’s her! Su Xiaoyue! Su Xiaoyue is here!”
That name alone was enough to make every student at Clear Spring Academy tremble.
To the freshmen, Su Xiaoyue was the undisputed number one by an overwhelming margin–an idol adored by all.
Many upperclassmen had also lost to her. Some had been so traumatized by those impossible-to-guard-against shadows that they didn’t even dare turn off the lights when they slept.
“Shadow Queen” was the title everyone who had fought Su Xiaoyue had independently bestowed upon her.
“What an awesome entrance…”
Someone looked up and couldn’t help sighing in admiration.
Su Xiaoyue had arrived.
She walked through the air atop a mass of dense black shadow.
The living darkness surged and churned beneath her, lifting her body high into the air as she looked down upon the chaotic crowd below.
The students watching suddenly noticed the shadows beneath their own feet trembling as well.
It was as though they had seen their queen and instinctively wished to submit.
Su Xiaoyue lowered her head and calmly regarded the figure bound by her shadow.
She had just parted ways with Yu Qianqian and had planned to go clear her head when she happened to notice the commotion here.
She was no stranger to the people involved.
Lin Qingfeng had fought her and suffered a crushing defeat, which had barred him from the Elite Program.
Qian Yang was also a familiar face. They had met several times in training matches. The poison had left Su Xiaoyue in a somewhat sorry state at first, but every battle after that had been a one-sided rout.
They weren’t particularly close, but Qian Yang was still a student of Clear Spring Academy. An outsider had no right to punish her.
Someone had already posted the earlier conflict on the campus forum.
Su Xiaoyue only needed a quick glance to grasp the gist of what had happened.
She didn’t care about their personal dispute. She simply would not allow an outsider to grind Clear Spring Academy’s reputation into the dirt.
Clear Spring Academy had given her abundant resources, designed a meticulous training plan for her, and provided every possible convenience…
Thus, as the top freshman and the Elite Program’s number one prospect, she had to step in.
“You’ve already caused this much trouble. Are you still not going to stop?”
Su Xiaoyue descended on a staircase made of shadow, her steps unhurried and her voice indifferent.
“I don’t care what grievance you have with each other. Stop. Now.”
“If you still want to fight, then fight me.”
A faint authority colored her voice. It wasn’t deliberate, but the natural confidence that came from within.
Below, Luo Ping warned in a whisper, “Brother Xue, she’s really strong. Whatever you do, don’t provoke her…”
“She’ll whip you…”
Qin Lan merely turned his head slowly. Meeting Su Xiaoyue’s astonished gaze, he flashed her a brilliant smile.
“So you’ve broken through to tier three. Feeling impressive now, are you?”
“If you got any stronger, would you start beating me too?”