Chapter 36 Underhanded Tactic

As the dark red pill was swallowed into Qi Yue’s stomach, he immediately felt an icy sensation appear in his body that headed straight towards his forehead.

This pill was known as the Spirit Strengthening Pill and could temporarily strengthen one’s Spirit. However, there were repercussions. After usage, the Spirit would be depleted for a period of time.

It was obvious that Qi Yue no longer cared about such things at this point in time.

As his Spirit swelled, a faint ray of light emerged from the spot between Qi Yue’s brows and seemed to transform into an illusory figure. It was his Spirit. Evidently, Qi Yue’s Spirit had stepped into the Illusory stage with the aid of the Spirit Strengthening Pill.

With his Spirit now at the Illusory stage, Qi Yue immediately discovered what he had previously been unaware of. He could sense strands of quartz energy in the Jade Spirit Waterfall continuously flowing towards Zhou Yuan.

“So that’s what’s going on! To think that your ability to last so long in the Jade Spirit Waterfall is because of your Spirit!” Qi Yue’s pupils shrank. He had finally discovered the secret to why Zhou Yuan was able to endure even longer than himself.

“Humph. It is fortunate that I made preparations for this day. Else it would really be akin to capsizing on a calm lake!”

Qi Yue’s expression darkened. Soon after, a Genesis Rune gradually appeared between his brows. This rune was known as the ‘Spirit Needle Rune’, a grade 1 rune which he had specifically found someone to help him inscribe. Its function was to condense the Spirit into the shape of a needle that could attack the enemy.

Normally speaking, one needed to at least be at the advance Illusory stage to use Spirit based attacks. Qi Yue was barely able to reach the initial Illusory stage with the help of the Spirit Strengthening Pill and thus needed to rely on an external power in order to utilise Spirit attacks.

Qi Yue could not attack directly in the waterfall. Hence, he could only choose a concealable method like Spirit attacks.

Swish!

Following the activation of the ‘Spirit Needle Rune’, the spot between Qi Yue’s brows flashed as a long needle made from a strand of Spirit shot out. The long Spirit needle pierced through the water and headed straight for Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan immediately sensed the Spirit needle the moment it shot towards him and the expression in his eyes instantly sunk. “A Spirit attack? How can Qi Yue’s Spirit be so strong?!”

Even the current Zhou Yuan could not perform Spirit attacks.

Though he was bewildered, Zhou Yuan did not dare to tarry. Although the Spirit attack might not seem imposing and was unable to do any damage to the body, its destructive power to the Spirit was extremely great.

Once one’s Spirit was hurt, it would be even more difficult to recover than a physical wound.

Thus, Zhou Yuan immediately stopped absorbing quartz energy. His Spirit withdrew and entrenched itself between his brows, creating multiple layers of defence.

Ch!

A faint sound was heard as a strand of Spirit power was directed to Zhou Yuan’s eye. Zhou Yuan could now see a long Spirit needle drill its way out of the flowing water and shoot straight towards his head.

Ch ch!

Stabbing pain could be felt from between his brows as his expression grew increasingly grave. The Spirit needle was sharp and had managed to penetrate the layers of his Spirit defence he had set-up.

“Since you wish to seek death, I will have to oblige!” Zhou Yuan’s gaze flickered as the corners of his lips lifted to form an icy smile. The current him might not be a match for Qi Yue in a battle of fists, but if it was Spirit, Qi Yue was practically courting death!

Zhou Yuan used his Spirit to continuously grind away at the sharpness of the Spirit needle. A short while later, he suddenly dispersed his defences with a thought.

“Success!”

An evil grin appeared on Qi Yue’s face when he sensed this.

Boom!

However, the moment this sinister smile emerged on his face, a loud sound was transmitted into his ear. Subsequently, the scenery before his eyes rapidly changed as he found himself in an endless starry sky.

Rumble!

This sudden turn of events caused Qi Yue’s expression to change drastically as a rumbling sound thundered. He raised his head and was swiftly overwhelmed by inconsolable terror when he saw an infinitely stretching giant grindstone slowly appear. A shadow that could cover the heavens descended as the behemoth hurled towards him.

Endless dread surged in Qi Yue’s heart.

The titanic grindstone crushed downwards and there was nothing he could do to resist as he felt his Spirit being smashed to pieces.

Crack!

A faint cracking sound emerged from between Zhou Yuan’s brows, marking the shattering of Qi Yue’s Spirit needle as an icy chuckle to left the former’s mouth. Between Zhou Yuan’s brows was the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone brand left by Cang Yuan. Hence, Zhou Yuan was not afraid of Spirit attacks. Any Spirit attack that entered would naturally be crushed by the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone.

AAH!

When Zhou Yuan shattered the Spirit needle, a miserable shriek suddenly rang out nearby.

The shriek immediately draw the attention of everyone outside the waterfall. Subsequently, they were appalled to see Qi Yue’s figure start to shake before ultimately being washed away by the boundless flow of water, falling into the cold waters of the lake below.

“How is this possible?” Xu Hong’s expression abruptly changed. He face was steely-green as he stared at the trembling Qi Yue that had fallen into the lake.

By the side, Liu Xi’s small mouth was wide open while disbelief filled her attractive face.

The other B class students were silently trembling, their faces white as sheet.

Of course, it was not just them. Even Chu Tianyang, Su Youwei and the other A class students had faces overflowing with shock. It was obvious that this outcome had surpassed everyone’s expectations.

The surroundings of the Jade Spirit Waterfall was complete silence, as if everyone had just seen a ghost.

While a blanket of silence covered the crowd, a figure flew out from the Jade Spirit Waterfall, his foot pushing off the surface of the water before confidently landing by the lake side. Tall and straight, who else could it be but Zhou Yuan.

He looked at the ugly to the max expressions on Xu Hong, Liu Xi and the rest as he said in a flat voice, “The victor is already clear. What else do you have to say?”

Some students fished out Qi Yue from the lake, only to find that his face was deathly pale while his eyes were full of fear. His shivering appearance was extremely miserable.

This baffled everyone. They were clearly unable to understand how he became like this.

“This is… Spirit injury?” Xu Hong’s expression immediately changed when he saw Qi Yue’s appearance.

When Liu Xi heard this, she immediately pointed at Zhou Yuan and shrieked, “Despicable! You cheated!”

The many students also looked towards Zhou Yuan in doubt.

“Cheated?” Zhou Yuan sneered and pointed towards Qi Yue’s head where the remains of a rune was gradually fading, “If I am not wrong, that is the grade 1 Genesis Rune, Spirit Needle Rune, right?”

“If he did not attack me with a Spirit needle earlier, he would not have fallen into such a state.”

The moment these words were said, an uproar exploded from the crowd as their gazes turned towards Qi Yue’s forehead. Sure enough, they found the fading remains of a rune and those proficient in Genesis Runes immediately identified it.

“Qi Yue is clearly stronger than prince Zhou Yuan. To think that he still made use of such despicable tactics!” Numerous students muttered while the gazes that looked at Qi Yue now had an additional trace of despise.

Liu Xi’s face turned steely-green when she sensed these gazes, while fire practically spit from her eyes. However, she could not say even a single word in rebuttal because the truth was already more than clear. If Qi Yue had not done anything fishy, what was this Spirit Needle Rune for?

If she tried to explain, it was likely that even she would be drowned in the crowd’s spittle.

As they heard the voices from the crowd, the many B class students looked to each other with ugly expressions. The respect from before was no longer present in their gazes when they looked towards Qi Yue, instead, there was now blame.

After all, Qi Yue had lost the bet, causing their B class to lose 3 hours of Jade Spirit Waterfall training time. In other words, all they had left was a single hour…

This was a tremendous blow to their B class.

Someone could not help but mutter, “Challenging others without absolute confidence. Great job, there’s now practically nothing left to lose.”

Liu Xi immediately swept her furious gaze over, but was unable to find who had spoken and could only grind her teeth in anger.

“Hehe, class master Xu, our A class kindly accepts your B class’ 3 hours of Jade Spirit Waterfall training time.” Chu Tianyang heartily laughed at this moment. It felt really awesome to look at Xu Hong’s steely-green face.

Never in his wildest dreams would Xu Hong have ever expected that causing trouble for the A class would instead result in such a huge loss for the B class.

Rage churned in Xu Hong’s stomach, but he not act out on his anger. He could only show a forced smile as he looked at Chu Tianyang and Zhou Yuan and said, “Don’t celebrate too early. The class ranking exam is fast approaching and as long as our B class takes first place again, whatever you’ve taken away now will have to be spit out twice fold!”

After saying this, he flung his sleeves, turned around and left.

Liu Xi and the other B class students could only weakly follow. Their figures were an extremely sorry sight.

As the left, thunderous cheers exploded from the A class as they surged forward, wishing they could throw Zhou Yuan up into the air.

Zhou Yuan hurriedly put a stop to their crazed happiness and smiled towards the surrounding students from the other classes as he said, “Of the 3 hours our A class has won, 1 hour will be split amongst the other three classes. Take it as thanks for cheering us on today.”

The moment these words were said, the students of the other three classes were taken aback. Soon after, ashamed looks were revealed on their faces. The truth was that their three classes had been a little akin to those who threw stones at someone who was already down. Who could have expected that not only would Zhou Yuan not bear a grudge, he would even give them an hour of his winnings. This act of requiting goodness for evil made them feel both shame and admiration.

“Then we’ll have to thank your highness!” Numerous students cupped their fists towards Zhou Yuan with gratitude on their faces.

Praise involuntarily flitted across Chu Tianyang’s eyes when he saw this. This move of Zhou Yuan’s was just too beautiful and had practically bought over the will of the students. From this day onwards, Zhou Yuan’s popularity would likely surpass Qi Yue’s.

Moreover, after receiving such benefits from Zhou Yuan, no one would agree to whatever trickery the B class tried in future.

The expressions of Qin Xiao and the other two class masters were complicated. Their hearts shivered as they glanced at Zhou Yuan. It was at this very moment that they finally realised that this prince of theirs was not simple at all. Looks like they definitely could not offend him in future...

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