4: Trying to back out?

"Little Ze, are you really sure about this? You have to remember that before School Beauty Xu contracted the Azure Phoenix Butterfly, this guy was our school's number one genius!"

On the way to the arena specially prepared by the school for Beast Tamers to duel, Wang Zi spoke while appearing even more nervous than Su Ze.

Seeing this, Su Ze smiled and said, "What are you panicking for? I'm the one fighting him, not you."

Wang Zi immediately pulled a long face. "But I'm the one who made the bet with him..."

"Wasn't that just a little marble your family plays with?"

"I was just bragging... If I lose it, my dad will break both my legs. Maybe even three!"

"Don't worry, your quenching thought bead and your precious third leg will both be fine, I guarantee it!" Su Ze said, patting his chest.

Wang Zi looked at the little turtle that had just hatched on Su Ze's shoulder and nodded hesitantly. "I hope so..."

Soon, everyone hurried to the arena. Besides the people involved, there were many students watching the excitement.

After all, a duel using a quenching thought bead as a stake was very rare. If converted to money, it would be a gamble worth at least ten thousand.

Crucially, it was a matter of price without supply; one simply couldn't find a place selling quenching thought beads in the outside world.

The arena at Beishan City High School was made entirely of wood, but it wasn't ordinary wood.

It was Ironwood, a relatively common plant-type demon beast.

Its attack power was very low, but its defense was outstanding. Even the attacks of a demon beast ten levels higher would find it difficult to leave a mark on the main trunk of Ironwood.

A typical ten-year-old Ironwood was just the most common black iron-rank demon beast with a limit of Tenth Level, but it was said that there were also Gold-rank Tree Kings and platinum-level Tree Emperors that had grown for thousands of years.

Of course, an ordinary middle school naturally wouldn't use such high-grade Ironwood. The arena was basically built entirely from the most common black iron-rank Ironwood, with bronze grade Ironwood used in key areas for further reinforcement.

It looked a bit old and seemed to be rarely used.

After all, this was just an ordinary high school, not a specialized Beast Tamer university.

Lin He had already walked up from the other end of the arena, and the North Wind Wolf followed at his feet with its head held high, looking just as conceited as he was.

"Why haven't you come up yet? Are you scared?" Lin He taunted, beckoning Su Ze with a finger.

Su Ze walked up with a smile on his face. Because the Void Spirit Turtle had been restraining its aura, and combined with the fact that it was a demon beast of rare bloodline, not a single person besides Xu Yao had seen anything extraordinary about it yet.

Many of the onlookers were originally curious about who would be fighting Lin He, but what they saw was Su Ze, the so-called genius who could never become a Beast Tamer.

"Tsk, is he crazy? I remember he's not even a Beast Tamer, yet he dares to fight Lin He?"

"Since it's a scheduled duel, he should have already become a Beast Tamer, right?"

"That's right, look at that turtle on his shoulder; that should be his contracted beast."

"A little bastard the size of a palm? What can it do? Make soup?"

"Hahaha!"

...From his opponent to the audience, it seemed no one thought highly of Su Ze.

On the arena, Lin He also thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of being watched and praised.

"Come on, I'll let you attack first," Lin He said, seemingly generous.

But Su Ze just used the same gesture to beckon him with a finger.

"Humph, since you're looking for death, I'll fulfill your wish!"

"North Wind Wolf, Storm Blade Whirl!"

Accompanied by a wolf's howl, the wind blades coiled around the North Wind Wolf's side shot out.

It was a far cry from the single wind blade used to attack Su Ze before; hundreds of wind blades combined into a small tornado and blew toward Su Ze.

The wind blade the North Wind Wolf used before was the lowest black iron-rank skill, while the current Storm Blade Whirl was a Silver grade skill, the upper limit of what it could master.

"If you beg for mercy now and give me the quenching thought bead directly, I can still spare you!"

But Su Ze did not show any reaction; he neither dodged nor resisted until he was completely submerged by the Storm Blade Whirl.

This instead made Lin He nervous. No matter what, he didn't want to kill Su Ze. "You bastard, are you looking for death?"

Just as he was about to disperse the Storm Blade Whirl and have Wang Zi save him, he saw a faint blue light shining brilliantly in the center of the storm.

"I say, is your beast's power only this much? Is it polishing my shield?"

The storm dissipated, and a perfectly intact Su Ze walked out from within.

Surrounding his body was a circle of light blue shield with mysterious patterns.

Looking closely, one would find that the shield seemed to look somewhat like a turtle shell.

void spirit shield, the talent skill of the Void Spirit Turtle, passed down through its bloodline, which would continuously evolve into stronger abilities as its strength increased.

Only demon beasts with Gold-rank or higher quality bloodlines could possibly inherit talent skills. Other demon beasts, besides their innate low-tier abilities, could only learn skills later through skill books.

The Storm Blade Whirl hitting the void spirit shield failed to cause even a tiny bit of damage because, whether in terms of bloodline, level, or skill level, the Void Spirit Turtle was an existence that completely crushed the North Wind Wolf.

But Lin He seemed not to have recognized the current situation yet. "Is that turtle of yours really a demon beast specialized in defense? Do you want to rely on that turtle shell to waste time and force a draw with me?"

He didn't seem to think that a demon beast with such powerful defense could also have powerful attack power.

But soon, he would realize he was wrong.

"Waste time? Aren't you overestimating yourself? Void Spirit Turtle, Darting Water Spear!" Su Ze showed his disdain for the first time.

A sharp stream of water sprayed out from the Void Spirit Turtle's mouth, quite different from the gentle puff it had spat on Xu Yao's face earlier.

The water flow, like a continuously extending spear, directly blasted the North Wind Wolf away and slammed it heavily into Lin He behind it.

The man and the wolf flew backward together under the impact of the water, being continuously washed away until the water spear lost its power and stopped.

By this time, Lin He had been knocked off the arena. He lay on the ground, gasping for air and constantly choking on water, looking incredibly pathetic.

His beast, the North Wind Wolf, was even worse. Because it had faced the Darting Water Spear's wash head-on, it had now fainted.

The turn of events came so quickly. The previously arrogant Lin He was now lying on the ground with his beast, like two dead dogs.

"Alright, you lost. Hand over the quenching thought bead," Su Ze said, coming to the side of Lin He, who was lying on the ground.

He had already controlled the Void Spirit Turtle to hold back; otherwise, the Darting Water Spear could have directly attacked Lin He.

It could have shot right through his fragile body, after all, he didn't have a body as tough as a demon beast's.

"Your... what kind of demon beast is that turtle?" Lin He struggled to lift his head, asking with great resentment as he looked up at Su Ze.

"Void Spirit Turtle, Gold-rank Tenth Level demon beast. So, losing to me is not an injustice for you."

"Gold-rank again... Why? Why can a waste like you, who couldn't contract a demon beast, also get the favor of a Gold-rank Demon Beast at the last moment? It's not fair! This is not fair!" Lin He suddenly became hysterical.

If it could be said that before, when Xu Yao suddenly contracted a Gold-rank beast and snatched away his title as Beishan City's number one genius, he could still comfort himself because she was the woman he liked.

But now, Su Ze had also surpassed him by relying on a beast, which was something Lin He could not accept.

However, he completely failed to consider that Su Ze's own Beast Tamer level had also long since reached the Tenth Level, which was why he could manipulate the Void Spirit Turtle so skillfully.

This talent had already far surpassed Lin He, who was still only an eighth-level Beast Tamer even now.

"Waste... you're just a waste. You were before, you are now, and you always will be! The quenching thought bead is mine, I won't give it to you, I absolutely won't give it to you!" Lin He cursed as if he had lost his mind.

But Su Ze was no saint. It was impossible for him not to be angry after being called a waste so many times.

Su Ze lifted Lin He's right hand and, amidst his screams, broke three of his fingers before taking out the quenching thought bead that was tightly clutched in his hand.

"Trying to back out? If you bet, you must accept the loss. It's not good to be a deadbeat." Then, he picked up the quenching thought bead and left the arena.