Chapter 285: Second Place Together (1)
There were only four matches in the fourth round.
Zheng Yunhui and Wan Mingze fought in the first match.
Even though Su Yu couldn't see the fight, he couldn't help but to feel excited.
He had fought Zheng Yunhui before so he had a rough idea of what Zheng Yunhui's strength was. Of course, Zheng Yunhui wasn't too weak in terms of willpower and Divine Characters, but strictly speaking, he wasn't too strong in those two aspects either. In fact, Su Yu felt like Zheng Hong was stronger in those two aspects. Thus, he was curious as to the result of this fight.
The moment they sent their willpower into the ball, the two colors started moving furiously. The color white represented Wan Mingze and the color blue represented Zheng Yunhui. The two colors were undulating violently.
Zheng Yunhui had a solemn expression as he constantly sent his willpower into the ball with an unsightly expression. Meanwhile, Wan Mingze looked completely calm. Su Yu and the others instantly noted that Zheng Yunhui seemed to be the one losing here.
The violent confrontation lasted around five minutes. Then, the color blue retreated instantly.
Zheng Yunhui opened his eyes and looked at Wan Mingze solemnly. He said, "Wan Mingze...very good. I lost. I will see you again in the Top 100 Ranking. I am not afraid of defeat. But what kind of man wins his fight with willpower and Divine Characters?"
“…”
Everyone was speechless. And many researchers rubbed their heads in exasperation. Had this kid forgotten that this was the cultural research academy? This was not the Zheng Family, the family of brutes.
Here, they all specialized in Divine Characters and willpower. That kid had claimed that he could accept defeat, but he was in actuality a sore loser. He did not believe in a fight utilizing only Divine Characters.
Wan Mingze smiled, "Top 100 Ranking? Yunhui, there are a lot of experts in that ranking. Isn't it better to wait longer and gain more strength first?"
"Pfft."
Zheng Yunhui had a look of contempt as he said, "Only by bravely advancing and learning the strength of those above you would you be able to progress. If you keep turtling, you would one day turn into a real turtle. Even if I lose, I will learn from it and catch up eventually."
Wan Mingze smiled and said nothing. They were different. And they walked a different path.
Zhao Shiji exhaled lightly and said, "Looks like those from a family of cultural researchers are really quite strong. Hu Qiusheng, let me witness the strength of the Hu Family."
Zhao Shiji was the son of the Martial Dragon Guards' deputy general. He was a descendant of a family of warriors. Of this generation's freaks in the academy, both him and Zheng Yunhui were outsiders who came from non-cultural researcher families.
Hu Qiusheng smiled. At that moment, Su Yu noticed something. Those from cultural researcher families enjoyed smiling a lot. Meanwhile, people from warrior families did not enjoy smiling. At the very least, he rarely saw them smiling.
The two entered the grotto. The second match began. Like the previous match, the two colors started churning violently. Both Hu Qiusheng and Zhao Shiji looked solemn as they started sweating heavily. This match lasted quite a while.
When it was nearly 10 minutes, Zhao Shiji finally staggered as he withdrew his willpower. He opened his eyes and looked at Hu Qiusheng while panting heavily, "Looks like people from warrior families like us are really still lacking. We will catch up to you. Hu Qiusheng, let's challenge the Top 100 Ranking next month. What do you say?"
Nearby, Zheng Yunhui who was still recovering shouted, "Let's do it together! I feel like our batch should be able to at least get into the bottom 10 places of the Top 100 Ranking. We should just take the positions for ourselves instead of letting some weaklings sit in those positions and keep embarrassing themselves."
Some of the teachers present were rendered speechless.
Those words would definitely offend a lot of people. After all, some of the bottom 10 students in the top 100 were their students. For example, Wu Qi had a student in the bottom 10 of the ranking. Hu Qiusheng and the others merely smiled and said nothing. They were in no rush.
Seeing that, Zheng Yunhui looked at Su Yu and loudly said, "Su Yu, you're already at the sixth-stage Great Strength Realm. With your blood essence abilities and a second tier character, are you not going to challenge the ranking with me?"
The moment those words were said, surprised gasps rang out in the room.
Sixth-stage Great Strength Realm?
Wu Lan was completely stunned. Wasn't he still in the third-stage Great Strength Realm? Why was he suddenly in the sixth stage?
Su Yu looked at Zheng Yunhui and said, "Yunhui, are you dreaming? Why are you babbling nonsense?"
Zheng Yunhui said disdainfully, "What are you afraid of? Even if your strength is revealed, what could anyone do? Just fight any opponents before you. You might be a defeated opponent of me, you are still strong enough to beat up those garbage."
Su Yu gazed at Zheng Yunhui silently. This fellow was absolutely not a brainless brute. Why would he suddenly say all that? Of course, quite a lot of people were actually aware of his fight with Zheng Yunhui. But since everyone was pretending to be clueless, why was that fellow exposing it out of nowhere?
There were also a lot of people looking at Su Yu in astonishment. Some researchers even got the urge to try scanning Su Yu with their willpower, but since it was a taboo, they resisted.
Liu Hong was unaffected. He had guessed that Su Yu would have reached the sixth stage by now. That was not at all surprising.
Seeing that Su Yu wasn't saying anything, Zheng Yunhui impatiently said, "Fine, fine, keep acting like a turtle. You only have around two years left. A big opportunity will appear for all of us. You guys are not anxious about it, but I am. I still want to try fighting for a spot. Otherwise, am I supposed to wait 12 years for the next opportunity to come around?"
Instantly, Liu Hong and Wu Qi looked at him. How ambitious. A big opportunity in around two years. Yes, there was something like that. But they were also fighting for that opportunity. And Zheng Yunhui was setting his eyes on that opportunity as well?
Su Yu was probably the most clueless student among the geniuses. The rest would know at least a little about it.
Zheng Yunhui continued, "It would be best if you can reach the Skysoar Realm in one year and take the next year to reach the seventh-stage Skysoar Realm. Only then would you have a chance in getting that opportunity. The benefits you can get from the top 100 are unimportant. The true benefit of the ranking is the chance to face the experts on the cusp of reaching the Skysoar Realm. Do you think you can reign above your peers or even the geniuses a few batches before us by only cultivating behind closed doors? Are you dreaming?"
He pointed at Liu Hong and the other researchers before looking at the freaks, "These people will be our biggest opponents when fighting for that opportunity. Right now, they are high above us. Overlooking us. Looking down on us like we are children. Without entering the top 100, we aren't even worthy of being taken seriously."
Zheng Yunhui loudly asked, "What are you all afraid of? Isn't it just a matter of fighting it out? I never believed that they are better than us. Their only advantage over me is their age."
...
Su Yu truly had nothing to say. Had this fellow gone mad?
He was obviously asking for a beating here. Did he not notice the smile on Liu Hong's face? That wide smile?
Liu Hong said, "It is good to be ambitious. But the tournament has yet to end. Challenging the top 100 is your personal matter. Don't talk about that here. Su Yu, Xia Chan, which of you wants to fight first?"
Su Yu looked at Xia Chan before saying, "I'll go first."
Zhang Hao nodded and looked at Su Yu with an odd gleam in his eyes. "Su Yu, have you really reached the sixth-stage Great Strength Realm?"
Su Yu smiled, "Zheng Yunhui is getting impatient to challenge the top 100. I don't understand why he insists on involving me. I am not a sixth-stage Great Strength cultivator. I never lie. Don't listen to his lies."
Zheng Yunhui looked at Su Yu curiously. Was this fellow telling the truth? After all, he was saying that so publicly. Not a sixth-stage Great Strength cultivator...
The look in Zheng Yunhui's eyes changed as he wondered the meaning behind those words. Was Su Yu still in the fifth stage or was he already higher than the sixth stage? Damn it. He couldn't read this fellow at all!
As for the matter of him dragging Su Yu in, he naturally needed to drag someone over to share some of the hostility he would attract after challenging the top 100. And Su Yu was the perfect person for that task. After all, it was too difficult for a new student to challenge the ranking since everyone would immediately target him.
Some of the senior students occupying a higher position might even aim to give him a beating. But he would be fine if he got Su Yu involved. Everyone would be looking forward to seeing Su Yu getting beaten up.
...
Su Yu said nothing but he cursed inwardly.
Just you wait, Asshole Zheng! That bastard had thrown him under the bus without any hesitation. He had forgotten about the fortune he had made with Su Yu's help so soon after it happened. What a bastard.
Su Yu vowed to give that bastard a good beating the next time he got the chance.
...
Inside the grotto.
Su Yu and Zhang Hao appeared.
Explode!
Su Yu had just produced an illusion when it was instantly destroyed by an explosion.
Zhang Hao was standing there smiling at Su Yu. Looking at Su Yu who had reappeared after the illusion was destroyed, he was unsurprised. With a smile, he sent his explode character toward Su Yu.
Su Yu did not hold back and used his character technique directly. Five Divine Characters worked together as he swung his saber.
Explode!
Yet another explosion erupted, causing Su Yu to frown as he cut the explosion apart.
"What character is this?"
He was quite astonished. He could clearly feel the character exploding previously, so why would the same character reappear?
That thought had just crossed his mind when countless explode characters appeared around him.
Boom!
Su Yu's scalp went numb as he looked at all those characters. What was he looking at?
Talismans?
Was he facing a monster?
This fellow was using his Divine Characters like talismans?
Meanwhile, Zhang Hao demonstrated the prowess of a proper talisman master as he fought without even approaching Su Yu. Each time Su Yu tried to push forward, he would be swarmed by the explode characters.
The air in the grotto trembled as Su Yu was assaulted from all directions. He gnashed his teeth in anger. He sent his saber flying forward with electrical currents running along the blade. But Zhang Hao only needed to do one thing. Explode. He could solve anything with his explosions.
Before the saber could reach Zhang Hao, its momentum was exhausted by the countless explosions, forcing Su Yu to withdraw his character technique. This was such a frustrating opponent to fight.
Thus, he had his character technique take the form of an armor that he draped around him before sitting down cross-legged. He decided to turtle down. Fine. Was this fellow trying to compete with him in terms of willpower exhaustion? He refused to believe that this fellow would be able to defeat him with those explosions. After all, those explosions required willpower to produce as well.
Zhang Hao's eyes flickered in amazement before he laughed. This was actually quite a good way to deal with him. But could Su Yu really outlast him? He had witnessed Su Yu's fight with Zheng Hong and he knew Su Yu could last very long. But he refused to believe that Su Yu had better endurance than him.
What were talisman masters? They were people specializing in producing countless one-off Divine Characters that could be sealed off as talismans. Without thick willpower, they wouldn't be able to produce much talisman at all. Dozens of explode characters started bombarding Su Yu.