Chapter 65: Elites? Just One Strike for Me!
"Ten thousand Blue Star Coins?" Gu Qianghan, sitting in the lower row, looked back with shining eyes and said, "Sister, if you get it, split it with me; if I get it, I'll split it with you. How about it?"
"That would be enough for my pocket money for half a year," Gu Qianghan said expectantly, looking at Lin Lanyue.
Lin Lanyue glanced at Gu Qianghan. "Do you think you can get it?"
Gu Qianghan was momentarily speechless.
"Li Yuan, with your spearmanship skills, you have a chance to make it to the top ten, but remember not to be reckless," Lin Lanyue said, looking at Li Yuan. "Surviving longer will score higher than killing more enemies."
"Hmm," Li Yuan nodded slightly. The top ten, huh?
"Fifty thousand Blue Star Coins!" Wu Dongdong, sitting in the last two rows, was also extremely excited. He waved and shouted, "Sister Yueyue, with the pocket money I've saved up, it's enough for me to buy that flying motorcycle I showed you last time."
"I kept pestering my dad for it, but he wouldn't buy it."
"I've decided, I'll win the fifty thousand and buy it myself!!!"
...
It wasn't just Li Yuan and his friends; most students were tempted by the prize money when they heard the amount. Fifty thousand Blue Star Coins? Even ten thousand Blue Star Coins was a fortune in the eyes of most third-year high school students, especially those from families similar to or worse off than Li Yuan's.
"Ten thousand Blue Star Coins?"
"Fifty thousand Blue Star Coins?" A student named Tian Dazhuang, with an unremarkable appearance, had slightly reddened eyes.
He murmured to himself, "No wonder the director told me before I got on the aircraft that this was a good opportunity to make money."
"The first test already has fifty thousand Blue Star Coins."
"According to the itinerary, will there be more rewards later? Maybe." Tian Dazhuang thought silently. "Over the years, the country has awarded millions of Blue Star Coins in total."
"In the past six months of body-mind integration training, my physical cultivation has accelerated, but my starting point was too low. I only awakened my martial spirit in my second year of high school, and now my physical fitness is only at level 8.5."
"With poor physical fitness, I probably won't get first place in actual combat. My greatest advantage is in my skills."
"I'll definitely take first place in the cage battle." Tian Dazhuang silently stared at the arena.
He came from a remote mountainous area. In this era, the mountains had convenient transportation, water, and other facilities, and there were many subsidies for poor families... but the wealth gap was inevitable.
Tian Dazhuang came from the poorest mountainous family, with elderly grandparents, a sick father, a deceased mother, and a younger brother. Since middle school, he had shown terrifying talent in martial arts.
After entering high school and awakening his martial spirit, Tian Dazhuang's progress accelerated even more. Various bonuses and awards from the school and the state increased, and after awakening his martial spirit in his second year of high school, he was directly recruited by the Martial Arts Bureau, truly changing his family's fate.
He was a martial arts genius that the entire school and county hadn't seen in decades. He also bore the expectations of many.
"Fate!"
"My fate must be in my own hands." Tian Dazhuang's eyes were filled with longing. "The principal and director care so much about me, I must achieve something."
He attended an ordinary county-level high school, so he was the only one invited to this event. Many knew his name, but few recognized his face.
...
"Fifty thousand Blue Star Coins?" A girl named Wang Yu had burning eyes, not caring at all about the gazes of some boys around her. Wang Yu was used to such attention.
"I must get it. That way, I can buy a new house for my family sooner."
"Mom and Dad won't have to squeeze into a small room anymore."
...
Over a thousand students had their emotions stirred and looked excitedly at the black-clad man on the stage. They were all proud children of heaven. Even knowing their peers were strong, they couldn't help but be filled with self-confidence.
"In addition to the cash rewards," the black-clad host above the stage continued excitedly, "observers from the five major schools are watching you from another virtual space."
"They're looking forward to your performance."
"For ordinary students, their college entrance exam is in June," the black-clad man's voice boomed. "But for you elite students, the college entrance exam has already begun today, at this moment." The black-clad man suddenly raised his fist, trying to stir the atmosphere to a climax.
People are easily roused, especially the young. The organizers of this invitation event naturally hoped to see the best performances from the participating students.
"Want to secure a special training contract from the five major schools in advance?"
"Want to win a large amount of Blue Star Coins?"
"Want to gain more cultivation resources quickly after entering a martial arts university?" The black-clad man waved his arms, turning to look at different students, shouting excitedly, "Then fight desperately today."
"Burn your passion and blood, and show your full strength."
The entire combat space resounded with cheers and shouts accompanying the host's roars. These cheers and shouts didn't come from the over one thousand students but from the combat space's own musical effects, making many students' blood boil.
"I declare the cage battle, where only the victor survives, to begin."
"First round." The black-armored man waved his hand fiercely, his voice booming like thunder, "Start now!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In an instant, the two hundred students selected for the first round disappeared from their seats.
"Gu Qianghan was selected," Li Yuan immediately noticed Gu Qianghan, who had been sitting in the front row, had vanished.
"Tian Dazhuang is also gone, selected for the first round?"
"And Tan Bing." Li Yuan remembered the dozen or so top students Lin Lanyue had mentioned to him.
The first round had already drawn in three of the top experts.
"It's pseudo-random, based on the January assessments." Lin Lanyue whispered beside Li Yuan, "The organizers probably grouped the participants by individual skill scores from the January assessments before randomly selecting them."
"To ensure that the strength distribution of each round's participants is balanced."
Everyone waited patiently.
... Thirty seconds later, the selection of weapons was over.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by a loud boom, two hundred people, armed with weapons and armor, simultaneously appeared around the edge of the arena, forming a huge circle. Each person had two people beside them, making it very fair.
"Hmm?"
Li Yuan's eyes moved slightly. "Gu Qianghan is right next to Tian Dazhuang. Looks like he's unlucky."
On the arena.
Gu Qianghan, holding two short axes, was looking around. He swung one short axe, taunting the expressionless Tian Dazhuang, who held a broadsword on his left side.
"Why is Gu Qianghan provoking Tian Dazhuang?" Li Yuan was surprised. "Did Gu Qianghan's skills reach full marks?"
"No, his martial arts skills are only at around 350 points." Lin Lanyue shook her head calmly.
"Let's see if he can break through to 360 points before the college entrance exam."
"Then why?" Li Yuan hesitated. "Doesn't he know Tian Dazhuang?"
"I didn't tell him the details," Lin Lanyue shook her head.
Seeing Li Yuan's puzzled expression, Lin Lanyue sighed. "He's different from you. You didn't know the itinerary details and couldn't conveniently look up other participants' information, which is understandable."
"But him? He has enough resources to fully understand the event and his opponents beforehand, yet it seems he did nothing." Lin Lanyue sighed. "If he doesn't care, why should I tell him? It's better to let him learn a lesson."
Li Yuan was speechless, feeling a bit sorry for the excited and wriggling Gu Qianghan.
Is this a sister's love?
Lin Lanyue's gaze fell on the arena, not saying anything more. Some things she didn't want to say directly to Li Yuan.
This invitation event was a rare opportunity for martial arts geniuses from ordinary families like Li Yuan, Tian Dazhuang, and Wang Yu. But for people like Lin Lanyue, Wu Dongdong, and even Gu Qianghan?
If they had potential and were willing to work hard, they never lacked so-called opportunities.
"Hmm?"
"Dong Haifeng is also in the first round?" Li Yuan's eyes scanned the arena and found another schoolmate.
...
As Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue exchanged quickly, the giant countdown timer above the arena had swiftly moved from 15 to 3, 2...
"1."
"Begin." The black-clad man in the air roared, his body instantly rising thirty meters to ensure he didn't interfere with any participants.
In the next moment, cheers exploded in the combat space.
On the arena, the 200 participants, previously restricted in their movement, suddenly felt free to move. But no one moved yet. No one wanted to be the conspicuous target.
Simultaneously, all participants could clearly see their scores and rankings in their respective views.
This silence lasted only a second.
"Whoosh!"
"Boom!" Someone moved.
This movement was like a giant stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up waves.
All other participants moved.
During the 15-second countdown, everyone had already chosen their first target.
"Boom!"
"Boom!" "Clang!" Instantly, the arena exploded into a frenzy of combat.
With a physical fitness of 10.0, each participant's burst speed reached 22 meters per second, and their punches delivered 1,300 kilograms of force. Armed with cold weapons, their destructive power was unimaginable.
Now, all concentrated in such a small arena.
"Little..." Gu Qianghan had just excitedly shouted two words.
"Slash~"
A dazzling blade light slashed across, and Gu Qianghan instantly turned into nothingness.
"The first one." Tian Dazhuang, holding a broadsword over a meter long, muttered, "Next."
He didn't care about Gu Qianghan's provocation. Growing up in such family conditions, what kind of people hadn't he encountered?
To him, Gu Qianghan was just a fool, not worth wasting energy on.
"Boom!" Tian Dazhuang moved a few meters, charging at a spear expert.
"Clang~" A fierce weapon collision followed by a swift slash.
The spear expert was cleaved in half by the terrifying broadsword.
Blood splattered, turning into nothingness.
One strike, one kill!
...
"Defeated in one move, damn, I'm in last place!" Gu Qianghan was the first to reappear in his seat.
"How was it?" Lin Lanyue turned to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan was intently watching Tian Dazhuang's fierce slaughter on the arena. "His blade! So fast! Faster than my spear."
"Definitely a fourth-stage blade technique! And he must have reached the fourth stage long ago," Li Yuan said seriously.
Deep in Li Yuan's eyes flashed a hint of respect.
Masters admire other masters.
"Yes."
Lin Lanyue nodded. "My swordsmanship teacher reviewed Tian Dazhuang's combat videos."
"He said, in terms of martial arts skills, Tian Dazhuang is probably in the top thirty of the Blue Star youth rankings, maybe even higher."