Chapter 437: The Reliable Liu Hong (1)
It was obvious that something was fishy about Su Yu's team allocation.
But none of the students said anything.
At this time, someone from the Discipline Hall asked, "Do any students have any issues with their team allocations?
A lot of people looked at Su Yu. The Discipline Hall had clearly noticed that something was wrong.
With a big smile on his face, Su Yu said, "Nope. Since the team assignment is done and the tournament is going to start soon, I won't waste anyone's time. I can't give those shameless people an excuse to cancel the tournament, right? That would only ruin the day of many seniors here."
Su Yu spoke in a calm and straightforward manner.
He was basically saying that he was letting this slide because he didn't want to give the shameless single character faction the chance to cancel the tournament and ruin the plan of the many students here.
A lot of people exhaled in relief upon hearing that. That would be for the best. After all, some of them were actually quite happy with their teammates. It was clear that something was fishy about Su Yu's teammates. If the Discipline Hall was really allowed to start an investigation, nobody knew if the tournament would end up canceled.
Clearly, all this was actually a part of Liu Hong's plan. If the Discipline Hall insisted on carrying out an investigation, they could simply cancel the tournament and shift the blame to Su Yu. Since Su Yu had refused to question the team allocation, the person from the Discipline Hall said nothing else. And apart from Su Yu, no other students responded to the Discipline Hall's question.
At this point, it no longer mattered if they were happy with their team or not. Su Yu was right. If they questioned the team allocation and caused the cancellation of the tournament, they would ruin everyone's plan and offend the entire academy.
On the stage, Liu Hong smiled and said, "Since there are no issues, take this time to communicate with your team members. This would also be your first priority on the battlefield. You need to first know what each other is good at, make a clear plan detailing each person's responsibilities, and elect a team leader. These are all the things you need to do yourself."
...
Su Yu completely ignored Liu Hong.
Liu He and the others continued staring at him coldly. After a while, Liu He coldly said, "Su Yu, I'm afraid we won't be getting any slots. But with our strength, we can at least get into the top 10."
Su Yu looked at Liu He and said, "Senior Brother Liu, are you offering your help?"
Liu He frowned and looked at Liu Hong as he sank into an internal struggle. Should he help? His big brother and the single character faction had clearly assigned him to Su Yu's team to drag Su Yu down. If he helped Su Yu, what would his big brother think?
After a short silence, he said, "I believe that as a genius, I should properly display my strength and grace in battle. I need to show that we of the single character faction are also people with honor. Lin Yao and Yang Sha are weak, but I'm not weak."
Su Yu asked, "So do you mean that you're willing to fight?"
With a toying tone, Su Yu said, "None of you are stupid. I believe you are already aware of what you're supposed to be doing in this team."
Liu He felt even more gloomy. He coldly said, "We are fighting for ourselves, not anyone else. Once we step on the stage, only enemies and allies are left. Nothing else matters."
"I hope you're telling the truth." Su Yu said, "In that case, we'll work together."
Liu He said, "You're the strongest among us. Are you not making a plan or any other preparation?"
He wanted to give it a try. Even if they couldn't get first place, he believed that their team was good enough to survive a few rounds. Su Yu had the strength of a top 20 student. He had the strength of a top 70 student. Yang Sha was only slightly weaker than a top 100 student. Lin Yao was truly weak. As for Xia Huyou, his true strength was still unknown.
Their team was definitely strong enough to defeat some of the weaker teams.
Of the new students, only the top 100 students could pose a threat to them. As for the old students, sure, many of them were strong. But the truly talented ones would have broken through long ago. Thus, there were only around 100 peak Mental Tempering Stage cultivators among the old students.
Additionally, the myriad race students would also be participating in the tournament. According to Liu He's calculation, their team was probably good enough to enter the top 50 in the tournament. After all, they also had several top 100 students in their team.
"Plan?" Su Yu smiled, "Sure. Since you want a plan, I'll make a plan. The three of you only need to do one thing. Target the weakest member of our opposing team. It doesn't matter if you can defeat that person or not. Just keep that person busy."
Liu He was furious after hearing that.
Yang Sha was also angered. He said, "Liu He is a true top 100 student while I am also someone who has challenged the top 100 before. And you're asking us to join hands against students who have yet to even enter the top 100?"
Su Yu indifferently asked, "What else can we do, Senior Brother Yang? Will the single character faction allow me to reach the finals?"
They sank into silence.
After a long while, Lin Yao said, "How about this? We will do our best against those not from the single character faction. As for the single character faction students..."
Liu He snorted and said, "We will do our best against everyone. Su Yu, don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone in the single character faction is targeting you. We don't have the time to waste on something this meaningless. Apart from the main line of the faction, the rest of us don't really care much about you."
The so-called main line was basically Zhou Mingren's line.
Su Yu did not care. He merely smiled and said, "Sure. You guys can fight if you're willing. If you're unwilling, it doesn't matter. I won't force you to do anything. After all, I don't want to take the blame if you guys end up offending your own faction. It will probably be fine if we end up losing. But if I end up winning and you guys have been fighting hard...hehe. I reckon you would start having a hard time in the single character faction."
Su Yu had an amused expression on his face. Liu He completely dismissed those words. Bullshit. There was no way they could win. Whatever. It was understandable for Su Yu to not trust them. He had nothing else to say. He would decide what to do later.
After a short while, Liu Hong announced, "It's time. Since we have a lot of participants, try to end the matches as quickly as possible. A total of 20 rings have been prepared for the tournament. 40 teams will fight concurrently. The winners will remain while the losers will leave."
A single match would last around three or four minutes. Thus, the first round would last around two hours. Nobody had any issues with that. It was good that the first round wouldn't end that fast. That would only give them more time to recuperate after their match.
"As for the opponent allocation, it is very simple. Team one will fight team two, team three will fight team four, and so on. The first 40 teams may get into the rings now."
One team after another started entering the rings assigned to them. The referees also started entering the rings. Su Yu noticed several strong teams among the first 40 teams. Basically, any team with a top 100 student or a peak Mental Tempering Stage student could be considered a strong team. Beside him, Xia Huyou was feeling very curious about the final member of Su Yu's team.
Everyone thought that he was the final member, but he couldn't even be bothered to explain himself. He didn't care what those people thought. But Su Yu was definitely aware that he wasn't the final member. Had this fellow figured out who the last member was?
Instead of asking, Xia Huyou looked at the first 40 teams and said, "Team 16 is probably the strongest among them. They have three strong members, with two of them being top 100 students and one of them being a former top 100 student over 30."
That was a team with three top 100 students. That could indeed be considered a strong team.
Just like that, the tournament started. It was very straightforward. The moment the referees called for the matches to start, booming sounds reverberated throughout the arena.
The gap between the top 100 students and those outside the top 100 was clear for all to see. And the team 16 mentioned by Xia Huyou was able to obtain an instant victory. Their three top 100 students had fought a different opponent each. And they had all defeated their respective opponents instantly.
Some of the Mental Tempering Stage students were actually quite weak. After all, cultural researchers were different from warriors. Warriors would be decently strong even at the Great Strength Realm. But cultural researchers could be very weak even at the Mental Tempering Stage as some of them might not even have a single Divine Character yet at that level of cultivation. And such cultural researchers would basically be completely helpless in this tournament.
Boom!
With a rumble, the match between team 15 and team 16 on ring 8 ended. The members of team 15 were thrown off the ring one after another.
"Team 16 is victorious."
The referee announced the victor, putting an end to that match. At the same time, the referee of ring 1 also declared, "Team 1 is victorious."
Only then did Su Yu notice the first ring. He was quite surprised. That was fast!
Xia Huyou was also surprised. He said, "That's a student specializing in sealing. He's quite strong. All his opponents were instantly sealed at the start of the match. Su Yu, you need to keep an eye out for this team."
Su Yu said nothing. At that time, yet another match came to an end. With a loud roar, a massive beast had appeared in ring 6.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The leopard-like beast moved rapidly and instantly sent all five students of the opposing team out of the ring.
"A student from the beast taming faction. And he is even someone who has formed a beast space within his body. This is not someone to be underestimated as well."
Su Yu suddenly asked, "Are the beast taming faction students allowed to fight with Skysoar beasts?"
Xia Huyou rolled his eyes and said, "What are you thinking about? They can only fight with the beasts they tamed themselves. And only actual students of the beast taming faction can fight with tamed beasts. These so-called tamed beasts refer to the beasts they can take into their beast space. Do you think these students can take overly powerful beasts into their beast spaces?"
"Only students with beast spaces will be considered true members of the beast taming faction. The others can only be considered students-in-waiting. Do you understand now?"
Su Yu nodded as he looked at the team with the beast tamer. A student of the beast taming faction.
This was Su Yu's first time witnessing the fight of a student from the beast taming faction. He knew what race the leopard belonged to. It was the wind leopard race. This wasn't a particularly powerful race, but the wind leopards were known for their speed. Thus, this was a rather popular beast to tame.
The leopard was at around the fifth or sixth stage of the Infinite Strength Realm. It was actually quite strong.