"I didn"t expect the recoil to be so strong," Ling Lan replied innocently.

"Don"t lie to me. If you didn"t reenact Xie Yi"s memory, the recoil wouldn"t have been this strong." Reenacting the memory required an abundance of spiritual power. Ling Lan was already pushing herself when she used Invasion of Dreams. She was lucky that she didn"t get worse injuries.

Little Four got scared by the thought and started tearing up.

Ling Lan blinked. She wanted to change the topic, but when she saw the fear and remorse in Little Four"s eyes, she apologized to him instead. "I"m sorry that I let you worry. I won"t let myself get hurt again. Don"t worry about me." She reached out and touched Little Four"s head, feeling grateful for his concern.

Little Four"s anxiousness taught Ling Lan a lesson and she told herself to prepare well before doing anything in the future. She could not let the people who loved and cared for her worry again.

Ling Lan saw that Little Four was still sad and quickly changed the topic. She asked, "Do you think that our clan can win the challenge?"

Little Four stopped crying and answered her seriously. "Although you got kicked out of the challenge, Leiting No. 1 is out of the battle too. If Qi Long maintains his normal standard, the other members of Leiting Mecha Clan won"t be able to win against him if they fight one-on-one."

"I think that there"s no way our clan will lose." Little Four raised his head proudly. The Lingtian Battle Clan had grown into a clan full of special-cla.s.s operators. They were able to become the pillars of the Lingtian clan. His boss was not the only strong person in the team now.

"Everyone has grown up. I can let go now." Ling Lan stood up, walked to the window and looked at the scenery outside her house. She had been staying here for more than two years. Now that her team members had grown stronger, she could focus on herself.

Little Four was puzzled at Ling Lan"s words. "Boss, what do you mean?"

"Closed-door meditation," Ling Lan replied with a smile. She had wanted to meditate so that she could merge all the things she had learned during this period of time. However, before this, there were too many things on her heart and she was not able to meditate in peace. The challenge this time was not only the start of her plans to unify the military academy, but it was also a challenge she posed for the clan. She wanted to know if they could operate all by themselves.

This was also why she crossed realms to help Xie Yi solve his problem. Ling Lan liked to settle everything properly and make sure that nothing was left to chance; it was the only way she could put her heart at ease. According to her a.n.a.lysis, this trait was inherited from her mother. Actually, her real age was around the same as her mother. People of this age liked to concern themselves with everything. It was hard for her to change.

Little Four"s eyes lit up, his face filled with surprise. "Boss, are you…"

Ling Lan nodded. "It"s time."

It was time for her to stop protecting her teammates and let them battle with the other factions themselves. No matter what the result was, it would hasten their growth.

"But you"re going to unify the military academy soon. If you meditate now and they lose, your efforts will all be wasted." Little Four worried about leaving the situation in the hands of others.

Ling Lan smiled gently and flicked Little Four"s forehead. "Do you think that I honestly want to become the king of the military academy?"

Little Four rubbed at his forehead, confused.

"If I don"t give them a goal to work towards, they won"t have the motivation to become stronger. Being the king of the military academy is a goal that"s big enough for them to work hard for," Ling Lan explained. She was not an arrogant person. She would not have done this without a valid reason.

"So, let"s make them work hard for me and for the goal." Ling Lan gave a brilliant smile, which brightened up her face, too. Mesmerized, Little Four suddenly wiped at the corners of his mouth. My boss shouldn"t smile too much.

The battle between Lingtian and Leiting didn"t end due to the exit of Tian Jiajun and Ling Lan. After a few hours of fighting and ambushing, the Lingtian Mecha Clan won against the Leiting Mecha Clan with three members surviving the battle.

This meant that the Leiting Mecha Clan, which had been around for a few hundred years, would be disbanded and merged entirely into the Lingtian Mecha Clan. The name "Leiting" was merely history now. Some new members of Leiting might build another Leiting Mecha Clan in the future, but it would not be the same clan as before. It would be a new mecha clan.

Everyone thought that there was no stopping of Lingtian after they defeated Leiting, but it was during such a time that Ling Lan announced her closed-door meditation.

This news caused an uproar among the people in the military academy. Everyone felt that Ling Lan made the wrong decision, that she chose the worst time to meditate. If she had gone to meditate a few months later, she would have been able to lead the Lingtian Mecha Clan in destroying all the other factions and become the king of the military academy. Her name would have gone down in the school"s history as a true hero.

Many felt that Ling Lan made a wrong decision, but the other mecha clans were relieved; they felt hopeful about being able to win against the Lingtian Mecha Clan. This change made it difficult to predict the results of the future battles, but Ling Lan had achieved the results that she wanted.

A human would only treasure the things that he or she fought hard for. The Lingtian Mecha Clan needed this training.

After Ling Lan went into meditation, Lingtian battled with many other mecha clans. The former Leiting special-cla.s.s operators were still angry about the merger, so the members who partic.i.p.ated in the battles were all operators from the original Lingtian Mecha Clan.

Although the Lingtian Mecha Clan did not have as many special-cla.s.s mecha operators as the rest of the factions, they learned from Ling Lan"s tactics and knew how to make the situation advantageous to them. Hence, the Lingtian Mecha Clan always chose the twelve-man team challenge mode. They did not give the other factions a chance for them to use their numbers against them.