When Yelena heard Enkai mention Zhang Wen’s apology, her brows slightly furrowed. She could sense that if Zhang Wen truly apologized, it might also be a humiliation for the Almishus Academy. However, the desire to teach Zhang Wen a lesson still prevailed in Yelena’s heart, and her lips merely twitched slightly without making any sound.
Nonetheless, Yelena had no intention of defending Zhang Wen. Xiaoxi, who had just been glared at by Zhang Wen, felt her anger reignited by Enkai’s words.
“Make him apologize? Are you out of your mind?” Xiaoxi’s pretty face flushed red with anger as she shouted, glaring at Enkai. The red-haired girl was genuinely furious this time. She had never encountered such a humiliating situation in her life. Zhang Wen had come to rescue them, yet he was being forced to apologize to the “kidnappers.” Where was the logic in that?
“Yes! When that ‘waste’ suddenly showed up and claimed he wanted to take us three away, I was curious to see how much ability he actually had, so I deliberately didn’t resist. But who could have guessed those cowards would be so despicable as to let him claim self-sealed combat energy! If I had known that… Hmph! Even without mentioning that, you fools from Temis Academy couldn’t even defeat someone with self-sealed combat energy. You’re obviously the useless ones! How dare you demand an apology from this guy?”
In her anger, Xiaoxi instinctively used her favorite sentence structure. In her words, she referred to the Temis students as “those wastes” and Zhang Wen as “this guy.”
“Self-sealed combat energy? Haha! Little girl, I understand your desire to defend Teacher Zhang Wen. However, next time when you lie, could you at least think carefully before speaking? What you just said, even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe it!”
Enkai burst into laughter as if he had heard an amusing joke. Gelt wore an expression of disbelief, and Yelena even showed a look of apparent discomfort and embarrassment.
“You don’t have to believe me, but that’s how it is!”
“I can also testify!”
The skeptical expressions of the three teachers further provoked the three girls. Amelis and Galit exchanged glances and immediately stepped forward without hesitation.
If only Xiaoxi and Amelis were supporting Zhang Wen, perhaps Gelt and others could still dismiss their words with disdain. However, with Galit joining in, the weight of their testimony became entirely different. No matter how ridiculous Enkai thought the “lies” of Xiaoxi and the others were, he still had to ask Griffiths a question.
“Alright! If you insist on saying that! Griffiths, is there really such a thing?” Enkai said in a perfunctory manner. A mocking smile hung on his face as he slightly turned his head toward Griffiths but did not avert his gaze from the three girls and Zhang Wen.
Enkai was just waiting for Griffiths to deny the “ridiculous” testimony of the three girls so he could immediately turn his attack toward Zhang Wen.
Look at him, the martial arts team leader, who even had his students lie to cover up his mistakes! For a teacher, how negligent is that! Enkai had even prepared sarcastic lines for Zhang Wen in advance.
“Er… Well… This…”
To Enkai’s surprise, Griffiths did not immediately refute the girls’ absurd testimony. Instead, he hesitated and stammered.
“Griffiths!” Enkai angrily turned his head.
He couldn’t imagine why Griffiths would hesitate! A person with self-sealed combat energy defeating more than twenty martial artists above the fifth level? Do you think this is a fairy tale? No! Even fairy tales wouldn’t dare to concoct such nonsense!
“Well… He didn’t seem to use combat energy during the fight. We don’t know what happened, but we ended up like this.” There were too many Temis students who had witnessed the battle with Zhang Wen. Griffiths lacked the courage to lie. He could only lower his head and mumble a small explanation.
“Griffiths, do you know what you’re saying?” Enkai’s anger erupted the moment Griffiths finished speaking.
“Well… Teacher Enkai, the situation was indeed like that.” No matter how much Gelt feared Enkai’s anger, by now he could only persist with gritted teeth.
“Enough!” Unable to bear it any longer, Gelt shouted his two-word mantra again. “Teacher Zhang Wen, I don’t know what method you used to deceive our students. However, you wouldn’t really expect me to believe that you defeated more than twenty martial arts students while sealing your combat energy, would you?”
“Ha! What a ridiculous guy! Hey! Is your brain messed up? What reason does this guy have to make you useless believe in his abilities? In the end, who the hell do you think you are?” Before Zhang Wen could speak, Xiaoxi seized the opportunity to unleash her tongue, berating Gelt, whom she had disliked the most from the start.
Perhaps Amelis and Galit might still be cautious of Gelt’s strength and authority, but who was Xiaoxi? Don’t forget, this cute girl wearing the Almishus Academy uniform, seemingly harmless, was actually the younger sister of “Flame Demon” Agate!
She had met numerous powerful underworld bosses and formidable high-level fighters in her daily life. Her biological older brother, “Flame Demon” Agate, was a genius among geniuses, a super strong fighter who had reached the high-level realm at the age of twenty-two.
To this red-haired girl, Gelt, the head instructor of the Temis Academy, who was over forty but hadn’t even broken through to the saint level, naturally received nothing but infinite contempt, being called “idiot,” “useless,” and “who the hell do you think you are?”
Of course, Enkai couldn’t understand how naturally Xiaoxi’s contempt for Gelt was. An Almishus Academy martial arts student insulting the head instructor of the Temis Academy immediately enraged Enkai even more.
“You… How dare you insult the head instructor Gelt! Young lady, don’t be too arrogant!” Enkai shouted at Xiaoxi with a red face.
“Zhang Wen, how exactly do you teach your students? Talking nonsense and disregarding everyone. Even if this little girl is a secret weapon of your martial arts department, spoiling students to this extent is too much! Teacher Zhang Wen, I advise you to apologize immediately! Otherwise, I will definitely report this to your martial arts department instructor Xin.” Yelena also frowned with dissatisfaction, scolding Zhang Wen.
“Che! All of you can just save it! Stop acting so high and mighty. Don’t think that just because you’re the head instructor of the Temis Academy, you can boss me around. Who I am and how my students behave, what right do you have to criticize?” Zhang Wen coldly swept his gaze over the three teachers’ angry faces. “As for you, if you want to report, go ahead. We’ll see who ends up looking foolish in the end. Alright! I’m very tired now; I don’t have time to chat with you all.”
After saying this, Zhang Wen pushed past Enkai, who was blocking his way, without even looking back, and walked directly toward the gymnasium’s main entrance.
“Teacher Zhang Wen, you’re too arrogant! Even though you are the martial arts representative of the Almishus Academy delegation and not under my jurisdiction, if you’re too arrogant, don’t you fear causing disputes between the two academies?” Gelt still stared coldly at Zhang Wen with an iron face.
“Arrogant?” Zhang Wen sneered as he stopped walking and slowly turned around. “Head Instructor Gelt, you’ve never seen my real arrogance yet!”
“Oh? Then I’d really like to see it!”
“Haha! Since you said that, I’d better give you a demonstration, or you won’t give up easily.” Zhang Wen smirked without backing down. Facing the icy glares of Gelt and the other two, he extended his thumb and slowly pointed it downward.
“Let me tell you why I’m not worried about causing any disputes between the academies. Because just now, I’ve already seen your Temis Academy’s so-called elite students. I’m very confident that this year, right here at your Temis Academy, I can completely crush your martial arts department. I’ll prove to the entire empire that your Temis students are not even worthy of competing in the exchange matches with the Almishus Academy.”
After Zhang Wen finished speaking, Gelt’s face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot, while others were all stunned.
Amelis and Galit exchanged glances and quickly followed him. Xiaoxi proudly lifted her head and, before leaving, couldn’t resist making a face at Enkai.
“Stop… I said stop!” Unable to contain his anger any longer, Enkai finally lost his temper. He impulsively drew a crystal energy sword, his entire body’s combat energy instantly exploding as he charged toward Zhang Wen. Gelt, equally furious, made no move to stop him.
“Watch out!” Xiaoxi, who was walking last, saw Enkai’s movement and hurriedly shouted a warning.
When Zhang Wen reached the side of the gymnasium’s main entrance, Enkai had just rushed to his side. Without mercy, he swung the crystal energy sword downward toward Zhang Wen’s right arm.
Yelena, watching the scene unfold, was also greatly shocked. From the brightness of the crystal energy sword in Enkai’s hand, Yelena could tell that in his rage, Enkai had no intention of holding back at all! If he really hit Zhang Wen, he would definitely sever Zhang Wen’s right arm!
Yelena naturally understood how significant Zhang Wen’s existence was for the martial arts department of the Almishus Academy. However, at that moment, Yelena was still four or five steps away from Zhang Wen. Even if she wanted to stop Enkai’s attack, she was powerless to do so!
And just as Yelena, horrified, watched Enkai’s crystal energy sword swing toward Zhang Wen, Zhang Wen himself also sensed the danger coming from behind.
However, facing Enkai’s furious strike, Zhang Wen showed no tension at all, because Enkai’s strength was merely at the seventh level, not even reaching the elite level. Although Enkai’s combat energy was slightly higher than Griffiths’, reaching the peak of the seventh level, with the rich experience of dealing with Griffiths just now, Zhang Wen now found it extremely easy to handle Enkai’s attack.
Zhang Wen didn’t even need to think; his body had already taken action naturally. At the moment Enkai thrust his crystal energy sword, the steel in Zhang Wen’s hand suddenly transformed into a three-foot-long sword. Then, Zhang Wen’s movements flowed seamlessly like drifting clouds and running water.
When Enkai’s attack was fully unleashed, Zhang Wen suddenly sidestepped, subtly twisting his wrist. As the long sword made contact with Enkai’s crystal energy blade, Zhang Wen skillfully directed it forward with the momentum. The off-balance Enkai stumbled ahead, as though someone had forcefully pushed him from behind. At the very moment Enkai lost his balance, Zhang Wen also slightly extended his leg forward, positioning it directly in Enkai’s path.
Although Enkai wanted to try to control himself, his off-balance body left him in tears of frustration. He could only watch helplessly as he stumbled forward, tripped over Zhang Wen’s leg, and fell even more awkwardly. To make matters worse for Enkai, when he fell, he discovered that the direction he was falling was exactly toward the row of steps in front of the gym! As a result, he rolled all the way down the steps.
Protected by his combat energy at the peak of the seventh level, Enkai’s body wasn’t really injured. What truly hurt Enkai was that his ambush on Zhang Wen failed, and he ended up stumbling out of the training ground and finally fell in a humiliating dog-pile. When Enkai ambushed Zhang Wen, he almost attracted everyone’s attention. That is to say, all the more than twenty Temis students present clearly saw his humiliation!
However, while Enkai was feeling down about his embarrassing display, both Gelt and Yelena’s faces were filled with shock and disbelief. From the moment Enkai attacked Zhang Wen to when he rolled down the steps, the two of them never sensed any combat energy from Zhang Wen.
Gelt couldn’t understand at all why Enkai’s strike from behind ended up losing control! If it was because Enkai himself made a mistake in the attack, accidentally stumbling down the steps, then this explanation itself sounded incredible enough. After all, regardless of anything else, Enkai was an experienced martial arts teacher who had been teaching at the Temis Academy for more than five years. If someone said he would make such a ridiculous mistake, Gelt would be the first to disbelieve it!
Then the only possibility was that Zhang Wen indeed had the ability to surpass seventh-level fighters without using combat energy? No! Not like that! It must be that this Almishus officer named Zhang Wen used some method to deceive my perception when using combat energy!
Gelt self-righteously came to this conclusion.
However, even though Gelt did not believe that Zhang Wen defeated Enkai by sealing his combat energy, he had to admit that he could not sense Zhang Wen’s combat energy from the previous fight. In other words, he did not have enough evidence to prove that Zhang Wen injured the Temis Academy’s students while using combat energy.
“What more is there to see?” Gelt coldly snorted with a green face, and without further ado, he led the Temis Academy’s students out of the gymnasium before Zhang Wen could leave.
Soon, the gymnasium was left with only the Almishus Academy delegation.
Yelena’s face was now red one moment and pale the next, extremely embarrassed.
As a member of the Almishus Academy delegation, Yelena had just stood on the side of the Temis Academy and criticized Zhang Wen without understanding the situation. If, in the end, it turned out that Zhang Wen was indeed in the wrong, Yelena would still have room for explanation. However, Yelena never expected that Zhang Wen would actually prove that he had the strength to defeat a seventh-level martial artist without using combat energy! Thinking back to her previous actions, Yelena herself felt that she was simply an idiot!
What made Yelena feel even more embarrassed was the joy of Galit and the other three girls.
During the previous fight between Zhang Wen and the more than twenty Temis students, all three girls had their eyes covered with gauze, so they saw nothing and had no direct impression of Zhang Wen’s strength in purely defeating a seventh-level martial artist with techniques. However, just now, when Zhang Wen made Enkai’s attack miss and tripped him into a humiliating fall, they saw it all clearly. If, at this point, Galit and the others could still suppress their curiosity, they wouldn’t be girls anymore!
Among the three girls, the one most curious about Zhang Wen’s martial arts skills was naturally Xiaoxi. Compared to Galit and Amelis, who were students of the spellcasting department, Xiaoxi, a naturally gifted martial artist, naturally had a deeper understanding of martial arts. This naturally made her more aware of how incredible it was for a martial artist with zero combat energy to defeat a seventh-level martial artist!
Unfortunately, before the curious Xiaoxi could get the chance to pester Zhang Wen with questions, Zhang Wen had already walked away silently with a cold face.
Staring blankly at Zhang Wen’s retreating figure for a while, the three stunned girls couldn’t help but gather together again. “Ah… That guy seems really angry,” Xiaoxi helplessly shook her head at the other two girls.
“Sigh! I knew it would end up like this…” Galit sighed deeply. Among the three girls, Galit was the last to agree to the prank on Zhang Wen and was now the most anxious.
“Flat-chested girl, there’s no use talking about it now!”
“What should we do?” Galit helplessly twisted her clothes, looking pitifully anxious.
“Who knows? Maybe in a couple of days that guy will calm down. I don’t think he’s the kind to hold a grudge!” Xiaoxi put her chin on one hand and nodded solemnly.
The idea of surrendering and allowing the Temis students to use them as hostages to lure Zhang Wen into a trap was originally proposed by Amelis. However, compared to Amelis’s half-joking attitude, Xiaoxi’s enthusiastic support was the most important reason their plan was finally implemented. To avoid complaints from her two companions, Xiaoxi felt she should downplay the seriousness of the trouble.
“Umm… Really?” Galit was still very uneasy and nervously looked up at Xiaoxi for confirmation.
“Of course…” Xiaoxi really wanted to pat her chest and loudly tell Galit “no problem.” But the red-haired girl was very depressed and shocked to discover that before the three words “no problem” could even leave her mouth, a strong sense of weakness mercilessly attacked her. The pitiful little girl immediately collapsed weakly into Galit’s arms.
“Xiao… Xiao Xi?” Galit was startled and hurriedly hugged Xiaoxi, looking at her anxiously.
“It’s nothing… It’s just that the ‘antidote’ that guy gave me at noon has worn off, and he has walked out of the sensing range. So I feel weak…” Xiaoxi really wanted to try to act as if “it’s nothing,” but the disappointment in her eyes and the red hair drooping down on her head couldn’t fool anyone.
Zhang Wen didn’t even consider Xiaoxi’s physical condition and walked out of the sensing range without looking back, clearly showing how angry he was with Xiaoxi and the others for their foolish actions.
“Umm…” Galit’s lips curved into a pitiful arc again. The girl’s expression, a mix of worry and shame, was so cute it made one want to tease her.
“Anyway… Let’s take Xiaoxi back first and figure out what to do next. I also think that Teacher Zhang is not the kind of person to hold a grudge. He was angry because he was worried about our safety,” Amelis finally comforted Galit a bit.
“Okay…” Galit also agreed. The three girls then supported each other and followed Zhang Wen’s footsteps back to the hotel where the Almishus Academy delegation was staying.
Before the three girls returned to the hotel, Zhang Wen had already returned to his room and closed the door. Xiaoxi and Amelis’s actions, along with those of the three girls, really angered Zhang Wen to the extreme. This was not merely because the three girls had caused Zhang Wen a lot of trouble themselves, but more because their actions made Zhang Wen feel scared even when thinking back!
To be honest, the three girls were really lucky this time! The “kidnappers” they encountered were not the Phoenix gang, but real Temis students. But, would they be so lucky next time? Or, if they met the Phoenix gang disguised as Temis students and still naively played their pranks, giving up resistance and letting the enemy take them away. What would the situation tonight turn into?
Even if Zhang Wen could still do his best to defeat the enemy after sealing his combat energy, what if the enemy put a knife to the three girls’ necks and threatened Zhang Wen with their lives? Zhang Wen couldn’t even bear to think about what choice he would make when facing such a terrible situation.
Sigh! Although these three little girls went a bit too far this time, if it weren’t for the Phoenix incident, I wouldn’t have to worry so much, right? In the end, it’s all my fault for causing too many troubles, making the students around me also live in anxiety?
Lying on the sofa in the hotel, Zhang Wen sighed deeply. Although Zhang Wen couldn’t be like the ancient gentlemen who could “reflect three times a day,” when facing troubles, he hadn’t fallen to the point of blaming all the responsibility on his students.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Just as Zhang Wen was gazing at the white ceiling, reflecting on his recent experiences, someone knocked on his door.
Zhang Wen didn’t need to open the door to know who it was—definitely the three girls, Galit and the others. However, Zhang Wen, wanting the three mischievous little girls to reflect properly, had no intention of getting up to answer the door. He let the knocking continue for a dozen times until the three girls, helplessly, gave up knocking. Then, he curled his lips into a satisfied smile.
Under Zhang Wen’s deliberately displayed “anger,” the three girls seemed to have indeed reflected sufficiently. After returning to their rooms, the three girls quickly quieted down. Even when other delegation students invited them to join a spell network battle, they all received clean and clear rejections. After all, on the spaceship, Galit and the others were the three who enjoyed and were most addicted to playing the spell network game!
In short, after experiencing all kinds of ups and downs and finally bringing the three girls back to the hotel safely, Zhang Wen finally got to enjoy the long-awaited peace. However, Zhang Wen only enjoyed this peace for half the night…
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