CH 18

Perhaps because Jiang Hong was the first friend that Jin made in the human world, he had a somewhat unreasonable affection for Jiang Hong.

“Have you learned any spells?” Zhang Xiting asked Jiang Hong. “Can you show us a simple fireball?”

“I can light a cigarette.” Jin turned back into human form and straightened his hair.

Jiang Hong explained the situation with his aptitude evaluation to his roommates, and all three of them looked shocked.

“What?” Zhang Xiting exclaimed.

“Is something wrong with your aptitude jade?” Jin asked. “Are you sure that’s your aptitude jade?”

“It’s impossible. Maybe it’s a problem with the teacher,” He Jian said.

Jiang Hong helplessly shrugged. Zhang Xiting was the first to react. “Well… it’s not a big deal. Even if you have no spiritual vein aptitude, it doesn’t prevent you from becoming an exorcist.”

Zhang Xiting said the same thing as Lu Xiu to comfort Jiang Hong.

“You guys!” The teacher urged from the sidelines. “It’s time for class!”

“In history, there were people who had no spiritual vein aptitude and still became leader of the exorcists.” Zhang Xiting put his arm around Jiang Hong’s shoulder, and went to join the others.

“Sit wherever you want!” The teacher was a man in his thirties, tall and athletic-looking, even taller than Jin. He wore a blue sports suit and sweatpants, had a whistle in his mouth, and Jiang Hong couldn’t tell if he was human or a demon.

“Let me introduce myself first. My name is Xia Xinghui,” the teacher said. “Originally, your tutor for this class was Ge Gentourukada, the head of the exorcists in Exorcist Committee. Most of you have heard of him, right? But he has something to attend to this semester. He went to guard your demon tribe’s sacred land, so I’ll be substituting for him. The exact return date is unknown. Maybe it will be after the Spring Festival!”

“I’m new here too,” Xia Xinghui continued. “I want to remind you all that under no circumstances should you harm humans or demons. Fighting is prohibited, and I will not help you plead your case!”

Everyone sat wherever they wanted without forming groups.bJiang Hong sat with Xiao Pi, and his three roommates sat in front of him. Jiang Hong didn’t know any spells and didn’t want to be used as a teaching tool.

Xia Xinghui began calling out names one by one. After finishing, he looked at the eager faces of the students and said, “I don’t know how much you’ve learned at home and you all seem to be itching for a fight, so let’s warm up with a match!”

“Okay!” Everyone cheered in unison.

Jiang Hong: “… “

Why are you all so violent! Does this class teach fighting? Jiang Hong thought to himself.

Xiao Pi said, “Oh no…I don’t know how to do anything!”

Jiang Hong said, “I’m in the same boat as you!”

Xiao Pi said, “You can summon Lu Xiu!”

Jiang Hong said, “This is class! How can I summon Lu Xiu? Then you can also summon your dad! He’s the headmaster!”

Xiao Pi said, “He won’t come! He already said he won’t help me. He said I was always second to last in military training, which embarrassed him…”

Jiang Hong said, “Well…maybe everyone will go a bit easier on you since you’re the headmaster’s son…when they’re beating you up?”

Xiao Pi: “…”

Xia Xinghui saw everyone standing up and starting to stretch and exercise, and felt a bit nervous. After all, one person fighting against a group of students wasn’t easy to handle.

Xia Xinghui made some Tai Chi movements with his hands, and then with a wave, a blue light flew out, circling around the central area and the four statues in it to form a twenty-meter square arena.

“Those called out, step up!” Xia Xinghui said. “One minute each. You can use any method you want, even your family’s inherited magic weapons or summoned creatures. As long as you force your opponent out of the circle, you win! The winner stays in the circle, the loser steps down! He Shanshan! Kuang Lei! Let’s begin! Take this seriously. I’ll rank you based on today’s performance, and you’ll have to fight another round at the end of the semester to test your overall progress!”

The students were in an uproar, immediately surrounding the arena to watch. Xia Xinghui blew his whistle, signaling the start.

“Oh no!” Xiao Pi’s face turned pale. “What should I do?”

“At least you’re a demon,” the skateboarder boy next to them said. “Don’t you have any special abilities?”

“Does eating count?” Xiao Pi said.

Jiang Hong shook his head and could only offer comfort. “You can do it.”

“Okay,” Xiao Pi said.

He was really too young. Jiang Hong felt he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and it must be tough to study at university at such a young age.

“You lost! Step down! Even one foot outside the circle counts! Pay attention! No grappling!”

“Step down!”

“Step down, step down, the minute is up!”

Under Xia Xinghui’s constant calls to “step down,” the students began fighting in an organized and rhythmic manner.

For a time, the stage was filled with dazzling lights, and the students used their spells and magic weapons, as well as summoned glowing swords and knives, as if they had been holding back for too long and were now letting it all out.

Where were these things usually hidden?! Jiang Hong witnessed a large number of violations of Newton’s three laws of energy conservation, and his worldview completely collapsed. That male student’s chopping knife seemed to magically appear out of thin air?!

And what about that guy? What’s going on?! He suddenly disappeared while they were fighting? Jiang Hong looked and realized that the four statues were actually moving. If a student used a dangerous spell or couldn’t control their power, the four legendary beast statues would come to life. The Black Tortoise would go to the center to neutralize spells, while Green Dragom and White Tiger would hold back the two sides of the fight. But everyone was measured in their actions; after all, there was no need for a fight to the death.

Even so, Jiang Hong was completely dazzled.

“Cheng stays on the field! Next up, Jiang Hong!” Xia Xinghui shouted.

Jiang Hong: “…………”

Xia Xinghui said, “Where’s Jiang Hong?”

The boy named Cheng stepped into the center of the arena and waited.

“Jiang Hong! Hurry up! Don’t waste everyone’s time!” Xia Xinghui said.

Jiang Hong raised his hand and, trembling, stood up and slowly walked towards the barrier.

“Can I use summoning?” Jiang Hong asked Xia Xinghui.

“Yes,” Xia Xinghui impatiently replied. “I have no objections to what you summon. Hurry up!”

Jiang Hong was hoping that he would say “no,” so that he could say, “I only know how to summon, so let’s not fight.”

Xia Xinghui pushed him into the barrier.

“Wait a minute!” Jiang Hong started panicking, but he was already pushed in.

Cheng was patient and fist-bumped him.

“We seem to be in the same class,” Jiang Hong recognized his classmate.

“Yes,” Cheng said.

“Please be gentle later,” Jiang Hong said.

“Okay… okay,” Cheng said.

Xia Xinghui said, “Start.”

Cheng made a gesture, and Jiang Hong said, “I’ll just go out of the circle on my own!”

“What are you doing?” Xia Xinghui said, “Go back! Who would forfeit before a fight?! When you become an exorcist in the future and face danger, are you going to run away?”

The people on the sidelines watched Jiang Hong quietly. Zhang Xiting said, “Just use it! What are you afraid of?”

“Come on,” Cheng said, “we’re just sparring.”

Xia Xinghui：“Are you studying summoning? Why don’t you summon something for everyone to see? You can do it, don’t back down!”

“You should summon something!” the students on the sidelines shouted. “Don’t be a chicken!”

Cheng suddenly moved forward and Jiang Hong finally had no choice but to say, “I only know this one – Lu Xiu! Lu Xiu!” Jiang Hong grabbed his protective charm and kept shouting, “Lu Xiu! Come quickly!”

The venue was quiet and three seconds later, nothing happened.

Cheng was confused.

“I’m here. I knew you would summon me in today’s class and was waiting outside,” Lu Xiu said loudly outside the fence. Hebeffortlessly jumped over the half-meter high fence, walked to the center of the field, and stepped into the barrier circle.

Xia Xinghui: “…”

“……….” Everyone else was silent.

Jiang Hong was moved. He looked at Lu Xiu, but Lu Xiu didn’t look back at him and calmly walked to his side.

“What are the rules today?” Lu Xiu asked Xia Xinghui. “Are we going together or one on one?”

“…” Xia Xinghui was speechless.

Lu Xiu then turned to Cheng and said, “You go first.”

Cheng saluted and didn’t seem to know who Lu Xiu was. “Then please pardon my intrusion!”

Immediately, Cheng turned into a shadow and rushed towards Lu Xiu, but Lu Xiu didn’t even move. An invisible aura appeared in front of him and he effortlessly bounced Cheng away!

Suddenly, the venue was in an uproar. Not everyone knew that Jiang Hong’s summoned creature was a… graduate student, and even fewer people knew who Lu Xiu was, but the fact that this guy in a black T-shirt was so powerful instantly aroused everyone’s competitiveness.

“Teacher Xia,” Lu Xiu said to Xia Xinghui. “I have class next period.”

“Oh, okay! Next one! Chi Zijian, come up!” Xia Xinghui immediately said, “Jiang Hong stays on the field!”

The following competition changed from who could stand to the end, to who could withstand Lu Xiu’s attacks for as long as possible.

“…” Jiang Hong was speechless.

“Pay attention!” Xia Xinghui even used Lu Xiu as an example. One student who went up to the stage used all his strength, his hands releasing an electric light, attempting to entangle Lu Xiu, but Lu Xiu only used one hand to push forward, releasing a blue light. The two lights intertwined in the air like tangible objects.

Xia Xinghui seized this rare opportunity and ran to the point where the blue and electric lights clashed, explaining loudly, “The balance of power! It appeared! When the strength of two sides is not far apart, a stalemate may occur. At this time, you can try to break the balance of power. Once the balance is broken…”

Xia Xinghui’s fingers emitted light and lightly tapped the two entangled energies. With a loud bang, a shockwave erupted in the arena. Lu Xiu immediately pushed out his other hand and created a shield to resist the impact. The other student was thrown out of the arena.

“See that?” Xia Xinghui said, “The important thing is not to stand in the direct line of energy, and you’ll be fine! But breaking the balance of power must be done with extreme caution!”

“So cool!” whispered the students on the sidelines, both boys and girls. Lu Xiu mostly stood still, only speaking a few times in his incomprehensible dragon language, pushing his opponents out of the ring.

“Next, Zhang Xiting!”

“Uh…” Jiang Hong said.

Lu Xiu was expressionless as he watched Zhang Xiting cast his spell. One second, two seconds passed.

“What are you doing?” Lu Xiu asked.

“…” Zhang Xiting said nothing.

“That’s hypnosis,” Jiang Hong explained, “It may not work on dragons.”

“Oh, Endless Dream,” Lu Xiu nodded and said, “I felt it. It’s quite good.”

Zhang Xiting sighed helplessly and retreated.

When Jin appeared, he transformed into his original form and rushed towards Jiang Hong. However, Lu Xiu was faster and blocked the attack for Jiang Hong. He lightly pressed his palm into Jin’s side. Jin tumbled and fell out of the air.

Next, everyone took turns casting spells at Jiang Hong, and now the target was him. He only managed to survive thanks to Lu Xiu’s protection.

“Great!” Xia Xinghui said, “You finally realize it! When a summoning beast appears, the first thing you should do is not to fight the powerful summoning beast, but to immediately attack its master…”

“I’m not his master!” Jiang Hong trembled, looking at Lu Xiu blocking all the spells for him.

“I’m just making an analogy!” Xia Xinghui shouted.

Lu Xiu glanced at Jiang Hong, then let out a roar, and swept away the arena.

“Anyone else?” Lu Xiu asked. The last person left the arena.

Jiang Hong managed to hold on until the end, thinking to himself, “I told you not to ask me to summon, but you insisted.”

“That’s all for today,” Xia Xinghui said.

“I’m going back. Don’t wait for me for lunch, Jiang Hong. I have something to do,” Lu Xiu said, with a meaningful glance at Jiang Hong.

“Thank you!” Jiang Hong was deeply moved and felt that Lu Xiu was the true “master”.