The academy's higher-ups naturally all knew of Xiao Yao's existence.
After all, if Instructor Ruo Lin wanted to secure preferential treatment for Xiao Yao, she naturally had to show off his strengths as much as possible.
As a result, they had also seen the record of Xiao Yao's utterly astonishing growth.
Though it was somewhat hard to believe, he truly was a sixteen-year-old Da Dou Shi.
With talent like that, even if the account of his growth was somewhat exaggerated, it hardly mattered.
And now, seeing even the notoriously eccentric Old Man Huo regard Xiao Yao differently, they were naturally even more curious about his true strength.
Although Xiao Yao had been fighting these past few days, the academy had deliberately arranged things so that he did not fight any fellow Da Dou Shi students, making it impossible to tell how strong he really was.
As Xiao Yao watched the students' fierce battle, he suddenly sensed something and looked toward the central stands.
Seeing that the academy's higher-ups were all looking his way, Xiao Yao could not help raising an eyebrow.
Were they assessing whether he was qualified to receive that preferential treatment?
But why hadn't they paid him this much attention during the elimination rounds?
Xiao Yao noticed that the academy's higher-ups soon looked away, so he could only set his doubts aside.
After all, he could hardly rush over to the central stands and ask the academy's higher-ups why they had just been looking at him.
The vast majority of the top fifty students were formidable, and none could be underestimated.
At the same time, for the sake of the cultivation conditions Vice Dean Hu Gan had mentioned, they were all fighting with everything they had, hoping to place higher.
As a result, every battle was fierce.
Wave after wave of cheers erupted throughout the arena as the crowd applauded the students' spectacular performances.
Seeing that there was still time, Xiao Yao took out a fourth-tier Magic Core and began pouring energy into it.
Ever since confirming that pouring energy into an empty Magic Core was not dangerous, Xiao Yao had taken it out whenever he had spare time and filled it with energy.
Fortunately, the energy inside the Magic Core was all solar energy, and Xiao Yao had powerful control over it. Otherwise, the energy fluctuations it gave off alone would have been enough to draw the academy's higher-ups' attention.
Before long, the referee finally called out.
"Would the students who drew number six please enter the arena?"
Xiao Yao casually put away the Magic Core and walked toward the square. Before he even stepped onto it, the Dou Qi in his body had fully recovered.
When Xiao Yao saw his opponent, he could not help but pause. The student was actually one of the seven Da Dou Shi.
Since the draw was random, unless someone announced their number aloud, there was no telling who their opponent would be until they took the stage.
That student was clearly taken aback as well. He had not expected to encounter a fellow student at the same level so soon.
He gave a bitter chuckle, knowing he would have to give it his all. This was a student at the same level as him, after all.
Although Xiao Yao was a little surprised, he felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, he was eager to give it a try.
When the surrounding students saw that two Da Dou Shi were taking the stage, they erupted in earth-shaking cheers.
Xiao Yao even heard his supporters shouting his name, the vast majority of them female students.
After all, when the male students saw Xiao Yao surrounded by a bevy of beauties, they all wished they could take his place. How could they possibly cheer him on?
Xiao Yao flipped his hand and brought out his fiery red spear. The student likewise produced a spear set with a pale cyan Magic Core.
The earlier elimination rounds had given them some understanding of each other, so they dispensed with lengthy pleasantries.
Once the referee announced the start, both men charged at each other like arrows loosed from their bows.
As he charged, a layer of cyan Dou Qi Armor formed over the student's body. Clearly, he knew Xiao Yao's speed was extraordinary and did not dare be careless.
His opponent's spear carried an incomparably fierce momentum as he thrust it savagely at Xiao Yao.
Xiao Yao narrowed his eyes slightly and poured Dou Qi into his spear, turning it gold and red. Without giving an inch, he met the attack head-on.
Like a needle point meeting a wheat awn, the tips of the two spears collided in midair, erupting in a dazzling spark.
Violent Dou Qi became a tangible shockwave that spread in every direction, stirring up a ring of dust.
The spear tips clashed for only an instant before slipping past each other.
The two spears darted back and forth, ringing out with repeated metallic clangs.
In just a few breaths, the two exchanged attack and defense several times, trading over a hundred blows.
The spectators around them could not make out every detail of the fight, seeing only pale cyan and gold-red streaks of light crossing and colliding again and again.
But that did nothing to stop them from cheering and applauding the spectacular battle.
Xiao Yao was in no hurry to use a Dou Technique to end the match. Instead, he traded blows with his opponent, honing his own fighting skills.
In truth, he did not have much combat experience. He had spent his whole life in Wutan City, and although his cultivation had advanced rapidly, his repertoire of fighting skills was indeed rather limited.
When he had sparred with Instructor Ruo Lin, even she, an instructor who specialized in teaching, had felt that Xiao Yao's combat experience fell short of hers.
Instructor Ruo Lin had mentioned this in a later conversation with Xiao Yao.
And in the academy, quite a few students had truly lived through storms of blood and slaughter and fought life-and-death battles.
The students from the enforcement team, for instance, were among them.
Now that Xiao Yao had the chance to fight a student at the same level, he naturally would not pass up the opportunity to hone his fighting skills.
After a hundred breaths, the student withdrew, his face and ears flushed red as he panted for breath.
He looked at Xiao Yao in shock. What kind of physique was that?
They had fought nonstop for a hundred breaths, in intense close combat at that, yet his opponent stood there as if nothing had happened.
Seeing that Xiao Yao had not taken the chance to press forward, the student took a few moments to catch his breath.
"Do you want to continue?" Xiao Yao asked with a smile.
The student shook his head helplessly and said with a bitter smile,
"I can't. I don't have your formidable stamina, so I can't afford to keep this up. I'm going to use a Dou Technique next."
As soon as he finished speaking, an astonishing surge of Dou Qi poured out of him, forming a scene of lush greenery around his body.
"Thornwood Spear Formation!"
With his low shout, the lush scene fully solidified, transforming into spear shadows that shone with pale cyan light.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the Da Dou Shi level, one could release Dou Qi outward to injure enemies at a distance. Now that it was empowered by a Dou Technique, its might was even more formidable.
Spear shadow after spear shadow tore through the air with an incomparably fierce force.
At the sight of the pale cyan spear shadows whistling toward him, Xiao Yao's eyes lit up. Golden light flared from the spear in his hand, and with one sweep, he smashed the oncoming spear shadow apart.
Xiao Yao could sense that the spear shadows were actually quite powerful.
The Dou Qi contained in each spear shadow was no weaker than the Dou Qi his opponent had used when fighting him at close quarters earlier.
He had just smashed one spear shadow apart when two more followed close behind, closing in from the left and right.
An ordinary student would surely have been thrown into disarray at this point. After all, it was hard to adjust to suddenly going from one-on-one to one against many, and dealing with it was even more troublesome.
But Xiao Yao's soul perception clearly discerned the path of every spear shadow.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions rang out one after another as Xiao Yao whirled his spear into a curtain of golden light, perfectly blocking every spear shadow.
Throughout this, Xiao Yao continued closing in on his opponent!
Clang!
With his final thrust, Xiao Yao's fiery red spear collided violently with his opponent's spear. The force was so great that it sent his opponent staggering back several steps.
Xiao Yao seized the opportunity to step forward, and the tip of his spear came to rest three inches from his opponent's heart.
The outcome was decided!