Chapter 277: Showtime (3)
Not far away.
Su Yu raised his head and saw a heroic young woman looking at him. Beside that woman was Wu Lan. He was able to guess the woman's identity so he flashed her an honest smile before looking away.
At the same time, Liu Hong also looked at Wu Qi and flashed a warm smile...
Wu Qi felt more and more weird.
She continued staring at Liu Hong and Su Yu, to the point Liu Hong was totally confused. Finally, she pointed at Su Yu and asked Liu Hong, "Is this your spy?"
"What?"
"Your biological brother?"
"Huh?"
"What is your mother's surname?"
Liu Hong finally understood what she was getting at.
His face fell as he said, "We are unrelated!"
Damn it! How dare she! He should challenge her to a fight. That ought to teach her a lesson—forget it. He might not be her match.
But his mother was definitely not surnamed Su!
Wu Qi ignored Liu Hong and looked at Su Yu again. She blinked before looking at her little sister and said, "Stay far away from him. I would rather you spend more time with those garbage students than spend time with him. I'm afraid that one day you would be sold off by him and I wouldn't be able to find you anymore."
Wu Lan was dumbfounded.
Wu Qi did not mind her sister's reaction. She pointed at Liu Hong and said, "Back then, I broke his leg. Many people in the academy are aware of this. But very few people know that this fellow had actually sold me to the Myriad Race Cult to help himself infiltrate the cult."
Wu Lan became even more dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, Liu Hong's expression changed as he hurriedly begged for mercy. He looked incomparably awkward.
Wu Qi ignored him and said, "Do you know how he entered the Skysoar Realm? By selling me. First, he sold me. Then, he notified your grandaunt to save me. Your grandaunt's appearance lured the cult experts away, giving him the chance to slaughter the other cult members and rob a bunch of cultivation resources from them. With those resources, he smoothly advanced into the Skysoar Realm."
Wu Lan stared at Liu Hong with stupefaction. She then looked at her own elder sister. So she was sold off so easily? Her elder sister was so stupid? She had always thought that her elder sister was very smart!
Wu Qi was completely expressionless as she said, "Back then, he had a big and honest smile on his face all the time. I thought that he was a good guy. I saw him as a friend. But when he sold me off, he didn't hesitate one bit."
Liu Hong felt even more awkward as he explained himself, "That was a misunderstanding! Really! Wu Qi, it has been so many years. Why can't you trust me? It was really a misunderstanding. I saw you captured before returning to notify Elder Wu. Then, I risked my life to attack the cult and save you. I had only looted them in passing. Don't talk nonsense in front of a child..."
Wu Qi ignored him and pointed at Su Yu, "Remember. This fellow is the same as Liu Hong. I am starting to suspect that he is Liu Hong's spy in the multiple character faction."
Wu Lan said, "Elder Sister, this is your first time seeing him. How do you know that?"
Wu Qi did not bother answering that question. It was up to her sister what she wanted to believe. In any case, she was confident in her judgment. She had a good eye for people. Sure, back then, she was pretty bad at judging people. But after being sold off by Liu Hong, she had become much better at judging people.
Meanwhile, Liu Hong had an innocent look on his face. Why wouldn't they believe him? It was really a misunderstanding! That kidnapping was really an accident. He had merely decided to make use of the accident to stuff his pockets a little.
After all, her grandaunt was already there and her safety was already ensured. That was why he had focused on looting the cult instead of escaping with her back then.
Liu Hong sighed. He felt really aggrieved. He had risked his life and notified her grandaunt to rescue her. Not only had she not thanked him, but she had been viewing him as some sort of villain since then. He felt terrible.
He looked at Su Yu and sighed. See? He had warned the kid to not go over the board when smiling. And he was proven right. Someone had seen through the kid’s disguise with one look.
After a short while, Liu Hong stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "Students, be quiet. The Divine Character tournament is starting soon. You will draw for your opponents. If your draw comes up empty, you can skip the first round. The rule is that there are no rules. You only need to send your willpower into the grotto and fight until one of you wins. The process of the fight is unimportant. Only the result matters. You all know the rewards. Additionally, you can get five merit points for each victory.
"This is the first tournament for the new students. It doesn't matter which faculty you are in. Be sure to showcase your strength and demonstrate your value to the academy. Apart from the tournament rewards, the victors can gain something else: The attention of the academy and the researchers. Some of you still don't have a teacher because you have yet to catch anyone's attention. That might change during this tournament. This is your chance.
"This will be the start of your story. The start of your rise. There is no need to feign weakness so that you can fool your potential enemies. You either don't fight or fight to win. Students not aiming for victory should simply save everyone's time and not participate at all."
He then looked at Su Yu and said, "Su Yu, you said that you won't give up on the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem. Are you confident in getting the first place?"
Su Yu met Liu Hong's gaze, the smile on his face slowly fading away. Every single student in the room looked at Su Yu. Even those who didn't know him started asking around about him.
Su Yu took a deep breath and said, "I will try my best to not disappoint you, Teacher Liu. What a pity that I can't use my physical cultivation today. I hope I will have the chance to exchange pointers with your brilliant student in the future. Su Yu is untalented, but I do wish to see if Teacher Liu's skill in teaching is as good as a certain skill of yours."
Upon hearing those words, some of the researchers looked amused.
Interesting.
Meanwhile, Lin Yao was maintaining a calm expression while inwardly filled with admiration toward his Brother Su and teacher who were clearly putting on an act for everyone.
As for the brilliant student Brother Su mentioned, that was probably not him. Perhaps it was Senior Brother Yang Sha? Was Brother Su interested in sparring with Senior Brother Yang?
Was he deliberately feigning hostility with them to create an opportunity to spar with his senior brother? Lin Yao felt like he had stumbled upon the truth.
When he looked at others, he noticed that everyone had been fooled by this act. Thus, his admiration for his Brother Su grew even more. He was also feeling very smug, as though he was the only person awake in a world of dreamers.
Everyone believed that Su Yu did not get along well with his teacher. Little did they know, the two had reconciled with each other long ago.
Lin Yao wanted nothing more than to help them out with the act by jumping out and challenging Su Yu with a righteous indignation. But he gave up on that thought as he needed to save his energy for the tournament. He would let Brother Su and his teacher be the main characters for today's act. Perhaps he could help in the future.
After saying those words, Su Yu said nothing else.
It was pointless to say more since he still wasn't Liu Hong's match. But because of this little incident, Su Yu had decided to hold even more grudges toward Liu Hong.
If Liu Hong was really a spy, then Su Yu might consider forgiving him. If not...well, just wait and see.
...
The instructors started having the students draw for their opponents.
This was only a small tournament with less than 200 participants, so it wasn't that big of an event.
Thus, the draw was also done quite simplistically. They only placed a bunch of paper slips in an iron bucket. One of the instructors announced, "Number 1 will fight number 2, number 3 will fight number 4, and so on, and so forth. There are 198 participants in total, so each of you will get an opponent. If anyone gives up after drawing an opponent, the opponent will win by default."
One of the students asked, "Teacher, won’t those with see-through Divine Characters be able to see what they are drawing for?"
Someone laughed.
A researcher said, "In that case, you can only admire that student for having such an ability. If you have a similar ability, you are free to use it as well. This is a Divine Character tournament. Are we supposed to stop people from using their Divine Characters?"
Nobody could say anything about that. The researcher made a lot of sense.
But that question alerted some of the girls. One of them asked anxiously, "Teacher, see-through characters exist?"
“...”
That gave the researcher a pause. After a short while, he said, "Such a character definitely exists, but new students might not have one. Even if they do, you will definitely be able to sense it when someone spies on you. We are all cultural researchers with powerful willpower. We can't be spied on that easily."
The students looked at each other in dismay, and some of the girls started looking around suspiciously. At that moment, anyone who so much as glanced at them would look like a pervert in their eyes.
...
Su Yu remained silent as he waited until it was his turn to draw for his opponent. After wrapping a layer of willpower around his hand, he reached into the iron bucket. When he grabbed a slip of paper, he kept it in his grasp and did not even bother opening it.
He did not want to give anyone an opportunity to target him. But he also knew that it wouldn't be an easy task to get first place. Regardless, he would still try to save as much of his energy as possible during the initial matches.
Suddenly, Xia Huyou squeezed through the crowd and softly asked, "What's your number? Let's check your opponent out. Maybe I can start a small betting pool for your match?"
Su Yu rolled his eyes. He did not even entertain that question with a reply.
Xia Huyou could only regretfully say, "Fine. Forget it. I'll open a betting pool for other fights instead. Su Yu, I think it would be hard for you to get first place this time. The Willpower Faculty has a freak. The Talisman Faculty has a freak as well. Both of them have over 90 percent willpower. They might not have a lot of Divine Characters, but with their willpower, they can be very strong even with only one character."
"Wait, Willpower Faculty students cultivate Divine Characters as well?"
Su Yu was astonished. Xia Huyou shrugged and said, "How am I supposed to know? Nobody would know if they are secretly cultivating a character or two. That is actually quite common."
Su Yu nodded and asked nothing else. So be it. Just the Character Faculty alone was already filled with troublesome opponents.
At this time, Liu Hong and the others activated a device in the hall. In the middle of the hall, a massive ball suddenly flew up from the floor.
Liu Hong's voice rang out, "This is the Secret Character Grotto. It is formed of a Divine Character left behind by a peak Mountainsea expert on the cusp of reaching the Sunmoon Realm. But only those at the Sunmoon Realm can leave Eternal Divine Characters behind. As for this character of a peak Mountainsea, it can only exist in a limited form, creating a pocket world that exist yet not exist at the same time."
Looking at the ball, Su Yu could sense the powerful willpower contained within it. The ball was transparent, and he could see some vague silhouettes within the ball. However, their appearances were too indistinct for him to get a clear look.
Liu Hong's voice rang out again, "Step forth two at a time. You will be fighting in the grotto. If you wish to concede, you can simply exit the grotto. If the fight drags on, we will set the limit at 10 minutes. When you enter the grotto, the ball will be covered by two colors. The better you do in the fight, the more space your color will occupy. After 10 minutes, the person who has occupied the most space will be the winner."
He pointed at the ball as he explained.
With this system, everyone could clearly see who had the upper hand in the fight. Naturally, there would also be many cases of people returning from the verge of defeat to clutch a victory. After all, before reaching the limit of 10 minutes, only the one to leave first would be considered a loser.
Next, Liu Hong said, "Number 1 and number 2. Step forth."
At that, two students stepped out. Numerous people exclaimed in shock.
"Xia Chan!"
"Qi Chong!"
Xia Chan was no stranger to Su Yu. As for Qi Chong, Su Yu had heard that this was the number one genius of the Beast Taming Faculty this year. He had entered the academy as a high-high student with 80 percent willpower. Back during his entrance examination, he had nearly obtained 1,000 marks.
Just the very first match already involved two super geniuses. The other students couldn't help but to grow excited.