TL: I think that the name Bei Ju (貝崌) is a wordplay on the word bei ju (悲劇) meaning tragedy

The laughter of the man directly caused some of the competitors on the tall platform, who knew the reality of the situation, to be silent. Even Liu Qing, Lin Xiuya, and the others could not even guarantee a fifty-percent chance of victory even if they went all out to face Zi Yan. Yet this fellow...

The man on the stage also sensed that there was something wrong with the gazes around him after he spoke those words. However, he did not know the exact reason for it. The smile on his face stiffened a little as his gaze swept carefully over Zi Yan. How would he be able to see Zi Yan’s baseline with just his strength? In his eyes, he could only sense that the latter’s body did not have very strong Dou Qi flowing. She appeared weak and appeared to be too frail to even receive a blow...

Zi Yan finally came to the arena under the numerous strange gazes from around. Her large dark-black eyes glanced at the man as her ten fingers crossed each other. With a gentle push, her bones immediately emitted a cracking sound. She raised her head and eyed First Elder Su Qian and spoke in a proud and old manner, “Hey, old fellow. Can we begin?”

The entire stadium was immediately dumbfounded when these words were emitted. Some of the people who knew Zi Yan’s identity were a little better off. Those who were ignorant had faces that were completely dull. There was actually someone in the Inner Academy who dared to speak to the First Elder in such a manner? Moreover, Zi Yan’s opponent was also among these dull people.

Su Qian helplessly shook his head from the tall platform. He really did not have any solution with regards to this playful little fellow. His gaze glanced at some of those Elders who were snickering beside him and could only wave his hand as he said, “Begin. Remember, do not take a person’s life!”

Zi Yan cutely shrugged her shoulders and said, “Relax. One punch. Whether it will result in a serious or minor injury all depends on how well he can resist blows.”

“Arrogant!”Although the other party was only a little girl, the face of the man on the opposite side could not help but sink after being looked down upon in such a matter in front of so many people. He said in an extremely stern voice, “Don’t think that I will show mercy just because you are a little girl. Remember my name, Bei Ju!”

Zi Yan immediately swung her pale-purple ponytail as she eyed the man who had displayed a lecturing manner. Her cute clear fangs rubbed against one another. Immediately, her delicate feet were raised slightly and landed abruptly a moment later!

“Bang!”

A deep muffled explosion suddenly sounded when her feet landed. In an instant, a half a foot wide crack line swiftly spread out from Zi Yan’s feet in front of endless shocked gasps. The crack line was like a python that was ambushing the underground. In a short while, it reached the feet of the similarly stunned man who called himself Bei Ju. The crack line extended, and an invisible force shot out. Finally, it smashed heavily toward the two legs of the man.

Bei Ju also appeared to have sensed something when the crack line had reached his feet. Although a dark shadow and uneasiness had appeared in his heart the instant that Zi Yan had displayed her frightening strength, he was unable to think much at that moment. With a stern cry, powerful Dou Qi immediately erupted violently from his body, forming a gray-white Dou Qi Armor on the surface of his body an instant later.

Bei Ju’s Dou Qi Armor agglomerated extremely swiftly. Clearly, he also possessed quite a great strength in order to be able to reach this step. However... if something must be blamed, he could only blame his poor luck in meeting Zi Yan, who even Liu Qing, Lin Xiuya, and the others avoided at any cost.

With Zi Yan’s strength which was comparable to a Dou Wang, even a mere single strike possessed a strength that could not be underestimated. Hence, even though Bei Ju’s body had Dou Qi Armor protecting him, that tough looking Dou Qi Armor was basically completely smashed apart at a withering pace the moment the two came into contact. Moreover, his armor completely cracked apart in an extremely short time... that ferocious force mercilessly penetrated the Dou Qi Armor and collided at a spot between Bei Ju’s legs. Therefore... a sharp scream that tore his lungs sounded in the stadium.

“Ah!”

As they watched Bei Ju, who was hugging his lower body while his entire body was curled up on the ground like a large prawn, everyone wiped off the cold sweat on their face while looking stunned. Some of the male students held their lower body unconsciously as a reflex. Their bodies became cold. If they were to be struck in this manner... it was likely that even if that thing was healed, one would form a phobia in their hearts.

Xiao Yan and the others on the high platform were similarly stunned as they eyed the arena. A moment later, they involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva. This fellow... although she appeared to be harmless to both men and beasts and even looked quite cute... her attack was quite vicious.

“What brute force... it seems that she did not even use any energy and completely relied on the strength of her physical body.” Xun Er’s watery pupils stared intently at Zi Yan as she softly spoke. Her voice contained a little surprise.

Xiao Yan nodded slightly. The moment Zi Yan struck, he did not sense much of an energy fluctuation. However, he understood things much more clearly the moment he thought of her true identity. Most of the Magical Beasts were renowned for their powerful physical bodies. Moreover, even Yao Lao had said that Zi Yan might be a rare unique beast from ancient times. In that case, it was not surprising that she possessed such a powerful strength.

The faces of Su Qian and the other Elders on the judges seats twitched a little. Some of the Elders let out a couple of dry laughs with none of them knowing what they ought to say...

“*Cough*.” Su Qian withdrew the emotions on his face and let out a dry cough. He said with a bitter smile, “Zi Yan is victorious in this match.”

“Chi, boring.” Zi Yan curled her mouth. She waved her hand in a bored manner as her feet stomped on the ground. Her lovely little body shot explosively into the air before gently landing near the guardrail, that Xiao Yan was leaning on, on the tall platform. She smiled at him.

“Your attack is really vicious.” As Xiao Yan eyed Zi Yan’s cute manner that appeared to be carved out from jade, even he would not believe that Zi Yan would be able to use such a vicious tactic had he not witnessed it for himself.

“The other time, I had coincidentally seen him obtain victory in a match. After the match, he had openly told everyone that his next opponent was you.” Zi Yan glanced at the next match which had begun in the arena, grabbed her pale-purple pony tail and laughed as she spoke.

Xiao Yan was a little stunned when he heard this. He had thought that Zi Yan had acted in this manner because she was impatient with the other party. It was unexpected that the matter actually contained some relation to him. However... this little girl was really amiable for him...

Xiao Yan smiled and rubbed Zi Yan’s small head. He spoke with soft laughter, “I am able to settle these kinds of matters. You need not be bothered about them.”

“If I don’t help you, you will definitely not help me refine Danwans in the future.” Zi Yan unhappily shook her head and grunted. As a Magical Beast, she did not have as many cunning plots as a human. She kept innocently thinking that only by getting Xiao Yan to truly owe her a favor would he continue to help her refine Danwans.

“You owe me a favor now that I have helped you teach that fellow a lesson. I will remember this.” Zi Yan muttered.

“Ke ke, alright. You can consider that I owe you a favor.” Xiao Yan shook his head, feeling neither able to laugh nor cry. He pulled Zi Yan’s pony tail and eyed her cute face that had revealed a happy smile in the blink of an eye. The image of a little girl, with a timid face and her body always humbly lowered mixed with the blood of both human and snake flashed across his mind.

“I wonder how Qing Lin is doing...” Xiao Yan sighed in his heart. Back then that little girl who had fallen into the mouth of a tiger in the Jia Ma Empire had eventually been snatched away by the people from the ‘Sky Serpent Mansion’ from his hands. Xiao Yan kept feeling a certain guilt toward this timid little girl.

“Hee hee.” Zi Yan laughed when she saw Xiao Yan nodding his head. She revealed her cute little fangs. Her body stood on the guardrail and patted Xiao Yan’s shoulders while speaking in a heroic voice, “You can rest assured that with me covering for you, I will definitely let you enter the top ten. I will beat whoever dares to snatch your position until he is half alive.”

Zi Yan’s voice was not lowered. Therefore, the competitors on the high platform could hear what she said. At that moment, most of the faces changed a little. Many people understood just how frightening Zi Yan was in their hearts.

Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head. He gently knocked Zi Yan’s head. As he looked at her rubbing her forehead with a face that was filled with blame, he could not help but laugh and say, “I will naturally go all out in order to get into the top ten. If you were to help me, I would not be able to sit steadily even if I managed to enter.”

Zi Yan rolled her eyes. She muttered a couple of sentences, but complied and did not continue to say those words from a moment ago.

“Ke ke, it is unexpected that brother Xiao Yan is actually this familiar with Senior Zi Yan.” A familiar laughter suddenly sounded by his side. Xiao Yan turned his head to take a look. It was actually Lin Xiuya and the others. At this moment, the gazes of these people were all partially drifting toward Zi Yan by the side.

“Senior...” Xiao Yan’s mouth widened. He weighed the two of them and was unable to restrain a smile. However, on top of feeling that it was funny, he was also a little stunned. Usually, Lin Xiuya maintained an indifferent aura in front of everyone. However, no matter how he looked at it, that smile contained worry and even fear...

Zi Yan glanced at Lin Xiuya and spoke lazily, “So it’s you. It has been a long time since we’ve last met. You really ran very quickly in the last match.”

Embarrassment surfaced on Lin Xiuya’s face as he became speechless. Back then, in that ‘Strong Ranking’ Grand Competition, he had coincidentally met with Zi Yan in the final round. At that time, his strength was naturally not as strong as it was now. Therefore, the moment he met with Zi Yan, he ran away from the arena and admitted defeat in an extremely decisive manner. This caused Zi Yan, who had failed to beat up someone, to continue to feel resentment.

“This competition is really boring. You can all continue to play. Looks like there will not be a match for me today.” Zi Yan eyed the extremely fiery fights in the arena that came and went only to let out a yawn. She waved her hand at Xiao Yan before she leaped down from the tall platform and sprang out of the stadium.

Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head as he eyed Zi Yan’s disappeared body. He turned his head around and looked at Lin Xiuya’s manner where he wanted to speak only to stop himself. Xiao Yan raised his brows, smiled, and asked, “What is it?”

“Hee hee, is brother Xiao Yan very familiar with Senior Zi Yan?’ Lin Xiuya laughed dryly.

“So-so,” Xiao Yan spread his hand and said.

“Hee hee, in that case I would like to ask brother to tell her that it is fine for me to lose if I meet her during the competition as long as she does not embarrass me too much. Honestly speaking, if one were to say that I am a little afraid of Liu Qing, then I would be terrified of her. I think... Liu Qing may be also thinking in this manner.” Lin Xiuya spoke awkwardly.

Xiao Yan was immediately dumb when he heard this. Who would have thought that this leader of the Inner Academy’s ‘Wolf Teeth’ would actually be this afraid of Zi Yan.

“I will help you tell her when we meet.” Xiao Yan endured the laughter in his heart as he nodded.

Lin Xiuya finally sighed in relief after hearing Xiao Yan’s reply. The former gave the latter a smile of gratitude before cupping his hands together and leaving.

Xiao Yan let out soft laughter as he eyed Lin Xiuya who had turned around and left. It was indeed true that one thing surrenders to another...

“The fourth match: number fifteen!”

A cry suddenly sounded from the judges’ seats just as Xiao Yan sighed, causing him to be slightly startled. He immediately raised his head, only to see the faintly smiling gaze of Su Qian being shot toward him.

“Is it finally my turn...”

Xiao Yan turned around and threw his gaze toward a pair of vicious gazes that had been thrown over. The corner of his mouth was lifted into a cold smile!