The next time he saw Qin Fengqing was when everyone was eating in the hotel.
His head was swollen all over!
Fang Ping found it hard to imagine the hardships Qin Fengqing had been put through. There were so many welts on his head he looked like the Buddha.
Qin Fengqing was more reticent than ever. He started gorging himself on food as soon as he sat down.
He would not tell Fang Ping that he was stealthily attacked by a Grandmaster with a staff because he had badmouthed him!
Yes!
Chen Yaoting did not dare give him trouble out in the open, but had hit him secretly!
Qin Fengqing struggled to believe this was true even now.
He had thought an insult in the gymnasium, and looking for someone to protect him after that, would be the full extent of the incident.
But then... Just as he was walking out of the gymnasium, he was knocked so hard on the head he blacked out!
To be able to do that without a sound... It could only be a Grandmaster!
Who had assaulted him without warning!
Qin Fengqing knew that no one would believe that this was the truth even if he told someone. Grandmasters were high-and-mighty entities in the eyes of everyone. They were invincible. They were the embodiment of glory. They were also staunchly disciplined.
No one would believe him, a Rank-4, if he said that a Grandmaster had sneaked up on him. He would have to swallow this down whether or not he liked it.
Qin Fengqing ate wordlessly. Suddenly on an urge, Fang Ping touched the top of his head and said in appreciation, “His control is amazing! They’re swollen without exploding, evenly distributed, and equally sized. And he made it so that you can’t heal them! I’m floored!”
One who was not a Grandmaster would be hard-pressed to have such control.
A few swollen lumps on the head could be easily healed by a Rank-4 martial artist. Qin Fengqing’s didn’t, not because he did not want to, but because he could not.
Qin Fengqing’s expression darkened. He glared at Fang Ping viciously and said, grinding his teeth together, “Don’t think I don’t know. You must’ve sabotaged me somehow!”
He did not realize that Fang Ping had said bad things about him to Chen Yaoting, but his gut told him that Fang Ping was behind everything.
Fang Ping chuckled. “Cut that out, I’m not that kind of person.”
Fang Ping immediately changed the topic when he noted Qin Fengqing’s desire to retaliate. “Stop. You were buried in the sand and Chen Haoran stepped on your head. Find a chance to get back at him. Don’t laze around in the school every day. Both of you are upper-stage Rank-4 martial artists, so there’s no saying that one of you bullied the other. Vice-chancellor Chen would definitely stay out of it this time.”
Qin Fengqing’s eyes lit up. He asked quickly, “Really?”
“Really.”
“Yes!” Qin Fengqing gritted his teeth. “He stepped on my head... And he’s...”
He was the grandson of a Grandmaster, who in turn was the one who had bullied him. Typical of rich people!
Chen Haoran, that bastard. He would not let him go unless he received 50 million as compensation!
Qin Fengqing rubbed his palms together, Chen Yaoting’s actions forgotten. Grandmasters were difficult opponents; he might as well find another that was easier to bully.
Fang Ping ignored him. He said in the middle of eating, “The policies are almost settled. The number one elite school will receive a governmental subsidy of 35 billion. Number two will get 30 billion.”
Everyone paused. Fang Ping continued, “Everyone knows what that means. Last year, MCMAU was subsidized 26 billion yuan, 9 billion fewer than this year’s!
“How much is 90 billion, as a concept?
“90 billion is enough to sustain all instructors in the school!
“With an addition of 90 billion, we can increase our investment in students and give instructors higher pay and better benefits.
“The many instructors in MCMAU are paid a small amount only. Many of them only stayed in MCMAU because of the old vice-chancellor.
“None of us can be him, though. We can’t exploit him and his name until nothing is left.
“We can increase our instructors’ benefits appropriately. This works to unite the people.
“Since the old vice-chancellor’s passing, Vice-chancellor Wu has given his all, hoping for MCMAU to rise again, but he isn’t as revered as the old vice-chancellor. We’re less unified than before.
“After we get first place, we will gain close to 10 billion. If we direct those resources to some instructors, we might see the appearance of a few more Grandmasters in the future.”
Grandmasters were not made of money alone.
Rank-6 powerhouses had a higher chance of being Grandmasters, though.
Currently, there were only three in MCMAU.
CCMAU... had five!
After the old vice-chancellor passed, there was only one Rank-8 golden-body powerhouse in MCMAU. It had been the same for CCMAU as well, but then a Peak Rank-7 powerhouse there had advanced to Rank-8. Now CCMAU had two Rank-8 golden-body powerhouses and three Rank-7 powerhouses.
Compared to them, MCMAU was far weaker in terms of higher-ranked power.
Of course, that could only be said when in comparison to CCMAU. FMS only had two Grandmasters, and they were not full-time faculty members, either; one of them stayed in the Military Department long-term.
As for the other schools, some had Grandmasters. Some had none.
In Nanjiang, for example, out of the three martial arts universities, only NMAU had Grandmasters in their ranks. The other two only accepted martial arts students on the side and had no Grandmaster.
Fang Ping had not calculated the exact number of Grandmasters in all 99 schools, but he estimated that it was somewhere between 60 and 70.
The Department of Education housed the most Grandmasters in the country. The Ministers of Education in the more powerful provinces, the ministers in the Department of Education, and the Grandmaster-level university faculty would probably add up to a total of almost 100 people.
In terms of higher-ranked power, the Department of Education probably was the strongest. Martial arts universities were technically below the Department of Education, but the more powerful ones like MCMAU obeyed the central administration alone. The decisions on who to hire were made by the school board itself in many cases.
If MCMAU wanted to be number one of all schools, first it had to be ensured that there were more than five Grandmasters on campus. This was the only way their reputation would be upheld.
Zhang Yu nodded. “You’re right. A subsidy of 10 billion is a big deal. The amount CCMAU received in the past years is always about 35 billion. If they get second place this time, they will receive 5 billion less. CCMAU won’t admit defeat easily.”
Unlike MCMAU, who would receive a few billion more from the government even in the case of becoming first runner-up, and thus be satisfied and elated no matter the result, CCMAU would be devastated.
A few billion would be cut from their subsidy!
And this year would only be the first. The subsidy would decrease more and more if they failed to take back the championship title the next year. After a few years, during which MCMAU kept improving while they did not, they would be surpassed by MCMAU.
And MCMAU’s Fang Ping was only in his sophomore year!
If they could not get first place this year, they would have less hope of doing so in the next two years. They had to defend their place somehow and start nurturing more genius students after.
If Fang Ping understood this, they did too.
The battle that would determine first and second place would be a cutthroat one.
As for NMAU... They had little chance of achieving that feat, what with Wang Jinyang being the school’s one-man army, and they would probably fail to defend their seat the next year even if they got it this year unless Wang Jinyang was still overpowering his peers.
Fang Ping laughed. “Every one of you knows why I’m saying all of this. I don’t really care about NMAU, I just want to fight Wang Jinyang. My true opponent, in my eyes, is CCMAU.”
“Then do you mean...”
“Tomorrow if I really can’t best Wang Jinyang, I’ll tire him out to a breaking point and surrender so that I can preserve my strength for the CCMAU battle. Senior Chen, you have to best Wang Jinyang, even if you get injured!
“I have to save my ultimate moves for Li Hansong!”
Fang Ping loved fame, but he loved it for the lucrative benefits it brought him. He did not really care about how big or small his fame was.
Fang Ping wanted to beat Wang Jinyang, and he was sure that Wang Jinyang would lose to him if he had unsheathed his saber.
He wanted to save it for Li Hansong, though.
That saber move would decide where the 5 billion would go. He could not use this move on Wang Jinyang only to cement his status as unbeatable among Rank-4.
The name was not worth that price.
Everyone visibly hesitated to voice their opinions on that. After a while, Zhang Yu sighed softly. “We understand. Rest assured that we will not lose to NMAU even if you surrender!”
“Good. Of course, I’m only raising this as a possible outcome. If Wang Jinyang is as he was before, he’s not my match. I said that so that every one of you can prepare for it.”
Fang Ping laughed. He did not think that he was weaker than the other. It was just that he feared that everyone would be unable to accept the outcome should he lose––especially after he had been cruising through everything effortlessly until now––and that they would be affected mentally, which in turn would cause accidents.
If he raised the possibility in advance, everyone would know that his loss, in case of one, was of his own making.
NMAU might as well give up on winning against MCMAU after that.
At that moment, Qin Fengqing stopped thinking about extorting money from Chen Haoran, only to eye the saber Fang Ping was carrying. He asked curiously, “Is your ultimate move this saber?”
“What, you wanna steal it?”
“Shut up, am I someone who would do that?”
Qin Fengqing eyed him with disdain. ‘If I were to steal your saber... That would have to wait until I became stronger than you.’
...
At the same time, in the hotel the NMAU team was staying in, NMAU’s vice-chancellor looked at Wang Jinyang. He asked thoughtfully, “Don’t you want to break through?”
Wang Jinyang chuckled. “Vice-chancellor, let me do as I want for once. Let me battle against him while we are at the same rank. He has waited for this day since two years ago. I, too, have waited for this for a long time.
“And even if I break through... We might not win against MCMAU.
“This time, NMAU’s goal is third place.”
The vice-chancellor inclined his head. Third or fourth place was already beyond his expectations. The fiscal subsidy they would be receiving would be as much as 20 billion!
Compare that amount to the few billion they got in the past... They had earned so much more this year already.
He did not try to persuade Wang Jinyang if he did not want to break through. Rather than being avaricious and hoping for first place, it would do better for NMAU to maintain their current rank. If they tried, overzealous effort would hurt the foundation of NMAU’s best student, and that was not worth the benefits they may reap.
After discussing the championship for a while, the NMAU vice-chancellor whispered, “The Catacomb... Looks like it’ll open soon.”
Wang Jinyang’s expression changed. He whispered in return, “How much longer till then.”
“It’ll open anytime.”
NMAU’s vice-chancellor said thoughtfully, “In Ruian, energy particles have been diffusing into the air in large amounts. This is a sign that the tunnel’s stabilizing, the last explosion.
“Zhang Dingnan and the Military Department have traveled to Ruian. They will make camp in the area, watching over it day and night,
“As for me... I’ll see if I can wait till the end of the championship. If I can’t, I’ll head there early.
“You don’t need to be anxious. You don’t need to enter during the earlier stages, only after we’ve cleared off the enemies on the other end of the tunnel.”
Wang Jinyang’s brow furrowed deeply. After a while, he said, “Both you and Governor Zhang are entering this time... Vice-chancellor, be careful.”
If both of them had died in the Catacomb, Nanjiang would probably become a mess.
It was the Nanjiang Catacomb, so naturally, it was Nanjiang Grandmasters that led the charge. They could not expect Grandmasters coming to their aid to stand at the forefront, could they?
Every time a Catacomb opens, it was always local Grandmasters who were the first to enter.
And every time... There was always a possibility of Grandmasters dying at war.
Wang Jinyang sighed in his mind. He did not say anything else.
The vice-chancellor did not either. He stared at Wang Jinyang for a while before saying, “After you graduate, you don’t have to stay in NMAU. If you become Governor, you might be more helpful than being vice-chancellor.”
Wang Jinyang laughed. “Vice-chancellor, you overestimate me. I can pick up after myself, but governing the entire Nanjiang... I’m not made for that. I’m inferior to the Governor in many aspects.”
“People improve.”
The NMAU vice-chancellor laughed. He got up, saying, “After getting to this stage in the championship, you don’t have to prioritize victory. It’s fine even if you lose to FMS. If you don’t do good this year, you can come next year. If it’s the same next year, you still have a long future ahead of you...”
“I know.”
...
December 19th, Saturday.
As time passed, the weather in Capital City got colder.
Everyone was wearing T-shirts at the beginning of the championship, but now some of the audience wore thick jackets.
The martial artists went about their day as usual, as if there was no temperature difference between the four seasons. The thin martial arts uniforms they wore accentuated their good looks.
In the gymnasium.
When the MCMAU and NMAU teams walked in, everyone cheered.
In this stage of the championship, every team left had fans of their own.
The announcer said loudly at the side of the main stage, “I, for one, am anticipating this battle between MCMAU and NMAU, more so than the finals!
“As everyone knows well, Fang Ping from MCMAU and Wang Jinyang from NMAU are both from Nanjiang and Sun City! They even graduated from the same high school!
“As I know, the two of them go beyond that.
“Fang Ping started learning about the martial arts in 2008, before the Gaokao. His family was not that well off, so he didn’t enroll in any martial arts supplementary classes. His basics, stances, honing techniques, and combat techniques were all taught to him by Wang Jinyang.
“Of course, there was a story preceding that, it seemed. One was an aspiring martial artist, while the other was a Rank-2 martial artist.
“According to my sources, their relationship didn’t start from them being in the same city. Fang Ping, in his aspiring martial artist phase, had already emerged as a talent. He helped Wang Jinyang apprehend a Peak Rank-2 martial artist. I think this was the start of their relationship.
“I have to say that the young Fang Ping was courageous and brave. This is also an important reason why Wang Jinyang, a man who was already famous in NMAU, was surprised by him.”
After the male announcer finished with his part, the female announcer continued, “Prodigies are prodigies because they’re different. Everyone, don’t learn from Fang Ping. If a civilian goes against a martial artist, he’ll be in danger. If that happens, the first thing we have to consider is to avoid confrontation.
“As the championship went on, I believe that everyone has witnessed for themselves how martial artists are different from civilians.
“Of course, from that, you can also see how gifted Fang Ping was, to be able to charge against a Peak Rank-2 martial artist while in the aspiring martial artist stage himself!
“Now, both of them are equals in rank. Fang Ping has defeated Yao Chengjun while Wang Jinyang has defeated Li Hansong. Both are prodigies unique in this generation.
“And they both come from average families. This is even the more reason why they are universally admired.”
“Now both of us are anticipating the results of this battle. Will Fang Ping surpass his mentor, or would Wang Jinyang achieve victory, continuing his unexpected winning streak?”
“...”
The rosters of both teams were shown on the screen as the two announcers spoke.
As expected, Fang Ping and Wang Jinyang were both up first.
Both of them wielded similar sabers. Fang Ping borrowed Qin Fengqing’s changdao again.
Wang Jinyang carried another weapon this time, though: a bow and quiver of arrows!
This was the first time ranged weapons appeared in the championship arena!
Everyone was surprised. The announcers were, too. They said hurriedly, “Wang Jinyang appears to be different from before. He’s wielding a bow this time. This is the first time we’ve heard of Wang Jinyang’s mastery of a bow and arrow. At this stage, a martial artist won’t wield weapons that are unnecessary.
“Is this Wang Jinyang’s lethal move? He has not wielded a bow during past battles.
“Maybe it’s to suppress Fang Ping’s advantages. Fang Ping’s expert in wielding his Mentality, and both his physicality and Vitality are extremely strong. Wang Jinyang might not be his match in a close-combat battle.
“But... A normal attack won’t create much damage to Fang Ping, probably.”
“...”
The two announcers parsed Wang Jinyang’s motive quickly. Fang Ping said to Wang Jinyang while he walked to the arena from below the stage, laughing, “Brother Wang, remember to use A-grade alloy arrows, or they might not pass through my defense.”
Wang Jinyang nodded slightly. He laughed. “As you wish. NMAU’s poor, but we still can afford a little A-grade alloy.”
Fang Ping’s expression froze for a moment. ‘He really thinks of me as an important rival, huh. He’s really using A-grade alloy arrows on me.’
He exhaled slightly, and wordlessly, jumped up the arena.
Wang Jinyang walked up calmly from the other end.