But if a battle were fought today, it would mean transitioning from never participating to being an active combatant in an instant. The other ranked individuals wouldn't care if you were drawn in passively or actively joined the fray; the simple fact is, you'd be in the melee, and the excuse of avoiding conflict would vanish. "Is there a way we don't have to fight?" "Hand over the token," Zuo Luntian blade crooked his mouth, nodding toward the token in Qian Jin’s hand.

He watched Qian Jin with his chin tilted slightly upwards. These past few days, he had repeatedly heard whispers that although Qian Jin ranked tenth in his grade, he possessed the actual strength to defeat those ranked ninth and eighth. The first time Zuo Luntian blade heard such talk, he could dismiss it with a casual smile.

The second time, he could still laugh it off indifferently. But after the third time, the thirtieth time, the one hundred and thirtieth time, he could no longer maintain that air of nonchalance. As the eighth-ranked fighter in his age group, he was constantly being told he was inferior to the tenth, while Qian Jin, the tenth, never stepped forward to explain that he wasn't stronger than the eighth; instead, he maintained an attitude as if this ranking were precisely as it should be.

No matter how unconcerned Zuo Luntian blade tried to be, he began to care. When someone offered money to hire him to fight Qian Jin, it presented the best possible opportunity. Even if Qian Jin refused, he would have to press the issue.

Moreover, he had the chance to acquire another token—why pass that up? Qian Jin rubbed the token in his hand. These three items were truly troublesome.

But if he simply handed them over to someone else… What kind of warrior is one who cannot even protect what is his own? Qian Jin returned the token to his pocket. He knew keeping it would invite challenges from others, but without these tokens, he would lose all priority access to the subsequent Dou Ling Grand Array baptism.

He needed these tokens just to enter that array. Qian Jin sighed. The elders of the academy were truly cunning; by tossing out a few tokens and assigning them such importance, they forced the students to fight for them, thereby gaining more practical combat experience and cultivating more elites.

"Zuo Luntian blade, why the endless chatter with him?" Kaithas shouted from the sidelines, stamping his foot high up. "I paid good money, not for you to parade your strongman's demeanor! I hired you to beat someone!

Beat Qian Jin until he's hospitalized! Don't forget, you took my money." Zuo Luntian blade frowned slightly, glancing at Kaithas, his tone laced with scorn. "Rest assured, I took your money, and I will deliver the beating you paid for.

However, watch your language in the future. Say 'old man' to me again, and I'll beat you too. Qian Jin, if you hand over the token, I'll go easy on you; otherwise…" Qian Jin looked at Kaithas, then at Zuo Luntian blade, and finally turned to Luolin, asking, "Did this Zuo Luntian blade lay a hand on you?" "He kicked this old man!" Luolin gasped, his stout backside writhing repeatedly.

"He was the first one to move against me!" "Alright, I understand," Qian Jin said, looking up at Zuo Luntian blade. "Drop one of your tokens, then slap yourself twice and apologize to my friend. I will go easier on you." ...

The small field fell into a hush. The senior warrior and magic students were momentarily stunned. This tenth-ranked student had a backbone tough enough to speak to someone ranked higher than him like that?

Kaithas was silent for a moment before bursting into loud laughter. He knew Qian Jin's words had thoroughly enraged Zuo Luntian blade. For a warrior to hear such things and not feel furious meant he wasn't Zuo Luntian blade, nor was he truly a warrior.

Zuo Luntian blade's handsome face became distorted. He wondered if he had misheard. This tenth-ranked Qian Jin dared to threaten him, the eighth-ranked?

Didn't he understand that rank was the most direct reflection of combat ability? Had this tenth-ranked student, who had always been too afraid even to join a fight, suddenly lost his mind today? Zuo Luntian blade slowly raised his two arms, which were slightly longer than an ordinary person's, his peripheral vision sweeping over Kaithas.

"You are very lucky. Today, I will ensure he spends months recuperating in the hospital." Kaithas stepped away with light, cheerful strides toward the edge of the woods. He picked up a smooth wooden stick, as thick as a human arm, and began tapping it lightly against his palm, already pondering how best to humiliate Qian Jin later.

Only Zuo Luntian blade and Qian Jin remained on the lawn. The duel was entering its substantive phase, and the senior students watched the two juniors with intense curiosity, eager to see their performance. Zuo Luntian blade stood with his feet together, the tips nearly touching, his eyes fixed levelly on Qian Jin.

His left foot slowly stepped forward. His two slightly longer arms bent slowly at the elbow, tracing a path upward past his waist and extending forward, his hands held one fist-width apart. His right foot moved to align half a step with his left foot.

Simultaneously, his hands drew back to his waist, then circled outward to the sides before settling in front of his abdomen, flipping into fists. His arms formed an inward arc, the faces of the two fists half a fist-width apart, the knuckles positioned one fist-width from his abdomen—a pair of eyes as nimble as a gibbon's darted restlessly over Qian Jin. Beast Fighting Technique!

Demonic Ape! The starting stance for the Demonic Ape Beast Fighting Technique! Qian Jin was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't expected Zuo Luntian blade, despite being only a third-level warrior, to have cultivated a Beast Fighting Technique? And one that complemented his natural advantage in arm length—the Demonic Ape technique. Beast Fighting Techniques were a unique and vast category of skills that many great warriors developed when fighting the Demon Race, by mimicking the strengths and forms of various magical beasts, integrating Dou Jin (Battle Energy) with imitation.

Among them were many top-tier techniques, and even among Super Warriors, some dominated the battlefield using Beast Fighting Techniques. The characteristics of the Demonic Ape technique—its flexibility and swiftness, its bursts of power like wind and lightning—had been explained in class, and Qian Jin remembered them clearly from the clan's ancient texts. Qian Jin watched Zuo Luntian blade's body slowly lower into a crouch.

The primary veins on his neck subtly throbbed several times as he sank down—this level of ape-like resonance wasn't achieved through casual practice. Zuo Luntian blade's hands slowly made contact with the ground. His right hand slowly lifted off the ground, assuming a supporting posture in front.

His left palm suddenly shoved against the earth while his right foot violently pushed off the ground, crushing the sole instantly against the turf. His body shot forward like a gale, his left and right feet lifting sequentially backward and upward. Then, his left hand, left foot, and right foot landed forward in succession, his right hand reaching out—resembling a Demonic Ape sprinting rapidly across the ground!

The blades of grass directly beneath Zuo Luntian blade’s crushing foot instantly turned into a clump of emerald-green pulp, lying softly on the ground and slowly oozing. Although Qian Jin was ranked tenth among the first-years, Zuo Luntian blade barely paid him any mind. With the Demonic Ape Beast Fighting Technique's Demonic Ape Rushing Wind assault, he lunged straight at Qian Jin.

His arms, just retracted to his waist, lunged toward Qian Jin’s throat, mimicking the coiled, hidden tail of an ape! : Sleepy eyes have kept me up until now, begging for recommendations, begging for member clicks… Ranking push desperately needs it… Everyone, please… B