Ma Hongjun lay on the ground wailing for a while, while Qin Yun stood off to the side with his arms crossed, his expression calm and detached.
In truth, he knew exactly what was going on.
The poison this time was not heavy to begin with; its side effects were at most numbness, itching, and soreness for an hour, and it would naturally recover once the medicinal potency faded away.
This Fatty was simply putting on an act here.
Since that was the case, Qin Yun would play along with him a bit longer!
Finally, feeling that the timing was just right, Qin Yun bent down and reached out his hand.
He gave Ma Hongjun’s nape a gentle pat, channeling a wisp of spirit power from his fingertips.
Ma Hongjun’s entire body shuddered, and the numbness and itching sensation lingering throughout his limbs immediately dissipated like a receding tide.
He took a few deep breaths, flipped himself up from the ground, stretched his stiff arms and legs, and approached with a flattering smile plastered all over his face.
“Thank you, Brother Yun!
Thank you for showing mercy, Brother Yun!”
“Next time…?”
“No, no, there won’t be a next time, absolutely no next time!”
Ma Hongjun shook his head like a rattle-drum.
Before his voice had even faded, he had already turned around and bolted.
His round figure darted away in a flash, terrified that Qin Yun would change his mind and hit him with some new concoction.
Watching Ma Hongjun’s panicked and fleeing figure, Qin Yun gently shook his head.
Early the next morning.
Soto City was still shrouded in morning mist, but the gates of Shrek Academy were already wide open, beginning this year’s admissions.
Qin Yun didn’t go to the gates; instead, he waited over at the playground.
Today, the sunlight was pleasant and the breeze was gentle.
Before long, Dai Mubai’s figure was the first to come into view.
His long hair was casually draped over his shoulders, with two strands falling before his brows, exuding an uninhibited, wild aura all over his body.
Following closely behind him were four young men and women—precisely those somewhat familiar faces from Qin Yun’s memories.
Tang San walked at the very front.
He was a bit leaner than Qin Yun had imagined, dressed in blue clothes and blue pants, with a calm and gentle expression between his brows and bright eyes.
Beside him was a young girl wearing a scorpion braid, her large eyes blinking rapidly, her steps brisk, and her whole body brimming with spirited liveliness.
Needless to say, that was Xiao Wu.
A couple of steps behind was a slender young girl in black clothes, with a cold and gorgeous appearance, extremely steady footsteps, and tight lips.
The entire person was like a short blade hidden within its sheath—Zhu Zhuqing.
The last one was Ning Rongrong, dressed in a luxurious long skirt, with skin whiter than snow, smiling eyes and brows, and an aura of pampered, naive charm radiating from her whole body.
Dai Mubai strode forward, nodded at Qin Yun, then turned to face the four of them, raised a hand to point at Qin Yun, and spoke with a hint of solemnity in his tone.
“The final test: last for the time it takes to burn an incense stick in his hands, and you pass.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the gazes of all four people fell upon Qin Yun simultaneously.
Xiao Wu tilted her head and sized him up for a few moments, then suddenly burst into a chuckle.
“He looks about the same age as us, maybe around fourteen or fifteen, right?”
“Four people fighting just one of him, and we just need to last for an incense stick’s time?”
She looked back at Tang San, then glanced at Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, her tone light and breezy.
“How is it that I feel we can actually win against him?”
Ning Rongrong also smiled with pursed lips.
“Is the final assessment of your Shrek Academy really this simple?”
Dai Mubai, on the other hand, crossed his arms over his chest with a rather serious expression.
“Win against him?”
He let out a scoff, carrying a hint of self-mockery.
“If Qin Yun went all out, I’d be flat on the ground in a single exchange.”
These words caused the smiles on the faces of the four to fade a bit.
Tang San had crossed hands with Dai Mubai before; defeating Dai Mubai in a single exchange—was this person’s strength really this formidable?
Zhu Zhuqing’s gaze turned sharp as she began to re-evaluate Qin Yun.
“What I can remind you of is to watch out for poison; I won’t say anything else, you all weigh it yourselves.”
Hearing this,
Xiao Wu patted Tang San’s shoulder and said with a grin,
“What’s there to be afraid of?
Little San is an expert in poison!
If he dares to use poison in front of us, that’s truly walking right into the trap!”
Tang San didn’t reply, but a hint of reserved confidence also appeared at the corners of his mouth.
He was still quite confident in his own poison use.
Facing an opponent who also used poison, he didn’t feel much pressure.
After the few of them briefly exchanged names and Spirits, they could be considered to have a simple understanding of each other.
Qin Yun paced to the center of the field and stood with his hands behind his back.
He swept his gaze around the four of them and slowly spoke.
“The rules for the final test are simple: the four of you join forces and last through an incense stick’s time under my hands.”
“I won’t actively pursue you, but if you can touch even a corner of my clothes, it will still count as you passing.”
These words were spoken as calmly as still water.
Yet falling into the ears of the four, it was no less than a muffled thunderclap.
The four of them joining forces, and touching a corner of his clothes counts as winning?
This clearly meant not taking them seriously at all.
Xiao Wu raised an eyebrow and was about to retort, when she saw Qin Yun slightly closing his eyes as a faint ripple of spirit power suddenly surged around his entire body.
Immediately following that, three spirit rings slowly rose from beneath his feet, floating in front of him in order from lowest to highest—
The first ring was purple.
The second ring was purple.
The third ring was still purple.
Three thousand-year spirit rings emitted a deep, dark purple halo under the sunlight, resembling three silent thunderbolts exploding across the playground.
Tang San’s pupils suddenly constricted.
In his mind flashed the words his teacher Yu Xiaogang had once said to him.
“There is an iron Law regarding spirit ring ages on the Douluo Continent: the first spirit ring can bear a maximum of only four hundred and twenty-third years, the second spirit ring a maximum of seven hundred and sixty-four years, and a thousand-year spirit ring can under no circumstances appear in the first two positions.”
“This is the Spirit Master’s Cultivate Law; no one can break it.”
Yet the person before his eyes clearly had purple thousand-year spirit rings for his first two rings, and their luster was deep, their age likely far exceeding the limit of a thousand years.
Tang San clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white, as an indescribable shock surged from the bottom of his heart for the very first time.
What on earth was the background of this young man named Qin Yun?
Why was his Cultivate path completely different from all Spirit Masters in the world?
Xiao Wu was also stunned, her lips slightly parted, unable to close them for a long time.
Although she wasn’t a human, she was well aware of the common knowledge regarding spirit rings; a triple-purple configuration was simply unheard of.
Ning Rongrong slightly frowned, putting away her initial lax mindset.
Zhu Zhuqing was surprisingly the one with the smallest reaction among the four.
She only gave a low “hmph,” slightly adjusting her footsteps as her cat-claw-like combat instincts quietly activated.
Tang San took a deep breath and said in a deep voice to the three people beside him,
“His spirit power Cultivate should be around the thirty-eighth or thirty-ninth rank; our chances of winning a direct head-on clash are not high.”
“I will go test his methods of using poison, Xiao Wu will make a feint to distract his attention, Zhuqing will look for an opening to get close, and Rongrong will use the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in the rear to support us.”
“If he truly releases poison, leave it to me to handle.”
Seeing them whispering and discussing, Qin Yun didn’t rush them.
He simply stood quietly in place, his gaze sweeping lazily across the four of them.
The morning breeze brushed past the stray hairs on his forehead.
In his palm, a very faint ball of spirit power had already quietly condensed.
This was carbon monoxide, generated by the mixture of carbon and oxygen.
Colorless and odorless, it was silently spreading across the drill grounds.