Battling Fire Hall (Part Two)

"He's *so strong!!*" Zheng Jiahui stared at Mo Fan from below the platform, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

He had originally assumed that Mo Fan—a fighter who'd needed petty tricks just to sidestep certain matchups—didn't have the real skill to rank anywhere near the top hundred. But watching him defeat nearly thirty opponents in a row, using nothing but basic-level spells from start to finish, had forced Zheng Jiahui to revise his opinion entirely.

He thought back to the furious words Mo Fan had hurled at him from the platform, and for the first time, it seemed like all of it might actually come true.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Zheng Jiahui shook his head. "He's strong, I'll grant him that—but there's no way one person can handle two hundred challengers alone. Especially since the upcoming opponents are only getting better ranked. Just because he beat one Jia Zhenlong doesn't mean he can weather a continuous assault from that many top-ranked fighters."

In Zheng Jiahui's orderly, rule-bound world, things like this simply weren't supposed to happen.

After Jia Zhenlong—a Fire Element Mage who possessed a Spirit Seed—was defeated, the challenges gradually devolved into one-sided beatdowns once again. The situation infuriated Wei Rong. He scanned the list, saw nothing but unfamiliar names, and called out the next challenger with barely concealed impatience.

"Xu Hongguang, ranked 331."

Wei Rong had already given up expecting anyone ranked below two hundred to subdue Mo Fan. It seemed unlikely they could even force out his intermediate magic. He turned away from the arena and struck up a conversation with White-browed Teacher about something else entirely—because the plain truth was, he couldn't stomach watching his students get thrashed again.

Then, without warning, a wave of noise swept through the entire arena. Something had apparently happened that was actually worth getting excited about.

Wei Rong brought his attention back to the platform. It turned out the student named Xu Hongguang had been hiding his true strength. He'd pushed hard enough to catch Mo Fan genuinely off guard, forcing him to reach for intermediate magic.

The Star Chart beneath Mo Fan's feet blazed with vivid, pure crimson, and flames of the same brilliant scarlet engulfed his entire body, burning fire-red from head to toe.

He unleashed a Blazing Fist. The scalding heat of his Rose Flame crashed into Xu Hongguang.

What no one had anticipated was that Xu Hongguang was also equipped with Armor Enchanted Gear. It had perfectly deflected Mo Fan's basic-level spells, and even the intermediate Blazing Fist was substantially blunted by it.

Even so, Xu Hongguang lost before long. But this ranked-331 student had given everyone quite a jolt—they'd braced themselves for yet another easy defeat at the hands of basic-level spells, and instead he'd actually dragged out an intermediate one.

"Bunch of useless failures." White-browed Teacher shook his head, half-exasperated, half-amused. "All you managed was to squeeze out one intermediate spell, and you're carrying on like you've won a great battle."

The smile that had just started to form on Wei Rong's face vanished instantly.

When he actually stopped to think about it—what was there to cheer about? Thirty-six challengers deployed one after another, and all they had to show for it was coaxing out a single intermediate spell from this arrogant transfer student. That was supposed to be deeply embarrassing.

Human psychology had a funny way of working like this. Once you'd been ground down to a low enough baseline, even the smallest scrap of progress could feel like salvation. But if you stopped to think honestly, they had strayed impossibly far from what they'd originally set out to do.

"Xu Hongguang is actually that strong—he must have been holding back before now," Huang Xingli said, her voice sharp with irritation. "I just hope someone in the top two hundred shows up soon and completely crushes that arrogant transfer student's insufferable attitude."

Ding Yumian looked at her with faint surprise, then laughed. "I seem to recall that when all this started, you were actually worried about him. How are you joining the crowd to denounce him now? Your position shifts with the wind."

Huang Xingli immediately fumbled for words. She didn't quite know why herself—but every time she watched Mo Fan dominating like this, an inexplicable prickle of irritation crept over her.

"That's perfectly understandable," Liu Qian said. "This transfer student is strutting around Fire Hall as though he's untouchable. He's breezed through over thirty challengers on basic-level spells alone. And don't forget—he called all of us in Fire Hall worthless, out in the open in front of the entire university. The way things stand right now, our whole Hall really would deserve that label. For the sake of not being completely humiliated, of course everyone wants to see him taken down."

Huang Xingli nodded quickly, a quiet warmth flickering in her chest. Liu Qian—Fire Hall's most sought-after face—had actually stepped in to explain her strange reaction for her. That had to mean he still kept her in mind.

"Exactly. If we don't bring him down soon, the whole school will be laughing at us—an entire Fire Hall left helpless by one transfer student," she said.

Ding Yumian said nothing.

Liu Qian, seeing that Ding Yumian had gone quiet, didn't speak again either.

Challengers of all different rankings continued to take the platform in rotation. The mindset of the lower-ranked ones had quietly shifted from *I'm going to make this transfer student pay* to *whatever damage I can deal is better than nothing*—and they couldn't even pinpoint when their once-lofty pride had sunk so low.

Finally, the 190th-ranked challenger appeared: a female student.

Mo Fan stood at the center of the platform and swept his gaze over her. She was extraordinarily tall. His preference ran toward someone like Tang Yue—tall, yes, but with the proportions to match. This girl had the height but nothing else, built more like a bamboo pole than anything. Any inclination toward gallantry promptly evaporated.

The moment the fight began, however, he realized exactly how foolish those thoughts had been.

Challengers ranked beyond 400 he could handle comfortably with basic-level spells. Those within the top 400 tended to have some genuine edge, occasionally demanding real effort. Mo Fan had loosely assumed that even a top-200 opponent would just cost him a bit more energy than usual—nothing he couldn't manage.

He couldn't have been more wrong. This woman's Fire Element cultivation was barely a step behind his own. He had his Rose Flame; she had a Fire Element Spirit Seed of her own—and clearly one of the finer varieties. Her flames carried a persistent burning effect that was nearly impossible to extinguish.

Left with no other choice, Mo Fan finally called upon his Lightning Element. A fourth-tier Lightning Seal transformed into a wide electrical paralysis field that spread across the ground beneath the female student's feet. Her Wind Track couldn't carry her clear of a spread that vast.

Only through that fourth-tier Lightning Seal did Mo Fan manage to claw out even a sliver of an advantage. He eventually brought her down by throwing everything into the Lightning Element's raw, crushing force—at the cost of an enormous drain on his Magical Energy.

"Dual Spirit Seeds... this... this kid..." Wei Rong said, visibly stunned.

190th place was a high ranking. Even so, watching her lose like that was hard for him to accept.

Then again—if Mo Fan was already so outrageously extravagant as to reinforce his basic-level spells to such extremes, it stood to reason he had to have Dual Spirit Seeds. Reinforcing a single basic spell all the way up to the fourth tier costs enough to buy two ordinary Spirit Seeds.

"Lightning and Fire, dual cultivation. Raw, overwhelming power. Dual Spirit Seeds, fourth-tier in both elements." White-browed Teacher watched Mo Fan with open admiration. "No wonder this transfer student dares to pull something this outrageous—he's given himself every reason to be proud. I'd wager that from here on out, any challenger without Dual Spirit Seeds of their own won't stand much of a chance against him."