I'm Fighting Chu Ge? Seriously?

Donghai Martial Arts No. 1 High School.

The placement exam venue was buzzing with voices.

Chu Ge and Xiao Yan had arrived late and circled several times before finding two empty seats.

On the central arena, two students were fighting.

One was over two meters tall and built like an ox.

The other was skinny as a bamboo pole, just over 1.6 meters tall, and looked like a strong gust could blow him away.

Judging by appearances alone, anyone would have bet on the burly one.

But once they started fighting, the pressure from the skinny student's fifty layers of qi and blood was overwhelming.

In fewer than three moves, the burly student, who had thirty layers of qi and blood, was being ground into the floor.

He clutched his chest and gasped for breath:

"I surrender!"

The proctor stepped forward to stop the match and declared the skinny student the winner.

Under everyone's gaze, the skinny student left the arena and waited for the next round.

The exam rules were simple.

It was a one-on-one knockout tournament. Of the more than a thousand examinees, the top forty would enter the elite class.

Everyone else would be assigned to classes at random.

The elite class had the best teachers, a monthly allowance, and even the right to cut in line at the cafeteria.

So everyone competing today was fired up like they'd been pumped full of chicken blood, willing to fight half to death for a place in the top forty.

Chu Ge sat in his seat, silently doing the math.

He could only activate Iron Cavalry ten times a day.

Ten times sounded like plenty, but he knew how many matches it would take with over a thousand competitors.

He had to use a limited skill like that sparingly and save it for someone truly worth it.

Like that person with four-star Evasion.

The announcement rang out:

"This match: Chu Ge versus Passerby A."

Chu Ge got up and walked toward the arena, turning the name over in his mind.

This guy again.

Xiao Yan's voice came from behind him:

"Go get him, bro!"

"Got it."

Chu Ge answered.

Only forty-three layers of qi and blood, plus the one-star Sequence Blue Silver Grass.

He could fight this one with his eyes closed.

On the other side of the stands, Lin Luyin watched Chu Ge step into the arena and snorted:

"Pretty lucky."

"You ran into me in the first round, so you're finished."

She had barely finished speaking when someone poked her in the side.

She turned around.

And met a pair of timid eyes.

"What is it, Yezi?"

The girl's name was Ye Weiyu. She was from the Ye Family, one of the four great families, and the last of the East Sea's three great beauties.

True to her name, she spoke very softly.

"Um, Little Deer... do you really want to teach Chu Ge a lesson that badly?"

"Of course." Lin Luyin snorted. "That bastard kicked me in the butt last time."

"Five times, too."

At the thought, her butt began to ache with phantom pain again.

"Then..." Ye Weiyu gently tugged on the hem of her clothes. "Can Little Deer kick Yezi's butt instead and let Chu Ge off?"

Before, Ye Weiyu wouldn't have believed Lin Luyin could win.

The gap between their cultivation levels was plain to see.

But now that Lin Luyin had awakened a four-star Sequence, she could completely make up for the gap of more than ten layers of qi and blood.

She had also heard that Chu Ge hadn't awakened anything.

By that comparison, Lin Luyin had a good chance of winning.

After hearing words that groveling to the bone, Lin Luyin was furious:

"Yezi, Yezi, didn't that bastard just save you once when you were little? What's there to like about him?"

"A heartless guy who'd even kick his fiancée in the butt might have forgotten you long ago."

She wanted to say more, but seeing that Ye Weiyu was about to cry, she forced herself to change her tune:

"That bastard definitely remembers you."

"But can you stop being so humble?"

"I'm begging you."

"Can't you stand up for yourself?"

In the arena, the two stood facing each other more than ten meters apart.

Passerby A was the first to unleash his aura.

Qi and blood surged out of him like a ceaselessly flowing stream.

Forty-three layers of qi and blood weren't weak among his peers, just enough to put him in the upper-middle ranks.

He spread his right hand and activated his Sequence.

A small blade of blue grass appeared.

It didn't look imposing, but it was full of vitality.

A fair number of cries rose from the crowd.

"Forty-three layers, and he awakened Blue Silver Grass too. You could call him a minor genius."

"Too bad he ran into Chu Ge."

"Ah, the gap between their cultivation levels is too wide. Ninety-nine layers against forty-three-there's no suspense at all."

Those words reached Passerby A's ears, and the pressure on him shot to its peak.

If Chu Ge had only been a few layers of qi and blood above him, with a few hundred jin more strength, he could still have put up a fight with the advantage of having a Sequence when Chu Ge didn't.

But his opponent was more than fifty layers above him, a difference of over five thousand jin in strength.

How the hell was he supposed to fight that?

How had he run into a living King of Hell in the very first round?

Getting knocked out in the first round would be too embarrassing.

Passerby A looked at Chu Ge and cupped his fists:

"Although I only have forty-three layers of qi and blood, the word 'surrender' isn't in my dictionary."

"Make your move."

The moment he said it, he wanted to slap himself.

Why was he acting like the hero of a hot-blooded battle manga at a time like this?

Chu Ge looked at him and smiled:

"Then I won't hold back."

The next second.

A powerful surge of qi and blood burst out with him at its center, whipping up a gust of wind.

"Is this what ninety-nine layers of qi and blood feels like?!" someone in the stands exclaimed.

"No, this is stronger than the day before yesterday!"

Someone had spotted the difference.

"This qi and blood is even fiercer than what he unleashed on the awakening platform!"

"That's definitely a hundred layers!"

The words "a hundred layers" sent the crowd into an uproar.

"You've got to be kidding! He was at ninety-nine the day before yesterday, and he's at a hundred today!"

"Boo-hoo, comparisons are enough to kill you! How's someone like me with thirty layers of qi and blood supposed to live?"

"Don't bother fighting. Just declare him the winner."

Passerby A stood rooted to the spot, his hands and feet growing a little cold.

Ninety-nine layers the day before yesterday was one thing.

But today it was a hundred.

He was leveling up so fast. Could this guy have a system cheat?

Lin Luyin's brows drew together slightly at the sight.

She now had eighty-four layers of qi and blood, a full sixteen below Chu Ge.

Of course she was confident she could win, but she would have to rely on her Sequence.

If she hadn't awakened anything, like Chu Ge, she was afraid she could only take a beating.

And even if she won today, Chu Ge would reach the Black Iron Realm before long.

By then, even with [Evasion] in her hand, she would have a hard time beating him.

Hmm, looks like I have to kick Chu Ge's butt hard today.

Otherwise, I won't get another chance this good.

In the arena.

Seeing Chu Ge's qi and blood roll like ocean waves, Passerby A's mouth twitched.

I'm fighting Chu Ge?

Seriously?

Was it too late for him to surrender now?

The arrow was on the string; he had no choice but to shoot.

He couldn't worry about all that now.

Passerby A shouted:

"Blue Silver Grass Entanglement!"

The Blue Silver Grass in his palm flared with light and began growing wildly outward.

Grass vines gushed forth one after another, lunging at Chu Ge like a swarm of blue vipers.

Passerby A felt his only way to win was to wrap the grass around Chu Ge's neck and suffocate him into shock.

As for fighting him at close range.

Don't make him laugh.

If a punch carrying ten thousand jin of force came crashing down, he could be turned straight into a bloody mist.

Watching the swarm of Blue Silver Grass rush toward him, Chu Ge clicked his tongue:

"You do have a bit of an old acquaintance's style."

"But it's a shame. In the end, you're not him."

The onlookers didn't understand whom he was reminiscing about.

All Chu Ge could say was, those who knew, knew.

Looking at the approaching Blue Silver Grass, he inexplicably recalled using it to tie the silly roe deer up like a zongzi.

It was true that softness could overcome hardness.

But right now, he had strength to spare.

Faced with a flashy move that had the form but not the essence, Chu Ge stepped forward, seized the grass vines in both hands, and tore them apart with brute force.

The placement exam rules forbade the use of weapons.

And martial techniques could only be learned after reaching the Black Iron Realm.

So in today's arena fights, contestants had to overpower their opponents either with their cultivation level or with their Sequence.

Those who didn't have a high cultivation level or a Sequence could get ready to go home.

Bang, bang, bang.

With Chu Ge's great strength, every strand of Blue Silver Grass that came near was torn apart without exception.

Activating a Sequence consumed Primordial Force.

Even if Chu Ge stood still and did nothing else, as long as he destroyed the attacking grass one strand at a time, Passerby A would eventually exhaust his Primordial Force, collapse from fatigue, and surrender on his own.

The shouts from the crowd didn't disappoint him either.

"Damn, he's tearing Blue Silver Grass apart with his bare hands! I'd have been tied up already."

"Tell me about it. No matter how few stars Blue Silver Grass has, it's still a Sequence. It has its uses."

"A hundred layers of qi and blood against forty-three. This must be the legendary dimensionality-reduction strike."

Bang, bang, bang.

The Blue Silver Grass grew again and again, only to be torn apart each time.

Passerby A's Primordial Force gradually ran dry.

What he had left wasn't enough to activate his Sequence again.

Watching Chu Ge approach step by step, he gave a bitter smile:

"I've lost."

After saying that, he hauled his exhausted body down from the arena and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

A friend came up to support him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Passerby A waved a hand. "It just used up a bit of grass."

On the arena, the proctor stepped forward and looked at Chu Ge as if he were a treasure.

He had been in charge of the awakening test earlier and remembered Chu Ge well.

In his eyes, Chu Ge was still a genius, even though he hadn't awakened a Sequence.

As long as he didn't fall along the way, he was destined to become a powerhouse.

He nodded in approval.

"Well fought."

"It was all right." Chu Ge smiled. "The hundredth level against the forty-third-the advantage was mine."

The proctor turned to the crowd below and announced the result:

"Chu Ge wins this match!"

Applause surged like a tide.

It had been a decisive victory, and watching him tear Blue Silver Grass apart with his bare hands had been quite a sight.

It was definitely the most exciting match of the day.

Chu Ge had just sat down in the stands when Xiao Yan held out a hand to him.

Her palm lay open in front of him.

Chu Ge looked at the snow-white hand, then at Xiao Yan's sparkling eyes. He couldn't make any sense of what the silly roe deer was doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Give me money."

"Why should I give you money?"

"Because I'm cute."

"That's not a valid reason."

"Because your older female cousin is hungry, okay?" the silly roe deer said with perfect confidence. "You didn't make me breakfast this morning, and now I'm hungry. I want to buy something to eat at the supermarket."

"Huh?" Chu Ge looked shocked. "Isn't it the first today?"

"It is. What about it?"

"Where's your money?"

"What money?"

"Don't play dumb." Chu Ge exposed her on the spot. "Your living expenses and the payment for the doujinshi you draw should both have come in by now. I haven't even asked you to pay me back, and you're already asking me for money."

"All my money's gone."

"Why is it gone?"

"I'm not telling you."

A thought flashed through Chu Ge's mind.

She can't have gotten hooked on online gambling, can she?

But he didn't ask.

"Then go hungry."

Chu Ge couldn't be bothered with her.

The dignified young miss of the Xiao family couldn't possibly starve to death.

Hearing that, Xiao Yan withdrew her hand.

Hmph, fine, I won't eat.

I'll save room for a free meal at the cafeteria.

The matches continued.

One candidate after another rubbed their fists and palms, eager to get started.

Some cheered when they won.

Others lowered their heads and left the arena after losing.

Xiao Yan went up too.

She easily knocked her opponent down.

When she returned, she sought credit from Chu Ge.

"Since I'm so amazing, how about treating me to a grilled sausage?"

"No."

"Then I'll treat you to a grilled sausage."

"Who's paying?"

"You are."

"Get lost."

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

After bickering with this silly roe deer for so long, Chu Ge was hungry too.

He took out his phone and transferred fifty yuan to Xiao Yan.

"Go buy me a hamburger and a cola. Whatever's left is your travel money."

"Sure thing!"

Xiao Yan accepted the money and jogged out of the examination venue, heading straight for the nearest supermarket.

Watching the girl's retreating figure, Chu Ge grew even more curious.

Where on earth did she spend her money?

She didn't even leave herself enough to eat.

What a real talent.