Chapter 673: Shock

The group stages would fly by as every team would be required to take part in 2 battles every day. They had to fight once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

The students of the Fifth Class exhausted a huge portion of their inner qi in the previous battle. It was especially so for the students who hadn’t reached the small completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm. They suffered several heavy hits from the students from the Seventh Class and even though they weren’t heavily injured, they were still slightly affected.

Luckily, there were 2 other students who managed to enter the Martial Extremity Realm in the Fifth Class and could immediately take over a few of them. Those who suffered the most would sit out the next battle.

Even though their teamwork wouldn’t be as great, they would still be able to hold off their opponents after half a month of training together.

Moreover, they had been training in the Extremity Yin Yang Formation for quite some time. They were familiar with it and gradually discovered other ways they could utilize the formation.

In the afternoon, they would be up against a team from the Protection Division. The team they would be facing lost to the other team from the Protection Division, and their members were smoldering with rage. They planned to take their anger out on the Fifth Class during their battle in the afternoon.

According to the rules of the institution, teams from the Inner Division could be made up of 7 students while teams from the Protection Division could only consist of 5.

The teams of the Inner Division might have 2 more members, but when they arrived on the platform, they discovered that every single member from the Protection Division had a cultivation base at the small completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm or higher. There were even 3 of them who were in the large completion stage!

The students of the Fifth Class seemed as though they were facing a terrifying foe as their expressions were deadly serious.

In comparison, the members of the Protection Division seemed rather relaxed. They didn’t seem affected by their loss in the morning and a sharp gleam could be seen in their eyes from time to time as they conversed casually with each other. Their attitude clearly showed the elite mindset that belonged to disciples of the Protection Division.

With the command for the battle to commence, the members of the Protection Division rushed at the students of the Fifth Class without hesitation. When they were a hundred or so feet from their opponents, whistling sounds could be heard as several hidden weapons soared through the air.

In terms of battle instincts, the students from the Fifth Class were clearly at a disadvantage. However, they were lucky the platform was huge enough and the distance between the teams was sufficient for them to react in time.

By the time the hidden weapons had arrived, the students of the Fifth Class had already gotten into position. Mu Songfang pointed her sword forward and a powerful force swirled around the team. The hidden weapons were sent flying in an instant.

Those weapons were sent flying, but the students of the Protection Division entered their range of attack with astounding speed. It was clear they wanted to catch the students of the Fifth Class by surprise and win the round without much casualties. Well… they could only say that things didn’t go as planned. They might be able to reach the students of the Fifth Class, but that would also mean that they had entered the range of their Extremity Yin Yang Formation.

None of them knew what had happened even after they were thrown off the platform.

When they charged over to the students of the Fifth Class, they didn’t have time to break down the situation in front of them when flashes of light blinded them. The image of several figures flashed rapidly and at that moment, they weren’t fighting against 1 student from the Fifth Class. Instead, they seemed to be taking on all 7 at once.

Before they could launch their attack, they were thrown off the platform.

The battle started quickly but ended just as rapidly.

Everyone who was observing the battle from below didn’t react when the battle concluded. There were only several waves of cheer that came from somewhere after some time.

Those students who were observing the battle might not understand what happened, but the same couldn’t be said for the Martial Intent Realm disciples of the institution who were also watching. Their expressions were grave as they looked at the students of the Fifth Class who were slowly leaving the platform. No one knew what they were thinking about.

In the group stages, the Fifth Class no one had looked highly upon in the fourth group won twice in a row! As long as they defeated one more team, they would be able to progress to the next round. Once that happened, they would be able to receive double their yearly stipend of cultivation resources!

On the second day, the Fifth Class only had a single battle in the afternoon.

In the morning, they gathered around the Central Plaza to watch the battle between the other team from the Protection Division and the Seventh Class.

After the battle concluded, the members of the Fifth Class realized that they wasted their time.

Against the members of the Protection Division, the students of the Seventh Class couldn’t even show off their skills. They were basically trashed by their opponents.

In the afternoon, the Fifth Class would be facing the team from the Warehouse Division.

The Warehouse Division might not be a combat-oriented division in the Tongyou Institution, but that didn’t mean that their disciples were weak.

After all, the Warehouse Division was made up of the Formations Hall, Talisman Hall, Weapons Hall, and other auxiliary departments. Shang Xia noticed that among the 6 members who made up their team, there was at least one of them from the Talisman Hall.

Indeed…

When the battle started, the members from the Warehouse Division kept their distance and tossed out rank two talismans.

Streams of sword qi and blade lights filled the platform. There were also fireballs and ice shards flying everywhere, painting a pretty impressive picture.

The team from the Warehouse Division clearly wanted to prevent the students from setting up their battle formation by messing up their coordination. After they started running around like headless flies from the effects of those rank two talismans, the members of the Warehouse Division would claim their victory.

“Hiss… These guys aren’t holding back at all! Those rank two talismans should cost them quite a bit!” Ju Hang gnashed his teeth and growled. He might be complaining about the methods used by the Warehouse Division, but he didn’t seem worried about his students at all.

Shang Xia chuckled, “That’s because they know that if they’re defeated here, they won’t be able to advance to the next round. They have to win even if they throw all their wealth away. It’s a pity…”

The powerful attacks from the rank two talismans eventually dissipated in a massive spiral of energy. However, the students of the Fifth Class seemed completely unaffected. In fact, they didn’t seem to have exerted themselves much when dealing with those talismans.

Of course, the battle that came next bore no suspense. They claimed victory easily, and the Fifth Class managed to win 3 battles in a row. There was no doubt that they would be able to advance to the next round.

“Their final battle in the group stage would be against the other team from the Protection Division who also won 3 battles in a row!” A trace of hesitation flashed across Ju Hang’s face. He turned to his students and asked, “What do you plan to do next?”

Yan Weihai looked at him before turning to stare at Shang Xia who was smiling to himself. “Teacher, do you think we should preserve our energy?”

“Hmm…” Ju Hang mumbled, “You guys can decide for yourself.”

Just as Yan Weihai started to think of their best course of action, Mu Songfang spoke up, “Teacher Ju Hang, there’s no need for us to do that. We can’t forget the other team from the Protection Division we defeated. They’re up against the Seventh Class and there’s no doubt they’ll win. Their eventual record will be 3 wins and 1 loss. Even though they lost to us, we’ll have the same record if we lose on purpose. There’s no need to give others an excuse to drag us down.”

Ju Hang looked at Shang Xia before looking at his students again. He could only laugh helplessly, “Alright. However, you should swap out Wang Chenglin and Qiu Cheng.”

Qui Cheng was a student of the Fifth Class who had just broken through to the Martial Extremity Realm. Earlier, he wasn’t swapped out of the team and he hadn’t taken a break. As such, Ju Hang wanted him to recover his energy.

As far as swapping out Wang Chenglin went, Ju Hang had his own opinions about the matter. He agreed for them to challenge the other team, but he wished to preserve some form of fighting strength.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but shake his head. Since they wanted to win, they had to give it their all. Swapping our Wang Chenglin was reducing their combat strength.

Of course, he didn’t say a word regarding it as he felt that as long as those taking part didn’t mess up, they would still be able to win.

The Fifth Class wanted to go all out and chase the win. Surprisingly, the team from the Protection Division chose to throw the match. They swapped out 3 of their strongest fighters.

Looking at the team that consisted of 5 small completion stage Martial Extremity Realm cultivators, Ju Hang snorted heavily, “Aren’t these people the ones who left the Teaching Division?”

The team from the Protection Division might have chosen to conserve the energy of their strongest fighters, but they didn’t plan to surrender before the match started.

As soon as the battle began, they didn’t rush up like the previous team from the Protection Division. Otherwise, they would be thrown off the platform and suffer the same fate. Instead, they maintained a suitable distance from each other where they could provide support if required before carrying out their assault on the students of the Fifth Class.

Ju Hang couldn’t help but grumble angrily while staring at the match. “Are they trying to drag the battle out and waste each other’s inner qi?”

Shang Xia couldn’t care about the match at the moment as he noticed more and more Martial Intent Realm and Martial Extermination Realm experts of the institution arriving. He chuckled in a strange tone, “Your students have already caught the attention of many experts. A lot of them are trying to feel out the secrets behind the battle formation. I’m afraid they will be coming up with more ways to challenge your students.”

As the battle raged on, the members of the Protection Division discovered the weakness of the battle formation. They realized that the back of the formation moved a little slower than the rest, and they wanted to use it as a break through point.

Using their movement skills, they made their way to the back of the formation.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia’s Extremity Yin Yang Formation wasn’t so easily broken.

With everyone working together, no matter who had to bear the brunt of their opponent’s attack, they would have the assistance of the others.

The members of the Protection Division were quickly picked off one by one and eventually, they were thrown off the platform unceremoniously.

In the end, the Fifth Class managed to advance out of the group stage as the champions with 4 victories in a row.

The other group battles were also concluded, and the top 16 teams were formed.

Of them, 4 teams came from the Protection Division and another 4 came from the Outreach Division. The Contributions Division obtained 3 spots, and the Warehouse Division maintained one. The Upper Division and Inner Division managed to keep 2 teams each in the competition.

The most eye-catching of them all came from the Inner Division. Of the teams that qualified, the first came from the First Class, which was acknowledged as the strongest among those in the Inner Division. The other was the Fifth Class, who used to be known as the weakest class in the Inner Division.

With a battle formation that no one had seen before, the Fifth Class managed to defeat every single opponent they went up against in the group stages. They shocked everyone with their battle record!