A sharp, piercing sound of air being torn cut through the arena.
Zhang Yu's palm was held high, and perched on it was his flying sword, spinning at high speed like a helicopter's rotor.
*Then it's you! Spiral Shuriken!*
The next moment he spat out his mana, and the spinning sword, like a giant disc, swept upward from low to high, raking across one signal board after another in the air.
...
*Ascetic (expand details).*
When Han Xingye's attention locked onto the unfolding tag above Zhang Yu's head, he saw another long string of words.
*Ascetic | sports-track student | extremely poor resident of Songyang City | loan slave | card slave | ???*
Seen through the Heaven Eye Talisman, the string hovering over Zhang Yu's head left Han Xingye shocked for the second time that day.
"Songyang High School again?"
"Where are they recruiting their talent from this year?"
The opening "ascetic" and "sports-track student" were easy enough to understand — nothing more than someone who cultivated hard and kept strict self-discipline, plus an excellent athlete.
The three tags after that were just as easy to read. Summed up in two words: a poor man.
But those final three question marks were the true cause of Han Xingye's shock.
"Question marks?"
"A concealment talisman? A disguise talisman?"
Just as there was a Heaven Eye Talisman to dig into a person's origins, of course there were countermeasures — concealment talismans, disguise talismans.
But first, how could someone this poor afford to use talismans at all?
And second, Han Xingye had never seen anyone who, after using a concealment or disguise talisman, deliberately left such an obvious "???" effect in place. It was practically announcing that you were hiding something.
"Those three question marks... how brazen."
Brazen and poor — two words that shouldn't go together. Yet right now, Han Xingye felt both emanating from Zhang Yu's head at once.
So he began to wonder how Zhang Yu would perform.
And then he saw the sword spin up like a disc, soaring skyward.
Han Xingye's gaze sharpened as he watched the high-speed spinning sword kick up swirls of air, sweeping across the signal boards fluttering midair like a full moon. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
Then he laughed. "Heh. Well, it really does make it easier to hit the signal boards. As a disc, a few swings can rake in every single board and make up for his lack of experience handling a flying sword."
80 points.
Seeing this score, Han Xingye was just nodding along when he noticed many students raising dissatisfied voices, complaining that Zhang Yu had cheated and broken the rules.
Han Xingye swept his gaze across them.
*Worthless. Rare. Worthless. Worthless.*
*Worthless. Worthless. Worthless. Rare.*
*Worthless. Worthless. Rare. Worthless.*
Watching the disgruntled students, Han Xingye pursed his lips and muttered inwardly, *A bunch of idiots.*
"To get the flying sword spinning like that and still keep control, without losing it wildly veering off and crashing into things, takes an extraordinarily fine command of mana."
"This mana flying sword was designed to fly in straight, direct paths. To spin it like this, you have to constantly change the rhythm of mana input at every single instant."
"This guy used overwhelming mana control to compensate for his shortfall of experience operating a flying sword."
"An 80 isn't high — if anything, it's too low."
"Probably the judges factored in the sponsors' interests and don't want to encourage this kind of technique."
Han Xingye glanced over at Purple Cloud and Red Tower High Schools. Sure enough, of the three great schools, not a single student came out against it — they could all clearly see how hard it was.
In the rounds that followed, some students began to try Zhang Yu's approach, but one by one they lost control and flung their swords flying away.
Thankfully, a referee kept close watch at all times, so no one got hurt.
By this point, many of the students who'd objected had slowly caught on: what Zhang Yu had done with that spinning sword was far from simple.
On his way back, Zhang Yu couldn't help sighing to himself. "The sword still isn't much for this kind of move. My mana could push the tempo even faster, but the scabbard's command-receiving frequency has already hit its limit. Otherwise the score could've been higher."
Clearly, this kind of high-speed spinning maneuver hadn't yet reached the limit of Zhang Yu's mana control, which the level-10 Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had honed. But it had already reached the flying sword's design limit — after all, the sword wasn't meant to be used this way.
The moment Zhang Yu returned to Songyang High School's rest area, Teacher Yan showered him with praise.
"Zhang Yu, well done. Using mana control to make up for lacking flying-sword skill — that 80 was scored too low."
"As for the whining from those academic losers at ordinary schools, just treat them like air. Don't give them a second thought."
Teacher Yan thought of Zhang Yu's score and felt secretly delighted within. *If one of the next two rounds happens to suit Zhang Yu's strengths, maybe he can squeeze into the top ten?*
Only the top ten in the entire magic competition came with prize money, with real ranking that carried weight in university interviews — and the high school's level of attention would be on a whole different scale.
Just thinking that if Zhang Yu could really edge his way into the top ten, her year-end bonus was sure to rise too, Teacher Yan's mood suddenly grew bright.
She casually pointed at the student who'd scored worst in this round and said, "Bai Zhenzhen, go grab Zhang Yu a bottle of water. Zhang Yu, don't stress over the next two rounds — just compete at your normal level."
Bai Zhenzhen's eyes shot wide, sweeping a glance at the grinning Zhang Yu beside her. She could only get to her feet helplessly and run off to fetch water from the organizers.
"Hold on, Zhenzhen. Let me take a photo."
"You're asking for it, Zhang Yu."
Chucking the water bottle at Zhang Yu's head, Bai Zhenzhen plopped herself down in a huff, thinking, *Dammit. Should've left before the competition even started.*
"What a load of stinking magic competition. All of it, a rich people's game."
*Yu, you'd better make the top ten, or I swear...*
Not far away, He Dayou caught sight of Zhang Yu's score and a flicker of surprise crossed his mind. *His mana control is this strong? Hmph... good thing... good thing he's a broke loser.*
Before long, the first round came to a full close. The host took the stage once more, flashing a broad grin. "Good pills for a good life — choose Purple Cloud! The all-cost, all-ages Purple Cloud Pill — one swallow and a thousand illnesses flee! Thank you to the Purple Cloud Corporation for their co-sponsorship of this magic competition."
"All the emergency medicine for the second round is sponsored by the Purple Cloud Corporation too..."
Even as he spoke, the host had begun announcing the rules for round two.
This round tested your ability to dissolve special mana.
In concrete terms, with probing patches stuck all over the contestant, a judge would inject a strand of special mana and see how long it took the contestant to dissolve it. The shorter the time, the higher the score.
If it went past ten minutes, or if a contestant felt they couldn't endure any longer, they could immediately down the Purple Cloud-sponsored mana-dissolving pill to purge the special mana from their body.
On top of that, Purple Cloud had set up temporary medicine stalls all around, selling all kinds of drugs the contestants might need.
The reason Purple Cloud was selling medicine here was that this second round came with one extra rule:
This round allowed drug use.
Zhang Yu was stunned.
*Holy shit! You people have no humanity?! To collect sponsorship fees from the Purple Cloud Corporation, you're out here encouraging drug use in a competition?*
At the same time, Zhang Yu saw the Songyang High School students around him start pulling things out.
Painkillers, tranquilizers, focus agents... watching them pull out their little trio of supplies, Zhang Yu suddenly realized these guys had come prepared all along.
Beside him, Teacher Yan asked with concern, "Zhang Yu, did you bring any medicine?"
"Remember to take it before the round starts."
Taking drugs in a competition... to Teacher Yan, that was perfectly normal.
Afraid of pain, afraid of itching? Chew a painkiller. Weak of will? Down a tranquilizer. Worried about zoning out while channeling your energy? Take a focus agent...
In short... if you want to be a roaring dragon on the arena, you can't let the medicine ever stop off it.
That was the competition.
Competition meant taking drugs!
The mana competition had always been one of the favorite events for pharmaceutical companies to sponsor, so at least one round would basically always allow contestants to take drugs — so long as the drugs fell within the list the organizers had drawn up. That was also precisely what the referees and the soul-cultivator assistants across the arena would be supervising and inspecting.
So taking drugs was part of the competition, and it even showcased a high school's true foundation.
Seeing Zhang Yu's utterly clueless expression, Teacher Yan helplessly opened her bag. "Look at you — you come to a competition without even preparing any medicine?"
"Good thing I brought a spare supply."
With that, Teacher Yan had already pulled out assorted bottles and jars from her bag, pouring a few portions out onto the table in front of Zhang Yu.
Looking at Teacher Yan's kindly, concerned gaze, Zhang Yu had no choice but to accept the medicine.
*Damn! I can't take medicine in this body, can I?*
The original Zhang Yu had ruined his body by taking too much medicine — a memory that had kept the present Zhang Yu too frightened to casually pop pills. At most, he took a bit of Nerve Supplement to reduce how much sleep he needed.
Add a shocking natural talent, plus a mountain of debt, and he'd never had any intention of casually dosing himself all along.
*I've got no idea whether the body I have now can handle random pills, but I'm not about to risk it either way.*
"Just for some competition, swallowing a load of pills? I'm afraid the lifespan my immortality cultivation earns me will be less than what I burn through."
But feeling Teacher Yan's attentive gaze on him now, he could only nod along with an awkward smile, thinking, *I'll fake swallowing them in the bathroom later.*
Meanwhile, the entire arena had turned into a medicine-display show.
Over in Purple Cloud High School's rest area, Lian Tianji abruptly shoved a big handful of pills into his mouth, chased them with a large gulp of water, and swallowed it all into his belly.
Beside him, the competition coach watched his face turn progressively red and purple and nodded approvingly. "Good. You've entered your competition state."
Having said that, he took a wooden casket out of his bag.
As the casket opened, ten syringes giving off a faint purple glow came into view.
The competition coach announced, "This is the Vessel-Extending Injection, brought over from the Purple Cloud laboratory. It flows through your bloodstream and temporarily widens the meridians across your whole body, speeding up your energy-channeling efficiency in a bit."
"One needle per person. Don't fight over them."
After watching his students take their injections one by one, he encouraged them, "When the round starts, you all must hold out to the end. Our total score isn't far off White Dragon's. We've got to close the gap this round!"
Roar!
The crowd, mouths full of pills and needles still in their veins, felt their fighting spirit surge boundless, and let out a thunderous roar that rattled the eardrums.
Over in Red Tower High School's rest area.
The competition coach was holding a demon-blood student who looked like a little red panda, scooping handfuls from a pile of beast medicine. "Bufan, have another handful. We're at the bottom of the three great schools right now. If the second round goes like this too, my bonus this year is finished."
The little red panda, Xiong Bufan, thrust out a claw at him and flipped him the middle finger. "Enough!"
"Stop feeding me!"
"Mmph mmph... god... stop feeding me!"
On the other side, in White Dragon High School's rest area.
Song Hailong grabbed a big handful of pills, gulped them down, then looked off toward the distant Purple Cloud rest area.
Hearing the wild roars from Purple Cloud's side, he let out a cold snort. "When it's my turn, I'll grind all your fighting spirit to dust."
At the same time, competition coach Han Xingye walked over carrying an insulated box and announced to the crowd, "This is the Kang Ling Injection the school prepared specially for you. In a bit, inject it into your dantian. Hurry and come grab one."
As the insulated box opened, a blast of cold air rushed forth, revealing two rows of glowing needle syringes.
Song Hailong grinned wide. The one with "1" printed on his school uniform, he was the first to pick up a syringe.
The other students around him, in the order of the numbers on their chests, each took a syringe from the box and jabbed it into their dantian.
Watching this from the side, students from other schools were consumed with envy. "Is that a Kang Ling Injection? It concentrates the essence of Spiritual Machine and recovers mana in your body at full speed — so they're planning to restore their mana while dissolving the special mana mid-round?"
Still more students were green-eyed with jealousy. "One Kang Ling Injection to the dantian, my fate is mine, not heaven's... ugh... I wonder if I'll ever be able to afford a Kang Ling Injection in my lifetime."
Just then a stir came from one corner of the arena.
A student foaming at the mouth, limbs convulsing, was carried out, sparking a buzz of discussion.
One student remarked, "Overdosed?"
One teacher sneered, "What overdose is there? It's just insufficient drug resistance. They still need to train!"
Another teacher clapped his hands, urging, "All of you, mind your own business. Focus on the competition!"
With everyone's preparations gradually complete, the second round officially began.