Flying Sword

Flying Sword

Zhang Yu could tell at a glance that the flying sword on the field was nothing like the children's flying sword his former self had bought before. This clearly was not something anyone could play around with casually.

Faced with the complaints from the entire venue, the host finished reading the advertisement without changing expression, then began announcing the rules for the first match.

The flying swords floating in the arena were products from the flying sword manufacturer Nine Heavens Flying Sword, a type of civilian-grade magical power flying sword.

It was said that they required no Sword-Controlling Art training and had no Dao Heart Level requirement. By relying solely on variations in magical power output, one could control the flying sword. What this tested was precisely one's ability to control a flying sword with magical power.

The sword sheath of this flying sword was like both a remote control and a magical power transmitter. By varying the frequency, type, quantity, and so on of the magical power fed into it, one could control the flying sword.

The specific task for this round was for the competing students to use their flying swords to strike signal plates darting through the air. The faster they were and the more accurately they struck, the higher their scores would be.

The total score for this round, like the second and third rounds to follow, was 100 points.

The final rankings of this Magic Competition would be determined by the combined total scores from all three rounds.

As the flying sword instruction manuals were handed out, the students were given half an hour to study them.

Behind White Dragon High School's team, a middle-aged man in a tracksuit smiled faintly. "So it's still testing magical power control? At least it's not too outrageous. I thought we'd be learning Sword-Controlling Art on the spot."

This man was White Dragon High School's competition coach, Han Xingye.

Unlike Songyang High School, where magical power teachers served as competition instructors, White Dragon High School had teachers specially assigned to competitions of every kind.

Hearing Han Xingye speak, Song Hailong casually touched his soaring long hair. "This is our first competition of this cohort."

"Coach, take a look around and see if there are any opponents worth noting. Especially Purple Cloud and Red Pagoda—see what this cohort of theirs is made of."

White Dragon High School, Purple Cloud High School, and Red Pagoda High School were Songyang City's Three Great High Schools. Unless something unexpected happened, many of the opponents they would constantly compete against over the next three years should be here on the field right now.

Han Xingye readily agreed to Song Hailong's request.

Naturally, that was partly because Song Hailong's grades were excellent.

But it was also because Song Hailong was absolutely loaded.

This favored son of heaven from one of Songyang City's great lineages was a descendant whose KPI ranked among the very best in the family. He could be called the Song Family's ace son of this generation.

Han Xingye nodded, his fingertip repeatedly sliding across his Talisman Book. The next moment, with a surge of magical power, he activated the Heaven's Eye Talisman.

The Heaven's Eye Talisman invited the All-Knowing All-Questioning Great God of the Department of All People to evaluate the people one saw.

This evaluation gathered comprehensive information, from a person's bank deposits and personal assets to school grades, work performance, family relationships, and more, before producing a final vague overall assessment.

Didn't like vague assessments? Wanted something more precise and detailed? Then one needed a higher Faith Level and had to spend more money.

In short, the Heaven's Eye Talisman became more expensive the more detailed it was, and cheaper the vaguer it was.

As Han Xingye looked over the entire venue, he naturally did not dare to check any detailed evaluations. He was afraid one glance would bankrupt him. Such things had not been unheard of in Kunxu's history.

The moment the Heaven's Eye Talisman activated, a patch of golden motes gathered into Han Xingye's eyes.

When he looked across the venue, he could see different evaluations appearing above everyone's heads.

Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning.

Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, bankrupt gambler, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning.

Not worth mentioning, Ice Muscle Jade Bone (expand details), not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning.

"Hm?"

Han Xingye's gaze shifted as he noticed a girl from Purple Cloud High School had actually climbed up into the spectator stands.

"Is that Purple Cloud's Le Mulan? Why did she climb up there? Is she looking at the signal plates for the match?"

He looked more closely, and the evaluation above her head immediately expanded.

Ice Muscle Jade Bone | Pill Critic | High Caste | Purple Cloud Loyalist | Flower on a Lofty Peak

As an old Heaven's Eye Talisman user, Han Xingye found the evaluation a little complicated at first glance, but after thinking over its vague labels, he roughly guessed what it meant.

"This is a high-quality rich person with a special physique, great pill-taking ability, excellent grades, unwavering loyalty to Purple Cloud High School, and a complicated background."

"Pills? Physique?"

Han Xingye fell into thought. He sent the keywords to Song Hailong as well, then turned his gaze toward the others present.

While he continued ogling the students on the scene, the competition officially began.

There were eighteen sub-arenas in total. Each round, eighteen competitors were randomly selected to take the field, controlling flying swords in their respective arenas to shoot at the signal plates in midair.

In Han Xingye's eyes, students from ordinary high schools, each marked Not worth mentioning, took the field. Like raw recruits, they fumbled frantically with their flying swords. Hitting one or two signal plates in the air was already decent, and the judges gave them only ten or twenty points.

"Looks like none of them have ever played with flying swords?"

Han Xingye knew that although this round ostensibly tested magical power control, whether one had ever handled a flying sword made all the difference.

Especially when it came to judging space, distance, accuracy, and speed. Even someone with powerful magical power control would likely struggle to earn a good score the first time they used one.

But for students from the Three Great Famous Schools, flying swords were hardly rare.

For instance, each of the ten students White Dragon High School had sent this time had at least four or five flying swords at home.

As far as he knew, Song Hailong even had an entire Sword Repository containing hundreds of flying swords at home. Nobody knew how many times he had played with them already.

Meanwhile, amid all the Not worth mentionings, students marked Rare and Elite began taking the field under Han Xingye's Heaven's Eye Talisman vision.

Han Xingye knew these were generally top students from ordinary high schools, or elite students from Key High Schools.

"Getting thirty or forty points would already be impressive."

"Their magical power control isn't good to begin with, and they've never played with flying swords. If Nine Heavens Flying Sword's quality weren't genuinely excellent, they probably wouldn't hit a single signal plate."

Thinking that, Han Xingye felt a little tempted himself, wondering whether he ought to buy a Nine Heavens magical power flying sword.

Just then, his eyes shifted slightly. At last, among the pile of Not worth mentionings, Rares, and Elites, he spotted a different evaluation.

Pure Score Slave

Han Xingye looked at the other student's uniform. He seemed to be from Songyang High School.

In the arena, Qian Shen took a deep breath and slowly gripped the flying sword's sheath before him.

The next moment, as he fed magical power into it, the flying sword within shot out with a whoosh. The entire sword was a blade, with no hilt at all. Like a streak of cold light, it soared upwards and shot toward the signal plates in midair.

Though he had not used them much, Qian Shen had tried out the magical power flying swords at his grandfather's house several times.

Following the tricks his private tutor had taught him, he slowly poured magical power into the sheath, changing the rhythm of his output to control the flying sword as it whooshed through the air and struck one signal plate after another.

72 points

Seeing his score for the round, Qian Shen relaxed slightly. "Not bad. I should be able to account for myself."

Han Xingye glanced at the score of 72 and secretly shook his head. "Sigh, Songyang High School is an old Key High School too, yet its students are getting worse with every cohort."

"In the end, they're still stuck in their old ways. They refuse to learn other schools' advanced experience, such as Purple Cloud High School's Score Caste System, or our school's Low-Score Slave System. Their teaching methods never innovate. How can they possibly keep up with the changing times..."

Just as Han Xingye was thinking this, another contestant with a special evaluation appeared.

In his eyes, Lian Tianji of Purple Cloud High School walked into the arena with the words Son of Heavenly Diligence above his head. With a flick of his arm, he fired the flying sword out, swish, swish, swish, scoring 90 points.

"That seems to be Lian Tianji, the person in Purple Cloud High School's cohort most suited to the Heavenly Diligence Heart Method."

As more and more competitors took the field in turn, Han Xingye's eyes roamed everywhere, and he saw more and more unusual students.

Songyang High School had just sent out a School Board Member's Son, who scored 78 points.

Purple Cloud High School's Ice Muscle Jade Bone, Le Mulan, burst onto the field and wildly racked up 95 points, the current highest score, drawing gasps from the entire venue.

As Han Xingye looked around, a woman suddenly caught his attention.

Sword Critic (expand details)

"Oh? A Songyang High School student?"

Han Xingye watched Bai Zhenzhen walk into the arena. He knew that people whose evaluations could be expanded generally had complicated backgrounds, representing extraordinary origins, strength, or talent. He had not expected to find one among Songyang High School's students.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a line of words expanded above Bai Zhenzhen's head.

Sword Critic | Fist Critic | Palm Critic | Blade Critic | Spear Critic | Medicine Critic | Score Tyrant | Loan Slave | Card Slave | Useless Daoist Arts Theory | Songyang Hater | She's very poor...

Looking at the evaluation that could not be read through in one breath, Han Xingye was deeply shocked.

He had never imagined that looking at a Songyang High School student would leave him shocked, and only because the other party's composition was far too complicated, wildly different from ordinary people.

But the next moment, his shock faded slightly, because her score was 34 points.

"Though I don't know why her evaluation is so long, judging from that score, this woman is not worth mentioning."

Before long, his attention was drawn away by Song Hailong.

Before this star of White Dragon High School entered the arena, he took his soaring long hair off his head.

Zhang Yu was stunned by the sight. "Holy shit! He was bald in high school?"

Bai Zhenzhen returned to the rest area with a face full of bad luck. Hearing Zhang Yu's surprise, she explained from beside him, "That isn't a wig. It's an External Spirit Root."

"An External Spirit Root?" Zhang Yu remembered that such a thing existed, but this was the first time he had seen one in real life.

Bai Zhenzhen said enviously, "This isn't like those old-version spirit roots at school. This kind of External Spirit Root is plug-and-play, removable and replaceable anytime. Yu Zi, remember this. It's the birthday present I want most."

Zhang Yu patted A-Zhen on the shoulder and comforted her. "I can't afford an External Spirit Root, but I can get you baldness and a wig."

Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes, then continued staring fixedly at the wig Song Hailong had placed on a chair, thinking about the possibility of making off with it.

But after looking at the students and teachers all around, she could only let out a long sigh in the end.

After Song Hailong entered the arena, he felt the magical power inside him circulate as naturally as an arm or finger, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Installing a spirit root was to boost magical power and make it surge wildly?

What a poor man's way of thinking.

Song Hailong had only one purpose in installing an External Spirit Root: to train his control over magical power amid the more torrential process of Breathing Spiritual Opportunity and refining magical power.

Only the weak worry that the surging magical power brought by spiritual energy will slip out of control. For a strong person like me, this is the best possible training opportunity.

He gripped the sword sheath in one hand. As magical power burst from his palm, the flying sword inside shot out like lightning.

Below the stage, Han Xingye watched his student wield the flying sword as though playing with lightning. In the blink of an eye, Song Hailong slashed his way to 100 points, becoming the new highest scorer in the venue. A smug expression appeared on Han Xingye's face.

"100 points is only because the maximum score is 100."

"With Song Hailong's immense magical power, the strength of his magical power control, and his familiarity with flying swords, the score cap is what restricted him in this round."

On the other side, after Bai Zhenzhen returned to the rest area, Teacher Yan's eyes occasionally swept across her.

"Bai Zhenzhen only started practicing Magic Competition events recently, right? Her rate of improvement is very fast. Is it talent? Or just coincidence?"

But in Teacher Yan's eyes, Bai Zhenzhen's talent for magical power ultimately still could not compare with Zhang Yu's.

A moment later, when Zhang Yu took the field, she began anticipating this student's score as well.

In the arena, Zhang Yu lightly gripped the sword sheath. As magical power entered bit by bit, he could feel the flying sword within begin to tremble faintly.

While he had been below the stage just now, Zhang Yu had already considered how he could score as highly as possible.

His situation now was like having nimble hands with no disability, only for someone to run over and say: "Yo? Your finger control is strong? Then let me test you. Use the excavator in front of you to unscrew a bottle cap and let's see how good your finger control really is."

Fuck, another unjust and unfair competition where rich people held an absolute advantage.

Zhang Yu complained inwardly.

"This flying sword feels like a drone—or rather, an FPV drone. No matter how exquisite my magical power control is, if I've never used one of these before, I definitely won't be able to handle it as easily as my own hand."

Thinking about having to control this flying sword as it darted back and forth to strike those palm-sized signal plates in midair, Zhang Yu felt it would be extremely difficult.

"So I can't use a conventional flying sword..."