"One hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?"
Gu Qianghan, sitting in the lower row, lit up with excitement. He turned back and said, "Sis, if you get half, I get half, how about that?"
"This is enough for my pocket money for half a year." Gu Qianghan looked at Lin Lanyue with anticipation.
Lin Lanyue shot him a glance, "Do you really think you can get it?"
Gu Qianghan was momentarily taken aback.
"Li Yuan, with your spear skills, you should have a chance to make it into the top ten, but remember not to be reckless." Lin Lanyue looked at Li Yuan. "Living longer and getting more points is better than just killing enemies."
"Yeah." Li Yuan nodded lightly.
Top ten?
"Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins!" Wu Dongdong, sitting a few rows back, was also thrilled. He waved his hand and shouted, "Sister Yueyue, with the tens of thousands I've saved, I can finally buy that flying motorcycle we talked about last time."
"Last time, my dad wouldn't buy it for me."
"I've decided! I’m going to get five hundred thousand and buy it secretly!!!"
...
Not just Li Yuan and the others, but hearing about the prize money made most of the students excited.
Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?
Even one hundred thousand Blue Star Coins seemed like a fortune to most third-year students.
Especially for those from families like Li Yuan's, or even worse.
"One hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?"
"Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?" A student named Tian Dazhuang, who looked ordinary, had slightly red eyes.
He murmured to himself, "No wonder the director told me before I got on the flying vehicle that this was a great opportunity for me to make money."
"The first test already has five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins."
"According to the schedule, will there be more rewards later? Maybe." Tian Dazhuang thought to himself, "In recent years, the country has given out millions of Blue Star Coins in rewards."
"In these six months of integrating body and mind, my physical training has improved faster, but I started too low. Plus, I only awakened my Martial Spirit in my second year, so my physical constitution is only at level 8.5 now."
"With a poor physical constitution, I probably won't get first place in actual combat. My skills are my biggest advantage."
"In the cage brawl, I’m sure I can take first place." Tian Dazhuang silently stared at the arena.
He came from a remote mountain area.
In this era, transportation and water resources in the mountains have become very convenient, with many subsidies for poor families... but the gap between rich and poor is unavoidable.
Tian Dazhuang came from one of the poorest mountain families. His grandparents were old, his father was seriously ill, his mother had passed away, and he had a younger brother... Since middle school, he had gradually shown a terrifying talent for martial arts.
After entering high school and awakening his Martial Spirit, Tian Dazhuang progressed even faster.
With various bonuses and rewards from the school and the government, he was directly recruited by the Martial Arts Hall after awakening his Martial Spirit in his second year, which truly changed his family's fate.
He was a rare martial arts genius in the entire school and even the whole county for decades.
He also carried the hopes of many people.
"Destiny!"
"My destiny must be in my own hands." Tian Dazhuang's eyes were filled with longing. "The principal and the director care so much about me; I must achieve something."
His county-level high school was quite ordinary, so he was the only one invited this time.
Many people knew his name.
But how many recognized his face? Very few!
...
"Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?" A girl named Wang Yu had sparkling eyes.
She didn’t care about the glances from some boys around her.
Wang Yu was used to such attention.
"I must get it, so I can buy a new house for my family sooner."
"My parents won't have to squeeze into a small room anymore."
...
Over a thousand students were stirred up, eagerly watching the big man in black martial attire.
Everyone here was a top talent.
Even if they knew their competitors were strong, they couldn’t help but feel confident.
"Besides the cash rewards,"
The big man in black on the stage continued to shout excitedly, "In addition, dozens of observers from the Five Major Martial Arts Academies are already watching you in another virtual space."
"They are looking forward to your performance."
"For ordinary students, their college entrance exam will be in June," the big man’s voice boomed. "But for you elite students,"
"The college entrance exam starts today, at this moment." The big man suddenly swung his fist, trying to pump up the atmosphere.
People are easily stirred up.
Especially young people.
The higher-ups organizing this invitation event naturally hoped to see the best performances from the participating students.
"Want to get a special training contract from the Five Major Martial Arts Academies early?"
"Want to earn a lot of Blue Star Coins?"
"Want to gain the school's recognition and get more training resources as soon as you enter martial arts university?" The big man waved his arms, turning to different students, shouting excitedly, "Then fight hard today!"
"Burn your passion and blood, and show your strength!"
Even the entire combat space erupted with cheers and shouts, not from the thousand students, but from the built-in music effects that got many students fired up.
"I declare, in the cage brawl, only the winner survives."
"The first match." The big man in black suddenly waved his hand, his voice booming like thunder, "Now it begins!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The first match randomly selected two hundred students.
They instantly disappeared from their seats.
"Gu Qiang was selected." Li Yuan immediately noticed that Gu Qianghan in the front row was gone.
"Tian Dazhuang is also gone. He was selected for the first match?"
"And Tan Bing." Li Yuan remembered that Lin Lanyue had mentioned several experts.
Three big experts were chosen for the first match.
"It's pseudo-random, and it’s based on the January test scores," Lin Lanyue whispered from the side. "They probably grouped them based on the January test scores before randomly selecting."
"To ensure that the strength distribution of participants in each match is close."
Everyone patiently waited.
... Thirty seconds later, the weapon selection ended.
"Boom!"
With a huge rumbling sound, all two hundred people appeared at the edge of the arena with weapons and armor, forming a massive circle.
Each person had two others beside them, making it very fair.
"Hmm?"
Li Yuan’s eyes moved, and he couldn’t help but say, "The person next to Tian Dazhuang is Gu Qiang. Looks like he’s not lucky."
On the arena,
Gu Qianghan held two short axes, looking around. He was swinging one of the axes, provoking Tian Dazhuang, who held a large knife and had a blank expression.
"Gu Qiang, why are you deliberately provoking Tian Dazhuang?" Li Yuan was surprised. "Has Gu Qiang’s skills reached full score level?"
"No, his martial arts skills are probably only around 350 points." Lin Lanyue shook her head calmly.
"Let’s see if he can break through to 360 points before the exam."
"Then how does he...?" Li Yuan hesitated. "Does he not know about Tian Dazhuang?"
"I didn’t tell him the intel." Lin Lanyue shook her head.
Seeing Li Yuan's puzzled expression, Lin Lanyue gently shook her head. "He’s different from you. You don't know the details of the event and can’t look up other people's information, which is understandable."
"But he? He has enough resources to know about the event in advance and learn about his opponents, but it seems he didn’t do anything." Lin Lanyue sighed softly. "Why should I tell him? It’s better to let him learn a lesson."
Li Yuan was speechless, looking at Gu Qianghan, who was excited and moving around.
Is this love from his sister?
Lin Lanyue’s gaze fell on the arena, and she didn’t say anything more. There were some things she didn’t want to tell Li Yuan directly.
This invitation event was a rare opportunity for martial arts geniuses from ordinary families like Li Yuan, Tian Dazhuang, and Wang Yu.
But for Lin Lanyue, Wu Dongdong, and even Gu Qianghan?
If they had potential and were willing to work hard, what they lacked most was the so-called opportunity.
"Hmm?"
"Dongfang Ji also made it to the first match?" Li Yuan scanned the arena and spotted another classmate.
...
While Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue were quickly exchanging thoughts, the huge countdown above the arena had rapidly gone from 15 to 3, 2...
"1."
"Start." The big man in black shouted, his body instantly flying thirty meters high to avoid interfering with any contestants.
In the next moment, the cheers from the combat space erupted.
On the arena, the two hundred people who had been limited in movement and couldn’t leave their spots suddenly felt free to move.
But for now, no one moved.
No one wanted to stand out.
At the same time, all participants could clearly see their scores and rankings in their views.
This silence lasted only a second.
"Whoosh!"
"Boom!" Someone moved.
This movement was like a giant stone dropping into a calm lake, creating waves.
All the other participants moved.
In the fifteen seconds of countdown, everyone had already chosen their first target.
"Boom!"
"Boom!" "Clang!" Instantly, the arena erupted into a frenzied battle.
With a physical constitution of level 10.0, each participant exploded with a speed of 22 meters per second, with punching power reaching 1300 kilograms. Adding in their weapons, one could imagine how destructive each of them could be.
Now, all concentrated in such a small arena.
"Little brat..." Gu Qianghan had just excitedly shouted two words.
"Poof~"
A dazzling flash of a blade cut through, and Gu Qianghan vanished into thin air.
"First one." Tian Dazhuang, holding a knife over a meter long, murmured, "Continue."
He didn’t care about Gu Qianghan’s provocation at all.
Given his family conditions, he had encountered all sorts of people growing up.
In his eyes, Gu Qianghan was just a fool, not worth his energy to pay attention to.
"Boom!" Tian Dazhuang moved out several meters, directly charging at a spear expert.
"Clang~" A fierce clash of weapons.
Then, a knife came slicing down like lightning.
The spear expert was directly split in half by this terrifying knife.
Blood splattered, turning into nothingness.
One strike to kill!
...
"One move and I’m out! Damn, I’m in last place!" Gu Qianghan was the first to appear back in his seat.
"How was it?" Lin Lanyue was looking at Li Yuan beside her.
Li Yuan was staring intently at Tian Dazhuang, who was rampaging on the arena, and said softly, "His knife! So fast! Faster than my spear."
"Definitely a four-stage knife technique! And he’s been in the fourth stage for a long time." Li Yuan said seriously.
A hint of respect crossed Li Yuan's eyes.
Experts always admire other experts.
"Right."
Lin Lanyue nodded, "My swordsmanship teacher reviewed Tian Dazhuang's battle videos with me."
"He said that in terms of martial arts skills, Tian Dazhuang should be ranked among the top thirty in the Blue Star Youth Rankings, or even stronger."
(End of Chapter)