Groot felt the force on his fist being redirected, his body leaning forward involuntarily.
In that instant, when the old force was spent and the new yet to be born, Jiang Lin's right fist moved.
No blinding light, no grand momentum—just a simple straight punch, yet it condensed all his current strength, speed, and a perfect grasp of timing.
Internally, unseen, Jiang Lin had already used his limit-broken 【Strengthening Technique】 to mobilize every necessary muscle.
His fist tore through the air with a sharp hiss, slamming toward the scapula Groot had exposed by leaning forward.
Groot’s single eye widened as his sense of crisis spiked.
Without hesitation, he released more of his power limit, and magic essence belonging to the peak of the 3rd-rank erupted, forming a thick layer of dark red crystal armor over his shoulder blade.
"Boom!!!"
A loud sound, like a heavy hammer striking a war drum, exploded in the arena.
Jiang Lin's fist slammed solidly against the crystal armor.
Cracks instantly spider-webbed across the armor, though it did not shatter completely.
The massive recoil numbed Jiang Lin's arm, sending him sliding back several meters and leaving two shallow furrows in the ground.
Groot also took a step back. As the crystal armor on his shoulder slowly dissipated, he rubbed his shoulder, his gaze toward Jiang Lin filled with wonder and admiration.
"Good lad... If I hadn't tapped into my peak 3rd-rank power for that punch, you would have taken me down directly."
Groot shook his arm.
"It seems I really can't beat you without using 4th-rank power."
The students watching from the sidelines were dumbstruck.
What were they seeing?
A student who had just entered his second year had forced Teacher Groot, who possessed 4th-rank strength, to raise his simulated combat power to the peak of the 3rd-rank during a practical combat class, and nearly had his defense shattered?
And most importantly, Jiang Lin had hardly used any skills until now!!
From the beginning until this moment, Jiang Lin seemed to have only used a defensive skill and a skill to enhance his physical strength!
As Jiang Lin's classmates, they naturally knew his best skill was that sword qi containing eight elements.
Furthermore, as a paladin, Jiang Lin had not even summoned his mount!
In other words, Teacher Groot, while restricting his combat power to the early 3rd-rank, might not have even forced out half of Jiang Lin's full strength!
With the vision of those present, they were all able to discern this fact.
That was why Groot had said that if he didn't release his combat power to the 4th-rank, he probably wouldn't be able to defeat Jiang Lin.
Looking at the two figures standing opposite each other, the crowd burst into discussion:
"Shouldn't it be over now?"
"Is Jiang Lin really going to leap two whole ranks and defeat Teacher Groot?"
"Probably not. No matter how strong Jiang Lin is, he shouldn't be that exaggerated."
"True, 2nd-rank against 4th-rank is just too difficult. Even if it happens, it's usually a peak 2nd-rank against a trash 4th-rank. Teacher Groot is no weakling among those in the 4th-rank."
"And Jiang Lin is still only at the early 2nd-rank, which makes it even harder."
"Damn, stop jinxing it, you guys. I feel like you're about to overflow with it."
"Exactly. Knowing you guys, you might actually hype Jiang Lin into a power explosion and have him crush Teacher Groot..."
"..."
Jiang Lin calmed the surging blood and qi within him, feeling the still-abundant power in his body.
He casually cast a healing spell and took a sip of a recovery magic potion he had stockpiled earlier, adjusting his condition back to its peak.
Teacher Groot wasn't about to deny Jiang Lin a moment of rest; after all, this was a practice session, not a battlefield.
So, he waited with arms crossed for Jiang Lin to recover, while also overhearing the students' chatter.
Wait, what did they mean?
Did they look down on him that much?
Even after unlocking his 4th-rank power, could he still lose to this kid?
Once Jiang Lin finished recovering his status, he faced Groot again. Groot stretched his limbs, and the dark red aura around him rose once more.
But this time, the color of the aura was deeper, faintly shimmering with a dark golden luster—a sign that he had officially raised his power level to the early 4th-rank.
"Kid, I'm going to get serious now."
Groot's voice lowered, a sharp light flickering in his single eye.
"There is a qualitative difference between the 4th-rank and the 3rd-rank. It’s not just an increase in magic essence quality and physical attributes, but a leap in energy mastery and bodily control."
"Watch out!"
Jiang Lin took a deep breath. There was no fear in his golden eyes; instead, sparks of excitement danced within them.
With a thought, magic essence surged through his body, and a translucent light sword about three feet long and two fingers wide slowly condensed above his right palm.
The blade was crystal clear like jade, with eight-colored light currents rotating slowly inside like a galaxy. The pure white crystal at the crossguard emitted a gentle yet vast holy light aura—the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 was showing its edge before everyone for the first time.
The moment the light sword appeared, the air in the entire training grounds seemed to freeze for an instant.
The spectating students felt an invisible pressure. It wasn't simple magic pressure, but a sense of sharpness and holiness that felt closer to 'essence.'
"What... what skill is that?"
"How is the energy so terrifying?"
Elvira murmured softly.
She was extremely sensitive to energy and could clearly feel the cycle of the eight elements within that light sword, as well as the unique holy light energy that governed everything and purified all things.
The other students were also shocked beyond belief.
Was this Jiang Lin's trump card?
Could a 2nd-rank adventurer really release a skill with such terrifying fluctuations?
It looked similar to the previous eight-element longsword, but the pressure it emitted had risen by several levels!
And this feeling... was so unfamiliar...
They had never felt this kind of sensation from any other adventurer before...
Wait, why were their legs shaking?
And why were their clothes wet?
Sigh, so it was sweat. There was no way such a level of pressure could make them wet themselves...
...
With the holy sword in hand, Jiang Lin's aura rose steadily.
Though his physical strength and total magic essence hadn't changed, he seemed like a different person.
His golden hair fluttered from the aura he emitted, and his golden eyes shone with a divine golden light, gazing coldly at Groot.
At the same time, his impossibly handsome face had gained a hint of transcendent divinity.
This wasn't an inherent part of his personality, but a change that appeared only after he grasped the holy sword.
Groot squinted his single eye. He could feel the terrifying potential within that light sword.
At the same time, the change in Jiang Lin's temperament surprised him greatly.
A faint sense of unease rose in his heart.
What was going on?
Was the boss entering phase two?
Facing Jiang Lin's sudden shift in aura, Groot's muscles tensed, and his combat instincts screamed a warning.
He stopped holding back, fully unleashing his 4th-rank power. The dark golden aura flared, turning him into a literal molten giant.
With a low roar, the ground beneath him shattered as his figure vanished. A moment later, he appeared beside Jiang Lin, his right fist carrying a dark golden wind that tore through space as it slammed toward Jiang Lin's head.
Jiang Lin didn't even turn his head; his 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 had already predicted the impact point of the attack.
With a flick of his wrist, he casually swung the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 backward at an angle.
"Clang—!"
The sword light collided with the fist wind, producing a clear, metallic ring.
The dark golden wind was split in two, passing by Jiang Lin's sides and blasting two deep craters into the distant ground.
Groot's pupils shrank.
While he hadn't used his full power in that punch, it was enough to heavily injure an ordinary peak 3rd-rank.
Yet Jiang Lin hadn't even moved his feet, neutralizing it with a single swing!
Furthermore, Jiang Lin hadn't relied on any technique this time; it was pure, overwhelming power.
The eight-colored holy sword in his hand contained energy so terrifyingly pure that it directly neutralized the vast majority of the force in Groot’s punch.
"What kind of skill is that?!"
Groot's offensive changed again.
He stopped testing and turned his fists into a sky full of dark golden meteors. Every strike contained the fine energy control of the 4th-rank. Wherever the fist wind passed, the air distorted, emitting a sizzling, burning sound.
This was his combat technique, 【Meteor Destruction Punch】, designed to dismantle an enemy's defense with high-frequency, high-penetration continuous strikes.
Facing this storm-like attack, Jiang Lin's eyes narrowed as he focused on the ever-changing images in his 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】.
He moved with his blade. The 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 seemed to come alive in his hand, its light as light as a feather yet incomparably sharp.
The eight-colored light currents cycled through the blade. Following Jiang Lin's movements, the golden light would flare to slice through fist winds, the blue light would flow to deflect force, and the red light would explode to push back the impact. The eight elements switched perfectly and complemented each other under his will.
"Ding ding ding ding ding—!"
The sound of sword and fist colliding was as dense as a rainstorm. Sparks and magic essence fragments exploded, weaving a brilliant yet dangerous mist of light between the two.
Jiang Lin wove through the sky of fist shadows. The 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 saw the trajectory, strength, and variation of every one of Groot's punches clearly, while the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 converted that information into the most precise parries and counters.
By now, Groot's strength could completely suppress Jiang Lin.
But Jiang Lin, relying on his god-like reaction speed and the terrifying stats of the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】, was barely maintaining a stalemate with Groot's combat power.
Within a few breaths, they had exchanged over a hundred blows.
Groot became more alarmed as the fight went on—he found that he actually couldn't suppress Jiang Lin!
The opponent's sword was too fast and too precise, always finding the weakest link in his offensive to neutralize it with minimal consumption.
Even more frightening was that the light sword seemed to have a restraining effect on his dark golden aura. Wherever the sword light reached, his aura would slightly dim.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin's golden hair danced wildly in the gale, and fine sweat had broken out on his forehead.
Teacher Groot's punch force was fierce and violent. Every strike was as heavy as a mountain, numbing his arms and causing a dull ache in the webs of his thumbs.
Had the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 itself not been incredibly resilient, and if the eight-element cycle within it hadn't neutralized most of the impact, any ordinary weapon would have long since snapped.
The power level of the 4th-rank was indeed incomparable to the 3rd-rank.
Previously, he had only fought trash 4th-ranks, and that was with Big Guy's help. Now, facing a high-tier 4th-rank alone, the battle was indeed quite taxing.
Jiang Lin gripped the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 tightly, the eight-colored light currents spinning rapidly. Amidst Groot's storm-like assault, his golden eyes flashed like lightning, capturing every tiny opening.
Sweat slid down his sharp jawline, but his sword hand remained as steady as a rock.
The surrounding air continuously boomed from their collisions. The dark golden fist wind and eight-colored sword light intertwined, illuminating the training grounds like broad daylight.
"Not bad! But the power of the 4th-rank is far more than this!"
Groot let out a low roar as his fists suddenly pulled back. His dark golden aura imploded sharply, condensing onto his knuckles.
The ground cracked inch by inch, and a pressure as heavy as a mountain permeated the air—the combat technique 【Ground-Shattering Mountain Strike】. By compressing all his magic essence and momentum into a single point, the power of the next strike would increase geometrically!
Jiang Lin's pupils contracted. The 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 flashed frantically as the images of the next second split rapidly:
A direct confrontation would surely result in heavy injury, but the surrounding space had been sealed by the fist intent, leaving nowhere to dodge.
In the heat of the moment, he made a decision—to advance rather than retreat!
The eight-colored holy sword suddenly swept up. The light currents within the blade seemed to boil as all eight elements stopped cycling and instead converged frantically toward the tip.
The sharpness of metal, the vitality of wood, the flexibility of water, the madness of fire, the heaviness of earth, the swiftness of wind, the violence of lightning, and the sanctity of light—the eight forces spiraled together under the command of holy light, finally condensing into a single point of pure white sword light that was blindingly bright!
"Holy Judgment!"
Jiang Lin shouted softly. Facing Groot's mountain-shattering punch which had reached its peak momentum, he thrust his sword straight ahead!
Groot's fist carried the momentum to shatter mountains and split the earth; Jiang Lin's sword condensed the combined might of the eight elements.
The two figures collided violently in the center of the training grounds!
"Boom—!!!!"
A deafening explosion nearly blew the roof off the building, and a blinding light instantly swallowed the entire venue.
A terrifying energy shockwave radiated outward from the point of impact, tearing up and pulverizing the reinforced stone flooring in expanding circles!
The spectating students had already retreated, screaming, as they were tossed about by the dissipating gales. Many of them had their protective magic automatically triggered just to stay standing.
The light and dust slowly cleared.
A massive crater over ten meters in diameter had appeared in the center of the training grounds.
Groot stood at the edge of the crater. His dark golden aura had vanished. His right hand was trembling slightly, and his entire right arm was drenched in blood, which was 'drip-dripping' onto the ground—the result of being wounded by the sword qi of the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】.
His single eye was wide, staring fixedly at his injured right arm. He realized his right arm was actually somewhat unresponsive, unable to muster any strength.
Jiang Lin was down on one knee, supporting himself with the holy sword. A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his breathing was slightly hurried. The light of the 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】 had also dimmed significantly.
But he still held the sword firmly, and his golden eyes remained bright.
His limit-broken 【Healing】 was activated, mending his injuries.
In just a few breaths, he stood up once more, his hair fluttering. His golden eyes locked onto Teacher Groot, and his aura began to climb again, surging like a rainbow!
Seeing this scene, the entire hall fell into a dead silence.
Jiang Lin actually still had the strength to fight!!
Rate on N.U.
