Smooth Entry into the Top Eight

"Ugh."

Watching Tao Yun leave the ring wailing, looking completely shattered and broken, Xia Ping was speechless. Even though this guy looked like a total pushover, he was still a Martial Apprentice Sixth Heaven expert—how could he be so fragile?

He turned to look at the referee beside him. "Referee, what do we do about this?"

The referee was also experiencing this for the first time. In past ring matches, he had seen people beaten into critical condition, knocked out of the ring, or admitting defeat when they knew they were outmatched.

But he had never seen someone get scared to the point of tears and flee the ring. Today was truly an eye-opener.

"Ahem, Tao Yun leaving the ring will be treated as an automatic forfeit. Xia Ping wins." The referee was a veteran; his eyes darted around as he immediately found an interpretation of the rules and announced the result of the match.

However, this result caused an uproar among the surrounding audience.

"He's a demon! This Xia Ping is definitely a demon."

"He actually scared Tao Yun into tears. This guy is truly black-hearted."

"He must have done it on purpose. To thoroughly humiliate his opponent, he intentionally didn't strike back and just let the other guy attack him. No matter how hard he was hit, it was useless. Is there any fact more despairing than that?"

"If I were standing in that ring, I'd probably break down and cry too. This method is just too cruel."

"To enjoy the pleasure of the match, even defeating his enemy with a single punch isn't enough for him. Now he's taken it a step further, crushing the enemy's spirit and trampling their dignity into the dirt. If he isn't a demon, who is?"

"No wonder he could hook the school beauty and juggle over a dozen relationships outside of school, getting several high school girls pregnant. With tactics like these, any woman would fall for it."

"But why haven't we heard of this kid's exploits before? He seemed so low-key."

"Hmph, haven't you heard the saying? A rabbit doesn't eat the grass around its own burrow. This kid must have known he couldn't cause a scene in his own backyard, so he only targeted people outside the school and kept a low profile. But he couldn't resist the temptation of the school beauty Jiang Yaru and finally reached out his demonic claws, only for things to be exposed, dragging all his past misdeeds into the light."

"This Xia Ping deserves to be purged by everyone."

The many students under the ring were incredibly indignant, treating Xia Ping as the public enemy of the entire school. Everyone wished they could beat that arrogant bastard on the ring to a pulp.

Hearing the voices all around, Xia Ping felt speechless. He just wanted to test the Northern Underworld Body Protection Art; how did he become a demon who loved trampling on others' dignity?

And as for juggling over a dozen relationships, getting high school girls pregnant, and being a serial womanizer—which bastard started these rumors? How come he didn't even know he had done such things?

However, as Xia Ping heard the system continuously sending notifications of increasing Hatred Points, he couldn't be bothered to explain. It didn't seem like a bad thing for him anyway.

At most, his reputation was just a bit rotten.

Half an hour later, the list for the top eight was finally out, and it included Xia Ping, and even Jiang Yaru.

There was no helping it; Jiang Yaru was a true martial arts genius, a heaven-sent daughter. To some extent, she was the number one expert of 95th Middle School, having already reached the Martial Apprentice Seventh Heaven realm.

It was rumored that she was only one step away from breaking through to the Martial Apprentice Eighth Heaven. Such achievements made her very likely to be admitted to Yanhuang University, which was why her reputation in 95th Middle School was at its peak.

Jiang Yaru didn't just possess beauty; her strength was also second to none, which was why she had so many fans in school, and even many female students were her admirers.

It could be said that she was the true favorite to win this School Fighting Tournament; even Zhou Tai'an couldn't compare to her.

"Xia Ping also entered the top eight, promoted to the Martial Apprentice Fifth Heaven, and even beat Zhou Tai'an into a wreck with one punch?!" When Jiang Yaru heard this news, she was also terrified, stunned into speechlessness.

She never imagined that Xia Ping would suddenly become this fierce. When had this man become so excellent? Was he just playing the pig to eat the tiger all along, and only now had he shed his pig skin to reveal the tiger beneath?

It wasn't just Jiang Yaru who was surprised; even the students of Class 16 of Grade 12 were terrified. They didn't know why this Xia Ping, who had always been so ordinary, could be this ferocious. It was simply a fantasy.

"How is this possible?!"

Jiang Yaru's best friend, Liang Xiaoxue, also couldn't believe it. When she heard the name, she thought it was someone with the same name or a mistake, but after confirming it repeatedly, Xia Ping had indeed entered the top eight.

Her face was extremely ugly. Even she had been eliminated in the round of thirty-two, yet this poor kid actually had the ability to enter the top eight and even defeat Zhou Tai'an?! Didn't that mean the other party was far above her?!

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but clench her fists, feeling extremely unwilling. Losing to the genius Jiang Yaru was one thing, but now she had even lost to a poor kid—what was this?

"It's over, it's over. If this continues, can we still get revenge?"

Gao Wan and Yang Wei were even more bitter. They were the ones who had been the most shocked. From the moment Xia Ping started his match with Zhou Tai'an, they had watched until now, always hoping to see Xia Ping get beaten up.

But with every match that passed, their hearts sank further. By the time he entered the top eight, the two of them finally understood that they were no longer on the same level as Xia Ping.

If this continued, could this guy really get into Yanhuang University? Both Gao Wan and Yang Wei couldn't help but have this thought in their hearts.

But the more they thought about it, the more desperate they felt. It seemed there was no hope for revenge, and the gap between them would only grow wider and wider, impossible to bridge.

Before, it was Xia Ping looking up to them, but now, it was they who were looking up to Xia Ping.

Xiong Batian also received the news. His expression was extremely gloomy, and the atmosphere around him was very oppressive. The surrounding students didn't dare to get close, fearing they might provoke him. Because he hadn't even made it into the top eight—he had been eliminated by someone else in the round of sixteen—yet Xia Ping had defeated Zhou Tai'an and entered the top eight.

It was said that he didn't say a word at the time, turned around, and left, not even watching the remaining matches.

"He entered the top eight?!"

The homeroom teacher, Qiu Xue, also felt very surprised. Her impression of Xia Ping was that he was just ordinary, seemingly without any special traits. Her only memory was during the career counseling session when this student spoke wildly, saying he wanted to get into Yanhuang University.

But not much time had passed, and this student could actually enter the school's top eight. It was simply inconceivable.

"Could it be that he was low-key before and didn't show his true level? And only now, because of the Jiang Yaru incident, has he finally shown some of his skills?"

Homeroom teacher Qiu Xue couldn't help but think this.