Elder Sun nonchalantly said, "Old Huang, as the master of the Discipline Hall, you should be careful with what you say. Also, weren't you guys the ones who had forced us to give out these slots? We are paying out of our own pockets to open a grotto. But a bunch of greedy individuals came together to force our hand. Is this fair? Old Huang, think about it."
Old Huang was actually speechless.
Yes. That was indeed unfair. The single character faction was paying with their own resources to open the grotto. The elders had indeed attended the meeting with selfish agendas.
Everyone was clear about that.
Even if the other elders were here, they would have nothing to say.
Old Huang sighed inwardly and said nothing else.
At that moment, a certain student stepped onto the stage. And all the other students parted to make way for him.
"Zhan Hai!"
"He already has a slot, right? Why is he here? Shameless!"
"Damn it! This fellow is capable of reaching the Skysoar Realm even without the grotto. Why is he fighting us for this chance?"
"What's his number?"
"..."
A clamor erupted among the students. Zhan Hai was the number one student in the Top 100 Ranking. He was a peak Mental Tempering Stage and ninth-stage Infinite Strength student.
A student like him was already guaranteed to enter the Skysoar Realm even without the help of a grotto.
Zhan Hai ignored all the students and made his draw. After taking a look at his plate, he indifferently announced, "Number 988. Where are my teammates?"
Someone amid the crowd cheered. Clearly, that person had drawn the same number as well. After Zhan Hai, one strong student after another made their draw as well.
Jiang Mu, Li Minyu, Dai Qing, Hu Zongyu, Lin Qing, Liu He, Wang Peng...
Numerous famous top 100 students could be seen walking up the stage.
And some of them were people that had already been given their slots. After all, the single character faction had not restricted anyone from participating in the tournament. With one extra slot, one would be able to get an additional person from their side into the grotto.
Eventually, it was Su Yu's turn to get on the stage as well. He was trying very hard to keep a low profile. But when he stepped on the stage, the crowd still sank into silence. Whispers started coming out of the crowd.
"Su Yu is here as well."
"He is way too bold. This is a tournament held by the single character faction. Is he not afraid that the single character faction will target him?"
"Yeah. The tournament is going to be held in team battles. He won't be fighting alone. What if the single character faction assigns their people with strong teammates and sends him into a weak team? He stands no chance at all!"
"..."
Su Yu's appearance had attracted a lot of attention.
Su Yu said nothing. He silently walked forth before reaching into the machine. Just as he was about to reach further, he felt a plate flying into his palm. He glanced at Liu Hong and smiled before leaving the stage silently.
Liu Hong must have done something to him during their previous meeting. He should be more careful in the future.
After taking a look, he saw the number 600 on his plate.
While he was thinking, he suddenly noticed someone nearby. He cried out, "Senior Sister..."
Wu Jia had just finished drawing her number. When Su Yu called out to her, she awkwardly said, "I'm only here for fun. Don't worry. I'll surrender if I'm faced with an opponent I can't defeat. I won't mess around. I'm only here to annoy them more. If I can meet some single character faction members during the tournament, I'll be sure to beat them up!"
"..."
Su Yu was speechless. What was she doing here? When he turned his head to look at Chen Yong, his martial uncle merely smiled and said nothing. It wasn't a bad idea for her to join a tournament and gain more experience.
Of course, she also needed to hold back from doing something stupid like fighting an opponent she couldn't defeat to the death. If she could control herself, this tournament would be a good opportunity for her to improve her skills.
Liu Hong was right. This was actually how the Allheaven Battlefield worked. It was a good idea to get used to it during their time in the academy. At the very least, one would not be completely clueless when one entered the Allheaven Battlefield in the future.
One would be able to experience the feeling of having a useless teammate in advance. That way, one would be able to stay calm in the future when encountering useless teammates at the Allheaven Battlefield.
As someone with the combat strength of a top 70 student, Wu Jia was not weak at all. Out of the over 8,000 participants, only around 100 of them would actually be able to defeat her. Su Yu could only accept their decision. There was nothing he could say about it.
The two walked off the stage together. Wu Jia happily said, "I got the number 888. This is a good number! How about you, Junior Brother?"
Su Yu suddenly laughed and softly asked, "Senior Sister, do you think anyone will notice if we exchange our numbers now?"
Right after he asked the question, someone squeezed through the crowd and stopped beside him. With a gloomy voice, that person complained, "Forget it. We can't exchange numbers. I was about to buy a few hundred plates before selling them to interested buyers. But I have only sold one before the Discipline Hall caught me. I was even fined 100 merit points for that! How greedy!"
"..."
Su Yu stared at Xia Huyou speechlessly. What an incredible fellow. Even in such a situation, he could still come up with a way to make money.
"You're not participating?"
"No. Isn't it tiring to fight all the time?" Xia Huyou declared confidently, "I am a businessman. My motto is to get rich and coexist peacefully. I don't enjoy fighting. It's only a slot. I won't fight for something like that. In any case, I already have one. Why bother?"
"You already have one?"
"Yeah." Xia Huyou laughed heartily, "Guess who I got it from."
"Who?"
"Vice Principal Xia Changqing." Xia Huyou smiled smugly, "I went straight to him demanding for a slot. We're both from the Xia Family. He has no excuse to reject me. Imagine my surprise when he really gave me one. It feels really great to get something without spending a single cent!"
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. True. Since Xia Huyou had personally visited Xia Changqing to ask for a slot, could Xia Changqing say no? Not many people knew who Xia Huyou actually was, but would Xia Changqing not know who this little fatty was?
He really had no good excuse to reject this little fatty so he could only say yes. It would seem like this little fatty was actually quite good at being a menace.
Xia Changqing had definitely been unwilling to give Xia Huyou a slot. After all, his own grandson, Xia Yuwen, was in a competition against Xia Huyou for the position of prefect.
Xia Huyou smiled and asked, "Are you interested in buying some information I have? I can tell you about the teams of the stronger students. I gathered a lot of information when I was running around buying the plates earlier."
"Has the single character faction formed any strong teams?"
Su Yu did not care about anything apart from the single character faction.
"Yes." Xia Huyou softly said, "They have one. That's a very strong team. The two students of Zhou Pingsheng are in that team. Both of them are over 30 in age. They used to be top 100 students when they were younger.
"The other three students in the team are in similar positions. One of them is Elder Zheng Yuming's student while the other two are respectively the students of Elder Yu and Elder Li."
When Wu Jia heard that, she asked, "Isn't that cheating?"
Su Yu sighed before saying with a smile, "Senior Sister, they are the organizers of this tournament. It isn't surprising for them to pull something like this. It is pointless to say all this."
But Wu Jia was still unhappy. That was too shameless.
Xia Huyou said, "That's a very strong team. All five of them are former top 100 students. They have reached the very peak in their cultivation of martial techniques, cultivation methods, physical body, willpower, and Divine Characters. In truth, they are probably strong enough to face a Skysoar when working together."
That was actually true. A team of five like that would definitely be strong enough to fight even a Skysoar.
Of course, good teamwork was necessary or the Skysoar opponent would be able to separate them and defeat them one at a time.
"How about the other teams?"
"There are also Zhan Hai's team and Jiang Mu's team. Basically, the teams of the top 10 students are all very strong. There are also several strong teams among the old students."
Su Yu nodded and asked, "How about Di Feng and his people? Are they in the tournament?"
"Nope." Xia Huyou shook his head and said, "They aren't even in the academy anymore. I suspect they are out hunting the Myriad Race Cult. They are probably trying to offset their punishment with their contribution and remove the ban placed on them. They will probably return after destroying a cult stronghold or two."
Su Yu frowned and asked, "So have the single character faction been cooperating with the cult before this? This seems too convenient."
"I doubt so." Xia Huyou explained, "Some strongholds have always been known to us. We have only been leaving these strongholds alone to wait for a bigger fish. We have never stopped monitoring these strongholds. The single character faction has a lot of members so they definitely know a few of such strongholds as well. Thus, it isn't surprising that they can find some strongholds when they need to. If they had really been cooperating with the cult, they wouldn't have dared to send their own students out to destroy these strongholds."
Bigger fish!
True. Great Xia was probably aware of the locations of many cult strongholds. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to easily wipe out several cult strongholds each time they needed a scapegoat.
In fact, they had done that not long ago to cover up the conflict between the single and multiple character factions!
First, they blamed the master of the First Divine Sect. Then, they killed the master of the Blood Fire Sect. Finally, the Martial Dragon Guards were deployed to wipe out several cult strongholds. They seemed very well-practiced when doing all that.
"What a pity."
Su Yu sighed. He was quite sad to find out that those fellows wouldn't be in the tournament. He would feel much better if he could meet them in the tournament and give them a beating. While they were speaking, the draw was coming to an end.
Liu Hong said, "You will be given half an hour to group up with your team members. There are 1,666 teams in total. Make your choice after seeing your team members. If you believe you stand no chance, feel free to give up. Or you can approach the tournament with the mentality of learning something new through spars. Just be smart about how you use your time and energy. You will be fighting multiple matches over the course of the tournament. If you go all out and use everything you have during the first match, you won't be able to fight in the subsequent matches. Make smart choices and don't do anything pointless."
With their numbers, one would need to fight in at least 10 matches to get first place. Fighting that many matches in a row would be a great challenge for any team.
Su Yu smiled without worry and yelled, "Number 600, let's gather up!"
He was quite loud. A lot of people heard him. And the faces of several people in the crowd changed. With the plate in his hand, Liu He cursed.
Fuck!
Why was he assigned to this fellow's team?
Not far away, Yang Sha blanked out. Su Yu? He was actually in the same team as Su Yu?
He looked at Lin Yao in shock. Lin Yao, on the other hand, did not look surprised. He softly said, "Senior Brother, this is our chance! He's very strong!"
"I"
Yang Sha felt like shouting at someone. Of course he knew Su Yu was strong. But Su Yu was weaker than Di Feng. More importantly, Su Yu was their enemy! Was his junior brother not aware of that?
Relying on Su Yu to get first place? Was this a joke? Were they supposed to work alongside Su Yu and fight those from their own faction? If they did that, how could they face their teacher after the tournament?
Not far away, Zhou Hao grinned. Instead of walking up to Su Yu, he remained where he was. He scanned his surroundings and started looking at the stronger students such as Zhan Hai and Jiang Mu. Were these his coming opponents? He was starting to get excited. As for the fact that he had to carry three deadweights with him, he didn't seem to care. As long as Su Yu was strong enough, everything would be fine.
He was never one to rely on others, so he wasn't bothered by the fact that he would have some useless teammates. As for his cooperation with Su Yu, it had been proposed by Su Yu, not him. He personally didn't care who his teammates would be.
Liu He might be a top 100 student with a decent ranking, but not even someone like him could catch Zhou Hao's attention. Zhou Hao might only be a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator, but he was completely uninterested in someone with zero bloodlust like Liu He.
The students started gathering with their team members.
"Number 888..."
Someone shouted.
Wu Jia ran over when she heard the call. When Su Yu looked over, he was surprised to see that it was actually a decent team. There were even a few top 100 students in it. Shortly after, a few students arrived around Su Yu.
Liu He had an unfriendly look in his eyes, Yang Sha looked unwilling to be there, and Lin Yao pretended to be furious.
Su Yu showed a complete disregard for them and said, "During the fights, just stand aside and don't get in my way."
"You..."
Liu He was furious. No matter what, he was a top 100 student. How could Su Yu insult him like that? Su Yu ignored them. All around him, numerous gazes landed on him. When they saw his team members, they nearly roared with laughter.
Liu He, Lin Yao, Yang Sha...and a new student, Xia Huyou.
Was this Su Yu's team? How was he supposed to compete with such teammates?
Xia Huyou did not seem to mind that so many eyes were on him. He was only there to take a look. He wasn't even participating in the tournament. Why were these people looking at him? Then again, he had to admit that this was quite a...shitty team.
The single character faction was truly creative. Sure, Liu He had decent strength, but would he even try his best? In the spectating zone, Elder Sun and the other elders were smiling happily. They all looked at Liu Hong approvingly. Nicely done!
If Su Yu really managed to get the slots offered, that would be an insult for them. But with a team like this, could he still get a slot for himself?
Dream on!
Elder Sun nonchalantly said, "Old Huang, as the master of the Discipline Hall, you should be careful with what you say. Also, weren't you guys the ones who had forced us to give out these slots? We are paying out of our own pockets to open a grotto. But a bunch of greedy individuals came together to force our hand. Is this fair? Old Huang, think about it."
Old Huang was actually speechless.
Yes. That was indeed unfair. The single character faction was paying with their own resources to open the grotto. The elders had indeed attended the meeting with selfish agendas.
Everyone was clear about that.
Even if the other elders were here, they would have nothing to say.
Old Huang sighed inwardly and said nothing else.
At that moment, a certain student stepped onto the stage. And all the other students parted to make way for him.
"Zhan Hai!"
"He already has a slot, right? Why is he here? Shameless!"
"Damn it! This fellow is capable of reaching the Skysoar Realm even without the grotto. Why is he fighting us for this chance?"
"What's his number?"
"..."
A clamor erupted among the students. Zhan Hai was the number one student in the Top 100 Ranking. He was a peak Mental Tempering Stage and ninth-stage Infinite Strength student.
A student like him was already guaranteed to enter the Skysoar Realm even without the help of a grotto.
Zhan Hai ignored all the students and made his draw. After taking a look at his plate, he indifferently announced, "Number 988. Where are my teammates?"
Someone amid the crowd cheered. Clearly, that person had drawn the same number as well. After Zhan Hai, one strong student after another made their draw as well.
Jiang Mu, Li Minyu, Dai Qing, Hu Zongyu, Lin Qing, Liu He, Wang Peng...
Numerous famous top 100 students could be seen walking up the stage.
And some of them were people that had already been given their slots. After all, the single character faction had not restricted anyone from participating in the tournament. With one extra slot, one would be able to get an additional person from their side into the grotto.
Eventually, it was Su Yu's turn to get on the stage as well. He was trying very hard to keep a low profile. But when he stepped on the stage, the crowd still sank into silence. Whispers started coming out of the crowd.
"Su Yu is here as well."
"He is way too bold. This is a tournament held by the single character faction. Is he not afraid that the single character faction will target him?"
"Yeah. The tournament is going to be held in team battles. He won't be fighting alone. What if the single character faction assigns their people with strong teammates and sends him into a weak team? He stands no chance at all!"
"..."
Su Yu's appearance had attracted a lot of attention.
Su Yu said nothing. He silently walked forth before reaching into the machine. Just as he was about to reach further, he felt a plate flying into his palm. He glanced at Liu Hong and smiled before leaving the stage silently.
Liu Hong must have done something to him during their previous meeting. He should be more careful in the future.
After taking a look, he saw the number 600 on his plate.
While he was thinking, he suddenly noticed someone nearby. He cried out, "Senior Sister..."
Wu Jia had just finished drawing her number. When Su Yu called out to her, she awkwardly said, "I'm only here for fun. Don't worry. I'll surrender if I'm faced with an opponent I can't defeat. I won't mess around. I'm only here to annoy them more. If I can meet some single character faction members during the tournament, I'll be sure to beat them up!"
"..."
Su Yu was speechless. What was she doing here? When he turned his head to look at Chen Yong, his martial uncle merely smiled and said nothing. It wasn't a bad idea for her to join a tournament and gain more experience.
Of course, she also needed to hold back from doing something stupid like fighting an opponent she couldn't defeat to the death. If she could control herself, this tournament would be a good opportunity for her to improve her skills.
Liu Hong was right. This was actually how the Allheaven Battlefield worked. It was a good idea to get used to it during their time in the academy. At the very least, one would not be completely clueless when one entered the Allheaven Battlefield in the future.
One would be able to experience the feeling of having a useless teammate in advance. That way, one would be able to stay calm in the future when encountering useless teammates at the Allheaven Battlefield.
As someone with the combat strength of a top 70 student, Wu Jia was not weak at all. Out of the over 8,000 participants, only around 100 of them would actually be able to defeat her. Su Yu could only accept their decision. There was nothing he could say about it.
The two walked off the stage together. Wu Jia happily said, "I got the number 888. This is a good number! How about you, Junior Brother?"
Su Yu suddenly laughed and softly asked, "Senior Sister, do you think anyone will notice if we exchange our numbers now?"
Right after he asked the question, someone squeezed through the crowd and stopped beside him. With a gloomy voice, that person complained, "Forget it. We can't exchange numbers. I was about to buy a few hundred plates before selling them to interested buyers. But I have only sold one before the Discipline Hall caught me. I was even fined 100 merit points for that! How greedy!"
"..."
Su Yu stared at Xia Huyou speechlessly. What an incredible fellow. Even in such a situation, he could still come up with a way to make money.
"You're not participating?"
"No. Isn't it tiring to fight all the time?" Xia Huyou declared confidently, "I am a businessman. My motto is to get rich and coexist peacefully. I don't enjoy fighting. It's only a slot. I won't fight for something like that. In any case, I already have one. Why bother?"
"You already have one?"
"Yeah." Xia Huyou laughed heartily, "Guess who I got it from."
"Who?"
"Vice Principal Xia Changqing." Xia Huyou smiled smugly, "I went straight to him demanding for a slot. We're both from the Xia Family. He has no excuse to reject me. Imagine my surprise when he really gave me one. It feels really great to get something without spending a single cent!"
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. True. Since Xia Huyou had personally visited Xia Changqing to ask for a slot, could Xia Changqing say no? Not many people knew who Xia Huyou actually was, but would Xia Changqing not know who this little fatty was?
He really had no good excuse to reject this little fatty so he could only say yes. It would seem like this little fatty was actually quite good at being a menace.
Xia Changqing had definitely been unwilling to give Xia Huyou a slot. After all, his own grandson, Xia Yuwen, was in a competition against Xia Huyou for the position of prefect.
Xia Huyou smiled and asked, "Are you interested in buying some information I have? I can tell you about the teams of the stronger students. I gathered a lot of information when I was running around buying the plates earlier."
"Has the single character faction formed any strong teams?"
Su Yu did not care about anything apart from the single character faction.
"Yes." Xia Huyou softly said, "They have one. That's a very strong team. The two students of Zhou Pingsheng are in that team. Both of them are over 30 in age. They used to be top 100 students when they were younger.
"The other three students in the team are in similar positions. One of them is Elder Zheng Yuming's student while the other two are respectively the students of Elder Yu and Elder Li."
When Wu Jia heard that, she asked, "Isn't that cheating?"
Su Yu sighed before saying with a smile, "Senior Sister, they are the organizers of this tournament. It isn't surprising for them to pull something like this. It is pointless to say all this."
But Wu Jia was still unhappy. That was too shameless.
Xia Huyou said, "That's a very strong team. All five of them are former top 100 students. They have reached the very peak in their cultivation of martial techniques, cultivation methods, physical body, willpower, and Divine Characters. In truth, they are probably strong enough to face a Skysoar when working together."
That was actually true. A team of five like that would definitely be strong enough to fight even a Skysoar.
Of course, good teamwork was necessary or the Skysoar opponent would be able to separate them and defeat them one at a time.
"How about the other teams?"
"There are also Zhan Hai's team and Jiang Mu's team. Basically, the teams of the top 10 students are all very strong. There are also several strong teams among the old students."
Su Yu nodded and asked, "How about Di Feng and his people? Are they in the tournament?"
"Nope." Xia Huyou shook his head and said, "They aren't even in the academy anymore. I suspect they are out hunting the Myriad Race Cult. They are probably trying to offset their punishment with their contribution and remove the ban placed on them. They will probably return after destroying a cult stronghold or two."
Su Yu frowned and asked, "So have the single character faction been cooperating with the cult before this? This seems too convenient."
"I doubt so." Xia Huyou explained, "Some strongholds have always been known to us. We have only been leaving these strongholds alone to wait for a bigger fish. We have never stopped monitoring these strongholds. The single character faction has a lot of members so they definitely know a few of such strongholds as well. Thus, it isn't surprising that they can find some strongholds when they need to. If they had really been cooperating with the cult, they wouldn't have dared to send their own students out to destroy these strongholds."
Bigger fish!
True. Great Xia was probably aware of the locations of many cult strongholds. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to easily wipe out several cult strongholds each time they needed a scapegoat.
In fact, they had done that not long ago to cover up the conflict between the single and multiple character factions!
First, they blamed the master of the First Divine Sect. Then, they killed the master of the Blood Fire Sect. Finally, the Martial Dragon Guards were deployed to wipe out several cult strongholds. They seemed very well-practiced when doing all that.
"What a pity."
Su Yu sighed. He was quite sad to find out that those fellows wouldn't be in the tournament. He would feel much better if he could meet them in the tournament and give them a beating. While they were speaking, the draw was coming to an end.
Liu Hong said, "You will be given half an hour to group up with your team members. There are 1,666 teams in total. Make your choice after seeing your team members. If you believe you stand no chance, feel free to give up. Or you can approach the tournament with the mentality of learning something new through spars. Just be smart about how you use your time and energy. You will be fighting multiple matches over the course of the tournament. If you go all out and use everything you have during the first match, you won't be able to fight in the subsequent matches. Make smart choices and don't do anything pointless."
With their numbers, one would need to fight in at least 10 matches to get first place. Fighting that many matches in a row would be a great challenge for any team.
Su Yu smiled without worry and yelled, "Number 600, let's gather up!"
He was quite loud. A lot of people heard him. And the faces of several people in the crowd changed. With the plate in his hand, Liu He cursed.
Fuck!
Why was he assigned to this fellow's team?
Not far away, Yang Sha blanked out. Su Yu? He was actually in the same team as Su Yu?
He looked at Lin Yao in shock. Lin Yao, on the other hand, did not look surprised. He softly said, "Senior Brother, this is our chance! He's very strong!"
"I"
Yang Sha felt like shouting at someone. Of course he knew Su Yu was strong. But Su Yu was weaker than Di Feng. More importantly, Su Yu was their enemy! Was his junior brother not aware of that?
Relying on Su Yu to get first place? Was this a joke? Were they supposed to work alongside Su Yu and fight those from their own faction? If they did that, how could they face their teacher after the tournament?
Not far away, Zhou Hao grinned. Instead of walking up to Su Yu, he remained where he was. He scanned his surroundings and started looking at the stronger students such as Zhan Hai and Jiang Mu. Were these his coming opponents? He was starting to get excited. As for the fact that he had to carry three deadweights with him, he didn't seem to care. As long as Su Yu was strong enough, everything would be fine.
He was never one to rely on others, so he wasn't bothered by the fact that he would have some useless teammates. As for his cooperation with Su Yu, it had been proposed by Su Yu, not him. He personally didn't care who his teammates would be.
Liu He might be a top 100 student with a decent ranking, but not even someone like him could catch Zhou Hao's attention. Zhou Hao might only be a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator, but he was completely uninterested in someone with zero bloodlust like Liu He.
The students started gathering with their team members.
"Number 888..."
Someone shouted.
Wu Jia ran over when she heard the call. When Su Yu looked over, he was surprised to see that it was actually a decent team. There were even a few top 100 students in it. Shortly after, a few students arrived around Su Yu.
Liu He had an unfriendly look in his eyes, Yang Sha looked unwilling to be there, and Lin Yao pretended to be furious.
Su Yu showed a complete disregard for them and said, "During the fights, just stand aside and don't get in my way."
"You..."
Liu He was furious. No matter what, he was a top 100 student. How could Su Yu insult him like that? Su Yu ignored them. All around him, numerous gazes landed on him. When they saw his team members, they nearly roared with laughter.
Liu He, Lin Yao, Yang Sha...and a new student, Xia Huyou.
Was this Su Yu's team? How was he supposed to compete with such teammates?
Xia Huyou did not seem to mind that so many eyes were on him. He was only there to take a look. He wasn't even participating in the tournament. Why were these people looking at him? Then again, he had to admit that this was quite a...shitty team.
The single character faction was truly creative. Sure, Liu He had decent strength, but would he even try his best? In the spectating zone, Elder Sun and the other elders were smiling happily. They all looked at Liu Hong approvingly. Nicely done!
If Su Yu really managed to get the slots offered, that would be an insult for them. But with a team like this, could he still get a slot for himself?
Dream on!
