NOVPUBNing Feng rushed towards the flying Oscar and threw a claw hook from her storage. It hooked into one of the buildings, and she also found herself airborne.
"What the!" Oscar shouted and was fleeing seconds later from her as a sharp small dagger whistled past his ear and he found himself almost crushing into a transparent flying circle. "Are you kidding me?" He shouted. Oscar turned around to see Ning Feng, whose expression was blank, as she pursued him.
More knives in her hands. "Are you the third Tang Twin!" He shouted, and Ning Feng ignored him, focusing on her task and ensuring Ma Hongjun would not even get a lick of Oscar's support abilities. Landon was on a rooftop. She balanced herself and then dashed forward, jumping from one rooftop to another. With Oscar rising higher and higher into the sky under the assault of her daggers.
By reflex, she almost noted she was about to Teleport Dai Mubai up to Oscar and stopped herself. She was not allowed to use her second spirit ability, and Dai Mubai did not take well to it.
She needed to do this alone.
Dashing forward at an even higher pace, she gritted her teeth as her lings protested when she used her spirit power to increase Dai Mubais' defense and her bracelets to catapult herself higher into the air to keep up with Oscar.
Ma Hongjun was still darting around. She spotted him from the corner of her eye the same moment when he spotted her, and flames shot into her direction. Dai Mubai saw this and threw himself in front of the Flames to block them for her. She grunted and drew him backwards using a remote teleport, ending with him out of the shooting fire and her right in the line of it.
Extending her flying claw again, she drew herself backwards and landed on another rooftop with a flip.
"Stop!" the grandmaster shouted, shaking his head. "Ning Feng, what did I say about using your first spirit ability?" he asked, and she opened and then closed her mouth.
Remembering. Yes, she was not supposed to use her first spirit ability.
"I see you realized. But this will suffice either way, let us stop this here between the four of you."
He turned around to the battle between Xiao Wu and Tang San, which was currently going full throttle, and shouted for them to stop as well.
They all lined up in front of him. "Tell me what you did wrong. Dai Mubai, we start from you. Tell me your thoughts."
Dai Mubai was downcast. He realized that if this had gone much longer, he and Ning Feng would have lost.
"I should have paid more attention to Ning Feng, I just expected her to be able to watch out for herself," he said. "Though all of this would not have happened if my spirit power had been at its peak."
"Will you only try to kill your opponent with your spirit power at its most powerful? Are you expecting every support Master to watch out for them the entire time until it is almost too late to watch out for themselves?"
Dai Mubai wanted to say something but refrained from doing so, shocked by the Grandmaster's questions. n𝚘𝚟𝚙𝚞𝚋.𝚌o𝚖
"You know that Oscar can supply flying sausages, so why did you give Ma Hongjun a chance to eat them, if you had blocked him from the start, or preserved more of your spirit power, this would not have happened. Also, if you are so aware of Ning Feng's combat and athletic abilities, knowing of her capability to watch out for herself, why didn't you try using that work with her instead of treating her like you would treat Rong Rong whose support abilities might be stonger but if far less of a phisical combatant." He shifted his gaze to Ning Feng. "And you what did you do wrong?"
"I-I paid t-to much a-attention to s-stopping O-Oscar." She said, and then looked at Dai Mubai. "N-Negelected support and b-broke the r-rules."
"Exactly. Why did you go for Oscar alone and not stop him from giving Ma Hongjun the flying sausages?" The Grandmaster said. "Why did you teleport Dai Mubai out when you were not permitted to do so, when you could have used your flying claw? He could even take the hit easily, something you would have known if you hadn't just given him perfunctory support in the beginning and overlooked that he did so a few seconds before with your defense aid."
Ning Feng turned quiet when the grandmaster sighed. "You have to learn how to work with people outside of your comfort zone, you will not be able to work exclusively with people you know well."
"Whohoo, really I never expected to be able to beat the two of you." Ma Hongjun cheered.
"Are you truly proud of yourself?" the grandmaster asked Ma Hongjun, who immediately shut up. "You ignored Ning Feng's assault on Oscar, you even attacked in their direction without watching out for him. How would this have gone if Dai Mubai had possessed more spirit power and hadn't been tired out? If Ning Feng had been a pure combat spirit master like Zhu Zhuquing or Xiao Wu, who both focus on speed?"
Ma Hongjun shut up and looked dumbfounded at the Grandmaster.
"Oscar. And you. For a food system spirit master, the most important thing is to protect yourself. Ma Hongjun did not help you the least, so why didn't you go as high as possible right from the start? Ning Feng could have never caught you up there; instead, you remained within her reach just in case Ma Honjun needed you. Ma Honjun who didn't do anything to ensure your safety."
All four of them were quiet, looking at each other. The Grandmaster's voice was flat and cool as he pointed out their mistakes.
"Little San." The Grandmaster turned to Tang San who promptly stepped forward. "Tell me your impressions of the fight with Xiao Wu."
"I messed up. I got caught up in Xiao Wu's second spirit ability and ended up in a passive condition. I even released my web without knowing her third spirit ability, worsening the situation."
"Your mistake was the most severe. You, of all people, should know best about Xiao Wu's speed. What would you have done if it had been involving a support spirit Master? What if the opponent had attacked intending to kill and not been Xiao Wu, or someone like your sister who is almost completely immune to your poison?"
Tang San didn't say anything too that. He knew he had been in the wrong, and he also knew why. Then the grandmaster turned to Xiao Wu, who stiffened up.
"I was too impatient. I could have won when I saw Tang San use the web for the third time by teleporting out and back in." She said, and the Grandmaster nodded, agreeing with her.
The Grandmaster mustered them coldly, his gaze running over those who had not fought.
"This is what they call monstrous geniuses? Your display has left me disappointed." He said. "All of you made severe errors. Now all of you will have to suffer punishment. Running. Supervise each other. Ten times to Suotou City and back, before lunch, finish the trip ten times." He declared. "Remember you are a team, and all of you need to finish before one of you gets lunch. Tang San, you did the worst; you do twelve trips. Outside the village gate, there are baskets, and you will all carry one on your back as you run. Go!"
Each turned around and moved to the village gates without any comment.
