Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan followed the students' shouts of surprise.
When they saw the smiling white-robed youth, their eyes lit up instantly.
The irritation Tai Long had stirred vanished, replaced with radiant smiles.
The two of them hurried over to Li Zhexian's side.
Ye Lingling blinked her sapphire-blue eyes, flustered, as if afraid he'd misunderstand. She whispered quickly:
"I—I've never spoken with him. He just keeps pestering me. It's unbearable."
Li Zhexian chuckled, shaking his head.
Glancing at Tai Long, whose face was red with fury, he thought the boy's nose looked even redder than his cheeks.
"Let's go."
He turned lazily and started walking away.
Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan quickly fell in step, one on each side, their arms brushing his sleeves.
The three of them walked shoulder to shoulder.
That white-robed youth, flanked by the twin pearls of the Emperor Team—
the sight filled the onlooking students with envy.
Tai Long ground his back teeth so hard they creaked.
Truth be told… he was intimidated by Li Zhexian.
Back in the Academy's Spirit Arena, he had been one of the spectators who witnessed Sword Wine slay Xiaotianover a cup of warming wine.
He knew his own strength. He probably couldn't even withstand a single strike from Sword Wine's blade.
But—boys of sixteen, seventeen years are quick to let hot blood rule their heads.
He thought of the boastful words he'd just shouted.
Then he felt the mocking glances of his classmates all around.
Forcing himself forward, Tai Long called out to Li Zhexian's back, his voice loud but shaky:
"Sw-Sword Wine!"
"You—you stop right there!"
"…Hm?"
Li Zhexian's steps halted. His sword-like eyebrows furrowed, and he turned around. At this moment, he was in high spirits, and his immense sword intent was like boiling water in a cauldron.
With just this slight emotional shift, a chilling sword light seemed to flash in his eyes.
Upon meeting that fleeting glint of coldness, all the hairs on Tai Long's body stood on end.He had wanted to say a few harsh words in front of his classmates to save face, but under Li Zhexian's black eyes, which seemed to shoot out sword qi, he stammered and couldn't even say a full sentence.
"I… I…"
For half a minute, he stammered like a fool.
At last, he bit down hard, forcing the words out through clenched teeth:
"Sword Wine! I know I can't beat you!"
"But… but do you dare compete with me in pure strength alone? No martial souls, no spirit power!"
Before Li Zhexian could respond, Dugu Yan—arms crossed, watching coldly—burst out in derisive laughter.
"Tai Long, have you no shame?"
"Leaning on your clan's brute strength, and you want to challenge a sword cultivator at raw power? Do you even know what a face is?"
"Keep yapping and I'll dose you with poison that'll lay you out for half a month."
Her words made the crowd of students mutter and snicker.
"Too shameless, Tai Long!"
"If you've got guts, take one sword from Sword Wine. Let's see if you're still standing."
"Tch, does Tai Long think this is still Blue Tyrant Academy?"
At that, Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan each slipped an arm through Li Zhexian's, holding him close.
"Don't mind him, Brother Zhexian," Lingling said softly.
"Don't waste yourself on such nonsense."
Dugu Yan snorted, her tone openly scornful:
"This guy used to be from the Blue Tyrant Academy. After the Blue Tyrant Academy moved out of Heaven Dou City, some students who didn't want to go to a small place transferred to the Heaven Dou Emperial Academy."
"His strength isn't bad, so he got a spot as a reserve on the Emperor Team."
She said it with the natural authority of a leader, her posture already that of the team's eldest sister.
And she wasn't wrong.
Ever since she received Li Zhexian's gift—the Kiss of the Blood Swan—
her cultivation speed had skyrocketed, almost frighteningly so.
Her spirit power now rivaled Yu Tianheng's.
By the time the Continental Soul Master Tournament came around half a year later, she might well stand as the Emperor Team's main combatant.
Listening to her explanation, Li Zhexian's eyes glinted with understanding.
So that was it.
Li Zhexian remembered—in the original story, Tai Long should have joined Shrek Academy.
But now, thanks to the butterfly effect of his own existence, things had shifted. Shrek never entered Heaven Dou City to merge with Blue Tyrant. Instead, Blue Tyrant had moved to Suotuo City and merged there with Shrek.
The result? Some students who should have ended up in Shrek—like Tai Long—had instead joined the Emperor Team here.
"Interesting… another deviation from the original plot?"
The corners of Li Zhexian's lips curved as he looked Tai Long up and down, watching him pant like an enraged bull.
"Very well. I'm in a good mood today. I'll humor you with a contest of physical strength."
His words drew a collective gasp from the crowd.
Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan rushed to dissuade him, but Li Zhexian raised a hand, signaling them to hold their tongues.
On Tai Long's face, disbelief gave way to wild joy.
"Sword Wine… you… you really agree to test strength with me?!"
Li Zhexian lazily flexed his wrist.
"Enough chatter. Come."
Tai Long narrowed his eyes, baring his teeth in a grin.
"Heh, , Sword Wine, you asked for it! Don't blame me for taking advantage!"
Before he even finished speaking—
Boom!
He stomped forward with a force that shattered the stone tiles beneath his feet.
With a roar, the muscles of his right arm swelled like an inflating bladder, bulging threefold. His tight sleeve shredded apart with a harsh tear.
His fist cut through the air with a heavy, whistling force, swinging straight for Li Zhexian.
He had once seen Li Zhexian knock Feng Xiaotian flying with a single punch. He knew the boy's body was formidable.
But as a direct descendant of the Strength Clan, Tai Long had absolute confidence in his raw might.
"Good!"
A smile appeared on Li Zhexian's handsome face.
He had been wanting to test his body's limits.
Back when he first achieved the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body at the Spirit Grandmaster level, his flesh was already comparable to a Spirit Ancestor.
After all these days of constant wine-tempering—
just how far had his body advanced?
Under countless stunned gazes, Li Zhexian also threw out his fist. Where his fist passed, the air was torn apart, leaving a dazzling streak of ice blue and fiery red light.
Deep within his bones, meridians, and flesh, a faint spiritual light of ice and fire flowed.
That seemingly slender and even delicate fist! The momentum of the punch, however, was as heavy as a mountain!
BOOM!!!
Li Zhexian's fist and Tailong's fist collided head-on. A visible air ripple, centered on their fists, swept in all directions.
"Impossible?!"
Tai Long's eyes bulged, his voice trembling with shock.
He felt an unimaginable, overwhelming force—blended with a bizarre intertwining of ice and fire—flooding in from Li Zhexian's fist like a breaking dam.
Rrrrip—
His sleeve split apart, thread by thread.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Clear, sharp snaps of breaking bone echoed.
In the next instant—
Tai Long's burly body was hurled backward, flying even faster than when he had charged forward.
But Li Zhexian moved faster still.
Wind lifted beneath his feet, white robes snapping in the air as he shot ahead.
Before Tai Long could even hit the ground, Li Zhexian was already there.
Sweeping his robe aside, he raised his leg high, then stomped down hard into Tai Long's chest.
BOOM!
Tai Long's waist and belly bent like a shrimp as his body slammed into the ground with earth-shaking force.
The ground itself shuddered violently.
Dust swirled.
Standing tall above him, Li Zhexian looked down at Tai Long's bulging eyes and flushed, choking face.
He leaned forward slightly, his voice calm and quiet:
"Convinced now?"
At the academy gates, silence reigned.
Only Tai Long's ragged, wheezing gasps broke the stillness—harsh and pitiful beneath the foot of Li Zhexian.