With Bai Qi's shout of "Begin," the match officially commenced.
Bai Qiao smiled and was the first to attack Dao Long. She vanished from her spot in an instant, reappearing like a phantom before Dao Long the next moment, her fist aimed at his face.
Witnessing such a simple and brutal offensive, not only did Bai Qi frown, but the students and teachers watching from the sidelines couldn't help but shake their heads repeatedly.
While it was true that many in the academy chose to be close-combat mages, even they would cast various spells to enhance their strength, agility, and other attributes before a fight. Bai Qiao's direct charge and punch were utterly uncharacteristic of a mage.
As expected.
*Bang!*
Just as Bai Qiao's fist was about to connect with Dao Long's face, it was blocked by an invisible wall. Not only did it fail to harm Dao Long, but Bai Qiao herself was sent flying backward, crashing to the ground and leaving a long skid mark.
"That's the Dean's Shield Counter!"
"Hahaha, this is hilarious! The little girl actually sent herself flying with her own punch."
"Trying to break through the Dean's Shield Counter with brute force is just laughable."
"All of you, shut up! What are you laughing at!"
As Bai Qiao got up from the ground, she heard the taunts and angrily retorted. She then looked forward and muttered, "I have so much strength, yet I sent myself this far with a single punch. Hmph, let's see how many attacks your shield can block."
With that, Bai Qiao charged forward again, without another word, and punched the Shield Counter once more.
Unsurprisingly, Bai Qiao was repelled again.
However, Bai Qiao paid it no mind. Despite her repeated, seemingly embarrassing repels, the sheer toughness of her body meant that the damage was barely enough to tickle her.
Yet, this style of fighting solely with brute force greatly displeased Bai Qi, who watched on. It was a waste of her magical talent.
Returning to the present.
After being repelled seven or eight times, on the ninth punch, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, Dao Long's Shield Counter was broken.
However, the moment the shield shattered, Dao Long retreated rapidly, simultaneously waving his staff. Over a dozen basketball-sized fireballs rained down upon Bai Qiao.
Bai Qiao's punch missed, crashing into the ground. With her lack of control over her strength, half her arm plunged into the earth. As she looked up, more than a dozen fireballs directly struck her face.
As a thick cloud of dust engulfed Bai Qiao, many gasped in shock.
"The Dean is really ruthless!"
"Such a pretty young lady, is the Dean going to send her off just like that?"
As people whispered amongst themselves, Bai Qiao burst through the dust and charged at Dao Long again.
Having learned from her previous experience, Bai Qiao's attacks were noticeably smarter now. Although still a close-quarters engagement, her arms were now each wrapped in a fire dragon. As Dao Long dodged Bai Qiao's assault, the two fire dragons came alive, lunging at him.
*Boom!*
The moment the two fire dragons bit down on Dao Long, they erupted in a violent explosion, engulfing him in scorching flames.
This caused Bai Qiao some panic. She wondered if she had burned the opponent to death.
"This old man, though he's a bit ugly and forces me to study, he doesn't deserve to die. Besides, my father values him quite a bit."
Thinking this, Bai Qiao was about to withdraw the flames.
But just then, Dao Long within the flames vanished into a wisp of black smoke. The next moment, a staff tapped Bai Qiao on the head from behind.
*Dong!*
A clear sound echoed, silencing everyone present. After a few seconds of silence, bursts of laughter erupted.
Dao Long's strike didn't cause Bai Qiao much damage, but the insult was immense.
"Argh! This is infuriating!"
Enraged, Bai Qiao stopped holding back and turned to attack, but she missed again. The moment her fist touched Dao Long, his body shattered, and he transformed into a serpent that coiled around Bai Qiao.
"Get off me!"
With Bai Qiao's strength, a little effort from her hands was enough to tear the serpent wrapped around her body in half.
But just as Bai Qiao dealt with the serpent, Dao Long had already completed his next spell. Several bolts of lightning descended from the sky, striking Bai Qiao directly. Then, the ground began to shake as earth spikes, as thick as bowls, erupted from the ground, piercing Bai Qiao from all sides.
For any ordinary person, this combo would have been fatal. Even a seasoned, second-tier superhero would likely have been left half-dead. But this was Bai Qiao. The lightning might have caused her some minor damage, but the earth spikes only served to anchor her slightly; they couldn't pierce her body at all.
"Gan! Wen! Cui!"
Purple-black energy floated out of Dao Long's staff, morphing into three dark assassins.
These three dark assassins were clad in silver heavy armor, inscribed with intricate magic runes. Even the weapons they wielded were powerful magic artifacts.
These were all creations Dao Long had made using vast amounts of precious materials after arriving at the academy.
"Go!"
At Dao Long's command, the three dark assassins surged forward, attacking Bai Qiao from three different directions.
Seeing this, Bai Qiao remained unfazed, believing that her exceptional physical toughness meant these attacks couldn't harm her. However, she soon realized she was mistaken.
The dark assassins' weapons, greatly enhanced by magic, possessed an incredibly terrifying sharpness. After all, Dao Long had modeled them after beings with bodies of steel when he created them.
Just as Bai Qiao was preparing to withstand the three attacks with her body and then defeat them all in one go, a sense of inexplicable danger washed over her. Without a second thought, she broke free from the earth spikes' restraint and rapidly dodged, disappearing from their sight with a blink.
However, Wen, wielding a shuriken, raised an eyebrow and casually threw the shuriken in one direction.
Wen had clearly predicted Bai Qiao's trajectory. The moment he threw the shuriken, Bai Qiao appeared, her position directly in the path of the flying weapon.
Seeing the shuriken hurtling towards her, Bai Qiao quickly dodged to the side while simultaneously unleashing two fire dragons to attack.
But the enchanted shuriken's power was too formidable. The moment Bai Qiao's fire dragons made contact, they were sliced in half by the sharp blade.
This was bad. Not only had Bai Qiao's magic failed to affect the shuriken, but her spellcasting had also cost her precious dodging time. As a result, she had dodged but not completely, her arm being grazed by the shuriken's sharp edge.
Looking at the long gash on her right arm, though it healed within five seconds due to Bai Qiao's incredible regenerative abilities, this was the first time she had been injured since she could remember.