Chapter 43: The Alliance and the Magic Power Competition’s First Trial
After the greetings were exchanged, Wu Qingqing picked up her phone again, aiming the screen at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
A faint light flashed on the screen, revealing a cartoonish youth, and she introduced him, “This is Mo Tianyi from Mount Mang High School.”
Zhang Yu was startled. What the hell, a V-tuber with a 2D avatar?
The youth nodded toward Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen and introduced himself, “Hello, you two. I’m Mo Tianyi.”
“I’ve already checked the surroundings; we can speak freely here.”
Zhang Yu looked at the phone screen curiously and asked, “Where are you right now?”
Mo Tianyi gave a slight smile. “I’m currently in the Spirit Realm, but it’s connected to the internet, so I can contact you.”
Then his expression turned serious as he asked earnestly, “Student Zhang Yu, I need to ask you something. Have you been accepted as a disciple by True Person Starfire?”
Just as Zhang Yu was about to speak, Bai Zhenzhen stepped forward, blocking him.
“He hasn’t.”
“I told him about the pitfalls of being a Golden Core disciple and had him reject True Person Starfire.”
Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen in surprise, wondering why she would say such a thing, but out of his trust for Zhen, he didn’t say anything, merely listening quietly to their conversation.
Upon hearing Bai Zhenzhen’s words, a flash of disappointment crossed the faces of both Wu Qingqing and Mo Tianyi on the screen.
Wu Qingqing couldn’t help but say, “How could you make Zhang Yu refuse this opportunity? True Person Starfire would be a powerful ally in trying to get into the Ten Greats.”
Bai Zhenzhen scoffed, “An old geezer kicked out of a major sect whose cultivation has already been halved. If he gets a divorce and his daughter bleeds him dry, you’ll probably find him under a bridge begging for disciples. What would be left for us to gain? Working like a dog for him might be worse than me taking odd jobs every day.”
“You…” Mo Tianyi sighed, thinking to himself that if he’d known this would happen, he never would have urged Bai Zhenzhen to try her luck at the art exhibition. Otherwise, Zhang Yu might have actually become a Golden Core disciple, and the chances of a poor student getting into the Ten Greats would have been that much higher.
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “I came to talk to you today because I want your people to get to know Zhang Yu.”
“Although he’s just a tiny bit inferior to me, he’s still an incredibly rare talent, and he’s also being targeted by the student council now.”
Mo Tianyi’s image on the screen refreshed as he recomposed himself, smiling.
“I’ve long heard of Student Zhang Yu’s talent.”
“This Magic Power Competition will be a perfect opportunity to witness it.”
“That’s it?” Bai Zhenzhen said, annoyed. “How about a real investment?”
Mo Tianyi replied helplessly, “We’re all poor with limited resources. You know our focus has always been on our leader; we really don’t have much to spare.”
“This is a small token from me personally. Please don’t think it’s too little…”
With that, he transferred 2,000 yuan to Bai Zhenzhen.
Watching this, Zhang Yu thought to himself, Well now, it seems Zhen dragged me here today to shake them down for money.
But it looked like this ‘Alliance of the Rich-Haters’ was extremely poor and couldn’t offer much.
Seeing the transfer notification on her phone, Bai Zhenzhen frowned.
“Only 2,000?”
She knew who he was talking about—the one among these poor geniuses who currently had the best grades, the greatest talent, and the most potential; the one everyone believed was most likely to break through the shackles and enter one of the Ten Greats.
This poor genius had earned the trust of the other impoverished students, who scrimped and saved to invest many resources in him.
They were all counting on this prodigy to get into a top university and a major sect, hoping his success would lift everyone up with him and slowly tear open the inescapable net cast over Songyang City.
Even inviting Bai Zhenzhen to the art exhibition last time, in her opinion, was likely done in the hopes that she would become a Golden Core disciple and could then use that status to help their leader.
Bai Zhenzhen said, “Didn’t we agree to watch over and help each other, to be united as one? You’re just going to say one thing and do another? Was my membership fee a waste?”
Mo Tianyi shook his head with a wry smile. Compared to the 2,000 yuan membership fee Bai Zhenzhen had paid, the money she had wheedled and extorted from them each time already amounted to tens of thousands.
If Bai Zhenzhen weren’t so exceptionally talented, and if they didn’t think she could draw a great deal of attention away from their leader in the future, they certainly wouldn’t have invested so much in her.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Wu Qingqing smiled from the side and said, “Zhenzhen, don’t be anxious. Our leader is at a critical juncture, so there isn’t much money to go around. Mo Tianyi may manage the funds, but he still needs the approval of several seniors to use them.”
“I think we should do this: Student Zhang Yu is so formidable that as long as he achieves a good ranking in this Magic Power Competition, Mo Tianyi can bring it up with the seniors. Then it would be perfectly justifiable to request funds for you.”
After some more back-and-forth, Bai Zhenzhen finally grabbed Zhang Yu and left the stands.
Watching their retreating figures, Wu Qingqing said helplessly, “Every time Zhenzhen comes to us, it’s for money. She treats us like an ATM.”
Mo Tianyi replied, “When it comes to getting into the Ten Greats, her conviction is indeed the strongest among us. That’s why she’s so desperate for money.”
Mo Tianyi could clearly sense that Bai Zhenzhen wasn’t counting on their leader to get into the Ten Greats and then protect them; she wanted to get into the Ten Greats herself.
Mo Tianyi added, “I just didn’t expect her to bring Zhang Yu along to ask for money this time.”
Speaking of Zhang Yu, Wu Qingqing said admiringly, “Improving by seventy points in a single month… Zhang Yu really is amazing. He’s worth our investment.”
Mo Tianyi, however, shook his head.
“If he were wealthy, that performance would indeed be enough to contend for a spot in the Ten Greats.”
“But unfortunately… he’s poor.”
He sighed in lament. “For a poor person to prop up the heavens above them, amazing monthly exam scores are far from enough… far, far from enough…”
Behind Wu Qingqing, Ye Xianyun had been silently reading her book the entire time, as if nothing in the outside world concerned her.
…
Elsewhere, as Bai Zhenzhen walked, she said to Zhang Yu, “Yu-boy, the Magic Power Competition is starting soon. You’d better make me proud!”
“Get a top-ten finish, at least. That’ll give me more leverage when I ask them for money.”
That’s not… You seemed plenty forceful when you were demanding money just now.
Zhang Yu thought for a moment, then voiced the question on his mind.
“This union of the poor—besides watching over each other and pooling money, are there any other ways to get into the Ten Greats?”
From his perspective, it seemed unrealistic for a few poor students, even if they were all Immortal Dao geniuses from their respective schools, to break the blockade of the wealthy and get into the Ten Greats just by scrimping and saving.
Bai Zhenzhen explained, “That’s exactly what I want to find out from them.”
“As far as I know, their leader is a second-year student from one of the three key high schools.”
“I don’t know what method he used, but it seems he has yet to sign a contract with any school or student council, he hasn’t been crushed by their joint efforts, and he still retains his eligibility for the university entrance exams.”
“I want to know how he did it.”
“The only way, it seems, is to continuously increase our influence within their group, then find that ‘leader,’ and figure out a way to make him reveal his methods.”
Zhang Yu asked curiously, “Then how do we increase our influence?”
Bai Zhenzhen stated the obvious. “We’re students. The way to increase influence is, of course, through exams! Competitions! Results!”
“This is true for both the poor and the rich. They invest in whoever gets the best results.”
“It’s just that I’m really not good at this Magic Power Competition. It’s up to you to see how high you can place.”
Not long after Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen returned to the Songyang High School rest area, Zhang Yu’s gaze suddenly shifted, and he saw a person in the stands.
“Liang Qin?”
Seeing Liang Qin wave at him with a look of encouragement, Zhang Yu nodded back in greeting.
“What the hell? He followed me all the way to Red Pagoda High School just to watch my competition as a spectator?”
Dude, are you okay? If you keep this up, I won’t dare turn my back to you ever again.
Meanwhile, Liang Qin watched Zhang Yu in the rest area, a faint smile playing on his lips. He then took out his phone, opened a platform, and prepared to place a bet.
Gambling, after all, was a popular form of entertainment deeply loved by the people of Songyang City.
The platform Liang Qin frequented was a major one endorsed by the deputy mayor himself, offering a comprehensive range of betting options on practically anything in Songyang City.
A quick search now confirmed for Liang Qin that there were indeed events for various high school competitions.
He had taken time off to watch the competition, of course, to track Zhang Yu for his payment.
However, upon seeing the Magic Power Competition, he couldn’t help the itch to start betting.
At the same time, Zhang Yu noticed a promotional flyer for a platform floating down nearby.
“Why compete when you can bet? New users get a 100 yuan bonus…”
Zhang Yu felt speechless.
Fucking gambling ads are being promoted right here at the venue? I guess if everyone does it, it’s not considered chaos, right?
Seeing this, Bai Zhenzhen immediately snatched the flyer away, stared at Zhang Yu, and said, “Yu-boy, you can’t touch this.”
Zhang Yu said, “I think I have a pretty good shot at the top ten. If I placed a bet…”
Bai Zhenzhen’s expression turned serious. “How much do you plan to bet? What if you lose?”
Zhang Yu replied, “The probability of winning is very high…”
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “If you win, the problem is even bigger. Your entire perspective on money will change. Because you’ve won once, you’ll always want to win again.”
As a Songyang City native, Bai Zhenzhen had seen too many people ruined by gambling.
She had even seen news reports about immortals who had gambled away their entire fortunes.
She continued to persuade him, “I’m afraid you’ll get used to relying on this and end up betting yourself away.”
“Yu-boy, you really can’t touch it.”
With a slight tremor of her palm, Bai Zhenzhen turned the flyer to dust.
Zhang Yu took a deep breath, circulating the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra to suppress the stray thoughts in his mind.
“You’re right, Zhen. I was being greedy. I really shouldn’t touch this stuff.”
Zhang Yu understood the logic perfectly well. It was just that the immense financial pressure had momentarily tempted him with greed.
A moment later, a burst of music signaled the official start of the Magic Power Competition.
One by one, drones controlled by soul cultivator students flew out, delivering the props needed for this trial.
As the crowd watched the competition items being placed in the arena, successive gasps of surprise erupted.
“They’re flying swords!”
“Are we supposed to ride them? Such a difficult test for the first trial? Previous competitions have never tested flying swords!”
“It’s over, it’s over! I’ve never used a flying sword before!”
The host walked up to a flying sword that was floating in mid-air and announced, “From the Nine Heavens, sword-light descends—one strike shakes Kunxi! We thank the lethally effective Nine Heavens Flying Sword company for its joint sponsorship of this Magic Power Competition.”
Holy shit!
Zhang Yu cursed internally. A flying sword manufacturer sponsors the event, so you bastards make the Magic Power Competition about flying swords? Utterly shameless. By that logic, if the Joyful Union Sect were the sponsor, would you test dual cultivation? Go on, I dare you!