Chapter 217 – This is Power

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

As Gu Lingzhi was lucky, she did not have to compete in the first round. The luck of students of the Royal School was especially good this year.

Not only did the three of them enter the finale, they were also lucky in the ballot and did not have to face each other. They had drawn numbers 1, 3 and 4, hence would not have to fight each other.

If it was not for the person in-charge of the balloting that was being sent from the North Qiu Kingdom’s Royal Family, everyone would have thought that he might have been bribed.

In the first round, Xin Yi was up against Song Ze.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

As per his usual style, Song Ze put up a bloody fight and not long after the fight began, the floor was covered with streaks of blood.

Only a small amount of it belonged to Xin Yi while most of the blood was from Song Ze.

Song Ze was not only cruel to his opponents, he was also harsh on himself. After a few exchanges, he saw that his chance of victory was not high and took on an upfront approach, attempting to hurt Xin Yi even if it meant injuring himself. He was like a starving wolf and threw himself at Xin Yi without any care.

Xin Yi did not manage to defend himself in time and was injured by Song Ze. He then learnt from Song Ze and went head on as well.

Gu Lingzhi frowned slightly before realising what Xin Yi was trying to do. When against someone like Song Ze, if he kept trying to defend, he would just be controlled. The only way to win was to be crazier than him.

To everyone’s astonishment, the two of them went head to head like two wild beasts in the forest, completely letting go of themselves.

In the end, the battle ended when Song Ze fainted from loss of blood. Xin Yi’s condition was nowhere better. He was just slightly stronger than Song Ze and could at least stand still.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for Xin Yi to continue fighting the next round.

The organizer had predicted this situation and as Xin Yi got off the battle stage, an Alchemist wearing a white gown immediately headed to him. He then proceeded to feed all sorts of Spiritual Medicines into Xin Yi’s mouth to help him recover his energy in time for his match in the afternoon.

On the other side, as Xin Yi and Song Ze ended their battle, Tianfeng Jin and Lin Xiaohu’s battle was about to start.

Compared to the bloodbath earlier, Tianfeng Jin and Lin Xiaohu’s fight was a lot milder. Of course, this was in comparison to the earlier fight.

Maybe it was because of the rumours, in order to prove to everyone that they did not make the finale solely because of their Spiritual Weapon, both Xin Yi and Tianfeng Jin did not use the Earth-Level Spiritual Weapon that Gu Lingzhi had given them.

As she was observing their fight, Gu Lingzhi was surprised to realise that Lin Xiaohu was much stronger than she had imagined. Even Qin Xinran’s brute force might not be his match. Every raise of his arm and every attack seemed to carry a gust of wind that destabilized Tianfeng Jin.

Of course, it only seemed like that from the outside. In reality, Tianfeng Jin knew that if she relied on brute force, she would be no match for Lin Xiaohu and she had to rely on her technique in order to win. The Tianfeng Clan was afterall, one of the Four Great Clans in the Xia Kingdom and would have several good techniques. She was always able to beautifully dodge Lin Xiaohu’s fists.

Seeing that she had no choice, Lin Xiaohu stomped his foot and rows of vines suddenly grew from the ground. They wrapped around Tianfeng Jin’s foot like live Spiritual Snakes, attempting to hold her in place.

Tianfeng Jin had seen his battles with other people and was prepared. At the same time that Lin Xiaohu stomped her foot, small golden halos appeared around Tianfeng Jin’s leg. As the vines attempted to twist around her leg, they were cut into numerous small segments, losing their effectiveness.

Lin Xiaohu was not surprised by this twist and lifted his right leg and stomped. As Tianfeng Jin was busy trying to cut the vines, she took the chance to attack him.

As she saw Lin Xiaohu’s fist headed straight for her chest, Tianfeng Jin immediately bent backwards. Bending her flexible back, her back pressed against the back of her thighs as she whipped out a sword and aimed it at Lin Xiaohu through his legs. She did everything in one swift motion, returning his blow.

Another gasp was again heard from the audience and everyone was surprised at Tianfeng Jin’s coordination. She was actually able to bend her body and do that?

Rong Yuan was similarly impressed as he sneaked a glance at Gu Lingzhi. Smiling mischievously he asked, “Lingzhi, why don’t you ask Xiao Jin how she became so flexible and try it too?”

Gu Lingzhi did not understand what he was insinuating, “Xiao Jin’s body is naturally more flexible and she can do more than just this. I am not as flexible as her, why would I learn from her?”

“Of course to...” Rong Yuan smiled slyly and lowered his voice, “...make our bedroom activities more fun.”

As predicted, he was greeted by the rolling of Gu Lingzhi’s eyes and her sour reply, “Then you are going to be disappointed. I have stiff bones. I can’t learn moves like that. You should go ask your Princess. Maybe she will be more than happy to learn those moves for you?”

“Ha, there is no need, I like inflexible people like you.”

“...”

In the short span of the conversation between the two of them, the situation on the stage was becoming clearer.

Both Tianfeng Jin and Lin Xiaohu were considered prodigies for their age. It had just been two years since they became Martial Practitioners and they already possessed such strong powers. No matter who won, they would be considered the top among their peers.

Thanks to Gu Lingzhi, Lin Xiaohu managed to take the Yuli Snow Lotus and there was a significant improvement in his abilities. However, it was unable to match the effect of Gu Lingzhi’s Spirit Cleansing Pill. The Spirit Cleansing Pill is able to cleanse one’s Spiritual Roots and in terms of quality of spiritual energy, Lin Xiaohu was not as good as Tianfeng Jin. In a short period of time, it was hard to tell, but as they fought more, the difference became clearer. Finally, in one last clash, Lin Xiaohu was thrown off the stage by Tianfeng Jin.

The top three participants in the Martial Practitioner finale hence all came from the Royal School. It was time for the internal fight.

Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi will now each fight Gu Lingzhi once to determine the final rankings.

After four hours of recuperation time, Gu Lingzhi entered the battle arena under Rong Yuan’s watch. On the other side, Xin Yi also slowly entered the arena.

Gu Lingzhi smiled pleasantly, “This must be the first time we are exchanging blows? I never thought it would be in a situation like this.”

Xin Yi returned the smile, “I also never thought that it would be like this.

After their friendly exchange, the judge announced the start of the battle.

Gu Lingzhi immediately became serious as she pulled out her Spiritual Sword. She was intending to have a good fight with Xin Yi and never thought he would do what he did next. As Gu Lingzhi pulled out her sword and gestured for him to unsheathe his, Xin Yi looked up towards the judges and spat out the three words, “I admit defeat.”

“Wah—” This undoubtedly stunned everyone who was ready to see a fight between students from the Royal School.

Since they were all in the top three places, why didn’t they fight it out to see who would be the first?

Gu Lingzhi was dumbfounded as she stood there. She did not make a move to keep her sword as she stared at him dumbly, “Why are you admitting defeat? I might not be your match.”

“It doesn’t matter, we are already the top three. It makes no difference who is the first.”

When Xin Yi said this, he was directing it at Tianfeng Jin. Tianfeng Jin then added on, “That’s right, I also admit defeat. Lingzhi can be the champion.”

Tianfeng Jin’s words threw the crowd into a chaos.

Since when did getting first become so easy? Everyone gave it to her without even fighting. How was Gu Lingzhi’s luck so good?

What Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi did told everyone what it meant by power.

With them occupying the top three positions, they were not interested in fighting amongst themselves!

The judges had to breathe out deeply to calm himself and not blow his top at Xin Yi and Tianfeng Jin’s actions.

To others, what they did seemed to show that they did not care about their rankings. But to him, a person from the North Qiu Kingdom, it was a blow to his country’s reputation. The championship was something that the North Qiu Kingdom used to boast to the other countries. Yet, they pushed it around like it meant nothing. How could he not be mad?

But no matter how infuriated he was, he had to do his job. Biting down the urge to act rashly, he plastered a fake smile, “Since the two others eligible for first place have decided to admit defeat, then there is no need for Gu Lingzhi to fight and will be first place. The two of you shall then fight to decide who is second and who is third.”

Xin Yi had originally wanted to let Tianfeng Jin have second place. However, upon seeing how black the judge’s face was as well as the members of the North Qiu Kingdom’s Royal Family who was present to observe the competition, he swallowed his words. He then exchanged glances with Tianfeng Jin who was thinking the exact same thing. They both grinned and Tianfeng Jin hopped onto the stage and stood in front of him.

“Lingzhi, go and rest. Let me and Xin Yi exchange blows.”

Hearing how Tianfeng Jin said exchange blows instead of fight, Gu Lingzhi knew that the two of them had no intention of fighting it out. She did not know whether to laugh or cry as she left the stage as she returned to Rong Yuan’s side to observe the battle.

When Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi were both still Martial Students, they always competed with each other. Even after they both broke through to Martial Practitioners, they would practice against each other whenever they had time. They knew each other’s abilities inside out and after a few exchanges, they actually became slightly serious.

They were not interested in their ranking but did it purely for fun.

The audience that were complaining finally settled as they were slightly consoled by the fact that this was something that they had come to watch.

However, the duel did not last long. The reason was due to Xin Yi’s sudden cry, “Ah!” He then rubbed his tummy and said, “It is almost time for lunch and I am hungry.”

Hungry? What did being hungry have anything to do with the fight?