"Calm is good," Long Yifan said, "but fear is not. There’s a difference. When you fight, trust your instincts and take risks. Without risks, there’s no victory."
The students nodded, both looking thoughtful.
Ti passed. The students who earlier despised Long Yifan slowly started to admire him. All of his advice was on point. He didn’t insult anyone. Only told them about their mistake.
Sotis he acted harshly, but it was only with the students who kept on back talking.
"Next pair," Long Yifan called out.
Gu Jin and Yan i stepped onto the platform.
The match began with a burst of energy.
Yan i wasted no ti, summoning a swirling orb of chaos energy in her hand.
With a quick flick of her wrist, she launched it toward Gu Jin.
Gu Jin’s eyes narrowed. She raised her hand, and thick vines sprouted from the ground, weaving together into a sturdy barrier.
The orb hit the barrier but fizzled out, unable to penetrate it.
"Nice try," Gu Jin said calmly.
Yan i smirked, stepping back and warping space around her. In an instant, she vanished and reappeared behind Gu Jin, her palm glowing with a dark, curse-infused spell.
But Gu Jin didn’t panic.
She spun around, releasing a wave of fiery heat that forced Yan i to retreat. The flas danced around her, burning away any lingering curse energy.
"Fast, but not fast enough," Gu Jin said, her tone even.
Before Yan i could counter, Gu Jin pressed her advantage.
She summoned a flurry of poisonous thorns from the ground, sending them flying toward Yan i.
Yan i tried to dodge, using her spatial abilities to teleport out of the way, but the thorns seed to follow her, their sharp tips glinting ominously.
In the end, Yan i was forced to raise a chaotic shield to block the attack. The impact sent her stumbling backward, her breathing heavy.
"Match over," Long Yifan’s voice cut through the air, calm yet firm.
He walked up to the platform, his sharp eyes on both girls.
"Yan i," he said, "you rely too much on your space elent for dodging. Your attacks lack follow-through. Power is nothing without precision."
Yan i nodded, her face flushed. "Understood, Instructor."
Then he turned to Gu Jin.
"You were calm and strategic. Good use of your elents. But your timing can improve. You hesitated twice when you didn’t need to."
Gu Jin didn’t reply, but she listened carefully.
Long Yifan’s gaze softened slightly.
"You have potential, Gu Jin. If you want, I can personally tutor you to help you grow stronger."
Gu Jin glanced at him, her expression unreadable. Then, she turned away. "No need," she said flatly.
Long Yifan’s lips curved into a faint smile. "Suit yourself."
Despite her cold response, Gu Jin couldn’t deny that his advice was useful.
The training session continued, and like a good instructor, Long Yifan pointed mistakes of each person.
To Gu Jin’s surprise, he didn’t use his position to force Gu Jin into any compromising situation, however, Long Yifan beca a mystery to her.
He sotis acted as if he was weak and poor, other tis he acted as if he was a powerful person.
So what was true? Was he a poor and weak person pretending to be powerful and rich? Or was he a rich and powerful person pretending to be weak?
Gu Jin didn’t have to think about the question for a long ti. Once the sparring session was over, Long Yifan asked everyone to form a group of five.
Gu Jin, Yan i, Luo ng, Lin Yue, and Cheng Hao ford one team.
Though Gu Jin didn’t know Lin Yue and Cheng Hao, both of them looked like an easy going people.
Once the team of five was ford, Long Yifan asked everyone to decide on a team leader.
Gu Jin was elected as the team leader.
Long Yifan nodded his head in satisfaction and said,
"Now let’s begin a team combat."
"Team combat? Why do we even need it? I am good on my own."
" too."
"Senior Long you can skip this part, we don’t want it."
Long Yifan coldly glanced in the direction of the comntators, his suffocating gaze silenced them instantly.
"Team combat can’t be skipped. It is one of the most important parts of survival. Sotis, you might get stuck in a situation where you will have to rely on soone else.
At that ti, being stubborn and holding onto the belief that you will be alright without anyone’s help will be foolishness."
Gu Jin frowned. She disagreed with Long Yifan.
In any fight, relying on yourself is the only way to guarantee success.
"Now let’s begin. You all have to co up with a na for your team and put it in the box. Then one by one the representatives will pick a card an fight against the team of whose na is written on the paper."
Following Long Yifan’s instruction, everyone ca up with the na and drew the na.
The na of Gu Jin’s team was Blue Fox. It was a random na. The team which they had to fight against was nad Chocopie.
The mbers of the Chocopie team were all at super rank, making them a difficult opponent.
Soon the matches begin. So gave a good performance while so perford badly.
When it was Gu Jin’s turn, Long Yifan gently said,
"All the very best."
The students: "..." I refuse to train under this monster! He keeps on feeding us dog food!
Gu Jin: "..."
The battle comnced.
Gu Jin ca up with a strategy,
"Luo ng you will be responsible for the defense of the entire team. Focus on protecting us from heavy attacks.
Lin Yue and Cheng Hao, I need you two to focus on distracting their strongest mber. Yan i, you and I will work on offense. We’ll take down their support first."
Her teammates nodded, though Luo ng looked a bit uneasy.
"Defense? But I’m better at—"
"You’re the best choice for it," Gu Jin interrupted. "Trust ."
Reluctantly, Luo ng nodded, and the team spread out on the platform.
The Chocopie team smirked confidently as they launched their first attack.
Their leader, a tall boy with the lightning elent, sent a crackling bolt toward Cheng Hao.
"Shield now!" Gu Jin called.
Luo ng reacted instantly, summoning a barrier of earth that absorbed the impact.
"Good job!" Gu Jin shouted. "Cheng Hao, now!"
Cheng Hao darted forward, throwing a quick series of wind blades that forced the lightning user to retreat.
At the sa ti, Lin Yue used her water elent to create slippery patches on the ground, making it harder for their opponents to gain balance.
Yan i smirked, summoning chaos energy to disrupt their formation.
anwhile, Gu Jin zeroed in on their support mber—a girl using healing magic.
Gu Jin sent a wave of fire toward the healer, forcing her to dodge, and followed it up with a barrage of poisonous thorns.
The healer panicked, struggling to defend herself.
"Keep up the pressure!" Gu Jin ordered.
Yan i joined in, her chaos energy twisting the battlefield into a ss of unstable magic.
The healer finally stumbled, unable to keep up, and Gu Jin delivered the finishing blow with a concentrated blast of fire.
With their healer out, the Chocopie team began to falter.
"Finish it!" Gu Jin commanded.
Her team worked together seamlessly, taking down the remaining opponents one by one.
When the match ended, Long Yifan clapped slowly, his expression calm but approving.
"Impressive teamwork, Blue Fox," he said.
"Gu Jin, you led your team well. Clear instructions, solid strategy. However, I would like to ask sothing. Miss Gu Jin did you know the elents of the team opposite to you."
Gu Jin nodded with confidence, "I did."
Long Yifan calmly analyzed,
"So it ans you knew and hence ca up with such a brilliant strategy. What if your team had to face an opponent with a lot of hidden trump cards? What will you do?"
Gu Jin frowned slightly, the question catching her off guard. She crossed her arms, thinking for a mont before replying,
"If the opponent has hidden trump cards, then we’ll have to adapt. Watch their moves and adjust the strategy on the spot."
Long Yifan nodded but didn’t let her off so easily.
"Adapting is important, but it’s not enough. In a real fight, surprises can overwhelm you. What you need is flexibility in your plan from the start.
Always assu the opponent has sothing unexpected. That way, you won’t be caught off guard."
Gu Jin stayed silent, his words sinking in. Yan i, standing beside her, muttered under her breath,
"Easy to say, harder to do."
Long Yifan heard her and turned his gaze toward her.
"It’s not easy, but that’s what training is for. You learn to think ahead, to plan for what you can’t see. It’s the difference between survival and defeat."
Yan i rolled her eyes but didn’t argue further.
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