O43novel Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99: The Ambitious Golden Scale High School
Li Mu and Zhang Zhiwei looked over.
They immediately noticed it as well.
The top five on the ranking board had been completely reshuffled.
Other than Li Mu still holding third place,
first, second, fourth, and fifth place
were now all occupied by students from Golden Scale High School!
One had to remember that the second-place competitor above Li Mu and the fourth-place competitor below him
were both district champions, and both had defenders.
Just now, both of those district champions had lost in almost exactly the same way.
They had first been dragged through two prolonged battles that consumed huge amounts of their True Qi.
Only then had the third challenger used a reckless, all-out fighting style to end the match quickly.
From the look of it, this was clearly Golden Scale High School’s coordinated battle strategy!
Golden Scale High School obviously had a deliberate plan to sweep the rankings.
But no one could blame them for being ambitious.
If they had the strength to break through the defenders and defeat the district champions, then they deserved to sweep the rankings!
If their school had the influence to organize its people, formulate battle plans, and urgently provide resources to strengthen its students, then of course they deserved to be formidable.
It was just that Blackwater High School, with Li Mu’s name wedged right between those four Golden Scale High School names, looked especially glaring now.
At this moment, Golden Scale High School had completely erupted.
“Golden Scale!”
“Golden Scale!”
“Golden Scale!!”
The chants rang out without end, and the momentum of the Golden Scale High School crowd rose to its peak.
“Want me to take the match myself?”
Li Mu asked Zhang Zhiwei with a smile.
Golden Scale High School was definitely going to try to remove Li Mu, this thorn in their side, next.
He was worried that Zhang Zhiwei might feel too much pressure.
Zhang Zhiwei shook his head.
Just then, the challenger device in his hand lit up, exactly as expected.
Someone had issued a challenge to Zhang Zhiwei.
Without saying a word, Zhang Zhiwei stepped out of the competitors’ seating area and walked toward the Central Main Arena.
In the entirety of Ironhand City, there were only five S-grade talent holders and one SS-grade talent holder.
The Eastern District alone had three S-grade talent holders.
Leaving Li Xiaohao aside, the other two were both quite intimidating.
As for Li Mu, the district champion with a D-grade talent, there was definitely something fishy about him.
In that First Battle, if Zhang Zhiwei had not been restrained by a high-grade monster, he absolutely would have been the champion.
Li Mu was probably much easier to deal with than the other two district champions.
The real difficulty, on the contrary, was Zhang Zhiwei.
Zhang Zhiwei stepped onto the Central Main Arena.
Walking up from the opposite side was a lean, wiry male student.
He too carried a long spear in his hand.
It had to be said that the student quality at Golden Scale High School really was high!
This guy had an A-grade talent, yet he was actually at the same peak Third Grade as Zhang Zhiwei.
After stepping onto the stage, the male student raised his spear, but did not point it at Zhang Zhiwei.
Instead, he pointed it from afar at Li Mu in Blackwater High School’s competitors’ section.
That gesture instantly ignited the Golden Scale High School audience section once again.
They were probably thinking that this declaration of war looked incredibly cool.
After all, the other schools were only fighting over individual rankings.
But Golden Scale High School’s goal
was total domination of the leaderboard!
Everyone widened their eyes, expecting a brilliant showdown.
At the very least, this A-grade talent holder should have been able to drain a large amount of Zhang Zhiwei’s True Qi.
Yet no one expected that the instant the match began,
Zhang Zhiwei would unleash an attack like a violent storm!
His movement technique was as fast as lightning, and his superb spearsmanship struck so relentlessly that his opponent had no chance to defend himself at all.
The man was beaten until fury surged through him, but before he even had time to counterattack,
Zhang Zhiwei’s spear tip had already come to a precise stop at the center of his forehead.
The golden light on the spear tip had already broken the skin there, and blood dripped down bit by bit.
Even the gravity barrier had not had time to intervene.
It could be said that if Zhang Zhiwei had wanted his life, it would have taken only the lift of a hand!
Zhang Zhiwei gave a cold snort through his nose and suddenly withdrew the spear.
That male student was already trembling in both legs from fright. Only when the spear left his forehead did that suffocating aura of death finally retreat from him.
First match, Zhang Zhiwei won.
Second match, as expected, it was once again someone from Golden Scale High School.
Unfortunately, this one was not Zhang Zhiwei’s opponent either.
He lasted only a little over thirty seconds before losing again.
The chanting from Golden Scale High School immediately quieted down by quite a lot.
After Zhang Zhiwei stepped off the stage, there was unexpectedly no battle on the Central Main Arena for a moment.
The entire challenge tournament seemed to have fallen into a strange kind of standstill.
At this moment, in the Golden Scale High School section,
within the competitors’ seating area,
the stunningly beautiful Song Yan was quietly gazing at Blackwater High School’s competitors’ section.
The indifference and pride in her eyes only made her seem even more powerful and mysterious.
The people in Golden Scale High School’s section all began discussing things in hushed agitation.
“What do we do? We don’t have enough people left.”
“Damn it, how can no one even beat Zhang Zhiwei? We’re just one step away!”
“Exactly. We’re this close to pulling out that thorn called Li Mu!”
“Just look at the rankings. Our Golden Scale High School names are lined up so neatly, and yet Li Mu is stuck right in the middle.”
“It’s enough to drive anyone with obsessive tendencies insane!”
“Can’t somebody hurry up and kick that loser out already?”
“Looks like the only one left who can still fight is Zheng Kuan, but Zhang Zhiwei hasn’t used up much True Qi yet.”
“If Zheng Kuan loses too, then we won’t be able to complete the leaderboard sweep.”
In Golden Scale High School’s competitors’ section,
a male student named Zheng Kuan was playing with a small square box in his hand.
Inside was a pill.
Around him were the group of students from Golden Scale High School who had joined this plan to dominate the rankings.
This attempt to dominate the rankings had been organized by the Student Council President of Golden Scale High School.
Not only had he formulated a complete and feasible plan,
he had also secured one short-effect enhancement pill for each participant.
This pill could temporarily increase a person’s True Qi and physique, and it was quite expensive.
Its effect, however, lasted only a few short minutes, so it was meant to be taken only in the finishing battle.
Moreover, each person could take only one pill per day.
The one unsatisfactory part of this plan
was that they still did not have enough people.
Even with short-effect pills, wearing down those powerful martial artists’ True Qi and defeating them
still required a large number of exceptionally strong martial artists.
Although Golden Scale High School already had far more such students than other schools,
it was still not enough to achieve total domination of the rankings.
And now, the shortage had become so severe that they were down to just one person left.
Even so, Zheng Kuan quickly walked toward the arena.
Even the host standing beside it froze for a moment.
Zheng Kuan leaned over and whispered a few words into the host’s ear, and the host immediately revealed a faint smile.
Then he handed the microphone in his hand over to Zheng Kuan.
The Four-District Elite Tournament had a strong commercial nature, with capital from the organizers holding the major stake.
And in the eyes of capital, traffic and profit were the most important things.
A flat, uneventful competition was obviously boring.
If someone wanted to create a spectacle, that was perfect. They would welcome it with pleasure.
Zheng Kuan immediately strode onto the stage with the microphone and pointed toward Blackwater High School’s competitors’ section.
“Blackwater High School, third place, Li Mu!”
“I want to challenge you directly!”
“I wonder if you dare!?”
It was a provocation.
Having a defender was Li Mu’s privilege, but Li Mu could choose not to use that privilege and accept the challenge directly.
Zheng Kuan was the only one left at Golden Scale High School whose True Qi condition was still decent, and he had only one pill.
He had to use provocation to force Li Mu to take the field directly and defeat him first.
As long as he defeated Li Mu, he could choose to stop accepting challenges after that.
Because he had already reached the limit of three challenges he was required to take.
This was Golden Scale High School’s finishing tactic.
With someone stirring things up, the arena instantly grew noisy again. People had already begun egging Li Mu on, urging him to accept the challenge.
But before Li Mu could say anything,
Zhang Zhiwei had already stepped onto the Central Main Arena again.
In a cool voice, he said, “Get past me first.”
But Zheng Kuan merely cast him a disdainful glance.
Then he spoke into the microphone again.
“Li Mu, if you’re not mute, come out and say something.”
“If you admit you don’t dare, then I can fight your defender instead.”
The students of Blackwater High School were instantly outraged.
“What the hell is that supposed to be? He’s the one breaking the rules, and now he’s using a provocation tactic!”
“Exactly. Golden Scale High School really will do anything to win.”
“I seriously wish Li Mu would go up there and smash his damn head in!”
“No, if Li Mu just accepts like that, it’ll make him look like an idiot who walked straight into the trap!”
“But if he doesn’t accept, it’ll make him seem cowardly! What do we do?”
“Li Mu is probably hesitating because of exactly that. Damn Golden Scale High School, they’re really vicious!”
At this moment, rhythmic shouting had already begun to rise from Golden Scale High School’s section.
The more unified it became, the more piercing it sounded.
“Coward!”
“Coward!”
“Coward!!”
Zheng Kuan simply stood there, smiling smugly.
Although the other audience sections did not join in, quite a few people were all looking in Li Mu’s direction now.
At last, Li Mu moved. His steps were light as he walked down from the competitors’ section and toward the Central Main Arena.
The reason Li Mu had hesitated just now
was simply because he thought Golden Scale High School’s overall strategy was rather interesting.
Whoever had devised this set of tactics was absolutely a talented person.
But as for this final provocation tactic, Li Mu did not care about it at all.
Couldn’t he just crush his way through them all?
But right at that moment!
From the direction of Ironhand City’s Abyss, a shrill air-raid siren suddenly rang out across the entire city!
The red light on Li Mu’s Tactical Watch also began flashing frantically with a rapid beep-beep-beep.
Li Mu opened the watch and took only one glance before his expression changed drastically.
In just a few strides, he rushed onto the Central Main Arena, snatched the microphone from Zheng Kuan’s hand, and shouted loudly,
“Abyss-Suppression Army reservists! Assemble!!”
“Here!!”
In every school across the east, south, west, and north districts, there were several dozen reservist soldiers.
Altogether, there were more than a thousand of them!
The moment they heard Li Mu’s command,
they answered in perfect unison with a single cry of “Here!”
Just one word!
It was like the roar of dragons and the howl of tigers, piercing through everything.
It made everyone in the entire arena tremble violently in their hearts!
Compared with the two-word chant of “Coward” that Golden Scale High School had been shouting just now, this carried a force and ferocity beyond comparison!
As they shouted their reply, every reservist sprang from the audience seats at top speed,
rushing to the front of the Central Main Arena.
Without needing to be organized, they formed ranks in flawless order!
“Mount up!”
Li Mu summoned Yaogu and swung himself onto the saddle!
All the reservists uniformly summoned their own warhorses.
Li Mu wasted no more words. He reached out into empty air and gave a pull, and the Size-Shifting Cloak draped itself over his shoulders, fluttering high in the wind.
Yaogu reared up with a long neigh and then charged toward the audience exit.
Behind him, more than a thousand reservist soldiers followed in single file without a word.
What they left behind was a sky full of horse-dust
and a tournament ground that had ground to a halt.