Once the armored elephant lost its balance and fell, it never had a chance to get back up. Quan Lingling only used a simple Water Arrow technique—a few unadorned streams of water aimed at the armored elephant's weak points. In less than a minute, the armored elephant lost its combat ability, leaving its spirit master utterly incredulous.
"What the hell?!" "What just happened?" "How did I lose?!"
The leading teacher from Yangcheng Senior High School, with a grim expression, sent out their second contestant. The spirit sent into battle was a Strange Strength Ape. A few minutes later...
"Impossible, how did we lose again?!" They couldn't comprehend it. If Quan Lingling had displayed overwhelming power, that would be one thing. But no. It was just that her techniques were perfectly timed, and her attacks hit exactly where the defenses were weakest.
"Could it be... that girl's command skills are really that strong?" The leading teacher from Yangcheng had heard that some spirit masters possessed such sharp command abilities that they could predict an opponent's next move before it even acted. But that was just hearsay. When spirits were still weak, a spirit master's eyes and reflexes could keep up with the battle, allowing for effective commands. But once spirits grew strong, battles changed in an instant—what could a spirit master command? At most, they could discuss a few tactics with their spirit before the fight and use their spirit command abilities during combat. That was it. The true value of a spirit master lay in contracts, daily nurturing, and training.
Quan Lingling defeated the Strange Strength Ape, and Gu Lingyao cast a "Spirit Command: Perseverance" on it mid-battle, but it was already on its last legs. Yangcheng Senior High School didn't send in another entry-level spirit. Instead, they deployed an unranked Prairie Wolf, which took out the barely-alive Quan Lingling with a barrage of Rice Grain Machine Gun.
"Next, we'll send in the Golden Armor Warrior." The Golden Armor Warrior was classmate B's spirit from Class Three, an evolved form of the Golden Armor. Classmate B was one of the best students at Ancheng No. 1 High, aside from Liu Ren and his group, but perhaps due to bad luck or insufficient preparation, the Golden Armor failed to break through the entry-level threshold during evolution. Even so, the evolved Golden Armor Warrior was quite strong—compared to rookie spirits. With Su Hao's guidance, the Golden Armor Warrior dispatched the Prairie Wolf without much trouble. That was normal performance. But in the next battle against the Candle Fire Butterfly, the Golden Armor Warrior's combat prowess shocked the Yangcheng side.
"The Candle Fire Butterfly's Flame Splash and Fire Rain techniques overlapped, completely obscuring its form—how did it get discovered? Was it luck? Did a random Golden Light Slash just happen to hit the Candle Fire Butterfly?" Under the shroud of flames, the Golden Armor Warrior couldn't hold out long and lost. But before its defeat, it dealt significant damage to the Candle Fire Butterfly, once again catching the Yangcheng crowd off guard.
Third contestant: Ancheng No. 1 High sent out an unranked spirit to take a hit and then concede. By the fourth contestant, Liu Ren stepped up. His Lava Turtle defeated the Candle Fire Butterfly and the Water-Covered Snail in succession. In the final match against the Two-Headed Dog, they ended in a mutual knockout. The Yangcheng Senior High School team couldn't sit still.
"Not fair!" "Doesn't make sense!" "It shouldn't be like this!"
Su Hao from Ancheng hadn't even fought yet, and they were already at a disadvantage—how was that possible?! If only one spirit was strong, it could be chalked up to amazing command skills. But was every student at Ancheng No. 1 High that freakish?
"No, it's not that they're strong—it's that they seem... they seem to know us inside out!" As top students at Yangcheng Senior High, they trained and battled together daily. Sometimes, seeing an opponent's spirit's starting move, they could guess what technique it would use. The Ancheng team seemed to have that same deep understanding of them. In contrast, their knowledge of Ancheng's spirits was still superficial. The intelligence gap was complete.
The group exchanged glances and fell into silence. A strange atmosphere spread through the Yangcheng team. The same thought crept into everyone's mind: Could it be... there's a traitor among them?
"No, impossible," said the armored elephant's spirit master. "My spirit injured its left front leg due to improper training a while back. I thought it had fully healed, but under high-intensity attacks, the armored elephant's left front leg still gave out..." Even he hadn't known about it, let alone anyone else. But if there was no traitor, then... how did Ancheng No. 1 High's contestants know?
They looked over and felt that the ordinary school uniforms were shrouded in a fog they couldn't penetrate. The battle continued. The Yangcheng students who hadn't fought yet grew uneasy, their initial confidence gone. Those who had already lost furrowed their brows, thinking of countermeasures. The armored elephant's spirit master kept glancing toward Ancheng's side, and finally spotted the key.
"That person is Su Hao, right?" Su Hao's photo could be found on the Thousand Net, and they'd all seen it. "Yeah, what about it?" another asked. "Have you noticed that before every Ancheng contestant went up, Su Hao talked with them for a while? It feels like Su Hao isn't a contestant, but a... a strategist! A coach!"
"No way?" They observed closely. They saw Su Hao's gesturing movements, as if he were saying "do this... then this... then this..." The spirits beside him nodded from time to time, then walked onto the stage with confidence. Until the final battle. Li Songting's Ascetic Dog fought a hard-won victory against the Wind Pattern Tiger. They saw the Ancheng student jump off the stage and give Su Hao a thumbs-up. They faintly heard: "Su Hao, I didn't expect you to be this good at arranging tactics. You truly are my lifelong rival, Li Songting."
On the way back, the dozen or so students from Yangcheng Senior High were deeply dejected. Originally, even with Su Hao on Ancheng's side, they'd been confident in using a three-for-one tactic to defeat the Dream Butterfly and win the exchange match. But now...
"We lost—lost to Ancheng No. 1 High, and even more so to Su Hao," the armored elephant's spirit master said in a low voice. "Why did Ancheng know our spirits so well? Why was their command so miraculous? It's all because of the person behind them—Su Hao." He smiled bitterly. "Just a few casual pointers beat us. If Su Hao himself fought, then..."
"Yeah, even if he only used an entry-level beginner spirit, he could probably take down four or five of us in a row." "I think even more. If Su Hao commanded personally, every move we made would be predicted. He might sweep through all ten of us." They spoke among themselves, Su Hao of Ancheng becoming increasingly demonized in their minds. The leading teacher sighed. It seemed they'd have to find a weaker school to bully, to restore their top students' confidence.