novellaaa Chapter 64, Section 23 - Quanliao Acupoint! Battle of the Great Rift Valley - Dark Abyss Earth Drago
Chapter 64, Section 23 - Quanliao Acupoint! Battle of the Great Rift Valley - Dark Abyss Earth Drago
Chapter 65, Part 23 - Quanliao Acupoint! Battle of the Great Rift Valley - Dark Abyss Earth Dragon!
It was just past 10 a.m. on Sunday.
"Ouch—it hurts! It hurts so much!"
After the exams on spiritual affinity and firearms handling concluded, Su Chen, Wang Yichuan, Lin Xiyue, and Zhang Yan walked out of the teaching building.
On the path beneath the stairs, sunlight is dappled and fragmented by the camphor trees on both sides, falling on the cement ground.
Su Chen covered his cheek with his right hand, his mouth turned down, and he looked like he had just finished root canal treatment at a dental clinic.
It's that Ice Skin Jade Bone Pill from yesterday.
The medicine opened up the Quanliao acupoint, but it also strained the surrounding meridians!
"Would you like me to massage it?"
Lin Xiyue's voice was very soft, and just by listening to it, one could sense that she was weak and boneless.
Su Chen turned his head away, and Lin Xiyue stood to his left, looking up at him with her face slightly tilted back.
Today, Lin Xiyue was wearing a light white thin sweatshirt with the cuffs rolled up slightly, revealing a small section of her slender wrist.
Those light brown eyes, tinged with worry, shone brightly in the warm sunlight.
Su Chen was stunned.
A girl looks at you with this kind of gaze, speaks gently, and asks if you want her to rub your skin.
This feeling.
His lips curled up involuntarily.
"Uh—" Su Chen's voice faltered slightly, "I need to."
Lin Xiyue felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, and her eyes flickered.
But she still reached out her hand, her fingertips gently landing on the area below Su Chen's left cheekbone.
Su Chen felt a slight coolness in his fingers, and a tingling sensation spread from the point of contact.
Lin Xiyue's movements were very gentle. Her fingertips touched her skin and slowly drew circles, pushing from the cheekbone acupoint towards her temple with a gentle force.
"Hiss!" Su Chen gasped.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Lin Xiyue immediately eased her pressure.
"It doesn't hurt...it's just a little sore."
Lin Xiyue nodded, then softened her grip a bit more: "Be careful. Be cautious when activating acupoints on the head. The meridians in the head are much more sensitive than those in the limbs. If you're too forceful, you can easily damage the meridians."
"Okay, I understand!" His voice unconsciously lowered.
Zhang Yan, who was standing nearby, was completely dumbfounded when she saw this scene. She wondered if the two of them had already started dating.
It only dawned on me now.
"Sister Yuzuki!"
She put her hands on her hips and said, "Look at his lewd appearance! He's still going to rub it? Let him suffer in pain!"
Su Chen immediately objected.
I'm a perfectly respectable gentleman! What's wrong with my expression?
"No, who's being perverted? I... I was just making a normal expression, okay!"
"Normal?" Zhang Yan stood on tiptoe, only reaching Su Chen's chin, but her imposing manner was definitely not inferior. "Why don't you get a mirror and look at yourself? That expression just now, it was like—like a fox that had stolen some honey!"
"You're so small, you look like a minor, and your little head is full of crooked and evil thoughts!"
"So what if I'm short? Did I eat your rice because I'm short?" Zhang Yan snorted, crossing her arms. "Besides, I'm of standard height! You must have something wrong with your eyes!"
While the two were bickering, Lin Xiyue had already stopped what she was doing.
She felt a little embarrassed by Zhang Yan's words, and removed her fingers from Su Chen's face, a very faint blush rising on her cheeks.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked, her voice even softer than before.
Su Chen felt it for a moment and realized that it was still sore and swollen, but Lin Xiyue's rubbing had indeed made him feel much better.
But she said, "Mmm, a little more rubbing will make it better."
"oh."
Just as Lin Xiyue was about to reach out, Zhang Yan had already rolled up her sleeves.
"Sister Xiyue, move aside! I'll do it! I'm stronger!"
Lin Xiyue chuckled as she looked at Zhang Yan's expression and took a half-step back.
Su Chen immediately became alert upon seeing Zhang Yan's poised expression.
But how can we put it? We can't exactly say, "I don't want you, I want Lin Xiyue," can we?
He gritted his teeth: "Fine, but don't you dare."
He hadn't finished speaking.
Zhang Yan's two hands were already covered in paste at the same time.
It's not kneading!
It's squeezing!
He turned Su Chen's face like kneading dough, rotating it half a circle clockwise and then half a circle counterclockwise.
"Holy crap! Stop, stop, stop! You're trying to murder your boyfriend... no, you're trying to kill a handsome guy!"
Zhang Yan laughed heartily, but her hands didn't stop: "Let me show you my exclusive massage technique! How is it? Is it great?"
Wang Yichuan watched this scene from the side, his lips twitching.
He shook his head and took a step back.
He'd known these two for a while now, and he wasn't getting involved in the situation.
Zhang Yan massaged it for a while longer, and then, probably having had enough, she suddenly loosened her grip.
"How is it? Comfortable?" Zhang Yan's tone was smug. "A grown man like you, afraid of pain! I haven't even used any force! And you're already yelling?"
Su Chen forced out two words through gritted teeth: "Hehe."
"What are you 'heh' about?"
"You better not let me catch you!"
"Hmph!" Zhang Yan raised her chin. "I'm not being coy! After the endurance test, we'll meet on the track!"
Su Chen didn't reply.
In his mind, he was thinking about the twenty-third acupoint—the cheekbone acupoint!
A week ago, he only had seventeen acupoints. In seven days, six acupoints and one meridian—the Ren meridian—were opened!
This progress is like a rocket launch in the entire Jiangling City.
However, during this morning's spiritual affinity test, the newly opened acupoint did not produce any immediate results.
Psionic affinity is more about the ability to resonate with the spiritual energy in the world. It can indeed benefit from opening up acupoints in the mind, but that is a long-term, cumulative effect. It is impossible for the score to skyrocket as soon as an acupoint is opened.
Thinking of this, he sighed silently.
They were too eager for quick success and instant benefits.
But—it's worth it!
Seeing that the three of them had finished arguing, Wang Yichuan coughed a few times.
He started a conversation, his face serious: "Have you heard about the Northern No. 1 Great Rift Valley?"
That's Wu Junchao from No. 4 Middle School.
Zhang Yan finally removed her hand from Su Chen's face.
Her eyes widened instantly: "Of course I heard! My God! Isn't this cheating? Wu Junchao's Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger can take on five of him by itself! This is pure beast-riding carrying, even cheating isn't done like this!"
Her voice rose half an octave, drawing a glance from several students passing by.
Wang Yichuan shook his head.
He didn't respond immediately.
Lin Xiyue stood to the side, remaining silent the entire time.
Her fingers were still in the same position as when she was rubbing her face, gently curled up next to the hem of her clothes.
Hearing Zhang Yan's words, she looked up and glanced at Wang Yichuan's expression.
Then she said, "Didn't they post a video of the battle in the group chat?"
She tilted her head slightly, and a few strands of hair slipped down from behind her ears and fell to the side of her face.
"Judging from the video, Wu Junchao did achieve the final result through cooperation with the Tianshan Demon Flame Tiger. It wasn't that he let the beast reap the rewards alone while he did nothing behind the scenes."
"The new college entrance examination regulations stipulate that for students who bring their own beasts into battle, the scoring criteria include the degree of coordination between the master and the beast, the accuracy of command, and the master's actual participation in the battle. The number of beast kills is not simply an addition."
"Wu Junchao's performance in this assessment was truly impeccable."
"I can only say—" she pursed her lips, "that a martial artist with powerful beast taming abilities is more than the sum of its parts. But quantifying and scoring this synergistic effect of 'more than the sum of its parts' is inherently difficult."
After she finished speaking, she looked up at Wang Yichuan, as if to confirm whether her understanding was correct.
Zhang Yan opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but then realized that Sister Xiyue's words were very comprehensive, and she couldn't find a point to refute them for a moment.
Wang Yichuan nodded, then sighed deeply.
"That's the problem!"
"I've seen that video too." His tone turned serious. "Can you find any problems with it? No! Wu Junchao is indeed strong, and his Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger is cooperating with him. From any angle of examination, there is enough evidence to prove that he did not violate any rules."
"But if we really want to rank them, ignoring previous rankings and only looking at absolute results, his performance would definitely far surpass Jiang Wei's!"
He raised his head, looked at Su Chen, then at Zhang Yan and Lin Xiyue, with a very complicated expression on his face.
It was as if they were indignant on behalf of Jiang Wei, and also as if they were indignant on behalf of all the senior high school students who did not have the Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger.
More than anything, it's a sense of confusion about this year's college entrance examination.
"In the last joint exam between ten schools, Wu Junchao ranked fifteenth, and Jiang Wei ranked seventh, eight places behind. At their level, climbing even one place is incredibly difficult!"
He paused for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of something that was hard to define—whether it was helplessness or bitterness.
"But now, in just one week, relying on a single pet beast, they've left Jiang Wei far behind!!!"
"this.."
He didn't finish speaking.
The air was still for a few seconds.
Su Chen hadn't seen the video at all and couldn't get a word in edgewise, but judging from the expressions of the three people, Wu Junchao's move was absolutely incredible!
He couldn't help but ask, "What video? Can you send it to me?"
Lin Xiyue said softly, "Use my phone to watch it."
As she spoke, she handed over her phone.
Her phone case was light pink, with slightly worn edges, indicating it had been used for a long time.
He opened the video and pressed play.
Nine minutes of battle footage.
When the first shot cut in, Su Chen's pupils contracted sharply.
The Great Rift Valley!
Real footage!
The footage was shot by a drone or some other device, from a bird's-eye view.
A massive rift valley stretches across the land, like a gaping hole torn open.
It's a full 500 meters wide!
The rock walls on both sides of the rift valley are covered with a dense array of dark red cracks, each crack shimmering with a faint light. The light is not bright, but there are many of them, hundreds, thousands, arranged densely on the rock walls, like a huge, breathing dark red spider web.
The bottom of the rift valley is nowhere to be seen.
There was only a thick, dark red light, as if something was burning deep within the rift valley.
The air is distorted!
Then, the enormous abyssal worms began to crawl out of the crack.
Not dozens, not hundreds, but tens of thousands!
Judging by their physique, they are far stronger than those we have encountered.
Then came the little devils, ghouls, lava hounds, flame demons, abyssal serpents... and many more monsters that Su Chen couldn't name.
Suddenly... the camera jerked violently.
Suddenly, the dark red light deep within the rift valley exploded.
A massive figure emerged from the thick, dark red mist at the deepest part of the rift valley.
It wasn't fully revealed yet, but just the outline was enough to make the edges of the camera shake violently.
Its head is flat, with a curved horn on each side, the base of which is thicker than an adult's waist.
Its skin is dark red and covered with rough scales. Dark red light flows between the scales, flashing on and off with its breathing.
The moment it placed its front paws on the edge of the rift, boulders tumbled down the rock face and crashed into the depths of the abyss.
Su Chen exclaimed in surprise: "Dark Abyss Earth Dragon!"
Wang Yichuan added from the side: "Mid-level Warrior General."
Su Chen's eyes never left the screen.
"Holy crap! This guy got taken out in the end?"
"Yes."
Lin Xiyue answered him softly, "It's at the end of the video. Wu Junchao's Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger is also at the mid-level of the Battle General rank. Although it can't defeat the Dark Abyss Earth Dragon alone, it can hold it off head-on, creating space for the others to deal damage."
Su Chen stared at the enormous thing on the screen, a complex mix of emotions churning within him.
One of the key reasons why Jiang Wei was able to achieve a high score in the last joint exam of ten schools was that she led a team to destroy a fire ant nest with a queen ant of warrior level.
At that time, Jiang Wei did not collaborate with top students from other schools; she led several teams from No. 1 Middle School to victory.
That time, Su Chen received the news and casually played around in the nearby area, accumulating some points from the perimeter, and managed to get 117 points.
Minutes!
But now—
The scene before us has increased by several orders of magnitude!
Wu Junchao.
The eldest son of Tianhe Group.
Su Chen knew this person.
Because Su Chen's family is one of Tianhe Group's suppliers, the kind of small suppliers that are at the very end of the supply chain and whose customers can't even meet the purchasing manager.
"Isn't this cheating?"
"Rich people should really have their accounts banned!"
The video continues playing.
When the first wave of head-on confrontation footage cuts in, the camera angle is low and upward, with chaotic light and shadow at the edges of the field of view.
The Dark Abyss Dragon has moved!
Its flat, large mouth opened, and a thick, dark red light surged from the depths of its throat—dragon breath that resembled magma!
The dragon's breath rolled along the ground, instantly melting the rocks in its path.
Three figures shot out from within the area covered by the dragon's breath.
His figure moved so fast that the camera could only capture a blur.
Then, the water came!
A light blue humanoid silhouette rapidly expanded in mid-air.
At first, it was just a cloud of water mist, but within a fraction of a second it rapidly condensed, growing larger and larger, with waves surging and churning inside the body, producing a heavy, muffled sound.
Jiang Wei's spiritual magic!
The lineage of Gonggong, the power of the water god!
Below the water giant, Jiang Wei hovered in mid-air, her right arm outstretched, her five fingers pointing towards the Dark Abyss Dragon, with deep blue psionic patterns flashing wildly in her palm.
The water giant crashed into it head-on.
Without dodging or detouring, it charged straight at the dragon's breath.
The clash of water and fire.
"At the moment of impact, the scene trembled violently. At the point where the dragon's breath and the water giant made contact, an absurdly large white mushroom cloud of water vapor erupted."
The mushroom cloud expanded rapidly, sweeping outwards and engulfing half the screen in a fraction of a second.
Then the camera recaptured the figure of the Dark Abyss Dragon.
It was knocked away.
That enormous mid-level warrior-class monster was knocked away head-on by a water giant summoned by a high school girl!
The dragon's body tumbled in mid-air, its wing membranes torn open by the impact, and dark red blood gushed from the wound.
It tumbled several times in the air before crashing onto the rocky ground at the edge of the rift valley with a dull thud.
Su Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions in his heart.
He had heard about the scene of Jiang Wei taking action.
I've never seen it this way before, not in previous assessments, not in the reports of the ten-school joint exam, not in the snippets of conversation among classmates!
This is the combat power that was acquired after fusing with the mythical spirit pearl.
He glanced at his fist instinctively.
Twenty-two acupoints, thirteen meridians, and the meridian pathways.
With his current strength, he couldn't even make a splash at Jiang Wei's feet.
But Su Chen was not discouraged.
On the contrary, it's exciting!
This is the true way of martial arts!
The second scene then cuts in immediately.
After the dragon's breath was broken by the water giant, the Dark Abyss Dragon fell into a state of temporary imbalance.
Without any command, all the trainees surrounding it almost instinctively pressed forward in the same direction.
Wu Junchao's Tianshan Demon Flame Tiger was the first to make a move!
It was a tiger, larger than a small truck, pure white with dark red stripes resembling flames.
Just as the Dark Abyss Earth Dragon regained its footing, the Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger pounced from the side and bit the base of the dragon's wing.
The earth dragon let out a painful howl, its head swung violently, and its horns slammed into the side of the Demon Flame Tiger.
The Demon Flame Tiger was forced to loosen its grip by the impact, and its body rolled twice on the rocky ground, but it still held on tightly.
At this moment, a figure leaped into the air from behind the Heavenly Mountain Demon Flame Tiger; it was Wu Junchao.
He held his hands out in front of him, and above his palms floated a golden holy sword, its blade shimmering with sun-like golden patterns.
Then, with a flick of his right hand, he threw it forward, and the golden holy sword transformed into a straight golden beam of light, piercing through the air!
The target is the left flank of the Dark Abyss Dragon!
The moment the sword tip pierced the root of the wing membrane, the sound in the video seemed to disappear for a beat.
Although the two people with spiritual powers are very handsome, and this time, a total of 6 students in the assault team have overcome that hurdle, all of them are top students!
In reality, they were completely outmatched!
There was nothing we could do; there were just too many monsters pouring out of the abyss.
However... this Dark Abyss Dragon was killed by a combined effort!
This was also due to the protection of a mentor; otherwise, it would have been very difficult to take the enemy general's head.
Upon seeing it, Su Chen exclaimed, "This... is truly exaggerated!"
Zhang Yan exclaimed loudly, "Look! Isn't it insane?! If all those damn rich kids bought beasts of this level, how would we play?!"
"Forehead."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about you! Compared to Wu Junchao, you're just a little Kalami, not even a second-generation rich kid."
99
At that moment, a notification sound rang out.
[Humanoid Pet - Wang Yichuan, Contract Ended]
Su Chen snapped out of his shock, his eyes lighting up. This was the moment he had been waiting for!
>