At that moment, Li Chang'an also fell from midair—but as luck would have it, he landed right in the arms of Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu. Then, as if on cue, he passed out.
Although Li Chang'an appeared to have fainted from exhaustion, the entire area remained dead silent. No one said a word. The students shifted their gazes between the charred and unconscious Tai Tan on the ground and the young man resting peacefully in the embrace of two stunning girls, unable to shake the shock from their hearts.
These students had all lived in Heaven Dou City for years. Even if they hadn't seen Tai Tan in person, they were well aware of who he was—the patriarch of the Strength Clan, said to be a Spirit Douluo.
Even though neither side had revealed their soul rings during the fight, a Spirit Douluo was still a Spirit Douluo. That level of strength couldn't be faked. And yet, Tai Tan had been beaten down by Li Chang'an.
Someone quietly muttered, "Didn't Tai Long's dad get knocked out in two punches?"
As soon as the words were spoken, realization dawned on the crowd.
So the three generations of the Tai family... were taken down with one punch, two punches, and three punches respectively?
This guy's strength is unreal!
In reality, Li Chang'an wasn't truly at his limit, though the battle had indeed drained him. And now that he had the rare opportunity to lean into Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing, of course he wasn't going to waste it.
Tai Tan might be a Spirit Douluo—and a strength-type one at that—but Li Chang'an's three punches weren't ordinary. He had channeled his soul power and unleashed three distinct ultimate elemental forces at full power, catching Tai Tan completely off guard.
And the might of ultimate Lightning was genuinely terrifying. That overwhelming heavenly force surpassed any of the ultimate elements Li Chang'an had encountered so far. It was what made this a true one-hit victory.
In a fair, one-on-one duel, even if Li Chang'an went all-out, taking down someone like Tai Tan—a pure strength-type Spirit Master—would've taken considerable effort. The man was a walking wall of muscle.
Meanwhile, Liu Erlong, Flender, and Zhao Wuji were still flying toward the scene. It wasn't that they were slow—they had rushed over the moment they got the news—but the fight had ended too fast.
As they flew, Liu Erlong turned to Flender. "Flender, do you think Teacher Li could really handle Tai Tan?"
Flender nodded firmly. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. Don't forget—he's a six-ring Spirit Emperor. And he even has a 100,000-year soul ring."
"I hope you're right…" Liu Erlong increased her speed again. A Spirit Emperor with a 100,000-year ring was impressive, yes—but Tai Tan wasn't just anyone. Even most Title Douluos had to think twice before fighting him. Could Li Chang'an really hold his ground?
With their full speed, the group reached the scene in just a few minutes. Liu Erlong noticed the faint scent of something scorched in the air… and the eerie stillness all around.
Could it be…
Pushing through the crowd, she rushed forward—and saw Tai Long and his father Tai Nuo supporting a scorched, blackened Tai Tan as they walked away solemnly. As they bowed slightly, Tai Tan murmured, "The Strength Clan will seal its gates for the next hundred years and withdraw from worldly affairs."
Then, the three generations of the Tai family quietly left the scene.
'What… what just happened?'
Even though Liu Erlong had long detached herself from fame and power, and her mind was usually calm, she couldn't help being shocked. Tai Tan had admitted defeat? That didn't make any sense!
After asking a few people what had happened, Liu Erlong and Flender just stood there, frozen in place.
One punch for Tai Long.
Two punches for Tai Nuo.
Three punches for Tai Tan.
Three crisp points were credited straight to Li Chang'an. He continued to passively absorb points from the surrounding students, though at this stage, those tiny increments were like a drop in the bucket to him.
Only after a long while did Flender finally instruct the students to disperse. Once he confirmed that Li Chang'an had merely fainted from exertion and wasn't seriously hurt, he had Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing escort him back to the teacher dormitory.
What no one noticed, however, was the girl with the slender waist standing quietly among the crowd. She pouted in frustration as she watched Li Chang'an being carried away.
That girl was none other than Meng Yiran, who had arrived earlier. Aside from being shocked by Li Chang'an's power, what really stung was the fact that two other girls were already by his side.
…
"Flender, what kind of freakish teacher have we hired here?" Liu Erlong asked, glancing at Flender, who looked just as dazed.
Flender adjusted his glasses and helplessly shrugged. "Changshan's origins are definitely mysterious, but he doesn't mean any harm to the academy—aside from being a little bit of a womanizer."
"I noticed," Liu Erlong rolled her eyes. As if she couldn't tell. Two girls already, and with how handsome and powerful Li Chang'an was, she doubted those were the only ones.
"When is Xiaogang coming back?" she asked again. It wasn't the first time she'd brought it up.
"I'm not sure. Should be soon. But Erlong, to be honest, I think Xiaogang may have lied to us about some things back then." Now that the topic was open, Flender decided to speak his mind.
"Hm? What did you say?" Liu Erlong's eyes turned cold. She didn't allow anyone to badmouth Xiaogang—not even Flender.
"Some of his theories from back then have already been completely overturned by Teacher Li," Flender explained calmly, then briefly recounted what had happened at the old Shrek Academy. He kept it objective and neutral.
Liu Erlong stayed quiet for a long time before finally saying, "Whether he lied or not, we've shared too much with him to doubt him now, Flender."
"Yeah, he's stubborn, but he's still my brother," Flender said with a faint smile. That was just who he was—unchanging to the end.
…..
After resting for a day, Li Chang'an finally woke up. Thanks to his soul core, his soul power recovered quickly even after total depletion. Still, it was about time to start working on condensing his second soul core.
As his power and soul energy reserves increased, one core simply wasn't enough anymore. Even now, it had taken over an hour for him to fully recover. But with two cores, that situation would be completely different.
The only issue was that he hadn't yet decided how to merge two cores properly. Of course, he'd need to go to his teacher for guidance.
After washing up, Li Chang'an didn't go looking for Xiao Wu or Zhu Zhuqing right away. There was another girl he wanted to see—his slender-waisted beauty, Meng Yiran.
He didn't even need to search for her. With a sweep of his spiritual power, he easily located her.
It was already dusk—the perfect time to have a little after-dinner heart-to-heart.
Since this was the teacher dormitory, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing hadn't stayed behind to watch over him. Otherwise, sneaking out would've been far more difficult.
Without any hesitation, Li Chang'an left a note on the table for the girls and quietly slipped away.
The note read:
"I was hurt a little more seriously this time. Heading out to buy some herbs. Back tomorrow—don't worry."
____
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