According to the ranking battles rules, the person who ranked below could challenge the person with a higher ranking at any time, and the opponent must accept it unconditionally.
Lin Su ranked 3rd, while Zheng Qing ranked 10th.
In theory, Zheng Qing could choose not to accept his challenge.
However, Zheng Qing had been arrogant just now, and he had kept provoking others. If he declined the challenge, he would not be able to find a way out of this embarrassing situation.
“Since you took the initiative to challenge, it’s not that I won’t accept it, however…”
Zheng Qing sounded hesitant, and he looked reluctant.
It seemed that he was very wary of Lin Su.
This was understandable. Just looking at the rankings, both of them were worlds apart in terms of their abilities. Zheng Qing had always been cunning. Naturally, he would find a good excuse to back down with good grace.
However, Lin Su would not go easy on him, interrupting him directly. “No more hesitation. Just one word, will you accept the challenge or not?”
Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment, looking at the people around him from the corner of his eyes, then nodded with a heavy heart.
The ranking battle stage was activated again. Unlike other battles, if someone from the top ten positions joined the battle, it had to go through thorough confirmations.
As if unable to wait, Lin Su hurriedly nodded and launched an attack.
The beast he summoned was totally different from the Icicles River Carp. Even before the beast took shape, everyone could feel a strong heatwave, as scorching as the burning sun.
It looked like a flying swallow with a sharp golden beak. It had scarlet red feathers all over the body and a long tail feather.
Perhaps due to its original color or for other reasons, the long tail feather shone with golden-like patterns.
[The Taming System has been launched. Identifying…]
[Glittering Golden-Feathered Swallow: A super-grade beast. Embedded with high-grade Water Attribute Attack Spirit Core, and high-grade Fire Attribute Attack Spirit Core.]
[Talent skill: Golden Feather. It can be separated from its own tail feather and be used as an independent attack.]
[Skills book: Burning The Earth. This increases the fire attribute attack, and while causing fire attribute damage, reducing damage sustained by itself.]
[Skills book: Repelling Water. This increases the degree of attribute compatibility, forming a shield after active activation. It resists water attribute damage and reduces its additional control effects.]
Chen An finished reading the Glittering Golden-Feathered Swallow’s attributes. Lin Su’s beast was Zheng Qing’s nemesis.
He was about to exclaim in amazement when he noticed that things were getting tense on the battle stage. The Glittering Golden-Feathered Swallow’s tail feather turned into a beam of golden light, piercing toward Zheng Qing.
Zheng Qing could not even dodge and was being stabbed by it.
Chen An found this scene to be very familiar.
This was similar to what had happened when he used the skill of the Silver-Feathered Eagle to defeat Zheng Qing within seconds. Both of them utilized the skills of flying feather-type beasts, and both of them used the feather of birds to attack the opponents.
This was how Zheng Qing was defeated twice in front of everyone.
Lin Su wrapped his arms around his chest. The Glittering Golden-Feathered Swallow appeared for only a few seconds and had completed its mission. Thus, it was put away.
The fastest way to defeat Zheng Qing’s Joint Combo was to win with speed and to end the battle in the shortest time possible, without giving him a chance to use it.
Lin Su walked to Zheng Qing. “So this is how powerful you are.”
Zheng Qing had no way to refute. No one who witnessed the battle could find a reason for Zheng Qing’s failure.
“Therefore, I also have the right to suspect that there was something fishy with the previous battle.” Lin Su unilaterally announced, “The previous challenge is not counted. You should be content with being in the 98th place. Be honest and return to where you should be.”
With that, Lin Su stepped off the battle stage.
The person ranked 10th, who had previously lost to Zheng Qing, approached him and bowed his head as if following on the heels of Lin Su.
Lin Su lowered his voice, his tone menacing. “This time, I made a move just to maintain a balance in the rankings. However, if you can’t defend your ranking next time, you can only blame yourself for not being as powerful as others!”
The man kept nodding his head, looking like a yes-man.
Lin Su ignored the person and walked in Lin Yingxue’s direction.
Chen An immediately became alert when he saw him approaching Lin Yingxue. Even if he knew that they had the same surname, he still did not know how they were related to each other.
Regardless, they definitely did not have a good relationship.
When Lin Yingxue saw Lin Su approaching, she took a step back in disgust.
Lin Su chuckled lightly and did not wish to invite a snuff for himself. “Cousin, if you have enough fun outside, you should come back to the Glittering Fiery Feather clan as soon as possible. After all, you can only improve quickly if you are in the clan. Otherwise, all your efforts—”
“I understand.” Lin Yingxue interrupted him curtly. She had heard these words countless times.
Perhaps, Lin Su had revealed too much information. Lin Yingxue looked at Chen An subconsciously when they were talking, as if she was worried about her secret being discovered.
This glance of hers caught Lin Su’s attention, and when he looked in that direction, there was no shock or surprise in his eyes.
Chen An had the feeling that Lin Su knew who he was, however, he did not know him at all.
“I know you are powerful, but De Yuan College’s rankings, especially the top ten, are not easily taken. Even if one is powerful, one does not have the right to claim those rankings.” Lin Su had said previously that he would maintain the balance of the rankings. “I hope there would be no other arrogant person who dares to challenge the top ten positions, wanting to achieve instant success.”
“Is this a warning?” Chen An asked a question in reply, an ecstatic look in his eyes.
“No, this is just a suggestion. As for whether you want to adopt it or not… It’s up to you.”
Chen An chuckled slightly. Lin Su was a shrewd and unfathomable person.
That day, Zheng Qing was lifted off the battle stage. His face was facing the sky, so no one saw the expression on his face.
The onlookers just snickered. For them, this incident was an unprecedented joke in De Yuan.
It was a pity. After that incident, Zheng Qing kept a low profile. He remained in his 98th position and did not challenge anyone else.
There were no new happenings, and the onlookers could not help but feel bored. They asked around, and still, there was no progress.
Since Zheng Qing kept a low profile, they decided to inquire about Chen An’s recent activities.
In the end, what they found out was Liu Ran had treated Chen An to a meal after the incident as an apology. They did not have the exact details as to the reason behind it.
Several days passed. Just when everyone thought that this incident was over, Chen An stepped onto the battle stage.
“Really! He finally can’t hold back anymore. Hahaha, hurry up, let’s go and take a look!”
“Hurry, tell me, to whom did he issue a challenge? Could it be the unlucky man again? The person who is in the 10th place?”
“Or did he challenge Zheng Qing? That would be a good show.”
However, all of them were wrong. Chen An did not challenge the high-ranking people, and he bypassed Zheng Qing.
After challenging the 99th place, he went on to challenge the 97th place.
After hearing that he challenged the person ranked 97th, the onlookers were no longer enthusiastic about the match.
“This is so boring!”
“What about Zheng Qing? Chen An bypassed him, yet he kept quiet about it?”
On the leaderboard, If one bypassed the person directly ranked one position above them to challenge others, everyone who ranked in between on the leaderboard had the right to stop them. Chen An ranked 99th, and since he challenged the person ranked 97th, Zheng Qing had the right to challenge him.