In this martial-arts competition, each school could send at most ten contestants.
After arriving at the venue, Zhang Yu discovered that there were only a little over forty contestants in all, thirty of whom belonged to the three great elite schools.
The remaining ten-odd contestants all came from the other ordinary and key high schools.
They might never have understood the state of affairs in the martial-arts competition, might have lacked access to information channels, might have harbored a fluke mentality of seeing the world and testing their luck.
But as the strongmen of the three great elite schools took the stage in turn and revealed their strength, one by one...
Those students from the other high schools gradually had their hearts grow faint, and they began to withdraw from the competition, one after another.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, naturally, did not retreat.
Zhang Yu recalled the rules, knowing that contestants would be classed into different tiers according to their scores.
Then, after random drawing of lots among the contestants of the same tier, they would be arranged into 8 different groups for the group-elimination rounds.
This was to ensure, as far as possible, that within any one group there would be contestants from all tiers high and low, preventing multiple high-tier contestants from landing in the same group and being eliminated early.
Zhang Yu thought to himself: "To avoid being grouped with the strongest batch of students, I have to score as high as possible."
"Only that way can I avoid meeting troublesome strong opponents in the group stage, and secure a spot in the top 8."
Looking at the Yellow-Turban Strongman on the stage, a battle plan was already gradually taking shape in Zhang Yu's mind.
A moment later, it was finally Zhang Yu's turn to go up.
...
In the stands.
Zhao Tianxing, Qian Shen, and He Dayou sat together.
Apart from He Dayou's face full of disgust, Qian Shen was watching the ring with serious eyes.
As for Zhao Tianxing, he couldn't shake the feeling that the students from the three great elite schools nearby were looking at him, and he felt awkward sitting here watching the match alongside them as a Songyang student.
And it bugged him that the Songyang High uniform he was wearing... in this hall of White Dragon High, was so rare and so off-the-wall, and he felt that everyone around him, when they saw the Songyang uniform on him, carried some strange emotion.
Of course, in truth, Zhao Tianxing was overthinking it. To the overwhelming majority of high-schoolers from the three great elite schools...
Songyang High? Do the students there even know cultivation? What's the point of-looking at them? We came here to watch the competition.
But just then, a student wearing a White Dragon High uniform walked over, looked at He Dayou and said: "Dayou, you really came to watch my match?"
He Dayou looked back at the other, thinking how his sunglasses and mask seemed to be useless after all.
"Mm." He Dayou nodded and said: "Came over to see what the overall skill level of the three great elite schools is this term."
Chu Qiuhe, from White Dragon High, chuckled and said: "I saw that your Songyang High actually came to compete too. What were you thinking? Not afraid of being beaten into bankruptcy?"
Although he knew the gap between Songyang and the three great elite schools was real, as the son of a school board member, He Dayou still felt a kind of instinctive discomfort at these words.
Damn it, insulting Songyang in front of the school board member's son — you already have a death wish.
But he also understood that Songyang and White Dragon did have a bit of a gap, just a tiny bit.
And even though he and Chu Qiuhe had been middle-school classmates in the past, ever since he'd been admitted into Songyang while the other got into White Dragon, the friendship between them had gradually changed in nature.
In the other's presence, He Dayou always felt like he was a notch lower.
Even now, Chu Qiuhe only addressed He Dayou, his middle-school classmate, treating the Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing at He Dayou's side as if they were air.
After all, Songyang High... heh.
At this moment, He Dayou said flatly: "Who knows. Anyway, that one got fourth in the Mana Competition last time, so maybe this time he wanted to come try his luck too."
Hearing the title of fourth in the Mana Competition, Chu Qiuhe was instantly choked for a moment, then smiled awkwardly: "Martial-arts combat and the Mana Competition aren't the same thing, you know. Martial-arts combat is about comprehensive strength. The gap between White Dragon, Purple Cloud, Red Tower, and the other schools gets pulled enormously wide."
With that, he looked toward the ring and said: "Perfect timing — someone from your school is going up. Let me help you take a look at how he levels out..."
Meanwhile, seeing that the contestant on stage was a Songyang High student, many in the audience also expected it to be a tough fight.
But then they saw Zhang Yu and the Yellow-Turban Strongman collide once, and then — bang — the Yellow-Turban Strongman was actually thrown out of bounds.
Zhang Yu: 300 points.
The whole arena erupted in an uproar in an instant; no one had expected a Songyang High student to be capable of such a feat.
Chu Qiuhe was also stunned for a moment, seeing that before he'd even finished his sentence, Zhang Yu had thrown the Yellow-Turban Strongman out. He said in surprise: "300 points? Your Songyang can actually turn out a student like this?"
The tone... was as if he'd seen a flower growing out of a pile of cow dung.
Although he hated Zhang Yu, He Dayou had to admit that in this moment, seeing the surprise in Chu Qiuhe's eyes, he felt a faint pleasure, and nodded with restraint: "Our year is pretty impressive."
Qian Shen beside him also said: "Zhang Yu is, after all, 653 points. He's very strong."
Zhao Tianxing, seeing the whole arena in an uproar, also subconsciously puffed out his chest, feeling that the Songyang uniform on his body wasn't quite so humble anymore.
...
When Chu Qiuhe returned to Song Hailong's side, he saw the competition coach leading a few people to watch a slow-motion replay together.
The coach analyzed: "This Zhang Yu stood at the edge of the ring from the very start."
"The goal was to make the Yellow-Turban Strongman, after taking the initiative, come over to the edge of the ring of its own accord."
"Then he used an ordinary straight punch, and this is where it gets interesting."
In the footage, Zhang Yu, as if having predicted it in advance, intercepted the Yellow-Turban Strongman's move early.
The competition coach analyzed: "In that instant, he judged the Strongman's move, interrupted it early, then used the Boundless Cloud Hand to pull the Strongman's force, and finally threw the Strongman a few paces away."
"And because of his positioning, those few paces away happened to be exactly out of bounds."
"From start to finish, each and every move was calculated to the last detail..."
After hearing this whole analysis, Song Hailong's originally interested gaze instantly cooled, and he turned his head away with a bored look: "I thought this kid, same as at the Mana Competition, was a dark horse with some real strength."
"Turns out he likes using this kind of small cleverness. How boring."
The competition coach didn't refute Song Hailong, because Song Hailong was both a dominant top scorer of the grade and an absolutely rich person. So as long as he didn't insult the teacher, he could say whatever he wanted.
And the coach also knew that this ace son truly didn't need to consider a contestant at Zhang Yu's level.
But the competition coach still looked at the other students and warned: "Don't underestimate him. Although there's an element of taking an easy way out, being able to make that judgment in that instant means either his reaction speed and focus are especially strong, and his understanding of martial arts very deep."
"Or he observed the Yellow-Turban Strongman for a long time in advance and managed to get a feel for some of its move patterns."
"Although all his numbers should be lower than yours, this kind of opponent is very capable of defeating the strong with the weak. If any of you run into him, you absolutely must not let down your guard."
"Anyone who loses today to an opponent outside the three great elite schools gets fined ten thousand when they go back, and has to spend the rest of the month attending class on their knees."
The students immediately shouted their assent in unison.
Listening to the competition coach's analysis, Chu Qiuhe thought to himself, so that's how it was.
At first, seeing Zhang Yu instantly defeat the Yellow-Turban Strongman, he'd thought the other was a strongman on Song Hailong's level.
But hearing it now, he felt that if he prepared a bit, this sort of thing didn't seem impossible for him either.
...
On the other side, in Purple Cloud High's preparation area.
Lian Tianji laughed heartily: "Zhang Yu really is impressive."
Yue Mulan, after a glance, said flatly: "He can't even rent the most basic combat spiritual root. The poor really are pitiful."
"But being this poor, and still coming to compete at the risk of bankruptcy — I really can't understand it."
Yue Mulan turned her head to look at Lian Tianji, asking with curiosity and confusion: "You're so much poorer than me, can you understand their thinking?"
Lian Tianji laughed awkwardly, for a moment not knowing what to say, and could only keep comforting himself inwardly: "The divine first place is just blunt of speech, not deliberately looking down on me. No need to take it to heart."
...
And shortly after Zhang Yu left the stage, it was finally Bai Zhenzhen's turn.
In the stands, Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing had been looking forward to Bai Zhenzhen's performance.
Who'd have guessed that moments later, they'd find Bai Zhenzhen fighting with difficulty on the ring, desperately dodging the Yellow-Turban Strongman while barely managing to find gaps to touch the sensing patches on its body.
"Bai Zhenzhen's struggling this much?"
He Dayou looked at the Bai Zhenzhen who had beaten him so high-spiritedly, now floundering left and right under the Strongman's assault, and suddenly found that his heart felt no trace of pleasure — instead, a kind of bitterness.
And this bitterness, more than because of Bai Zhenzhen, was because of the self who had once been beaten by Bai Zhenzhen.
Qian Shen beside him frowned: "Bai Zhenzhen's fighting style doesn't seem suited to dealing with the Yellow-Turban Strongman."
Zhao Tianxing worried: "At this rate, isn't she going to be put in a group with a high scorer? She could easily get eliminated in the group stage."
...
With Bai Zhenzhen's difficult fight on the ring, the audience and the other contestants quickly lost interest as well.
Song Hailong had long since closed his eyes in boredom, as if he felt that even one more glance at this fight was a waste of time.
Lian Tianji on the other side also secretly felt surprised: "The girl who came with Zhang Yu to compete — last time at the Mana Competition, she came with Zhang Yu too, didn't she?"
"She's so weak, why does she stubbornly insist on accompanying Zhang Yu to compete? Could it be... that she's Zhang Yu's slave at Songyang High? Has Songyang started playing this game too?"
Lei Jun, watching this scene, said thoughtfully: "Looks like Bai Zhenzhen has sensed that her fighting style isn't suited to fighting the Yellow-Turban Strongman, so she's simply hiding her strength."
As the teacher who had coached Bai Zhenzhen for two weeks, Lei Jun knew that Bai Zhenzhen's true strength was far more than what she was showing on the ring right now.
Zhang Yu, arms crossed over his chest, watched the figure on the ring and gradually came to understand the other's plan.
Although the Yellow-Turban Strongman only kept its physical strength output at grade 1.98, its material itself had not changed; it was still a solidity that students could not damage.
And Bai Zhenzhen's fighting method had always been to attack an enemy's openings. Against an opponent like the Yellow-Turban Strongman, which was impervious to swords and spears and required a hard, head-on fight, she clearly fell easily into disadvantage.
Zhang Yu thought to himself: "My goal is to avoid strong opponents as much as possible in the group stage and secure a baseline spot in the top 8."
"Reckoning that A-Zhen knows she can't get a high score, she's hiding her strength so that when she runs into a strong opponent in the group stage, she can catch them off guard?"
In the end, Bai Zhenzhen scored 89.