30: Chapter 30 A Renowned Prestige

As Wang Pingan stepped out of the combat pod, the entire auditorium of Tianhai No. 1 High School erupted in deafening cheers.

The cheers of the Tianhai No. 1 High School students came in waves.

Just moments ago, Tianhai No. 2 High School had won three matches in a row, and Gu Jianbai had stood on stage mocking Tianhai No. 1 High School for having no talent, a feeling of stifling frustration weighing heavily on everyone's chests.

Now, Wang Pingan's five hundred Heavy Immortal-Martial Legion units had steamrolled the three hundred sword cultivators, winning quickly and ruthlessly, dispersing all that pent-up frustration.

Old Li stood before the teachers' seating area, his face glowing with excitement.

He usually loved to lecture people with a stern face, but at this moment, he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Good, good, good!" Old Li exclaimed repeatedly, raising his voice to an extremely high pitch.

Tianhai No. 1 High School Principal Zhou Mingyuan also walked from the back row to the front.

He had originally only come to watch the battle, not expecting Wang Pingan to fight so cleanly.

For the school, this was not just about winning an exchange match.

It meant that Tianhai No. 1 High School's strongest student this year had suppressed the leading genius of Tianhai No. 2 High School.

This was exactly the kind of result that the Federal Education Bureau valued.

The teacher leading the Tianhai No. 2 High School team had a stiff expression, still holding that D-Rank Legion Killing Aura Concentration Method card in his hand.

He was very regretful now.

This card was the wager Gu Jianbai had brought, and it was also a bargaining chip prepared by the Gu family to build momentum for him.

If Gu Jianbai had won against Wang Pingan, he wouldn't have had to hand over the card and could have used this to build his reputation.

At that point, the outside world would only say that the A-Rank sword genius from Tianhai No. 2 High School had crushed the A+ rated student from Tianhai No. 1 High School.

But now, everything was the opposite.

Gu Jianbai had been steamrolled.

The wager had to be handed over as well.

The teacher leading the Tianhai No. 2 High School team glanced at Gu Jianbai, feeling both angry and helpless.

This bet had been made by Gu Jianbai in public, and he hadn't stopped it.

With so many teachers and students from Tianhai No. 1 High School watching, and with the Federal Student Exchange Platform recording the whole thing, he couldn't renege even if he wanted to.

Wang Pingan walked straight up to him and held out his hand.

"The wager."

The teacher leading the Tianhai No. 2 High School team's face twitched.

Gu Jianbai emerged from the combat pod and, hearing these two words, his expression turned livid.

He opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.

Wang Pingan looked at Gu Jianbai.

"You sounded quite loud when you brought it out just now."

As these words fell, the students from Tianhai No. 1 High School broke into another round of jeers.

Gu Jianbai's face burned.

He wanted to refute it, but the battle result was still displayed on the big screen.

Three hundred sword cultivators had been steamrolled by five hundred Heavy Immortal-Martial Legion units; the system had declared a loss, and the ironclad proof was right before their eyes.

The teacher leading the Tianhai No. 2 High School team had no choice but to hand the grey-black card to Wang Pingan.

Wang Pingan took the card and stored it directly in his wrist device's storage space.

[D-Rank Legion Killing Aura Concentration Method.]

[Type: Legion Growth Technique.]

[Effect: After the legion experiences battle, combat, and slaughter, it can gradually condense a legion killing aura.]

[Additional Effect: Increases pressure during charges and weakens the morale of low-will enemy forces.]

After reading the description, he felt quite good.

The value of this card far exceeded ordinary D-Rank attack spells.

For others, it required a large amount of real combat to feed it, and it might not show immediate results in the early stages.

But Wang Pingan had the Master of Time, as well as access to virtual alien sparring partners.

As long as the resources kept up, he could have the legions within his Divine Kingdom train repeatedly in a short period.

Things like legion killing aura become stronger the earlier you cultivate them.

Old Li walked over and patted Wang Pingan's shoulder hard.

"Well fought! You really brought honor to Tianhai No. 1 High School!"

Wang Pingan nodded.

"Teacher, I was just here for the wager."

Old Li's mouth twitched slightly: "Can you leave the school some face, kid?"

The surrounding students laughed upon hearing this.

The oppressive atmosphere dissipated.

Zhao Yang rushed over, his eyes shining.

"Pingan, that shield formation of yours was too ruthless. Gu Jianbai's flying swords clanged against it for ages, and in the end, they didn't even scrape off a few layers of paint."

Wang Pingan glanced at him.

"The Black Iron Shield contains a portion of your family's iron ore."

Zhao Yang straightened his back on the spot.

"Did you hear that? My Zhao family's iron ore participated in the victory of the inter-school battle. Tonight, when I go back, I'll have my dad hang this statement at the store entrance."

Wang Qingyan also walked over, her gaze landing on Wang Pingan's wrist.

"Did you use that batch of healing medicine?"

Wang Pingan nodded.

"I used it. The effect was good; the mental strain on the front line while enduring the sword rain was much lower."

Wang Qingyan felt relieved.

Her spiritual herbs being verified by Wang Pingan's legion meant that future orders would be more secure.

For someone like her on the wood-element logistics path, stable clients were her confidence.

The Tianhai No. 2 High School side was silent.

They had arrived with great momentum, and after winning three matches in a row, they felt that today they could make a name for themselves by stepping on Tianhai No. 1 High School.

As a result, Gu Jianbai had been steamrolled by Wang Pingan's heavy units, and all their words were stuck in their throats.

Gu Jianbai stood next to the teacher leading the team, his face ashen.

He looked at Wang Pingan, his eyes filled with shame, anger, and an undisguisable sense of defeat.

He really wanted to step on Wang Pingan.

The Gu family had poured a massive amount of sword-dao resources into him, and Tianhai No. 2 High School was cultivating him as their signature student this year.

He needed to make a name for himself before the Nova Assessment to gain more attention from the Federation.

Wang Pingan, with his A+ rating, was the best stepping stone.

But he hadn't expected that instead of stepping on the stone, he would be pressed into the ground himself.

This wasn't a narrow defeat.

This was a total, comprehensive crushing in terms of lineup, equipment, tactics, and logistics.

The teacher leading the Tianhai No. 2 High School team forced himself to maintain appearances, said a few words about exchange and learning, and then prepared to leave with his students.

No one from Tianhai No. 1 High School stopped them.

Having won so decisively, there was no need to say anything more.

Gu Jianbai turned and looked at Wang Pingan before leaving.

Wang Pingan ignored him.

The gaze of the defeated had no value.

He just wanted to go back now and put the Legion Killing Aura Concentration Method into his Divine Kingdom.

Principal Zhou Mingyuan walked up to Wang Pingan, his face full of smiles.

"Wang Pingan, you brought great honor to Tianhai No. 1 High School today. The school is preparing to hold a celebration banquet for you, and while we're at it, let the people from the Department of Education see your performance."

Wang Pingan did not agree immediately.

Zhou Mingyuan added: "Don't worry, this isn't a waste of time; the school will give you extra rewards."

This statement was very attractive.

But Wang Pingan thought about it and shook his head.

"Principal, I won't go to the celebration banquet. The Nova Assessment is coming up soon, and I want to go back and seclude myself for training."

Zhou Mingyuan was somewhat surprised.

Several teachers nearby were also stunned.

Having just won an inter-school exchange battle, it was the perfect time to show off; ordinary students would be dying to let the whole school know.

Yet Wang Pingan wanted to go back to seclude himself.

Old Li nodded upon hearing this.

"Let him go back. This kid has a clear head and knows what's most important."

Zhou Mingyuan looked at Wang Pingan for a moment and waved his hand with a smile.

"Fine, you don't have to go to the celebration banquet, but the school's rewards will not be lacking. I'll have someone send them to your account later."

Wang Pingan bowed.

"Thank you, Principal."

At this moment, Wang Jincheng, who was behind the crowd, had not said a word.

He had watched the entire battle from beginning to end.

When the five hundred Heavy Immortal-Martial Legion units appeared, his heart had already sunk.

When the flying swords struck the Black Iron Shield and left only white marks, his chest felt tight.

When the Xianwu Meat Grinder Array crushed the three hundred sword cultivators, that sense of powerlessness almost swallowed him whole.

He had once considered Wang Pingan a branch-family competitor who had suddenly emerged.

After losing to Wang Pingan in the weekly exam, he had comforted himself, thinking his Thunder Law Legion was just unprepared.

But today's battle had woken him up.

Wang Pingan's growth speed was too fast.

It wasn't just one step faster.

It was that every time he looked again after a few days, he had already changed into a different shape.

Space expansion, logistics outsourcing, equipment upgrades, legion formation integration.

The more Wang Jincheng watched, the more he understood that if he continued to focus only on Thunder Law bursts, the gap would only grow larger.

He gripped his wrist device, feeling both sour and angry.

The jealousy was real.

But what stung him more was the feeling of not being able to catch up to the other person.

Wang Pingan did not notice Wang Jincheng.

After leaving the auditorium, he contacted Wang Tie directly and asked him to come to the school to pick him up.

A silver flying car soon stopped at the school gate.

After Wang Pingan got into the flying car, he opened his wrist device and glanced at the newly acquired D-Rank Legion Killing Aura Concentration Method.

This card needed to be used as soon as possible.

What the Xianwu Meat Grinder Array lacked now was not basic combat power, but stronger battlefield pressure.

Once the killing aura was condensed, the psychological defenses of enemy low-rank units would collapse more easily when the heavy legion advanced.

Wang Tie glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

"Young Master, there was a lot of commotion at the school today. Did you win again?"

Wang Pingan put away his wrist device.

"I won an exchange battle and got a legion card."

Wang Tie smiled.

"That's good. The clan will definitely be happy to hear that."

Wang Pingan looked quietly out the window.

He knew very well that winning against Gu Jianbai was just a small matter.

The real hurdle was the Nova Assessment.

Geniuses from the seventeen life planets of the Xuanyuan Star Region would all appear, and students like Gu Jianbai might not even rank in the top 50.

The flying car left Tianhai No. 1 High School and headed toward the main branch estate of the Wang family.

Meanwhile, in the Tianhai No. 2 High School exchange group, a student who looked very ordinary sat in the corner.

He lowered his head, his wrist device screen blocked by his sleeve.

On the screen, the combat footage of Wang Pingan's five hundred-strong Heavy Immortal-Martial Legion advancing was playing.

The Black Iron Shield blocked the flying swords.

The crimson flame saber sliced through the sword cultivators.

The Xianwu Meat Grinder Array completed the encirclement.

Every key scene was fully recorded.

This student was not an ordinary student of Tianhai No. 2 High School.

He was a secret agent planted by the Lin family in the Tianhai No. 2 High School exchange group.

The Wang family and the Lin family were both among the strongest families on Tianhai Star; they maintained rules on the surface, but secretly, they never relaxed their intelligence gathering on each other's geniuses.

After Wang Pingan awakened with an A+ rating, the Lin family had already taken note of him.

But hearing about it and seeing it with one's own eyes were two different things.

The secret agent compressed the battle records into an encrypted file and quickly sent it to the Lin family's internal channel.

The message title had only one line.

[Wang family's Wang Pingan, suspected of having a formed Heavy Immortal-Martial Legion; defense is extremely strong, formation is dangerous.]

After the file was sent successfully, he looked up at the distant gate of Tianhai No. 1 High School, his gaze gloomy.

Half an hour later, in the main assembly hall of the Lin family, several high-ranking members of the Lin family finished watching the recording.

Someone's expression darkened.

Someone tapped their fingers on the table.

Others clicked directly on Wang Pingan's profile.

[A+ comprehension, Immortal-Martial Dual Cultivation, awakened for less than a month, and he can already produce such a legion?]

[If the Wang family lets him achieve a ranking in this Nova Assessment, the Department of Education and Federal resources will all tilt toward the Wang family.]

[We cannot let him rise smoothly.]

The Third Elder of the Lin family in the main seat closed the recording, his tone chilling.

[During the Nova Assessment, find an opportunity to kill him.]