Chapter 227: Restraint

……

Inside the gymnasium of Linden Academy, Lina Adric was trembling all over, drenched in sweat.

After the great angel behind Lina contracted into a ball of light, a portion of the powerful pressure from the soul level was transferred onto her.

This forced her to begin experiencing the overwhelming soul might emanating from the dharma manifestations of the three emperors opposite her!

Even just this small portion of pressure was nearly enough to crush her soul. She had to exert all her strength just to keep her body from kneeling before Li Mochen.

The mental pressure oppressing her soul was even now depriving her of control over her body, robbing her of command over her limbs and every bit of flesh within.

This was something the other party could never have achieved under normal circumstances, yet her guardian spirit—the presence of that great angel—acted like a relay, allowing the soul pressure of the three emperors to affect her physical body.

Lina Adric felt deeply puzzled and utterly bewildered.

She thought, how could this be possible? She knew that the three emperors of the Eastern pantheon—Ziwei, Nanji, and Gouchen—had a restraining effect on all soul bodies.

But this 'restraint' on soul bodies also depended on what kind of dharma manifestation it was!

Many talented cultivators in the East choose the celestial emperors Ziwei, Nanji, and Gouchen as their primordial spirit manifestations and protective deities. However, their restraining effects on evil spirits vary greatly; the strong can even intimidate ghost kings, while the weak are helpless against mere soul soldiers and ghostly pawns. This is due to the vast differences in the degree of meditative alignment between their primordial spirit manifestations and protective deities.

In short, the more closely one's manifestation aligns with the true form of these three celestial emperors, the stronger the resonance. Yet many, lacking sufficient cultivation and accumulated merit, only achieve a superficial likeness without grasping the spirit. The power of such manifestations is naturally predictable.

And this Andre Lee Wittenstein, clearly only at level seven, has a protective deity capable of suppressing an 'Archangel' of around level sixteen—what kind of joke is this?

Such alignment with the manifestation is as if a true celestial emperor had descended to the mortal world!

And isn't this guy a magic swordsman? His magic source, the various magic swordsman skills he displayed on the arena—she had witnessed them with her own eyes. How can he suddenly summon three Eastern divine sovereign manifestations now?

Lina thought she must be dreaming! How could such an absurd thing happen in this world?

"Although the Western angels and my three primordial deities belong to different systems, all changes are within the same principle; the essence of the divine soul remains the same."

Li Mochen stepped closer to Lina Eldridge, and the pressure from his primordial soul gradually intensified with each step.

"So, Miss Eldridge, trying to defeat me with the power of guardian spirits like that is as ridiculous as a mouse trying to kill a cat. Unless their divine soul essence grows to the point of nearly becoming a yang spirit, EMM~ I mean, assuming my power never increases in the future."

"So what meaning do the hundreds of sixteen-year-old archangels you mentioned, along with all those seraphim and thrones, have for me?"

Before he could finish, Lina Eldridge suddenly threw a punch at Li Mochen's face. But her movements were sluggish and clumsy, as if rusted, so inept that Li Mochen couldn't be bothered to counter. He simply sidestepped lightly, letting her miss, and Lina Eldridge, after her punch hit nothing, was pulled down by her own momentum, collapsing to the ground, barely supporting herself with her limbs.

"Miss Aldrich, I like Angela very much, but so far I haven't made up my mind to be with her. Yet if one day I ultimately give up, it will by no means be because of the power of your Medici family, you understand?"

Li Mochen looked down at Lina, but he could not see her expression. Or perhaps she hadn't heard clearly, as she was gasping heavily.

Li Mochen shook his head, paced past the girl, and walked straight toward the door, while waving his hand to withdraw the dharma forms of the three sovereigns.

"That's enough for today. I'll go cultivate in another room; you rest well here."

But it was a full three minutes after Li Mochen left before Lina Aldrich finally recovered from her state of weakness.

The situation just now was like being afflicted with 'ALS,' nearly severing the connection between her soul and her limbs and sensory organs, leaving her physical body like a prison trapping her soul.

Yet at this moment, Lina Aldrich, instead of feeling relieved, tensed every muscle. After her five senses initially recovered, she discovered that a girl was sitting cross-legged before her.

It was Angela Medici, staring at her with icy eyes.

"Lina, are you interfering in matters between A-Mo and me?"

"Miss, I—"

Lina Aldrich was choked with emotion. She was not good at lying and did not intend to deceive Angela, but if she told the truth, she felt guilty and afraid.

"Forget it! Though I don't know how A-Mo managed it, he has clearly taught you a lesson."

Angela Medici snorted and stood up: "Let there be no next time, Lina. I insisted on you being my head maid precisely because I didn't want to become a puppet manipulated by those adults. If you also try to control me, I will be very sad."

...

Two hours later, after eating lunch at school, Li Mochen boarded the school bus with the members of the fighting club.

At this time, many students from the school also came to line both sides of the road to see them off. Surprisingly, besides a large number of girls holding signs reading 'I love you,' 'You are my dream lover,' and so on, there were also quite a few boys cheering and shouting encouragement.

Li Mochen was initially secretly gratified, but then he discovered that these people had come for Louise Lyndon, hoping she would win the championship.

Besides that, he saw about forty buses at the school gate square, with many students already gathering there to board.

"This is organized by the school. The whole school has the afternoon off; you can choose to go home or go to the stadium to watch and cheer. If you choose the latter, it counts as three hours of physical education class."

William Jacques explained the reason to Li Mochen: "Our school hasn't won the Atlanta individual championship for many years! It's been over a decade since we even made the quarterfinals. But this time, many people think you and Miss Louise can win the championship. This is a very prestigious honor. If Lyndon Academy can bring back this championship trophy and achieve some results in the team event, the school's ranking among all American middle schools can rise significantly. So it's no surprise the school places so much importance on this."

At that moment, William Jacques suddenly felt a pair of icy eyes staring at him from not far away, making him feel as if needles were pricking his back, making him restless.

It was Angela Medici—since the preliminary rounds of the team competition were also to be held today at Storm Stadium, Miss Medici and her head maid were accompanying them as well.