Over there, Avril pressed a hand against her wound, blood seeping from her fingertips.
With the current strength of Su Xing’s Gale Blade, although it wasn’t enough to sever an arm outright, cutting a huge gash was definitely no problem.
Avril’s eyes reddened from the pain as she glanced at her opponent warily.
“Your skill is just way too broken!”
Su Xing smiled.
“So how about you just admit defeat? That way you won’t get hurt any more.”
“That’s impossible!”
Avril refused without hesitation.
“Don’t think I don’t see through you—your skill has a time limit, and that’s enough time for me to summon a whole swarm of clones.”
“Then we’ll see if I let you have that time!”
Su Xing said as she once again charged at Avril at high speed.
Avril repeated her previous tactic, leaping onto a stone pillar and climbing higher.
Su Xing frowned, unable to pursue.
She decisively changed tactics: “Feng Jun, go all out and attack Tailwing Butterfly!”
With the help of her clone butterflies, Avril slipped around like an eel, making her impossible to catch.
Wasting time on her was a losing game for Su Xing.
Tailwing Butterfly hovered at the very top of the arena, and only the Gale Blade could hurt it.
Plus, its larger size made dodging skills difficult.
Feng Jun’s control over the Gale Blade wasn’t great.
Although training allowed her to summon the blade skillfully, her directional control was only approximate.
This explained why Su Xing’s earlier Gale Blades hadn’t struck any vital points.
There was no other choice—she had only recently comprehended the skill herself, so even giving Feng Jun practice time was impossible.
But this delay cost Su Xing the advantage.
While waiting for the skill’s cooldown, Feng Jun and Su Xing dashed around the arena, searching for the Tailwing Butterfly’s hidden clones.
A single clone of Tailwing Butterfly was almost harmless, but a large number brought about a qualitative change.
Generally, a Phantasmal Spirit Master hides their clones until enough have accumulated, then unleashes them all at once.
Feng Jun searched the ground while Su Xing flitted among the pillars.
They found quite a few clones hidden in corners.
Once the skill’s cooldown ended, Feng Jun immediately released the Gale Blade, slashing fiercely at Tailwing Butterfly.
After several strikes, she finally hit a vital spot.
The butterfly’s wing was cut, and it plummeted.
Su Xing’s heart leapt. Once on the ground, it was her territory.
Yet unexpectedly, just as she charged toward Tailwing Butterfly, countless butterflies surged out from every corner of the arena, flying straight at her.
Only then did Su Xing realize many gray butterflies had clung tightly to the pillars, their gray blending perfectly with the stone, making them invisible.
But how had Avril summoned so many clones in such a short time?
Meanwhile, Avril quickly leapt to the ground, surrounded by her butterflies, and ran toward Tailwing Butterfly.
Her clones gathered in a massive sphere, enveloping both her and Tailwing Butterfly.
Perhaps sensing Su Xing’s doubt, Avril smugly explained from within the dense butterfly shield: “Surprised? My clones last a whole minute, so I had Feather summon plenty of clones in advance.”
Feather was the name Avril had given Tailwing Butterfly.
Hearing this, Su Xing’s mouth twitched in irritation.
She absolutely despised these kinds of unfair advantages!
The teachers backstage were at a loss for words.
It was clearly a loophole in the rules, somewhat unfair.
But battles were never truly fair.
If anything, Su Xing, who had comprehended two skills, had her own unfair edge against Avril.
Besides, even a minute’s worth of clones wasn’t that many—just enough to catch Su Xing off guard.
The teachers could tell that even without that minute, Avril’s existing butterflies would still hold off Su Xing for a while.
The result would be the same, just with a longer exam time.
They decided to give Ivensel and Su Xing extra points as compensation.
Yes, the teachers had already accepted that Su Xing would lose.
With the attack power she had shown so far, breaking through the butterfly sphere was impossible.
As time went on, Tailwing Butterfly’s clones would only increase.
Su Xing would simply be worn down.
The audience in the stands began whispering again, amazed by the incredible performance of both contestants.
Whether it was Su Xing’s genius in mastering new skills before the first-year midterms, or Avril’s rapid summoning of so many butterflies, they were genuinely impressed.
A’sen breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good thing I’m not facing them. If it were me, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance.”
His friend retorted coldly, “The arena groups were assigned by the teachers based on strength, so you never had a chance to be in their group anyway.”
“Hey, no need to say it so bluntly.”
Awkward for a moment, A’sen brightened again.
“But that means my allowance’s safe! Avril’s a sure win!”
Avril clearly agreed, grinning confidently.
“Su Xing, stop struggling. I admit it’s impressive that you’ve mastered your first skill so quickly, but if I’m right, you haven’t been at it for long, have you?”
She spoke with the tone of a winner lecturing the loser.
“Next time, when you’ve mastered your skill, we can have a rematch.”
The tsundere heiress refused to show simple goodwill, and her tone turned provocative.
“But by then, I’ll probably have mastered my skill too. When that happens, the gap between us will only get wider!”
Standing across from the butterfly sphere, Su Xing showed no sign of panic.
She patiently waited for Avril to finish before curling her lips into a smile.
“Is that so? But how do you know I’m definitely going to lose?”
“What?! You have a trick up your sleeve?”
Avril barely finished her sentence before feeling the butterfly swarm around her retreat involuntarily.
A strong gust of wind followed.
Backstage, Meni covered her mouth, unable to hide her surprise.
“Where’s that wind coming from? None of her skills include that move, right?”
“Changing the skill’s trajectory? Quite a creative idea.”
Winx pushed up his glasses and applauded Su Xing.
That hint was enough for the other teachers to realize what was happening.
Meni clicked her tongue in admiration.
“I had high hopes for Su Xing before, but what she’s doing now exceeds even my expectations. Teacher Edra, your students are really something.”
Edra’s mouth curved into a rare smile, but she didn’t hold back.
“Still needs practice.”
Andrew snorted heavily without saying a word.
Unlike the first two Phantasmal Spirit Masters in the last-ranked team, Su Xing relied mainly on her phantom abilities to win.
No matter how angry Andrew was, he couldn’t say anything provocative.
The facts were clear—Su Xing was a genius.
A guaranteed great Phantasmal Spirit Master, unless she died prematurely.
On the field, the butterfly swarm was blown backward by the strong wind, revealing Avril’s figure in the center.
Su Xing smiled and rushed at the seemingly bewildered Avril.
Without the butterfly shield, Avril, who was already no match for Su Xing, effectively lost all hope of victory.
Su Xing didn’t hesitate.
She flashed forward and smiled wide.
“I’ll be taking this win then.”
She chopped behind Avril’s neck with her hand blade, knocking her unconscious.
One Phantasmal Spirit Master lost combat ability—exam over.
As before, Kaka and two others climbed over the barrier and came running.
The four of them celebrated their victory together.
“Su Xing! How did you do it?”
Kaka hugged Su Xing’s shoulder, curious.
Su Xing smiled and explained.
“You know my Gale Blade, right? I just changed the wind blade’s movement from along the blade’s edge to moving toward the blade’s flat surface. Then I summoned more wind elements to form a larger blade.”
Simply put, she turned the sword into a fan, slightly enlarged, creating a giant fan blade.
This was a technique she and Feng Jun had figured out after a whole night of practice.
It wasn’t exactly new—just a directional change of the original skill.
She could come up with this method not only because of Feng Jun’s reminder but also because of what she’d learned and felt recently.
In Phantasmal Spirit lessons, all elemental spirit techniques involve manipulating elemental energy in the air to follow the user’s desired path.
Gale Blade, tornadoes, it’s all the same principle.
Su Xing couldn’t summon a tornado because her current power couldn’t manipulate that much wind element or control its spinning path.
Still, the fact she could occasionally summon small tornadoes showed her deep affinity with Feng Jun and the wind elements.
Ordinary wind-element spirit masters couldn’t control that much wind during their rookie period.
It required strong wind-element affinity and a certain degree of synchronization with the spirit’s will to maximize its power.
When creating Gale Blade, Su Xing had already experienced controlling elemental trajectories, which is why she could so easily alter its path this time.
Modifying a formula is much easier than inventing one.
But that simplicity only works because Su Xing is so talented.
No first- or second-year student could change their skill so easily.
Like Old Shi said before—Su Xing really was a prodigy.
Kaka scratched his head, half understanding.
“Sounds amazing… no, it really is amazing! Su Xing, you’re too strong!”
Quinn and Ivensel understood the principle but couldn’t grasp how it was done.
They simply had no concept of elemental manipulation, as none of their awakened spirits were elemental.
Su Xing knew this and tried to explain in broad terms to help them understand.
Still, they all knew modifying a skill wasn’t as easy as Su Xing made it sound.
The energy and insight required were tremendous.
In short: “Woohoo! Another win!”