Chapter 115: The Mercenary Association

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Mu Rongjing was speechless; the students of this intake were difficult to handle.

“Pick any angle to challenge me. Set the terms yourself; we’ll start tomorrow during military drills.”

“Not tomorrow. Now.”

Mu Rongjing glanced at Chu Wentian and Mu Rongbo. He had just become their disciple—was Luo Yao really wasting everyone’s time?

After a moment, he agreed.

“How do you plan to challenge me?”

“Just a fight?”

Mu Rongjing’s expression hardened. He had lost to Lin Xiao in a match of gun techniques, and though he accepted the loss, Luo Yao’s move to demand a straight-up showdown was over the line. He was a fifth-rank practitioner; she treated him as if he meant nothing.

“Are you sure?”

“You’re not just scared, are you?”

Luo Yao was clearly being led by her second personality now and gave Mu Rongjing no courtesy at all.

Irritated, he said, “Fine. We’re heading to the combat grounds anyway—let me see what you can do.”

The four quickly reached the grounds, while Chu Wentian and Mu Rongbo at once took on the role of judges.

Mu Rongjing had intended to give Luo Yao a proper lesson. He had a soft spot for her, yet this was beyond disrespect.

But once the fight began, his expression changed.

Perhaps the fire she had swallowed after yesterday’s clash with Lin Xiao burst out all at once. It all poured onto Mu Rongjing.

This time, Luo Yao didn’t bother with ambushes or close-quarters tactics. Right from the start, she went full force, hurling light and shadow techniques at him—every attack she had—without holding anything back.

She opened with a close-range burst and caught Mu Rongjing completely off guard. Fortunately his talent was metal-based; he quickly coated his body in a metallic layer and only then survived that wave.

Mu Rongjing no longer dares to underestimate her. Luo Yao had earned the right to see him give his all.

A long sword appeared in his hand and lunged toward her.

But Luo Yao gave him no chance to close in. Before he could near her, she used shadow abilities to push the distance back out again.

Then came another round of spirit techniques.

One had to admit, Luo Yao’s way of fighting constrained Mu Rongjing perfectly.

Their cultivation was close enough—a fourth-tier against a fifth, and with Luo Yao’s innate dual-element nature, the gap between them was narrowed to nearly nothing.

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Though Mu Rongjing was not injured yet, if they kept going, he would be hurt sooner or later.

He finally understood how terrifying this cohort was: first Lin Xiao, now Luo Yao. What demons were these girls?

The two were about to continue, but Chu Wentian and Mu Rongbo stopped the match.

“Enough. Let’s end it here. Luo Yao, you don’t need to continue training.”

Luo Yao had already gotten what she wanted, so she did not push further.
The resentment from her fight with Lin Xiao the day before had mostly been burned off.

She greeted the three of them and left.

Mu Rongjing gave a bitter smile. He knew Chu Wentian and Mu Rongbo meant well. He might not lose if it went on, but he certainly wouldn’t come away unscathed.

His only path to victory was to exhaust Luo Yao’s spiritual power.
And before her reserves ran out, he would surely be the one hurt.

If this were a real battlefield, she could leave at any moment before running dry, thanks to her shadow abilities.
He didn’t lose badly.

Seeing his slightly dejected face, Chu Wentian almost laughed.

“What? Does it hurt your pride?”

Mu Rongjing nodded. He truly was unsettled.

In military circles he was among the few with few equals; to be beaten today by two students felt terribly embarrassing.

“It’s not your fault. I won’t judge your fight with Lin Xiao. Let me put it this way: you didn’t lose for nothing. Yesterday that girl lost to Lin Xiao; as for this one, I can only say she is naturally tuned to counter you—no, to counter most ability users. Unless someone is far above her in level, defeating her is extremely difficult.”

Mu Rongjing understood completely. A native light-and-dark dual affinity was indeed overwhelmingly strong.

“Wait—what did Master just say?”

“Luo Yao lost to Lin Xiao? Lin Xiao is only second-rank?”

“Even if you don’t want to admit it, that’s true. You still have much to learn. From now on, I’ll teach you. I can’t promise everything, but under my instruction you won’t fall to Luo Yao, at least.”

There were still many people at the grounds, and plenty had witnessed the fight.
The topic quickly climbed onto the Jingdu Lingwu campus trending board.
Someone even uploaded a video.

No one who watched it dared to underestimate Mu Rongjing. Surviving Luo Yao’s onslaught in one piece was truly remarkable.

That made many upperclassmen who had been interested in Luo Yao put that idea aside—for now.

They might actually not be able to beat her.

Lin Xiao and the three with him were unaware of any of this. Lin Xiao never paid attention to such things; the other three were lost in their games.

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…………
They spent the night in silence, and the next morning Lin Xiao woke up on time again.

He called out to the three in the dorm.

Though all three were deeply unwilling, they said nothing.

Led by Lin Xiao, the three trained with him.

He even added extra weight to the three of them. Given their conditions, the load was far lighter than what he carried himself, but it would still take some time for them to adapt.

While they trained, Lin Xiao fed them some dried spirit-beast meat he had prepared.
It helped raise the efficiency of their exercise. With spirit-beast energy supporting them, it also let them endure.
Otherwise, they might not have lasted through a single day of intense training.

After six, Lin Xiao prepared to leave. He was going to register to become a mercenary.

He didn’t know if he would be able to join a high-ranking mercenary corps today.

From Jingdu Lingwu to the mercenary headquarters was still some distance. Thankfully he had Wen Jingxuan’s supercar to get around in; otherwise it would have been troublesome.

Lin Xiao also saw the rush hour in Kyoto firsthand—a trip that should have taken half an hour stretched to a full hour and a half.

At least he left early, and when he arrived at the mercenary headquarters, it was almost exactly work time.

He didn’t rush to get out. Seeing no one paying attention, he immediately began altering his appearance.

His face shifted in an instant, becoming the face he had in his former life.

Looking at that face in the mirror, he couldn’t help but mutter,
“That guy is truly handsome.”

Only after everything was prepared did Lin Xiao step out of the supercar.

Standing before the mercenary tower rising hundreds of stories, he had to admit,

“That mercenary guild must be rich indeed.
In a city where land is precious as gold, building such a tower isn’t something one can do with money alone.”

Why was he thinking so much of it?
Still, he hoped everything would go smoothly today.