Chapter Twenty-One
-Xiao Lan-
The three of us were thrown into a washing machine, spinning around in Teacher Wu's magic, until we finally collapsed onto the grass of the college training field with a "thud." Ji had a mouthful of grass, Panda lay on the ground in a daze, and I, while suppressing the urge to vomit, shakily got up from the ground. The next second, I collapsed and couldn't get up anymore.
"I'm so dizzy..." I groaned, reaching out my hand. "My head is so dizzy... Is this what it feels like for Shaohan to get motion sickness?"
Thorn raised his head from the grass, a leaf still dangling from his mouth, and mumbled, "Big Mustard?" He reached out to pull me, but was bumped by Panda, who wasn't standing properly, and the two of them tumbled together.
I lay on the ground for a long time to recover before the churning in my stomach subsided a little. As soon as I propped myself up, I heard a soft hissing sound—not the playful fighting of pandas and thorns, but the sound of something slippery crawling on the grass.
"What the hell..." I squinted, and when I looked up, I was shocked and gasped.
Outside the barbed wire fence at the edge of the training ground, countless cursed spirits crawled about. These creatures looked like enlarged versions of slugs, covered in slime, their scarlet eyes fixed on us, emitting a sickening gurgling sound.
"Damn it! Teacher Wu didn't say that Xia Youjie would put things in the college!" I frantically reached for the Instant Sword, which was also lying on the grass not far away.
Panda: "These cursed spirits should be kept by Xia Youjie in the Panxing Sect."
"What the hell!" I muttered in dissatisfaction. "Aren't these cursed spirits a bit too disgusting? Does Xia Youjie really not have any weird fetishes like a love for ugly cursed spirits?"
"Never mind how disgusting it is, let's do it!" Panda finally got up from the ground and swung his paw at the nearest cursed spirit. His cursed power had a kind of simple and blunt force. With a "smack", the slug cursed spirit was directly smashed and exploded, black slime splattering all over us.
"Damn it! Panda, can't you aim properly?! I swear I'm going to buy new clothes after this mission is over!" I felt like my swearing level was off the charts today. I casually wiped the sticky mucus off my face, and my stomach started churning again. But now was clearly not the time to gag—because another cursed spirit was already crawling over, its sticky body dragging along, its scarlet eyes filled with greed.
I gripped the Instantaneous Sword with my backhand, and spiritual energy surged into the blade through my arm, instantly condensing fine frost on the tassel: "Long-lasting Technique, Second Step: Snow-Covered Head!"
With a light touch of my toes, translucent ice crystals spread across the grass, freezing the cursed spirit's body. I swung my sword in response, and with a "whoosh," the frozen cursed spirit was cleaved in two, turning into black smoke and dissipating.
"That's better." I breathed a sigh of relief. "This way, they won't attack everyone around them indiscriminately."
"Explode!" Thorn suddenly spoke, his deep incantation exploding with blue magical power. The few cursed spirits closest to him seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, turning into black smoke and dissipating.
"As expected of a spellcaster!" I took two steps back and gave a thumbs up. "Amazing! Thorn!"
Ji smirked at me, held up two fingers and gave me a "V" sign.
...
Aren't there a lot too many cursed spirits on the grass...?
"Did they bring the entire Panxing Sect's inventory here?" I swung my sword to cleave aside the charging cursed spirits, ice crystals trembling on the blade. "What exactly is Xia Youjie trying to do? Are they trying to overwhelm us with this stuff?"
Thorn didn't speak, but took a deep breath and popped a throat lozenge into his mouth. Blue cursed energy surged around him; he was already exhausted from dealing with such a large number of cursed spirits.
"Cover me, Panda!" I could tell at a glance that he was gathering his strength. He pushed his spiritual power to the limit, and in an instant, his sword wove an ice wall in front of him, forcefully blocking the surging tide of cursed spirits. The ice wall creaked as it was hit, and its surface was instantly covered with cracks. It seemed that it wouldn't last long.
"Understood!" Panda roared, his massive body slamming forward, forcefully pushing the horde of cursed spirits far away. He coated his claws with all his cursed power, clenched his fists, and slammed them into the ground.
Just then, Thorn finally spoke: "Disappear!"
The blue magical power exploded like a tsunami, and wherever it passed, all the cursed spirits turned into black smoke instantly, like burning paper balls. Even the cursed spirits outside the barbed wire fence in the distance were not spared, disintegrating in large swaths as if they had never existed.
"Wow, that's amazing! That's amazing!" I blinked my starry eyes, looking at the clean grass. "This is the power of a spellcaster! You know, Thorn, the same effect of spellcasting works where we're from. Speaking of which, my second senior sister knows spellcasting magic. I'll definitely introduce you to her if I ever have the chance!"
I muttered to myself for a while, but I still didn't hear the familiar rice ball language. I blinked, turned around and looked behind me. Ji was squatting on the ground, his face pale, unable to say a word.
"Are you alright?" I exclaimed, startled. "There's a vending machine next to you, would you like some water?"
Thorn shook his head and pulled a second throat lozenge from his pocket. His fingers trembled as he poured the lozenge. The continuous use of wide-range incantations had put a tremendous strain on his throat; he had probably gritted his teeth to say "Disappear," and now even swallowing must hurt.
"I'm going to buy water!" Panda noticed something was wrong and turned to run towards the vending machine.
I crouched down and gently patted Thorn's back. Thorn finally caught his breath, put a lemon-flavored throat lozenge in my palm, and mumbled, "Seaweed."
"Ah, it's okay, it's okay, leave the rest to us." I popped a lemon-flavored throat lozenge into my mouth. "You're asking about Maki... Don't worry, we'll definitely protect Maki. Just rest quietly."
Thorn stared at me, and I stared at Thorn; we looked at each other blankly.
I:"……"
Me: "...Maki?"
Damn it! I knew I'd forgotten something! I forgot Maki!
Maki! right! Maki!
"I'm going to find Maki!" I stepped onto my Instant Sword and dashed off the playground. From a distance, I noticed the panda who had just bought water and was running towards Thorn. "Panda—I'll go find Maki first—Thorn is yours—"
Panda gave me an OK sign from afar.
The wind, carrying bits of grass, brushed against my cheek as I wandered aimlessly around the campus on my Instantaneous Sword, like a headless fly. My gaze swept over the ruins—damn it, Xia Youjie actually blew up the dormitory! How am I going to sleep tonight?!
Maki wasn't in the infirmary, nor in the ruins of the dormitory. I wandered around aimlessly, and when I looked up, I saw the shadow of a black coat standing out starkly in the sunset on the rooftop of the teaching building.
Wow, Xia Youjie.
But I don't want to go up against him. Who remembers my persona of going into a negative mode whenever I fight a strong opponent?
My first instinct was to turn and run, but the Instantaneous Sword seemed to have a mind of its own; the tassel suddenly tightened, forcefully pulling me towards the rooftop—No, no, no! I struggled desperately. Spiritual energy surged wildly within my body, and my limbs began to weaken—it was over, the signs of negative mode were creeping in.
"Tsk, you're fast." Xia Youjie's voice came from the rooftop, so calm that no emotion could be detected. "Unfortunately, your sword doesn't seem to want to run."
I'm going to die, ...... I'm definitely going to die!
Help me, help me, help me... I'm still young, I don't want to die!
I gritted my teeth, gripped the sword hilt tightly, and forced myself to look up. He was standing on the edge of the rooftop, his black overcoat billowing in the wind, the prayer beads in his hand spinning slowly. A few steps away from him, Maki was kneeling on the ground, her long sword stuck in a crack in the bricks beside her, a large gash in her uniform sleeve, blood dripping down her arm, clearly having just been in a fight.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was fortunate that Xia Youjie wasn't in mortal danger.
"What did you do to her?" My voice trembled uncontrollably, not out of fear, but because my body was instinctively resisting the fight. Once I went into passive mode, I barely had the strength to hold my sword, let alone protect Maki.
Xia Youjie didn't answer, but looked down at Zhenxi: "The abandoned son of the Zen family is more capable than I imagined." There was no sarcasm in his tone, only an almost indifferent assessment, "Unfortunately, he's just a monkey."
"Shut up!" Maki suddenly looked up, bracing herself against her long sword, struggling to stand up, but collapsed back down due to exhaustion. "Xiao Lan, don't worry about me, just go."
Leave? How could I possibly leave? I took a deep breath and popped a Mind-Clearing Pill, which I had brought from the cultivation world, into my mouth. The pill dissolved on my tongue, and a cool spiritual energy slid down my throat, finally suppressing that negative impulse.
"Ah..." I pretended to be normal and tried to talk to Maki. "If I abandon my injured friend and run away alone, I'll be scolded to death by my master when I get back."
"Chang Ning Jue, Fourth Step, Ice Lock Reins." I chanted the incantation softly, my spiritual energy flowing down the sword tassel and condensing into several ice chains on the rooftop, aimed directly at Xia Youjie's ankles. Even if I couldn't defeat him, I had to at least hold him off, giving Zhenxi a chance to escape.
Xia Youjie dodged to the side, and a strand of magical energy flicked from his fingertips, entangling the ice chain. With a gentle tug, he shattered it. He raised an eyebrow, his disdain barely concealed: "With this level of magical power, trying to stop me is just wishful thinking."
So annoying, so annoying, so annoying...
Help me, help me, help me...
I took a deep breath and tried to control my trembling hands.
Just then, Shao Han suddenly shouted from downstairs: "Xiao Lan! How dare you start fighting without waiting for me!"
I turned my head and saw Shaohan dragging Deng Xiqi out of the stairwell. Deng Xiqi's monorimimone was askew, and she was still struggling: "Let go of me! I haven't found the best angle to attack yet—"
"Perfect timing!" I cried out as if I'd grabbed a lifeline, and quickly called out to them, "Xia Youjie's here! Maki's here too!"
Shaohan's eyes lit up, and she pushed Deng Xiqi forward with her backhand: "Go!"
Deng Xiqi stumbled from the push, but after regaining her balance, she suddenly pulled a metal ball from her bag and threw it to the ground with a "bang." Smoke instantly filled most of the rooftop. Xia Youjie's magical energy fluctuations paused in the smoke, clearly not expecting such a turn of events.
"Let's go!" Shaohan rushed over and grabbed me, then shouted at Zhenxi, "Hey, hey, hey, you're usually so arrogant with me, why are you suddenly like this?"
"This is so annoying!" Maki leaned on her long sword and stood up abruptly. "You're the one who's usually so arrogant!"
Before the smoke had even cleared, the rooftop door was suddenly flung open with tremendous force. Cursed energy surged in like a tsunami, carrying an undeniable sense of oppression—it wasn't Xia Youjie's, nor anyone else's.
"Summer oil".
A familiar voice.
A clear, cold voice rang out, piercing through the smoke and reaching my eardrums. I instinctively dodged to the side and saw a boy in a college uniform standing at the door, his short black hair fluttering slightly in the wind, a ring clutched in his hand, and the magical power around him as thick as ink that could not be dissolved.
I blinked, still not quite understanding how the story was unfolding: "Yoku sama ta... Yuta? Where did Yuta sneak out from? Huh? Isn't he still missing?"
“You shouldn’t have asked me that,” Shaohan pointed at Deng Xiqi next to her with her thumb, “because this is what this guy did.”
“Oh, Deng Xiqi. Oh.” I stared at Deng Xiqi meaningfully, “Speaking of which, we still have a score to settle…”
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