NOVEL WEB Chapter 123 - The Competition 26
Mai Dongzi looked around; the eight competitors included students from all four grades, which explained the high click rate on the two analysis posts and the large number of comments below.
Most of the comments focused on Mai Dongzi’s mental ability level and her combat prowess, with discussions revolving around these topics.
In fact, Mai Dongzi had always intended to conceal her mental powers. After entering the Imperial Capital University, she deliberately downplayed her mental abilities, leading others to think of her primarily as a martial artist.
She hadn’t expected that a single competition would spark so much interest in her mental abilities. It seemed that the more she tried to hide, the more curious others became.
Soon, everyone would learn just how high Mai Dongzi’s mental ability level was, as the school announced the rules for the quarter-finals of the school-level competition that evening.
The eight competitors were matched based on their cultivation levels, meaning the first-ranked faced the eighth-ranked, the second faced the seventh, and so on.
Mai Dongzi was ranked first on the leaderboard.
This indicated that her mental ability level was at least comparable to Ye Zhengyan’s martial arts level. However, as a dual-ability user who also practiced martial arts, her overall combat prowess was definitely higher than Ye Zhengyan’s.
As the first-ranked competitor, Mai Dongzi’s opponent was the eighth-ranked student from the second-year ability department.
On the other hand, Lin Qingzhou, ranked sixth, had a tougher match against the third-ranked Booker.
Ren Guang was set to face a fellow student.
This competition format clearly favored higher-ranked contestants; otherwise, in the quarter-finals, if Mai Dongzi and Ye Zhengyan faced each other, it would not accurately reflect who the real experts were.
Thus, with the current rules, it was certain that the four level six contestants would advance to the semifinals.
If one were to speak of fairness, this was the most equitable approach, so no one protested against the school’s newly established rules.
All four matches took place simultaneously, and it was no surprise that the first to finish was Mai Dongzi.
The gap between the two competitors was too significant. In less than a minute, Mai Dongzi effortlessly pushed her opponent against the railing without causing any injury.
The second match to conclude was Ye Zhengyan’s. His opponent was of similar cultivation level to Mai Dongzi’s opponent, but since he was a combat-type user with considerable strength, Ye Zhengyan took five minutes to secure his victory.
The third match featured Booker and Lin Qingzhou, who fought for nearly half an hour. As both were members of the special talent training center and knew each other, Lin Qingzhou’s recent advancement left him a bit unstable, so Booker took the time to guide him during the match.
The only truly exciting match in the quarter-finals was between Ren Guang and his opponent. Their cultivation levels differed by just a small margin, leading to a fierce battle.
This was Mai Dongzi’s first time watching Ren Guang fight live. He practiced the family heritage palm techniques from the Xi family, which were both swift and steady, allowing for both offensive and defensive maneuvers. With his solid foundation, his opponent couldn’t break through his defenses, and Ren Guang took every opportunity to strike.
After an hour of fighting, Ren Guang’s opponent made a slight mistake, which Ren Guang immediately capitalized on, sending him flying against the railing.
The winners of the quarter-finals were as everyone had expected. Given the significant differences in cultivation levels between the competitors, the matches were not particularly thrilling.
As the competition had just concluded, everyone’s discussions quickly shifted to tomorrow’s semifinals.
If the rules remain the same as today’s matches, tomorrow it would be Mai Dongzi against Ren Guang and Ye Zhengyan against Booker, which meant competitors from the same group facing each other.
Originally, Ren Guang’s reputation in the school was not on par with Ye Zhengyan and Booker; he was only known among the third-year students.
However, this semester, he had suddenly advanced to a level six martial artist. Additionally, after being seen dining with the widely recognized genius upon entering the school, news surfaced about his familial relationship with Mai Dongzi, which brought him fame among the other grades.
Often, students from the first to fourth grades felt that fifth-year students were no longer part of the school. Fifth-year students had been out on internships since the end of the fourth-grade semester and wouldn’t return for a whole year, only coming back to take graduation exams and receive their diplomas, which diminished their presence.
Mai Dongzi briefly browsed the campus forum and noticed that Ye Zhengyan, Booker, and Ren Guang were all quite attractive, being referred to as the three major “gods.” While she wasn’t interested in the rumors about the other two, she found Ren Guang’s intriguing.
However, since no one dared to publicly mention their names, they only used letter codes. Mai Dongzi was surprised to learn that Ren Guang’s rumored love interest was actually a certain beauty from the arts department.
Given that Professor Wen personally guided Mai Dongzi in her musical attack scores, she had a good relationship with his daughter, the literature major and beauty from the second year of the arts department.
Once, when she had a dinner appointment with the literature major, Ren Guang happened to drop by, turning it into a three-person gathering. It seemed like everyone overlooked her presence, focusing instead on Ren Guang and the literature major sitting across from each other.
As for Mai Dongzi’s own rumored love interest, it was clearly Zhuang Huiya. She didn’t mind, as she wasn’t interested in dating anyway.
However, having such a formidable rumored girlfriend made it difficult for Zhuang Huiya to pursue other girls, unless they were from the Phantom Team. The girls in the Phantom Team often witnessed how she treated Zhuang Huiya and clearly saw him as just a little brother in her presence.
Later that evening, the school announced the rules for tomorrow’s semifinals, confirming that the matches would follow the rankings.
Ren Guang sent a message: “Little sister, please give me more guidance.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
Ren Guang truly was no match for Mai Dongzi.
While watching Ren Guang fight yesterday, Mai Dongzi had already discerned his weaknesses. In the match, she focused on exploiting his shortcomings, but she didn’t go too hard to avoid eliminating him too quickly.
After a few rounds of this back-and-forth, Ren Guang finally realized that his cousin’s strength was unfathomable. From the very beginning, she had complete control over the pace of the match, and defeating him would be an easy task for her.
Thus, although the two appeared to be engaged in an intense battle on the field, they were not actually competing; she was feeding him techniques, helping him correct his weaknesses.
Outside the arena, the audience, aside from a few higher-level cultivators who sensed something was off, enjoyed a show of his cousin effortlessly overpowering her older brother.
In the end, when Ren Guang was carried off the arena by the healer, the confused audience marveled at how impressive his cousin was, unaware of the immense gains Ren Guang had made during the hour-long “match.”
The real highlight was the battle between Ye Zhengyan and Booker. Both of them pushed their abilities to the limit, having faced each other numerous times before and understanding each other’s strengths and common techniques. This made their fight intensely competitive and hard-fought.