"Stop him!" Wang Zhen roared, his expression utterly savage.
Getting your shot blocked is embarrassing, let alone when the one blocking you is a newbie who couldn't even dribble properly before.
Xing Qiang bellowed and charged at Zhao Yuan, intending to use the same dirty trick on him that he'd used on Guo Shun.
Zhao Yuan crouched slightly, subconsciously assuming the stance of the White Tiger Form. A terrifying aura erupted from his body. As Xing Qiang rushed toward him, he was overcome with an illusion—he wasn't facing a man, but a ferocious, striped tiger!
"Holy crap!" Xing Qiang's legs went soft from fear, and he plopped right onto the ground.
Zhao Yuan quickly bypassed him and continued his dash toward the basket.
Two more players from Orthopedics Class Two ran over, intending to double-team and block him. This time, Zhao Yuan executed the Cyan Dragon Form. His footwork was erratic, his movements unpredictable. A series of feints left his opponents dumbfounded; they didn't even realize when Zhao Yuan had gotten past them.
In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yuan was under the basket.
"Don't worry, he can't make the shot!" Wang Zhen yelled, as much to reassure his teammates as to convince himself.
"Right, that newbie couldn't even dribble a moment ago. How could he possibly score? It'll definitely be an airball!" Xing Qiang nodded in agreement.
This time, however, both of them were wrong.
It was true that Zhao Yuan was a newbie, but this newbie had remarkably precise control over his strength! What's more, there was no one around to interfere with his shot.
He jumped and released the ball.
The basketball traced a perfect arc and fell through the net.
It's in! A score!
Zhao Yuan raised both hands and let out a roar, both to rally his own team and to taunt Orthopedics Class Two.
"A lucky shot. That was definitely just a lucky shot..." Wang Zhen consoled his players, though even he didn't believe his own words.
Liu Zhu and the others, however, were deeply inspired and incredibly excited by Zhao Yuan's string of plays.
"Old Third, that was beautiful!"
"Zhao Yuan, I never knew you were so good at basketball!"
"The steal, the dribble past them, and the score—a one-man fast break! That was just insane!"
Zhao Yuan was excited too. Through that series of movements, his control over his strength had become even more precise. It made him realize that besides practicing the Four Saints Technique, ordinary physical exercise could also serve as a supplementary form of Cultivation.
Taking a deep breath, Zhao Yuan shouted, "Let's go! Let's crush them!"
"Let's crush them!" Liu Zhu and the others roared in unison, their fighting spirit soaring to its peak.
The game continued.
After witnessing Zhao Yuan's abilities, Liu Zhu and the others started passing the ball to him every chance they got. And in the process, Zhao Yuan's basketball skills improved rapidly.
The players from Orthopedics Class Two were at their wits' end.
One man couldn't handle Zhao Yuan. A double-team was useless. If three of them surrounded him, he would just pass the ball to a teammate for a score. It wasn't that Wang Zhen hadn't considered using violent fouls to take Zhao Yuan out of the game. However, whenever his players crashed into Zhao Yuan, it was like hitting a solid wall. Instead of injuring their target, they ended up with sprained ankles and broken bones... They were truly reaping what they sowed!
Xing Qiang, the one who had injured Guo Shun, was hurt the worst. He had been carried off the court and sent to the infirmary early on.
Wang Zhen and his teammates couldn't understand it. How could the obviously skinny Zhao Yuan be so solid and powerful that he made muscle-bound brutes like them suffer such a huge loss?
How could they possibly know that every time they collided, Zhao Yuan would use the Black Tortoise Form from his Four Saints Technique? The defensive power of this form was immense. Even though Zhao Yuan was only a beginner, it was more than enough to deal with the likes of Wang Zhen!
Under Zhao Yuan's leadership, the Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Class Three played with increasing ferocity, while Orthopedics Class Two's morale plummeted, their fighting spirit completely gone.
The score gap between the two teams widened once again, growing larger and larger.
After building a lead of more than forty points, Zhao Yuan said to Liu Zhu, "Boss, get someone to sub in for me. I'm leaving the rest of the game to you guys."
"Alright, go get some rest. We're already up by more than forty points; there's no way we can lose now." Liu Zhu nodded. Seeing Zhao Yuan's pale face, he assumed it was due to exhaustion from overexertion, never suspecting that Zhao Yuan was actually starving.
Cultivating the Four Saints Technique consumed a great deal of energy on its own. Combined with the intense exercise, the steamed buns Zhao Yuan had eaten earlier were long gone. He had to go back and get some food, or he would pass out from hunger, if not starve to death.
Before he left, Zhao Yuan didn't forget to give a warning to the despicable Wang Zhen and his cronies.
"Don't think you can do whatever you want just because I'm leaving. If anyone dares to intentionally injure someone, I'll be coming to settle the score with them later!"
Hearing this, Wang Zhen and his teammates all flinched. Their fear of Zhao Yuan had already seeped deep into their bones.
On the way back to the dorm, he passed by the library. A graceful figure emerged from within.
A few male students walking in front of Zhao Yuan suddenly lit up, getting as worked up as if they'd been shot with adrenaline.
"Quick, look! It's the Sweetheart Goddess of the Nursing Department!"
"Sweetheart Goddess? You mean Lin Xue? Where?"
"Are you blind? She's right there at the library entrance."
"Wow, Lin Xue is even cuter in person than in her photos. I'm falling for her."
"I've already fallen! If I could get Lin Xue to be my girlfriend, I'd be willing to fail and retake my classes every single year!"
'Lin Xue, the Sweetheart Goddess of the Nursing Department? Why does that name sound so familiar?'
Zhao Yuan quickly remembered. Some busybody had organized a "God and Goddess" poll on the school forums, posting a bunch of photos of handsome guys and beautiful girls from each department and letting students vote for the top ten in each. This Lin Xue was ranked sixth among the ten "goddesses" of the Nursing Department. Because of her sweet and cute appearance and her gentle, kind personality, she had earned the nickname "Sweetheart Goddess" and was widely admired by the male student body.
Liu Zhu was one of Lin Xue's most loyal fans. The only reason Zhao Yuan knew of her was because Liu Zhu talked about her nonstop.
'So this is Lin Xue? She really is pretty cute. But something seems off about her complexion.' Zhao Yuan's brows furrowed slightly.
Just then, Lin Xue staggered and suddenly collapsed. People nearby rushed to help her up, only to find she couldn't even stand steadily. Her pretty face was frighteningly pale, cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and she clutched her abdomen with both hands, her expression one of extreme pain.
"Lin Xue, what's wrong?"
"Where does it hurt?"
A crowd immediately gathered around her, asking a flurry of questions. But by this point, Lin Xue was in too much pain to speak.
The crowd descended into chaos.
"Quick, dial 120! Call an ambulance!"
"Let's take her to the infirmary first, it's closer!"
"Our class counselor is in the library, I'll go get him!"