Chapter 127 Gamble

"Damn it, let me go! I'll teach her a lesson!"

Tang Liu hated people stealing his lines the most, and rolled up his sleeves, ready to rush up.

Zhou Jing was quick to grab him, shaking his head: "Don't go up there to give her a free win. Listen to the instructor's arrangements."

"But she's too arrogant!" Tang Liu was indignant.

You think you're not arrogant yourself...

Zhou Jing complained inwardly.

He pressed Tang Liu back into his seat, looked up and exchanged glances with Li Xiaoyin, seeing the eagerness to fight in her eyes.

Zhou Jing curled his lip.

He knew Li Xiaoyin too well. She was never one to be peaceful. When she was a child, fighting was commonplace in order to avoid being bullied. A violent soul was hidden in her petite body, otherwise Xu Lingyun wouldn't have called her a female orangutan beast before.

Now that she could have a real fight, she was extremely happy.

Zhou Jing withdrew his gaze, looked at Deng Yunjie, and revealed a questioning meaning.

The two plans discussed last night were one to guarantee Li Xiaoyin a spot without a hard fight, preserving their own scoring point, and the other to adopt Ding Qiu's suggestion and try for a mutually destructive outcome.

Many teammates looked at Deng Yunjie, waiting for his decision.

"Brother Jie, what do you say?"

Deng Yunjie looked around, taking in everyone's indignant expressions, his eyes finally falling on Ding Qiu. Suddenly, he smiled with a touch of roguishness:

"Everyone wants to fight, then let's take a gamble and screw her!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ding Qiu slowly stood up, nodded to the instructor group, and then stepped onto the stage step by step, with a resolute expression.

The screen changed, showing [Li Xiaoyin vs. Ding Qiu].

"Wow, they're going to fight hard? Wangguan is so tough."

The tens of thousands of students in the stands perked up, not expecting the first game to be so explosive. Neither side was backing down at all.

At first glance, it was a bit surprising, but after a second thought, many people suddenly understood that this wasn't Wangguan's impulsiveness.

Because the total score advantage of Zhanqi was too great, if Wangguan couldn't take down Zhanqi's ace scoring point in the early stages of the ring competition, it would be almost impossible to suppress the opponent by 9 points, so there was no choice but to take a risk.

And the Zhanqi instructors were full of confidence in Li Xiaoyin, because they had judged Wangguan's winning strategy, so they deliberately let Li Xiaoyin take the lead in the first round. It was a calculated move, giving the opponent a chance while also drawing out Wangguan's ace.

After all, Zhanqi was sitting firmly on the fishing platform, with a high margin for error.

But whether either side's tactics would work still depended on who ultimately won or lost.

"It's not Jingjing..."

Li Xiaoyin muttered softly, a little disappointed, but quickly adjusted and faced her opponent squarely.

The ring for this match had become a lake, with the two standing on opposite shores, looking at each other from afar.

The noise in the arena slowly quieted down, and everyone stared at the stage.

The countdown on the screen ticked away.

Their gazes seemed tangible, and ripples appeared on the surface of the lake.

At the moment the countdown reached zero, their eyes narrowed, and they simultaneously raised their hands and struck the air in front of them.

Boom!

A large-scale, pale white shockwave erupted, setting off monstrous waves, like a wall of water!

On the other side, a series of invisible cannonballs shot out, colliding with the shockwave halfway.

Bang!!!

The next moment, with a deafening bang, the attacks of both of them shattered together.

As if a mine had been planted underwater, the lake erupted with high water columns, turning into a torrential downpour.

"Powerful enough!"

Li Xiaoyin's eyes lit up, and without hesitation, she punched out a barrage of shock bullets, like a machine gun.

Ding Qiu's face was solemn, not willing to be outdone. His hands slapped continuously, like playing whack-a-mole, launching blast abilities one after another to meet his opponent.

Rumble—continuous roars of explosions erupted in the space between the two, the momentum like being on a battlefield.

The lake exploded with pillars of water, unceasingly surging.

Amidst the explosions, the two frantically exchanged attacks, evenly matched for a time.

"Blow him up!"

"Keep blasting, don't give me any face!"

Excited shouts rang out from the stands, everyone loving this intense head-on collision, the more destruction, the better.

Both were energy-releasing destruction-type abilities, possessing the strongest lethality among esper of the same level.

After exchanging blows for a while without gaining the upper hand, Ding Qiu suddenly put his palms together, as if using all his strength, veins bulging, and roared angrily.

"Grand Blast!"

A blast far exceeding the previous ones suddenly exploded on the lake, almost emptying all the water, blasting straight into the sky.

With a rumble, all the shock bullets flying into the air were swept away by the explosion.

The aftermath directly shattered the ground on both shores, turning them into floating slabs that rose and fell violently with the waves.

Bang! The lake water that had flown into the air instantly burst, shooting in all directions, each drop of water carrying strong kinetic energy, like millions of arrows.

In the blink of an eye, the water mist filled the air, a vast expanse of white, obscuring the vision.

Ding Qiu swayed from side to side, almost falling into the water, barely managing to regain his footing on the floating slab.

But at the next moment, he suddenly heard the sound of waves being split, as if something was rapidly cutting through the water, approaching quickly.

Looking up towards the source of the sound, he saw Li Xiaoyin ejecting shockwaves from her back as a propulsion, her entire body like a cannonball, blurring the figure, riding the waves.

In an instant, Li Xiaoyin pierced through the water mist and charged, her straight-line speed terrifyingly fast.

Her fist condensed a ball of white light, containing a shocking power.

Having lost her foothold, she chose to engage at close range!

You fell for it!

Ding Qiu's eyes flashed, and without saying a word, he acted according to plan, detonating an explosion next to himself when Li Xiaoyin approached within five meters.

Bang!

The shockwave of the explosion instantly enveloped the two.

Two figures emitting black smoke were thrown out at the same time.

With a bang, Ding Qiu fell off the stage, covered in injuries from the explosion, and had already passed out, his body enveloped in a protection barrier constructed of runes, blocking further damage.

This was the protection of the arena formation, which would automatically activate to provide protection when a contestant was about to suffer life-threatening injuries.

The medical staff immediately came up to deal with the injuries, and the people of Wangguan Department quickly surrounded him, worried that something might happen to him.

Confirming that Ding Qiu didn't have any more serious injuries, the teammates breathed a sigh of relief, and then their hearts rose again.

"Did it work?"

"Did it hurt Li Xiaoyin?"

Everyone looked at the misty stage, unable to see clearly.

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes and shook his head helplessly, "It seems it didn't work..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a shockwave erupted, clearing the water mist on the stage.

Li Xiaoyin was seen using a stone slab as a foothold, her injuries much lighter than Ding Qiu's. Her whole body was enveloped in a pale white spherical shield, and ripples were constantly spreading out on the shield, as if temporarily constructed from tiny shockwaves.

However, this was not the arena's protective array, but a shield she had created with her ability.

"Phew... that was close, I almost lost, luckily I was alert."

Li Xiaoyin dissipated the shield, her forehead covered in sweat, obviously quite strenuous, but a happy smile hung on her face.

From the ability development course, she had not only learned the skills of compression, but also the skills of shaping. Unfortunately, the time was too short, and she had never mastered the latter.

However, she took a different approach, continuously releasing small shock waves to counteract the power of the enemy's attack, maintaining it around her body, forming a rough, simple shield, which reduced most of the damage.

She had never used this trick in public before. Only at this critical moment did she use it for the first time. No one knew about it before.

"Her ability can actually create shields?!" Everyone was shocked.

If it weren't for this move, she would have definitely been seriously injured!

The intelligence was wrong, Ding Qiu's strategy failed, causing Wangguan's people to feel down.

Deng Yunjie shook his head and exhaled, "Ding Qiu has already done very well, but it didn't work out even like this, so we can only guarantee Li Xiaoyin a spot."

The plan for a mutually destructive outcome failed, resulting in the loss of a powerful scoring point on their side. This wave was a loss, but Deng Yunjie didn't feel annoyed, after all, this was originally a gamble for victory, and he was willing to accept the loss.

Hearing this, the Wangguan people looked at Li Xiaoyin, both resentful and helpless.

At this time, Li Xiaoyin suddenly walked to the edge of the stage, leaned over to look at Ding Qiu, who was being carried onto a stretcher, and gave a thumbs up, praising:

"Good guy, this person is good, almost made me capsize, I'll remember him, let's fight again when we have time."

"Bastard, are you provoking me!" Tang Liu was furious, rolling up his sleeves: "Others may be afraid of you, but I'm not afraid of you!"

Hearing this, Li Xiaoyin turned her head to look at Tang Liu and smiled: "So it's a little brother, small in stature but big in temper, do you want to fight me in the next match?"

"I..."

Tang Liu was about to agree when Zhou Jing quickly pushed him away with his butt.

"Okay, you won the fight and went back, what are you doing talking, you want to show off your power?"

Zhou Jing looked at Li Xiaoyin unhappily.

"Can't I come to chat with you? Don't forget, we're going to have a showdown today."

Li Xiaoyin hummed.

Zhou Jing's mouth twitched: "What kind of showdown are we having? You're already a girl, and I'm a guy, if we're going to have a showdown, it's not here..."

Li Xiaoyin's eyes lit up and she teased, "Oh ho, Jingjing is teasing people now, my heart rate for you has increased by two and a half percentage points."

"Give me a break, go back to your team quickly, you're chatting with me on stage and delaying the schedule, what's that all about?" Zhou Jing was speechless.

"Anyway, I'm waiting to fight you today, don't you dare not come on stage."

Li Xiaoyin stuck her tongue out at him and made a face before bouncing back to the Zhanqi team's camp to treat her minor injuries.

This troublemaker has learned bad things too... Zhou Jing rolled his eyes.

Everyone knew that the two were friends and didn't find it strange.

Being assigned to different departments didn't mean cutting off contact, the academy wouldn't be so inhumane.

Wangguan suffered a setback at the start, and morale was low, but the competition still had to continue.

Deng Yunjie could only switch strategies, preserving the remaining scoring points, using ordinary contestants to hold off the opponent's S-level cores, and then using his own cores to score points against the enemy's ordinary contestants, equivalent to exchanging.

Having gained an advantage, Zhanqi didn't continue to be reckless and stopped sending cores first, switching to normal formations.

After all, Wangguan had Zhou Jing as an ace, and it was still a strategic deterrent, and the Zhanqi instructor team was still quite wary.

Because Li Xiaoyin had played in the first round, the Zhanqi team couldn't guarantee that their other cores could definitely win against Zhou Jing, so they returned to a steady approach.

The two sides quickly finished the first round, probing each other, and ultimately, Wangguan had nine people advance, entering the next round with a disadvantage in numbers.

In the second round, Zhanqi kept Li Xiaoyin as a reserve, wanting to snipe Zhou Jing, but at the same time, because they were afraid of being sniped by Zhou Jing, they didn't dare to send other cores first.

And Wangguan had a disadvantage in scoring points, but Zhanqi had two trump cards to play, so Wangguan was also worried that the core would be sniped, and they didn't dare to risk sending the ace contestant first, which was very tangled.

So in this round, the two sides were basically at peace, the cores didn't fight each other, and they all played against ordinary contestants, resulting in the almost complete annihilation of ordinary contestants on both sides.

Therefore, when entering the third round, both sides almost only had ace contestants left, and every match became a hard battle.

Because Tang Liu repeatedly requested to fight, Deng Yunjie decided to take a gamble and let Tang Liu get his wish to fight Li Xiaoyin.

After Tang Liu came on stage, he didn't hesitate to activate his extreme speed, wanting to avoid all attacks, and then find a chance to push Li Xiaoyin off the stage.

Unfortunately, ideals are full, but reality is cruel. Li Xiaoyin didn't say anything and slammed the ground, sending out a full-court AoE shockwave sweeping along the ground, knocking Tang Liu down three times in a row.

Because the opponent was a minor, Li Xiaoyin didn't use a strong attack to knock the enemy unconscious this time.

Poor Tang Liu didn't even launch a single attack after coming on stage, and was consecutively knocked down three times, and was thrown off the stage by the ankle.

This time, Tang Liu didn't sit alone and sulk after losing.

--He directly shut down, and his whole body was shrouded in low pressure.

However, the competition was in full swing, and no one was in the mood to enlighten him.

It wasn't until Zhanqi sent out another trump card, Lei Wanjun, that Zhou Jing came on stage to face him.

……

The arena for this match was a flat plain, with no obstacles.

The two stood facing each other from afar.

"Zhou Jing, the only contestant who relies solely on physical enhancement abilities to step onto the arena competition, the only B-level potential team core, not many people were optimistic about you before the competition..."

Lei Wanjun wore glasses, looking gentle, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

His entire temperament was completely incompatible with his name.

He had an iron box slung over his back, and a compass accessory hanging on his waist, all vibrating faintly.

Zhou Jing pulled out his saber casually. Seeing that the countdown on the screen hadn't finished yet, he replied casually, "What, do you also want to say that I can't do it?"

"Don't misunderstand, I am one of the few people who were optimistic about you before the competition. Potential assessment means nothing to me."

Lei Wanjun smiled.

"Oh?" Zhou Jing became a little interested: "Then what do you want to express?"

Lei Wanjun pushed his glasses and smiled gently:

"Most freshmen are shallow, and only know how to use potential assessments to measure a person's future, but in my opinion, awakening an ability is just a ticket to the arena, and a person's hidden aptitude is more important, and the superhuman system cultivated after birth is the pillar that allows a superhuman to go further... And you, obviously possess amazing martial arts aptitude."

"Uh, I think it's okay."

Zhou Jing was a little surprised, and didn't expect the other party to say that.

However, recalling the information he had seen last night, Zhou Jing understood.

Because Lei Wanjun had outstanding aptitude, he had mastered a certain secret method system in just one month and made great progress, so he became a trump card... Although he also had S-level potential, his current combat power, which crushed most S-level cores, did not completely rely on his ability.

"We should be the same kind of people, I am very happy to fight you today."

Lei Wanjun smiled, and before the countdown ended, he suddenly raised his sword fingers and whispered:

"Incantation · One-Yuan Object Manipulation Technique!"

With a clang!

The iron box on his back popped open, and a simple, ancient cyan flying sword shot out, hovering above his head, controlled from afar, emitting a clear light.

At the same time, Lei Wanjun flicked his hand, and five small command flags flew out, with different colors, landing in five directions around him, raising five kinds of light to protect himself.

"Five-Colored Flag Array!"

Immediately afterward, he brushed the compass on his waist, and a wisp of red flame ignited in his hand, but it didn't burn him.

"Three-Talent Cycle Compass · Human Fire!"

After doing all this, a white light bloomed between Lei Wanjun's eyebrows, and a figure appeared out of thin air behind him, looming, unable to see its appearance—this was his ability, the manifestation of his mental thoughts, possessing various abilities.

"Please enlighten me."

Lei Wanjun opened his mouth with a smile.

Good guy, this person's abilities are really mixed...

Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows and looked at him, curious in his heart.

This was the other party's ability "Will Incarnation", and a secret method system he also practiced, said to be quite rare, and "Dao Arts", which had extremely strict requirements for aptitude?