Raising Gu

At the edge of the arena, a burly male student with golden hair and mismatched eyes strode onto the stage, head held high. Two female students followed close behind.

One had black hair, long legs, and a slender waist. She was striking, but her expression warned strangers to keep their distance.

The other had short pink hair and an air entirely unlike the black-haired girl's. Her already lovely appearance radiated an irresistible warmth.

Lu Yi stopped to study the team entering the arena. Only after the referee announced them did he realize this was Dai Huabin's team.

Across the arena, the one as round as a ball had to be Xie Huanyue. He stepped onto the stage with two teammates who looked like telephone poles.

Both sides announced their names as usual and took formation. The referee retreated beyond the stage.

The match began.

As the six students summoned their Soul Rings, Zhou Sichen's expression froze. Still basking in his victory, he had been watching the two pretty girls onstage with keen interest.

Two three-ring Soul Elders and four two-ring Soul Grandmasters.

"Th-this can't be right, can it?"

Zhou Sichen's eyes bulged, as though he suspected he had been set up.

He was hardly the only one shocked. Everyone present, even the six onstage, found it hard to believe.

They had heard this year's students were strong, but it was only the second group, and of the twelve students who had appeared so far, nine were two-ring Soul Grandmasters and two were Soul Elders.

Even the proctor began to wonder. Were this year's freshmen really that strong?

He glanced toward the other examination areas beyond the barriers.

"Hmm."

When he saw that the other areas averaged only one or two Soul Grandmasters per ten students, he finally concluded that everything happening in his area was a coincidence.

The examiner's expression grew more solemn.

The strength of this group made it feel like they were raising gu in a jar. Whoever emerged as the top team in Area Four would likely have no trouble reaching the finals.

And a clash between high-level students meant a brutal fight. He would have to stay on full alert to make sure nothing went wrong.

The two teams were surprised for only a moment before the match finally got underway.

As Lu Yi watched the blows land onstage, he could almost hear the hearts of his two teammates pounding beside him.

"Are we fighting the finals already?" Zhou Sichen muttered. All his earlier swagger was gone.

Cao Jinxuan showed no mercy as he drove the knife in deeper. "It's actually worse than the finals. At least in the finals, both teams would have time to adjust and fight at full strength.

"These two teams met early today, so this match won't affect their condition tomorrow at all. But tomorrow, we have to face both of these powerhouses one after the other."

Lu Yi's expression turned grave too, but he soon seemed to realize something and smiled.

Zhou Sichen and Cao Jinxuan stared at him in confusion.

"What are you afraid of?"

Lu Yi, looking perfectly relaxed, patted both teammates on the shoulders. "Under the schedule, only the team with the fewest points gets eliminated in the group stage. We won our first match easily, so we don't need to worry about that anymore. From here on, we can just fight without holding back."

"But—"

Cao Jinxuan still had little confidence. Yet Lu Yi did not seem nearly as pessimistic as he was, as though he had another card up his sleeve. Cao Jinxuan asked tentatively, "Will we win?"

"Don't worry!"

Seeing Cao Jinxuan's low spirits, Zhou Sichen immediately jumped in. "We'll win!"

As the person who knew Lu Yi best, Zhou Sichen felt reassured once he heard Lu Yi say they could fight without holding back.

"Don't forget what my Martial Soul can do. I fought two opponents today, and tomorrow you two can join in. It'll be five against three, so the advantage is—mmph!"

Before Zhou Sichen could finish, someone clapped a hand over his mouth, leaving him able to make only muffled noises.

That was close. He nearly jinxed us to death!

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Yi's brow, but he kept his hand firmly over Zhou Sichen's mouth. "Watch the match. Some things are better left unsaid!"

Zhou Sichen had no idea what he had said wrong. He assumed Lu Yi was reminding him not to get cocky, so he nodded. Only then did Lu Yi let go.

Boom!

Xie Huanyue's mountain of a body slammed into the ground. Even the students watching from the sidelines felt the earth shudder.

A moment earlier, his target had been the pink-haired girl. She had used the charm Soul Skill of her Nine-Tailed Fox Martial Soul on him, but it had had no effect whatsoever.

Xie Huanyue had no intention of going easy on her, either. Fortunately, the referee had kept a close eye on the fight and rescued her in time. Otherwise, she would have been flattened into a fox pancake.

"Cui Yajie of Class Five is eliminated."

But the referee had barely set Cui Yajie down at the edge of the arena and announced the result when Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu drove Xie Huanyue's two teammates off the stage together.

"Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba are eliminated!"

In an instant, the match became two against one.

The situation was grim for Xie Huanyue. Dai Huabin was a Power Attack System Soul Elder whose strength was on par with his own.

Zhu Lu, meanwhile, was an Agility Attack System soul master, so nimble that he could not even touch her.

His mind raced. He was about to give it everything he had, endure Zhu Lu's harassment, and take Dai Huabin head-on when the eliminated Luo Tianlong pushed through the pain and called out to him.

"Captain, save your strength! We still have four matches tomorrow."

Reason returned to Xie Huanyue. He stopped pressing the fight and made the tactical choice to concede.

With the hardest opponent to handle surrendering of his own accord, Dai Huabin's team won without expending much effort.

Cui Yajie was their only eliminated member, and the referee's intervention had left her unscathed. It would not affect tomorrow's matches at all.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Seeing that neither team had suffered much of a setback, Lu Yi could not help feeling disappointed.

Looks like there's no avoiding two tough fights tomorrow!

Still, Lu Yi had no intention of conceding for tactical reasons.

He had a clear view of it now: meeting powerful teams in the first round of the group stage was not necessarily a bad thing.

For one thing, they no longer had to fear elimination. That alone gave them a tremendous edge in mindset.

I'll treat it as a stress test with my teammates!

More importantly, neither his nor Cao Jinxuan's abilities had been exposed yet.

And watching the match had taught him quite a bit about both teams' abilities.

In Lu Yi's view, Xie Huanyue's formidable defense and unreasonable, cannonball-like charge would indeed be troublesome.

Nor could the Luo brothers be underestimated just because Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu had eliminated them so easily together.

As for Dai Huabin's team, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger and Hell Spirit Cat went without saying. Those two Martial Souls were practically public knowledge in the Soul Master World.

To Lu Yi, Zhu Lu's speed and nimble footwork made her a greater threat than Dai Huabin. His Spells might well miss her.

And once she closed the distance, almost no one on his team could deal with her. Zhu Lu would have to be watched closely.

"Cao, keep Zhu Lu pinned down tomorrow. Leave everything else to Zhou and me."

Cao Jinxuan's Soul Skill could lock on to a target. If he managed to activate it, he could severely restrict Zhu Lu.

The one thing they needed to watch for was Cao Jinxuan being hit by Mental Interference from a distance.

As it happened, Cui Yajie possessed exactly that ability. Lu Yi would have to stay alert and guard against her.

While Lu Yi was studying them, Cui Yajie seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look at him.

Their eyes met, but there was no collision of fighting spirit as he had expected.

Instead, Cui Yajie beamed at him and gave him a flirtatious wink, her eyes soft as water.

The sheer boldness of it caught Lu Yi off guard. A little embarrassed, he looked away.

Strong! She's way too strong!

No wonder her Martial Soul is a Nine-Tailed Fox. Flirting is in her bones!

Lu Yi no longer dared underestimate the opponent who had been eliminated in the match. After all, his team consisted entirely of innocent young boys.

Just then, Zhou Sichen jabbed him with an elbow. "Lu Yi, that pretty girl smiled at me! Do you think she's into me?"

Sure enough, one look from her had been enough to take Zhou Sichen down.

As his teammate, Lu Yi could not stand by and let him wander down the wrong path. "Why would she be into you?"

Zhou Sichen seemed unwilling to give up. "But what if she is?"

"Don't make Cui Yajie laugh!"