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Chapter 420 - Chang Xinyuan's Revenge!

"Thinking to contend with Qiao Ting, looks like this brat won't be doing well." If his speed couldn't keep up with Qiao Ting's, even having all the strength in the world would be useless. The principal's face revealed some regret — it was so hard to finally find someone who chose close combat, but he turned out to be such an extreme person.

Tang Yu's gaze, however, was on Li Lanfeng, who was calmly observing all this from the side-lines. Compared to this Lingtian No.2 who had just appeared, Tang Yu felt Lingtian No.11 deserved more attention — as long as this person was around, Tang Yu could not be certain that Lingtian No.2 would be unable to threaten Qiao Ting like the principal had said. The cool-headed ruthlessness Lingtian No.11 had displayed previously in battle made Tang Yu concerned despite himself.

The principal had also noticed the focus of Tang Yu's attention. He cuffed his own head in a slight reprimand and said with a wry smile, "Ok, fine, I actually forgot about this person. Looks like I spoke too early. As long as that monster brat has this teammate around, it's hard to say for sure that that brat won't be any threat to Qiao Ting."

Qiao Ting patiently exchanged two or three blows with Qi Long and felt that he had thoroughly figured Qi Long out. The other's close combat skills were very strong, but he was disadvantaged by the speed of his mecha. If this fellow before him had been operating a special-class mecha, perhaps the danger to him would be far greater, but for now ... Qiao Ting did not think that this Lingtian No.2 would have any chance to get close to him and successfully self-destruct like the other members of Lingtian had.

Having come to a decision, Qiao Ting did not hesitate any longer. Facing yet another of Qi Long's naively fearless attacks, a faint sneer emerged on Qiao Ting's lips. He abruptly raised his finger-speed — on his control panel, his fingers were no longer visible on his hands, replaced by layers of blurred shadows. That's right, Qiao Ting was planning to directly kill off this newly arrived Lingtian No.2. For this purpose, he had brought out his highest finger-speed, sending the high-frequency blades in his hands spinning into a wild dance ...

Right then, even the spectators could not see clearly where Qiao Ting's attacks would really land. Just when everyone believed Lingtian No.2 was done for, in a swathe of shadows, the clanging of collisions could be heard ...

Qi Long, who seemed to be moving in slow motion, actually managed to block all of Qiao Ting's attacks. All the spectators just could not comprehend what they had seen — how the hell had this Lingtian No.2 known for certain where Qiao Ting was going to attack?

No one knew that Qi Long's innate talent was Animal Instinct; his beast-like intuition could help him determine where the true danger was coming from even if his eyes could not. Already used to relying on this instinct of his, Qi Long did not hesitate to swing his sword towards the spots his intuition dictated.

"D*mmit!" Qiao Ting saw all his attacks being blocked miraculously by Lingtian No.2. Foiled once more, Qiao Ting could no longer suppress the rage in his heart. This rage made his hand speed jump once more, and the already stacked afterimages of his fingers actually turned into nothingness.

Qi Long suddenly felt a frisson of danger flash through his heart. Without conscious thought, he instantly piloted his mecha to dodge. At this time, the weakness of the speed of his mecha was officially exposed — although Qi Long's reaction time was swift, he was still unable to completely evade Qiao Ting's unexpected attack due to the drag of his mecha's speed.

There was a massive "boom", and the remaining right leg on Qiao Ting's mecha kicked out savagely at Qi Long's waist. The powerful force behind the kick sent Qi Long's mecha flying — Qiao Ting was just about to chase his advantage and follow up when a sense of danger crept over his heart once more. His leaping mecha jerked to a sudden stop. Not just that, Qiao Ting's entire mecha tilted backwards, the two high-frequency blades in his hands raised high in a cross.

"Thunk!" A muffled sound rang out in the air. The spectating cadets could even see the range of the energy shockwaves the mainframe had specially simulated for this collision. Four high-frequency blades clashed fiercely, causing the entire space around them to be distorted ...

It turned out that Li Lanfeng, who had merely been watching all this while, had finally made his move. While Qiao Ting had been concentrating on dealing with Qi Long, Li Lanfeng's attack came silently out of nowhere. If Qiao Ting had not been an ace operator, without the unique danger senses ace operators had, perhaps Li Lanfeng's sneak attack would have worked.

Li Lanfeng's attack was seen through by Qiao Ting and failed. However, due to his interference, Qi Long escaped with his life. Anyone with eyes could see that if Li Lanfeng had not acted then, Qi Long, who had already lost his balance, would definitely have died under Qiao Ting's purposeful pursuit.

"This Lingtian No.11 ... his judgment is impeccable," Tang Yu could not help but praise. Even though he was still quite a distance away from Qiao Ting in terms of strength, perhaps even incomparable to those other senior cadets in the academy who had long advanced to special-class operator status, this precise judgment of his had made him the one and only member who had managed to wrangle with Qiao Ting for so long on the field. It could even be said that those Lingtian members from before were able to harm Qiao Ting with their self-destructs largely because he had successfully interfered with Qiao Ting's judgment.

"An assassin-type mecha master, no, he should also be a strategist-type mecha master. With such a person in a battle clan, the clan's survival rates on the battlefield will be significantly increased." The principal's expression was solemn, but his eyes could not hide his delight. He was very happy for the son of his old friend for obtaining such an outstanding member.

It should be known that, other than a powerful leader with great leadership, a perfect battle clan also needed various other roles to be filled. A strategist-type mecha master was in fact the second most important character for a battle clan to have — even more important than the typically most valued primary fighter mecha. Unfortunately, many battle clans these days tended to overlook this, blindly looking for powerful mecha masters to fill their ranks. They did not understand that a truly strong battle clan was not powerful just because of its combat power, but because each of the positions and roles within the battle clan were filled well and could work together seamlessly.

While Tang Yu and the principal were astonished at Li Lanfeng's brilliant performance, the other spectators were not thinking so deeply. Although they too were amazed at how accurately Li Lanfeng had timed his attack, they only felt that Li Lanfeng must have noticed the danger Qi Long was in and had acted at this moment to save him. Perhaps even they would have been able to do that if they had been the one on the field.

It had to be said that the students' vision was so much weaker compared to that of the principal and Instructor Tang Yu. The students could not see at all that it really was not as simple a thing as they believed to grasp the timing of an attack so accurately. Moreover, Li Lanfeng's attack had contained a certain degree of stealth — it was clear to see that Li Lanfeng had prepared well for this attack; he had not acted hurriedly just because Qi Long was in danger.

However, Qiao Ting was after all Qiao Ting. An ace operator was indeed very formidable — he had still managed to break Li Lanfeng's near perfect attack.

After Li Lanfeng had failed in his attack, everyone thought that he would retreat quickly to maintain his distance from Qiao Ting like he had before.

However, they were mistaken once again. This time, Li Lanfeng did not choose to withdraw — from both sides of his mecha's rib area, two chains suddenly shot out at Qiao Ting's two thighs.

"There it is!" Chang Xinyuan, who had been watching the fight from the audience seats all this while, saw this scene unfold, and his face flushed with joy. He could not help but clench his fists briefly. Even though he had not been able to go on the field to fight against Leiting personally due to his level being too low, Chang Xinyuan had not sat idly by while the others fought against this Thunder King Qiao Ting who had oppressed him for four years and had almost forced him to drop out against his will.

When Li Lanfeng had come to him the night before the challenge fight and had asked him to design something for him, Chang Xinyuan had been completely unable to refuse. The two of them had spent the whole night researching and had finally designed these two chains coming from the mecha's rib area. These two chains were not offensive weapons — they were only capture devices, like how a lasso had been created in order to capture wild horses. These two chains designed by Chang Xinyuan and Li Lanfeng were created precisely for the purpose of capturing Qiao Ting's mecha.

The second tactic that Ling Lan had created received Chang Xinyuan's full acknowledgement. He too felt that only this tactic would give them a chance to win this challenge if they were going to rely on their advanced mecha warriors. However, to deal the greatest amount of damage to Qiao Ting's mecha, they would need to stick as close to the other as possible when they self-destructed. But Qiao Ting just so happened to be an ace operator — he would never give the Lingtian members the chance to get close. Perhaps out of his disdain for them at the start, they might be able to take advantage of that and succeed, but after Qiao Ting suffered some losses at their hands, it would become absolutely impossible to once again get close to him.

In order to solve this problem, Chang Xinyuan and Li Lanfeng had come up with this idea. In order to catch Qiao Ting by surprise, this design had only been implemented on Li Lanfeng's mecha. After all, Li Lanfeng's mecha was a special-class mecha — if he managed to stick close to Qiao Ting and self-destruct, the damage dealt to Qiao Ting's mecha would also be the highest value possible.

And now, this modification which had taken the two of them a whole night to create had finally appeared on the battlefield. Chang Xinyuan's emotions were running high, but he also had mixed feelings at this moment. If Boss Lan had not invited him to join the Lingtian Battle Clan, he would never have had the chance to use his own designs, his own modifications, to successfully take revenge on Qiao Ting. Once, Chang Xinyuan had believed that it was almost impossible for him to seek revenge on Qiao Ting.

The two chains from Li Lanfeng's mecha had truly appeared rather suddenly and bizarrely — after all, standard mecha could never have something like this. Qiao Ting had neglected this possibility — by the time he noticed them, the chains had already wrapped themselves around both legs of his mecha. Besides that, both chains actually ended in curved hooks. After wrapping themselves around Qiao Ting's legs, they automatically hooked themselves on his thighs with a snapping sound, securely fastened.

Seeing this, what doubts could the spectators have? "Lingtian No.11 is about to self-destruct!" In near unison, the spectators cried out. The Lingtian Mecha Clan's self-destruct tactic was displayed in all its glory now.

"D*mn, you actually still had this trick hidden away." Qi Long had finally regained control of his mecha at this time. When he saw this unexpected attack from Li Lanfeng's mecha, he instantly understood what this was. Extremely pleased and surprised, he threw away the giant sword in his hands and lunged.

This was such a great opportunity! If he did not rush over to self-destruct now, then it would truly be a disgrace to the hellish training his boss had given him all these years. Qi Long was well aware that the opportune window to self-destruct was fleeting — there was no time at all for him to hesitate.

Trapped securely by Li Lanfeng, unable to break free immediately, Qiao Ting saw Qi Long charge right up to him to hug him close, and Qiao Ting was livid, shouting, "Let me go!"

This was the first time Qiao Ting had felt so humiliated. The rage and frustration of knowing that he actually had the strength and skills to finish off all the enemies before him, but could only wait for this tragedy to happen because he had been trapped by the opponent due to his own carelessness, was almost enough to make him faint.

Chapter 421 - Tactical Genius!

"Qiao Ting is done for!"

Seeing Qiao Ting being surrounded by the two mecha, all the spectating students thought the same. Those supporting the Leiting Mecha Clan felt overwhelmed with despair. Up against a pincer-style self-destruct attack from an advanced mecha and special-class mecha, even an ace mecha probably could not withstand the horrific force produced. Not to mention, Qiao Ting's mecha had already received damage many times prior to this from the repeated tactical self-destructs of the Lingtian members ...

Quicker than words could say, two intense explosions rang out on the battlefield.

The three entangled mecha were instantly turned into a humongous fireball due to this massive explosive force. After that, this giant fireball smashed into the ground, sending up a spray of sand as well as quite a significant number of broken mecha parts and armour fragments.

Only after the yellow sand had settled did the spectating students see that a deep pit of about 10-metres deep and 100-metres wide had appeared in this desert land. And right in the centre of the pit, there was a lump of still burning wreckage ...

"Qiao Ting is not dead!" Heaven knows who yelled out. All the spectators pinned their stares on the burning wreckage, their hearts beginning to race and they could not help but hold their breath, waiting for the mainframe to announce the final verdict.

The mainframe indicated that Leiting still had one member left active; this proved that Qiao Ting currently still had not died and been kicked out of the battlefield. Everyone began to guess at Qiao Ting's current condition — was he already so severely injured that he was merely holding onto his last breath, or had he been lucky enough to survive with some strength to continue fighting?

"Lingtian and Leiting ... now it's finally one on one." The spectators noticed how many people Leiting had left, but they also noted Lingtian's information. They discovered that there was also only one person remaining in the Lingtian Mecha Clan, and that was that regiment commander of Lingtian's who had been eliminating all the other Leiting members elsewhere, who had never faced Qiao Ting thus far in this fight.

The spectating cadets began to murmur in discussion. Li Lanfeng's and Qi Long's successful self-destructs must have dealt heavy damage to Qiao Ting. Furthermore, Qiao Ting had already been damaged from the successive self-destructs of the other Lingtian members before ... after all that, would the present Qiao Ting be able to match up against Lingtian's regiment commander who was still in peak condition?

"Say, do you all think Qiao Ting will lose to Lingtian?" Right then, most students were not optimistic about Qiao Ting's and Leiting's chances. This was completely opposite to what they had all believed at the start.

This question spread across the entire venue, making the entire stadium noisy. Many people even predicted that Qiao Ting was truly doomed this time, because they believed that no matter how strong a mecha was, it was impossible for it to be unscathed after suffering the self-destructs of a special-class operator and an advanced mecha warrior at the same time. Perhaps, Qiao Ting was already supremely fortunate for keeping his life — it was very likely that Qiao Ting's ace mecha had already lost all combat capability.

Of course, many of the senior cadets were still very supportive of Qiao Ting and the Leiting Mecha Clan — they still believed that the ace mecha operator Qiao Ting would not be taken down by this kind of barbaric self-destruct tactic of Lingtian's. Qiao Ting would definitely counterattack from these desperate depths and wrest victory back from the jaws of defeat.

Unconsciously, for the first time, phrases to do with 'defeat' or 'desperation' were used on the unbeatable myth of Qiao Ting. This showed that the seniors were actually uncertain too. They did not want to see the juniors successfully overcoming the seniors; they wanted to retain the suppression of seniors on the juniors. However, the reality was brutal — Qiao Ting had not projected his usual aggressive and domineering manner. Instead, he was being suppressed by the junior students. Now up to this point, the situation was extremely unfavourable — this caused the seniors who were supporting Leiting to be unable to keep calm.

Just when everyone was deep in discussion, that hunk of steel in the crater shuddered and then sprang into the sky. This action dislodged the flaming debris surrounding its core, and as the debris was shed to fall back into the crater below ...

Finally, the core revealed itself — it was Qiao Ting's ace mecha. However, at this time, this originally majestic ace mecha was incredibly dilapidated. Strictly speaking, it could not even be described as humanoid anymore.

Its entire right arm had been blasted off completely, revealing sparking wires of all sorts, and its head had also been half ruined by the explosion, leaving only half a face behind. Lower down, both legs were completely gone, and on its chest area, an extremely thick steel plate had been shattered. Several pieces had chipped off to expose the countless intricate wiring and parts behind it.

The only thing worth being thankful about is that the waist area where the cockpit was located was surprisingly not much damaged. This was also why Qiao Ting had been able to survive and why his mecha was still able to move around freely. After all, the cockpit was the true lifeblood of a mecha — as long as the cockpit was fine, even the most broken down mecha would still have some fight left in it.

"It's Qiao Ting! As expected of an ace mecha. Actually able to endure even after suffering all those self-destructs." The spectating students could not help but be envious. The sheer strength of an ace made their eyes burn with want. And many students who had already achieved advanced mecha warrior level and above secretly vowed to themselves that they would definitely advance to ace operator level. Ace mecha were clearly divine protective artefacts!

At this time, the administrators still did not know that their original god-creation plan to motivate the students to grow stronger and become more passionate in their mecha studies had come to fruition, albeit not in the way they had intended. Under the frenzied self-destructs of Lingtian, Qiao Ting had persevered, inspiring the students.

This display reminiscent of an undying cockroach gave students a much deeper understanding of ace mecha. They clearly realised now that, on the battlefield, only ace mecha could guarantee one's survival. For the sake of their own safety, the students were eager to obtain their own ace mecha before entering an army division. This would push them to begin training their mecha control skills fervently, setting off a tenacious mecha training craze in the military academy.

This craze would not die down in the following few years. This made the First Men's Military Academy have a constant string of Qiao Ting's record being broken in those years — every year, there would be one to two students who succeeded in advancing to become ace operators.

The most horrifying would be Ling Lan's year — there were actually as many as five people who managed to advance to become ace operators. The moment this number emerged, the entire Huaxia Federation was astounded. This also reaffirmed the First Men's Military Academy's spot as the number one military school in the Federation.

Qiao Ting piloted his mecha to fly in the air. He swiftly checked on the condition of his mecha, and as he scanned down the A.I.'s report, a trace of bitterness could be seen on his face. His mecha's condition was really as bad as he imagined it to be; its overall damage rate was already up to 48%. The mecha's initially abundant energy had also been drained significantly in order to protect the mecha's main core — there was only 30% left. Meanwhile, in terms of weapons, aside from that single high-frequency blade in his left hand, he had nothing else.

Qiao Ting looked at the high-frequency blade in his hand and found that it was already very beat up due to the explosions and probably could not be used as a weapon anymore. He rapidly scanned his surroundings and soon discovered a beam saber which had belonged to god knows who lying about 300 metres away. Qiao Ting's heart was seized by joy. He operated his mecha over and with a quick swoop, at the same time he let go of his high-frequency blade, he picked up the beam saber from the ground.

Beam saber in hand, he checked its remaining power and found that it was still quite sufficient. Qiao Ting's heart settled — even if Lingtian's regiment commander Ling Lan appeared now, with this beam saber, he had the confidence to fight the other.

"Even with a half-destroyed mecha, I will let everyone in the academy know that defeating me, Qiao Ting, is impossible." Qiao Ting gripped the beam saber in his hands tightly, swearing determinedly in his heart. After fighting for so hard and so long, now there was only one enemy left, Qiao Ting would not allow himself to lose this challenge fight at this last moment and become someone else's stepping stone.

Honour could only belong to him, Qiao Ting! Qiao Ting's eyes carried a touch of cold as he thought about the yet to appear Lingtian regiment commander, Ling Lan. He could not hide the ill feeling he had towards the other — for destroying the glorious image he had painstakingly cultivated, he would never let the other go.

Qiao Ting forced down the killing intent in his heart and swiftly conducted some minor adjustments and repairs on his mecha. He was very thankful that this was Mecha World where he could use some emergency means to improve his mecha's condition.

Focused on his mecha, Qiao Ting did not notice right then that several hundred metres behind him, a black mecha had already silently appeared in mid-air and appeared to be looking at him with an indifferent expression.

"Ah, he's here!" The spectators noticed and exclaimed in unison.

In contrast to the sorry state of Qiao Ting's mecha, the mecha of the Lingtian regiment commander seemed so bright and perfect, as if he had never been fighting at all.

"I just went back to review Lingtian No.1's battles. Holy sh*t, they were all one-hit kills! That final fight, against three Leiting mecha, wow ... it was still a one-hit kill?! How can this be? How did he do it?" The students who had been following Qiao Ting's fight all this time only thought of looking up the Lingtian regiment commander's fights now. When they viewed that final fight, they saw how the other had eliminated three Leiting members simultaneously with one move. This godly battle record was unbelievable. Even Qiao Ting had been unable to accomplish that when he had been up against three Lingtian members on his end who were operating advanced mecha just like the Leiting members.

"Watch closely. He did not face them from the front. This Lingtian regiment commander is very sneaky. Every fight was an ambush, where he hid from the opponent and assassinated them with a sneak attack ..." Those students who had studied Ling Lan's fights carefully could not help but speak up to remind those exclaiming students.

Chided, those students began reviewing the fights again from start to finish and found that it was indeed as those people had said. The Lingtian regiment commander was just too sly, often hiding in places no one would have considered. In particular, in that last fight, he had actually boldly impersonated a destroyed mecha and faked thick columns of smoke coming out from his mecha's body. This had drawn the three Leiting members over to investigate, clueless and unsuspecting, where they were then killed off by the Lingtian regiment commander.

"He is a tactical genius!" Observing Ling Lan's combat style, Tang Yu and the principal thought long and hard, and this was the only answer they could come up with.

Chapter 422 - Trust!

Ling Lan had used the simplest and most energy efficient way to eliminate those Leiting members. However, thinking back on Ling Lan's combat style, everyone was confounded, because no one could see anything from Ling Lan's fights. The spectators had only seen how cunning, sly, and imaginative Ling Lan's combat tactics had been ...

"His control skills should be equally strong, otherwise he would not be able to do this much that perfectly," said Tang Yu, somewhat tentatively. Even though he knew Ling Lan was a special-class operator, he could not tell which stage of special-class Ling Lan was at.

"Interesting as expected." The principal chuckled. This style was really like Ling Xiao's ... back then, that fellow Ling Xiao had been just as unpredictable. When Ling Xiao had first joined the army division, even the principal had not been able to figure out which level Ling Xiao was at. All of the information everyone knew about Ling Xiao was merely surface details and could not be taken to be fully accurate ...

"The second Ling Xiao ... other than his son, who else could do this?" These words of the principal were practically mumbled through closed lips — even seated beside him, Tang Yu could hardly hear him. Tang Yu raised his head curiously and asked, "Principal, what did you say? Are you talking to me?"

"Nothing. I just think that this match is very interesting. Our military academy really has a lot of good seedlings." The principal burst out laughing at his words — to ensure the safety of his good friend's son, he could not tell Tang Yu the truth.

Tang Yu nodded in agreement — this year was indeed rife with talent, almost dazzling his eyes with it all. Unfortunately, in order to guarantee the proper cultivation of the students, the academy had regulated that each instructor could take in no more than 5 students. And he, due to Lin Zhong-qing, had already asked the principal to make an exception for him once; he could not be greedy anymore.

Although Qiao Ting did not notice Ling Lan's appearance immediately, Qiao Ting was after all an ace operator. Very soon, he discovered Ling Lan's presence several 100 metres away. He whipped around, and when he saw the perfect, gleaming appearance of the special-class mecha, which was somehow fearsome and formidable at the same time, he could not help but shout through clenched teeth, "Ling Lan!"

Ling Lan looked at the beat up, no longer humanoid mecha of Qiao Ting and said with a cool expression, "I did not expect that after our members' consecutive self-destructs, your mecha can still hold on. Colour me surprised."

Frankly, after resolving those final three Leiting members, Ling Lan had rushed to the scene. However, in order not to affect Li Lanfeng and Qi Long, she had been observing this fight from about a kilometre away.

Of course, Ling Lan could have chosen to join the fight. With her abilities, she definitely could have killed Qiao Ting off and welcomed victory together with Li Lanfeng and Qi Long. However, Ling Lan did not want to do that, because she wanted to see how her leopard and the follower she had painstakingly cultivated would perform. Moreover, she hoped that the both of them would gain something from their fight with Qiao Ting.

It had to be said that Ling Lan was a worrier. She had taken Li Lanfeng and Qi Long to heart, so she wanted to increase their strength to the best of her ability. As such, she was willing to drag out the fight and even forsake the favourable scenario to her team at this moment in time, all so that Li Lanfeng and Qi Long would have the chance to truly exchange several moves with Qiao Ting.

Reality proved that Ling Lan did not make a mistake. Li Lanfeng's performance amazed her; she had not expected her leopard to actually keep what she had said offhand so close to his heart ...

That had been during the time after the enemy air invasion on the academy ...

Not having to attend classes, Ling Lan was rather bored, so she had put all her attention onto Li Lanfeng and his physical constitution problem. During that period of time, Li Lanfeng finally experienced the Boss's exclusive hellish training Qi Long and the others had mentioned. Every day, he would be trained by Ling Lan until he collapsed from exhaustion.

In contrast to Qi Long and the others' attitude of avoiding it as much as they could, Li Lanfeng was happy to experience it. Every time, he was practically crawling as he left the virtual login pod, but the next day, he would still appear in full spirits before Ling Lan. This made Ling Lan suspect at one point whether Li Lanfeng was a masochist, but Li Lanfeng's indefatigable performance had also given Ling Lan a deep taste of the pleasure Instructor Number Five felt when training others ...

Sure enough, tormenting others was really very interesting! Of course, every time Ling Lan felt this way, she would crush the feeling mercilessly, not allowing it to flourish. She would then chastise herself sternly that she absolutely did not have that perverse mentality of Instructor Number Five — she was only so strict with her leopard all for his own good.

Finally, after some agonising torment, Li Lanfeng's physical constitution took a turn for the better and was now already extremely close to that of the average mecha operator. But if it came to a high-intensity battle, his stamina would still be stretched rather thin.

Ling Lan was not too concerned about this, however, because she knew that this constitution problem was not something that could be resolved in just a day or two. Back then, she had also spent a whole three to four years' time to fully resolve the latent issues caused by her excessive spiritual power. For Li Lanfeng to have accomplished this much in several months' time, Ling Lan felt that he had already done very well.

Ling Lan may not be anxious about the matter, but Li Lanfeng was. That said, he was not rushing to solve everything in one go and eradicate his constitution problem completely. This was because Li Lanfeng knew very well that this problem could not be solved in a short period of time. Now, with Ling Lan's help, he had almost resolved the constant threat of his body breaking down which had plagued him for many years. Just this point alone was enough to satisfy him.

Li Lanfeng's anxiety was revolving around the upcoming Leiting vengeance match. He was afraid that his stamina problem would hold the others back. To that end, he had once asked his rabbit how he could do better on the battlefield.

Frankly, whether Li Lanfeng performed well or not did not matter much in the large scale of things for Ling Lan. However, when she saw Li Lanfeng's eyes shining brightly, eager to perform well, Ling Lan just could not bear to speak honestly.

In the spirit of not harming an old friend, Ling Lan considered things seriously and then said to Li Lanfeng that, if he wanted to last longer in battle, he would need to treasure every bit of his stamina. He could not throw his stamina around profligately like that stamina monster Qi Long; he needed to carefully calculate every move he made and strive to make sure his every attack was effective.

Ling Lan's advice made Li Lanfeng feel rather lost. So, Ling Lan kindly hinted to Li Lanfeng that if he could not be a berserk warrior, then he should become a swordsman or an assassin ...

These words of Ling Lan's had left Li Lanfeng in deep contemplation. On her end, Ling Lan had promptly forgotten about it after saying it, not taking the matter to heart. But today, seeing Li Lanfeng's combat style, he had completely walked onto the path Ling Lan had outlined for him and he had performed outstandingly.

Ling Lan was greatly moved by this. She was touched over Li Lanfeng's trust in her — it was due to this trust that he would take her words so seriously and even change his combat style accordingly ... Li Lanfeng's outstanding performance proved that he had put in a lot of effort in secret to research these things and had not just changed things blindly. In order to accomplish his mission, Li Lanfeng had even quietly sought out Chang Xinyuan to design this trap together. It had to be said that this idea of Li Lanfeng and Chang Xinyuan's worked wonderfully in tandem with her planned tactic. Ling Lan could not help marvelling at their creativity and innovativeness.

Li Lanfeng's performance had exceeded Ling Lan's expectations, but Qi Long's performance had not disappointed Ling Lan either. Lurking, grasping the timing to attack, and other aspects, Qi Long had done all those things well. The only pity was that his mecha's speed was just too weak. If the speed of Qi Long's mecha could have been increased by just a hair, perhaps she would not even have had to take part in this final fight. Li Lanfeng and Qi Long might have been able to finish off Qiao Ting on their own.

Such a shame ... Ling Lan felt rather regretful. She was not Qiao Ting; she did not really care whether she could be in the limelight. Compared to all this, she was more concerned over her members' performance — if Qi Long and Li Lanfeng had been able to eliminate Qiao Ting on their own, she would have been even happier.

Ling Lan decided that she would definitely increase the speed of Qi Long's mecha and make Qi Long a close combat king with both speed and power.

At this moment, Qi Long, who had already been ejected from the field, suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. He could not help but shiver and immediately circulate his Qi-Jin to chase the chill out even as he muttered in confusion, "That's strange. Where is this cold feeling coming from?"

Qi Long did not know that his boss could not tolerate his tortoise speed and was already planning to "torture" him well ...

Opposite her, Qiao Ting did not know that Ling Lan was feeling regretful over the fact that her leopard and follower had not been able to finish him off themselves. When he heard Ling Lan's disdainful words, he almost exploded in anger. When had he, Thunder King Qiao Ting, ever been looked down upon by a mecha newbie who had just risen to their second year and had yet to even touch real mecha?

"Just those rookie team members of yours ... even though they used this type of despicable self-destruct methods, they won't be able to defeat me. In this military academy, no one can defeat me. No one," declared Qiao Ting vehemently, eyes bloodshot. He, Qiao Ting, was an undefeated king!

"Is that so?" Ling Lan could not help but raise her eyebrows at his words. Looking at Qiao Ting's battered mecha, Ling Lan did not know where the other's confidence was coming from. Even if her mecha was mistaken to be a special-class mecha, comparing her almost undamaged mecha to Qiao Ting's dilapidated mecha, anyone with eyes could see that the odds were on her side.

"Honestly, dying at my members' hands would have been luckier for you." Ling Lan studied Qiao Ting carefully before speaking again. Her voice was as cold as ever, but all the spectators could hear how seriously she meant what she said.

Ling Lan's words caused an uproar among the audience. Even though Ling Lan's chances looked better, Qiao Ting was still the acknowledged number one in the academy after all. As long as he could still operate his mecha, no one could be certain that they would be able to defeat him. Ling Lan's words were obviously rather arrogant and presumptuous, raising the hackles of many in the audience. In particular, the administrators of the academy undoubtedly felt as if Ling Lan's words were smacking them in the face.

"This punk ..." The principal could not help but shake his head. He had originally thought that this child had inherited Ling Xiao's low profile manner, but now, from the looks of it, Ling Lan was still a little too young and unbridled.

In truth, the principal was blaming Ling Lan unfairly. Ling Lan had really meant no disrespect to Qiao Ting with her words, nor had the words contained any so-called arrogance. The fact was that Ling Lan was merely speaking the truth. If Qiao Ting had died under the consecutive self-destructs of her members, he would still have been able to use the excuse that Lingtian's tactics had been too despicable. However, if he died at her hands without being able to resist, Qiao Ting would have no excuse, and Ling Lan truly did not want to deal such a heavy blow to the prideful heart of this aberrant talent.

Chapter 423 - Not Much After All!

"Shut up." How could Qiao Ting know the truth of Ling Lan's words? He was thoroughly enraged by these seemingly disdainful words. Pointing his beam saber angrily at Ling Lan, he laughed wildly and said, "Hahaha ... if you want to kill me, just you all, Lingtian, are not qualified enough."

"Not qualified enough?" Ling Lan was unconcerned that she was being looked down on, but she would not allow her companions and teammates to be looked down on. She could not help but sneer at Qiao Ting's words, and she then slowly pulled out a weapon from behind her back. Just like that, a sword-type cold weapon that was even bigger and even heavier than Qi Long's had been emerged before the crowd.

Ling Lan held the sword with one hand, and with an easy swing, a strong gust of wind was produced out of nowhere. This scene astounded all the spectating cadets and caused Qiao Ting's gaze to narrow as well, his expression turning even grimmer.

Ling Lan's expression was nonchalant as she held this giant cold weapon. She said measuredly, "Who exactly is not qualified enough? Let's battle it out."

"My pleasure," responded Qiao Ting coldly, beam saber in hand. For his dreams, for his ambitions, he could not lose here.

After saying that, Qiao Ting faced Ling Lan from a distance. Neither side made a move, merely hovering in the air like two statues.

The spectating students all knew that both combatants were looking for openings in the other's defence. As soon as one found a chance, a grand fight would begin ...

Five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute, three minutes, five minutes ... time passed bit by bit, and the two still did not make a move. Just as everyone was about to lose their patience, the two combatants finally moved.

Almost at the same time, the two mecha rushed at each other. Perhaps because they had had plenty of time to prepare, their speeds were like light, suddenly crossing paths then suddenly breaking apart again. The spectating students did not even actually see the two of them move. All they saw was a beam of cold light and a beam of white light shining against one another and then disappearing abruptly ... by the time they could see the two mecha clearly again, the two combatants had already crossed each other and swapped positions.

The only change was that they were now back to back instead of facing each other. The two mecha still maintained their attack stances, each holding their respective weapons ...

"Is it a draw?" The spectators could not tell. They all began discussing with the people around them, trying to figure out the result of that last exchange. Unfortunately, the people around them were similarly in the dark. Equally confused, they never managed to find a proper answer.

"Ah, they're moving!" Someone yelled out, drawing everyone's attention back to the battlefield.

Ling Lan could be seen slowly sliding the giant sword in her hand back into the sheath slot on her mecha's back. With an audible 'click', the giant sword slid back into place.

Following this sound, Qiao Ting's mecha which had been suspended in the air, still and silent, suddenly broke apart ... only then did the audience see that Qiao Ting's mecha had actually been forcibly split in half, and the split even encompassed Qiao Ting's cockpit.

It turned out that, when the two mecha had attacked as they passed each other, Ling Lan had instantly split apart Qiao Ting's mecha and its cockpit, defeating Qiao Ting in one blow without giving him any chance to fight back.

"Thunder King Qiao Ting, not much after all!" Ling Lan commented coldly. She turned her head around to watch dispassionately as Qiao Ting's mecha broke apart to fall to the ground.

This image was etched into everyone's minds — a black mecha with its back to the crowd, hovering in the air. Its head was turned around slightly, and the faint blue light shining from the mecha's eyes seemed to look down at everyone, announcing that the new king had arrived.

"Beep!" All the spectating students received this notification alert from the mainframe. It officially declared the end of the match, for Leiting's headcount of remaining members had changed from 1 to 0.

The entire venue exploded with noise. This reality sent the entire academy into a frenzy — the number one of the military academy, the one and only ace operator Qiao Ting, had really been defeated. And the one who had defeated him was actually a junior cadet who had just entered their second year.

The mainframe quickly announced that the Lingtian Mecha Clan had obtained the victory of this challenge match. When the members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan saw this result, they all leapt up in exhilaration. Some of them were even moved to tears. Before the big fight, none of them had dared to imagine that they would really be able to obtain victory. The only reason they had not chosen to withdraw from the clan was that they did not want to submit to an older faction, just as it had been back during their days at the Central Scout Academy, when they had rather instigate a grand armed melee than submit to the 10th graders.

"Your juniors performed very well ..." In another viewing room, someone said to another, "Unfortunately, they established a new mecha clan. If they had joined the Dwotong faction, the position of number one faction would have been at our fingertips." These people were part of Zhang Jing-an's group, part of the number four faction in the military academy, the Dwotong Mecha Clan 1 .

Zhang Jing-an huffed coldly at the other's words and said, "Stop dreaming. That person, Ling Lan, cannot be taken down by anyone." In the past, Zhang Jing-an had tried, only to be crushed so badly by the other that he had no face to continue staying at the Doha Central Scout Academy. He had only been able to slink away to the First Men's Military Academy to lick his wounds. Now, the number one of the military academy, Qiao Ting, had also wanted to bring Ling Lan to heel, and he had likewise been beaten so badly by the other that he had lost all direction ...

"An instant kill! Qiao Ting has disgraced himself big time this time." Recalling the past, Zhang Jing-an indeed felt very humiliated. However, in comparison to the current Qiao Ting, he felt his experience was really nothing after all, and so his mood improved considerably.

"Yes, Qiao Ting can be said to have thoroughly flipped his boat in the gutter this time. He's lost all the honour and prestige he had worked so hard to build up these past four years." The person beside him agreed wholeheartedly. His eyes did not hide any of his own ambition. "Perhaps, this will be our chance ..."

"Don't act rashly. Tianji and Wuji still haven't acted. Our Dwotong should not stick our necks out first," said Zhang Jing-an in warning. He did not want to pit himself against Ling Lan once again; that fellow is really too unfathomable ...

Unfortunately, the other person did not seem to take Zhang Jing-an's words seriously. Seeing this, Zhang Jing-an's mouth twitched, but he held himself back in the end and did not say anything more to dissuade the other.

Zhang Jing-an did not continue to dissuade the other because he was about to apply for enlistment with the army divisions, so he had already officially stepped down as the regiment commander of the Dwotong Mecha Clan. The newly appointed regiment commander was not from the Doha Central Scout Academy, and so he did not know Ling Lan's true capabilities. No matter how formidable he painted Ling Lan to be, the other would not believe him. As such, he might as well let the other experience Ling Lan's fearsomeness for himself — that would be much more persuasive.

Everyone was excited over Lingtian's upset win over Leiting, and they were especially filled with envy-jealousy-hate when it came to Lingtian's regiment commander, Ling Lan ... because Ling Lan was the one who had dislodged the undefeated legend from his high horse, and on top of that, he had accomplished a one-hit kill on Qiao Ting. This was an unrealizable dream for all of the cadets, but Ling Lan had realized it.

"Is Lingtian's regiment commander really very strong?" This was the question in all the cadets' hearts. If he was not strong, then how had he managed to kill the half-crippled Thunder King in one second? Even half-crippled, the Thunder King was still the Thunder King ...

Right then, the VIP viewing room was already completely silent. Lingtian's successful reversal made the expressions of the administrators turn very sour. If they had known this would be the outcome, they would not have requested for the principal to make this an open match. This way, they might still have used their authority to declare this match null and void, but everything was irrefutable now.

After all, Qiao Ting's defeat had been before the eyes of all the cadets; the outcome could no longer be changed. Their initial plans were now completely dashed. Besides that, Qiao Ting, whom they had carefully cultivated over the past four years, had utterly lost his value due to this defeat. What was even more worrying was that this loss had caused Leiting to lose their title as number one faction of the military academy. Three months later, the Federation would be holding the All Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament. If they really sent the Lingtian Mecha Clan which had gained the position of number one faction by defeating Leiting here today to represent the academy, would this cause the First Men's Military Academy to become the bottom last school, thus becoming the laughingstock of the entire Federation?

The administrators were distraught at the very thought — they very quickly gathered together once more to begin discussing how they would resolve this issue. In the end, they decided they would let Tianji and Wuji, part of the top three factions, to take turns to challenge the Lingtian Mecha Clan within these three months, and strive to pull the Lingtian Mecha Clan down from that top spot.

This fight had pretty much exposed the full strength of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. If Qiao Ting had not been overconfident and had sent a few more special-class operators onto the field, the outcome might have been different ... at this thought, the administrators were extremely upset, becoming displeased with Qiao Ting's arrogance and overconfidence.

The only two who were not part of the plotting were Tang Yu and the principal — they were currently deeply stunned. In those final moments of the match, they had discovered a secret. In that final clash between Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, everyone had been fooled by the outer appearance of Ling Lan's mecha. They believed that Qiao Ting had only been killed instantly by Ling Lan's special-class mecha because Qiao Ting's mecha had been too severely damaged.

However, all of this could not deceive the keen eyes of these two people. The two of them shared a glance, a look in their eyes that only the two of them understood. Everything that Ling Lan displayed in that moment where she had killed Qiao Ting proved that the mecha she was operating could not be a special-class mecha. Whether it was in terms of explosive power or in terms of attack force, special-class mecha could never achieve those stats.

Although special-class mecha and ace mecha seemed to just be one level apart, in truth, the difference between all aspects of performance of the two level of mecha was like heaven and earth. Truth be told, even the most beat up ace mecha could not have been destroyed instantly by a special-class mecha. If ace mecha could be so easily defeated and destroyed, it would not have become the king of the battlefield.

To be able to achieve a one-hit kill against an ace mecha, only another ace mecha could do so. As such, without a doubt, Lingtian No.1, that is, the mecha Ling Lan was operating, was definitely no special-class mecha but a true ace mecha.

The principal and Tang Yu had discovered Ling Lan's secret, but they both decided in unplanned unison to keep silent. They were well aware of the parable of how the tallest tree in the forest would be destroyed — in order to protect this aberrant talent, they must bury the truth of the matter deep in their hearts.

"Tang Yu, that kid Ling Lan, I'll leave him to you," said the principal solemnly to Tang Yu. In the military academy, the only one he could trust completely was Tang Yu.

Tang Yu nodded gravely back and said, "Understood, principal. I will protect him well." Advancing to ace operator level in his second year ... Tang Yu knew that as soon as this news got out, it was not impossible for another enemy nation air invasion to be drawn to the school. The Federation's nemeses would never allow another Ling Xiao to appear in the Federation.

1. Zhang Jing-an is the CSA senior whom Ling Lan defeated in the grand armed melee. His faction in the military academy was previously introduced as the Doha faction, after the planet sector he and his members are from. So, either the author has changed the name now, or it's still the Doha faction, but the Dwotong Mecha Clan.

Chapter 424 - You Are Destined to Be My Stepping Stone!

In the Leiting Mecha Clan's headquarters, there were currently quite a few people morosely gathering up their things. They all needed to move out of this place by 2 p.m. this afternoon.

According to the academy's duel regulations, if a lower level mecha clan managed a reversal in a challenge duel, all the benefits the higher level mecha clan enjoyed would be transferred to the winning mecha clan. Therefore, this mecha clan headquarters, the largest in the military academy which represented the number one faction, would no longer belong to the Leiting Mecha Clan but would officially become the headquarters of the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

To that effect, the time given to the Leiting Mecha Clan to pack up and leave was just three days, and today was precisely the third day.

Very soon, the time was close to 2 p.m. Many of the already packed clan members were about to leave when one Leiting member, hefting his things up in his arms, swept a look around this place they had spent so many years in, and a crestfallen expression appeared on his face as he sighed and said, "Who'd have expected that we would one day leave this place in disgrace? I always thought that this would always be the place for us to grow before we graduate from the military academy."

At his words, his companion by his side could not hide his bitter smile as he said, "Yes, our Leiting has always been the strongest mecha clan in the academy all these years, standing proud above the rest ... sadly, we actually lost in a situation where we most could not afford to lose. The decision of the regiment commander this time ..." At this point, he suddenly clammed up, merely shaking his head. In fact, he was extremely dissatisfied with the arrangements of the regiment commander this time. He felt that Regiment Commander Qiao Ting had been too reckless in his overconfidence. If the Leiting Mecha Clan had sent out all of their best elites, how could their Leiting have lost? Then, they would not have had to leave the headquarters so pathetically today.

"The regiment commander was indeed rather rash this time." Another member by their side could not help but comment when he overheard their conversation. If Qiao Ting had not been the one and only ace operator in the academy and thus had great repute within the Leiting Mecha Clan, perhaps his misstep and defeat this time would have been enough for his subordinates to impeach him.

"Shh, don't say anymore. The people from Lingtian are here." Another member leaving together with them saw that there were people entering from the main doors now and quickly spoke up to warn them to mind their words.

His reminder silenced everyone instantly. Everyone's attention turned towards the main doors to focus on the group of youths stepping into the hall right at that moment.

There were about 15 to 16 of them, and most of them had excited smiles on their faces. It was clear to see that these hot-blooded youths were overjoyed and somewhat worked up over springing straight up to become the strongest faction of the academy in one bound. These half-grown youngsters were still rather immature and unpolished — they had not learned yet how to hide their emotions well. These radiant smiles were frankly rather irritating to the eyes of the Leiting members who had yet to leave the headquarters; animosity quickly brewed within their gazes.

"Hmph, what a bunch of petty victors. Hopefully they won't be slinking out of here in shame in just a month." A fiery-tempered Leiting member could not help but sneer at this time.

The military academy had ruled before that every mecha clan would have the right to challenge another mecha clan once per year, and any mecha clan could only be challenged once a month. This year, Leiting had already used up their challenge for this vengeance match, so they had no more chances. However, the members of Leiting believed that the other factions in the academy definitely would not give up this opportunity to become the first faction. A month later, there would inevitably be another mecha clan which would challenge Lingtian — it was just unclear which of the remaining three mecha clans of the top four, Tianji, Wuji, or Dwotong, would be the first to challenge Lingtian.

"Perhaps, they will create the record for shortest tenure as the number one faction in the academy," said another Leiting member mockingly. His words made many of the other Leiting members' lips curl up in disdainful smirks. They had already forgotten that the ones who had pulled them off their divine pedestal was precisely this Lingtian Mecha Clan they were so disdainful of.

The youths at the door did not care at all about the hostile stares. Despite their excitement, their gazes filled with the eagerness to explore their new headquarters, they did not continue to move forwards. Instead, they stopped at the door, looking around from time to time, as if waiting for someone.

One of the most eye-catching was an incomparably beautiful teenager. Each move and each smile of that teen were unequivocally breath-taking — even though the Leiting people were filled with animosity towards the Lingtian people, they could not deny that they had indeed been mesmerized by the youth's beauty. If they had not known that all students accepted by the First Men's Military Academy had to be male, there would certainly be a significant number of people who would be wondering right now whether the youth was a crossdressing female. Although the chest area was very flat, in this militaristic society right now, it was not uncommon for girls to be less endowed in this respect.

Suddenly, that lovely youth's subtle smile bloomed into a large smile, a smile so radiant that it dazzled the senses, causing everyone present to instantly lose themselves in it for a moment ...

"Boss!" A warm voice accompanied by a warm smile — many of the Leiting boys dearly wished that this cry was for them.

But very quickly, everyone was dealt a cold awakening. An austere youth stepped through the doors of the number one faction under the respectful gazes of the other Lingtian youths to come into the main hall. As soon as he entered the hall, the ambient temperature in the room instantly plunged to freezing point.

"Boss!" When the Lingtian youths saw this austere youth, they instantly greeted him with respectful expressions.

The cold-faced youth swept an icy gaze over them and then nodded slowly in acknowledgement. This action appeared somewhat perfunctory, but the youths did not seem to feel that way. Rather, their uptight expressions actually relaxed considerably following the youth's actions.

This was the response they expected from their boss — if the expression or motion had been any different, they might perhaps be terrified, wondering whether they had done something wrong and if their boss was about to deal with them.

Those Leiting members who had initially stared at the Lingtian group with contempt instantly tucked away the sneers on their faces at the entrance of this person. They had not forgotten that it was this person who had unseated their Thunder King from his throne.

That's right, this frigid teenager was our main protagonist Ling Lan. She was here today to accept the handover of the number one faction's headquarters. As soon as the transfer was done, the Lingtian Mecha Clan would officially become the number one faction of the military academy. Of course, to secure this position was not easy — they would have to accept and weather the consecutive challenges of the other factions in the academy in the subsequent few months, but what Ling Lan feared least was challenge.

Three people trailed behind Ling Lan; they were the three other regiment commanders of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and Li Yingjie.

Wu Jiong followed Ling Lan into the hall and took a look around. Not seeing the person he was looking for, he quickly stepped forward to come up to Ling Lan's side and said with a soft chuckle, "Boss Lan, Qiao Ting isn't here yet." Wu Jiong wondered if Qiao Ting was too embarrassed to come earlier.

Ling Lan's lips quirked. "When 2 o'clock comes, he will definitely appear." The academy would not permit its rules to be broken — no matter how much Qiao Ting resisted, he would still come to carry out this responsibility at that final moment.

"When Qiao Ting challenged us, he must never have imagined this moment. He's definitely too embarrassed to come early, hahaha ..." Li Yingjie heard the conversation between Wu Jiong and Ling Lan, and he chimed in with smug laughter.

In contrast to Wu Jiong's and Ling Lan's restrained manner, Li Yingjie's voice was obviously much louder. Those Leiting members who had yet to leave the hall were all enraged by his arrogance — some of them even looked about to charge over to punch him, but they were held back by their companions. All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the entire hall was tense.

Ling Lan and Wu Jiong sweatdropped. This Li Yingjie was an absolute troublemaker — they were here to accept the transfer of the headquarters and not to instigate a fight ...

Trailing behind them lazily, Qi Long sensed the sudden shift in the hall's atmosphere and his spirits rallied instantly. He looked around with lively eyes, his earlier indolence completely swept away. He licked his lips and said excitedly, "Boss, is there going to be a fight?"

Bored as he was, he had not paid any attention to Ling Lan and the others' conversations and so did not really know what was going on. However, his beast-like instinct had alerted him to the potential of a fight.

Wu Jiong could no longer maintain his initially serious expression at Qi Long's words. His facial muscles twitched, and he sent a plaintive gaze at Ling Lan, obviously complaining to Ling Lan for assigning him two such offbeat partners ...

Whether it was with the New Cadet Regiment back then or the Lingtian Mecha Clan now, Ling Lan had always held a laissez-faire attitude as a general. All clan internal affairs were handled by Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and Li Yingjie. Unfortunately, the haughty Li Yingjie would stir up some trouble every so often, and when he could not settle the matter himself, Wu Jiong and Qi Long would be dragged in as well to help him clean up the mess. On the other hand, although Qi Long did not cause as much trouble as Li Yingjie did, he was perpetually at the combat arena. To ask him to handle the affairs of the faction ... fine, to pry him out of the combat arena was even harder than directly asking Boss Lan for help in Wu Jiong's opinion.

Then again, to ask Boss Lan for help ... Wu Jiong felt that he really had no way of withstanding that piercing gaze capable of freezing a person to death. Every time he had no other choice but to seek Boss Lan out to resolve a problem, Wu Jiong felt that his lifespan had been reduced by at least five years. So that he did not die before his time, he decided that it was better for him to just put in the extra effort himself.

Wu Jiong's mournful gaze was resolutely ignored by Ling Lan. She pretended that she did not know anything — she would not step into this stinking puddle of water 1 .

Right at that moment, the elevator at the end of the hall suddenly dinged. The elevator doors opened, and a handsome youth with chiselled features appeared before the crowd. His initially domineering and confident brow now carried a touch of gloom, his entire being seeming somewhat diminished. He was the present regiment commander of Leiting, Qiao Ting.

When he saw Ling Lan standing by the doors, his gaze flickered and he hesitated for a moment. But he quickly shook it off and strode out of the elevator to come before Ling Lan.

The two of them faced each other. Even though Ling Lan was half a head shorter than Qiao Ting, she did not lose to the other in terms of force of presence. Rather, the sharp chill surrounding Ling Lan was even more evident through the encounter — for a brief moment, the other people there even had the impression that the Thunder King was being suppressed by Ling Lan.

At this sight, Ling Lan's eyes narrowed. Her already cold and expressionless face became even more forbidding. Those who understood Ling Lan well would know that this was an indication that Ling Lan had become even more serious and vigilant.

The two youths did not say anything, merely staring at each other in silence for one to two minutes. The atmosphere in the entire hall was unbelievably heavy — some people with lower tolerance found their bodies beginning to tremble, pressed so far by the two's auras that they were on the verge of breaking down.

Just when everyone thought that the two youths would continue their silent confrontation indefinitely, Qiao Ting spoke up first. "You have come." Perhaps only Qiao Ting knew the full meaning behind these simple three words.

The moment Qiao Ting opened his mouth to speak, the heavy atmosphere was swept away. Those who were on the brink of collapse due to the pressure from the two youths abruptly felt the pressure ease and were revived.

"I have come," replied Ling Lan, likewise three words in return. Perhaps only Ling Lan herself understood the true meaning behind these three words as well.

Qiao Ting raised his eyebrows slightly at her words and said calmly, "Follow me." Having said that, he turned to leave, unconcerned whether Ling Lan and the rest could keep up.

Qiao Ting's attitude made the expressions of the Lingtian members change. Rage rose in many of their eyes, but all of this died away under Ling Lan's cool gaze. Everyone could read the meaning in Ling Lan's eyes — she was telling all of them to be quiet and to let her handle this.

After settling her faction members with her gaze, Ling Lan walked after Qiao Ting with steady footsteps.

The two of them entered the elevator and when the elevator doors closed, everyone left behind released a sigh of relief in unplanned unison. Qiao Ting and Ling Lan's forces of presence were just too powerful — being in the same room with them was really too stressful.

********

In the elevator, the two youths continued to be silent. Ling Lan looked at the flashing numbers of the elevator, waiting for the final floor they would reach. Right at this moment, Qiao Ting spoke up unexpectedly, "Next year, I will not lose again."

Ling Lan glanced over at him in surprise, but before she could say anything, the elevator dinged and they had arrived at their destination floor.

Qiao Ting did not require Ling Lan to respond to his statement; he had only wanted to tell Ling Lan his determination. When the elevator doors opened, Qiao Ting immediately walked out of the elevator.

Seeing this, Ling Lan quirked an eyebrow. She had not expected that Qiao Ting would actually think to fight her again in the academy. Although the military academy was a six-year system, all cadets would typically leave the academy in their final year. They would either enter an army division for practical training, or sign up for an adventuring group to participate in interstellar expeditions to gain practical experience — almost no one would continue to remain at the military academy. These words of Qiao Ting was clearly intended to tell Ling Lan that, next year, he would still be at the military academy to fight her again.

Ling Lan did not understand why Qiao Ting would want to do this. She seemed to remember that Qiao Ting had already caught the Third Marshal's eye and would be joining the Third Division this year. It went without question that early admittance into an army division would be extremely beneficial; to Qiao Ting's future development. Now, in order to fight her again, Qiao Ting was actually planning to delay his enlistment ... was this truly necessary?

Ling Lan was rather puzzled, but she did not pause her footsteps. Following closely behind Qiao Ting, they soon arrived at the central control room of the building. Qiao Ting pushed the door open, and Ling Lan saw that there was one other Leiting member still seated in front of a control panel in the central control room.

"Regiment Commander, you're here." When that person saw Qiao Ting, he immediately leapt to his feet. Catching sight of Ling Lan standing behind Qiao Ting, his eyes turned dim, and there was even a trace of indignation contained within them.

It looked like the people of Leiting still felt resentful that their headquarters had been taken by Lingtian. They were not convinced of their defeat, believing that their regiment commander had just taken the enemy too lightly. Along with other miscellaneous reasons, Lingtian had just had the luck of the devil that day.

Qiao Ting was well aware of this sentiment in his people. In fact, he too was unconvinced by his loss. However, a defeat was a defeat — Leiting's loss of the title of number one faction had already become fact and was not something they could shy away from. "Prepare transferral procedures."

That person's face stiffened, and with a trace of unwillingness, he once again sat back before the control panel and began the operations to execute the transferral procedures.

Soon, Qiao Ting had wiped all the fingerprints belonging to the current regiment commander of the mecha clan from the headquarters' systems. After Ling Lan's fingerprints were successfully input into the system, the new owner of the headquarters would become the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

Watching as the optical supercomputer declared the completion of the procedure, Qiao Ting zoned out for the first time. He quickly got a hold of himself, however, and turned his head to say to Ling Lan, "Regiment Commander Ling, I hope that you will be able to hold onto this place for this year. Don't make me have to fight an extra challenge." Clearly, Qiao Ting did not think much of the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

Ling Lan snapped her head around, her gaze piercing straight through Qiao Ting as she answered coldly, "Don't worry. Before I graduate, this place will only belong to the Lingtian Mecha Clan. No other mecha clan will be able to touch it." Ling Lan absolutely would not allow anyone to look down on her companions or her faction. Her gaze pressed down on Qiao Ting as she said with full conviction, "I, Ling Lan, will be waiting for your challenge!"

Ling Lan's attitude was clearly telling Qiao Ting that, she, as the winner, was king, while Qiao Ting, as the loser, would be the challenger in a year's time.

Ling Lan's words and her overbearing aura whipped up the hate in Qiao Ting's heart. He clenched his fists tightly, his fingers almost breaking the skin of his palms ...

Ling Lan did not seem to be satisfied, for she continued to bear down on Qiao Ting, saying, "This academy has only one king, and that is I, Ling Lan. Three days ago, you lost to me, and in future, you also will not win. I will use the truth to tell you that you are destined to be my stepping stone."

When the words 'stepping stone' were uttered, Qiao Ting could no longer tolerate the situation. He threw an angry punch at Ling Lan.

With a 'smack', Ling Lan stopped Qiao Ting's fist with an open palm. Two unseen forces collided fiercely, sending the Leiting member seated at the control panel flying outwards to crash into the floor.

That member climbed up with difficulty, a trickle of blood flowing down from the corner of his lips. He stared in horror at the two people still connected by a palm and a fist. His physical skills were already at the peak stage of Refinement, yet he had still been sent flying and had suffered some minor internal injury just from being in the range of the aftershock of the two hidden forces at play. Just how strong were these two's physical skills?!

1. 不趟这摊烂水: i.e. not going to involve herself in this mess.

Chapter 425 - Domain!

"Peak top-level Qi-Jin!" Qiao Ting's eyes glinted with a keen light. A year ago, he had already known about Ling Lan's physical skills stage 1 . Back then, he was not confident whether he could beat Ling Lan in physical skills, but now, he had a good fighting chance.

"I've said that you will never ever win!" A smirk appeared on Ling Lan's lips. She had barely finished speaking when she unleashed her full force of presence, and a powerful and chilly pressure instantly blanketed the entire control room. Qiao Ting felt the temperature of the central control room dropping drastically; an inescapable chill invaded his heart, and he felt as if his four limbs were about to be frozen stiff.

It was then that he saw a thin layer of ice actually appear on his fist touching Ling Lan's palm, and the ice was slowly winding its way up his arm ...

Seeing this, Qiao Ting frowned and he did not hesitate to unleash his own force of presence as well, trying to prevent that layer of ice on his fist from spreading any further. However, he soon found that when his force of presence encountered the ice, it seemed to sink like a stone into the ocean, disappearing completely without a trace.

Why wasn't it working? A notion flashed through Qiao Ting's mind. His expression changed drastically and he shouted in disbelief, "Domain? That's impossible!"

Qiao Ting could not be blamed for his disbelief — insight alone was not enough for one to become a Domain master. Even the most prodigious talent would need to accumulate countless years of actual battle experience and endure many trials and tribulations before they might grasp the profound secrets of Domain by sheer serendipity, to finally join the ranks of these top-class experts. In over several hundred thousand years of Huaxian history, there had never been anyone who managed to enter the stage of Domain below the age of thirty. No matter how talented Ling Lan was, how aberrant, without the accumulation of real and substantial experience, he should not have been able to enter that enviable realm at the young age of seventeen. Even Qiao Ting himself who had just entered the peak of Qi-Jin would not dare to claim that he would be able to enter that realm ten years later ...

Qiao Ting did not know then that although Ling Lan appeared to only be 17 years old, due to the learning space, she had already lived through multiple hardships and had been through countless massacres. The experience she had accumulated through all that was definitely no less than several decades of an average person's life.

Seeing the shock on Qiao Ting's face, a trace of pity appeared in Ling Lan's eyes. She said softly, "Anything that is impossible will become possible when I'm involved."

Qiao Ting's eyes narrowed at her words. He understood her meaning — his speculation was actually confirmed to be fact. An unnameable emotion rose in his heart, and Qiao Ting was left dumbstruck for a long while.

But then, Ling Lan's next words jolted him back to awareness. "You should feel blessed, because you are the first person to experience my Domain!"

"Domain, activate!" Ling Lan was doing this on purpose. The activation of one's Domain could be done silently, but Ling Lan was intentionally using a verbal command to deal Qiao Ting another blow. When she had first met Qiao Ting earlier, his reserve and low profile had raised flags in Ling Lan's mind.

Qiao Ting was a prodigy — Ling Lan knew very well that if she did not have the learning space and the careful guidance of the learning space's instructors, without that cheat code, her current abilities would definitely not be at Qiao Ting's level. This kind of peerless prodigy with talent, skill, and diligence had unfortunately become her opponent. And now, he had learned forbearance and knew how to endure for the sake of future vengeance. Ling Lan knew this was not a good thing just thinking about it. If the other was given ample time to grow, when he came after her again in the future, it would be a tragedy waiting to happen.

Ling Lan was well aware that to live on securely, she would need to nip this threat in the bud. Therefore, Ling Lan had turned on the aggression, thinking to completely curb Qiao Ting here. She wanted to make it so that Qiao Ting would be plagued by psychological demons and would no longer have the courage to challenge her again!

Following this cry of Ling Lan's, Qiao Ting felt as if he had been encased in ice. He even had the illusion that his blood had become frozen in his veins!

"No, I cannot be frozen in place. I want to move, I have to move!" Qiao Ting was a prideful person — how could he so easily bow down and submit? He was screaming internally as he forced his arm back strenuously through sheer willpower ...

Looking at the contorted expression of Qiao Ting who still refused to submit despite the toll on his body, a trace of acknowledgement flashed across Ling Lan's eyes. Although Qiao Ting was too forceful and overbearing, he still had the integrity of a Huaxian soldier embedded in his bones ... Ling Lan found this kind of Qiao Ting admirable. Her initial plans of crushing the other changed instantly — she pulled back slightly on the force of her Domain, letting Qiao Ting successfully pull his fist away from her palm.

"Wah ..." Although Ling Lan had eased up on the strength of her Domain, allowing Qiao Ting to pull back his fist, the gap between Domain and Qi-Jin was just too wide. In order to resist the binding power of Ling Lan's Domain, Qiao Ting had still exhausted too much of his own strength, causing himself to take internal damage. He could not stop himself from spewing out a mouthful of blood.

Seeing Qiao Ting slip out of her control with his own strength, Ling Lan quickly retracted her Domain and then stared at the other with cold eyes. Since Ling Lan had decided to show the other some mercy, she did not press any further.

After escaping from the restriction of Ling Lan's Domain, Qiao Ting stumbled back several steps. Perhaps the binding force had disappeared too abruptly — Qiao Ting was not fully prepared; his retreating footsteps appeared rather unsteady. After falling back four to five steps, Qiao Ting found his footing and pressed his right hand lightly to his chest. He tolerated the intense pain shooting through his body, his gaze becoming dull, with even a trace of despair in them ...

Could it be that this world truly had such an aberrant existence? An unmatched prodigy who had reached Domain at 17 years old ... could he really defeat him? Doubt flashed through his heart, but very soon, Qiao Ting had regained his composure. He thought of how this was not the Huaxia of old, when physical skills were dominant — it was now the era of mecha dominance, and he was the only fourth-year cadet to have advanced to ace operator, a feat which was comparable to that of the Huaxian legend Ling Xiao. Even if Ling Lan was abnormally gifted in physical skills, in terms of mecha, he, Qiao Ting, was still the strongest one!

Qiao Ting's heart settled and the light in his eyes was rekindled. Then, he suddenly thought of how Ling Lan was already a special-class operator — it was hard to be sure whether the other would not advance to ace in two years. At this thought, Qiao Ting was even more apprehensive of Ling Lan, and the gaze he directed at the other became dark and inscrutable.

Ling Lan may not have fully comprehended Qiao Ting's entire thought process, but she still had a pretty good guess. It was not to say that Ling Lan was good at reasoning and deduction; rather, Little Four had applied 360-degree monitoring on Qiao Ting, capturing every single change in his expression without errors. Furthermore, Little Four had many expert advisers behind him (Instructor Number Five was the primary force) — very quickly, they had managed to deduce Qiao Ting's true thoughts via analysis, and Little Four had then conveyed these results to his boss. Of course, Little Four very shamelessly took credit for all of the work without revealing that he had other advisers behind him.

Seeing Qiao Ting regain his confidence, Ling Lan sighed mentally, unsure whether to be relieved or concerned. Ling Lan was appreciative of Qiao Ting's resilience. After some thought, she said, "In future, if you're ready, you can come find me at any time."

Although Ling Lan's tone and expression were still endlessly cold, Qiao Ting could still sense that Ling Lan was not being as overbearing as he had been at the start. Qiao Ting's heart was a complex myriad of emotions at this realisation. It was unexpected that there would come a time when he, Qiao Ting, would be oppressed by another ... was this karma for when he had been the oppressor?

Qiao Ting chuckled dryly but quickly rallied himself. He looked at the Leiting member lurking in a corner and said, "Let's go!"

That member hurriedly ran over, his expression one of great relief at being spared. Earlier, when Ling Lan had unfurled her Domain, even though he had not been within the range of the Domain, he had still felt a destructive wave of energy. He had almost thought he would die here ... now, hearing that his regiment commander was going to lead him away, he rushed over quickly, not daring to tarry. That speed was as if there were evil ghouls on his tail — in the blink of an eye, he had run out of the central control room.

Before Qiao Ting left, he glanced one more time at Ling Lan, his gaze extremely complicated ... after cooling down, he realised that Ling Lan had shown mercy just moments back.

Under Qiao Ting's lead, the Leiting members quickly departed from the headquarters. Meanwhile, the already ready Lingtian members surged into the headquarters representing the number one faction as soon as the Leiting people left. And the nameplate hanging high over the door also changed from Leiting to Lingtian at this moment!

"Qiao Ting ..." Li Lanfeng stared at Qiao Ting's departing figure, his brow furrowed. He had come a little late — he had only arrived in time to see Qiao Ting leading his people away. Apprehensive of Qiao Ting all this while, Li Lanfeng paid a lot of attention to every move of Qiao Ting's. It could be said that he understood the other very well.

Although he had only caught a glance of the other, the sensitive Li Lanfeng had still sensed the change in the other. How should he put it? The past Qiao Ting was extremely imperious and domineering, prideful and self-centred — his entire being shone so brightly that others did not dare look straight at him. Though this kind of person would draw the adoration of some people who worshipped strength, it would also incur the dislike or even revulsion of some others. Although Qiao Ting had been very strong all this while and had bested everyone by a head, Li Lanfeng had not felt that Qiao Ting was really unassailable. It was not completely impossible if he wanted to oppose the other. However, the Qiao Ting who had just left ... although his force of presence was as strong as ever, it was no longer so keen and sharp that it would irritate others. It seemed as if he had learned how to temper it ...

Carrying some bit of worry, Li Lanfeng arrived at the office resting room of the regiment commander of the mecha clan, only to find Ling Lan standing before a floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the scenery of the military academy.

"Rabbit, what are you looking at?" When it was just the two of them, Li Lanfeng would intimately call Ling Lan 'rabbit'. This made him feel closer to Ling Lan. It could not be denied that Li Lanfeng had his own selfish wish. He did not want to just become a normal member of Ling Lan's battle clan, so he constantly tried to highlight the uniqueness of his existence before Ling Lan.

Ling Lan did not answer, merely staring coldly at the scene below. Li Lanfeng walked over and followed the line of her sight and saw that she was actually looking at Thunder King Qiao Ting. Even though Qiao Ting had led his men away from the headquarters of the number one faction, they were now standing at a hover car stop several hundred metres away and was facing off against another group.

"Those are the vice regiment commanders of the Leiting Mecha Clan," Li Lanfeng thought that Ling Lan might not know what was going on, so he took the initiative to explain.

In fact, Ling Lan had long known who those people were. From the very moment she set eyes on them, Little Four had already reported the details of these few people.

1. Ling Lan displayed skills at that level during the wagered arena fight.