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Chapter 444 - Ling Lan's Crisis!

Since Ling Lan now knew her father's strength, she did not hesitate to unleash her Domain. The attribute of Ling Lan's Domain was ice — as soon as her Domain was activated, the temperature in the combat room plummeted, and a white layer of frost even appeared to cover the ground.

"The innate talent you awakened is Ice Affinity, so your Domain also inherited this energy potential and manifested with the element of ice?" Ling Xiao silently probed the energy of Ling Lan's Domain — without a doubt, the ice element inside it was very rich. The more powerful her Domain became, the lower the temperature within her Domain would become. When it dropped to a certain degree, her Domain may even be able to freeze any opponent within it, allowing her to win without having to fight the opponent directly.

Although the ice series was rather cold, it was still a variation of the water series. As a girl, it was undoubtedly extremely appropriate that Ling Lan had awakened a water-type innate talent.

Ling Xiao had just begun to relax when his brow immediately furrowed once more. Following the activation of the Domain, Ling Lan's force of presence had also begun to spread out from her body. The force of presence compatible with the ice element should be a calm and stable one, but Ling Lan's force of presence seemed rather berserk, and there was an overbearing dominance behind it. This was completely opposite to the cool calmness of the ice element ...

Ling Xiao finally understood what was wrong with Ling Lan's force of presence — thrown together with a Domain whose power it was incompatible with, how could the two coexist in one body ...? This discovery made Ling Xiao break out in cold sweat. If they could not solve this problem, Ling Lan would one day be torn apart by these two mutually incompatible forces.

"Domain, activate!" Ling Xiao did not hesitate to activate his own Domain and wrapped Ling Lan within it, including her Domain and her somewhat rioting force of presence. He could not allow Ling Lan's force of presence to burst out, otherwise they would really have a problem on their hands.

Ling Xiao's Domain had unfurled without a sound — one could almost overlook its presence. However, the combat room which had become extremely cold due to Ling Lan's Domain was now slowly seeing an increase in temperature. Soon, the air was enveloped in warmth so comfortable that it gave people the urge to give up on all resistance and made them rather drowsy.

As soon as Ling Xiao activated his Domain, Ling Lan had sensed a warmth coming right at her. Like a spring breeze, it started to weaken her will to fight and she found herself becoming lethargic. Ling Lan knew that something was not right, but her heart just could not summon up the will to resist.

With a soft crack, Ling Lan's Domain crumbled. This outcome stunned Ling Lan — she had not expected her Domain to be so fragile, only managing to hold out for several seconds under Ling Xiao's Domain.

This discovery made Ling Lan feel a little discouraged. She lost all thoughts of fighting back and was just about to admit defeat when her suppressed force of presence suddenly erupted. The raging force of presence was unyielding and forceful — under the influence of this force of presence, Ling Lan's desolate mood was successfully chased away, and she was abruptly jolted to awareness.

She had actually fallen under the influence of Ling Xiao's Domain unknowingly, losing her usual indomitable spirit and choosing to give up and surrender ... Ling Lan was shocked by Ling Xiao's Domain — what exactly was the power behind her dad's Domain? Why was it so strange?

However, Ling Lan did not have time to ponder this question, because she found that a true crisis had appeared!

Strictly speaking, Ling Lan's force of presence was Ling Lan's Dao. Her Dao was the Dominance Dao, so she was destined to be domineering and unyielding. Ling Xiao's Domain had just so happened to possess the ability to dispel one's willpower — this had definitely violated the very roots of Ling Lan's Dominance Dao. It felt that it had been provoked, and so it overpowered the control of its master Ling Lan to begin striking back on its own initiative.

Thus, even though Ling Lan was now sober again, she found that she had lost control over her own force of presence. She could only passively feel as her force of presence erupted uncontrollably, surging forwards madly to meet the pressure exerted by Ling Xiao's Domain.

Meanwhile, on Ling Xiao's end, when he had activated his Domain, Ling Lan's initially still somewhat obscured force of presence was completely revealed, so Ling Xiao could finally experience the source of Ling Lan's force of presence. 'This force of presence is so unyielding and is shot through with toughness and dominance ... strange, how in the world did Lan-er cultivate such a force of presence?'

A girl's body was inherently weaker physically — even if they became strong, their force of presences would still lean towards being steady and calm. It should be impossible for a girl to develop such an overbearing and aggressive force of presence. Mind you, among all the force of presences possible, a dominant one was the hardest to control — even Ling Xiao himself did not dare to walk this path. Ling Xiao was astonished at Ling Lan's daring, but was also deeply worried. The path of dominance was not easy.

Ling Xiao's thoughts went by in a flash and under the pressure of his Domain, Ling Lan's Domain did not manage to hold out for more than a few seconds before crumbling completely.

Without the resistance of Ling Lan's Domain in the way, Ling Xiao could better feel the violent fluctuations in Ling Lan's force of presence. He immediately sensed something wrong and chose to press down on Ling Lan's extremely unstable and volatile force of presence. He did not want to hurt his daughter, merely hoping that Ling Lan's unstable force of presence would settle down under his pressuring and stop threatening to explode. At the very least, he was hoping that nothing bad would happen before he could think of a way to help his daughter solve this issue once and for all.

Ling Xiao's decision was undoubtedly sound, a product of proper deliberation. However, Ling Xiao had still underestimated Ling Lan's force of presence. Despite the care he took when applying pressure, Ling Lan's force of presence had still sensed the act and had felt offended enough to go on a rampage.

The shift in Ling Lan's force of presence made Ling Xiao's face change drastically. He could feel the rioting of this force — it was rampaging around within his Domain with several times its original strength, causing Ling Xiao's initially rock-solid Domain to begin shaking in an instant.

"Hng!" The outburst of her force of presence made Ling Lan emit a muffled sound of pain, and a trickle of blood instantly flowed out from the corner of her lips. The abrupt growth in the output of her force of presence had also exceeded the capacity Ling Lan's body was able to withstand. She was suffering the reaction force of her force of presence, incurring severe internal damage from it. Besides that, under her clothes, the skin all over Ling Lan's body was beginning to crack. Blood began to ooze from these cracks, and Ling Lan's white uniform was soon stained red.

Seeing Ling Lan's condition getting worse and worse, Ling Xiao was frantic. Right then, he no longer had any of the calm composure General Ling Xiao should have — sweat poured from his forehead like rain, quickly making his hair wet, and then soaking through his collar. If there had been someone else there, they would even see that Ling Xiao's body which was initially as steady as a mountain was currently trembling uncontrollably.

Ling Lan was naturally also very anxious in this kind of situation. She had just begun circulating the power in her body, thinking to use that to suppress her force of presence when her already untamed force of presence pulled an unexpected move in its disobedience. It bucked Ling Lan's consciousness straight into the learning space, making her lose all control over her physical body.

********

"Boss, what do we do now?" Little Four could clearly see Ling Lan's strange state. When he saw Ling Lan's consciousness appear in the learning space, Little Four knew things had escalated beyond their control. He was so frantic that he was running around in circles — if Ling Lan could not control her body, she would not be able to rein in this berserk and rampaging force of presence. In the end, Ling Lan's body would definitely break down and she would die.

His main body, the learning space, would not lose anything from Ling Lan's death. At most, the explosion of the force of presence would just wipe out all of the learning space's power, so the worst case scenario would be that the learning space would fall into hibernation. As long as he was given time, he would eventually revive and then move on to seek his next host.

However, Little Four did not want that. He was already deeply bonded to Ling Lan. He wanted to become Ling Lan's most beloved follower — he could not accept Ling Lan's disappearance; just the thought of it made Little Four crazy. This was the first time he was feeling this way ... was this fear?

Ling Lan did not respond to Little Four's words. She tried desperately to connect with her body again, to no avail. It was like her physical body on the outside had no connection with her at all — this made Ling Lan both shocked and afraid. As she watched her body deteriorating, she could not help but feel despair rising up within her. Was her second life about to end after only a short 17 years?

"Hmph!" Suddenly, an icy harrumph sounded out by Ling Lan's ear. This cold sound pierced right to Ling Lan's heart, scattering all thoughts of despair. With a jolt, Ling Lan's initially lost and helpless eyes instantly became strong again. Before the final outcome was decided, how could she despair?

Ling Lan could not resist turning back to look at the door the sound had come from, feeling immensely grateful. How could she not know that that cold huff had come from Instructor Number One? Just when she was about to give up out of despair, Instructor Number One had acted to spur her on.

********

Meanwhile, at this time, in one of the spaces in the learning space, the instructors who were initially scattered in around in different spaces had already gathered together in Instructor Number One's space. All of them were exuding various degrees of worry — Ling Lan was their collective disciple. She was the disciple whom they were the proudest of over all the others they had taught before; thus, they did not wish to see their beloved disciple die as her body broke down ...

Number Nine was the first to break under the pressure and speak up. Anxiety writ all over her brow, she asked Instructor Number One, "Big Brother, will Ling Lan be alright?" So consumed with worry, she accidentally reverted to her old way of addressing Instructor Number One.

Number One cast a cold glance at Number Nine. Number Nine's initially incomparably ice-cold face was already cracking right now. He sighed softly — this younger sister of his was only cold on the surface. In reality, her heart was softer than anyone else's and when it came to Ling Lan, Number Nine was the most concerned and most sincere among all the instructors.

When Number One, who had originally planned to stay silent, saw Number Nine being like this, he could only speak up to say, "This will depend on how Ling Lan chooses. This is her crisis, but it is also her chance. If she grasps it well, the problem that has been plaguing Ling Lan all this time will be resolved easily 1 ."

At this point, Instructor Number One's gaze turned distant and vacant. It was as if he was looking at the situation outside, but he could also be looking at nothing at all.

"Ling Lan has lost control of her body. No matter what she's thinking, it won't help." Number Five had lost his usual smile at this moment. His eyebrows drew close together, locking a strand of worry between them. "Also, Ling Lan's force of presence has completely erupted. Even if Ling Lan regains control of her body, she won't be able to fully suppress it."

It was nice to say that humans would always beat the odds, but this needed to be established on the premise that the odds were not beyond one's limitations. Ling Lan's current situation had long exceeded the bounds of what she could endure. Instructor Number Five had always been an ardent proponent of excavating the limits of the human body, but right now, even he was not optimistic about the situation.

1. 迎刃而解: I really like the original phrasing here, but it doesn't carry over very well. Literally, 'part smoothly before the blade', describing how a problem is solved easily in due course.

Chapter 445 - Ling Lan's Fulcrum!

Number Five's words made the hearts of all the other instructors sink. They once again looked towards Instructor Number One, hoping that he could come up with a good way to help resolve Ling Lan's crisis.

Instructor Number One did not reply. He merely raised his right hand and slashed the air with his index finger. An image instantly appeared before the group — there was nothing in the image but a lone figure. It was Ling Xiao who was currently desperately thinking of a way to help Ling Lan overcome this crisis.

"He is Ling Lan's fulcrum in this situation!" stated Number One calmly.

Number Two, who had been hiding in Number One's shadow all this time, suddenly half-emerged from within the shadows. His eyes were glittering and he exclaimed with a hint of urgency, "This person's spiritual power is very strong!" Only he, who was equally a powerhouse when it came to spiritual power, could truly sense just how powerful the other was. This made Number Two have the itch to compete with the other.

"Not only that, but his strength is also extremely great. At least, he's stronger than me." Number Nine had also regained her composure by this time. She too had sensed the immense power concealed within the figure in the image — she lost in comparison.

Instructor Number Five's hunter heart was pleased at this discovery. He could not help licking his lips, saying excitedly, "I really want to try fighting him. It'll definitely be fun." Between the both of them, who was stronger?

At this, Number One turned to look at Number Five and said lightly, "You ... are still no match for him!"

Number One's words made Number Five's expression change, stubbornness and disbelief on his brow.

"His Dao is already mature and is already touching on God's Domain. As long as he is given time, he will be able to enter the world of gods," explained Number One. Only he could clearly sense the other's level; this person hid his capabilities very deeply ... Number One could not help but rejoice for Ling Lan. Ling Lan's problem was already extremely serious — despite already having warned her, Number One knew that there was only a one in a million chance for Ling Lan to resolve this problem on her own.

If there was a master with their own Dao by her side to help her, Ling Lan's chances of overcoming her crisis would be significantly increased. Although all the instructors had their own Dao, they could not materialize in the real world, so they could not be of any help in this regard. Hence, Instructor Number One had had no choice but to hope that Ling Lan could be self-sufficient and find that one in a million chance to resolve her own crisis.

But now, things had changed. A Dao master had really appeared in the real world and was even now helping Ling Lan wholeheartedly. Instructor Number One could finally relax — even if he could materialize outside, it would not be much better than what Ling Xiao was already doing.

Number One's words made Number Five's heart clench as he knew very well what God's Domain meant ... his gaze on Ling Xiao became solemn — he did not expect that he would miss that. This man was very good at hiding things; he only exposed things he wanted to expose 1 .

Meanwhile, the other instructors were all reassured upon hearing that Ling Xiao was so strong. They now pinned their hopes on Ling Xiao, hoping that he would not betray their expectations to help Ling Lan.

On Ling Xiao's end, he had come up with a response plan in the short amount of time he had. In order to avoid any errors, Ling Xiao's brain was running in overdrive, calculating the pros and cons of every possible plan he could think of, as well as considering the potential issues Ling Lan might have in any scenario and the solutions for them.

The matter of utmost urgency was for him to suppress the rampaging force of presence. He could not allow it to continue expanding — once it exceeded the critical point of Ling Lan's ability to withstand it, Ling Xiao knew what the outcome would be. Death by explosion ... How could he let his precious daughter meet that kind of end? He absolutely would not allow it.

Coming to a decision, Ling Xiao did not hesitate any further. The mild and gentle air of his Domain was swept aside, turning into a force with an edge of sharpness. This was Ling Xiao's deeply hidden secret — when he had advanced to Domain, he had activated a dual Domain ...

Ling Lan's overbearing force of presence was once again pressured and pushed back by Ling Xiao's all-encompassing honed power. Still, the force of presence born of the Dominance Dao was after all the most unreasonable and unruly of all force of presences — how could it be willing to lower its head so easily? Additionally, Ling Xiao was afraid that his sharp aura would harm Ling Lan's roots, so he did not dare to apply his full strength. This also gave Ling Lan's force of presence some breathing room and so, the two sides ended up in a stalemate.

Still, this had managed to temporarily stall the crisis of Ling Lan dying by body-explosion. Her force of presence which had been swelling dangerously all this while had finally been halted in place.

At this moment, a keen light flashed through Ling Xiao's eyes and he barked sharply, "If not now, when?"

Ling Lan's eyes had been closed ever since she had lost control of her force of presence. Ling Xiao had guessed that Ling Lan might have already lost consciousness. He was well aware that it was only by Ling Lan's own personal efforts that this crisis could be resolved; thus, he needed to wake Ling Lan up and make her aware again to work together with him and bring the berserk force of presence under control.

This loud cry was infused with Ling Xiao's massive spiritual power. It instantly broke past the seal of the force of presence to penetrate deeply into Ling Lan's mindspace.

Ling Xiao's spiritual power was undoubtedly formidable — inside the learning space, Ling Lan could clearly hear his cry. With a shift of her mind, she immediately circulated her spiritual power maniacally.

The massive spiritual power involved made Little Four, who had been standing beside Ling Lan, retreat several steps uncontrollably until he was forced into a corner. The sudden outburst of Ling Lan's spiritual power shocked Little Four greatly — he tried his hardest to draw closer to Ling Lan, but was unable to do so no matter what he tried.

Just as Little Four was about to panic, he suddenly jolted and his tense expression eased. He stopped trying to approach Ling Lan, merely standing to one side observing her, ready to act at a moment's notice.

Ling Lan's burst of spiritual power had managed to break past the dominant force of presence's blockade. Her physical body which had originally been completely out of reach was finally responding to her again, albeit weakly. Ling Lan knew the opportunity could not be missed. She shouted, "Little Four, break the seal!"

Little Four seemed to have received some form of instruction before — as soon as Ling Lan spoke, he knew exactly what he should do. He immediately unsealed that excess portion of Ling Lan's spiritual power he had previously sealed away. With the addition of this spiritual power, Ling Lan's spiritual power was doubled, bolstering the spiritual power which had broken through the dominant force of presence's blockade.

Perhaps due to the intense wrangling between Ling Xiao and the force of presence, the unruly dominant force of presence could not spare any effort to deal with Ling Lan. Ling Lan's spiritual power very quickly broke through even more of the blockade, and she could now successfully sense her body.

Ling Lan was ecstatic — she too knew very well that only she could save herself. Only by mastering her body would she be able to overcome this crisis. Thus, she put her heart and soul into infusing her entire body with her spiritual power.

Soon, she could feel the torso of her body, and this was followed by her arms and thighs, sensation slowly spreading outwards until it reached her fingers and toes ... as soon as Ling Lan had fully grasped her body, she could feel a bone-deep pain cascading over her.

"This feeling is so familiar." Her body felt as if there were countless hands digging into her flesh and tearing her apart, exactly as she had once felt in her previous world. Even though the pain was excruciating, Ling Lan smiled.

The sensation of pain meant that she had truly regained control of her own body.

Unfortunately, her gruesome expression did not become much better due to her smile. Witnessing Ling Lan's terrible state, Little Four began crying in fear. "Boo hoo hoo, Boss, are you okay?"

This familiar scene made Little Four recall Ling Lan's previous life. He was afraid that Ling Lan would end up as she had in her previous world, her body breaking down completely under the untenable pressure. Now, he did not have the ability to give Ling Lan a second chance at life again — back then, it was a total confluence of luck and circumstances which had allowed that, and now, he had nothing.

Little Four's terrified look made Ling Lan's heart ache — she was just about to console him when she ran out of time. Back in full control of her body, her consciousness was pulled back into her body and so she left the learning space.

Standing in place, Ling Lan suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood with a cry and only then did she slowly open her eyes to see Ling Xiao standing before her with a very nervous expression. She blinked.

Ling Lan returned to her physical body with her powerful spiritual power, which her already battered body found very difficult to bear. Her inner organs were injured once again, resulting in that spurt of fresh blood. However, Ling Lan reacted swiftly, instantly sealing away that excess portion of spiritual power again, stopping her body from continuing to receive damage.

The intense pain rendered Ling Lan unable to speak for a moment. In order to reassure her dad, she could only blink her eyes at him.

Seeing this, Ling Xiao knew Ling Lan was back in control of her body, so he shouted, "Compress your force of presence as much as you can, I'll help."

At his words, Ling Lan desperately pulled back on her force of presence, attempting to suppress it. However, how could her force of presence give it a rest just like that? It refused Ling Lan's suppression, instead becoming even wilder and more violent. Just when Ling Lan was feeling helpless against it, a powerful surge of sharp intent smashed into her force of presence, causing the blazing wild force of presence to instantly deflate a little.

Ling Lan had been a physical skills master to begin with, and coupled with her innate talent Profound Insight, she immediately knew that this was the best chance for suppression. She once again mobilized her spiritual power, and borrowing Ling Xiao's power, she began to compress her force of presence ...

Ling Lan alone, relying solely on her own strength, was not at all up to the task of fighting against her volatile force of presence. But things were different now ... Ling Xiao's strength was frightening — if he had not been afraid of harming Ling Lan, the domineering force of presence would have long been suppressed by him. Now, as Ling Lan slowly compressed her force of presence, Ling Xiao's suppression over the dominant force of presence also grew increasingly stronger. In the end, all of the force of presence was successfully pressed back into Ling Lan's body.

But they had only gotten to the most critical point. The inherent attribute of Ling Lan's body was completely opposite to that of the roused force of presence. This eliminated the possibility of a natural fusion — the only hope for the two to coexist harmoniously was via the application of brute force ...

In contrast to Ling Lan's bewilderment, the worldly Ling Xiao was well aware of this point. He also knew that although this moment was a crisis for Ling Lan, it was also a pivotal turning point for her. As long as she grabbed this chance properly, her problem could be fully resolved.

He was unwilling for this chance to slip by, so he yelled loudly, "Lan-er, use your spiritual power to beat your force of presence into submission!" That large reserve of spiritual power Ling Lan had brought along with her when she returned previously had given Ling Xiao a glimpse of success!

With Ling Xiao's guidance, Ling Lan now knew what she should do. She instantly unleashed her spiritual power — now that she had a purpose, without any hesitation, she directed all of her spiritual power at that unruly and rebellious force of presence within her body that was still trying to wrest free of her control.

"Spiritual charge! Spiritual charge! Spiritual charge! ..."

In order to combat the raging force of presence in her body, Ling Lan used multiple spiritual charges to attack it, trying to subdue it a little.

Sure enough, after all these blows, the volatile force of presence had become much quieter. However, Ling Lan felt even more threatened than before in her heart — it was as if the force of presence was just lying in wait to begin its next onslaught.

Without question, Ling Lan's intuition was very strong. After carrying out multiple spiritual charges, when she could no longer push on due to the great drain on her spiritual power, the force of presence found its chance to counterattack. Taking advantage of this instant, the force of presence surged up violently and began to throw itself around to ravage Ling Lan's body, causing the wounds on her body to split open once more, her blood pouring out like a river.

"Godamm*t!" Ling Lan's terrible condition made Ling Xiao livid. His powerful spiritual power once again enveloped Ling Lan.

"Lan-er, relax your mind!" Ling Xiao's words prompted Ling Lan and she obediently relaxed her spiritual power, and then she could feel a powerful surge of spiritual power merging with hers.

"Spiritual fusion!" Only someone from the Divine Command Sect could do this. Ling Xiao and Ling Lan were all from the Divine Command Sect, so their spiritual power could fuse together.

After Ling Lan received the reinforcement of Ling Xiao's spiritual power, she immediately began counterattacking wildly, pushing her force of presence to one area. As she compressed it more and more, the energy of her force of presence became ever more condensed. In the end, it was actually compressed into countless small balls, distributed in various parts of her body.

Ling Lan knew success was at hand — as long as she put in just a bit more effort, she would be able to completely master this dominant force of presence. Sensing Ling Lan's hopeful feelings, Ling Xiao once again strengthened the pressure of his spiritual power.

"Poof, poof, poof, poof ..." Ling Lan heard countless sounds like this ring out all around her body. After that, she felt a lightness spread through her body, suffusing it with energy, and the initially tearing pain also began to ease. She naturally began to circulate her Qi and go through her Qi exercises, beginning the process of treating her ravaged body.

Ling Xiao saw Ling Lan close her eyes once more, and all traces of the initially rampaging force of presence disappeared from Ling Lan's body. Still concerned, Ling Xiao used his spiritual power to check once more, and when he saw that Ling Lan was only fortifying her realm and treating her wounds, he instantly let out a sigh of relief.

Originally, Ling Xiao was planning to wait for Ling Lan to wake up, but it wasn't too long before the communicator on his wrist began to vibrate. Ling Xiao looked down and immediately frowned; he knew he could no longer continue waiting. He knew that if he did not take Lan Luofeng away from that teahouse where they were supposed to meet at soon, someone might become suspicious. His secret guards had sent him news that there were already many people eyeing the teahouse, just waiting for a chance to enter and investigate.

Ling Xiao glanced silently at Ling Lan for a moment, and only after that did he open the doors of the combat room and walk out, closing the doors again behind him. As long as there was someone in the combat room, it would not be able to be opened from the outside. Hence, Ling Xiao was not at all worried for Ling Lan's safety.

Just like this, Ling Xiao disappeared from the accommodation area. Not much later, the very popular figure Ling Xiao led Lan Luofeng away from the teahouse to return to their living quarters ...

Lan Luofeng was extremely angry at Ling Xiao's failure to bring Ling Lan back. She had sat around idly for half a day waiting and in the end, she still had not been able to catch sight of Ling Lan. If she had not been afraid of exposing her daughter, she definitely would have blown her top right then and there ...

After they returned to their residence, Lan Luofeng began interrogating Ling Xiao on the reason why their daughter had not come. Ling Xiao was afraid that Lan Luofeng would worry, so he casually said that he had been testing Ling Lan's strength by sparring with Ling Lan in a combat room. Then, under his pressuring, Ling Lan had accidentally advanced levels. In order not to affect Ling Lan's advancement, he had locked Ling Lan in the combat room, which was why he could not bring Ling Lan to meet her at the teahouse.

When Lan Luofeng heard this, she was instantly enraged. Alright, so the one who had prevented mother and daughter from meeting was this wicked man before her eyes ... also, her child was a lovely daughter and not a tough son. Was great strength so necessary?!

In short, the infuriated Lan Luofeng pounced on Ling Xiao and threw a flurry of wild punches and kicks at him. Ling Xiao was afraid that he would hurt Lan Luofeng by accident, so he did not dare to use his internal energy to defend himself. And so, General Ling Xiao, who had not been injured for a long time, was finally injured.

The next day, when General Ling Xiao was attending an event, the corners of his lips would twitch subtly every time he moved. Under the dashing and majestic general's uniform he was wearing, countless bruises were hidden, too ghastly to look at ...

1. T/C: Hmm, so we finally get in-text proof that Ling Xiao is actually better than Ling Lan at the whole low-key thing. :p

Chapter 446 - Her Little Friends ...

Ling Lan opened her eyes to find the combat room completely dark, and her father Ling Xiao had already long disappeared.

Glancing at the time on her communicator, Ling Lan found that it was already 1 a.m. of the next day. She had not expected to have used almost a full 12 hours immersed in her Qi exercises.

Ling Lan immediately used her spiritual power to examine her body and found that even though she had used a rather long time, the effects were substantial. The countless horrifying wounds previously littering her body were now completely healed. The scabs over some of the wounds were already beginning to peel off — the speed of this recovery was at least 20% better than conventional healing agents.

Joy gripped Ling Lan's heart — this would undoubtedly save her the step of going to Li Shiyu for medical agents. Once she visited Li Shiyu, her whole team would know about her injuries, and Ling Lan did not want to see her team members' worried faces.

Just as she was rejoicing, a bloody and rancid smell invaded Ling Lan's nostrils. She looked down and saw that her white dux uniform had already turned dark crimson-black from all the blood, and the rank smell was wafting off her clothes. Ling Lan's brow wrinkled in revulsion. Not in the mood to continue staying here, she immediately opened the combat room's doors and departed.

At this moment, Ling Lan only wanted to return to her living quarters and take a good shower so she could be clean again.

To avoid others from noticing her strange condition, Ling Lan used her force of presence to envelop the thick scent of blood wafting off her, keeping it from spreading. Then, she swiftly slipped past the guards and staff members on duty, quickly making her way to the accommodation area assigned to the First Men's Military Academy.

Right when she was about to reach her room, however, Ling Lan's footstep faltered. Her gaze flickered and the corners of her lips tilted up. She took a deep breath, pushed down the emotion that had risen up in her, and only then did she walk forwards with steady steps. Turning the corner, she saw a group of people, either sitting, squatting, or standing, gathered at her door. Ling Lan could clearly see the anxiety and worry on all of their faces.

These were her little friends — constantly concerned about her! Ling Lan's heart was filled to the brim with warmth, and her eyes turned red beyond her control. Still, the strong Ling Lan very quickly calmed herself down again, becoming that cool and collected, impenetrable Boss Lan in their eyes once more.

Li Lanfeng and Qi Long turned their heads almost simultaneously. Li Lanfeng, because of his extraordinary spiritual power allowing him to sense a change from a greater distance, and Qi Long, because of his Animal Instinct telling him at soonest notice that something was there.

They turned and saw Ling Lan standing in the distance looking at them and perked up in joy. However, they soon noticed Ling Lan's outfit which was drenched in blood, and their expressions changed drastically. Qi Long was further unable to stop his powerful force of presence from flaring. His heart was unbelievably anguished — who the hell had hurt his boss? He dearly wished he could get his hands on them and tear them apart. The livid Qi Long did not consider this: before an opponent that had managed to harm the formidable Boss Lan, how could he match up?

Qi Long's shift in demeanour alerted the others. They all looked at Qi Long, and when they saw Qi Long staring off somewhere with an anguished expression, they were startled and quickly turned to follow his line of sight. When they then saw Ling Lan standing there in her bloody clothes, all their faces paled.

Before they could cry out, Ling Lan had instantly come up to Qi Long's side. She pressed down on Qi Long's shoulder lightly with her right hand and said softly, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Ling Lan's calm tone eased the tension in Qi Long's heart, and the oppressive aura around him dissipated.

Li Lanfeng did not believe Ling Lan's words at all — for his white uniform to be so red, how much blood exactly had Ling Lan bled? How could he really be fine? He reached out a hand to grab hold of Ling Lan as she moved to walk past him and said, "This ... what in the world has happened?"

Ling Lan glanced at her hand clasped in Li Lanfeng's, and her heart warmed upon seeing the unconcealed care and concern in his eyes. She squeezed his hand in reassurance and said, "Some minor issue came up as I was going through a breakthrough. It's resolved now."

Everyone gaped at Ling Lan's words, and Qi Long said excitedly, "Boss, you've had another breakthrough?" Qi Long knew that his boss had already successfully advanced to Domain, but he had heard that it was still unstable. Was Boss saying that his Domain was stable now?

Ling Lan knew what Qi Long was asking, and she found that he was right to think what he was when she stopped to think about it, so she nodded at him. This good news was greeted by irrepressible cheers from everyone there. The stronger Ling Lan was, the prouder they were, because Ling Lan was their boss!

The commotion finally drew the attention of a staff on duty outside. He came over and shouted at them, "It's already so late, what are you all making so much noise for?" He saw so many people standing together and was instantly nervous. "What are you all planning to do? Why are you all not resting at this late hour?"

Han Jijyun stepped out from the crowd and replied, "We're only studying tactics. We'll be going back to rest soon."

With that, the staff member relaxed, and then he urged everyone to go back to their own rooms as soon as possible. Ling Lan told the others that they could discuss things further tomorrow via her spiritual power and only then did everyone disperse. Ling Lan had already slipped into her room right before the staff member had approached them.

She had no intention of letting the staff member notice her strange condition. Although she could probably explain it away, it was always better to be cautious and not take unnecessary risks. Ling Lan did not wish for word about this to spread.

The next day, everyone came to Ling Lan's room, and only after hearing an abridged version of events from Ling Lan were they finally fully reassured. After that, they all charged towards the competition hall. Today, the physical skills competition would continue, and some of the other specialization competitions would also be starting, such as the mecha repair and modification competition, the military doctor first-aid competition, and the starship navigation competition ...

Each competition attracted countless spectators. Meanwhile, the Lingtian Battle Clan would be splitting up on this day, because of the fights taking place today; four of the ten people in the battle clan would be competing at the same time.

Besides Qi Long who would be resuming his physical skills competition, Chang Xinyuan would be participating in the repair and modification competition, Li Shiyu would be participating in the military doctor first-aid competition, and Han Jijyun would be participating in the starship navigation competition.

Although the repair and modification competition was called 'repair and modification', the main thing being tested in the competition was still repair and maintenance, rather than modification ability. The competition required contestants to identify the source of a mecha's malfunction as quickly as they could, come up with a repair plan, and then use the shortest amount of time possible to fix the mecha. Of course, on top of the basic repairs, if a contestant could make appropriate modifications to improve the mecha's performance and functionality, their score would be significantly boosted.

There were a total of three people from the First Men's Military Academy participating in this competition. Aside from Chang Xinyuan, one of the other two contestants was a mecha engineer from the Leiting Mecha Clan, while the other was a mecha engineer from Tianji. However, in Ling Lan's opinion, among the three, Chang Xinyuan was the strongest and the most likely to become champion. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha ... Ling Lan just could not imagine Chang Xinyuan losing.

For the military doctor first-aid competition, Li Shiyu was their representative. As military doctors in the First Men's Military Academy could not join any faction, for the past few tournaments, this competition had always been left without a representative from the First Men's Military Academy, considered one of the abandoned events. This time, however, Li Shiyu from Ling Lan's team was mercilessly flung out to represent the school in this event.

When Li Shiyu found out about this, oh how he resented it! Just imagine — he, a dux of the Military Medical Research specialization, actually being relegated to participate in this first-aid competition which involved very little skill ... it was really such a disgrace to him. However, under Ling Lan's high-pressure manoeuvring, Li Shiyu could only bite his little handkerchief with teary eyes 1 and mournfully resign himself to his fate.

Having decided to participate in this competition, Li Shiyu naturally could not let the first place fall to anyone else. If he lost, wouldn't that be an even greater loss of face for him as a dux?

Meanwhile, the starship navigation competition Han Jijyun was participating in was the one with the most uncertain chances of winning. Moreover, their little sister Luo Chao would also be participating in this event under the banner of the First Co-ed Military Academy. In this event, the clever Han Jijyun did not think that he would be able to match Luo Chao. That shy girl who had awakened a navigator's talent could be said to be heaven-blessed with regards to this event.

Of the remaining six people of Ling Lan's battle clan, Ling Lan was planning to go support Qi Long at the combat arena. Li Lanfeng was somewhat reluctant to part from Ling Lan, but he also wanted to go cheer for his brother. He was very conflicted, but in the end, he still decided to go to Li Shiyu's side ... after some thought, Zhao Jun went to Chang Xinyuan's event. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha — no matter what, he needed to score some affinity points with the other.

Meanwhile, Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, and Luo Lang decided to go support Han Jijyun, though of course Luo Lang was more likely to be supporting his sister. As for Xie Yi ... he might be going for Luo Lang's sister's sake, or perhaps for Luo Lang's sake 1 ? Only Lin Zhong-qing was truly there to support Han Jijyun whole-heartedly. He still remembered that Han Jijyun had been a great help in bringing him on board to follow Boss. He was grateful for that, so within the battle clan, he had the best relationship with Han Jijyun.

1. 含泪咬着小手绢: This is in reference to the stereotype of how traditional Chinese maidens react when they feel aggrieved.

2. T/C: Lololol, the author reveals her fujoshi side once again. It's cool, it's cool, I ship this too. :p

Chapter 447 - Not That Complicated!

The second day of the Grand Mecha Tournament passed without any great fanfare. In the physical skills competition, Qi Long encountered a master in the morning who was from the Third Men's Military Academy. The other's physical skills were at the same realm as his — peak of middle-stage Qi-Jin.

This match was obviously going to be a battle of endurance. However, Ling Lan was not worried — the years of training under her had given Qi Long stamina several times greater than that of the average person's. It could be said that Qi Long was the most unafraid of a battle of endurance.

However, the final outcome was somewhat beyond Ling Lan's expectations. Perhaps due to his boss personally being there to watch him fight, Qi Long seemed like he had been hit up with a shot of adrenaline — his original combat style carried an extra edge of fervency. On the field, Qi Long came out of the gate aggressive, charging at the other with a wild barrage of attacks, taking the opponent by surprise and pushing the other into a passive position.

Qi Long's attacks were too ferocious and unreasonable — as the opponent struggled to handle them, he accidentally exposed an opening. Qi Long's awakened innate talent was one with the strongest instinctual sense, Animal Instinct. He instantly leapt on the opening, immediately KO-ing the opponent and clinching the victory.

This match from start to finish took very little time. This left the audience, who had been expecting a close fight extending several hundred or even several thousand moves before the outcome would be determined, completely blindsided. Even the referee responsible for their arena did not come back to himself in time to announce the outcome after Qi Long successfully KO-ed his opponent. In the end, after running out of patience, Qi Long had to call out to the referee to shake him out of his stupor.

Qi Long successfully moved on to the third round, and the afternoon ushered in a new round of knockout fights. This time, his opponent was a little weaker than him. Nevertheless, Qi Long did not lower his guard just because the opponent was weaker. He rallied his focus and went all out from the very start of the match, not giving his opponent any chance at all. In the end, he defeated his opponent without any surprises and advanced to the fourth round.

Done with his fights for the day, Qi Long walked off the arena stage to see Ling Lan nod at him. He released a great sigh of relief — this meant that his boss was still satisfied with his performance today. He was truly afraid that if Boss was the least bit displeased, he may be dragged off for another round of extreme training ... just thinking about that terrifying whatchamacallit, Qi Long could not help but shudder.

"Congratulations on entering the top 200 of physical combat!" Ling Lan watched as Qi Long walked over to her side, and although she was rather surprised at his trembling, seeing how energetic he was, Ling Lan decided to ignore it and just congratulate him.

Hearing this, Qi Long rubbed the short hair on his head sheepishly and flashed a silly grin.

Ling Lan said nothing else on this topic, instead bringing up the situation of the other members contesting today. The first one she mentioned was Qi Long's good bromance partner, Han Jijyun. "Han Jijyun has also passed the preliminaries and has entered the top 50 name list. However, his placing is rather far back, 42 or 43 I think, much worse than how Luo Chao did. Luo Chao's preliminary results placed her in third, so she's in the top three ..."

"Wha — Luo Chao's that strong? Jijyun actually lost to her?" asked Qi Long in shock.

"Don't look down on Luo Chao. Her innate talent was born to do this. When encountering problems in space, she is able to make the best decision instinctively, while Jijyun needs to rely fully on his brain to analyse and calculate the best option. In terms of speed, he'll of course be no match for Luo Chao," explained Ling Lan. "Also, I don't think girls are inherently any weaker than boys. Sometimes, girls are even stronger!" As Ling Lan said this, she stared pointedly at Qi Long.

This stare made Qi Long's heart clench in fright. He began to reflect — had he ever said something wrong sometime, somewhere, which had given his boss the mistaken impression that he looked down on girls?

After thinking for a good long time, Qi Long still could not figure out when he had made such a mistake. Just as he was flustered and unsure what to do, a spark of light coursed through his brain ...

Could it be that Boss had become angry because he had made light of little sister Luo Chao earlier? Qi Long felt instantly enlightened. Luo Chao was a childhood friend of theirs, and ever since their time at the scout academy, there was already something brewing between Boss and Luo Chao.

Qi Long believed he had found the answer — he silently reminded himself that he needed to be nicer to Luo Chao from now on, so that when she became their sister-in-law in the future, she would not come after them to settle old accounts. At that time, if she whispered rumours to Boss in bed 1 and got Boss to personally teach them a lesson, they would definitely meet a tragic end.

Ling Lan did not know that Qi Long was actually building a ship for her and Luo Chao in his head right then, his mind patching ideas together and making such random conclusions that god knows where it was veering off to. She saw Qi Long bowing his head without saying a word and assumed that he was concerned for his sworn brother Han Jijyun, so she did not continue this thread of conversation. Instead, she began speaking of the others. "Just now, Li Lanfeng has just sent news that the competition on Li Shiyu's side has ended. The first place of the first-aid competition is already officially ours, the First Men's Military Academy's."

At this point, Ling Lan's lips could not help but quirk up in a small smile. She had had full confidence in Li Shiyu, but she really had not expected that the other would win first place this easily. According to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu had ended the competition in just one round. His first-aid plan and the speed with which he executed it had astounded all the referees. "Five different afflictions of different degrees on different patients, and he only used three minutes to finish treating everyone. On top of that, the methods he chose to use were deemed as the most optimal by all the referees."

"Five people? Three minutes? Holy sh*t, was he injected with stimulants?" Qi Long was flabbergasted. He knew that Li Shiyu's medical skills were impressive, but he had not expected that they were this impressive. The gold standard of Federation military first aid was one person in five minutes, and Li Shiyu actually managed to treat all five people in less than the time it usually took to treat one.

"It's because Li Shiyu streamlined the first aid steps to their limits. It was also because of this that the referees decided there was no point in continuing on with the competition." When Ling Lan thought about how such an amazing person had been hoodwinked by her into her battle clan, she could not help but preen.

Qi Long was also thankful that his battle clan had such an amazing doctor — in future, their lives would undoubtedly be much safer.

Ling Lan then moved on to speak about Chang Xinyuan. "Chang Xinyuan has also advanced to the next round in his event. According to Zhao Jun, Chang Xinyuan may be hiding part of his skills. His score right now is roughly in the middle of the pack."

"Old Chang, that fellow ... he's used to being cautious. It's probably a leftover effect from Qiao Ting's oppression. He really dislikes being in the limelight; it makes him feel unsafe." Qi Long and Chang Xinyuan were already on very good terms — because Chang Xinyuan was older than Qi Long by several years, Qi Long was used to calling him 'Old Chang'.

"Hmm, this is a problem. This is also why I wanted Chang Xinyuan to join this competition. He needs to overcome this issue, or else he won't be able to become strong." Ling Lan was well aware of Chang Xinyuan's problem as well, and she now shared her reasons for making him join the competition with Qi Long.

"He will definitely be able to do it." Qi Long had faith in Chang Xinyuan.

"Hopefully," replied Ling Lan. She then lifted her head and looked around. There were still matches ongoing, so she asked, "Qi Long, do you still want to watch any of the fights?" Since Qi Long's matches were over, Ling Lan was planning to return to the accommodation area. Even though her force of presence problem had been resolved, she still needed to continue working hard; only by doing so would she be able to freely circulate and use the force of presence she had brought into submission.

"Nah. There are still 200 people to go! Who knows who my opponents will be? I might as well go back to rest and gather my strength to prepare for tomorrow's fights," said Qi Long without any fuss. He did not want to waste time here.

"Very well then. Let's go!" Ling Lan and Qi Long left the combat hall. On the way back, Qi Long finally mustered up the courage to ask something that had been bothering him deep inside for a long time. "Boss, why are you not participating in any solo events at all in this tournament, only joining for the team battle? You should know that, whether it is physical skills or mecha combat, no one can match you, not even Qiao Ting." Qi Long's confidence in Ling Lan was a full hundred percent. He did not believe that there was any cadet who could rival his boss.

Ling Lan cast a cold glance at Qi Long, instantly sending the courage Qi Long had just scrounged up packing.

Frankly, Ling Lan's glance had just been a curious glance with no special meaning. Qi Long was just jumpy because he had been subjected to too much of Ling Lan's special brand of pressure.

After thinking it over, Ling Lan said, "Physical skills ... with you, it's enough! For mecha, Qiao Ting will take champion with no problems, and it's good to let Zhao Jun out to experience the fighting styles of high-level experts ..." In order to maintain her glorious image as boss, she could only continue to feign high-mindedness and pretend her decisions were purely from a selfless standpoint.

"Most importantly, I'm setting my targets on the final battle royal, and when everyone thinks Qiao Ting is the main person to watch out for ..." Here, Ling Lan stopped talking, closing her mouth. But Qi Long could already see the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan's words. He was instantly thrumming with excitement. So that's how it was! Boss was hiding behind everyone for the sake of that final grand massacre! As expected of his boss — from the very start, his boss must have already planned things this way.

In the following days, some of the competitions ended, while others started. The widely-anticipated mecha combat event also kicked off on the seventh day of the Grand Mecha Tournament. Like the physical combat competition, each academy had five entry slots. For the First Men's Military Academy, aside from Qiao Ting, the Lingtian Battle Clan sent out Zhao Jun. This decision did not surprise the other participating students, because on the surface, the strongest in terms of mecha combat in the Lingtian Mecha Clan was Zhao Jun.

Tianji and Wuji each sent out their regiment commanders, and Ling Lan gave the final entry slot to Zhang Jing-an. After all, he was from the Central Scout Academy, and since Zhang Jing-an's strength was not bad, Ling Lan could openly open this backdoor for him.

Other than the starship navigation competition, Han Jijyun also participated in the tactical planning competition. Besides him, Li Lanfeng had also entered the competition. Both of them were successfully shortlisted into the top 50 name list — Han Jijyun was in the top 10, while Li Lanfeng was somewhere in the 30s, which rather surprised Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng was born to do this — in contrast, Han Jijyun was a little predisposed to using more forthright plans when strategizing, often overlooking more subtle and sneakier schemes ...

Afterwards, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng why the results had turned out as they had, and Li Lanfeng had only smiled without saying anything ... in the end, under the pressure of Ling Lan's penetrating gaze, Li Lanfeng said helplessly, "I'm just following in your footsteps. In the final fight, when all their attention is on Han Jijyun ..."

When she heard this, Ling Lan could only scratch her nose, speechless. Her reasons for not participating in the other competitions were definitely not as complicated as Li Lanfeng made them out to be. It's just her force of presence acting up, alright? She just needed to focus on internal cultivation for a while, okay? Of course, she did not deny she had factored that point into her considerations, but that was something she had only thought of after she knew that she could not afford to participate in any individual events.

1. 吹个枕头风: Literally, 'blow a pillow wind'; meaning pretty much as translated within the text. A reference to how it is said that people are more open to suggestion after intercourse ...

Chapter 448 - Single Mecha Combat!

As time went by, the results of the various competitions were revealed.

Other than the early procurement of first place in the first aid event, the next competition to end was the starship navigation event Han Jijyun was participating in. Although Han Jijyun's final ranking was only 27th place, it was still a significant improvement from his 43rd placing at the start of the competition.

As one of the only two second-year students participating in the starship navigation competition, Han Jijyun's results were undoubtedly something that one could be proud of and was worthy of praise. However, it just so happened that there was Luo Chao too in the tournament this year. Everyone heaped their praises on this little girl instead because, as a second-year student herself, Luo Chao's performance was breath-taking in the finals. If she had not relaxed in that final critical moment, which had allowed the contestant right behind her to overtake her starship at the last second, perhaps she would have made history as the first second-year to become champion. In the end, she could only regretfully become second place.

However, Luo Chao was not too disappointed. She had come to participate in the tournament primarily because she wanted Boss Lan to see how much she had grown. Of course, she still was not at the peak perfection of her growth yet, but she believed that as long as she continued to work hard, there would be a day when she would become the most excellent ship captain of the Federation. Then, she would be able to navigate a ship for Boss Lan and her big brothers and keep them safe.

The other events also ended one after another. In physical skills combat, Qi Long was stopped at the top 8, but he gained much from his participation. The stubborn bottleneck frustrating him all this while had finally loosened — as long as he went back and put some effort into it, he should be able to break through his current realm and enter the early stages of advanced level Qi-Jin.

Meanwhile, of the other four participants with him, one ended in the top 100, one in the top 50, one in the top 16, and the last one actually ended up in the top 4. Unfortunately, in the finals, he encountered a sixth-year top-class master whose physical skills were already at a very high peak 1 and could only accept his defeat with regret. That top-class master finally nabbed first place with no trouble at all.

Still, the collective score of the five contestants was considerable. In total, their score placed them in third place among all the military academies for physical skills. As such, Ling Lan was not disappointed by these results.

After several rounds of competition, Chang Xinyuan was slowly breaking free of his mental block — after every round, his ranking would shift a little forwards compared to before. By the time the final round came, he had successfully created an advanced mecha with an elegant outer form based off extremely reasonable design principles. After deliberation, the referee team declared Chang Xinyuan as the champion of the competition, leaving Chang Xinyuan weeping tears of joy.

Close after that was the tactical planning competition. Han Jijyun managed a turnaround, his final results placing him in the top 3 in third place. The first and second place went to the Second Men's Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy respectively. Han Jijyun did not feel at all disgraced in losing to the contestants from these two esteemed academies.

That aside, Li Lanfeng's final ranking was 13th place. This ranking would net his academy a pretty decent amount of points, and would also lead the other academies to underestimate him at the same time. With that, he was extremely satisfied at achieving what he wanted.

During this time, Ling Lan had already secretly met up with Lan Luofeng under Ling Xiao's lead. She had felt Lan Luofeng's almost overflowing maternal love from her endless nagging concern — even as Ling Lan was touched, she surreptitiously sent a pleading look to her dad for help ... Boo hoo hoo, one year away from mum and she had become even naggier than before ...

Finally, Ling Lan could feel the spirit of rebellion rearing up within her. Her rebellious phase had come so late though ... she was almost 40 now if she added up both her lifetimes. At this thought, Ling Lan was truly chagrined — she really did not live up to her mental age.

She knew that Ling Xiao would only leave after the battle royal, so Ling Lan repeatedly reassured Lan Luofeng that she would definitely make time to come see her for the duration of the Grand Mecha Tournament; only then did she manage to convince Lan Luofeng to let go. When Ling Lan left, she spoke to her dad, hinting for him to work harder to get her mum pregnant earlier, so that she could be free ...

Immediately after throwing out these hints, Ling Lan brushed her hands of the matter and ran away without taking any responsibility, leaving behind a gobsmacked Ling Xiao. His cheeks and the tips of his ears quickly flushed red — for the first time, he felt embarrassed in front of his daughter.

Unfortunately ... Ling Xiao sighed deeply, but his expression soon eased out again. He had no more regrets in this life since he had this daughter Ling Lan 1 .

By the seventh day of the grand tournament, the miscellaneous specialization competitions were all consecutively coming to an end. The First Men's Military Academy was pretty much dominating the rankings. After taking everything into account, the First Men's Military Academy's total score put it in first place for the moment. However, The Second Men's Military Academy, Third Men's Military Academy, and First Co-ed Military Academy were close behind it. The total points of all four academies were extremely close, merely a few points separating them from each other ...

All eyes were on the mecha combat event which was about to officially begin. If any of the other three academies could become the final victor of the mecha combat event, they would be able to break the current status quo and become the front-runner in one fell swoop.

Having said that, there is a need to explain the point distribution of the various events in the Grand Mecha Tournament. First off, on the final day of the tournament, the most important battle royal will account for half of the overall points. In other words, even if a school was at the bottom of the barrel in terms of points before the battle royal, as long as they became the final victor in the battle royal, they would still be able to achieve an upset and win the whole tournament. Similarly, even if a school was at the head of the rankings with their previous score, if they did not do well in the final battle royal, they would also be plummet from the clouds into the mud below.

As for the remaining half of the points, the mecha combat event took up another half of this half. This was also why there was so much attention on the mecha combat tournament. And this huge share of points was again split into two parts — single mecha combat and group mecha combat (five-person teams).

The first to be held was single mecha combat. Both the mecha combat events, single and group, would be using real mecha. This added a very real element of danger, and blood was certain to be shed at every tournament during the mecha combat events and the final battle royal. There had even been one year when the blood had flowed like a river, the wings of many outstanding talents broken right here in the tournament.

Some had suggested for the tournament to use virtual mecha instead, but the military had rejected the proposals in the end. The military felt that if a contestant could not even protect themselves in this type of combat competition intended for training purposes, then they certainly would not be able to survive in a cruel battlefield. As such, those cadets might as well just wash out of the military system. (The Grand Mecha Tournament typically resulted in severe injuries or disabilities — though there had of course been deaths as well, those were much rarer. After all, everyone knew to hold back a little in the tournament. Moreover, the Federation's greatest medical team would be on standby throughout the entire tournament. If any accidents occurred, the team would also be able to mobilise as quickly as possible to rescue the wounded.)

The high-profile ace operator Qiao Ting finally appeared before the public — not only would he be participating in the single mecha combat event, he would also be participating in the group mecha combat event. Generally, the five combatants a military academy would send for the single mecha combat event would often also be the five members participating in the group combat event. After all, these would be the school's strongest five ... but there were also exceptions. For example, this year, when the First Men's Military Academy had submitted their registration form, the reception staff had at first thought that he had misread it.

In the competition this time, Qiao Ting had two main competitors. Namely, Lin Xiao, who was suspected of being an ace operator, from the First Co-ed Military Academy, and Jiang Shaoyu, a confirmed ace operator from the Second Men's Military Academy.

It should be said that the organizers had arranged things very well. The three ace operators would not meet right from the start. The mecha combat competition was split into 4 blocks, and the three ace operators were in three separate blocks. Only when they entered the top 4 would they have any chance of clashing, of course with the premise that they were not unexpectedly eliminated from the competition earlier on.

The single mecha combat event would last for a total of three days. The first two days would be knockout matches among the contestants within the four blocks. The winner of each of the four blocks would then move on to the top 4 and engage in battle on the third day. And after the single mecha combat event ended, the group mecha combat event would begin, and it would likewise go on for three days.

Zhao Jun, who had been pushed by Ling Lan into participating in the single mecha combat event, had luck which was off the charts compared to the other participants from the First Academy. During the draw, he did not pull any of the three blocks hosting one of the three ace operators. Instead, he pulled the only block filled will just special-class mecha, which was the block predicted by all of the audience to be the most competitive area with the most brutal fighting.

And it was indeed so. This block did not have an ace hanging over them, so everyone believed that they had a fighting chance to become the winner. This caused everyone in the block to fight to the end, unwilling to back down. Every mecha seemed almost berserk when they fought, and this block was the one which incurred the highest number of injured operators as well as the worst injuries. The emergency medical team on site was thrown into a chaotic rush to handle all the injuries, running themselves ragged to save these gifted talents.

In this wild massacre, Zhao Jun displayed his prowess, bringing down opponents left and right to finally secure a place for himself in the finals of this block, and then obtain the one and only non-ace position in the top 4 of the event. This result was met with the envy-jealousy-hate of the other three contestants from the First Men's Military Academy — they had just been unlucky, pulling the other three blocks. Without any doubt, when they had encountered the respective ace operators in their blocks, they had lost cleanly.

After the successive battles, Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy, who had initially been hiding his true abilities, was proven to have indeed already advanced to ace. He entered the final top 4 without any problems, and Qiao Ting and Jiang Shaoyu soon followed him as well, clinching the top 4 slots of their respective blocks.

On the final day of the single mecha combat event, the top 4 contestants arrived punctually at the mecha combat field. At this point, they still did not know who their opponent of the day would be. The referee on the field first made them each choose a ball from four balls rolling around quickly within a device. The person who got the same number would be their opponent for the first match. The winners of those two first matches would then move on to the final match to determine the first and second place, while the losers would fight to compete for third and fourth place.

The first to step up and choose a ball was Jiang Shaoyu. Qiao Ting heard Zhao Jun take in a deep breath beside him — although their two mecha clans were rivals in the First Academy, they were comrades right now, so Qiao Ting felt that he needed to show some concern. He asked in a low voice, "How are you? Nervous?"

Zhao Jun licked his lips and said with barely repressed excitement, "No, I'm just thinking ... who'll be my next opponent?"

"Is there someone you want to fight?" Qiao Ting had noticed the deeply hidden excitement in Zhao Jun's eyes. At that moment, he recalled how Zhao Jun had not shown any fear either when the other had fought him back then, so why would he fear another now? Qiao Ting could not help admiring the other, thinking to himself, 'This fellow Zhao Jun is really pretty good.'

"Yep, that one on the stage," said Zhao Jun without any hesitation whatsoever as he pointed at Jiang Shaoyu.

"Why him?" asked Qiao Ting, boggled. Compared to Jiang Shaoyu, Lin Xiao looked easier to handle.

"Because, he attacked Luo Lang before." Zhao Jun's reply was simple. His gaze narrowed and a tendril of killing intent seeped out. Since the other dared to lay a hand on his teammate, then even though he knew he was no match for that guy, he still wanted to leave some mark on him ...

1. The author does not give the actual stage name here, but based on the great commotion every time Domain is mentioned, I'm guessing that this fellow mentioned here must still be at most in the topmost level of Qi-Jin and not Domain yet, otherwise there would be more commotion from the audience.

2. T/C: Oh dear ... it sounds like the Ling couple are unable to have more children for some reason. Hmm.

Chapter 449 - Admitting Defeat!

Qiao Ting could sense the rage in Zhao Jun's heart, and he knew the reason for it. The incident involving Luo Lang before the start of the tournament ... as long as one had the interest, it was easy to find out about it. What Qiao Ting had not expected was that Zhao Jun would take this slight against a teammate to heart so much after only having joined Lingtian for just a short couple of months. Was this another one of Ling Lan's unknown abilities?

Qiao Ting glanced at Zhao Jun with a troubled gaze, his emotions a rather complicated mess. He could not tell if he was admiring or jealous of Ling Lan ...

Right then, Jiang Shaoyu had already chosen one of the balls. Holding onto it, he did not look at it any longer than necessary before turning around to walk back to his original position. He had yet to stop walking when the referee had already called up the second person to draw — it was Zhao Jun!

Zhao Jun took a deep breath and stepped forwards. As he brushed by Jiang Shaoyu, he sent a fierce glare at the other. Jiang Shaoyu saw Zhao Jun's hostile gaze and was instantly aggravated. He had not forgotten that this person had been there at the scene when he was at his most humiliated.

A savage air gripped him by the heart, and Jiang Shaoyu could hardly repress the killing intent that surged up in response ... he clenched his fists so tightly that his fingers almost gouged into the flesh, and the sharp pain helped him to calm down.

By then, Zhao Jun had already turned his gaze away. With a cold huff, he walked past Jiang Shaoyu to come before the choosing station and picked a ball. Jiang Shaoyu slowly turned his head to stare at Zhao Jun's back as he walked away and his eyes revealed a brief flash of killing intent.

He hoped that the ball Zhao Jun had chosen would have the same number as the ball he had chosen. He would be extremely glad to fight with the other now, not only because Zhao Jun was the weakest and would ensure him a sure pass, but also because he wanted to deal with this detestable person and collect some of the interest on his debt of humiliation.

After Zhao Jun had made his choice, the third to pick was Lin Xiao, and the final person was, as everyone expected, Qiao Ting. After the four youths had made their choices, the referee asked them to press down on the power switch of the small balls at the same time.

As soon as the four boys pressed down, a gash suddenly appeared on the upper part of the ball. A beam of light shot out from each of the balls to form a virtual screen. The four virtual screens were not blank — they each held a number and the audience could see at a glance what the pairings would be for the semi-final matches.

Amidst the cries of surprise coming from all around, Jiang Shaoyu's expression was dark. He threw a sullen glance at Zhao Jun who was standing in a row with him and mused moodily that the other was pretty lucky to have escaped.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jun was also somewhat regretful that his opponent would not be Jiang Shaoyu. He looked at his opponent for this round and sighed mentally. It looked like if he wanted to fight with Jiang Shaoyu, he could only hope that Jiang Shaoyu would lose. This was because his opponent was an old rival that could not be more familiar to him —— Qiao Ting! He knew very well that he was definitely no match for Qiao Ting.

That's right. In the semi-finals, the First Men's Military Academy was confronted right off with an internal clash, both surviving candidates forced to fight each other.

In contrast to the audience's surprise and regret over it, the spectating Ling Lan felt that this was an extremely reasonable arrangement. Among the four, Zhao Jun's strength was clearly one level lower. No matter who was matched with him, the opponent would almost be guaranteed a win. And now, by pitting the strongest against the weakest, and leaving the two other combatants with roughly equivalent strength to battle things out, no one could complain that they were unlucky ... everything would be determined by true strength — whoever was stronger would be able to progress further.

As the number above Zhao Jun's and Qiao Ting's balls was the number one, they were of course the first to fight. The four boys went backstage where Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun boarded their mecha before operating their mecha to enter the field.

Qiao Ting's mecha was a long-range attack ace mecha. The Federation public was long accustomed to the various forms of mecha — the moment Qiao Ting's mecha appeared, passionate cheers rang out across the hall. Everyone knew that Qiao Ting of the First Men's Military Academy had managed to advance to ace in his fourth year, becoming the second peerless prodigy to do so after General Ling Xiao, but they did not know which mecha Qiao Ting had chosen to master. And now, the answer was finally revealed before the audience. Although Qiao Ting's choice was different from the balanced mecha General Ling Xiao had chosen, this did not hinder the adoration and anticipation the people held for him.

Meanwhile, on the other end, Zhao Jun had also operated his mecha onto the field. When he saw all the cheers going to Qiao Ting, he could only grin helplessly. However, it was also at this moment when he understood even better why Ling Lan had chosen not to participate in the single mecha combat event. A fourth-year ace was already enough to send these people so wild — if the world knew there was another person who had broken General Ling Xiao's advancement record, achieving the level of ace in his second year, the entire Federation, perhaps even the entire human world, would certainly be shaken to its core ...

At this thought, Zhao Jun could not hold back a shiver, his heart clenching with fear. In order to prevent the Federation from gaining an extra ultimate weapon, the enemy nations would definitely send countless assassins over to target Ling Lan. And in response, to protect Ling Lan, the Federation would likely have to draft him into the army immediately and put him under protection in hiding. At that time, his team leader would have absolutely no freedom to speak of. Only after he had grown up to become the newest ultimate weapon for the country would he be able to regain his freedom. This was still the best case scenario — if the team leader never managed to advance to god-class operator level for his entire life, did that mean that he would be locked up in some base all his life until he died? This was probably not an outcome his team leader wanted.

Zhao Jun was chilled — he had to keep the knowledge that Ling Lan had already successfully become an ace deep at the bottom of his heart and never ever reveal it ...

After receiving confirmation from both combatants that they were ready, the referee responsible for this match raised the green flag in his right hand up high. As soon as he swung the flag down, the fight would officially begin.

Everyone stared at the green flag of the referee, waiting for it to swing down. When it finally did and Qiao Ting was just about to charge over to attack, Zhao Jun on the opposite side did something beyond everyone's expectations. Without hesitation, he lifted both arms of his mecha over his head ...

Seeing what Zhao Jun had done, the referee's green flag had barely swung down when the red flag in his left hand was hastily raised. The referee waved the red flag vigorously — this announced that Zhao Jun's and Qiao Ting's fight needed to be suspended.

It turned out that Zhao Jun's action was the designated motion in mecha combat tournaments which signified surrender. In a competition, if anyone did this action, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the referee would wave a red flag to declare a time-out. Next, an inquiry would be held with the mecha operator who had carried out the action to check if they had truly intended to surrender. If not, the operator who had done the action would have points deducted. This point deduction would be very steep, instantly taking off about one-third of the total marks.

Mecha combat was an event where taking down your opponent was the way to win, but sometimes, due to equivalent levels of strength, the battle might end up in a protracted stalemate. If an outcome had to be decided within a short period of time, there was little choice except to make it a death match and make both combatants put their lives on the line. Although the Grand Mecha Tournament's touted slogan was 'true battle', it was after all just a domestic competition. The Federation's military did not intend for outstanding Federation talent to wither and die here, and so they had set up this point deduction system to determine the final outcome in cases such as the one mentioned previously.

Every mecha would have 100 points at the start of a fight. If the opponent scored an effective hit on you, a corresponding number of points will be deducted from your mecha ... the one whose score drops to zero first would lose. The referee would then end the fight and declare the results of the match.

Thus, as soon as Zhao Jun pulled this pose, although the referee was rather taken aback, he had still reacted swiftly to put up the red flag in his left hand. Seeing the red flag signal from the referee, Qiao Ting immediately stopped all motion to attack and waited for the referee to proceed with the following procedures.

The referee quickly connected to Zhao Jun's commlink, and after receiving confirmation from Zhao Jun that he was indeed admitting defeat, the referee immediately announced the end of the match. Zhao Jun had forfeited, so Qiao Ting would be moving on to the finals without having to fight.

After returning backstage, Qiao Ting grumpily controlled his mecha to the secured seat the JMC pointed out. He locked his mecha safely into the seat, and only then did he walk out of his cockpit and use the landing cable to descend to the ground.

On the other side, Zhao Jun was doing the same. Qiao Ting removed his safety helmet and stood frowning as he waited for Zhao Jun to approach him. When Zhao Jun finally came up to his side, Qiao Ting asked with a dark expression, "Why didn't you fight?" Even though he had full confidence in himself, winning without a fight rubbed Qiao Ting the wrong way — he felt patronized.

Zhao Jun heard the muted resentment in Qiao Ting's voice and secretly rolled his eyes. Who would have expected the outwardly dominant and unreasonable Qiao Ting to be so just and forthright internally? Even winning without having to fight made him feel uncomfortable ... Zhao Jun could not help but think of his own team leader and his style of only focusing on the results without caring too much about the process. Yep, his boss would probably go further — following him was truly the right choice.

At this moment, Zhao Jun admired his good friend's eye even more for being so discerning in selecting a team leader. Oblivious to the fact that Li Lanfeng had already known Ling Lan from a long while back, Zhao Jun was once again completely fooled by Li Lanfeng, thinking that the other had asked him to join Lingtian purely for his own benefit ... even though that was certainly the truth, it also could not be denied that Li Lanfeng did have some selfish motives as well in doing so. He wanted to increase the strength of his rabbit's battle clan. It just so happened that his arrangement benefitted both sides

Qiao Ting's aggressive gaze let Zhao Jun know that it was impossible not to answer. Helplessly, he replied, "Since I know I can't beat you, why should I reveal my trump cards for others to see?" Zhao Jun shrugged. He looked towards Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, who were currently heading into the tunnel leading to the field, and continued, "Thing is, I want to keep a small surprise for one of those two. So I don't want to reveal too much."

"Jiang Shaoyu?" Zhao Jun's explanation dispersed Qiao Ting's dissatisfaction. He recalled what Zhao Jun had said to him previously, and was enlightened.

"Yeah. Now, I really wish the First Co-ed Military Academy's Lin Xiao will work a little harder and defeat Jiang Shaoyu so that I'll have a chance to fight him." Zhao Jun's eyes narrowed into slits. He was filled with fighting spirit to face Jiang Shaoyu. Perhaps he too wanted to tell his teammates that he was already one of them, so he could not bear to see a teammate of his being insulted ...

Just then, the communicator on Zhao Jun's wrist began vibrating violently. He lifted it to see and instantly began chuckling. It was a message from Li Lanfeng.

"Did something come up?" asked Qiao Ting.

"Yes. The regiment commander is looking for me. Qiao Ting, I'll be heading off first." Outside, Zhao Jun had always called Ling Lan 'regiment commander'.