Chapter 160: Psychic Powers Showdown

Chapter 160: Psychic Powers Showdown

Yunding Mountain Villa.

The lake reflects the autumn light, its ripples sparkling.

A gust of wind carries fine reddish-brown nettle seeds from a slender, pale palm. They fall to the ground and instantly grow into a dense patch of nettles as tall as a person.

The furry, mutated nettle leaves sway in the wind, their square stems sprouting transparent stinging hairs as fine as ox hair but as sharp as scorpion stings. Once they come into contact with a person, the tips of the stinging hairs break off, releasing formic acid and causing unbearable pain.

Comet yelped and ran to the other side, clearly not wanting to provoke these terrifying plants.

Amidst the fluttering stems and leaves, a young girl stands gracefully in the nettle patch, smiling like a flower.

However, after a while, her sweet smile stiffens.

She watches as countless wriggling black fluffy balls continuously seep out from the ground, devouring the nettle thorns that would make most people cringe. Soon, all the summoned nettle leaves are corroded and consumed by the shadow balls, withering and drooping.

Zhao Yi stands on the other side of the garden, waving his hand to summon shadow balls. A group of ducklings clusters around him, quacking loudly as they charge toward Ren Duoduo.

Zhao Yi smirks with a hint of pride, his eyes slightly moving. Though still somewhat dazed, he can now vaguely make out some shapes.

Qin Mu is on the second-floor balcony, grilling the smoked goose Ren Yuefei brought, while pointing and commenting: "Little Duoduo doesn’t realize that Zhao Yi is my disciple, with the most experience in battling wood abilities."

Ren Yuefei laughs: "It's rare indeed. Duoduo is nearly unbeatable at her level with these mutated nettles, carrying large bags of seeds wherever she goes. Let her lose this time, so she knows there's always someone better."

Zhou Yun, watching from the side, says: "Duoduo still lacks experience. Shadow attributes are indeed overpowered, making them unbeatable within the same rank. Light-based plants are rare for now, but you can first release some sensitive and fine small plants to consume them."

"For example, sensitive-leafed mimosa, seed-shooting oxalis, spore-releasing fungi, etc., all automatic defenses, rapid reproduction. A little energy can produce thousands, quickly filling every nook and cranny, consuming those shadow balls efficiently."

Qin Mu: "..."

Zhou Yun raises his eyebrows slightly at him, very pleased.

Qin Mu says: "What if I summon my shadow frog and spray some plague?"

Zhou Yun reaches out and grabs: "Thorny tendrils can handle it; they’re immune to viruses."

Qin Mu snorts coldly, but Zhou Yun is eager: "Why not head down and have a match."

Qin Mu changes the subject: "Let’s not, General Ren has come a long way."

Ren Yuefei is also eager: "How about I have a match with the city lord."

Guan Yuanfeng says: "I’ll take you on."

Ren Yuefei: "..."

Zhou Yun stifles a laugh. Guan Yuanfeng has not yet reached the fifth rank, likely because his meridians are too robust. Advancing in dual elements is naturally slower than for most people. His slow progress only hints at how devastating his attack power will be once he reaches the fifth rank. Even now at the fourth rank, as a fifth ranker, I might not fare well in a duel with him.

Ren Yuefei grumbles: "Your lightning strikes are either fatal or crippling. How can we spar? I doubt even a light-based healer nearby could save someone in time."

Qin Mu also empathizes: "Yes, sometimes I really want to go all out against the city lord and General Guan, but I’m worried about injuring the city lord." He’d definitely be hunted down by Guan Yuanfeng’s lightning.

Guan Yuanfeng says: "You won’t be able to hurt him."

Qin Sheng is also eager: "I’d love to have an exhilarating spar with General Ren."

Zhu Zhuan says: "Our newly awakened psychic powers are itching for a little spar with someone."

Qin Sheng was surprised: "Brother Zhu, you're just a light abilities healer, what's there to spar about?"

Zhu Zhuan: "..."

Zhou Yun, however, fell into deep thought.

Professor Mi, who was nearby, said: "Now that our Guixu Academy is establishing a new Psychic Academy, we're also facing this issue. We can teach the basic applications and uses of psychic powers, but when it comes to psychic powers combat, it seems we can only conduct practical training against mutant creatures and zombie."

"How can psychics spar without going too far? If they hold back, it essentially becomes just a display of psychic powers, not allowing them to truly feel the gap in psychic skills and quickly improve their combat abilities. So now we're debating whether we need to build a dedicated psychic powers arena, which is a point of contention in our planning."

Guan Yuanfeng said: "This is also a problem in the training of the Psychic Special Forces. There's no way around it; many psychic powers only have damaging skills, and it's hard to control them to just a point. If you don't let them use their lethal skills, they can't fight effectively."

Zhou Yun suddenly said: "We can build a psychic powers arena, make it larger, use more robust materials, and build it in a more remote location. We can add more spectator seats and utilize existing stadiums to enhance it."

Yao Huan asked: "Do you have any good ideas?"

Zhou Yun replied: "Yesterday, Ye Yuqing called and said they've managed to create crystal core energy shields and crystal core energy guns using volcanic spider silk, though it still needs some refinement."

"First, we can set up shadow hemp energy shields around the arena to contain any overflow damage from psychic powers combatants, preventing harm to the surrounding buildings and spectators."

"Then, each psychic powers combatant can deploy their own psychic powers-specific energy shield for the match. The fight ends when a shield breaks. Whoever's shield breaks first loses."

Everyone looked at Zhou Yun, their eyes filled with excitement.

Yao Huan praised: "This idea is feasible!"

Zhu Zhuan immediately said: "I'll arrange the planning for the arena."

Qin Mu said: "I'll contact General Ye to see how we can refine the arena shields and personal protective shields. We'll get the research team on it and produce them as soon as possible, aiming to have them ready before Guixu Academy opens. It'll be a great promotional point."

Ren Yuefei's eyes sparkled: "That old fox Ye is too secretive. He's made such great progress with crystal core energy and didn't reveal a thing. No wonder I heard he made a grand display at the military court, deploying a group light abilities shield. I thought he had only just awakened his psychic powers a few months ago—could he really be that talented?"

Guan Yuanfeng looked at him: "You know about it too?"

Ren Yuefei chuckled: "All the top military brass who should know, know. It was supposed to be a secret, but Ye Shiqing's actions were so shocking that it leaked out anyway. Combined with the recent therapeutic paper published by Guixu, everyone has guessed who the case of the amputated limbs and blindness was. The pressure on the Lord of Dongjun must be immense."

"Since I have good relations with Guixu City, I've been getting a lot of calls recently, asking me to act as an intermediary. They're willing to pay a hefty price to have the Lord of Dongjun perform crystal core energy transplants for them."

Ren Yuefei looked at Zhou Yun: "I didn't dare agree, just said I didn't know about it. The Lord must be very careful about his safety recently."

Yao Huan said: "Even my inbox is flooded. I've stopped checking it myself and have Xiao Qi handle it for me."

Zhou Yun: "..."

Yao Huan continued: "That young Yi has been going through people to apologize to me, asking me to put in a good word for him. He says he knows he was wrong and is willing to dedicate himself fully to research, hoping we'll give him another chance. He's sent me several thick documents in my email detailing his research ideas and insights on shadow hemp, along with some suggestions for the herb garden. It's quite sincere."

"I think he's actually quite solid, a good candidate for dedicated research. Given that the academy is being established and we're short on people, maybe we can let him participate in some of the school's ordinary projects, even if he's not involved in the core ones."

Zhou Yun was surprised that Yao Huan suddenly brought up Yi Qian, but quickly understood. His teacher was likely trying to divert the conversation from the topic of crystal core energy transplants that Ren Yuefei had brought up, fearing it might put him in a difficult position, rather than genuinely pleading for Yi Qian.

He smiled: "Teacher, you can handle it as you see fit. I also think he's a promising talent, which is why I've kept him focused on research in the herb garden. I've read some of his reports on shadow hemp, and they're quite solid." If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have imparted all his knowledge to him in his previous life.

Yao Huan said: "Alright, I'll see what projects we have and have someone guide him."

Qin Mu laughed: "Let's eat. I think the two kids have sparred enough."

In the garden, Ren Duoduo and Zhao Yi, who had been fiercely battling earlier, were now playing with the shadow ducks, accompanied by Comet, their laughter continuous.