The Strongest Talent Tree

The Central Square was as bustling as ever. Students from every department gathered there, some looking for teammates, others looking for hired muscle.

The return of Feng Hao’s group of four inevitably drew many glances. After all, Xiyue Frost and Houhuiyao were quite popular.

"Huh, isn’t that Houhuiyao and Xiyue Frost? Are they back from their training expedition?" a few students asked curiously.

"I wonder how they did. I heard Yun Jiansong found a Natural Essence and his strength increased by a lot."

"A Natural Essence?" The surrounding students exclaimed in shock. "I’ve been grinding in the Secret Realms for over two years and I’ve never even seen one."

"Can’t be helped. Luck is a part of strength too," someone beside them sighed.

Feng Hao’s group of four paid no mind to the surrounding gazes, nor did they have any intention of lingering. After a few simple jokes, they handed the Ice Crystal Ore to Houhuiyao to deal with and walked out of the crowd together.

However, they had only taken a few steps when a sharp cry came from the crowd behind them: "Feng Hao, don’t you dare leave!"

"Uh, what’s going on?" Feng Hao froze, instinctively turning his head to look. He saw Bai Yin, dressed all in white, slowly descending like a drifting feather. A halo of light flowed around the Treasure Pearl in her hand. Paired with her stunning beauty, she looked like a Fairy descending from the heavens.

This sudden development caused a commotion throughout the square. Everyone’s eyes were now fixed on Feng Hao and Bai Yin.

As the academy’s number one beauty, Bai Yin’s popularity was unquestionable. Her appearance naturally drew a great deal of attention.

On Feng Hao’s side, Houhuiyao was quick to react. He swallowed hard and said to himself, "What’s coming has come. Boss, you’re on your own."

"Senior Sister Bai Yin?" Man Tiaotiao cried out, her eyes filled with adoration as she looked at Bai Yin.

Xiyue Frost frowned slightly, looking at Feng Hao in confusion. "What’s going on? You have a problem with Senior Sister Bai Yin?"

"What damn problem? Just ignore her." Feng Hao rolled his eyes. Disregarding Bai Yin’s provocation, he turned to leave.

Bai Yin’s expression darkened. With a sharp cry, she charged. She had finally caught this opportunity; how could she possibly let it go?

The next moment, amidst the crowd’s gasps, Bai Yin made a slight movement with her fair hand. An azure light shot into the sky, transforming in an instant into gusts of phantom wind that surged toward Feng Hao.

’Damn it, is she ever going to quit?’ Feng Hao cursed inwardly. He casually pushed Xiyue Frost and the other two aside as the Su Mu Dagger appeared in his hand with a flash.

The phantom wind was silent, yet its damage was terrifyingly high.

His Protective Gang Qi seemed unable to block the phantom wind’s assault. A chilling cold entered his body, and Feng Hao’s Qi Blood instantly dropped by over ten thousand.

"Make your move!" Bai Yin said proudly.

Feng Hao was secretly shocked. ’That phantom wind was just too bizarre, it even bypassed my Gang Qi.’

At the same time, a crowd had already completely surrounded them. Cries of shock and murmurs of discussion rose and fell.

"Isn’t that Feng Hao? Why is Senior Sister Bai Yin fighting him?"

"Who knows? Maybe they have a grudge?"

"A grudge? Bai Yin has always been so approachable. How could she have made an enemy?"

"Then Feng Hao must have offended Senior Sister Bai Yin. That’s right, that has to be it," one of Bai Yin’s zealous fans said earnestly.

"He dared to offend Senior Sister Bai Yin? Does that guy have a death wish?"

"Exactly! Doesn’t he know how many supporters Senior Sister Bai Yin has?"

...

Feng Hao had no desire to pay attention to any of this. He sneered, let out a cold snort, and directly lunged forward with a shadow attack, simultaneously entering a state of shadow stealth.

Seeing Feng Hao suddenly disappear, the crowd was completely stunned.

Unlike the stunned crowd, Bai Yin was already prepared. Magic Power surged into her Treasure Pearl, and swathes of phantom wind wrapped around her like ribbons. At the same time, dark clouds gathered overhead, and a torrent of grayish-black raindrops began to fall.

"Aren’t you so tough? If you’ve got the guts, then try and get close to me." Bai Yin seemed to have complete confidence in the phantom wind surrounding her. Utterly unafraid of Feng Hao’s sneak attack, she controlled the Treasure Pearl while patiently waiting for him to reveal himself.

From the shadows, Feng Hao didn’t dare to act rashly. There was no helping it; that cyan phantom wind was a little too strange.

’No wonder she dared to come looking for a fight. So she obtained a powerful inheritance,’ Feng Hao thought with a cold snort. He silently crept up behind Bai Yin, swung the Su Mu Dagger, and unleashed a deadly Dark Moon strike.

To Feng Hao’s shock, the powerful energy of his Dark Moon strike was devoured and broken down by the cyan phantom wind, fading until it was dim and powerless.

BANG!

The weakened strike landed on Bai Yin’s back, dealing only a little over a thousand points of damage.

"What the hell is that stuff!" Feng Hao exclaimed, hastily retreating.

However, Bai Yin had already locked onto his position. She retaliated with a barrage of Secret Techniques, flinging ice spikes, Fireballs, and cyclones at Feng Hao all at once.

Feng Hao didn’t dare to be careless. He deftly dodged the attacks and, finding an opportunity, entered his shadow stealth state once more.

Seeing Feng Hao disappear again, Bai Yin started to get a headache. The phantom wind consumed a massive amount of power, and even with the energy-gathering ability evolved from her spiritual root system, she couldn’t sustain it for long.

"Such a shameless Secret Technique," Bai Yin muttered, grinding her silver teeth. She had no choice but to bombard the empty space around her.

By now, the surrounding crowd was in an uproar. Xiyue Frost and Man Tiaotiao, in particular, had eyes full of astonishment. Only Houhuiyao remained relatively calm.

"That country bumpkin is pretty strong, huh? To think he can go toe-to-toe with Senior Sister Bai Yin," Man Tiaotiao said, her eyes wide with surprise.

Houhuiyao smacked his lips, a strange expression on his face. "If I said Senior Sister Bai Yin can’t beat the boss, would you believe me?"

’Are you kidding?’ Man Tiaotiao thought with scorn.

Houhuiyao couldn’t be bothered to explain and just focused on watching every move on the field.

In the midst of the battle, Bai Yin was still bombarding her surroundings aimlessly, while Feng Hao was hiding in the shadows with a growing headache.

’It can even break down my Dark Force... How the hell am I supposed to fight this?’ Feng Hao’s expression was grim, his brow tightly furrowed. ’Dammit, I’ll try using normal attacks. I refuse to believe it can break down normal attacks too.’

With this thought, Feng Hao no longer hesitated. He weaved nimbly through Bai Yin’s barrage of spells and quickly slipped behind her.

Since he was going to use normal attacks, he would have to endure the phantom wind surrounding Bai Yin. Feng Hao still wasn’t sure how much damage the wind dealt, so he could only test it out.

HISS~!

The phantom wind entered his body, and his Qi Blood immediately dropped by over two thousand.

’Thank god the damage from her protective phantom wind isn’t that high. If it was over ten thousand like that first hit, this fight would be impossible.’

After getting a feel for the damage, Feng Hao’s confidence returned. He flew into the protective phantom wind, the Su Mu Dagger madly slashing and cutting. Boosted by his high attack speed, strings of damage numbers rose above Bai Yin’s head.

"Damn you." Now that her attacker was visible, Bai Yin hurriedly used a Secret Technique to counterattack.

But it was a pity that Feng Hao’s control was simply too slick. Combined with the mobility from his shadow attacks, Bai Yin couldn’t even touch the hem of his clothes.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Although they were only normal attacks, boosted by his Double Dark Force talent, the damage was nothing to scoff at. Moreover, Feng Hao was able to lock onto his opponent’s weak points with every strike, making his damage output quite considerable.

Just like that, under Feng Hao’s frenzied basic attacks, Bai Yin’s Qi Blood dropped intermittently. Layer after layer of Dark Force surged through her body. Before the Dark Force Fifth Layer from the previous slash had even dissipated, the next attack had already arrived.

Under the detection of his Crystal Eye, the stream of damage numbers above Bai Yin’s head never stopped, as if she were being besieged by dozens of people at once.