Li Yuan felt quite helpless as he thought, "Wan Xiao and Zhou Qi are such big mouths."
On the day he had a duel with Lin Lanyue, news spread throughout the entire senior class before the evening study session even ended. Lin Lanyue was famous, and Li Yuan had some recognition too. There were all kinds of rumors flying around. The main reason was that Lin Lanyue had never challenged anyone in the past few years, and Li Yuan was the first one.
At first, Li Yuan thought, "The truth will come out in the end," and didn't pay much attention to it. But later, he realized he was being naive. By today, over 300 people had come to watch their duel on the Star Combat Network, mostly classmates. The number kept climbing towards 400. This was an astonishing figure, considering it was just a personal duel and no one was live-streaming it.
"Brother Yuan, check me out! I brought the whole class to cheer for you!" Zhou Qi, with his wild yellow hair and leather pants, waved from the stands.
The virtual network had a 70% realism, making the arena almost identical to reality, and with hundreds of people gathered around, it was quite lively.
"Go for it!"
"Brother Yuan, your big gun must be itching to go!"
The noise was deafening, with many holding banners and glow sticks, all free props from the system. Many supported Li Yuan, but most of the audience still favored Lin Lanyue. She had good grades, was pretty, and was very popular… especially among the boys. Most boys were quite loyal, only liking beautiful girls. Plus, Lin Lanyue was only seventeen.
On the arena, Li Yuan thought, "Get ready." With a thought, the lights around the 30-meter diameter arena shifted from red to green. Both Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue's virtual bodies vanished in an instant.
At the same time, a huge countdown appeared above the arena: 30, 29, 28…
"The ranks of both duelists are below the Meteor rank. The system judges the physical constitution for the duel to be level 8.0."
"You have 24 seconds left to choose your weapon. If you don’t choose in time, the system will automatically select based on your habits."
In the preparation space, Li Yuan heard the system's voice in his ears.
"Level 8.0 physical constitution." Li Yuan felt the change in his strength and was quite used to it.
"Weapon plan one," he said directly.
As a seasoned player on the Star Combat Network with thousands of matches under his belt, he chose different weapon plans depending on the type of duel and the opponent. Li Yuan had set up five weapon plans.
"Selected weapon: Type 9 standard long spear, length 2.3 meters, weight…"
"Protective gear: Type 4 standard light armor, weight…" A lot of data flashed before Li Yuan's eyes.
A 2.3-meter long spear was considered on the shorter side. If Li Yuan faced other long spear experts, it would be a disadvantage.
"Even a lion uses all its strength to catch a rabbit, not to mention there's 2000 Blue Star Coins on the line," Li Yuan thought to himself.
Li Yuan never wasted anything.
Around the arena, the crowd surged, and the number of viewers had exceeded 400, not all of them students; there were also a few outsiders. For example, Teacher Xu Bo and Principal Tan.
"It's quite lively," Principal Tan said, standing at the corner, wearing a hat that made him look different from his real self, so no student could recognize him.
"It is lively," Xu Bo replied with a smile. "Look, it's about to start."
Principal Tan nodded. He had come at Xu Bo's invitation, mainly out of boredom. As the top seed in the senior class, Principal Tan would naturally pay some attention to Lin Lanyue.
On the arena, the countdown reached 3, 2, 1… whoosh! Whoosh!
Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue reappeared on opposite sides of the arena, both in their battle gear and holding their weapons. The most eye-catching part was the golden rank symbols above their heads.
"Golden rank?"
"Golden expert?"
"Both of them are golden rank?" The crowd erupted in surprise.
"Brother Yuan reached golden rank? Last time we played together in a battle royale, he was still silver rank." Zhou Qi and Wan Xiao widened their eyes.
"He secretly leveled up without us?" Yan Zhou said. "Next time, we need Brother Yuan to take us along for a battle royale."
"Golden expert? Both are golden?" Li Tianyou stood in a corner, looking at the symbols above the two. "Lanyue reached golden rank too?"
Lin Lanyue didn't know Li Tianyou.
However, that didn't stop Li Tianyou from falling for Lin Lanyue at first sight. Many senior boys secretly liked Lin Lanyue, but few dared to confess.
"Wow, Li Yuan is also golden rank?" Gu Qianghan stared at the symbol above Li Yuan's head. "No wonder Teacher Xu praises him so much."
With both duelists being golden rank, the atmosphere instantly heated up.
"Oh? Both are golden rank?" Principal Tan was also a bit surprised. "I wonder if they have reached 500 points. If they have, they qualify for special recruitment."
"Old Tan, I told you these two students are exceptional," Xu Bo said with a smile. "Otherwise, why would I drag you here?"
Not to mention senior students, even many martial arts university students couldn't reach golden rank.
"You reached golden rank?" Li Yuan, holding the long spear, looked at the red-haired Lin Lanyue in surprise.
The Star Combat Network has nine ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Meteor, Moonlight, Solar Eclipse, Extraordinary, Legendary, and Martial Saint.
It's extremely rare for minors to reach golden rank.
Even many so-called martial arts experts among big streamers mostly only reached Moonlight rank, with very few reaching Solar Eclipse rank.
Extraordinary rank and above? Those who reached that level were top martial artists in reality and wouldn’t be streaming.
At least, Li Yuan had never seen an Extraordinary rank expert while watching streams.
He had only seen some in battle videos.
"Only you could break through?" Lin Lanyue looked at Li Yuan with a cold voice.
Li Yuan sensed a hint of hostility from her.
In the next moment, "Boom!" Lin Lanyue moved.
Her light armor was also fire red, and she charged at Li Yuan like a ball of flame, moving like lightning.
With an 8.0 level physical constitution, her explosive speed was 18 meters per second, and her standard punch power was 800 kilograms.
The arena was only 30 meters in diameter.
From the moment she started to close in, Lin Lanyue could reach Li Yuan in just 2.2 seconds.
"Swish~" A fire-red long sword shot towards Li Yuan like lightning.
"Rip~"
Li Yuan grinned, tightened his grip on the long spear, and instantly moved, thrusting forward with a powerful jab.
Middle-level style!
"Clang!" The fire-red sword and the long spear clashed. The long spear trembled and veered to one side, while the sword twisted in the air like a venomous snake, turning back to stab again.
"This sword technique."
"It's a bit strange; its explosive power is stronger than my spear technique's direct thrust. Is it a move from an advanced cultivation method?" Li Yuan was surprised.
He had heard that Lin Lanyue practiced the "Flame Burning Heaven Cultivation Method," one of the seven advanced cultivation methods.
Each cultivation method is divided into various parts, like stance practice, breathing techniques, fist techniques, and more.
Li Yuan had never practiced an advanced cultivation method.
But he knew this was an upgrade of one of the seven basic cultivation methods, the "Flame Cultivation Method."
"The 'Flame Cultivation Method' is good at attacking, so this advanced method should be similar. Direct confrontation isn't my strength, and her sword skill is also at level three." Li Yuan quickly changed his spear technique. "I need to be careful."
He suddenly withdrew the long spear, no longer attacking, and instead used it to defend.
At the same time, Li Yuan started to move his body, using movement techniques to deflect the force.
"Clang!" "Clang!" The sword light and spear shadow changed and collided, and in the blink of an eye, they exchanged over ten moves.
"How can his footwork and foundation be so steady?" Lin Lanyue was also surprised. "My move 'Fire Sea Sinking Ship' was deflected by his spear."
To Lin Lanyue, Li Yuan, who was focused on defense, seemed like a turtle.
He simply couldn't break through.
"Wow, so fast!"
"In this exchange, Lin Lanyue kept attacking with her sword. How did Li Yuan block it?"
"Impressive!"
"His footwork is so exquisite."
"Li Yuan's spear technique is so steady." Most of the watching students were astonished.
They had mostly seen higher-level live duels and battle videos.
But in their subconscious, they thought those were martial arts experts, not classmates who should be this strong.
"Do you know what it means to be the top martial arts student in the grade?"
"I said before, Lin Lanyue isn't Brother Yuan's opponent."
"Brother Yuan, hurry up and take her down."
"Brother Yuan's big gun is always persistent!"
"Even Teacher Xu's attacks, Brother Yuan could block several moves. What about Lin Lanyue?"
The students from Class 3 (2) were excited.
They might not be skilled, but they knew a basic principle of martial arts: the side on defense often consumes more energy when they can't break through.
"His defense is indeed good."
"This sword technique should be a variation of 'Fire Sea Sinking Ship,' and its attacks are fierce." Principal Tan commented, slightly amazed. "Li Yuan actually blocked it. His spear technique is indeed steady; he must have grasped a defensive kill move."
"Xu Bo, you taught a good student," Principal Tan said with a smile.
"Old Tan, since you say that, hurry up and approve his first-class scholarship," Xu Bo replied with a laugh.
Principal Tan immediately fell silent.
"Hmm?" Xu Bo smiled and said no more, continuing to watch. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he shook his head. "Lin Lanyue let her guard down."
On the arena, Lin Lanyue continued to unleash her sword techniques, her sword like a raging flame, pressing forward step by step.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"
Li Yuan's long spear either swept, thrust, or retreated with footwork, occasionally stabbing directly to force her back.
Lin Lanyue could never get close.
After mastering the "Rock Foundation Pillar" move, Li Yuan focused on defense, exuding an aura as steady as a rock.
"That's the fifty-seventh sword."
Li Yuan silently counted in his heart. "She has been attacking continuously, consuming a lot of energy, and her sword momentum is weakening."
"She’s getting a bit anxious."
"In life-and-death battles, getting anxious leads to mistakes. I just need to wait."
On the fifty-ninth sword, Li Yuan keenly sensed a slight change in her sword technique's momentum.
On the sixty-third sword.
"Whoosh!" The sword light was like fire, incredibly swift.
Lin Lanyue was still attacking fiercely, determined to break through Li Yuan's defense. Her sword technique was sharp, but unknowingly, she had relaxed her defense a bit.
After all, from start to finish, Li Yuan had not attacked at all, only defending.
"Now's the time!" Li Yuan's eyes suddenly brightened.
"Boom!"
Li Yuan completely ignored Lin Lanyue's sword and suddenly shook his long spear, like a dragon hidden among countless ravines, bursting forth to stab directly.
Spear technique killing move—"Dragon Hidden in the Ravine!"
"Not good!" Lin Lanyue instantly sensed something was wrong. She felt Li Yuan's momentum had changed, like a sleeping beast revealing its fangs.
The pressure was immense.
"I can't retreat in time." Lin Lanyue realized this and her eyes flashed with cold light, not hesitating at all.
Instead of retreating, she swung her sword even more fiercely.
"Thud!!"
The long spear pierced like a dragon, breaking through her armor and directly piercing Lin Lanyue's chest, blood splattering as her body instantly turned to nothingness.
The light armor couldn't withstand Li Yuan's long spear.
"Rip!"
In the next moment, the furious long sword also struck Li Yuan's shoulder, blood flying.
"Clang!" The long sword fell to the ground.
On the arena, only the injured Li Yuan remained.
"The spear is longer than the sword, so I had an extra 0.1 seconds of reaction time." Li Yuan shook his head, then revealed a slight smile.
"One minute, 2000 Blue Star Coins in hand."
"That felt great!"
(End of this chapter)