No one knew how many teams had already been eliminated on the battlefields, or how many were on edge at that very moment.
"It's our turn," Li Chen said, looking at his Student Badge as it began to glow red.
Red meant a battle was about to begin, while green meant it was time to rest.
Su Zhe stood up, unable to contain his excitement, while Jianping remained as calm as ever.
Luo Lin and Meng Xi merely smiled. Neither was particularly concerned about the fight.
An announcement came over the speakers, telling them which battlefield to go to.
[Team 8, please proceed to battlefield 5.]
[Team 12, please proceed to battlefield 5.]
They were the first team among the first twenty to enter a match. Nearly everyone turned their attention to battlefield 5, and many students in the waiting area understood that the fighting was only just beginning.
The ordinary classes' battles were ultimately just minor skirmishes. They weren't strong enough. Perhaps a few ordinary teams were fairly strong, but there were only a few.
The group walked slowly onto the battlefield. Unlike some teams, they made no flashy entrance, simply taking the field without fanfare.
Quite a few people recognized Li Chen and Jianping, but they were surprised. They hadn't expected the two to form a team.
"Chen-ge, finish this quickly, okay?!"
"I feel like I'm going to die on the front line!!" Su Zhe's excitement faded as soon as he stepped onto the battlefield. At the thought of taking a beating, his face turned a little bitter.
Li Chen said nothing, instead looking at team 12, who were ready and waiting across from them. They didn't know their names, only that they seemed to be a team trained by Instructor Fa.
Perhaps Instructor Yu and Faluo were watching from somewhere right now.
Team 12, not far away, looked serious. When they saw Li Chen and Jianping, they had lost more than half their confidence.
"Xiao Qiu, keep a close eye on that freak Li Chen."
"As for the rest of you, stay steady. I don't want to end up in the revival round before we've even gotten started today."
"There's no need to say anything else. Everyone, fight with everything you've got!!"
With a gunshot, the match officially began.
But battlefield 5 was rather quiet.
Li Chen didn't make a move. Jianping merely took down his case in silence and seemed to be stroking the blood-red sword.
Luo Lin knew what to do. She pressed down with her palm, and an invisible palm charged at the opposing team with the force of Telekinesis.
Meng Xi sat suspended in the air without entering a dream.
Su Zhe alone suddenly produced a large hammer, shouldered it, and looked at their opponents with great swagger.
Rumble~
In an instant, the giant Telekinesis palm swept forward, but it didn't hit them. Instead, it struck the invisible wall with a tremendous crash.
"The field's a little small," Li Chen said. Faint energy ripples seemed to flicker in his eyes, and a yellow current began swirling around him, quickly forming blade after blade.
This was a gathering of energy, and an ability unique to him. But things were different now. As his realm rose, his method of controlling energy became increasingly effective.
In just a few seconds, dozens of blades were circling beside Li Chen.
Across from them, team 12 had also unleashed their abilities, but they were somewhat weak.
Compared to Li Chen, they were utterly outclassed.
There was simply no comparison.
Quite a few people in the waiting area had already guessed the outcome.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Suddenly, sharp vertical icicles shot toward Li Chen as though they had eyes of their own.
This was the ability of one of the members of team 12.
But Li Chen merely flicked his finger, and a blade shot out, completely interrupting the incoming attack.
The blade didn't even stop there. Exuding an extremely dangerous aura, it charged at the person who had launched the attack.
But one blade wasn't enough. Li Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, and all the light blades around him shot out.
Even Su Zhe, who was striking a pose beside him, was a little stunned.
"Chen-ge!! Instructor Yu told us to go easy on them!"
"Aren't we going too far now?"
Before he could finish, Jianping also moved, charging forward with an iron sword he had gotten from who knew where.
Team 12 was completely stunned after just that one exchange.
The dozens of light blades had attacked so suddenly that they were surrounded before they could react. If someone on their team hadn't had a protective ability, they might already have been dead.
The captain of team 12 looked terrible. They were all members of the Special Class, so why was the gap so vast?
Though he was in Class 2, he was still part of the Special Class. Yet just one person had driven them into such a corner.
Was the gap between geniuses and ordinary people truly impossible to cross?
"Let's surrender," the captain of team 12 said unwillingly, looking at Jianping, who had already charged toward them outside the barrier, and the light blades watching them menacingly.
His surrender wasn't without reason. They couldn't win, so why play the clown in pursuit of that slim hope?
This world was a realistic one, and most people understood that. A battle was a battle, but in a situation like this, surrender was the best choice.
They could only blame themselves for not being strong enough.
Soon, an announcement came: [The battle has ended. Both teams, please leave the field.]
The two sides left in different directions, perhaps because the academy feared tempers would flare during a match and they would start fighting again off the field. It was naturally a pretty good arrangement.
"I haven't even made a move yet!! Surrendering already is no fun," Su Zhe said confidently, a smile on his face.
Jianping nodded slightly beside him. He really had only just reached them when they surrendered, snuffing out the fighting spirit he had just worked up.
Meng Xi said nothing. She was a little surprised. Though this was a team battle and the three of them really didn't have enough coordination, their individual strength more than made up for it!
The battle had ended in an instant.
They had agreed beforehand to just go through the motions, but unexpectedly, they had still fought once they stepped onto the battlefield.
At the Battle Institute, where all the battlefields could be seen, Faluo managed a slight twitch of his lips.
"See? I told you your team would be off the field in less than ten minutes," Yu Qingnian said with a smile.
He had previously messaged Jianping to tell him to go easy because he hadn't wanted the team Faluo had personally trained to be defeated so quickly.
Now, as it turned out, they hadn't been beaten—they had surrendered outright.
"Sigh..." Faluo sighed, feeling rather helpless. There was nothing he could do. He simply hadn't expected the gap to be so vast.
Yu Qingnian continued, "That's what happens when you're not strong enough. The Canglan Tournament has only just begun, and these are only the elimination rounds."
"They're just meant to weed out the weaker teams. The real tournament only begins afterward."