The outer section of the martial arts base.
Today, the martial arts students from all five high schools acted in tacit agreement. After arriving at the base, they did not head to the inner section to cultivate, but gathered in a hall with an arena in the outer section.
Honestly, although cultivating in the inner section felt great, sitting there day after day was still a little hard to take.
Especially since they were all sixteen- or seventeen-year-olds, at their most restless age.
Now that challenge day had arrived, even those who had no intention of challenging anyone were happy to slack off a little and watch.
Besides, they could learn something from watching fights, so it did not count as wasting time.
"Say, how many people do you think will issue challenges today?"
"No idea, but judging by what everyone said in the group last night, quite a few people seem interested."
The group Xu Yuan had used to sell leather armor had already become the main group for this year's martial arts students in Yang City, and it was lively as hell every night.
"Win, and you get to take a better cultivation room. Lose, and you don't have to give up anything. Who wouldn't want to try?"
"I don't care whether anyone else issues a challenge. All I care about is the fight between Xu Yuan and Jiang Yong. Xu Yuan actually said Jiang Yong might not beat him. I want to see that big talk blow up in his face!"
"Fuck, I was fine until you mentioned him. Now I'm pissed off again. That son of a bitch made hundreds of thousands selling us leather armor!"
Originally, nobody had known about this, but as it turned out, a student from No. 2 Middle School really was fucking related to the boss of the company Sister Wang worked for.
After discovering that the leather armor Xu Yuan sold was actually made by that company, the student had asked around, and then felt utterly sick.
The company had offered thirty percent off, but Xu Yuan had only given them fifteen percent off. Doing the fucking math, Xu Yuan had made nearly five hundred thousand!
Of course, they did not know Sister Wang had also made a cut, but Xu Yuan had not sold her out. He had shouldered the blame himself.
Because of that, Sister Wang had even made a special trip to Xu Yuan's home to thank him, repeatedly saying he was a stand-up guy.
"When Jiang Yong gets here, let's have a good talk with him. We have to get him to beat the hell out of Xu Yuan!"
"Does that even need saying? Jiang Yong's been itching to beat Xu Yuan up for ages. Didn't you see his Moments post?"
"Huh? What did Jiang Yong post?"
Curious, everyone pulled out their phones to check. Those who did not have Jiang Yong added as a friend crowded around the others.
They saw that Jiang Yong had posted on Moments last night:
[Don't cry.]
"Holy shit, that's badass!"
"Xu Yuan's screwed now!"
As everyone waited eagerly, the rest soon arrived.
The teacher on duty today happened to be Lin Yuan. He stepped into the arena and surveyed all the students. "You already know the rules of the challenge matches. I'll only emphasize two points. First, these are sparring matches. Stop short of going too far, and don't deal lethal blows to your classmates. Second, no cheating or throwing matches. Anyone who does will lose their eligibility to cultivate at the base!"
Everyone stiffened, silently thinking what a harsh punishment that was.
Fatty shrank back a little and whispered to Xu Yuan, "You really are the brains, Brother Yuan. Nothing good comes of throwing matches after all."
"All right, the challenge matches begin now. Those occupying Grade E cultivation rooms who want to challenge someone else, step forward!"
There were forty-six students in Grade E cultivation rooms altogether. As soon as Lin Yuan finished speaking, more than thirty stepped forward.
Most were boys, with only a handful of girls.
By comparison, the boys were clearly somewhat more combative.
Among the crowd, the students with Grade D cultivation rooms could not help their expressions shifting slightly when they saw how many Grade E students wanted to issue challenges.
The Grade E students would most likely challenge those in Grade D.
And judging by the number who had stepped forward, probably not one of the thirty-six Grade D students would escape.
The key was that winning would be fine, but losing would be embarrassing.
"Fatty, you go too. Just challenge someone and get some actual combat experience," Xu Yuan said.
"Oh, okay. I'll go, then."
Fatty did not hesitate in the slightest. Whatever Xu Yuan told him to do, he did.
Just as Fatty stepped forward, Xu Yuan suddenly caught a faint, clean scent of laundry detergent. Turning his head, he saw Luo Yaoxi walking toward him.
Xu Yuan instantly thought of the girl's red envelope, and his heart involuntarily skipped a beat.
"What brings you here?"
"Teacher Niu told me to come watch and learn how martial artists fight."
Luo Yaoxi stood beside Xu Yuan quite naturally. "Are you going into the arena later too?"
"I've already taken the money, so of course I am."
"Huh? Taken the money?" Luo Yaoxi looked a little bewildered.
Xu Yuan did not explain, instead lowering his voice. "So, has anyone attacked you these past few days?"
"No, but someone drew a very strange symbol on my door."
Luo Yaoxi lowered her voice too.
And so, without realizing it, they brought their heads close together.
"What sort of symbol?" Xu Yuan asked curiously.
Luo Yaoxi took out a small notebook and a pen, then swiftly sketched a bizarre symbol.
Xu Yuan looked at it but could not make sense of it, so he asked, "Did Teacher Niu tell you what this symbol is?"
"No."
Luo Yaoxi shook her head gently. "But when Teacher Niu saw this symbol, his expression turned very ugly."
At that, a trace of unease flashed through the girl's eyes, but she quickly hid it again, seemingly unwilling to bring her negative emotions to anyone else.
"Tear that page out for me. I'll see if I can help you find out anything," Xu Yuan said.
He was very curious about what the symbol represented, to provoke such a strong reaction from Niu Gang.
"Okay!"
Luo Yaoxi obediently tore out the page and handed it to Xu Yuan.
While they were talking, the fighting in the arena had already begun.
The first to enter the arena and issue a challenge was a boy from No. 5 Middle School. His opponent was a student from No. 2 Middle School who occupied a Grade D cultivation room.
The two had no grudges and made no threats. They simply started fighting as soon as they entered the arena.
Martial artists had fast reactions and nimble movements. Even without much actual combat experience, their fights looked like martial arts movies and were quite entertaining to watch.
Yet Lin Yuan, who was acting as referee in the arena, kept shaking his head.
In his eyes, this sort of fight was like playing house. There was far too little aggression.
"I told you not to deal lethal blows to your classmates, not to fool around. If this is how you're going to fight people in the future, you might as well stop practicing martial arts," Lin Yuan said.
The two fighters immediately felt a little embarrassed upon hearing that.
But getting fierce was not something they could simply do on command.
And so the first challenge match ended like a bit of child's play.
The winner was the one who had been challenged.
For the second match, Lin Yuan directly called on a student from No. 2 Middle School.
"Chen Hu, get up here and show everyone how it's done!"
"Yes!"
The student named Chen Hu leaped into the arena. He was no skin tempering fourth stage scrub, but a skin tempering sixth stage expert!
Naturally, the person he wanted to challenge was no ordinary student either.
"Zhang Juye, come up and fight!"