Who said this card is outrageous?

Li Yao's eyes lit up as she looked at the three cards on the table, wishing she could immediately collect them.

The problem is that in order to prepare enough supplies for exploring the rift and to maintain the best possible condition, she had already emptied her savings.

She wouldn't say she's penniless, but she's definitely strapped for cash. Forget three credit cards, she can't even afford a single SF Express fare.

Zhang Che immediately noticed Li Yao's predicament, but still pushed the three cards in front of her: "Take the cards and use them first, and keep the debt. You can use the resources you collect to pay it off after we come out of the rift."

Li Yao nodded in agreement immediately and said she could draw up a written agreement right now!

"No need," Zhang Che waved his hand. "Don't forget we're teammates now, so there's still some trust between us."

Of course, the main reason is that Zhang Che is not afraid that Li Yao will renege on her debt. If she really dares to have such a little scheme, he will definitely give her an unforgettable experience.

The matter was settled. After Li Yao bound all three cards, the group went to the training ground outside the villa. Zhang Che summoned the [Charizard Dragon] in front of everyone.

A complex blue magic circle lit up in mid-air, and then an orange dragon nearly two meters tall soared into the air, its scales gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.

With its wings flapping, the fire-breathing dragon, under Zhang Che's command, demonstrated its excellent flying ability to everyone.

Charizard, relying on its fearless nature, can easily perform all sorts of maneuvers that are enough to make anyone's heart stop.

Then the Charizard swooped down over the training field, its flames exploding into fireballs in mid-air before finally circling down in front of Zhang Che and nuzzling his palm with its head.

"How about it? Not bad, right?" Zhang Che smiled as he looked at Song Ruolan, who was completely captivated by the dragon's heroic appearance.

If she weren't concerned about her public image, she probably would have pounced on him already.

The two eventually traded for the [Charizard Dragon] for six million Star Coins, with payment consisting of half the Star Coins and extraordinary materials worth three million Star Coins.

After all, Song Ruolan was sent down by the university alliance, and she did have a lot of good stuff. Zhang Che also took the opportunity to enrich his material reserves.

This is also the daily routine for many card makers, alchemists, and other extraordinary individuals; regardless of whether they will ever need the items, they collect them first.

After all, for them, it's always better to have a piece of material, even if it's kept at the bottom of a box, than to have none when they need it.

Over the next few days, under Zhang Che's arrangement, the team members began the process of getting to know each other.

During the day, everyone would do some teamwork exercises on the training field, and at night they would go back to their rooms to rest.

However, this did not mean the training was over. Zhang Che discovered more than once that Song Ruolan summoned Charizard to continue practicing, and occasionally did some particularly outrageous things, as if she was trying to maximize the advantages of their combination.

Li Yao was even more dedicated. After training each day, in addition to continuing to familiarize herself with her cards, she would often take time to go out, and each time she would bring back some information, fully demonstrating her professional abilities as a ranger.

However, with the Rift exploration mission about to begin, most of the new information in Qi'an City is related to it.

A week later, friction between many teams began to emerge.

After the various teams under Qi'an City arrived one after another, the Adventurers' Guild's open training ground became the place where they met.

The reasons for the conflict are not complicated. They are either old grudges from previous missions or dissatisfaction caused by quota allocation and resource competition.

Another possibility is that they simply don't like each other.

The students from the provincial capital thought that those from the cities below were all bumpkins, while the adventurers from the cities below thought that the superhumans from the powerful families in the provincial capital had no real skills.

Zhang Che didn't pay much attention to these things at first.

Since Song Ruolan and Li Yao joined the team, their performance has led to excessive involution within the team: after completing their daily training, instead of going back to rest properly, everyone uses the time that should be for rest for extra training.

Zhang Che considered this highly inadvisable, so without saying a word, he announced a day off so that they could relax properly.

Then he went to his room to continue studying the new cards...

……

Faced with Zhang Che's request, Pan Tingting ultimately chose to get together with Li Yao.

Firstly, Pan Tingting felt that Li Yao was also from Hezhou City and should be on her side; secondly, Li Yao had been going out frequently lately and had explored the surrounding area, so going out with her would improve the efficiency of relaxing the day.

Under Li Yao's arrangement, the two visited several places. When they arrived near a beverage shop that was said to have delicious drinks, they suddenly heard news about "Zhang Che" and unconsciously slowed down.

The sound came from the entrance of the beverage shop. Six students in Qi'an University uniforms, four men and two women, were sitting at a table, each with a half-finished drink in front of them, chatting.

A boy leaned back in his chair and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Do you guys think the story about Zhang Che is true or false? He took on three mid-level transcendents from the Eye of Truth and killed two and seriously injured one. That sounds too exaggerated."

The girl sitting across from him chimed in, "Anyway, I don't really believe it. Either the information is wrong, or someone else is putting credit on him. I've seen this kind of thing before; someone wants to promote him, so they just pin some achievements on him."

Another boy pushed up his glasses: "Senior Su's advancement to the fourth level at the age of nineteen is already the most outrageous record at Qi'an University in recent years. For someone to suddenly appear who is younger and more capable than her, I just don't think it's realistic."

The girl next to him nodded: "Anyway, no one has seen it with their own eyes, so they can say whatever they want."

The group got more and more excited as they talked, completely unaware that someone had stopped next to them and was still continuing to speak.

It wasn't until the boy on the outer side inadvertently looked up and saw someone standing there that he couldn't help but pause in surprise.

The others looked over as well, their expressions varied, but they all kept quiet.

Pan Tingting then slowly spoke: "Could you repeat what you just said?"

Her tone was completely flat, and Li Yao stood half a step behind her, remaining silent.

The students exchanged glances. The boy who had spoken first put down his cup, and his expression changed from casual to somewhat unnatural.

However, he didn't respond. Instead, a girl next to him spoke first: "What we say has nothing to do with you?"

"Because the person you're talking about is my captain." Pan Tingting's tone turned cold. "A top student from Qi'an University, if you dare to talk about others behind their backs, are you afraid of being overheard?"

Pan Tingting's words were really too pointed, so another girl frowned and said, "We were just talking about it privately, we didn't say anything to his face."

“You can’t say it in private either,” Pan Tingting retorted without holding back. “If you’re wrong, you have to admit it.”

"How do you know we're wrong?" the bespectacled boy retorted. "We have no evidence, so what's wrong with us having doubts?"

"So you think Su Muxue is better than our captain just because you've seen her fight?" Pan Tingting looked at him coldly.

"But I didn't, so according to your logic, can I question whether she is also all show and no substance?"

The students didn't respond; after all, they were still students and hadn't reached the point of being truly shameless.

At this moment, the girl sitting at the very back put down her cup, stood up, and said, "Never mind, let's go."

As soon as she stood up, the others followed suit, clearly not wanting to continue arguing in this setting and preparing to leave.

But Pan Tingting didn't move aside. She stood next to the table, her gaze sweeping over the people who had stood up: "You can leave, but take back what you just said first."

The group stopped what they were doing, and one of the boys paused and glanced at her: "What do you want?"

"If you think I'm wrong, go to the ring. The loser must apologize publicly." Only then did Pan Tingting reveal her true purpose.

Chapter 241 Overwhelming Strength

These guys actually dared to slander Zhang Che. For Pan Tingting, how could just a few words of verbal sparring be enough?

It just so happens that she hasn't really taken action in a while, and these few clueless guys appearing is just in time!

The air around them tensed up as soon as he said that, and the expression on the boy's face changed from somewhat unnatural to a hint of impatience.

The boy with glasses was even more indignant and said directly, "Why are you so unforgiving?" His tone was noticeably harsher than before.

"Unforgiving when you're in the right? Ha." Pan Tingting looked at him. "You were gossiping about others behind their backs, and you got caught red-handed. You think you can get away unscathed?"

“We didn’t say anything offensive,” one of the girls explained. “It was just a private discussion, why are you taking it so seriously?”

“Absolutely, absolutely!” Pan Tingting said, looking determined to go to the ring and settle things with them.

Finally, the boy with glasses kicked the chair back, stood up, and said, "Fine, I'll go. Don't regret it if you lose."

Pan Tingting glanced at him, did not answer, and turned to walk towards the Adventurers' Guild.

Li Yao followed beside her, and after taking a few steps, she whispered, "Are you really going to fight?"

"I'm afraid even if they all joined together, they wouldn't be enough for me to beat!" Pan Tingting said with disdain.

……

Since it involved two exploration teams, the news spread quickly and attracted a lot of attention. Many people who liked to join in the fun immediately gathered at the Adventurers' Guild's training ground.

Ever since the various squads moved into Qi'an City, there has been no peace and quiet here.

The risks of exploring the rift are obvious, so no one dares to slack off. Daily training has become a must, and the guild's open training ground, with its complete facilities, is naturally the best choice.

During this period, the training grounds were packed with people every day, and the arenas were filled with matches from morning till night, with the roar of energy collisions rising and falling.

Seeing the two groups about to clash, the people who were originally sparring on the stage wisely gave up their spot, also wanting to see how the two sides would fight.

Pan Tingting was the first to leap onto the ring, her chin slightly raised, her arrogance undisguised: "Stop dawdling, all six of you come at me at once, so I don't have to take you down one by one. It'll show you what the real difference is!"

This is the true face of Miss Pan. Her gentle and ladylike demeanor when she is with Zhang Che is just a deliberate suppression of her true nature.

The six people opposite were all students of Qi'an University. As the pride of the nation from the top university in the Southeast Province, they were always proud and arrogant.

The fact that all of them could advance to the third-tier extraordinary level in their sophomore year is indeed a strength that most of their peers can only dream of.

At this moment, being provoked by a girl like this, they were all so angry that their faces turned red.

"Arrogant!" one of the tall boys suppressed his anger. "We're not about to gang up on you. Let me deal with you first!"

After saying that, he leaped onto the arena, his long staff humming as it emitted brownish-red earth-attribute fighting energy.

However, just as he assumed his starting stance, Pan Tingting activated the card in her hand. A blue light flashed, and the [Black Feather Black Spear] appeared.

The two-meter-tall crow-man gripped a long spear, his scarlet eyes locked onto his opponent, the dark energy emanating from the spear tip carrying a chilling aura.

"So he's a card master." The boy sneered inwardly, showing no fear on his face, and raised his stick to chop at the target.

But before he could even finish his move, it was blocked by Black Feather Black Spear's long spear sweeping across him.

With a muffled "clang," the boy felt a tremendous force travel up the stick, his hand went numb instantly, and the stick almost slipped from his grasp.

Before he could regain his footing, Black Spear changed tactics, the spear shaft coiling around his wrist like a snake, and with a gentle flick, sent him staggering backward, finally crashing off the stage with a thud, looking utterly disheveled.

The room fell silent for a moment, then erupted in low chuckles.

Pan Tingting glanced at the five people below the stage who were dumbfounded, and then summoned two third-tier blue cards, [Black Feather Gale] and [Black Feather Azure Flame].

The three black-feathered summons stood in a triangle formation, while she stood with her arms crossed, her tone tinged with mockery: "Still want a one-on-one fight? I'm ready to oblige."

The remaining five people's faces turned pale and then red.

Three Tier 3 Blue Cards – this lineup is enough to put not only these sophomores to a fight, but even to contend with Tier 3 peak seniors in their junior or senior years. Clearly, none of them can contend with it alone.

"Go!" The leading boy gritted his teeth, and the five of them leaped onto the stage together.

A fierce confrontation erupted instantly.

Fortunately, the arena was large enough that even with five people and three summoned creatures fighting, it didn't feel crowded.