At the very least, he had to make top three.
As soon as the countdown ended, they both moved—one retreated quickly, the other charged forward like lightning.
Li Yang had watched Shen Shangchi’s match against Sun Mairan and knew that this prodigy from the Star Law Department had an impressive movement-speed star skill and was especially skilled at keeping his distance.
But facing him head-on, only then did she truly realize how terrifying that speed was.
Without wasting a single second, she activated Fervor.
Even with her explosive 500+ physique points, she still couldn’t get close to Shen Shangchi.
He moved like he was teleporting, instantly pulling away by nearly two meters, and then cast an Ice Seal.
Li Yang had to dodge sideways, which gave Shen Shangchi an opening to launch another attack.
The Star Law students may have lost access to the Tree Tower, but these noble family heirs clearly had other ways to comprehend and develop star skills.
Shen Shangchi quickly raised a hand again, casting another Ice Seal at Li Yang.
Something felt off.
Though she could dodge the Ice Seals with ease, they left behind ice patches all over the field, creating obstacles that hampered her movement and slowed her down.
Shen Shangchi clearly knew he wouldn’t hit her—but kept casting Ice Seals anyway, seemingly just to slow her down…
No. That wasn’t it!
Li Yang’s mental power was so high that she could faintly perceive the star skill flickering in Shen Shangchi’s star aperture.
He was charging something up?
Off-stage, Ying Qi murmured, “Li Yang’s finished.”
The Star Law freshmen got hyped:
“Go, Chi God! Take down Li Yang!”
“He’s charging Ice Burst, right? Once there’s enough ice on the field, he can release it with no blind spots—Li Yang won’t be able to dodge no matter how fast she is!”
Even the livestream barrage lit up with understanding.
“Without the Tree Tower, these Star Law nobles started training inheritance-type star skills, huh?”
“Shen family’s ice skills are top tier. Their ancestor’s legendary Ice Seal + Ice Burst combo buried thousands of starbeasts alive.”
“Commoners really can’t beat the nobles. But Li Yang is insanely good regardless—her three budget-tier star skills just can’t quite match up…”
Then someone gasped.
Li Yang, who had been on the defensive, suddenly vanished.
Students who had seen Tree Tower clips shouted:
“She used that ‘invisibility’ star skill again!”
“No, it’s not invisibility—it’s being ‘ignored’! Look, she’s still there… just incredibly hard to notice…”
Watching it live was different from watching a video.
In person, the concealment effect was way more convincing.
On video, mental-type upperclassmen could still spot her as long as they focused—but if they looked away for even a moment, they’d “lose sight” of her.
Onstage, Shen Shangchi was effectively blind.
His mental stat wasn’t high enough to track her.
But he had come prepared.
He knew this was one of Li Yang’s star skills.
The moment she vanished, he abandoned the Ice Burst setup and instead used Ice Seal in a new way—casting it around himself to form an airtight Ice Shield.
CRACK!
The sound of a hard impact against the shield sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
Li Yang reappeared, right in front of Shen Shangchi.
Her Void Sever had landed squarely on the ice shield—unable to break through, and unable to trigger Execution.
The Star Law students breathed a collective sigh of relief:
“Thank goodness Chi God is so versatile!”
“So steady! With the Shen family’s Ice Seal, the margin for error is huge!”
But they didn’t have long to celebrate.
The next moment made the whole arena collectively gasp.
Yes, the Ice Shield had protected Shen Shangchi—
But it also trapped him inside.
Her Void Sever scraped the ice like a blade on glass.
Then, still under Fervor, Li Yang unleashed over ten consecutive slashes.
It wasn’t just the Star Law kids who were stunned—the Star Combat students watching were wide-eyed.
“Holy crap, you’re telling me she’s only trained Void Sever for one week?”
“She’s a damn prodigy… Using a budget skill better than I can use the original!”
“Her star energy output is insane. Her burst power just doesn’t let up!”
But the one most shaken was Shen Shangchi himself.
Behind his ice-blue shield, he saw the girl bathed in red light.
Her expression was focused, her aura deadly.
The simple twin blades in her hands had become a reaper’s scythe—ready to tear down his last defense and send him straight to hell.
BOOM.
The Ice Shield cracked.
Shen Shangchi’s star energy was completely drained.
He couldn’t hold it anymore.
With a shattering crash, the frosty shield broke apart in a cascade of ice shards, a rare coolness in the blazing summer heat.
In the falling ice petals, Shen Shangchi let out a helpless smile.
“I concede.”
Professor Xu didn’t call for a stop—because Li Yang had perfectly controlled her star skill. She didn’t release Execution.
Since Shen Shangchi surrendered, there was no need to finish him off.
Professor Xu clicked his tongue, thinking:
“Only at second-tier, and already this level of skill? What a gem for the Agriculture Department.”
“Li Yang, wins,” he declared.
At first the crowd was dead silent.
Then the Mental Faculty students stood up and cheered her name.
The four-person farming squad erupted in excitement, faces flushed red from yelling.
Even normally lazy, always-sleepy Lü Shunshun was fired up:
“Junior sister, you were amazing! I love you, queen!!!”
At that moment, Ying Qi and Zhong Qian stepped onto the stage.
Zhong Qian’s eyes locked fiercely onto Li Yang, his fighting spirit burning like wildfire—this grudge had followed him all the way from Donghua Province.
Shen Shangchi gave Ying Qi a bitter smile, trying to play cute:
“You win against Zhong Qian, okay? Then help me…”
Before he could say “get revenge,” Ying Qi cut him off. She wasn’t even talking to him.
She looked at Li Yang.
“I take back what I said earlier.”
Li Yang blinked.
“Hm?”
Ying Qi said seriously, “You’re strong.”
Li Yang chuckled, “It’s just star skill matchups.”
Ying Qi added, “Oh, your star skills and star weapon are still the weakest, though.”
Winning the match only proved one thing—Li Yang was truly strong.
The implication: you’re fighting with the weakest tools, and still winning.
Li Yang couldn’t help but laugh.
This blunt girl was honestly too entertaining.
“Good luck,” she said.
Li Yang smiled, “I’ll be waiting for you in the third round.”
Ying Qi paused.
“You might be waiting a long time.”
Li Yang burst out laughing again.
Shen Shangchi covered his face, exasperated:
“Flag girl, where’s your toughness? Don’t go around boosting others while undercutting yourself!”
Ying Qi finally gave him a glance and said, “You lost first.”
The implication was that Shen Shangchi had lost the match first.
Shen Shangchi: “I talked too much. I deserve it.”
The match between Ying Qi and Zhong Qian was still very exciting.
Although no one thought Ying Qi had a chance, and she herself knew she couldn’t beat Zhong Qian, she still gave it her all, fighting as hard as she could to win.
The Shen family specialized in ice-based star techniques, while the Ying family specialized in fire-based ones.
From Ying Qi’s previous match against someone with the same element, it was clear that her star techniques were extremely aggressive—one Explosion could blow up the entire stage.
A few students from the Agricultural Sciences department whispered among themselves:
“If she blows up the arena, would she have to pay for it?”
“Of course! With how stingy the Academic Affairs Office is, they’ll definitely charge double.”
“How much did Lin Zhaoqin’s incident cost?”
“200 merit points!”
“What??”
“Damn rich kids!”
“Ahem.”
Yu Hongyuan asked curiously, “Shouldn’t we be mad at the obviously greedy Academic Affairs Office instead?”
“If the Academic Affairs Office is this greedy, don’t you think that makes them the real damn rich kids?”
“………” So it was a double entendre. Turns out they were cursing both.
Ying Qi’s star technique could destroy the entire stage, but that very stage also limited her.
The platform was only so big, and unlike Shen Shangchi who had mobility and shielding star techniques, she could only bombard from the start.
Once Zhong Qian got close, the match would be over.
And Zhong Qian’s aggressive combo actually included a defensive star technique.
He tanked Ying Qi’s barrage head-on, with the star energy in his star apertures rapidly depleting.
But the distance was too short.
Even after exhausting the star energy of four and a half apertures, Zhong Qian still managed to reach Ying Qi.
The heavy sword was raised, and came down.
Professor Xu’s voice rang out: “Stop.”
At the same time, shields were cast on both Ying Qi and Zhong Qian.
Staff from the Academic Affairs Office immediately rushed up, hurriedly extinguishing the flames and rapidly hammering and fixing the arena.
Li Yang watched curiously and asked, “Is fixing the arena also a kind of star technique?”
Xia Putao answered, “Of course! When used properly, this star technique can repair buildings quickly, as efficient as the ‘Mega Repair’ technique from the Weapon Forging Department.”
Li Yang asked again, “If star apertures are so limited, wouldn’t it be a waste to learn non-combat star techniques like that?”
Feng Yiqiao laughed, “You think your apertures are too few now, but when you reach Grade Three, you’ll feel like there are too many apertures and not enough techniques to fill them.”
Xia Putao added, “Unless it’s a high-grade technique—like a purple one, which takes up ten apertures at once—normal blue or green techniques just use one aperture per skill. And a Grade Three star wielder can have up to thirty apertures!”
Li Yang suddenly understood, “So that’s how it works.”
For freshmen, star apertures are indeed very limited.
Li Yang, who just reached Grade Two, only had five apertures and really couldn’t afford to ‘waste’ any on non-combat techniques.
But things changed once someone reached Grade Three.
With thirty apertures, one could finally learn some utility skills too.
At the same time, Li Yang realized why the instructors previously stopped her from randomly comprehending star techniques.
First, forgetting a technique takes time.
And given her rate of advancement, she wouldn’t stay in Grade Two for long.
Second, the higher the quality of a star technique, the more apertures it takes.
For example, purple techniques take ten apertures each—there’s no way a Grade Two student could afford that.
Lü Shunshun said, “If I reach Grade Three, I have to learn a ‘Deep Clean’ star technique.”
Xia Putao added, “Then I want the ‘Steam Buns’ star technique.”
Yu Hongyuan blinked and asked, “Wait, those are real star techniques?”
“Of course! Cast ‘Deep Clean,’ and in three seconds the whole room will be spotless.”
“If I had the ‘Steam Buns’ technique, I could make a hot batch of buns in minutes—by hand!”
Li Yang found it all amusing, though even if she reached Grade Three, she’d only have thirty apertures—just enough for three purple techniques.
There really wasn’t much space for fun skills like those.
Still—
Li Yang vowed again in her heart:
“Senior brothers and sisters, I will help you all graduate!”
As long as they graduated, they’d be at Grade Three.
Then they could learn all kinds of fun star techniques!
The final round of the freshman monthly exam was about to begin.
The host senior announced:
“Now, please welcome the top three: Lin Zhaoxia, Li Yang, and Zhong Qian!”
The final round was a three-way match, where each person would face the others.
Whoever won two matches would be the champion.
Though the match format was decided, the order of the matches had to be drawn by lot.
This time, they didn’t have to draw themselves—instead, Professor Xu came onstage and drew the match cards one by one.
Professor Xu opened the first card and announced:
“First match: Lin Zhaoxia vs. Zhong Qian.”
“Second match: Zhong Qian vs. Li Yang.”
“Third match: Li Yang vs. Lin Zhaoxia.”
Even this match order sparked a lot of discussion from the students below.
Feng Yiqiao sighed in relief, “Lucky for Little Pear! Not going first is the best—it gives her a chance to observe their true strength.”
Lin Zhaoxia and Zhong Qian had shown some of their skills earlier, but definitely not all—just like how Li Yang had never revealed her ‘bark armor’ move.
But when Lin Zhaoxia faced Zhong Qian, whoever wanted to win would have to go all out.
Yu Hongyuan was even more excited, “I’ll record the whole match carefully.”
Lü Shunshun added, “But Little Pear has to fight two matches back-to-back…”
Still, Lin Zhaoxia got a good draw—fighting first meant she had time to rest before her next match, unlike Zhong Qian.
Xia Putao noted, “So in this setup, Zhong Qian has it worst—first to fight and back-to-back matches…”
Feng Yiqiao countered, “Not necessarily! There’s a special trait with power-combo techniques—they can build up momentum. If Zhong Qian wins against Lin Zhaoxia, he might carry enough momentum into the second match to explode with double power and quickly finish the fight.”
Not just the people on-site—even the upperclassmen in the live-stream chat were buzzing with discussion.
Students from the Star Magic department had already dispersed, since none of their own made it to the finals.
But students from the Star Combat department were hyped—whether Lin Zhaoxia or Zhong Qian won, it would be a win for their department.
Meanwhile, the Spirit department students were just here for the fun, and even started to feel a little sorry for the lone Li Yang:
“How about we send some gifts to the Tree Tower Raider?”
“Good idea! Even if she doesn’t win the monthly combat exam, she could still top the gift rankings!”
“Come on, everyone! Let’s show them the Spirit department’s power!”
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