Eyes Meeting

Before long, the fourth and fifth rounds of matches came to an end one after another, and Gu Yang easily claimed another two consecutive victories.

The opponents Gu Yang faced in these two rounds were not particularly strong, at most only a notch stronger than Li Zhiwu.

What had once been a six-to-four split had now become a nine-to-one split.

Neither disciple put the slightest pressure on Gu Yang before being effortlessly defeated by him.

Even more interestingly, after two rounds of fighting, not only had Gu Yang's stamina not been depleted, it had instead recovered to nearly half.

This alone showed just how easy these two matches had been for him.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

After three strikes of the gong, the Elimination Battle ended.

The formations assembled once more, while the Martial Academy instructors on the high platform departed one after another and returned to the formations under their charge.

When Qin Hu came to Gu Yang's side, a faint smile appeared on his face. He patted Gu Yang's shoulder and said in a low voice, "Well done."

Having said that, he did not care what Gu Yang thought. He turned and walked away, heading to another disciple's side to speak to him in a low voice.

The Elimination Battle ended after five rounds, but the Minor Competition was not over yet. For disciples like them who had only joined the Martial Academy this year, there was still the free challenge phase for consecutively defeated disciples.

Naturally, this process had nothing to do with Gu Yang.

The rewards for the Minor Competition's top hundred and the free challenges for the lowest-ranked disciples took place at the same time.

As the challenges began, the burly middle-aged man who had announced the start of the Minor Competition earlier appeared again. He stepped onto the high platform in the center of the square and began announcing the numbers of the top hundred.

"Zero seven, five two, one three nine, ..., four zero six... Disciples holding these number tags, come forward to collect your top hundred rewards."

"Four zero six? Did I hear that right?" Upon hearing the burly man announce that familiar number, Li Zhiwu stared at Gu Yang beside him in disbelief.

His matches had basically taken place at the same time as Gu Yang's, so he still did not know of Gu Yang's formidable record.

"You heard right!" Gu Yang smiled at Li Zhiwu, then strode out of the formation and headed toward the center of the square.

That movement immediately drew the attention of many disciples within the formation.

Whispers rose around him, but Gu Yang turned a deaf ear and merely quickened his pace.

Not far behind him, Li Zhiwu followed closely.

Although he had lost once when he encountered Fang Qi in this Minor Competition, he had taken shame as a spur and claimed three consecutive victories afterward, barely making it into the top hundred at last.

As for Fang Qi, he was currently lying in the Pharmacy. Who knew whether he had even woken up yet?

Not long after Gu Yang left, a short, sturdy youth from another formation hurried over. He asked several disciples at the edge of the formation, "Hey, where's that guy from your formation? Why don't I see him?"

As he spoke, the short, sturdy youth raised an arm above his head to gesture at a height.

Seeing his gesture, the disciples immediately understood that the person he was looking for was Gu Yang.

At once, one disciple raised his hand and pointed toward the center of the square. "Look over there. He's over there."

"What's he doing over there?" The short, sturdy youth's face was full of confusion.

"What else would he be doing there? He's collecting the reward for placing in the Minor Competition's top hundred."

"His number is four zero six. That number was indeed announced just now."

After the disciples explained it to him one after another, they suddenly looked at the short, sturdy youth and asked, "By the way, what did you come looking for him for?"

"I came to challenge him..." the short, sturdy youth said as if it were only natural.

"Ah?"

"Ah!"

"..."

The two sides looked at each other, and both fell silent.

"Gu Yang, you made it into the top hundred too?" Li Zhiwu hurried to Gu Yang's side and asked quietly, "How many matches did you lose?"

"Ah, haha." Gu Yang laughed, then replied softly, "Maybe I got lucky. All the opponents I met were weak, so I didn't lose a single match."

"..." Li Zhiwu was silent for a moment before muttering, "Lucky? In that case, my luck was pretty bad. If I hadn't run into that guy in the second round, I could've kept winning until the end too."

"Lucky..." Behind the two of them, a tall, slender figure heard Gu Yang's words and could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth.

So because Gu Yang had been lucky enough to meet him, he had managed to win all the way to the end, was that it...

As Gu Yang's opponent in the fifth round, perhaps only he knew just how strong Gu Yang truly was.

During the five rounds that had just ended, he had not managed to launch a single decent counterattack before Gu Yang's barrage of heavy punches sent him crashing off the arena.

And he had won all four previous rounds, securing a place in the top hundred!

So if even he counted as weak, what did that make everyone else?

Chatting idly along the way, the disciples soon converged beneath the high platform in the center of the small square from all directions.

Watching from afar while standing in the formation had not felt like much, but now that he was close to the middle-aged man built like a Giant Bear, Gu Yang immediately felt an intense pressure bearing down on him.

Their eyes met, and a terrifying, bloodthirsty aura rushed toward him.

Gu Yang's heart began hammering wildly, and every hair on his arms stood trembling on end.

"Thump! Thump!"

The sounds around him gradually faded away. Everything beside him suddenly fell silent. Before his eyes remained only those bloodthirsty eyes, while in his ears, the increasingly distinct sound of his heartbeat echoed.

"Wake up!"

At that moment, Gu Yang kept roaring in his mind. His fists clenched tightly, his body shaking violently as he struggled.

"Hurry! Wake up!"

Suddenly, Gu Yang seemed to break the surface from deep water. All kinds of noisy sounds surged back around him, and everything at his side became vivid once more.

"Not bad. For your first time seeing me, waking up this quickly is very good."

A voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz sounded beside his ear. Gu Yang abruptly raised his head, only to see the burly man studying him from head to toe with great interest.

Seeing him look over, the burly man immediately revealed a kindly smile. The frightening aura around him vanished completely, as though everything Gu Yang had just seen and felt had been an illusion.

But was it really an illusion?

Gu Yang looked around. Every disciple nearby was drenched in sweat, their faces twisted as though they had sunk into a nightmare and could not wake up.

Clearly, that had not been an illusion!

"What kind of method was this? It could affect everyone's mind in the surroundings in a single instant! Could Martial Path cultivation truly reach such a depth?"

After the fear passed, curiosity and excitement rose within Gu Yang.

If this burly man could do it today, then one day, he would certainly be able to do it too!

"Ah!"

A startled cry rang out not far away, and another disciple woke up.

The instant he awoke, that disciple looked around. When he saw that Gu Yang was already awake, a hint of wariness immediately appeared in his eyes. Then, when he looked elsewhere and discovered that he was the second to awaken, a pleased smile rose at the corner of his mouth, as though waking before others was something remarkably impressive.

After that, the other disciples around them also let out startled cries one after another, waking from their fear.

Seeing this, the burly man stepped forward at the right moment and said, "All right, line up now. Come forward one at a time to collect your Military Rations Pills."