Chapter Forty-Two: Defeat Every Dissenter

Song Yichen, he was able to earth-burrow through the roots of those demon plants just now; he must be at least at the fourth level of the Heart of the Zither realm, perhaps even the fifth. With earth-burrowing so effective here, it's difficult for anyone below a high level of Heart of the Zither to do anything to him...

Not only that, look at the small shields on his arms—those are high-grade magical artifacts. The Song family sure has deep pockets...

Beside the Vice President of Ningchuan University, several familiar colleagues instantly discerned some of Song Yichen’s situation.

Their remarks brought a smile to the Vice President’s face. He responded politely, praising the student’s talent, saying he was decent, decent, and that the trial had only just begun.

At that moment, Song Yichen began to speak, intending to introduce himself, but Lin Qingyun interrupted forcefully, berating him. Many people clicked their tongues in secret; some couldn’t help but glance at Nangong Aoshi, the Desert Wind King clad in golden armor.

If it weren’t for everyone's apprehension towards him, they would have started discussing the matter long ago.

In the actual combat trial zone, Song Yichen gave a roguish grin.

"I originally just wanted to warn you, but you dared to harbor improper thoughts about our Moon Princess. I didn’t expect you to be this way—looks like you need a proper lesson..."

As his words fell, Song Yichen’s hand formed a spell, intending to manipulate the surrounding sand to trap Lin Qingyun.

His earth spells were powerful—far more than mere earth-burrowing. The desert itself was a place where he could fully unleash his combat abilities.

But what was happening? Despite his efforts, only a thin layer of sand gathered and compressed toward Lin Qingyun.

It felt as if he had prepared to conjure a hurricane, a tornado, but ended up stirring only a gentle breeze.

With a crash, Lin Qingyun, rather than defending, charged out at full speed, shattering the thin layer of sand, heading straight for Song Yichen.

Song Yichen swung his arms, the two arm guards forming shields before him. By habit, he tried to activate earth-burrowing, intending to sink into the dust.

But his body only sank half a meter before suddenly getting stuck.

Though it lasted only a moment, Lin Qingyun was already upon him, brandishing a high-grade magical dagger, launching dozens of attacks in an instant, shaking off the shield arm guards and appearing right in front of Song Yichen.

In that moment, Song Yichen seemed diminished, looking up at Lin Qingyun, unable to leap away in time.

Without hesitation, lightning-fast, Lin Qingyun kicked him squarely in the face.

Song Yichen was treated like a soccer ball, kicked up from below, his nose crushed, teeth knocked out, and stars flashing before his eyes.

Pain forced a strange cry from Song Yichen.

Yet he was fierce enough; even as he flew through the air, he tried to form a spell with both hands, attempting to activate his mid-grade flying sword artifact for a counterattack.

But as he tried to retaliate, he screamed in agony—his head was aflame, hands and clothes burning.

Even for someone not a typical freshman, experienced in beast hunts, being so heavily wounded from the outset left him unable to fight back.

Not bad, really.

He hadn’t expected the fellow to remain conscious, still thinking of retaliation in such circumstances. Had Lin Qingyun’s kick not contained fire magic—had he not held back—Song Yichen might have managed a counterattack.

Lin Qingyun compared him to previous opponents; Song Yichen was the strongest freshman he’d encountered so far, weaker than Nangong Lingyue, but not by much.

If it came to real combat, unless Nangong Lingyue’s gear overwhelmed him, victory wouldn’t be easy.

He made the comparison instinctively, but it didn’t delay his ongoing assault.

He hadn’t finished Song Yichen off because he didn’t want to kill or go too far, so he pressed on.

While Song Yichen struggled in mid-air, desperately channeling magic to suppress the flames, Lin Qingyun leapt up, stomped down from above, planting his foot on Song Yichen’s face and driving him into the ground.

A deep crater burst open in the sand below, the tremendous force finally rendering Song Yichen unconscious, eyes glazed.

Without wasting words, Lin Qingyun quickly collected Song Yichen’s high-grade shield arm guards, mid-grade flying sword, all his pills and supplies. As he did so, Song Yichen’s clothes burned away completely.

In the command room, many people sucked in cold breaths.

Normally, even the best freshmen’s fights—at the fourth or fifth level of the Heart of the Zither realm—were child’s play in the eyes of these distinguished figures.

But these were professors who had trained countless students; they could still relate to that level.

Lin Qingyun’s series of moves stunned them all.

Song Yichen didn’t know how he’d lost, but the observers saw it clearly: ever since Song Yichen had started earth-burrowing, Lin Qingyun had secretly used fire magic to refine some sand below ground.

The technique itself was nothing special, but to deploy it before Song Yichen, evade detection, and time it perfectly to disrupt his earth-burrowing in actual combat—that was remarkable.

Not to mention the kick that sent Song Yichen flying, with fire magic precisely controlled to ignite his body at just the right moment—this level of control was exceptional.

Compared to their astonishment, the Vice President of Ningchuan University, who had previously basked in the praise of Song Yichen, was now the most embarrassed and shocked.

“The Lin Pharmaceutical Group’s kid—how is this possible? Impossible!” He couldn’t believe it, shouting silently, his mouth opening and closing without sound.

“Good kid.” In contrast, Nan Yutong was pleased. Previously, she had been annoyed at her own students for infighting and becoming the center of everyone’s attention, feeling shame.

Setting aside earlier events, at least now she was delighted at Song Yichen’s defeat.

“Being provoked and attacked, a normal counterattack would suffice, but to burn off his clothes—that’s rather childish.” Nan Yutong shook her head slightly, acting as if Lin Qingyun was immature.

She had certainly heard the earlier remarks, even if others believed she hadn’t.

Her words brought everyone back to their senses.

As Nan Yutong had pointed out, if the matter were judged and analyzed seriously, it was within the rules.

“Did those Haicheng University students provoke him too, or was it just a few words...” With Nangong Aoshi not involved, some finally spoke up.

It seemed they were speaking for the students beaten by Lin Qingyun, but in reality, they were seizing the chance to attack Lin Qingyun and Haicheng University.

“Even if he initiated the attack, he didn’t try to kill—so it’s within the rules. But such chaos among freshmen...” someone shook their head.

“Exactly, if all the prodigies acted like this, would anyone else bother with the combat trial?”

“With Minister Feng here, this sort of thing needs to be addressed. If they all behaved this way, things would get out of hand...”

“That’s right—even if they can fight, victory or defeat should suffice. But he humiliated his opponent, acting so ruthlessly...”

...

Everyone had thought it was just Haicheng University’s internal strife, watching the spectacle. But after Lin Qingyun dealt with Song Yichen, they suddenly realized something was off.

The events between Nangong Lingyue and Lin Qingyun had caused a stir earlier; even those who weren’t students had heard of it.

And Song Yichen’s remarks had raised concerns.

With such a fierce character emerging from Haicheng University, if they could remove him early, it would be best.

Now, with the opportunity and excuse, many spoke up.

Especially the Vice President of Ningchuan University, who spoke through gritted teeth.

“Hmph!” Nan Yutong, who had previously been dissatisfied with Lin Qingyun and even wanted him embarrassed, now snorted coldly: “What are you all trying to do? Rules are rules. If you go by your logic, no one could retaliate after being attacked, always worrying about hurting the opponent—what’s the point of a trial then? I ask you: did Lin Qingyun kill anyone? Did he break any rules?”

“President Nan, you can’t say that. Even if he didn’t kill anyone, his actions were improper. By your reasoning, someone could molest a girl without killing her—should we ignore that?”

“That’s right, it’s not just about killing. We’re a school, a place to nurture talent...”

“We do need to consider it; we can’t let things go unchecked...”

...

“Rubbish. I know what you’re all after. Minister Feng, internal matters should be handled by our school. If Lin Qingyun hasn’t broken the rules, I hope you can deal fairly and not let certain schemers take advantage.” Few spoke in support of Nan Yutong, but she was unafraid.

“Look—there he goes again...”

A few exchanges quickly devolved into argument, but Feng Shouyi, unlike other ministers, watched Lin Qingyun closely, ignoring the clamor below.

Just then, someone shouted, drawing everyone's attention to Lin Qingyun.

Lin Qingyun was advancing deeper ahead, encountering dozens of mutated rattlesnakes, but he showed little interest in killing them, simply avoiding them.

But while outside beasts could be sidestepped, people could not.

“Lin Qingyun, right? Been wanting to find you—get him...”

Three figures, clearly body cultivators of the combat arts, their bodies swelling with power, charged straight toward Lin Qingyun after finishing off a giant sandworm.

The strongest among them was only at the third level of Heart of the Zither. Their combat talent was decent, and their teamwork was evident, but under Lin Qingyun’s fists, they were beaten so badly their parents wouldn’t recognize them.

The outcome: the last three were stripped and cleaned out.

This time, it was even more decisive; unlike with Song Yichen, these three had no chance to resist or even speak.

For a moment, everyone was caught off guard.

“Now the number of withdrawals exceeds twenty; ten of them... are because of Lin Qingyun.” At that moment, as the three signaled for withdrawal and rescue, the staff reported the data.