Two weeks flew by in the blink of an eye.
It was the day before the exchange tournament.
That afternoon, the six members of the Rocket Class gathered at the gates of the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy.
Xiao Feng stood at the front, swept his gaze over them, and said curtly:
"Everyone's here. Get on the bus."
A coach bus was parked by the road, and the six filed aboard.
Besides the Rocket Class, there were competitors from other classes on the bus, bringing the total to thirty-some students.
Since everyone had been carefully selected, far fewer students were competing this time.
Those selected were all among the best in their respective classes.
Forty minutes later, the coach bus stopped in front of an enormous building.
After getting off, Jiang Lan looked at the building, his eyebrows rising slightly.
This was Base City's Central Arena, and it was much bigger than the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy's training grounds.
Tier upon tier of circular stands surrounded a square fighting platform in the center, each side looking a good thirty to forty meters long.
Around the platform was a walled-off area with complex terrain, trees interspersed with scattered rocks. That was presumably the venue for the team hunting competition.
"The Central Arena," Xiao Feng said. "The Three-School Alliance funded its construction specifically for major tournaments."
Chu Yun looked around excitedly. "I've only ever passed by before. Now I finally get to see inside."
"Let's go."
The six followed Xiao Feng into the arena.
Quite a few people were already inside.
Students from the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy were filing in.
The students from the other two academies had already arrived.
Inside the arena, the crowd was divided into three groups.
On the left were the students from the Blazing Fire Academy, all wearing dark red uniforms. Their numbers were about the same as those from the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy.
On the right were the students from the Heavenly Martial Academy.
The Heavenly Martial Academy's students all wore dark blue uniforms, and there looked to be over forty of them.
Chu Yun lowered his voice.
"The Heavenly Martial Academy brought quite a crowd."
"Of the three academies, Heavenly Martial has always had the largest enrollment," Lu Qingshan said, adjusting his glasses.
"What good are numbers?" Mo Han said. "Quality is what counts."
Jiang Lan said nothing, his gaze sweeping across the arena.
Just then, several students from the Heavenly Martial Academy noticed the Rocket Class.
One of them, a rather thin boy, glanced at them with a faint smile curling his lips, then turned to those beside him and said in a teasing tone:
"So that's the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy's Rocket Class?"
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear him clearly.
"They don't look like much," another student beside him agreed, a hint of disdain in his tone.
Chu Yun's expression changed immediately.
He was about to speak when Mo Han reached out and tugged him back, giving a slight shake of his head.
"Ignore them."
Chu Yun gritted his teeth and shot the two speakers a fierce glare.
Jiang Lan's expression remained unchanged.
To him, trash talk at this level was little different from children playing pretend.
Just then, however, the Heavenly Martial Academy's crowd suddenly fell quiet for a moment.
Then the students parted on their own, leaving a path through the middle.
A figure slowly emerged from the back of the crowd.
He was tall and lean, with a cold, stern face and an exceptionally sharp gaze.
Although he wore the same uniform as the other students, his presence was entirely different just standing there.
"That's Qin Yue, right?" Chu Yun instinctively lowered his voice.
Bai Yu narrowed his eyes slightly at the figure, then nodded.
"It's him."
Qin Yue walked forward slowly, casting a casual glance over the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy's students.
Jiang Lan raised his eyes, and their gazes met.
Qin Yue's brow twitched almost imperceptibly before he looked away and walked past them, expressionless.
Only after Qin Yue was far away did Chu Yun suck his teeth.
"Holy shit, that guy's pretty damn arrogant."
Beside him, Lu Qingshan adjusted his glasses and said evenly:
"If you were in the astral condensation realm, you'd be even more arrogant."
"Ha..." Chu Yun rubbed the back of his head. "Fair point. If I reached astral condensation, I'd fly right off if these two things weren't weighing me down."
Jiang Lan: "..."
Crude.
At that moment, Xiao Feng stepped forward. "All right, follow me. I'll take you to the rest area."
Everyone agreed and followed Xiao Feng to the side of the arena.
The rest area consisted of a row of private rooms, with rooms assigned to each academy.
Outside the rest area was a larger space that served as a lobby.
Upon entering the lobby, Xiao Feng looked around and spoke:
"I'll go over tomorrow's schedule one more time."
"The morning will be the individual matches, one-on-one fights on the platform, grouped by realm. The body tempering and meridian opening groups will compete separately."
"The afternoon will be the team hunting competition. Students from all three schools will be mixed into teams and enter the hunting grounds. The time limit is two hours, and rankings will be determined by hunting points."
At this, he looked at Jiang Lan.
"There are twelve competitors in the meridian opening group for the individual competition, four from each school. You're one of them."
"It's single elimination, all the way to the final. In other words, you'll need to fight at least three matches to win the championship."
"Be ready for consecutive fights."
Jiang Lan nodded.
"No problem."
Xiao Feng looked at the others.
"Chu Yun, Mo Han, Lu Qingshan, you three will compete in the body tempering group."
"Bai Yu, Liu Shiyu, you're in the body tempering group too."
Chu Yun rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Don't worry. We won't embarrass the Rocket Class either!"
Xiao Feng nodded without saying anything more.
"All right, get some rest early tonight. Gather at seven thirty tomorrow morning."
Everyone voiced their agreement.
Night fell.
Jiang Lan had been assigned a private room.
He leaned against the headboard, phone in hand, appraising pretty girls' outfits.
Hmm.
This one's a little lacking.
This one's big, but her bearing is nowhere near Auntie's.
This one won't do either...
As he scrolled, a message suddenly popped up on his phone.
[Auntie: What are you doing?]
Jiang Lan's fingers moved.
[I'm not doing it.]
[Auntie: ?]
[Not doing anything... Typo.]
[Auntie: Your competition is tomorrow. Get some proper rest tonight. No staying up late, hear me?]
[Got it, Auntie. Don't worry about me.]
[Kitty roger that.jpg]
Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Martial Academy's rest area.
Qin Yue leaned against the wall with his arms folded and his eyes closed.
A Heavenly Martial Academy student came over and asked in a low voice:
"Bro Yue, that guy from the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy supposedly killed a third-tier ferocious beast. Tomorrow..."
Without opening his eyes, Qin Yue spoke flatly, his face expressionless.
"We'll talk about tomorrow when tomorrow comes."
The student backed away a couple of steps sheepishly and said nothing more.
Only after the student left did Qin Yue open his eyes.
A third-tier ferocious beast...
With his current strength, even if he could defeat a third-tier ferocious beast, he would have to give it everything he had.
Without help, he might even suffer serious injuries.
But when I met that guy's eyes today...
How should I put it? He seemed completely ordinary. Nothing special about him.
Qin Yue closed his eyes again.
Forget it. There's no point dwelling on it now. I'll find out tomorrow.