Chapter 27 - 23: Tacticians Play Dirty

Chapter 27: Chapter 23: Tacticians Play Dirty

Pressure. Immense pressure.

Lu Chen clearly hadn’t done anything, and his Cultivation was only at the Qi Cultivation Third Level. Yet at this moment, Xu Jianliang and the other two still felt a suffocating sensation, as if a python were constricting them.

Since Lu Chen could appear beside them in an instant without them noticing, didn’t that mean he could silently and instantly kill all three of them if he wanted to? Looking at the smiling Lu Chen beside him, Xu Jianliang broke out in a cold sweat.

Was that ghostly speed a Talent Divine Technique, an unknown Technique, or perhaps some special Magical Artifact or Talisman? Xu Jianliang couldn’t figure it out, nor did he intend to. Without any hesitation, the highly adaptable Xu Jianliang made what he believed to be the most correct decision. He bowed and apologized, "I was wrong, Lu Tongxue. Please forgive us."

Steering with the wind and correcting his mistakes the moment he realized them. At this moment, Xu Jianliang displayed his exceptionally high worldly wisdom. Compared to going against Lu Chen, whose Power was unknown, bowing his head in apology was undoubtedly the better choice, because he truly didn’t have much confidence in escaping from Lu Chen’s ghostly agility.

If their mock exam ended here, losing face was a minor issue, but failing to obtain more Academic Credits was the real problem. After all, at Luocheng First High School, Academic Credits represented a massive amount of Cultivation resources!

And upon hearing this, Lu Chen surprisingly let them off.

"Alright, let’s part ways here." Saying this, Lu Chen turned and walked away.

Watching Lu Chen’s retreating back, Xu Jianliang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He thought, "Thank goodness. Thank goodness Lu Tongxue is a decent person and is willing to let us go even after all this."

But just then, Xu Jianliang felt someone quietly tap him on the back. He turned his head in confusion, only to find that the person tapping him was the reticent Old Yin Coin Chai Xi.

"What is it?"

Chai Xi didn’t speak, but quietly pointed at the wristwatch on Lu Chen’s right hand.

Once Xu Jianliang saw the number on that wristwatch clearly, the expression on his face morphed from his earlier apprehension into unbridled arrogance. Because the number displayed on the wristwatch was shockingly a mere ’15%’.

15%. This was the wristwatch’s Spiritual Power value displayed by the Protective Wristwatch.

Although the Protective Wristwatch could autonomously absorb Spiritual Power from the air to replenish itself and maintain the Spiritual Power required for the Protective Barrier, this could only guarantee the wristwatch’s minimum operation, ensuring the number wouldn’t continue to drop. To restore the Spiritual Power within the wristwatch to 100%, examinees needed to infuse their own Spiritual Power into it.

And there was a rule in this mock exam. That was, once an examinee’s Protective Wristwatch value dropped below ’10%’, it meant they had suffered attacks severe enough to cause personal harm within a short period. This would immediately trigger the Teleportation Array on the wristwatch, sending the examinee out of the mock exam venue.

What did Lu Chen’s 15% wristwatch value mean? It meant that if this were reality, he would already be heavily injured! Translated into the mock exam, it meant his Spiritual Power was depleted, and he had no combat strength left.

Xu Jianliang realized with a jolt, "Wait, so you were just deliberately mystifying things to scare us!"

"Wait a minute!"

Lu Chen turned his head, frowning as he looked at Xu Jianliang who had called out to him. "Is there something else?"

Xu Jianliang looked at the wristwatch on Lu Chen’s hand again, confirming that the wristwatch’s energy value truly only had ’15%’ left. A surge of something called confidence returned to Xu Jianliang’s face.

"Lu Tongxue, you really have great acting skills. Putting on an act once wasn’t enough, you actually wanted to do it a second time. I think you should just give up Cultivation; switching careers to become an actor might suit you better.

"I was wrong? What a joke! I, Xu Jianliang, am incapable of making mistakes!

"Lu Tongxue, how about you apologize to me right now? That way, I might just let you off.

"Otherwise, don’t blame me for sending you out. Even if I have to lose some points for it, this little bit of points... I can afford it!"

Sweeping away his previous dejection, Xu Jianliang was brimming with confidence as he faced Lu Chen. At this moment, the advantage... was his!

Seeing that Xu Jianliang had taken the bait, Lu Chen secretly laughed in his heart, but on the surface, he feigned the panicked urgency of having his plan exposed.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about..." Saying this, Lu Chen quickened his pace, seemingly wanting to leave this place as quickly as possible.

"Where do you think you’re going? Attack!"

As Xu Jianliang’s voice fell, Zheng Liu, who had been holding a Spirit Fox Brush all along, launched an attack at Lu Chen together with him. As for Chai Xi, who was the first to notice Lu Chen’s abnormality, not only did he not attack at this moment, but he even quietly retreated half a step. It was just that his movement was very slight and didn’t attract Xu Jianliang and Zheng Liu’s attention.

Talisman: Crimson Flame Talisman!

Technique·Earth Spike Technique!

The continuously spreading spikes on the ground caught up to Lu Chen in just two breaths and covered his entire body. These earth spikes intertwined with each other, unexpectedly forming an airtight wooden cage in the blink of an eye. It directly locked Lu Chen, who seemed to have depleted his Spiritual Power and was powerless to dodge, inside.

And just as the wooden cage formed, Zheng Liu’s Crimson Flame Talisman turned into a fierce blaze, igniting the intertwined branches. This was the combination skill he and Zheng Liu had developed after a few days of coordination—Wooden Cage Fire.

Let alone Lu Chen, who was merely a Daoist Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Third Level, even a Blood Amber Wolf Leader at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Level would be skinned alive if it didn’t die after taking this combo skill head-on!

Looking at the raging fire, Xu Jianliang shook his head with a regretful tone, "What a pity. If it were a fair one-on-one, I admit I wouldn’t be a match for you, Lu Tongxue.

"But right now, this is a mock exam that closely simulates actual combat. In reality, no one will fight you in a fair one-on-one.

"So, Lu Tongxue, don’t blame me for using superior numbers to bully you. If you want to blame something, blame your own arrogance. After you go back, properly train your Heart Nature, so you can avoid encountering this kind of situation again in the future.

"Just treat this as a lesson from me."

History is written by the victors. Xu Jianliang wore a completely smug expression as he wildly began to lecture Lu Chen, whom he assumed had already been teleported out. He had completely forgotten his cowardly, cowering appearance from just a short while ago.

But before he could rejoice for long, Zheng Liu, who was standing to the side, spoke up. "Jian... Jianliang, our... our points haven’t decreased."

"So what if our points haven’t decreased? Points..." The words jolted him awake from his dream, and Xu Jianliang finally snapped back to his senses.

Maliciously attacking other examinees in the first stage would result in a deduction of points. And the fact that their points hadn’t decreased right now... didn’t that mean...

He realized with horror, "Crap, I popped the champagne too early!"

"ROAR!"

Almost the exact moment Xu Jianliang came to his senses, a deafening Dragon Roar erupted from the massive fire. The burning wooden cage shattered in response, turning into a sky full of sparks. As these sparks made contact with the rainwater in the air, they emitted HISSING sounds and turned into wisps of pale smoke that enveloped the surroundings.

Lu Chen walked out from the smoke, casually flicking off the residual ash on his sword. He looked at the pale-faced Xu Jianliang and Zheng Liu, smiling as he said, "Now... it was you guys who attacked first."

In the next second, Lu Chen’s figure vanished from his spot.

Before Xu Jianliang could even react, he heard a deafening Dragon Roar right beside his ear. His Protective Wristwatch was instantly activated, forming a defensive barrier. And this barrier had only appeared for a fraction of a second before it immediately consumed a massive amount of Spiritual Power. To the point that Xu Jianliang couldn’t even see clearly what had happened before he was already beginning to be teleported out of the Secret Realm.

"That’s one."

Lu Chen’s figure flowed smoothly, instantly arriving beside Zheng Liu. His speed was so fast that before Zheng Liu even had time to react, he was sent out of the Secret Realm by a single strike from Lu Chen’s sword.

"That’s two."

Lu Chen stopped, looking at Chai Xi who was already dumbfounded.

It had to be said that Chai Xi truly lived up to his reputation as an anomaly among Body Cultivators, a scheming Old Yin Coin; his reaction during a crisis was incredibly fast. Almost the very next second after Zheng Liu was teleported out, he opened his mouth and yelled, "You can’t hit me! I didn’t attack just now!"

"I know..." Lu Chen walked right up to Chai Xi and, under his bewildered gaze, swung his sword.

As Chai Xi was in the process of being teleported, Lu Chen said calmly, "...Even though you didn’t attack, since it’s you, I’d still hit you even if it means losing points.

"Because I hate people who play tactics the most; it makes me feel like I’m looking in a mirror."

Tacticians all had filthy hearts. In this life, Lu Chen abhorred those with filthy hearts the most, because he was exactly that kind of person himself.

He thought, "I will never allow anyone in this world... to have a heart filthier than mine!"

...

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