“Ivy Academy, Contestant Yue Bing! If you are not on stage by ten seconds, you will be deemed to have forfeited!”
The referee and another contestant was already up on stage. However, they had not seen the other participant after waiting for so long. On the other side, Yue Yang and Yue Bing had just entered the box that they had booked a long time ago, and had not made it to the stage.
It was the secondary knockout matches and not many people were spectating today. Out of all the thousands of seats for spectators, only a few hundred people were present. It could even be said that the students who were preparing for a rematch below were greater than the crowd. In reality, 90% of the people who came to watch the matches were the students’ friends or relatives. They were all here to root for them. The boxes now were cheap too, and could be rented for three silver coins. Not only that, it also came with free beverages.
If it was the Top 100 Tournament instead, those VIP boxes that could hold over a dozen people would definitely cost at least ten gold coins.
As for the Top 10 Team and Individual Finals, the price would probably be twofold or greater than that.
Ye Kong hurried to the bottom of the stage and raised his voice towards the referee, saying, “Contestant Yue Bing only managed to arrive after rushing here. Please wait a minute so that she can catch her breath!”
The face of the referee who was wearing black clothes turned even darker than his clothes after hearing this.
She was already late, but she still needed time to catch her breath?
He immediately started counting down: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…
Not only that, the speed of the countdown was faster than usual. Yue Bing wouldn’t make it in time to enter from the outside aisle into the contestant’s area, so she immediately jumped down from the VIP box. As the referee counted down to one, she barely landed onto the stage. Due to being strapped for time, her face was flushed red with nervousness, and her heart was beating rapidly. The very moment she was on stage, she quickly bowed to the referee and anxiously apologised, saying, “Referee, I-I’m Yue Bing.”
Originally, the referee in black clothes did not have a good expression. However, the moment he saw the person who dared to come late, Contestant Yue Bing who had made him wait so long, he realised that she was actually a cute girl.
His iron heart instantly softened.
Could this lady be lost while trying to find the competition grounds? He thought. She did not seem to be the lazy type who loved to be late.
“Once you’re ready, the competition will begin!” The black-clothed referee tried his best to act in a stern manner. Unknowingly, his voice had softened greatly. If it were a male contestant instead, he would probably be sternly criticised. Towards elders and teachers, Yue Bing had always been respectful and bowed to acknowledge his words.
“It’s a little chick…” The opponent was a tall and skinny boy. Seeing that he was facing Yue Bing, his heart leapt for joy, thinking that victory was already in his hands.
“In the Combined Matches, battle techniques are not restricted. You may use summoned beasts or other means to battle. However, the requirement is that there must be a beast joining the fight. You may summon your beasts now. The match is split into three rounds. Each round is restricted to three minutes. If you hit the opponent out of the field, render the opponent unconscious or force the opponent to surrender, you will immediately win. If a winner is not decided in three rounds, the contestants will then be judged according to the effectiveness of their attacks and their energy. The person who lands more effective attacks and has greater energy will win. The conduct of maliciously killing people is strictly forbidden. Our aim is to cultivate the spirit of competition and not slaughter. Are you clear on these rules?” The black-clothed referee quickly and clearly stated the rules.
“Mm, I’m clear.” Yue Bing nodded her head obediently.
“Cheh…“ The tall and skinny boy, however, was disdainful. Who wouldn’t know all of these rules? Every time a match was held, it would be said once. Hearing this being repeated over and over again, it was truly annoying.
The students who were supporting the tall and skinny boy yelled from below the stage. “Xiao Liu, don’t be softhearted! Take down that little chick! After winning this you can return to the elite’s competition! Don’t hold back just because she’s a girl, fight properly! After you win, we’ll go find some big-breasted girls! This poorly endowed little chick isn’t worth looking at, hurry up and take her down!”
These words riled up Ye Kong and the others.
A competition was a competition, why would you need to talk such nonsense?
It was fine if they talked nonsense, but talking about the size of the breasts, were these people born to take a beating? How dare they say these to Yue Bing?
Yue Yang had just sat down on his seat. Before he even had time to drink his tea, he heard the crazy words from the other side.
He was enraged and threw his cup of tea, ready to cut down those few brats.
Princess Qian Qian hugged him with all her force and reproached Yue Yang, “Stupid, it’s none of your business. Don’t care about what they say, just let Bing-er fight and win against that brat! Winning is the most important thing here. Just sit back here!” Luo Hua City Mistress, on the other hand, was laughing wildly. She realized that Yue Yang was really a person who was overprotective of his family. Of course, the feeling of being protected wouldn’t be bad at all.
Although he wasn’t protecting herself right now, Luo Hua City Mistress knew that if someone dared to make fun of her like this, he would be so angry that his face would turn red like this too.
Below, Ye Kong and Fatty Hai was ready to rush over and beat up those brats.
Seeing that something was amiss, the two linesmen rushed over to stop their impulsive actions.
Fatty Hai was blocked, but his temper did not simmer down so easily. He pointed at the group of students and started cursing at them, saying, “Trash, remember this! Don’t ever face me on the stage, otherwise this Boss will punch your face until you’re looking for your teeth all scattered on the floor!” Seeing that there were only four people on Ye Kong’s side, himself, the Li Brothers, and Fatty Hai, while there were ten people on their side, the group of ten boys felt that these people had exceptionally big guts. The boy who was leading the group arrogantly sneered at them. “Fat pig, you should be celebrating that you’re over here. If you were outside, we would have made roasted pig out of you… I am Gu Chi Jin, from Zi Jin Empire’s Golden Wolf Academy. I’ll leave these words with you, fat pig. If you have talent, then we’ll meet at the Top 100 Tournament!”
Before Fatty Hai could retort, the two linesmen had already chased him back.
The two linesmen only said a sentence and Ye Kong and the others had no choice but to obediently return to their seats. This was because the linesman had said: “If the relatives and friends below the stage fight, the contestants on the stage will be disqualified’.
“Haha, a little chick like you made a perfect team with a fat pig like him!“ The tall and skinny boy laughed at this sight. He seemed to not care what kind of strength Yue Bing had.
Especially since he knew his opponent had already lost two rounds in a row.
He looked down upon her even more.
He did not feel that he was weak; he was just more unlucky than others. On the very first round of the elite competition, he had faced Xue Tan Lang, one of the Three Great Killing Stars. It was normal not to win against people of that caliber.
As for Yue Bing, he did not even see her in his eyes.
The tall and skinny boy summoned a Black Bear. It was Bronze-ranked Level 3, and it looked very powerful.
The black-clothed referee secretly shook his head.
It seemed like this fight was already the little lady, Yue Bing’s loss. Facing against a Black Bear that was Bronze-ranked Level 3 and possessed powerful strength to boot… The black-clothed referee did not wave his hand to start the match, but asked in a low voice, “Do you want to give up or continue?” He seemed to be slightly worried for Yue Bing. One blow from the opponent’s Black Bear could cause danger to this lady’s life.
“Continue the competition.” Yue Bing was already not the Yue Bing of the past. Fighting alongside her brother had caused her to change completely, becoming a ranker.
At Taurus Temple, Pisces Temple and Leo Temple, she had killed dozens of Bronze-ranked beasts.
She had killed many Bronze-ranked Level 5 Ox-head Warriors and Bronze Barbaric Bulls, Bronze-ranked Level 5 Giant Tidal Grabs and Bronze-ranked Lions as well. Now, in her eyes, a Bronze-ranked Level 3 Black Bear did not count as much. She really wanted to get past the Hundred School Elite Competition and prove to her brother that she had put in effort to cultivate and improve. Also, she wanted to prove that she could use the various techniques that her brother had taught in live battles.
This Hundred School Elite Competition was equivalent to reporting the results of her cultivation efforts to her brother…
That was why she had decided to give the best results to her brother.
Yue Bing nodded to Yue Yang who was sitting in the box. Her eyes were firm.
The black-clothed referee waved to let the two contestants bow in front of each other. Yue Bing did not summon her grimoire nor her Hundred Year Treeman War Guard. She bowed towards the opponent in an extremely polite fashion.
That tall and skinny boy did not have Yue Bing’s good manners. He took the opportunity to order the Black Bear to attack as Yue Bing bowed.
“Despicable!” Ye Kong was infuriated. It was fine if he attacked while they were talking, but what kind of person was this? While they were bowing to each other, he dared to mount a sneak attack? Not only that, the opponent was a girl… Ye Kong nearly wanted to jump up the stage and rip this brat into pieces.
“Idiot!” Yue Yang, however, ridiculed the tall and skinny boy while laughing.
The Black Bear’s roar was like thunder.
It stood up on its hind legs and swung down with one of its giant paws.
With just a flash of Yue Bing’s shadow, she suddenly appeared on top of the tall and skinny boy’s head. While he was thinking that his plan had succeeded, she threw a roundhouse kick right into the boy’s face.
Boom!
The tall and skinny boy flew out of the stage. Fresh blood flowed continuously from his mouth and nose.
Aside from the people who knew Yue Bing’s strength, everyone was shocked by this scene.
Even Ye Kong and Fatty Hai didn’t know that Yue Bing was this strong. Under Yue Yang’s guidance, Yue Bing had truly become strong, Ye Kong and the others knew that. However, they did not know that even her combat techniques had improved significantly to the point where she could instantly kill her opponents.
“Haha!” Yue Yang was laughing proudly.
He knew that Yue Bing was kind and law-abiding. She would normally obey every single rule. Not only that, due to her pure heart, she easily trusted others due to her inexperience.
This way, she would easily be ambushed or deceived mid-battle.
To counter her weaknesses, he especially created a set of techniques that would allow her to strike fast and adapt to emergencies. Before teaching Yue Bing, Yue Yang would constantly remind her to watch the movements of her enemy at any point of time. Then, at the time when the enemy moves, there was no need to think, but rather to react with her body and counterattack. He trained her to the point where “If the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move; If the enemy moves, I’ll move first” was a natural reaction for her.
Although Yue Bing was unable to meet Yue Yang’s demands of being able to reach the level of “Moving later, but reaching first” right now, mounting a sneak attack on her would already be an impossible thing to do.
The strongest advantage that Yue Bing had was that she was obedient.
Whatever Yue Yang said, she remembered it word for word. Hence, she would be able to use it whenever the situation required it… Yue Yang may not have been a good teacher, but Yue Bing was definitely a good student.
Towards the result of the tall and skinny boy being KO’d by one kick from Yue Bing, Yue Yang was not surprised at all.
Conversely, it was as he had expected!
“Ah… Ivy Academy’s Yue Bing wins!” The black-clothed referee was stunned for a while, but reacted quickly and hurriedly waved his hands to signal that Yue Bing had won.
“Impossible, she sneak attacked Xiao Liu!” The group of students on the other side obviously could not accept this kind of result.
“Roar!” The Bronze-ranked Level 3 Black Bear suddenly pounced towards Yue Bing with its mouth wide open, showing its razor sharp teeth. It was in fact the tall and skinny boy who was not willing to fail, continuing to order the Black Bear to attack. The black-clothed referee was infuriated. He still wanted to violate the competition rules like this? He dared to challenge the dignity of a referee like himself? When he was preparing to punch the Black Bear down the stage, he suddenly saw Yue Bing’s body move, easily dodging the Black Bear’s bite.
Boom!
With a chain of eighteen roundhouse kicks, she knocked back the Black Bear’s giant figure.
With a final kick, she sent the Black Bear flying two metres away, causing it to fall on the tall and skinny boy’s body who was preparing to climb back up.
The black-clothed referee’s jaw dropped… It couldn’t be possible?
The crowd’s who was watching the match also almost popped out their eyes in surprise. Ye Kong and the others could only stare at Yue Bing, whose full-power attack had caused her to be slightly short of breath and red in the face, dumbstruck. This, was this still the Yue Bing they knew?