I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 59

“I’m very sure! I want to attend Yuling Academy!” Yang Qian nodded, cupping her chin with both hands as she looked at Yan Yu with worship all over her face. “I want to become someone as amazing as Sister too, so out of respect for you, I’ll definitely use all my strength to finish this match with you!”

“I see…” There was really no need.

“First group of candidates, please enter the stage for combat.” The chief proctor, Liang Cheng, looked in their direction.

“Let’s go, Sister. I’m so excited!” Yang Qian grabbed Yan Yu’s sleeve and pulled her toward the arena. “Just thinking that I’d get to see you today made me so excited I couldn’t sleep last night.”

Yan Yu’s face looked bitter. Compared with Yang Qian, her mood was the complete opposite.

If she had known she would face the little princess today and even be drawn as the first to go on stage, she definitely would have stayed up all night training, not daring to rest for even a minute.

“Prepare—” Amid the referee’s voice, Yang Qian simultaneously shouted the spell to summon combined beast form. “FU LA VOO.”

Her Beast Soul was a peacock. After hearing the summons, it immediately leapt out and combined with her in beast form.

The muscles in the young girl’s slender legs rapidly swelled. The little girl who had originally been half a head shorter than Yan Yu instantly shot up in height. Her toes turned into bird claws, and above her knees were sturdy muscle blocks that looked like inverted little hills, making her lower body seem extremely stable.

White and cyan Beast Marks grew around her eyes. Both her arms lengthened just like her legs, even directly tearing through her sleeves. Sharp backward-curving spurs grew from her elbows, somewhat similar to the spurs on birds’ feet.

After the combined beast form was complete, Yang Qian flicked out a long whip from behind her. It struck the ground with a crack, setting the stage.

At the same time, Yan Yu also dragged Panpan out of her Soul Domain. Its size had improved greatly, and it had now grown to Yan Yu’s shoulder. However, compared with Yang Qian’s current height, it still seemed somewhat “petite.”

“Begin—”

The moment the referee’s voice fell, Yang Qian seized the initiative and charged at Yan Yu. The long whip, twisted from black-blue and cyan, danced several times in the air, then swung toward Panpan with a serpentine path that was difficult to dodge. Just as Panpan tried to raise its paw and catch it, the whip followed the wind and transformed into an illusion. That peacock-shaped phantom opened its sharp beak, cried once, and lunged to bite Panpan’s forehead.

Panpan had never truly fought anyone in actual combat before. It was startled by how serious this person and Beast Soul were, and belatedly rolled backward. Although its movements were clumsy, fortunately, it successfully dodged.

Only, it still paid the price for being half a beat too slow.

“Ah! My fur! My fur!” It cried with a sob in its voice, its two short, plump paws scratching wildly beside its big head, but no matter what, it could not reach the top of its head.

Even if it could not touch the top of its head, that chilly feeling clearly told it that the fur on its head had been pecked bald!

Did they think the fatty was a sick cat if it didn’t show its might?

Panpan, whose anger had been stirred, puffed up angrily and planted its paws on its waist. Its belly rounded like a balloon, and with a milky roar, it fired out soul power.

“You plucked away my fur!”

The fluctuation brought by its soul power stirred up a wild gust of wind. Even though Yang Qian had prepared in advance by hooking the claws of both feet into the ground, she was still blown up “by the roots.”

Her whole body flipped backward, tumbling two rounds uncontrollably through the air. Just as she was about to be thrown out of the arena, she cleverly flung out her whip, wrapped it around one of the arena pillars, and pulled herself back.

“Ah~ this Beast Soul is so cute! Furry and chubby, and its voice is so milky!”

“If it only knew how to act cute, that would be one thing, but its soul power is strong too! Unlike the one at my house that only knows how to eat, sleep, and beat up Doudou all day.”

“But what kind of beast is this? A mix between a black bear and a white bear?” someone asked in confusion. “But if you look carefully, its appearance doesn’t quite match. This one is rounder and doesn’t look that fierce.”

“I don’t know. But there are a lot of Beast Souls I don’t know, hahaha.”

“Sister, you really are amazing.” Although Yang Qian had taken a tumble, she looked even happier than before. She quickly adjusted her state and said eagerly, “Then I have to work hard too.”

Yan Yu, who had barely moved at all: That wasn’t how you were supposed to blow rainbow-fart praise. The one who attacked just now was my Beast Soul, not me.

“Sister, this time you receive the move!”

The whip swung toward Yan Yu suddenly split into two strands. One black-blue strand went toward Panpan, while the cyan one flew toward her.

Of course, Panpan would not fall into the same pit twice. Holding its big head, it rapidly ran away in a nimble yet comical posture, while Yan Yu still did not move. Her hands formed a spiritual art, and a semi-circular transparent protective shield quickly spread open above her head.

Yang Qian’s fierce attack touched the barrier, then went pa like a firecracker that had misfired, giving only a muffled sound before all its momentum vanished.

But she was not discouraged. She continuously swung the whip at Yan Yu, yet that barrier remained completely motionless, not even willing to open a single crack.

“What spiritual art is this?” Someone in the audience who could not understand excitedly stood up.

“Was the little princess’s soul power absorbed? Why did it suddenly disappear?”

“No, it was blocked, right?”

“You don’t understand, do you? This is called Healing Arts.” An older candidate proudly explained to the others. “I heard this year’s Healing Arts candidate is really reliable. A basic Healing Arts spiritual art like this is probably nothing more than a sprinkling of water to her.”

“Captain Ling.” The senior student sitting beside Lingqi whispered to her, “Looks like this Yan Yu really does have some skill. The little princess’s attack just now wasn’t light. Not only did she react quickly and block it perfectly, she can also maintain it this long.”

Lingqi’s gaze remained locked on the two figures on stage, unwilling to miss even the smallest detail. “That’s because your standards are too low.”

In her eyes, Yan Yu had exposed far too many flaws. It could be said that aside from her soul power and Beast Soul, she was useless.

Her arms and legs looked as if she had borrowed them from someone else at the last minute, unwilling to move them for half the match. After fighting half a round, the opponent had nearly completed two full sets of spiritual arts, while she had only used one move. Even if she won, once the score was calculated according to the difficulty of the spiritual arts, the number on the form would not look very good.

In other words, if she kept fighting this way for the whole match, she might very well fail the spiritual arts assessment in the end.

Yan Yu could not keep holding up a protective shield and remain still for the entire match. Seizing the gap when Yang Qian’s strength weakened, she withdrew the shield, formed a hand seal with one hand, and launched the spiritual art that Lin Baizhu had called the most cost-effective one, “a candidate would be stupid not to use it.”

This move was performed very formulaically. Not high, not low, with no mistakes, but also nothing brilliant. Still, because it did indeed land on Yang Qian, it could earn extra points.

—Although it did not cause any substantial damage.

After that, she kept using this conservative fighting style, defending more and attacking less. During the intervals, her eyes constantly observed Yang Qian.

When Yang Qian jumped, the hand holding her whip would subconsciously tighten. When she was about to cast spiritual arts, her left foot would step back and she would stop her steps first. Before a rushing move, her eyes would show a subtle change.

Although all of these were extremely inconspicuous little movements, Yan Yu still caught them.

“Sister, you should get serious too!” Yang Qian’s breathing was clearly a little disordered.

Yan Yu’s fighting style was comfortable and easy for herself, but it tormented Yang Qian terribly. It felt like throwing coins at a stone. Clearly, she used all her strength every time, yet could only leave an almost invisible scratch.

After a long time, she did not know whether the stone hurt or not, but her hand was genuinely sore!

Yan Yu withdrew the barrier again but did not answer Yang Qian. She silently calculated her score in her heart. Based on the average admission score from Yuling’s past years, she needed at least seventy-five points to be safe.

Healing Arts spiritual arts gave many extra points, but she was only using the most basic moves, which only added five points each time. The spiritual arts Lin Baizhu had circled were indeed useful, but Yan Yu had just discovered that if she encountered an unfamiliar opponent, her way of attacking became very restricted.

With so many people watching, Yan Yu did not have much confidence using moves she was unfamiliar with, afraid she would make a mistake.

It would be fine if she embarrassed herself, but she did not want to smear the title of “Lin Hegui’s disciple.”

“Mm, you attack. I won’t use the defensive shield anymore.” Her soul power truly could not support it for much longer either.

A long battle was advantageous to Yang Qian, whose stamina was superior.

Although Yan Yu had not shown it on her face, in reality, her mouth was now full of the taste of blood, and her mind was filled only with the thought of quickly finding a trash bin to spit it out.

“Really?” Yang Qian smiled and heavily flung her whip to the side. “Then we can end this quickly.”

Yan Yu keenly sensed the change in her eyes and detected her next move in advance.

—A rush attack.

“Panpan, keep an eye on it.”

This whip was actually formed from the tail feathers of Yang Qian’s Beast Soul. Because it was part of its body, after combined beast form, it could be freely commanded by thought without needing to be held by hand or moved with spiritual arts.

Many people did not know this before suffering a loss.

On this matter, Yan Yu admitted that having read the original text was a bit of a cheat.

“Go!”

Even though she had prepared in advance, Yang Qian’s agility and speed still made Yan Yu somewhat flustered. Panpan was currently fully focused on playing a little game of chase with the peacock illusion that had appeared beside it, so it could not be counted on.

In her haste, Yan Yu raised her arm to block Yang Qian’s side kick. Because she had not had time to gather soul power, she blocked with her physical body alone and was immediately numbed by the powerful force. Her body also tilted. Yang Qian seized the moment when Yan Yu lost her balance, and denser, faster punches rained down.

Yan Yu took advantage of the momentum and dropped to one knee, narrowly dodging. The wind from the fist swept over the top of her head, but her body did not feel pain.

She had no time to breathe a sigh of relief before she had to deal with Yang Qian pressing down again. Facing the twin claws reaching straight toward her, she did not panic. Thinking of the countering move from the book, her left hand wound in from the inside of Yang Qian’s right arm, climbed outward and upward at the elbow until her palm gripped Yang Qian’s shoulder. In this posture, she applied slight force, using inertia to bend the other party’s arm outward and press it down. Smoothly, she broke the full-power strike Yang Qian had just gathered.

“Boss, look again. Her physical arts aren’t completely bad. Her reactions are pretty quick.” The person beside Lingqi hinted at her again. “Our team really is short of Healing Masters.”

Lingqi remained unmoved. “She is not in combined beast form. Using physical arts or countering physical arts won’t count toward her score in this match.”

“…”

“Sister, you really didn’t disappoint me.”

Although her attack had failed, Yang Qian had no intention of retreating to gather strength. She raised her hand and removed the hairpin from her head. Her waterfall-like long hair fell loose. Before anyone could admire its beauty, those fine strands of hair immediately seemed to gain life of their own and began moving independently.

They looked fragile, but they were as tough as iron wire. They could not be cut or burned. Nimbly, they looped into circles and bound Yan Yu tightly, making her unable to move.

“Ten, nine…” The referee began counting.

According to the arena rules, if one side was controlled for more than ten seconds, they would be judged as the losing party.

“No way, is she really going to lose?” The audience began to stir.

“It’s already pretty good for someone studying Healing Arts to fight like this,” that candidate “explained” again. “Didn’t you see that all the spiritual arts she used were basic sets with low training requirements? Accumulated together, the score might not be low, but the damage she deals really isn’t enough to look at. Look at the little princess. Aside from a few drops of sweat, she’s completely unharmed.”

“Ah, I still wanted to go to school with the great beauty. She won’t fail to enroll, right?”

“We’ll have to add in the physical arts score and see. The rest depends on luck. Her score probably won’t be too low. If this year’s admission score isn’t high, maybe there’s still a chance. Doesn’t the Healing Arts department still get a twenty-point reduction?”

“Five… four… three… two…”

Just as the referee was about to shout “one,” the quiet Yan Yu suddenly recited a spell no one expected.

“BAM JUN TOO.” Perhaps her expression was too calm, almost making Yang Qian mistakenly treat this spiritual art as an ordinary basic set.

But she was Yang Pei’s biological daughter. She could forget any spell, but she could never forget this one!

“This is my mother’s spiritual art. Sister, you—”

She did not finish speaking, because at this moment, under the control of spiritual arts, countless Amber Grass roots flew out of Yan Yu’s pocket and were already suspended in the air, arranged into formation.

Because of the restrictions on her body, Yan Yu could not form hand seals, so the effect of the spiritual art would be greatly weakened. But against Yang Qian, who had let her guard down, it was enough.

Dense Amber Grass roots flew toward Yang Qian and neatly pierced into her skin. Because there were too many of them, even though she tried hard to dodge, quite a few still hit her.

Because she had personally seen too many Beast Arts Masters die tragically under this spiritual art, Yang Qian gave up struggling and closed her eyes trembling, waiting for her ending.

But the expected pain did not arrive. What seeped into her wounds was not poison, but a thick transparent liquid.

Yang Qian raised her hand and pulled one out. Just as she was about to ask Yan Yu what she meant, she was shocked to discover that she could not make a sound.

No, not just her voice.

The muscles throughout her entire body were beginning to lose contact with her brain.

—She could not move.

In her vision, those transparent liquids continuously expanded through her skin and shallow muscles until they spread through her whole body. In the end, even her mouth and nose were sealed tightly. Her entire person was wrapped up. Although she could still sense the soul power inside her body, she could not mobilize it at all.

“Mmph, mmph, mmph—”

The dedicated referee came up again and began counting. “Ten, nine… two, one!”

“Whew! She won, she won!” Quite a few spectators were so excited that they jumped up from their seats. They did not know Yan Yu and only knew her name, so they collectively began shouting, “Yan Yu! Yan Yu! Yan Yu…”

The winner was a Healing Arts candidate, and her opponent was the imperial clan’s little princess. How could they not be excited?

Especially some Pill Arts and Beast-Taming candidates. They had also been looked down on for years by those who studied physical arts and spiritual arts. And now! Someone studying Healing Arts had won a fight.

They were so happy they wanted to rush up and kiss Yan Yu!

“See? So what if she studies Healing Arts?” That girl waved her fist happily and said to the candidate who had been “explaining” earlier, “Yay, yay, yay! I can go to school with the great beauty!”

“Wake up. Whether you yourself can pass is still a question.”

Seeing the judgment result come down, Yan Yu immediately went up and undid the spiritual art, rescuing the little princess, who had almost suffocated inside.

But before she could politely ask a few words of concern, the other party opened a pair of starry eyes and shoved her face close. “Sister is so cool! You beat me so thoroughly I had no way to fight back! This is the first time I’ve seen someone who could copy my mother’s spiritual art!”

Yan Yu thought to herself, That’s because you don’t know Teng Jingjie.

“Your Highness overpraises me. I was only lucky. I’m relieved you’re all right.” Yan Yu smiled modestly, raised her leg, and walked down from the arena.

“You fought all right.” Yin Beiqing, who had been waiting to the side for a long time, handed her a cup of water. “Just too slow and fussy. An opponent of this level doesn’t need to be entangled with for so long.”

“I’m not that bad, am I?” The little princess frowned in dissatisfaction. “Sister praised me just now.”

Her head turned toward Yan Yu. “Right, Sister? Hurry and tell her!”

“Mm.” Under the piercing gaze, Yan Yu nodded. “You are indeed very impressive.”

Shua— Yang Qian’s Beast Soul peacock suddenly fanned its tail toward Yan Yu and continuously shook its body.

Yan Yu was dazzled by the shining feathers, nearly unable to drink the water in her hand. She turned slightly to the side, took a sip, and suppressed the taste of blood in her throat.

As soon as she finished drinking and lowered her head, she saw that the peacock had again moved its claws pa-ji, pa-ji to stand in front of her. Once more, shua— it opened its peacock fan toward her. This time, its body shook even more smugly, accompanied by two crisp cries.

Yan Yu rubbed her forehead with a headache and spoke to it. “What are you doing?”

“It likes you, and I like you too.” Yang Qian beside them hurriedly answered. She smiled embarrassedly. “So, Sister, will you teach me spiritual arts in the future?”

While Yan Yu was still thinking about how to refuse, Yin Beiqing walked over directly, grabbed the peacock’s tail with one hand, and with arm strength so powerful it ignored the peacock’s enormous size, lifted it high and threw it far away. “Eyesore.”

“Don’t bully it.” Yang Qian picked up the feather her Beast Soul had dropped on the ground with distress. “Our Caicai is very obedient. If you speak nicely to it, it will listen.”

She complained to Yan Yu in a small, wronged voice. “Sister, your friend is a little impolite.”

Yan Yu really wanted to say that she was more than just impolite. She was practically lawless.

“Is that so?”

Yin Beiqing looked sideways at Yang Qian. Because of her height advantage, she even had to lower her head slightly to meet her eyes. One looked down, one looked up. Naturally, it made her posture seem lofty and superior, and it made Yang Qian even more unhappy.

But none of that was as infuriating as what Yin Beiqing said.

“Thank you for the compliment. After all, politeness is a social skill only the weak need to possess.”

“You—” Yang Qian angrily clenched her little fist.

“Come.” Yin Beiqing crooked her finger at her. “Beat me, and then you can teach me how to behave.”

Author’s Note:

Sister Yin speaks unpleasantly and is very annoying. Just treat it as farting and don’t take it to heart. Politeness is very important, and respect is mutual. Yan-mei will teach her later, sob sob.

Also, Lingqi doesn’t really look down on Yan Yu. Her selection standards are just relatively strict. These criticisms are about the same as the Great Demon King saying Crybaby Ai can only flail twice with a backhand.