“One hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?”
Sitting in the lower rows, Gǔ Qiánghàn’s eyes shone as he turned around and said, “Sis, if you get it and share half with me, or I get it and share half with you, how about that?”
“That’s enough for my pocket money for half a year,” Gǔ Qiánghàn said, looking at Lin Lanyue with anticipation.
Lin Lanyue glanced at Gǔ Qiánghàn. “Do you think you can get it?”
Gǔ Qiánghàn was taken aback.
“Li Yuan, with your spear technique skills, you might have a chance at the top ten, but remember not to be reckless,” Lin Lanyue looked at Li Yuan. “Surviving longer scores higher than killing more enemies.”
“Mhm,” Li Yuan nodded slightly.
The top ten?
“Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins,” Wu Dongdong sitting in the back rows was also extremely excited, waving his hand as he shouted, “Yue Yue sis, plus the hundreds of thousands of pocket money I’ve saved up, it’s enough to buy that flying motorcycle I showed you last time.”
“Last time, no matter how much I pestered my dad, he wouldn’t buy it for me.”
“I’ve decided, I’m going to get that five hundred thousand and buy it in secret!!!”
…
Not just Li Yuan and his group, the majority of students were tempted by the prize money.
Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?
Even one hundred thousand Blue Star Coins, to most senior third-year students, was a considerable sum.
Especially for students like Li Yuan, whose families were of similar or even lesser means.
“One hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?”
“Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?” A student named Tian Dazhuang with average looks had slightly reddened eyes.
He mumbled to himself, “No wonder before boarding the aircraft, the station chief specially told me that this was a good chance to make money.”
“The first challenge alone is worth five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins.”
“According to the itinerary, could there be more rewards later? Maybe,” Tian Dazhuang thought to himself. “Over the years, the state has already rewarded several million Blue Star Coins.”
“In this half year of Body-Mind-Weapon Integration, my physical cultivation has improved much faster, but I still started too late, awakening to my Martial Spirit in my second year of high school, and now my physical quality is only at level 8.5.”
“With my poor physical quality, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll take the first place in actual combat. My skills are my biggest advantage.”
“I’m set on taking the first place in the cage battle.” Tian Dazhuang stared silently at the arena.
He came from a remote mountain area.
In this era, transportation, water conservancy, and many other facilities in the mountain areas are extremely convenient, with plenty of subsidies for poor families… but the gap between rich and poor is unavoidable.
Tian Dazhuang, who came from a lower-class family in the mountain area, had elderly grandparents, a severely ill father, a deceased mother, and a younger brother… Starting from middle school, he began to show terrifying talent in Martial Arts Skills.
After entering high school and awakening to his Martial Spirit, Tian Dazhuang improved even more rapidly.
The various cash awards from the school and the state increased, and after awakening to his Martial Spirit in his second year of high school, he was directly recruited by the Martial Arts Hall, which truly changed the fate of his family.
He was a Martial Path genius that the school and even the entire county hadn’t seen in decades.
He also carried the expectations of many.
“Fate!”
“My fate must be in my own hands,” Tian Dazhuang’s eyes were filled with longing. “The principal and the station chief care so much about me; I have to achieve something significant.”
His county-level high school was very ordinary, so he was the only one invited this time.
Many knew his name.
But recognized his face? Few!
…
“Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?” A girl named Wang Yu had an ardent gaze.
She didn’t care at all about the gazes of some boys sneaking glances at her.
Wang Yu was used to these looks.
“I must get it, so I can change homes for my family sooner,” she thought.
“That way, my parents won’t have to keep squeezing into a small room to rest.”
…
Over a thousand students were emotionally stirred, watching the man in black martial attire with great excitement.
All who were here were pride of the heavens.
Even though they knew their peers were strong, subconsciously, they were still full of confidence in themselves.
“Aside from the cash rewards,”
the host, a man in black attire on the stage, continued to shout excitedly, “Besides that, dozens of observers from the five top schools are already watching you in another Virtual Space.”
“They are looking forward to your performance.”
“For regular students, their college entrance exams are in June,” the man in the black martial attire spoke passionately. “But for you elite students.”
“The college entrance exam, starting today, from this very moment, has already begun,” the man in black martial attire suddenly threw a punch, trying his best to drive the atmosphere to a climax.
People are easily swayed.
Especially the young.
The higher-ups organized this invitation event, naturally hoping to see the best performance of the participating students.
“Want to get special training contracts from the top five universities in advance?”
“Want to receive a large amount of Blue Star Coin rewards?”
“Want to earn recognition from Martial Arts University quicker after admission and get more cultivation resources?” the man in black martial attire waved his arms, constantly turning to look at different students, roaring excitedly, “Then today, fight with all you’ve got.”
“Ignite your passion and blood, and show your strength to the fullest.”
Moreover,
throughout the combat space, along with the host’s roar, cheers and shouts started to rise.
These cheers and shouts did not come from the thousands of students.
They were sound effects inherent to the combat space, making many students feel their blood boil.
“I announce, cage battle, last man standing wins.”
“The first round,” the man in black armor suddenly gestured, his voice thundering as loudly as if it were thunder booming, “starts now!”
Shua! Shua! Shua!
The first round, randomly selecting two hundred students,
instantly vanished from their seats.
“Gu Qiang was chosen,” Li Yuan immediately noticed that Gu Qianghan sitting in the front row had disappeared.
“Tian Dazhuang isn’t there either; was he selected for the first round as well?”
“And Tan Bing,” Li Yuan remembered, among the more than a dozen experts Lin Lanyue and he had mentioned.
Three big shots were chosen for the first round.
“It’s pseudo-random, and it’s based on January’s mock exam scores,” Lin Lanyue whispered beside him. “Above, they must have grouped according to the skill scores from the January mock exam, then conducted the random selection.”
“Ensure that the strength distribution of each participant in every battle is close to each other.”
Everyone waited patiently.
…Thirty seconds later, weapon selection ended.
“Boom!”
Accompanied by a massive booming echo.
Two hundred participants, each wielding weapons and armor, simultaneously appeared at the edge of the arena, forming a vast circle.
Each person had two opponents next to them, very fair.
“Hm?”
Li Yuan’s eyes flickered slightly as he couldn’t help saying, “Next to Tian Dazhuang is Gu Qiang, looks like his luck isn’t good.”
On the stage.
Gu Qiang held two short axes, looking around as he stretched out one and swung it, provoking Tian Dazhuang, who stood expressionless with a mountain-splitting saber in hand.
“Gu Qiang, why is he deliberately challenging Tian Dazhuang?” Li Yuan watched in surprise, “Has Gu Qiang’s martial arts skills reached the full score level too?”
“No, his martial arts skills are just over 350 points, I believe,” Lin Lanyue calmly shook her head.
“Let’s see if he can break through to 360 points before the college entrance exam.”
“Then why is he…” Li Yuan hesitated, “Doesn’t he know about Tian Dazhuang?”
“I didn’t share the intel with him,” Lin Lanyue shook her head.
Seeing Li Yuan’s puzzled expression.
Lin Lanyue gently shook her head and said, “He’s different from you, you didn’t know the schedule details and it wasn’t convenient for you to lookup information about others, which is understandable.”
“But him? He has enough resources at his disposal, he could have easily learned about the event’s schedule in advance and gathered information on his opponents, but it seems he didn’t do anything,” Lin Lanyue sighed lightly, “If he doesn’t take it seriously himself.”
“Why should I tell him? Better let him learn a lesson,” Lin Lanyue shook her head.
Li Yuan fell silent, feeling somewhat sorry for Gu Qianghan, who was excitedly twisting his body.
Is this love from a sister?
Lin Lanyue’s gaze fell on the stage, she didn’t say anything more, there were some things she didn’t want to say directly to Li Yuan.
This invitation event.
For martial arts geniuses with ordinary family backgrounds like Li Yuan, Tian Dazhuang, and Wang Yu, it was a rare opportunity.
But for Lin Lanyue, Wu Dongdong, including Gu Qianghan?
If they had potential and were willing to work hard, what they lacked the least were these so-called opportunities.
“Hmm?”
“Dong Haifeng, he’s also in the first round?” Li Yuan’s gaze swept over and found another schoolmate on the stage.
…
As Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue quickly exchanged words.
The giant countdown number above the stage had already rapidly dropped from 15 to 3, 2…
“1.”
“Begin.” The black-clad man in the sky above the stage roared out, his whole body instantly flying up thirty meters high to ensure he wouldn’t interfere with any of the contestants.
The next moment, the cheers in the battle space erupted thunderously.
On the stage, the 200 participants, originally restricted in movement, suddenly felt they could move freely.
But, for the moment, no one moved.
No one wanted to be the first conspicuous target.
At the same time, all participants could clearly see their own points and place ranking from their field of view.
This quiet lasted only a second.
“Whoosh!”
“Boom!” Someone made a move.
This action, like a boulder thrown into calm waters, stirred up waves upon waves.
Other participants all sprang into action.
The countdown of 15 seconds just now meant everyone had already chosen their first target.
“Boom!”
“Boom!” “Clang!” Instantly, there was a burst of frenzied combat on the stage.
10.0-level physical quality allowed each participant’s burst speed to reach up to 22 meters per second, with fist strength hitting 1300 kilograms, and wielding bladed weapons, one could imagine how powerful each blow was.
Now, they were all concentrated in this narrow arena.
“You little…” Gu Qianghan had barely roared out two words excitedly.
“Puff~”
A dazzling flash of a saber fiercely slashed through, and Gu Qianghan’s entire being vanished into nothingness.
“The first one,” Tian Dazhuang murmured to himself as he held a mountain-splitting saber over a meter long, “Continue.”
He never cared about Gu Qianghan’s provocation.
With his family situation, growing up, what kind of people hadn’t he encountered?
In his eyes, Gu Qianghan was just a fool, not worth wasting energy to care about.
“Boom!” Tian Dazhuang moved out several meters with a surge, directly heading to kill a spear expert.
“Clang!” A ferocious collision of weapons.
Followed by, a saber slashed like lightning.
The spear expert was split in two by the fearsome velocity and power of the mountain-splitting saber.
Blood splattered, turning into nothingness.
Killed with one blow!
…
“To be eliminated with one move, damn, I’m at the bottom of the ranking!” Gu Qianghan was the first to reappear in his seat.
“How is it?” Lin Lanyue was looking at Li Yuan next to her.
Li Yuan was intently watching Tian Dazhuang’s frenzied slaughter on the stage and softly said, “His saber! So fast! Even faster than my spear.”
“It’s definitely a Fourth Level sword technique! And he’s been at the Fourth Level for quite a while,” Li Yuan spoke earnestly.
A hint of respect flashed deep in Li Yuan’s eyes.
Experts always admire other experts.
“Right.”
Lin Lanyue nodded, “My swordsmanship teacher has commented on Tian Dazhuang’s battle videos.”
“He said that in terms of martial arts skills alone, this Tian Dazhuang should be considered among the top thirty in Blue Star’s youth rankings, perhaps even higher.”