Can’t kill her, can’t go for the vital points.
Qu Weichen seemed oblivious to the heat and pain all around her.
He Muman was the daughter of General Pingyuan—no matter what, she couldn’t just kill someone outright in the academy, on the arena.
Besides… Qu Weichen had never killed anyone before.
She was furious, but He Muman was only fourteen.
Qu Weichen could still control her emotions.
He Muman hadn’t stopped chanting her spell even when she was attacked.
Now, as Qu Weichen came at her again, she was still chanting her second spell.
But in her practice, no one had ever taken a direct hit from Fireburst and then, without even pausing, charged through the aftermath to attack.
Because of that, when Qu Weichen closed in, her spell wasn’t finished.
Her staff had already been knocked away.
Even though He Muman immediately pulled another staff from her spatial ring to defend herself, Qu Weichen sidestepped behind her in a flash and, without mercy, kicked her straight toward the center of the arena.
Qu Weichen moved fast, leaping after her, grabbing He Muman by the back of her collar and slamming her onto the ground.
She let go, then quickly grabbed He Muman’s collar again, yanked her up, and punched her hard in the stomach.
She didn’t use “Qi,” but Qu Weichen didn’t hold back her strength, landing three solid blows.
He Muman was completely spent by now.
Under Qu Weichen’s relentless assault, she had no strength to fight back, getting tossed around like a sandbag.
Qu Weichen let go, stood up, and stomped on He Muman’s right hand as she tried to crawl up.
The last dagger in her storage compartment spun at her fingertips, and as soon as she gripped it, she stabbed down hard—
“Stop!! The match is over!!”
The dagger struck a suddenly-appearing ice shield.
Luckily, Qu Weichen hadn’t used her full strength, so the rebound wasn’t too bad.
She put the dagger away, picked up the one she’d thrown on the arena floor, and finally looked at the referee.
Qu Weichen couldn’t read the referee’s expression, but seeing the panic in his eyes when he looked at He Muman, she understood why he hadn’t declared He Muman’s defeat earlier.
“First time I’ve seen such fair and just refereeing at this academy.
I’ll remember it,” Qu Weichen said quietly, coldly watching as the referee waved frantically and a healer rushed over to treat He Muman.
Qu Weichen didn’t bother to tidy her battered appearance, but straightened her back and walked off the arena.
—That match was boring as hell.
That’s what a lot of the onlookers thought.
The fight ended too quickly.
Even though the referee didn’t declare He Muman’s loss the first time, letting her sneak in a spell, Qu Weichen still won.
And she won cleanly.
“She’s a freshman, but at least she’s a first-rank martial artist.
Even third-year mages wouldn’t challenge a martial artist of the same rank to a duel.
Who knows what He Muman was thinking.”
Qu Weichen just wanted to go back to the dorm, take a shower, and buy some medicine to patch herself up.
But before she could leave, she saw Tu Weierxi and a few other elves rushing over.
They froze for a second when they saw how beat up she looked.
“Qu Weichen? How did you get hurt so badly?!”
Before Qu Weichen could even answer, the four elves surrounded her, casting basic light healing, water healing, and wood rejuvenation spells one after another.
The elements around Qu Weichen surged, her wounds tingling and cooling, and in just a moment, she was mostly healed.
“It’s a shame we’re only magic apprentices, or we could use stronger spells to heal you,” Orona said regretfully.
She looked at Qu Weichen’s face and couldn’t help but ask, “Did… did you win?”
“Yeah, I won.” Qu Weichen smiled, not bothering to look back at the arena.
“Too bad she’s the general’s daughter, so I held back the first time.
The referee didn’t call it, let her get off a Fireburst.
But it didn’t really matter.”
“There are people that shameless?” Tu Weierxi was amazed.
This was just a sparring match in the academy.
Qu Weichen didn’t say more, just thanked the adorable elves one by one and went back to the dorm with them.
She still needed a nap and didn’t want to miss the afternoon practical class.
—Of course there are people that shameless.
Everyone knew He Muman lost the match.
But she acted like she’d forgotten the pre-match bet.
Whether it was the source stones or the other things she’d promised, none of it counted.
Tu Weierxi wanted to teach He Muman a lesson, but Qu Weichen talked her out of it.
She didn’t want the elves dragged into this.
Uweino was the central city, but it was still far from the Elven Forest.
General Pingyuan was close by, and if things got ugly, Tu Weierxi would be the one to suffer.
As for herself, she had no one to rely on.
Qu Weichen didn’t have a position in the Inquisition Temple yet, and since the matter had passed, it wasn’t right to bother Constance about it.
As for the temple master… she was being watched, maybe even invested in, but Qu Weichen still didn’t know how much she was worth in the master’s eyes.
She wouldn’t bother her with something this trivial.
Days passed, and Qu Weichen trained harder than ever.
After practical class, more and more classmates greeted her, and Qu Weichen could feel their goodwill.
But even if they liked her, no one wanted to get involved in the Inquisition Temple and royal family’s mess, so they kept their distance.
After He Muman’s disastrous defeat, Qu Weichen had a few days of peace.
But soon, students from the martial artist class started challenging her.
Luckily, they were all first-rank martial artists—no one shameless enough to send a second-rank against her.
By the end of the month, before the break, Qu Weichen had accepted five first-rank martial artist challenges and hadn’t lost once.
She was happy to fight people of her own level—real combat was the only way to improve.
The end of the month came quickly.
Qu Weichen remembered the temple master saying Constance would take her to Beastcall Mountain, and she was beyond excited.
I’ve only ever hunted ordinary animals before, never even caught a raptor.
Now I get to hunt magical beasts.
Qu Weichen looked at her two-star hunting skill.
The max was five stars—maybe she could level up again in the next three days.
After practical class, Qu Weichen said goodbye to her elf friends, ate some magical beast meat in the cafeteria, and left the academy for the Inquisition Temple.
She hadn’t walked this road many times, but the closer she got to the temple, the fewer people she saw.
That was definitely not right.
[Take another route,] Number Nine said.
[I’ll upload the map for you.] Everything Qu Weichen read or remembered, Number Nine remembered too.
Like the academy map, the Uweino map—Qu Weichen might forget, but Number Nine never did.
[Go where there are more people.
This is Uweino—if anything big happens, all the factions will show up!] The Inquisition Temple, the Temple of Light, the Mage Association, the Martial Artist Association… Uweino had all kinds of factions.
If there was a riot or a fight, they’d all send people to check it out.
But just as Qu Weichen turned to take another route, a masked figure in black leapt down and punched the ground.
Under the force of “Qi,” cracks spread out like a spiderweb.
The few pedestrians on the street were driven off by other masked figures.
Qu Weichen reacted fast.
All three thousand source stones in her spatial ring were in crystal form, not on a card.
She’d kept them that way because she didn’t spend much, and it was convenient.
But now—
She grabbed a handful and flung them out, then turned to run in another direction.
Slow Curse! Misfortune Curse!
“Boom—” A spear flew at her, smashing the ground beside her to pieces.
In that instant, a huge magic circle appeared, glowing brightly.
The next second, a white membrane rose up around the area, sealing it off.
Seven masked figures in black, plus a mage.
What a big operation.
Were they here to kill her? General Pingyuan’s people? Or someone else? To dare attack her in Uweino, they must have figured she was just a first-rank martial artist and thought they could finish it quickly.
Nameless fire burned in Qu Weichen’s heart.
Did they really think she was that easy to bully?
“Finish it fast!”
The first masked man blocked her way and charged, the other six quickly surrounding her.
Pale blue light flowed into all seven, probably some kind of buff from the mage.
Impressive, really impressive.
“All this for a first-rank martial artist?”
“Cut the crap, do it.”
A huge hammer smashed down, caving in a chunk of the ground.
These guys… they might be second-rank martial artists.
Right, only third-rank martial artists could join the Inquisition Army.
Other factions would treasure their third-ranks.
Attacking someone in broad daylight—if they got caught, they’d die, so no one would send their best people.
The mastermind would want to keep their hands clean, so they wouldn’t use their own people.
The fire in her heart blazed hotter.
Qu Weichen didn’t give up.
She dodged to the side, and even though the seven surrounded her, they clearly lacked teamwork and were hesitant, giving her chances to slip away.
As the hammer came down again, Qu Weichen raised her left arm to block.
Even with “Qi,” the blow sent her flying.
Her body heated up, her left arm went numb for a second, but it didn’t matter.
She twisted in midair, kicked off a wall, and shot forward—slamming into a masked man who hadn’t attacked yet.
She stabbed her dagger into his side, yanked it out, and with her left hand slashed his throat, rolling away to dodge.
She raised her hand, clashing her dagger against a spear—
The dagger shattered under the Qi-filled spear, blood covering Qu Weichen’s palm.
Luckily, she’d expected it and dodged in time.
She didn’t retreat, but ducked low and charged forward, her bloody right hand gathering Qi as she punched the spearman in the chest, sending him flying.
Before she could move again, another hammer-wielder smashed her in the back, making her stagger and cough up blood.
The familiar pain made Qu Weichen’s blood boil.
Red lines spread from her heart through her body, and the world turned red before her eyes.
She could hear her own heartbeat, and everything around her seemed to go quiet—
[Ding! Skill “Dagger Mastery” activated! Potential cap: 3 stars]
