Su Yuan couldn't read any emotion in Taihua Tianji's eyes as he sat upright in his seat.
He still looked as if nothing had happened, his expression calm.
But that was all an act!
The System Task Progress wouldn't lie to him. Taihua Tianji's attention toward him had shot from 0 all the way to 100.
There had to be something on the man's mind.
And spare him the "Taihua Yu Xi is still young" excuse. Her being so young only made her old man even angrier!
Tricking and bribing even a child—what kind of beastly behavior was that?
Even if the system's Task Progress couldn't be trusted, Su Yuan's Fury Heart Attack had started running on its own, greedily absorbing all the negative emotions around him. That part was no fake.
Where had all those negative emotions come from?
It went without saying.
Taihua Yu Xi, oh, Taihua Yu Xi. You've really done me in!
I could've won this Martial Arts Competition fair and square with my own skill.
Su Yuan felt a chilly draft blowing down his back. The school leaders' and students' gazes swept over him like knives, setting his skin crawling.
But what could he do now?
First, he'd better see what the system had actually rewarded him with.
[Task: Ride the Momentum (Completed)] [Task Reward: Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact (Granted)] [Finger Artifact: Effect One: After using it on a designated magical artifact, you can sense the artifact's emotions and gain 100 initial favorability with it.] [Effect Two: After sensing the artifact's emotions, you can try to communicate with it. When the artifact's favorability toward the user reaches 120 or higher, there is a 99% chance of triggering the Spirit Joy trait.] [Spirit Joy: For a certain period, the magical artifact will perform beyond its theoretical limits. Conversely, if its spirit is displeased, the artifact's performance will plummet for a certain period, and it may even malfunction outright.]
Holy crap! This demonic technique was incredible!
You could sense and stir up a magical artifact's emotions, making it resonate with its user and achieve the effect of becoming one with the artifact? That was how you could understand it, right?
But here was the question: why was a technique that didn't seem demonic in the slightest ranked alongside Finger Command and Finger Spirit?
As he wondered, a line of text slowly appeared on the System Panel.
[Note: When using Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact, the host should think bigger. You could stir up an enemy's magical artifact until it becomes displeased—or even make the enemy's artifact betray them. There's plenty of potential in that.]
All right, so that was the proper way to use Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact?
Su Yuan suddenly understood.
Put that way, Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact really was insidious!
Imagine you were a righteous Sword Cultivator from Ancient Times, sworn to eradicate evil, pursuing a Demonic Cultivator with your beloved Treasure Sword.
Then, just as the fight was about to be decided, you unleashed your critical sword strike—only to discover that your Treasure Sword had somehow been won over by the Demonic Cultivator, and your strike's power was drastically reduced.
The tide of battle could turn in an instant. You could imagine what would happen to you.
Just thinking about it was terrifying.
But... although Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact was an incredibly underhanded demonic technique, there was a problem: where was a pauper like him supposed to find a magical artifact?
Win someone else's artifact over?
Stealing other people's property could land you in prison! Up to three years behind bars, in case you didn't know!
Use this trick to catch another Prodigy off guard during a fight?
Heh, wasn't he competing in a Martial Arts Competition? Where were the magical artifacts?
Weapons and magical artifacts were banned in high school Martial Arts Competitions, all right? How was he supposed to pull anything sneaky?
After thinking it over, Su Yuan finally realized with some resignation that Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact seemed impressive but useless. For now, it couldn't help him with anything.
He shook his head, closed the System Panel, and turned his attention back to the Martial Arts Competition.
At that moment, he desperately hoped Taihua Tianji would take that brat Yu Xi away, then let the Martial Arts Competition proceed normally so he could prove himself through his strength.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished. Taihua Tianji said nothing, and the atmosphere remained frozen.
Meanwhile, Taihua Yu Xi, clearly enjoying the spectacle, tilted her little head and said:
"I said Su Yuan was the champion. Why isn't anyone saying anything? Does someone want to object?"
At that, someone in the crowd finally couldn't hold back!
"I object! This Martial Arts Competition is a farce. I demand that we get a new panel of judges and compete again!"
The speaker was a tall young man with mature features. As he spoke, he strode out of the crowd.
Su Yuan looked back and recognized him.
He was Huang Sheng, one of Class Four's contestants in the Martial Arts Competition.
His family were local tycoons. They'd poured money into his physical conditioning, giving him a huge advantage over his classmates and making him the class's sports standout.
With his powerful physique, Huang Sheng was not to be underestimated, even if his martial arts skills were a little lacking.
Su Yuan could understand why he was the first to stand up and object.
Apart from Physical Education and cultivation, his grades were truly terrible.
If he couldn't place well in the Martial Arts Competition, there was almost no chance he'd get into the Special Class.
With Huang Sheng's abilities, he'd originally had a good chance of making it to the final four. But after Taihua Yu Xi's stunt, he'd been eliminated without even getting to compete. Of course he couldn't accept that.
Su Yuan figured he should back him up and get the competition started again.
But before he could speak, Huang Sheng turned his ire on him. He strode over and looked down at Su Yuan.
"You're Su Yuan, right? I've heard you've been acting pretty full of yourself lately, always hanging around the school belle. But I didn't think you'd be so brazen right under True Man Tai Bai's nose!"
"I don't care how you seduced True Man Tai Bai's daughter. I'm giving you one choice: apologize to True Man Tai Bai, then fight us contestants fair and square!"
Su Yuan: "..."
All right, all right! Were they finally getting to the traditional routine?
From Huang Sheng's tone, it seemed he was pretty jealous of Su Yuan spending time with Chen Nuoyi, too.
This kind of brainless villain who went out of his way to pick a fight was just his type!
Rather than getting angry, Su Yuan was delighted. He could hardly wait to throw down.
But just then, Taihua Yu Xi wasn't having it. She sneered scornfully:
"What are you supposed to be? A bunch of rotten fish and shrimp think they're worthy of competing with Brother Su Yuan? Even if you and the others all went at him together, you wouldn't be enough to make Brother Su Yuan use one hand."
Huang Sheng's face instantly flushed crimson, and a tidal wave of negative emotions surged toward Su Yuan.
Su Yuan: "..."
So she was trying to praise him to death! You white-haired brat, you're a wicked little thing!
Su Yuan was beginning to understand Taihua Yu Xi's scheme. When she'd declared him the winner earlier, she hadn't been unfairly favoring him at all. She'd been stirring up everyone's resentment toward him!
But he wasn't sure he could take on seven people at once!
And just as the situation grew more and more chaotic, Taihua Tianji finally cleared his throat.
"Yu Xi, I'll take charge of this competition."
At that, Principal Zhang Youde, the teachers, and the students all breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected of True Man Tai Bai. He knew where to draw the line and wouldn't let his daughter keep fooling around.
Now the Martial Arts Competition could finally proceed as planned.
Just as everyone waited expectantly, Taihua Tianji calmly said:
"We've already wasted quite a bit of time. I don't think there's any need to hold this Martial Arts Competition after all."
"How about this? All the contestants can join my group chat. I'll send out a red packet, and whoever grabs it wins first place and gets to study in the Special Class."
The school leaders, teachers, students, and contestants: "???"
Before you continue