Not long after, as the last contestant walked down from the ring, all the contestants present had been scored.
In the meantime, two more contestants from other high schools withdrew, and in the end a total of 33 contestants would be divided into 8 groups to carry out the group-elimination rounds.
Seven of the groups each had four contestants, who would pair off in duels after drawing lots, eliminating until only one person remained.
One group, however, had five contestants. After drawing lots, with one contestant getting a bye, they would pair off in duels, eliminating until only one remained.
With each of the 8 groups left with one person, those would be the top 8 of this competition.
After the scoring round ended, there was a rest period. Zhang Yu stretched lazily and was about to head to the bathroom together with Bai Zhenzhen.
But they searched and searched, and could not find a restroom anywhere around the arena.
Seeing Song Hailong pass by, Zhang Yu couldn't help asking: "Do you know where the restroom is?"
Song Hailong smiled arrogantly: "White Dragon High has no restrooms."
"Huh?" Zhang Yu was shocked: "You people just relieve yourselves anywhere?"
Song Hailong's face darkened, and he said coldly: "The teachers and students of White Dragon High have all undergone digestive-system modification surgery. We don't need something as backward, dirty, and time-wasting as a restroom."
Zhang Yu said, at a loss: "Well then what are we supposed to do?"
Song Hailong said flatly: "Go look on the first floor. There might be a restroom reserved there for the lower classes."
So Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, after no small effort, finally found two crude restrooms in the corridor outside the first floor, charging 10 yuan per person.
So they borrowed money from Qian Shen again, and only then went to relieve themselves while cursing and grumbling.
When they returned to the arena, the 8 groups had already been divided.
Eight huge rings had also been raised up on the spot, which would carry out the elimination rounds of the 8 groups simultaneously.
Looking at the grouping, Zhang Yu breathed a quiet sigh of relief: "Good thing A-Zhen didn't end up in my group."
"But A-Zhen's group..."
Looking at the high scorer in Bai Zhenzhen's group, Zhang Yu furrowed his brow slightly: "That one's very strong."
It was a demonic-heritage contestant from Red Tower High.
A humanoid body, but with a tiger's head and a coat of tiger fur, looking like a human-shaped tiger.
And under Zhang Yu's earlier Heaven Eye Talisman detection, a string of component evaluations had hovered above the other's head.
Protected Zone | Dragon-Tiger Demon Blood | Drug Barrel | Steel Bones
Zhang Yu recalled Lei Jun's translation of it: "From the demonic-heritage protection zone, a tiger-demon bloodline mixed with dragon blood, has consumed many drugs, and has undergone some kind of bone-modification surgery."
Zhang Yu thought to himself: "I recall he got 266 points in the scoring round, right? That's the second-highest score among Red Tower's students."
Combined with how Zhang Yu had watched the other's performance in the scoring round, by his own understanding, this demonic-heritage student named Hu Yuntao could be called a six-faceted soldier — high power, high agility, high attack, high defense — and had shown no obvious flaws in battle.
"That guy didn't compete in the Mana Competition last time, so he should be bad at mana control."
"But being able to come to the martial-arts competition means his practical combat-killing ability is especially strong."
Zhang Yu's gaze swept across the sharp, cold-gliming claws on the other's hands: "Fuck, shouldn't a demon compete wearing a declaw surgery? Isn't this like bringing your own weapon? Isn't that too cheap?"
"This should be the type of opponent A-Zhen hates most."
With a trace of worry, Zhang Yu also walked toward the group area he'd been assigned to.
"Please don't go bankrupt, A-Zhen. I've got no money left to lend you."
...
Bai Zhenzhen arrived at her group's area.
She saw that the other three contestants had already arrived, coming respectively from White Dragon High, Purple Cloud High, and Red Tower High.
And the most eye-catching of them was that contestant from Red Tower High, who looked tiger-headed and tiger-brained, not at all like a person.
Then the four of them drew lots, and Bai Zhenzhen drew Hu Yuntao.
After the two fought a one-on-one battle, the victor... would then fight against the winner of the other two's duel, finally deciding the one who advanced from this group.
Bai Zhenzhen pressed a hand to her lower abdomen, feeling the power hidden within it, and walked slowly toward the ring.
"I've suppressed it for so long. Finally, I have a chance to use you."
"Today, it's finally my turn, Bai Zhenzhen's, to soar to the sky and dazzle the whole arena!"
And on her opposite side, Hu Yuntao casually walked up onto the ring, as if entirely unconcerned with Bai Zhenzhen, looking around this way and that.
...
Hu Yuntao, like Xiong Bufan who had taken part in the Mana Competition that day, came from the breeding facility of the demonic-heritage protection zone.
But Hu Yuntao had never been ashamed of this identity, nor did he think being of demonic heritage made him any lower. Quite the opposite... in Hu Yuntao's bones there was a pride, a pride in his own race and bloodline.
Because Hu Yuntao had dragon blood. Hu Yuntao's body held a bloodline that came from the dragon. Hu Yuntao was far nobler than all those ordinary mortals!
In the protection zone, 'Father,' who was a school board member of Red Tower High, would each month sow seeds into the pregnant mothers of every race, making the mothers in the breeding facility carry 'Father's' children.
Each month, several hundred demonic-heritage beings would be born in the breeding facility, their bodies holding the dragon bloodline that came from 'Father,' and thus they were extraordinary from birth.
From the mother's womb itself, these children would be continuously injected with all kinds of drugs, undergoing adaptive training.
And the weak work while the strong study — that was the truth Hu Yuntao had learned as he grew up.
Those who from childhood were unable to adapt to the drugs would be sent to work in food factories.
Those who, growing a bit older, were found to lack intelligence would become employees of the ecological protection zone.
Those who, growing older still, were found to lack potential would be sent to work in garment factories, leather factories, textile factories... and other such factories.
Only by passing this round after round of trials, casting off trial after trial of work opportunities, could one reach that paradise called Red Tower High School.
There, one signed a contract with 'Father,' becoming a son truly recognized by him.
Only then was there the chance to continue studying and to sit the university entrance exam.
I don't want to work a job! I want to study! That was the cry in the heart of every demonic-heritage being in the breeding facility.
And Hu Yuntao was precisely such a son of a school board member who had passed layer upon layer of trials to come to Red Tower High to study.
He had weathered countless trials, broken through the wrong turns of work again and again, and finally earned the qualification to study in high school and sit the university entrance exam.
Now, he would use the bloodline that Father had bestowed upon him to defeat every opponent in this competition, and make Father proud of him!
...
On the ring.
With the referee's count of 3! 2! 1!, Hu Yuntao shot out with a whoosh, both claws kicking up wisps of rancid wind and cold glint, slicing toward Bai Zhenzhen like sharp blades.
The woman before him, whether in build, strength, or speed, was all far beneath him. Hu Yuntao was confident that in the next instant, he could tear apart her hands, rip open her throat, and make her lose completely.
"This strike alone is going to blast you 600,000 in medical fees."
But just then, an intense sense of threat surged up from within his heart, making Hu Yuntao instinctively stop his steps and lurch backward.
He looked at Bai Zhenzhen before him again, and felt the wisps of spiritual machine in the air surging toward her, even gradually condensing at her fingertips, as if giving off a faint sword-light radiance.
Hu Yuntao's gaze shifted: "A combat spiritual root?"
...
In the stands.
Qian Shen looked at Bai Zhenzhen's ring, curious: "What kind of spiritual root is this? Feels like I've never seen it before? But it stirs up no small commotion in the spiritual machine, so it must be a Heaven Spiritual Root, right?"
Zhao Tianxing said from the side: "No wonder A-Zhen had no money to eat. She must have spent all her money renting a combat spiritual root. Looks like she really wants to win."
Thinking of the round trip and the hours the competition would take, Zhao Tianxing estimated that this combat spiritual root cost at least tens of thousands in rental fees, and he secretly clicked his tongue — taking part in this martial-arts competition really burned through money.
...
On the ring.
Bai Zhenzhen felt the spiritual machine now flooding her whole body, and thought to herself: "They must all think I rented this combat spiritual root just to take part in the martial-arts competition, right?"
But Bai Zhenzhen knew that wasn't the case.
Compared to renting a spiritual root, she'd rather spend money buying drugs and techniques.
Because she had a spiritual root of her own.
In order to hide this spiritual root within her body, Bai Zhenzhen felt that ever since she was little, it had been like having to hold in the urge to pee without being allowed to go to the toilet — and this holding in... had now lasted ten years.
"A-Zhen, you have to control yourself. Don't absorb the spiritual machine. Don't let anyone discover you have a spiritual root."
Countless early mornings, the first thing the waking Bai Zhenzhen heard every day was this sentence.
"A-Zhen, hold on! Don't stir up a disturbance in the spiritual machine. Don't let anyone discover you have a spiritual root."
Countless nights, Bai Zhenzhen, roused by someone, had to re-control the spiritual root, forcing it to stop.
"A-Zhen, I know it's hard, but only once you've controlled it, once you've made sure no one discovers you have a spiritual root, can we return to Songyang."
It was like meeting air but not being able to breathe, meeting water but not being able to drink, having the urge to pee but not being allowed to go to the toilet.
Don't let anyone discover you have a spiritual root! Don't let anyone discover you have a spiritual root! Don't be discovered! Don't be discovered!
And so Bai Zhenzhen held it in, held it in, held it in... until finally, on the day she turned fourteen, she felt that her spiritual root seemed to have been held until it disappeared.
That day was the happiest day Bai Zhenzhen had known since she'd grown aware.
She'd held it in for nine years, hidden it with all her might for nine years, and finally this troublesome thing was gone. She no longer had to keep holding it in.
But soon she discovered that the spiritual root hadn't disappeared — it had hidden itself. And it wasn't just the spiritual root's hiding...
After round after round of 'holding one's breath,' the spiritual root carried her along with it into hiding.
It was as if she'd become a ghost whom no one could see or perceive anymore... or rather, everyone was like a ghost to her, and no one paid her any heed, no one could communicate with her.
That night... the whole world seemed to be left with only her alone.
Until she found a way to let people see her again.
...
Watching the spiritual machine surging ever more violently toward Bai Zhenzhen, Hu Yuntao decided not to give the other any more time. With a tiger roar, he charged forward again.
But the next moment, Bai Zhenzhen vanished from his sight.
Hu Yuntao's eyes flew wide, sweeping his gaze across the entire ring.
Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
"A stealth-type combat spiritual root?"
To find the other's trail, he abruptly retreated to a corner of the ring, his gaze sweeping across the entire ring ahead — yet of Bai Zhenzhen he saw not a trace.
Could it be...
The next moment, he suddenly raised his head toward the sky. Still nothing!
The instant after, he abruptly felt an extreme sense of danger.
Bai Zhenzhen, suddenly appearing before him again, had already aimed her sword-finger at Hu Yuntao's dantian.
Although the strike came too swiftly and too dangerously, Hu Yuntao's response was too fast and too acute. Almost the instant Bai Zhenzhen appeared, one of his claws tore, like lightning and flint, toward the extended sword-finger.
"Heh! Weak in strength, slow in speed — even with a surprise attack, what makes you think you can beat me?"
But the next moment, as if she had long since seen through Hu Yuntao's move trajectory, Bai Zhenzhen's sword-finger changed, and she pulled back.
Hu Yuntao was about to pursue when he felt a pain in his foot — he had actually been tripped by the other.
Everything was so precisely timed, as if he himself had charged forward and tripped on his own.
With a soft thud, Hu Yuntao, watching himself tumbling off the ring, was filled with unwillingness in his heart.
Roar! "I don't accept this! I haven't even used my full strength yet!"
Watching the clawing and gnashing Hu Yuntao, who was finally dragged away by the referee holding him by the scruff of the neck, Bai Zhenzhen nonchalantly flicked her fingertip.
"Idiot. I didn't use my full strength either."
This battle, Bai Zhenzhen won!