Chapter 163: The Smoothly Concluded Transfer Assessment

The biting wind, mixed with swirling snowflakes, continued to lash against Wen Hui’s blazing red lotus. Amidst the rising steam, the onslaught of ice and wind not only refused to subside but actually intensified. Conversely, Wen Hui’s flame lotus countered the snowflakes in the freezing gale while uncontrollably generating steam, causing the fiery blossom to gradually shrink. As both sides poured a continuous stream of divine power into the clash, the fierce wind ultimately suppressed the fire lotus.

This cannot go on. There is not much time left, but at this rate, we will definitely not last until the end. How is Xiaoyuan doing? Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward Zhuang Xiaoyuan just in time to see her executing a double Tai Chi stance, separating from Luo Zhongtian in opposite directions. Noticing Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s current form and a subtle, almost illusory gaze that vanished in a flash, Wen Hui’s eyes flickered slightly as a faint curve touched the corner of her lips.

"Blazing Advance." Under Wen Hui’s control, the giant fire lotus instantly contracted, transforming into a dense, spiraling vortex that wrapped around her body. With both hands holding a spear of fire level, Wen Hui pushed forward against the violent wind and snow with all her might toward Mo Wenxue. The spiraling flames partially deflected the force of the snowflakes.

Wen Hui’s sudden shift in movement flashed a hint of surprise in Mo Wenxue’s eyes. Although breaking through the fire lotus was merely a matter of time, shrinking the flames was indeed a better defensive tactic, yet she had chosen to make an obvious offensive move—and moreover, heading straight toward her. One must know that the closer one got to Mo Wenxue, the stronger the power of the snowflakes in the gale became. Even compressed flames could never completely withstand her power.

"Mo Wenxue!" Just as Mo Wenxue was caught off guard and beginning to guess the intent behind Wen Hui’s sudden action, a crisp voice suddenly rang out, calling directly upon the cold-faced examiner.

"Hmm?" To respond when one’s name is called is an instinctive human reflex, especially when deeply focused on a task without raising special defenses. Hearing her name, Mo Wenxue turned her head in confusion toward the source of the voice, and in that instant, the situation shifted dramatically.

Still suspended in mid-air, Zhuang Xiaoyuan shouldered a giant red gourd and shouted Mo Wenxue’s name at the top of her lungs. In response to Mo Wenxue’s puzzled reaction, the front of the Universe Mystic Great Gourd generated a massive suction force. Mo Wenxue, who had been locked in a stalemate with Wen Hui amidst the icy gale and was caught off guard without any defense, was instantly sucked straight into the gourd. At that moment, there were only four seconds left before the three-minute limit expired.

While Zhuang Xiaoyuan used the gourd artifact to trap Mo Wenxue, Luo Zhongtian sprang into action once again, rushing forward with his hands crackling with vibrational force. "Heh." Having sucked Mo Wenxue into the gourd, Zhuang Xiaoyuan did not close the seal; instead, she immediately pivoted and aimed the gourd at Luo Zhongtian. "Release!" Three seconds.

Reversing the previous suction, a powerful blast of wind surged from the mouth of the gourd, expelling Mo Wenxue, who was still dazed from within. The trajectory of her expulsion pointed directly toward the charging Luo Zhongtian. If Luo Zhongtian continued his attack, he would strike Mo Wenxue. Now, he was left with only two choices: bypass Mo Wenxue entirely and detour, or halt his momentum to catch her.

Under normal circumstances, Luo Zhongtian might have bypassed her and continued the assault. After all, given Mo Wenxue’s physical conditioning, she would not sustain any injuries even if left uncatchable, and with his speed, a detour would take very little time, allowing him to catch Zhuang Xiaoyuan completely off guard. Ultimately, however, he pulled back his attack and caught Mo Wenxue. Two seconds.

"Xiaoxue, are you alright?" Luo Zhongtian asked with a look of concern as he caught Mo Wenxue, who had been released by Zhuang Xiaoyuan. One second.

"Put me down." Being held in Luo Zhongtian’s arms right in front of two examinees brought a pair of blushes to Mo Wenxue’s traditionally expressionless face, instantly melting away her usual unapproachable aura.

At that exact moment, the timer on the machine officially hit zero. Accompanied by the chime of the machine, the assessment came to an end.

"Oh, oh, as long as you're fine." Reminded by Mo Wenxue, Luo Zhongtian finally realized he was currently holding her in a princess carry, and right in front of two newly arrived candidates at that. Even someone as thick-skinned as Luo Zhongtian felt a wave of awkwardness, despite the previous situation being an act of force majeure.

Set down by Luo Zhongtian, Mo Wenxue did not utter a single word. She immediately turned and briskly walked toward the inner entrance of the training ground. With that blistering pace, calling it a walk was generous; it was scarcely slower than a sprint.

"Well done. Ahem, well, seeing as you two worked hard to create such a great opportunity for your teacher, I announce that your transfer assessment is a success." Watching Mo Wenxue’s retreating figure, Luo Zhongtian gave Zhuang Xiaoyuan a thumbs-up. As soon as the gesture was made, however, he realized that for a teacher to praise students in such a manner was truly unbecoming of his academic dignity. Letting out an awkwardly feigned cough as if nothing had just happened, Luo Zhongtian earnestly announced that both candidates had passed. Yet the way he phrased it...

"Yay! Nice, Xiaoyuan!" Hearing Luo Zhongtian’s announcement, even though she had anticipated the result, Wen Hui jumped up for joy and lunged toward Zhuang Xiaoyuan with her hands raised high.

"Clap!" Zhuang Xiaoyuan also raised her hands with a smile, their palms meeting with a crisp sound to celebrate passing the assessment. To be honest, this trial had certainly not been easy. Although they had survived the full three minutes step by step, the process had indeed been quite thrilling.

Although the elemental power of Wen Hui’s lineage possessed a higher standing, it was suppressed by Mo Wenxue simply due to a disparity in divine power ranks. Meanwhile, Zhuang Xiaoyuan had relied entirely on her prior observations, her versatile abilities, and the unfamiliarity of the examiners to stubbornly drag the battle past the three-minute mark.

After all, this was merely an assessment, and the examiners had suppressed their true output without even fully descending their divine forms. If it had been a genuine battle to the death... Zhuang Xiaoyuan would never have used these three combatants who lacked overwhelming offensive power. Zhuang Xiaoyuan believed that with the Young Lady’s divine firearm, even if she couldn’t win, she would have inflicted considerable damage on Luo Zhongtian. When it came down to it, Zhuang Xiaoyuan still lacked high-offense characters—not characters with instant-kill potential like the Young Lady, but high-damage combatants capable of sustained battle.

Characters with sustained, stable high offensive power were by no means rare in anime and manga—for instance, Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha universe, Ikaros from Heaven's Lost Property, or Kyouko Sakura and Mami Tomoe from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. However, wishing to summon them from the countless diverse figures out there... was merely wishful thinking.

"Alright, the data registration is complete. You can head over to the front desk to collect the necessary items. Lastly, welcome to Divine Armament Academy." Walking over to the machine where Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui had previously tested their divine power, Luo Zhongtian tapped rapidly on the console to upload the data to the central mainframe before turning around to welcome the two behind him.

"Thank you, teacher. We’ll be heading off now. Goodbye." Exchanging a smiling glance with Wen Hui, the two bowed in gratitude to Luo Zhongtian and walked side by side toward the exit they had entered through. Watching them leave, Luo Zhongtian turned around with eager anticipation and hurried off in the direction Mo Wenxue had departed. (To be continued...)