The Weakest One's Challenge

"The challenge begins!" Wei Rong cut off the white-browed teacher's protests and declared it outright.

The arena erupted in immediate cheers. The crowd was always hungry for a spectacle — and Mo Fan had already managed to antagonize most of them. Plenty were wishing they could step into Zhang Youhe's place and go up there to knock every tooth out of Mo Fan's head.

Zhang Youhe's grin only grew wider. While he kept up a stream of casual mockery about Mo Fan's ignorance and stupidity, his hands were already tracing Star Trails, rapidly weaving them into a Star Chart.

The grin froze on his face before he'd drawn even half of it.

"So fast... how can anyone draw a Star Chart that quickly?!" Zhang Youhe stood completely dumbfounded, his eyes filled with nothing but the blinding flames that had erupted around Mo Fan.

Scorching fire blazed around Mo Fan, wreathing him like a fire demon. Waves of searing heat radiated outward from him and swept across every face in the arena.

"Trash always talks the most," Mo Fan said, voice dripping with contempt.

The flames at his wrist coiled furiously, condensing into a blaze more brilliant than anything before it.

He drove his fist forward. Fire burst from it like a miniature volcano, the roiling inferno reshaping mid-flight into an enormous fist-shaped form that fanned out across a massive area and slammed squarely into Zhang Youhe.

Zhang Youhe's mind went blank. His Star Chart wasn't even half-finished!

He scrambled to activate his defensive Enchanted Gear, but it wasn't nearly enough to withstand Mo Fan's Heavenstrike. Flames swallowed him whole, and the force of impact sent him hurtling backward —

**CRASH!**

Zhang Youhe carved a wide arc through the air before slamming hard against the base of the boundary Barrier, his body marked with vivid burns in more places than one.

Zhang Youhe's fire was only Ordinary Fire — he had no fire resistance to speak of. The moment those blazing flames washed over him, his skin split and his flesh was left raw.

"Pathetic student. I genuinely can't figure out how someone like that clawed his way to rank 736." Mo Fan raised his fist, blew on his knuckles with a casual, cowboy-like swagger, and snuffed out the last wisps of flame.

The remark was aimed squarely at Wei Rong. If this gorilla of a teacher wanted to come after him, Mo Fan wasn't about to back down.

Wei Rong's mouth twitched slightly. Something in his chest seemed to be expanding at an alarming rate.

"The kid's actually quite something," the white-browed teacher said with a chuckle.

"Hmph. That's all he's got. Fire Hall has plenty of people who could send Zhang Youhe flying with a single Blazing Fist," Wei Rong replied.

Wei Rong had never planned to settle this with just one challenger. Someone without real ability wouldn't dare talk this big — and he had plenty more lined up.

"I'm off to see to the injured. Today is going to keep me very busy." The white-browed teacher drifted casually toward the edge of the arena.

"High praise indeed."

The next challenger arrived on the heels of the last. Mo Fan had been expecting exactly this.

She was a female Fire Element student ranked 645. Her ability wasn't meaningfully stronger than Zhang Youhe's, but unlike him, she was cautious. Having learned just how fast Mo Fan could draw a Star Chart, she wisely adopted a defensive stance from the very beginning.

"Fire and Water dual cultivation — aren't you a walking contradiction, sweetheart?" Mo Fan ignited a Fire Burst in his hand, his Star Trail arrangement flowing with practiced ease.

"None of your business," the female student shot back, unyielding. Water ribbons wound around her body once again.

"You love defending this much — why didn't you join the Water Hall?" Mo Fan flicked his wrist, and the Fire Burst streaked straight and true toward her.

The spell she was using was the Water Element's entry-level technique — Water Domain. Her Water Control was at the third level; the water ribbons cycled continuously around her, and as long as she wasn't hammered with sustained attacks, a fresh layer of water defense would re-form around her before long.

Mo Fan had every intention of toying with her. He timed his Fire Bursts with deliberate precision — always striking precisely as her Water Control cycle refreshed, never leaving her an opening to launch a single offensive spell.

"He's wasting his own Magical Energy for nothing — he could finish her off in seconds, but instead he pulls this... Just as I thought. Arrogant, lecherous good-for-nothing." Wei Rong gave a cold snort, thoroughly disgusted by Mo Fan's behavior.

A fight was a fight. How could anyone treat it like a game? If he ever acted this self-important against an actual Demon-Beast, he'd end up dying pathetically at the hands of something far weaker than himself.

The 645th-ranked student was no match for Mo Fan in the end. Realizing she'd been toyed with the entire time, she finally surrendered and stepped down from the challenge platform — but not before shooting Mo Fan a murderous glare on her way out. This sleazebag had made her a laughingstock in front of the entire Fire Hall!

"Next challenger..."

"I need to use the bathroom!"

"..."

Mo Fan was thoroughly shameless, manufacturing every excuse he could think of to delay the relentless parade of challenges and buy his Magical Energy time to recover.

"What is it now? If you keep stalling like this, you might as well just forfeit!" Wei Rong snapped, his composure completely gone.

"Why would I forfeit? I had a big lunch and my stomach's acting up — am I not even allowed to be uncomfortable?" Mo Fan fired back with perfect righteous indignation, heading off on his third bathroom break.

In fits and starts, Mo Fan had now faced a total of six challengers.

As the rankings of the challengers crept higher, so did Mo Fan's Magical Energy expenditure. Over six fights, his Fire Element Star Nebula had been drained by roughly a third.

A few more uses of intermediate-tier spells and he'd be running on empty.

"Next up... Zheng Jiahui... hm?" Wei Rong's brow furrowed the instant he read the name aloud.

What was the dead-last student doing here? Everyone ranked below 500 had already had their turn, and the gap between any of them and Mo Fan was painfully obvious. In challenges, Zheng Jiahui could barely even draw a Star Chart — stepping up now amounted to handing Mo Fan a free win.

Zheng Jiahui wore the same timid, shrinking expression as always. This was clearly his first time on a stage with this many eyes watching — he was visibly trembling as he stepped onto the challenge platform.

Mo Fan's eyes lit up the moment he saw him, as if he'd just spotted a lifesaver.

*This kid didn't let me down. If his turn had come after the 200th slot, I'd have had to fight through two hundred people first.*

"Why is it *him*? Ha! Does he actually think he's going to snag an easy win like the rest of those idiots?!" Someone in the crowd had already burst out laughing.

"That Mo Fan is no joke — he already took down Zhao Pingyun at rank 538. Zheng Jiahui going up there is going to end up in worse shape than Zhang Youhe!"

"I've gone up against that guy before. He came at me all fired up wanting a challenge, and after ages of trying he still couldn't draw a single intermediate Star Chart. I literally just stood there and let him attack me, and he couldn't even manage that. Nearly killed me with laughter. How did Pearl Main Campus ever accept someone that useless?"

The moment Zheng Jiahui set foot on the stage, laughter broke out across the entire Fire Hall.

Why would someone who brought nothing but embarrassment put himself through this? It amounted to throwing away a precious challenge slot. Whoever followed him would surely come from within the top 500.