Chapter 46: The Mountain
One by one, detection patches were pressed onto the students’ arms.
A judge then lightly touched a finger to each student’s arm, slowly infusing a stream of specialized magic power.
Simultaneously, on the panel of the detection patch, numbers jumped with the injection of magic power, rising from 0.5 to 1.3, then to 2.4… continuing until they finally stopped at 5.
This represented that the judge had infused a total of five units of specialized magic power into the student’s arm.
During this infusion process, the judge was exceedingly cautious, terrified of making a mistake and accidentally killing the student.
Even if it was a student from an ordinary high school, injuring or killing them would require compensation; prices varied, high and low, depending on their pedigree.
If it happened to be a student under contract, the compensation would be even more expensive.
After all, it wasn’t unheard of for news to break about the battle aftershocks from a Foundation Establishment expert accidentally killing a bystander, only to discover it was over a dozen genius third-year high school students in whom fortunes had been invested, leading to a final compensation—calculated from training fees, living expenses, tuition, tutoring fees, sterilization fees…—that bankrupted the expert.
And in the few seconds of the magic power infusion, the student’s body abruptly tensed and their breathing grew heavy; their system was clearly already being affected by the specialized magic power.
Even if no one actively triggered this specialized magic power to attack, its mere presence within the body would inherently cause a certain amount of damage.
Fortunately, the student had taken a painkiller. Though there was some discomfort, it had not yet reached an unbearable level.
As the infused magic power reached 5, the detection patch’s panel began to time, recording how long the student would take to dispel this specialized magic power; the shorter the time, the higher the score.
Because the time at which each student was infused with specialized magic power differed, they naturally couldn’t be ranked by who finished first, but rather by their own individually recorded times.
After stopping the magic power infusion, the judge took a capsule from an assistant.
He popped the capsule into his mouth and, with a smile, spoke to the camera before him.
“For magic power replenishment, choose Purple Cloud. After taking one of Purple Cloud’s Spirit-Gathering Capsules, my magic power has been rapidly restored. Infusing another fifty students will be no problem at all.”
Just like that, as the competition began, several judges injected specialized magic power into the students’ arms one after another.
More and more contestants began to close their eyes and circulate their techniques, focusing wholeheartedly on dispelling the specialized magic power that had invaded their bodies. The entire venue grew quieter and quieter, until gradually only the sound of breathing exercises remained.
From the moment that ball of specialized magic power was infused by the judge, Zhang Yu felt a fire burning in his right arm, a fire that grew fiercer and more incandescent as the magic power continued to pour in.
A sharp, stabbing pain traveled incessantly from his arm to his brain, making Zhang Yu understand why so many contestants had taken painkillers.
Right now, for instance, the pain made him want to smash his fist into the face of the old judge still infusing him with specialized magic power.
Damn it, no wonder I saw someone selling insurance earlier. It’s way too easy to get injured in this event.
Hurriedly activating the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, Zhang Yu finally felt the unbearable pain gradually weaken.
He then marshaled the magic power within his dantian, sending it surging toward his right arm.
The invasion is from a heat-aspected specialized magic power.
That means I need to counter it with a cold-aspected magic power.
Zhang Yu recalled the magic power conversion pathway Teacher Yan had taught him, circulating the magic power in his dantian and transforming it into a current of frigid magic power that rushed toward his right arm.
Wherever this frigid magic power passed, a cooling sensation spread through his body, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him.
And when Zhang Yu’s frigid magic power collided with the invading heat-aspected magic power, he could feel the scorching temperature in his arm begin to drop.
But in the process, his own frigid magic power was rapidly consumed, like using a bucket of water to douse a fire; although the flames diminished, the water was also gone.
Zhang Yu could only do his best to convert more magic power to extinguish the fire.
Fortunately, he had the full-body magic power circulation of the Celestial Cycle Qi-Gathering Method to constantly restore his magic power, the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra to stabilize his mind, and his powerful magic power control to continuously convert frigid magic power.
A short time earlier.
Before the judge had reached the Songyang High School section.
Within the White Dragon High School competition area.
Han Xingye glanced at Song Hailong, who was dispelling the specialized magic power in his body, then looked toward the large screen up ahead and thought, It should be soon, right?
Within Song Hailong’s body, his magic power was currently like a great river, flowing inexhaustibly toward the ball of scorching magic power in his right arm.
The Spirit Recovery Needle ceaselessly restored his magic power, and combined with his own astonishing reserves, it allowed him to unleash his magic power without restraint, even enveloping the entire ball of scorching magic power in an attempt to extinguish it in a single breath.
During the magic power-dispelling process, all sensations of pain were suppressed by drugs to the point of near nonexistence, leaving Song Hailong to feel almost nothing amiss; he only needed to focus on the task at hand.
With my magic power reserves and my control over magic power, who in this round can possibly be faster than me?
Just then, a cry for help rang out across the field.
A student was seen letting out a muffled groan as he collapsed to the ground, and people immediately rushed over to feed him a magic suppressant.
“It’s fine, he just ran out of magic power. He’s already been given a magic suppressant.”
A moment later, another student let out a blood-curdling scream and fell, vomiting a large mouthful of blood.
This was a case of poor execution while dispelling the magic power, causing the specialized magic power to scatter throughout the body and inflict internal injuries.
Han Xingye glanced in the direction of the fallen student.
Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning…
He knew that more and more students from ordinary high schools would likely be unable to hold on, whether due to insufficient magic power reserves, a lack of magic power control, or because their drugs were of poor quality… they would be eliminated one by one.
He paid it no mind.
Do they think they can close the gap just by taking drugs alongside us?
With everyone taking drugs, the gap between the ordinary high schools and the three great schools will only grow wider…
Just as he was thinking this, the large screen in front of him suddenly flashed, and a name appeared.
White Dragon High School, Song Hailong, 1:29
Seeing this, Han Xingye gave a slight smile, “Oh? Faster than he was at school. It seems the atmosphere here has hyped him up.”
Next, name after name began to appear on the large screen, quickly filling up ten rows.
The screen only displayed the top ten names.
The names on the screen shifted back and forth, the rankings from second to tenth in constant flux, yet Song Hailong’s name remained firmly planted at the very top, as if he alone was suppressing all the other students at the venue.
But soon, more and more names began to lock into place, the changes from the second to the tenth rows gradually ceasing.
The crowd stared in shock at the ten unchanging names, and soon a student discovered an obvious fact, “These ten people… are all students from White Dragon High School!”
Although White Dragon High School wasn’t among the first batch of contestants to be infused with magic power, following Song Hailong’s ascent to the top, its students had also dispelled the specialized magic power in their bodies one after another and, based on their various completion times… had swept the top ten spots on the leaderboard.
Teacher Yan gazed at the ten static names on the large screen, feeling as if a mountain had just risen to block Songyang High School’s path.
“Sigh, the three great schools… In the end, this kind of competition truly is their domain.”
Just then, the names from second to ninth place suddenly shifted down one spot; a newcomer had charged into second place in one fell swoop.
Red Pagoda High School, Xiong Bufan, 1:35
The students of Red Pagoda High School were also beginning to finish dispelling the specialized magic power in their bodies.
Not long after Xiong Bufan claimed second place, two more students from Red Pagoda High School squeezed into the top ten.
Han Xingye turned his head toward the Red Pagoda High School section and, within the vision of his Heaven’s Eye Talisman, immediately found the most conspicuous thing.
Protected Zone / Drug Barrel / High-Speed Magic power
The “Protected Zone” evaluation was easy to understand; Han Xingye guessed this monster must have come from a demon-kin protected zone.
High-Speed Magic power… Han Xingye wasn’t quite sure about that one, but “Drug Barrel” he understood perfectly.
How many drugs did they stuff into this monster?
Damn it, are they secretly using monsters for drug experiments?
That monster’s body must be full of illegal drugs. I should really report you people.
What? Our school does it too? And on humans?
Well, in that case, forget it.
Although Xiong Bufan’s performance brought great prestige to Red Pagoda High School, he hadn’t claimed first place, and the leaderboard was still dominated by White Dragon High School.
But a moment later, the top nine students all dropped down one place again.
As Le Mulan of Purple Cloud High School’s name appeared out of nowhere in first place, it was as if a great roar sounded through the air.
Purple Cloud High School, Le Mulan, 00:25
“Twenty-five seconds!”
Cries of astonishment erupted from more and more students.
They found it impossible to imagine that while they were still struggling for their lives against the foreign magic power in their bodies, someone had managed to dispel it in a mere twenty-five seconds.
Was she even human?
Everyone could imagine that Le Mulan was guaranteed a perfect score of 100 in this second round, but in truth, she was being limited by that 100-point ceiling; otherwise, the gap between her and the others would have been even greater.
This was Han Xingye’s third shock of the day.
He frowned at the words “Ice-Skinned and Jade-Boned” above Le Mulan’s head, thinking that her ability to dispel the foreign magic power so quickly must be related to some special constitution.
Not far away, Song Hailong showed no sign of anger. Instead, he looked toward the Purple Cloud High School section and laughed heartily, “Interesting, interesting! It seems my greatest rival for the next three years of high school will be this Le Mulan.”
A full minute later, the other students from Purple Cloud High School finally dispelled the foreign magic power in their bodies, with Lian Tianji and one other also making it into the top ten.
Ultimately, the top three spots were occupied by Le Mulan, Song Hailong, and Xiong Bufan, respectively.
The top ten on the list was completely carved up by four students from White Dragon High School, three from Purple Cloud High School, and three from Red Pagoda High School.
Looking at the ranking, which no longer showed the slightest change, a sense of gloom fell over the many high school students at the venue.
For most of them, this was the first time they had truly experienced the gap between themselves and the three great schools.
The ten names and their scores on the screen were like a great mountain pressing down on them, displaying a chasm-like disparity between the three great schools and everyone else.
Just then, the ranking on the large screen changed once more.
The names from fourth to tenth place all dropped down one spot.
In a situation where the three great schools held near-total dominion over the competition, someone had unexpectedly thrown a wrench in the works, forcefully charging into fourth place.
Songyang High School, Zhang Yu, 1:38
When the timer detected that Zhang Yu had dispelled the specialized magic power in his body, it let out a soft beep.
But that gentle sound landed like a great stone in the hearts of the several Songyang High School students nearby.
The students from the three great schools also subconsciously glanced toward the Songyang High School section, surprised to find a student there on a level close to their own.
Teacher Yan looked at the ranking on the board and quickly pulled out her phone to snap a picture.
This was an important record of her teaching success.