Chapter 96: Steady And Sure, One Strike To Victory [2-in-1]
“Teacher Zheng, be more tolerant. They’re all still youthful children.”
Ping Ningyan heard Zheng Mingchun’s words, lazily turned her head, and casually defended the students on the field.
Zheng Mingchun snorted coldly, said nothing more, but made up his mind that once the new batch of school team members was selected, he would train them well.
On the field, Fang Miao Wen didn’t care about that and happily called White Fatty down from the arena.
White Fatty acted like nothing had happened, like a bear without a care, swaying as it straightened its body. Clearly still an underage bear, it was already nearly two people tall.
It didn’t transform back to mini form either, just followed Fang Miao Wen off the venue like that.
The quiet and cute little girl walking together with the honest and huge Big White Bear was particularly pleasing to the eye.
Ge Bai saw Fang Miao Wen leave the field and looked toward her side, giving her two thumbs up from afar.
Just now, she had taken the chance to carefully observe White Fatty. This Ice Armor White Bear’s strength was quite impressive.
Not only had its Spiritual Power Level reached Transcendence Realm Level One, but its proficiency in three Attack Skills and one Defense Skill was all Proficient.
As expected of one from an old established martial arts school.
Long Jun Chi, leaning against the edge of the field, also glanced at Fang Miao Wen, showing no extra expression. It was within expectations.
The first round of elimination matches for the 32 students participating in Jinggang No. 1 Middle School Special Recruitment had all ended, taking only about half an hour.
“Winner: Beast Tamer Long Jun Chi.”
“Winner: Beast Tamer Yi Kai Jun.”
“Winner: Beast Tamer Shi Chenliang.”
All of them won with one strike, turned, and left the arena, making Zheng Mingchun’s face darken.
If it weren’t for the special recruitment battle order already being set, Zheng Mingchun really wanted to have these show-offs face each other in the next round and see who could still be so arrogant.
The darker Zheng Mingchun’s face got, the more Ping Ningyan laughed uncontrollably, not only not advising him but even adding fuel to the fire.
“I really like this batch’s several Seed Players.”
There was no interval between the second round of elimination matches and the first round; it started immediately.
Four matches in the upper bracket started simultaneously, and Ge Bai was already in position by Venue One.
In this match, her opponent was a boy who had contracted Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle and wore black-framed glasses.
This year was strange; rare Pet Beasts that weren’t seen for years were actually common on the Jinggang No. 1 Middle School Special Recruitment venue.
This Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle not only didn’t live in Huaguo, it was rare even on this planet, a unique Pet Beast from the Dongao Starze Sea region of the Interstellar Alliance’s second planet.
No one knew how this boy had contracted it.
“Green Hair, do your best in this match too.”
The boy brought his Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle onto the field, squatted by the turtle’s side, patted its thick Turtle Shell, and encouraged it energetically.
Hearing this crocodile turtle’s name, not only Ge Bai but even Big Willow couldn’t help but look over.
This Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle’s Turtle Shell was covered in dense brown patterns, looking very glossy, but it didn’t have a single green hair.
Green Hair Turtle is also a contractable Pet Beast, completely different from Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle, with reproductive isolation.
To be honest, Big Willow suited the name Green Hair even better than this turtle.
Ge Bai coughed lightly, choosing to respect her opponent.
In Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle’s previous match, which Ge Bai had watched the end of, this water attribute Pet Beast’s Attack Skill power was average, with only a single Water Bullet, but its Defense Power was astonishing.
In the previous match, Bee Hummingbird unleashed all its skills against Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle until exhausted, but couldn’t harm it at all.
When the attacks were fierce, Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle directly retracted into its Turtle Shell, remaining as steady as a mountain no matter how the attacks came.
In the end, Bee Hummingbird lost helplessly.
“Big Willow, casually block the Water Bullet, use Storm Willow Blade Hammer, attack from the side flank, and flip it directly.”
Ge Bai gave her concise attack suggestion.
“Liu Gu!”
Big Willow shouted excitedly.
He liked this kind of close combat attack the most. He hadn’t felt much in his previous match, but seeing Big White Bear’s bombardment had gotten Big Willow excited.
“Match begins!”
This time, at the start of the match, it was far less intense-looking than Big Willow’s previous one.
The crocodile turtle advanced steadily, unhurriedly taking a few square steps toward the center of the venue as a gesture, then stopped.
Water Bullets were fired at Big Willow sporadically.
It seemed the opponent planned to use defense as offense in this match.
Ge Bai patted Big Willow’s trunk and said softly.
“Go on, take care of it.”
Big Willow understood, mobilizing the power of Time Soil to pull its Roots out from the arena.
At the same time, it circulated its internal Spiritual Power, gathering it at the roots to morph two root-system big feet.
It wasn’t in a hurry either, stepping forward steadily step by step.
Looking closely, this speed wasn’t slow at all, at least not slower than the crocodile turtle’s few steps.
While walking, it swung Willow Whips, easily dealing with the Water Bullets coming at it.
It also found one or two openings to casually aim Wind Blades at the crocodile turtle’s head and limbs.
Not aiming to defeat it, just to keep the crocodile turtle from being too comfortable.
Both sides’ Water Bullets and Wind Blades were like child’s play, nothing worth noting.
But Big Willow’s two steps made the Spirit Planters below the field and in the stands furrow their brows again.
“Have you Spirit Planters’ contracted Spirit Plants already reached this level of Movement Ability?”
In the waiting area of Venue One, a girl in a white dress watched Big Willow on the field and looked puzzledly at the boy beside her.
The boy’s Devil Vine was entwined around his arm, and he of course also saw Big Willow’s movement, shocked speechless.
Faced with the sudden question, he had ten thousand curse words he wanted to spew.
Ghost’s movement ability, didn’t he know that Spirit Planters hate it most when others mention movement ability?
The boy with a stern face looked straight ahead, replying coldly.
“I don’t know, I contracted a vine-type Spirit Plant, no need to move like that.”
What he said wasn’t wrong; vine-type Spirit Plants generally root in one spot, then extend their branches and tendrils, rushing straight at enemies or covering the entire field.
People’s vine-types indeed don’t move like that.
In the stands.
“Chu Qiang, I see this Weeping Ancient Willow’s two steps were very steady, much smoother than your Explosion Ball’s waddling movement.”
The difference between shrubs and trees is far smaller than the difference between vines and trees.
The Beast Tamer teammate sitting in the row behind Chu Qiang didn’t know much about Spirit Plants, but keenly noticed that although Big Willow’s movements were slow, they were extremely fluid.
In his impression, most Spirit Planters were stationary outputters.
Take Chu Qiang’s Explosion Ball as an example; sometimes when it had to move on the field, it would pull its roots out from the arena, then stagger a few small steps, looking extremely difficult.
Unlike the Weeping Ancient Willow now on the field, taking small steps that weren’t fast, but winning in being perfectly steady.
“How would I know? This Weeping Ancient Willow is very strange.”
As a Spirit Planter, Chu Qiang saw much deeper than his teammate; normal tree or shrub-type Spirit Plants, unless the Spirit Planter specifically trained them to walk, would never have such an effect.
Even if a Spirit Plant had high Spiritual Power, it was still willing to connect to the earth.
For ordinary Spirit Plants, every step of lifting a foot meant lifting the roots away from the soil, which would definitely make the Spirit Plant uncomfortable.
Unless, Advanced Level resources assisted.
Chu Qiang thought of another possibility, looking suspiciously at Ran Cai Jiao.
“Captain, what exactly is this Ge Bai’s background?”
Ran Cai Jiao’s gaze shuttled back and forth across the four venues; she didn’t take Big Willow’s two steps seriously at all.
One had to know, in the previous Preliminary Competition, people’s Big Willow had relied on Teleportation to move.
“Ah? Ge Bai? I heard she grew up in the Blue Star Welfare Institute.”
“Oh.”
Then he must have been overthinking it.
Chu Qiang shook his head, shaking the unrealistic guess out of his mind.
Advanced Level resources, Time Soil—every Spirit Planter knew how rare, expensive, and hard to obtain they were.
Ge Bai must have used some other method he didn’t know about.
Chu Qiang decided that after the match ended, he would cozy up to this junior sister.
“Time Soil?”
Ping Ningyan had this bit of discernment, but also showed a surprised expression.
Shocked at this girl’s resources and background.
“I heard this girl has a very close relationship with the Jinggang Spirit Plant Research Institute.”
Zheng Mingchun also saw it, and not only that, his understanding of Ge Bai was much more than Ping Ningyan’s.
“Oh yeah.”
If the Jinggang Spirit Plant Research Institute was providing support, then it made sense.
This misunderstanding formed perfectly just like that.
So much so that, for a long time afterward, various channels and forces tried every means to ask the Jinggang Spirit Plant Research Institute for Time Soil.
Big Willow had commendable movement ability, but that didn’t mean he could definitely break through Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle’s defense.
The Beast Tamer standing behind the Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle watched Big Willow approach and wasn’t particularly nervous.
He was especially confident in his turtle’s Defense Power.
“Green Hair, hold steady.”
While Big Willow gathered strength, he walked to the front of the Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle.
On the crocodile turtle’s side, the interval between Water Bullet Attacks was getting longer, but the force of each Water Bullet was greater than before.
The two small eyes on the turtle’s head were like two small black beans, staring tightly at Big Willow,
The originally extended turtle head also quietly retracted a bit, as if ready to shrink into the Turtle Shell at any time.
Big Willow stood still, continuing to circulate the Spiritual Power in his body, mobilizing almost all Spiritual Power into the several clusters of Willow Threads that were already twisted together.
The crocodile turtle could tell Big Willow was about to strike, silently retracting its turtle head into the Turtle Shell, while its four limbs still clung tightly to the arena floor.
One second, two seconds.
Big Willow’s momentum reached its peak, and the entire cluster of Willow Threads twisted into a hammer shape suddenly swung out, bringing not only a fierce wind momentum, but even a sense of thunder shattering the sky.
Seeing this strike, Chu Qiang stood up directly, his hands gripping the chair back with knuckles turning white.
All clear-eyed people in the venue could see that the intensity of this strike was at least as strong as, if not stronger than, the Wind Weave Domain Big Willow unleashed in the previous match.
Having an Advanced Skill, and even a Profound Meaning proficiency Advanced Skill.
This Weeping Ancient Willow was too heaven-defying.
“Where did this girl dig up this Weeping Ancient Willow?” Chu Qiang’s jealous voice had changed.
He absolutely didn’t believe that any Spirit Planter could cultivate two Advanced Skills of a Spirit Plant to the Profound Meaning stage within a month.
He would rather believe that this Weeping Ancient Willow had already mastered these two Advanced Skills before being contracted by Ge Bai.
Chu Qiang could deceive himself, but Ran Cai Jiao was very clear-headed.
“About half a month ago, this Weeping Ancient Willow first mastered the Storm Willow Blade Hammer during training at my family’s Martial Arts School.”
Ran Cai Jiao didn’t know that the Wind Weave Domain was also mastered by Ge Bai and Big Willow on the day they sparred with the Macaque at her martial arts school.
“……”
Hearing Ran Cai Jiao say this, Chu Qiang was completely speechless.
He really wanted to leave right now and pour a plan for short-term rapid improvement into his Explosion Ball.
But he couldn’t bear to leave just yet; he really wanted to see just how powerful this Spirit Planter named Ge Bai really was.
He now completely believed that what the Captain said was right; Ge Bai was truly a formidable rival who could threaten his status as the Spirit Planter in their team!
A drop of cold sweat quietly slid down Chu Qiang’s back.
Boom!
In the venue, the Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle adopted a turtle shell posture, making a stance to take the hit head-on.
Big Willow’s Storm Willow Blade Hammer, however, mercilessly smashed down from the crocodile turtle’s left side.
With a massive crash, the crocodile turtle’s four limbs, which were tightly gripping the ground, trembled violently. After taking the impact, they could no longer hold onto the ground.
The giant turtle, weighing tons, was flung away by Big Willow like a rugby ball.
Not only that, the flung giant turtle let out a muffled wail.
Upon close inspection, one could see that starting from the impact point of Big Willow’s Storm Willow Blade Hammer, web-like cracks spread across the turtle shell.
“Green Hair!”
The Beast Tamer sensed the Huangzedong Jin Crocodile Turtle’s pain and urgently called out.
The moment the crocodile turtle flew out of the No. 1 venue area, the Chief Referee quickly blew the whistle signaling the end of the match.
It wasn’t that he and the winning side couldn’t wait another second; it was mainly to save the turtle. The giant turtle was clearly already dazed from the smash, and with such a heavy giant turtle landing, it would only worsen its injuries.
Upon receiving the Chief Referee’s signal, the Line Judge immediately took action.
The Sea Black Squid on his body stirred its spiritual power, extending its tentacles and steadily catching the giant turtle that was about to land.
Hegemon Level Sea Black Squid.
Only then did Ge Bai notice the Line Judge’s Pet Beast, and she couldn’t help but have her pupils contract.
Jinggang No. 1 Middle School was truly full of hidden talents; even a random Teacher was a Hegemon Level Beast Tamer.
“Winner: Spirit Planter Ge Bai.”
In this match, Big Willow dawdled by spending time walking toward the crocodile turtle, but Ge Bai was still the first to end the fight among the four matches in this round.
Before the Chief Referee could announce the victory, Ge Bai had already walked to Big Willow’s side. Big Willow hurriedly transformed back into its mini form and jumped onto Ge Bai’s shoulder.
It couldn’t help but complain to her.
“Bai Bai, next time let Qian Dai come out too. Teleportation is way faster than trudging over step by step!”
Big Willow really missed Qian Dai directly sending it to the optimal attack position, where it only needed to strike with full force.
“Okay, next time I won’t let you trudge over by yourself.”
Ge Bai agreed readily.
“This… can still count as a one-strike victory, I suppose.”
Ping Ningyan on the stage grew fonder of Ge Bai the more she watched, and she couldn’t help teasing Zheng Mingchun.
“That little girl and the Weeping Ancient Willow steadily advanced step by step, you know.”
