'I wonder why all of these Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms are trying to approach me? Are they only trying to hit me from close range? But I clearly have more advantage in close-range battle... I bet they can do something more than that... Something much dangerous than just hitting me from close range. Anyway, it would be much safer to never let them approach me at all.' Instructor Mei Lan thought in her mind.

Instructor Mei Lan activated both of her divine abilities, [Demonic Tune] and [Heavenly Sound], then snapped her fingers again.

[Wave Blast]!

CCLLAAAAAAAAAAACCKKK~!!!

The loud sound of finger snap and its destructive vibration started to spread out around Instructor Mei Lan, destroying everything it touched to dust.

But unfortunately, Instructor Mei Lan's [Wave Blast] did not affect any of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms at all as they kept getting closer and closer to Instructor Mei Lan.

"What a troublesome skill is that?!" Instructor Mei Lan groaned.

Just as Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms almost reached her, Instructor Mei Lan snapped her fingers again, but she used a completely different skill than before this time.

[Sonic Blink]!

Instructor Mei Lan's figure vanished in that instant, and she appeared more than ten meters from the place where she stood before.

Instructor Mei Lan used this skill before when she had a sparring match against Tang Li Xue in [War Goddess Mode].

At that time, Tang Li Xue thought that Instructor Mei Lan teleported every time she snapped her fingers, but it was actually not true.

Instructor Mei Lan only cleverly used her sound-based divine abilities to push herself with unbelievable speed.

It was almost the same as how Tang Li Xue used her [Sun Dragon Flash] to push herself forward, but Instructor Mei Lan's [Sonic Blink] was far much faster than that until anyone could not see her movement at all, but unfortunately, the range of her movement was limited when using [Sonic Blink].

All of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms did not give up that easily, and they were still relentlessly chasing after Instructor Mei Lan.

Since her sound-based attack was failed to hit any of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms, Instructor Mei Lan immediately decided to try something new.

Her [Vibration Wires] started to swipe against each other intensely until the flame was sparking and burn the [Vibration Wires].

The [Vibration Wires] completely turned into flame wires, then all of the flame wires started to intertwine with each other and became a thick flame whip in an instant.

"Let's see if this flame whip of mine can touch you or not!" Instructor Mei Lan said as she controlled the thick flame whip and whipped it toward Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms.

BANG… BANG… BANG… BANG… BANG…

The thick flame whip was not only managed to hurt Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms, but it even burned them to nothingness.

"It works! So their weakness is really the fire!" Instructor Mei Lan murmured as her eyes brightened slightly.

Instructor Mei Lan moved her flame whip faster and whipped it around to clean all of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms in her sight.

BANG… BANG… BANG… BANG… BANG…

All of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms had been cleaned by her flame whip, but Instructor Mei Lan failed to find the real Zuo Hongzhuang among them.

"It seems that distraction is really working... I want to see if you really can get out from my [Inverted Reality] for the second time now!" Zuo Hongzhuang declared to Instructor Mei Lan.

"I will not let you cast that skill!" Instructor Mei Lan replied as she snapped her fingers again and used her [Sonic Blink] to appear right in front of Zuo Hongzhuang.

[Demonic Tune] variation move: [Grinding Strike]!

But when Instructor Mei Lan's palm swiftly struck at Zuo Hongzhuang's body, her palm was actually passed through Zuo Hongzhuang's body!

Zuo Hongzhuang laughed as her phantom body passed through Instructor Mei Lan's body and murmured: "In the end, you still jump into my trap by own will…"

When Zuo Hongzhuang's phantom body passed through Instructor Mei Lan's body, Instructor Mei Lan felt intense pain all over her body as if her soul was torn off from her body.

Instructor Mei Lan gritted her teeth to withstood the unbearable pain as she limply fell onto her knees. Even her flame whip crumbled apart because her concentration got disturbed.

"Cough… cough… cough…" Instructor Mei Lan coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood again as her internal wounds got worsened.

"Mei Lan, why don't you just give up and go back to Myriad Foxes Academy now?" Zuo Hongzhuang advised Instructor Mei Lan once again.

Instructor Mei Lan wiped the blood on her mouth with her sleeve and replied: "Why don't you just give up and come with me back to Myriad Foxes Academy now?"

Zuo Hongzhuang shook her head as her pink furred fox ears twitched in annoyance, and she blurted out: "You are so stubborn!"

Instructor Mei Lan sighed and said: "If I try to fight against you in close range battle, you will hit me with your [Phantom Mirages], but if I keep my distance from you and attack from afar, then you will trap me with your [Inverted Reality]. Your skill is truly troublesome to deal with..."

"You already know that, and yet why do you still..." Zuo Hongzhuang angrily shouted, but Instructor Mei Lan immediately cut her words halfway.

"It seems we are almost running out of time, so I will get more serious from now on." Instructor Mei Lan spoke with a leisure tone as she stood up again and took out another [Talisman of Regeneration +3], then used it again on herself.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you really have stronger power, then why do you need to wait until now to use it?!" Zuo Hongzhuang chided Instructor Mei Lan harshly.

"You already knew that there are many levels of intensity in elemental compression. The more amount of elemental energy we compressed using our divine ability, the more powerful it will become. Although, we would also need intense concentration and greater control to do it." Instructor Mei Lan slowly explained.

Zuo Hongzhuang frowned deeply and wondered: "Why are you telling me this now?"

Instructor Mei Lan ignored Zuo Hongzhuang's question and continued: "In my case, I measured the degree of my sound-based divine abilities' compression with [Echo]."

"I usually used [1st Echo] to spar with my students."

"I mostly used [2st Echo] to face my most foes."

"But when fighting against powerful opponents such as against you just now or those Nascent Soul Stage elders before, I pushed myself to use [3rd Echo]."

"The question is... do you know how many levels of [Echo] I can use?"

Instructor Mei Lan chuckled as she concluded her explanation and asked back at Zuo Hongzhuang.

"So you are saying that you can increase your strength by one level higher than now? But all of those are futile if you cannot even touch me in my [Phantom Mirages]!" Zuo Hongzhuang sneered at Instructor Mei Lan as she activated her [Phantom Mirages] again.

Zuo Hongzhuang's figure split again into many phantoms identical to herself. Even Instructor Mei Lan could not sense which one of them was real or fake.

All of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms sprinted swiftly toward Instructor Mei Lan again just like before.

Instructor Mei Lan took a deep breath and muttered with a confident smile on her face: "Actually, I can compress my divine abilities and push it until [5th Echo], but [4th Echo] should be more than enough to deal with the weakened you."

"Nonsense! You are just trying to stall for more time and wait for your reinforcement to arrive. But you should already know that those are futile since all of your inexperienced students would never be able to defeat me!" one of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms yelled at Instructor Mei Lan.

Just when all of Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms almost touched Instructor Mei Lan, Instructor Mei Lan suddenly jumped upward really high while stretched both of her hands toward the night sky.

"[Demonic Tune] plus [Heavenly Sound]… [4th Echo]... [Banishment Tremor]!" Instructor Mei Lan murmured as she forcefully swung both of her hands downward toward Zuo Hongzhuang's phantoms on the ground.

BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM~!!!

The earth-shattering explosion much greater than any previous one was happening right below Instructor Mei Lan. But the range of earth-shattering explosion was actually really limited since Instructor Mei Lan only focused on the area below her right now.

KREEEAAAKK...

The clothes fabric that covered both of Instructor Mei Lan's hands was tearing to pieces.

CRACK... CRACK... CRACK...       

"Guh!!!" Instructor Mei Lan groaned in pain as all of the bones at both of her hands started to shatter to pieces and bent out of shape under the immense powerful pressure of her [4th Echo] sound and vibration compression.

This was the reason why Instructor Mei Lan never used the sound and vibration compression beyond [3rd Echo] so casually.

It was because she would get badly injured too, every time she used the [4th Echo]!

As for the [5th Echo], it was probably a suicidal move, something that would probably make her die together with her enemies.

There was no doubt that Instructor Mei Lan was already very very powerful right now, and she surpassed most of other Beast Lord rank or [Rare] grade beast. But unfortunately, her ability was limited by her own physique.

In Tang Li Xue's term, Instructor Mei Lan's strength stat was too high, but her Toughness stat has already reached the limit and could no longer support her own strength.

Actually, the solution for this was quite simple. Instructor Mei Lan only needs to evolve further and enter the Spirit Beast Rank like Zuo Hongzhuang. But she obviously did not want that and decided to wait patiently for the right opportunity to evolve into a 'true' Spirit Beast Rank like her parents.

PPPUUUUFFF~!!!

Instructor Mei Lan spurted a few mouthfuls of blood from her mouth, and the explosion shockwave pushed her higher toward the sky. She was drifting in the mid-air like a boat in the middle of the storm.