Chapter 377: Seven Ultimate Transformations, Fierce Competition

Zhang Yu followed Shi Huaiyu and the others into the competition venue, and saw a huge square before him.

The competition was divided into two parts: Architecture and Civil Engineering, held in two different venues. At this moment, Zhang Yu had arrived at the Civil Engineering venue.

Civil engineering students from all grades gathered here, standing in twos and threes, waiting for the competition to officially begin.

Almost none of those who came to this venue to compete were poor; they were all top students and elites from various grades.

Various rankings—top 50, top 30, and top 10 in the department—floated in the air.

Magical artifacts with badges of all colors glittered under the lights.

Dense foundation-building domains, if not ignored, would keep popping up and fill the entire visual interface.

There were also various projections from the spirit realm—some gathering teams, some advertising, some messing around, some adding special effects to themselves—all of which made Zhang Yu feel dizzy.

This was also the first time Zhang Yu had seen so many civil engineering elites gathered in one place.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "There are really a lot of people participating in the competition."

Shi Huaiyu said, "Of course, after all, it boosts comprehensive scores."

"Whoever ranks higher in the competition gets more comprehensive points, which has a big impact on the rankings."

"Ordinary students don't have to consider this, but the top students from every grade must participate."

At this point, Shi Huaiyu sighed, "The top students and outstanding students from grades 8, 9, and 10 combined can form six or seven teams, almost sweeping the top rankings."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Not every senior student had overwhelming strength; after all, even Che Yufei was only in seventh grade.

Shi Huaiyu continued, "Led by the top students from grades 4, 5, 6, and 7, after picking people from all over, they can organize another five or six teams to compete for the top ten spots."

"We can't defeat the senior teams."

"Our opponents are those mid-grade teams. We have to snatch a spot in the top ten from them."

When Shi Huaiyu said this, her tone became serious: "And this year's competition might be even more intense."

The others nodded slightly. As civil engineering students, they had gradually felt the growing sense of opposition over the past few months; the conflict between the war faction and the peace faction was becoming more and more public.

And this competition had obviously become the best arena for the two factions to compete.

Shi Huaiyu had already seen staff starting to broadcast around the venue. She thought to herself, "I'm afraid this year's civil engineering competition performance will directly affect the momentum of the two factions, influence the stock prices of the companies behind them, and even affect the future choices of the neutral faction."

"After all... if our war faction can occupy more of the top three and top ten spots, we will inevitably have greater influence, thereby gaining more support from the neutral faction in civil engineering and gaining the upper hand in the future."

"And the same goes for the peace faction."

Looking at these elite students on the square, and the department rankings above their heads, whether it was Che Yufei, Lion Yunxiang, Tian Yang, or Xiao Qingxuan, they all felt a heavy pressure.

Just then, Shi Huaiyu gradually stopped and looked at the figure in front of her, saying, "Su Yanyang..."

The young man Shi Huaiyu called Su Yanyang smiled slightly. It seemed like flames were constantly burning in his eyes, and a ball of light and flame appeared on his chest, beating like a heart.

Su Yanyang looked at Shi Huaiyu and said, "I didn't expect you to still participate in the competition, Huaiyu."

"But following such a bunch of old, weak, young, and poor..."

Su Yanyang's gaze swept over Che Yufei, Lion Yunxiang, Zhang Yu, and the others, pausing briefly on Xiao Qingxuan, then he calmly stepped back a few paces before continuing, "Your chances of getting a good ranking aren't high."

"If you lose these comprehensive points and can't get first in your class next, will that really be okay?"

"For the sake of old friends, I can give you one more chance. Pay spirit coins to return to the team as a substitute, scrape together some comprehensive points, and maybe you'll still have a chance at first in class."

Shi Huaiyu curled her lip and said coldly, "Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself. When you lose the lawsuit, don't forget to pay compensation."

Su Yanyang shook his head and sighed, "On the path of cultivation, the biggest taboo is acting on impulse. That's why you failed at stock trading back then."

"And now you're still being so irrational in forming a competition team."

"I think you'll go bankrupt again in the future..."

Watching Su Yanyang walk away, Che Yufei asked curiously, "Was he on your last competition team?"

Shi Huaiyu said angrily, "This guy crashed into my kidney and still refused to pay compensation."

"But..." Shi Huaiyu let out a breath, "It's best we don't run into him before entering the top ten. He's still very strong."

Zhang Yu's gaze swept over Su Yanyang's head, where the ranking of 29th in the department was displayed. It was clearly much higher than Shi Huaiyu's 38th place.

With all the contestants assembled, the Civil Engineering Competition officially began.

A handsome, youthful-looking man stood on the stage, addressing the many students below: “It’s time for the annual Civil Engineering Competition again…”

Zhang Yu stared at the name floating above the young man’s head and muttered inwardly: “The department head of Civil Engineering… True Lord Lingyue?”

Zhang Yu had heard Old Man Tulishan talk about this department head and knew he was the true number one authority in the Civil Engineering Department.

But he also remembered Tulishan mentioning that the old man was nearing the end of his lifespan and about to die of old age.

Yet now the True Lord Lingyue on the stage appeared as a vigorous young man—how could he be dying of old age?

At the same time, True Lord Lingyue spoke from the stage: “To respond to the changes of the new era, the school has decided to raise the stakes for this Civil Engineering Competition and increase the prizes.”

“The top seven teams in this competition will receive two quotas each, granting them one technique from the Seven Ultimate Techniques of Civil Engineering. The distribution of the quotas will be decided internally by each team.”

Hearing these words, the students below were slightly stunned, and then immediately began discussing among themselves.

Zhang Yu exclaimed in surprise: “Seven Ultimate Techniques of Civil Engineering? The top seven teams each select two people, so fourteen people will be granted a technique from the Seven Ultimate Techniques?”

He thought to himself: “Compared to the previous years when only the class champion received one technique from the Seven Ultimate Techniques, this is a huge relaxation.”

And soon Zhang Yu found himself thinking the same thing as many people present.

“If they keep doing this every year, wouldn’t many people master the Seven Ultimate Techniques of Civil Engineering, or even the Lesser Triad?”

“Perhaps even the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Shifting Divine Power might be mastered by a few more people.”

Fuji commented: “The techniques went from being tightly controlled to suddenly being opened up now. Could this be preparation for a possible university war? Heh, this is an opportunity given by the times—it makes it easier for you to cultivate the Seven Ultimate Techniques of Civil Engineering than it was for previous students.”

“War truly is the ladder of progress. Even before it actually starts, it gives you more opportunities.”

Zhang Yu said: “So, does that mean the war faction has gained the upper hand in the Civil Engineering Department?”

Fuji said: “Not necessarily. The peace faction just doesn’t want the Ten Greats to go to war; that doesn’t mean they don’t want to gain stronger power.”

“Actually, from the Civil Engineering Department’s own wishes, I think whether they favor war or peace, they should all want to open up the Seven Ultimate Techniques for more students to master. Only that way can they earn more.”

“Every department in the university is like this. They naturally want to keep expanding, gaining more resources, more students, and more powerhouses.”

“So the tightening of the Seven Ultimate Techniques in the past and the opening up now—the policy shifts must come from a higher will, not entirely decided by the Civil Engineering Department itself.”

“Perhaps it’s the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering above the Civil Engineering Department? Or the leadership of Wanfa University? Even the influence of the Wanfa Sect?”

“Anyway, the reason for suddenly doing this… We’re standing too low now and lack information channels, so we don’t need to dig deeper.”

“But the result must be that the competition in the Civil Engineering Competition will become even fiercer. I already see many people here preparing to take out loans, to express-deliver magical artifacts and corpse artifacts.”

Zhang Yu understood upon hearing this—whether war or peace, they would certainly want more students under them to master the Seven Ultimate Techniques of Civil Engineering, or even the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Shifting Divine Power.

A moment later, the first elimination round began.

The square before them shifted and transformed, revealing various distorted and changing gravitational fields.

Gravitational fields of constantly changing directions and magnitudes formed layer after layer of obstacles.

The content of the elimination round was simple: all students had to cross the complex gravitational field spanning a thousand meters, and the time taken would be recorded.

The team members of each competition team would add their individual times to get the total time for each team.

Based on the total times of all teams, the top twenty teams with the best results would move on to the next round—the top 20 to top 10 competition—while the remaining teams would all be eliminated.

True Lord Lingyue said calmly: “The Finance Department grows stronger the more money they have. As for our Civil Engineering Department… the stronger the body, the better the cultivation.”

“This first elimination round is meant to filter out all students with weak physical bodies.”

With the start of the first elimination round, students rushed into the gravitational field, sprinting toward the finish line a thousand meters away.

But often, a student who had been moving at lightning speed with the sound of wind and thunder would instantly slow down and stagger as soon as they entered the gravitational field.

Just as a group of students was struggling through the gravitational field, Zhang Yu felt a slight change in the gravity around him.

The next moment, several figures shot through the gravitational field like black lightning in an instant.

Zhang Yu’s eyes moved: “That’s Mo Shanjin.”

He remembered this senior, who had mastered the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Shifting Divine Power, very clearly.

Mo Shanjin activated the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Shifting Divine Power and, almost in an instant, brought five of his teammates across the thousand-meter gravitational field.

"So strong."

Just as Zhang Yu was marveling inwardly, the feeling of a slight change in gravity struck again. With a crackling pop, several more figures passed through the gravity field, trailing airbursts.

"Is that another tenth-year student who has mastered the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power?"

Seeing this, Zhang Yu was slightly stunned: "So he and Mo Shangjin are not on the same team?"

Fuji chuckled and said, "Eight times out of ten, one belongs to the war faction and the other to the peace faction. This is infighting—they'd rather weaken their own team's strength than cooperate with each other."

Zhang Yu shook his head. Mo Shangjin and that tenth-year student's team were too far away for him. What he needed to do now was still to find a way to quickly get through the gravity field.