Surrendering Before Even Fighting?

"Hmm." Yu Xiaogang nodded. "During class today, I found this student to be somewhat unusual."

Tang San's gaze flickered slightly. "Teacher finds him unusual, too?"

Yu Xiaogang sharply caught the odd tone in Tang San's voice. "What, you have that feeling as well?"

Tang San nodded, voicing the thoughts in his head. "Today in class, it seemed like everyone's attention was on Lin Yi."

Recalling the events of the day, he said, "Not just the students. Even the teachers were like that."

Yu Xiaogang agreed. "Indeed. Normally, those teachers never come to sit in on classes."

Pausing for a moment, he added, "Teacher Li came by earlier. His words carried hidden meanings, almost as if he were hinting at something."

"Hinting at what?" Tang San asked immediately.

"He didn't spell it out." Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "He only asked for my opinion on Lin Yi, and said some things that made no sense."

Pondering for a moment, he picked up the file again. "On the surface, Lin Yi's martial soul has nothing special about it. But I've never heard of a martial soul like this. There's a high probability it's a mutated tool martial soul, and the mutation direction isn't strong."

Tang San was puzzled. "Then why is he able to attract so much attention?"

"That's also what I want to know." Yu Xiaogang sighed. "Perhaps he has some background we don't know about, or..."

He paused and did not continue.

Or what?

Or it was because this child harbored some secret, and he and Tang San were the only ones in the entire academy who did not know.

Yet this thought flashed through Yu Xiaogang's mind and was quickly dismissed by him.

Unlikely.

After all, if there truly were a secret, why would he and Tang San of all people be the ones kept in the dark?

Besides, given his many years of experience and insight in the soul master world, if there really were a major secret, some traces would bound to have surfaced eventually.

Yet for now, aside from everyone paying excessive attention to Lin Yi, his other actions and behaviors showed nothing unusual.

"Teacher," Tang San suddenly asked, "will Lin Yi participate in the year-end competition in two days?"

Yu Xiaogang glanced at the notebook left by Teacher Li. "According to custom, all first-year students must participate. But given his strength, there's a high probability he'll be eliminated in the first round."

Tang San's gaze darkened. "I want to cross swords with him in the competition."

"Why?" Yu Xiaogang was somewhat surprised. "With your current strength, dealing with an auxiliary-system soul master should present no suspense whatsoever."

Tang San said calmly, "I want to test his depth firsthand, and besides..."

He did not finish the second half of his sentence.

Besides, he wanted to know why this suddenly appeared Lin Yi deserved to attract Xiao Wu's attention.

Looking at Tang San, Yu Xiaogang suddenly understood something.

He asked, "Little San, has something happened between you and Xiao Wu?"

Tang San's body stiffened slightly. After a few seconds of silence, he replied in a low voice, "Nothing, it's just that she's grown a bit distant from me lately."

"Because of Lin Yi?"

"I don't know." Tang San shook his head. "But ever since Lin Yi appeared, everything has changed."

Yu Xiaogang sighed, got up, and walked over to the window.

With his back to Tang San, he said, "Little San, as your teacher, I shouldn't interfere too much in your personal affairs. But you must remember that a soul master's path is long and lonely, and most of the time, we can only rely on ourselves."

Tang San nodded. "I understand, Teacher."

"As for Lin Yi..." Yu Xiaogang turned around, his gaze growing sharp. "If he truly has some secret, then during the year-end competition, he will inevitably slip up. When that time comes, we'll naturally see through him."

A trace of determination flashed in Tang San's eyes. "I will force out his true strength in the competition."

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Notting Academy's annual Year-End Competition was held in the martial arts arena at the center of the academy.

The martial arts arena was the largest open space in the academy, where students usually conducted physical training. Today, it had been temporarily converted into a dueling ring.

The ring's boundaries were marked with white chalk lines, and the perimeter was already surrounded by students and teachers.

Students from the first through sixth years all had to participate in the year-end competition, but the first-year freshman competition received the most attention.

Because these children had only recently awakened their martial souls, the gap in strength was small, making the matches often much more suspenseful.

Of course, that was only the case in past years.

This year, everyone's gaze was focused on a single person: Lin Yi.

"Have you guys heard? That new work-study student, Lin Yi, apparently possesses some incredible strength."

"What strength? I heard he's just an ordinary auxiliary-system?"

"What do you know? Yesterday I heard Wang Sheng say Lin Yi's martial soul might not be simple..."

"Tsk, no matter what, he's still just an auxiliary-system soul master. He's definitely getting knocked out in the first round."

Some students who had never interacted with Lin Yi and had not heard his heart voice whispered among themselves, their gazes searching the crowd for his figure.

Meanwhile, Lin Yi was standing at the tail end of the first-year queue, mentally going on a wild rant.

With so many people watching, they're making it look like a sports meet.

Even though this plot doesn't exist in the original work, is the result really that hard to guess? It's either Tang San or Xiao Wu taking first place.

Whatever, I'm just here to go through the motions anyway. I might as well just surrender in the first round to save time.

Lin Yi made up his mind to actively concede defeat the moment he got on stage.

He had no desire to expose his strength in such a public setting, especially in front of Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.

Low profile. He had to keep a low profile.

Yet what he did not know was that the moment his heart voice sounded, the person paired up with him in the same group had already decided in their heart: You don't need to surrender, I'll surrender first.

The other students who were hearing this heart voice for the first time paused slightly, quickly understanding what Wang Sheng had been talking about.

This new work-study student really was unusual.

"Quiet!"

The teacher officiating the competition stepped onto the stage. He was a middle-aged male teacher in his forties named Zhang, whose martial soul was an iron-back ape, famed for its brute strength.

Teacher Zhang surveyed the surroundings and said in a ringing voice, "The annual year-end competition now begins. First up is the first-year freshman competition. The rules are simple: ring format. Anyone knocked out of the ring, knocked down for ten seconds without getting back up, or who actively surrenders is judged to have lost. Intentionally inflicting heavy injuries is prohibited; violators will be disqualified and face academy disciplinary action."

"Now, students whose names are called, take the stage!"

Teacher Zhang pulled out a name list. "First match, Wang Sheng versus Li Qiang!"

Two work-study students walked onto the stage, exchanged bows, and began fighting.

Wang Sheng's war tiger martial soul was considered quite strong among first-years. Although Li Qiang's vine martial soul possessed decent control capabilities, its offensive power was lacking.

After more than a dozen exchanges between the two, Wang Sheng seized an opportunity, forced Li Qiang to the edge of the ring with a tiger claw strike, and finally shoved him off the platform with a shoulder slam.

"Wang Sheng wins," Teacher Zhang announced.

A wave of cheers erupted from below the stage, with the work-study students being particularly excited.

Wang Sheng was considered a powerhouse among them, and his victory brought face to all the work-study students.

The matches that followed held little suspense. Those with strong strength won easily, while those with weak strength were quickly eliminated.

Watching from below the stage, Lin Yi grew drowsy.

So boring. It's just a bunch of kids fighting.

If this were placed in the Tang Sect, it wouldn't even reach the standards of an outer-disciple assessment.

Then again, I'm only six years old right now either. I guess I don't really have the right to call others kids.