Ch. 339 - Heavens Above

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"I was wrong. So, so wrong!"

Chen Shu kept his head down, the very picture of honest repentance.

Liu Feng said, "If you dare pull something like this again..."

Chen Shu thumped his chest and declared with absolute conviction: "I, Yu Yi, will willingly accept whatever punishment the academy gives me!!"

"That's more like it... Wait, what??"

Liu Feng's expression froze. Yu Yi? What the hell did someone else's offense have to do with him?

"What did I do wrong..."

Yu Yi's voice was full of grievance as he muttered under his breath.

"Don't sweat the details!"

Chen Shu waved his hand and, taking advantage of Liu Feng's moment of bewilderment, slipped back into the crowd.

"Alright, now let's begin the practical combat class!"

Liu Feng's eyes darted about. He was going to make sure this kid learned his lesson, or how was he supposed to live his life?

He walked to the front of the crowd and began:

"As Beast Tamers, the importance of actual combat goes without saying! A Beast Tamer without combat ability cannot graduate! I hope everyone takes this seriously!"

At these words, everyone nodded, their expressions earnest.

Liu Feng leaned against the edge of the battle platform and said:

"Why is it that some people have SS-rank contract spirits while others only have D-rank ones, yet their combat strength is completely different?"

In an instant, everyone's eyes swiveled toward Yu Yi and Chen Shu.

"Keep it low-key, low-key!"

Chen Shu nodded and smiled, waving his hands with exaggerated humility.

Yu Yi, on the other hand, remained silent. Liu Feng might as well have been reading his ID card out loud.

"Teacher!"

He raised his hand directly, his eyes filled with defiance and fighting spirit.

"I think before making comparisons, our Beast Taming ranks should at least be equal, shouldn't they?"

"A D-rank king-tier contract spirit can absolutely crush an SSS-rank Black Iron contract beast!"

Although Yu Yi couldn't beat Chen Shu right now, it was only temporary. His contract spirit was SS-rank, and his Beast Taming talent was Transcendent-tier as well.

Even without the academy's cultivation chambers, he'd break through within half a year!

He still had his pride, and one defeat hadn't ground it away.

Liu Feng paused. He'd just been throwing out a random example — he hadn't actually meant to connect it to Chen Shu and Yu Yi.

"You think you can beat me once you hit Black Iron?"

Chen Shu raised an eyebrow and spoke.

Yu Yi turned to face him. "You don't actually think your two D-rank contract spirits are invincible, do you?"

"Then how about we have another match once you reach Black Iron?"

Chen Shu's eyes gleamed with sly amusement as he coaxed his prey step by step.

Yu Yi nodded. "I hope you won't lose too badly!"

"Good! With Professor Liu here as witness, let's make it a formal wager. Since it's a match, there should naturally be stakes. How about a thousand credits?"

At these words, the crowd gasped. They hadn't expected Chen Shu to go this big.

A thousand credits was no small sum — it could be converted to a hundred million Huaxia currency at any time, and its actual value was even higher.

"A thousand credits?"

Yu Yi furrowed his brow, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.

But then he thought of his own talent and was certain he wouldn't lose.

"Then it's settled!!"

"As expected of a genius!"

Chen Shu gave a thumbs up, then turned to the rest of the crowd and announced:

"If anyone wants to place bets, you can find me in Room 333 of Building 1!"

"The Bandit runs the book. Absolutely guaranteed to go broke... uh, I mean, win till your hands go numb!"

Smack!

Liu Feng flashed over and smacked Chen Shu on the head.

You've got some serious nerve — setting yourself up as the bookmaker right here?!

"Alright, no one else is permitted to bet!"

Although the academy had no explicit rule against it, it still kind of degraded the school environment.

Liu Feng said, "Just the two of you will have your match. I can be the banker... I mean, the arbiter!"

He spat. This kid really had a way of dragging people off track.

The duo's upcoming showdown had everyone else buzzing with anticipation.

Although Chen Shu's combat strength was astonishing, in truth, the crowd actually favored Yu Yi.

Even Liu Feng himself thought Chen Shu's chances weren't great.

As things stood, the Slime's current combat power was, at most, equivalent to a Super S-rank of the same tier. There was still a gap between it and SS-rank.

And once Yu Yi reached Black Iron rank, his original SS-rank Ice Snow Qilin Beast would evolve into a Super SS-rank contract spirit.

The gap was already obvious!

"Today, we won't have a formal lesson. The main goal is to get to know everyone and briefly cover some practical combat techniques!"

"Chen Shu, come up here!"

Liu Feng's lips carried a mysterious smile as he spoke with complete calm.

Chen Shu's heart skipped a beat. He instantly sensed something was wrong.

"Professor Liu, I... I'm no good. There are too many people. I'm so nervous I might piss myself!"

Before he could finish, Liu Feng had already hauled him up.

"As Beast Tamers, the first thing we need to learn is the dexterous use of skills! I'm sure everyone learned some of this in high school."

Liu Feng summoned one of his contract spirits.

A black spider appeared, a full five to six meters across. Its ferocious appearance sent chills down everyone's spines.

"This is my SS-rank contract spirit: the Blood Rage Demon Spider!"

"Its silk skill is primarily used for control!"

In an instant, the demon spider spat out a strand of silk, directly binding Chen Shu, who had been just about to bolt...

"I..."

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. He was already starting to feel like life had it out for him.

"Additionally, the silk's tensile strength is extremely high, allowing it to carry people during escapes!"

With that, the demon spider shot silk toward the arena ceiling, and its enormous body swung up into the air.

"I was wrong!"

Chen Shu was carried up along with it, swinging back and forth across the ceiling. This was way more intense than a damn roller coaster!

"Of course, these are all basic skill manipulations — I'm sure everyone has some understanding of them already!"

Liu Feng continued: "As students of Huaxia Academy, so long as nothing goes wrong, reaching Silver rank is guaranteed. Gold rank is even within the realm of possibility."

"For high-tier Beast Tamers, skill combinations become extremely important!"

The space beside him ruptured, and a blue bird's head emerged, its eyes shimmering with the glow of an active skill.

In an instant, Chen Shu, who had just landed on the ground, found himself trapped within a thick pillar of ice.

"If I simply burned it with flames, the ice pillar wouldn't melt!"

The space beside Liu Feng ruptured again, revealing a red lizard's head, its mouth brewing scorching heat.

"Murder! He's committing murder!"

Chen Shu's heart seized with terror, and he immediately started wailing.

"You won't die!"

Liu Feng remained perfectly unruffled. That was what you got for using my name to swindle people, you little punk.

If this were actually reported to the academy, there wouldn't be any formal punishment — but they'd definitely dock a few credits.

Liu Feng had simply chosen a different method of punishment.

Ssssss!

Flames surged forward, but the solid ice showed no sign of melting.

Chen Shu breathed a sigh of relief. Although the flames surrounded him, the temperature hadn't risen — in fact, it was even a little cool.

"But if I enhance it with spider silk, the flames' power becomes entirely different!"

The demon spider spat out silk, wrapping it around the solid ice.

The flames came again. The silk ignited instantly, and the fire's temperature shot up several times over.

The previously impenetrable ice pillar began to visibly melt away.

Fear of fire was one of the spider silk's weaknesses. But if it had already wrapped around its prey, and the prey tried to use fire to escape — it would only worsen their own injuries.

"Heavens above!"[1]

Chen Shu howled at the top of his lungs. The entire Beast Taming Arena sounded like a pig being slaughtered...

[1] 夭寿啦 (yāo shòu la): A Hokkien/Taiwanese dialect expression. Literally "may you die young," it evolved into a general comedic shock exclamation through Taiwanese media and variety shows. Chen Shu screams it while being used as Liu Feng's live teaching dummy — the horror is real, but the delivery is pure comedy.