Chapter 252: 252. Fatal Weakness!

Wu Jiong's and Li Yingjie's facial expressions soured and they turned to spit fiercely at the ground, glaring furiously at the area where the Leiting representatives were. Those words of Qi Ya's not only insulted Luo Lang and Ling Lan, they also insulted every single person in the New Cadet Regiment at the same time. This made the boys livid.

As classmates who had grown up alongside Ling Lan, Luo Lang, and the others of their team, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie naturally knew the nature of the close relationship among the members of Ling Lan's team. It was absolutely the purest of brotherly bonds. From the 1st grade at the scout academy, Ling Lan, who had already been more mature than any of them, had watched over and cared for his team members like an elder brother, treating them like his own younger brothers. In fact, they were very envious of the rapport between Ling Lan and the other members of his team, which was so good that, at times, they could understand each other with just one look. They just could not imagine how someone could sully the pure relationship between the two by casting such aspersions.

Li Yingjie had always been a straightforward person who spoke without filtering his words. He grumbled discontentedly, "Saying Boss Lan and Luo Lang have this kind of relationship, he might as well say it's Qi Long and Luo Lang. Those two have always hung around each other since young, sparring and fighting with one another. Haven't they spent even more time together?"

These words made Qi Long hook his arm around Li Yingjie's neck in indignation, where he then pressed his fist forcefully against the other's head. This made Li Yingjie squawk in pain, but with his fighting strength being no match for Qi Long's, he had no way of escaping Qi Long's violent hands. He could only apologise repeatedly until Qi Long finally let him go. Of course Qi Long would be annoyed! How could such a big stalwart man like him like guys 1 ... In comparison, Qi Long still preferred those curvaceous bodies of pretty younger sisters 2 .

Right at that moment, Little Four once more informed Ling Lan of the submission of the opponent's candidate name. This time, they had chosen their 4th strongest fighter, Song Lianlu.

Ling Lan very quickly realised the reasoning behind this arrangement of the opponent. Qi Ya, who they had had high hopes for, had been defeated; this made Leiting have no choice but to be cautious. They were afraid that if they sent out the weakest among their line-up, and he met a strong opponent, they would lose one more match. However, they also did not want to send their two strongest out, as that would leave them with no one to hold the fort. Thus, after some deliberation, they had sent out the safest option, the 4th strongest, to attempt to take this match.

Ling Lan turned her head to look at Qi Long and the others. Just as she was about to tell Qi Long to get ready, Li Yingjie stepped forward and volunteered, "Boss Lan, I'll go up for this match."

Ling Lan felt her gums ache as she held back the words she had been about to say. Like Luo Lang, Li Yingjie was also at first level early stage Qi-Jin. Against an opponent of top-level early stage Qi-Jin, he had almost no chance of winning, unless Li Yingjie also had that kind of inexplicable, mysterious, and unpredictable innate talent like Luo Lang's. Then, there might still have been the possibility of an upset.

Seeing Boss Lan staring at him with a frigid expression, Li Yingjie clenched his fists nervously. Although he knew volunteering on his own to fight was rather reckless of him, very likely to affect Boss Lan's strategic arrangements, he just did not want to lose to Luo Lang. At the same time, he also wanted to prove that he was not a coward. Earlier on the stage, his involuntary shudder had caused Luo Lang to mistake him for one, and he was still stewing over it. Thus, having seen Luo Lang win the first match after great difficulty, Li Yingjie did not want to fall behind Luo Lang by too much.

The fighting spirit in Li Yingjie's eyes made Ling Lan change her mind instantly. She nodded and said, "Alright. Don't disgrace our New Cadet Regiment."

The reason why Ling Lan had changed her mind at the last moment was that Luo Lang had unexpectedly won his match. Therefore, even if Li Yingjie lost this next match, it would not affect the bigger picture. After all, there was still the weakest fighter in the opponent's line-up who, barring any unexpected incidents, should lose whether Wu Jiong or Qi Long went up against him. And so, Ling Lan agreed to Li Yingjie's plea to fight now.

As long as it would not affect the final outcome, Ling Lan was willing to go along with these little fellows' wishes.

Obtaining Ling Lan's approval, Li Yingjie's eyes shone with a trace of pleasant surprise. He had originally thought Boss Lan did not like him very much — after all, he had indeed been rather annoying in the past. But just now, there was no dislike or apathy in Ling Lan's eyes; his demeanour had been extremely serious. In that moment, Li Yingjie fully felt the trust that Ling Lan had in him.

For some reason, he suddenly recalled his second eldest cousin brother Li Shiyu's words to him, "When you finally learn what brotherly bonds mean, then you will understand that power is not something irreplaceable."

At this moment, Li Yingjie seemed to vaguely understand what his second cousin brother had been saying. He looked towards Ling Lan — if it were Ling Lan, Li Yingjie probably would not fight with him over the position of regiment commander ...

On the stage, Colonel Tang Yu had already received the name list from both sides. The moment time was up, he announced, "The New Cadet Regiment vs Leiting Mecha Clan, 2nd round. 1st year Li Yingjie against 4th year Song Lianlu!"

********

Inside the box, Yun Xiu heard this announcement and his spirits rallied. He quickly turned to yell, "Shiyu, your younger cousin brother is up now. His opponent is Song Lianlu from our year."

Li Shiyu, who was resting with his eyes closed on the sofa, abruptly opened his eyes. Seeing Li Yingjie strut confidently onto the stage, his brow furrowed. "Song Lianlu is already a Qi-Jin master, Li Yingjie is most probably no match for him." No matter how much he said he looked down on Li Yingjie, Li Shiyu could not help but worry for him right then.

Yun Xiu had an opposing opinion. "Not necessarily. That weak-looking youth earlier managed to defeat the Qi-Jin stage Qi Ya after all. I think this year of freshmen aren't as weak as we think them to be ... perhaps your cousin is also already in Qi-Jin."

Li Shiyu was silent for a moment, and then said faintly, "I hope it turns out that way ... still, if he loses, I will let him understand the consequences of losing." Since he and his eldest cousin brother could not become the family head of the Li family, he hoped that Li Yingjie, who would become the family head in the end, would be even stronger. Even if he could not get used to the Li family's heartlessness, having been taught all this time to take pride in the Li family, Li Shiyu still did not want to see the Li family decline.

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Seeing that both sides were ready to fight, Colonel Tang Yu waved his right hand and shouted, "Begin!"

Following this sound, the two fighters faced each other from a distance, not attacking right off the bat. Qi Ya's loss had made Song Lianlu become exceedingly cautious. He did not know whether his opponent was strong or weak, so, he was prepared to observe the situation for a bit before making a decision.

Meanwhile, Li Yingjie had received instruction from Ling Lan as well before getting onto the stage. Like with Luo Lang, because he had just entered Qi-Jin stage and his Qi-Jin had yet to settle, it was not wise for him to fight head-on with his opponent. Thus, his strategy would still focus on drawing things out. Of course, the situation on the stage would be constantly shifting, so everything would still depend on Li Yingjie's judgment.

Although Li Yingjie was an arrogant punk, he was not an impulsive one. His combat intelligence was still pretty good, otherwise he would not have remained securely within the top 5 for ten years. Therefore, he chose the same path as Song Lianlu. The two of them faced each other from a distance, circling the stage as they looked for a chance to attack.

This was distinctly different from Luo Lang and Qi Ya's direct confrontation — the two fighters in this fight circled the stage for a whole 3 minutes without acting. This dull scenario made the spectating students lose their patience, some of them even outright beginning to yawn. Quite a few people began discussing among themselves, wondering how many minutes more they would spend dancing around each other ...

Right then, the initially still circling Song Lianlu suddenly rocked on the balls of his feet, and then his entire body shot forward like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Li Yingjie, his right fist striking out fiercely at Li Yingjie's left side. Just before, a weakness had suddenly appeared in Li Yingjie's defence.

Song Lianlu knew that this could also be a lure, but he also knew that if he did not try and attack now, even if they continued to weave around one another for half a day, he still might not find a better chance to attack. Thus, Song Lianlu decided to make his move.

However, as Song Lianlu attacked, he found that the weakness had disappeared. In its place, was Li Yingjie's long ready clawed hands. This was the Li family's ultimate arts — the strongest offensive defensive measure to handle an opponent's attacks.

Seeing this, Ling Lan's brow furrowed, knowing that Li Yingjie was likely to come to grief. This lure-and-counterattack tactic of Li Yingjie's was actually not wrong — his mistake was in underestimating his opponent's capabilities. If he had used this move against an opponent of equal level, Li Yingjie would absolutely have had the upper hand, but now, things were not so certain.

Sure enough, Li Yingjie's grasping hands locked onto the opponent's right fist, but the moment they connected, Li Yingjie felt a strong surge of energy coming from the opponent's fist, almost repelling his grab off in its intensity.

Li Yingjie knew that if the other repelled his grab, he would certainly take a heavy blow from the other in return. He would definitely be injured, and may have to declare his loss in advance ... he did not want Luo Lang to taunt him. So, gritting his teeth, he tolerated the intense pain radiating up his arm, tenaciously keeping his hold on the other's right fist ...

Song Lianlu felt that he was about to shake his opponent's palm off, but just as he was about to succeed, the other retained the hold on his right fist and then he felt a pull. He felt the strength of his entire body being pulled to an empty spot, and he careened uncontrollably to crash into the shielded area on the edges of the arena ...

The shielded area emitted a blinding light — a pattern like the shattering of glass appearing within the light. In the meantime, after drawing the opponent's strength to one side, Li Yingjie's readied right fist struck out immediately towards Song Lianlu's chest.

Defence was just a prelude to attacking — the final objective of Li Yingjie's move was here ...

However, Song Lianlu reacted equally swiftly. His left palm moved to block his chest at the critical moment, forcibly receiving this unexpected attack by Li Yingjie!

With a 'pow', fist met palm, and then, with a loud crack, the two were sent flying backwards. Song Lianlu had to take a whole 3 steps back after landing to find his footing, while Li Yingjie also had to take 3 steps back before standing firmly. From the spectating students' perspective, the two fighters had battled to a draw.

Only those with a keen eye had noticed that Li Yingjie's low-hanging left hand was trembling minutely beyond his control. That powerful attack of the opponent he had grabbed hold of previously had clearly damaged Li Yingjie's left hand severely.

Wu Jiong and Qi Long could tell, and their expressions paled. Wu Jiong said worriedly, "Li Yingjie's left hand is injured. It'll be tough from this point on."

Ling Lan said calmly, "This match, Li Yingjie was at a disadvantage from the start. That's why winning or losing isn't so important. I just wanted to see how far he could go."

Li Yingjie had a fatal weakness — when he knew he was at a disadvantage, that he was no match for his opponent, he would very easily give up on himself. His character lacked some tenacity. This was also why he had lost to Luo Lang so many times all this while, ending up in 5th place, slightly behind Luo Lang in the rankings.

This was what Ling Lan was thinking. Since Li Yingjie had sincerely acknowledged her as boss, she was inclined to help Li Yingjie solve this problem. Today was a good opportunity — it was rare for Li Yingjie to have such an intense desire to fight ...

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