Chapter 42: Competition Lineup

On the bus.

Because the competition times for senior three, senior two, and senior one are different, only Zhang Yu's cohort of contestants was on the bus rented by Songyang High School at the moment.

He Dayou looked in Zhang Yu's direction, thinking about the other's hard work recently, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

Lately, as Zhang Yu's mana had surged to 15.4, he had already reached the top of the grade ranking.

But considering that he probably spent all his time boosting mana, He Dayou felt somewhat dismissive.

"Is it just to participate in the Magic Contest?"

"The Magic Contest isn't only about who has higher mana."

He Dayou thought to himself that if he hadn't been focusing on building a solid foundation to gain full control over his mana, he could have easily been first in the grade in mana value if his family was willing to spend more money.

This was also why, in Songyang High School, the mana gap between wealthy students and poor ones only fully widened in the sophomore year.

Their family experience had taught them that freshman year was mainly for laying the foundation.

On the contrary, an excessive pursuit of mana value could lead to insufficient control, making it impossible to recover for a long time.

He Dayou then thought to himself: "In the Magic Contest, mana level is just a basic threshold; what truly determines the ranking is the control over mana..."

Thinking of this, he sighed inwardly: "In the end, unless it's a sports competition—those are Songyang's strength—the Magic Contest is just us going through the motions, being the atmosphere group for those freaks in the three elite schools."

On another seat.

Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen, who was resting with her eyes closed, and asked, "Well? Can you tell me who you want to see now?"

Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes at him, took out her phone, and aimed it at Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu saw a line of text on the phone: Walls have ears, chat on the phone.

Zhang Yu quickly typed and asked, "So who exactly are you taking me to see in this Magic Contest?"

Bai Zhenzhen: "Poor kids from other schools."

Zhang Yu's eyes flickered: "You mean... there are poor students from other schools who have similar thoughts as us?"

Bai Zhenzhen: "Yes."

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Which school?"

Bai Zhenzhen sent a female symbol and then a ~.

Zhang Yu's eyes flickered, and he replied in surprise, "Female black people?"

He felt surprised inside—could there actually be mud... ah, no, black people in Kunxu?

Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes, not knowing what Zhang Yu meant by "female black people," and replied directly on the phone: "I meant female school students, and soul cultivators."

Hearing these two answers, Zhang Yu immediately understood.

Yes, how many wealthy people would undergo gender reassignment surgery or even abandon their physical bodies just to get into high school?

Mangshan High School and the Saint Girls' Academy—these two high schools are natural strongholds for poor kids.

The top students in them are bound to be poor as well.

After they have exhausted their efforts to graduate from high school with excellent grades, how could they not want to break through the shackles and get into top universities?

Wait.

Zhang Yu suddenly asked with curiosity, "Soul cultivators can also compete?"

Bai Zhenzhen shook her head: "They probably aren't here to compete. They seem to be assisting with referee work, and also covering the event and being the audience."

The bus slowly drove into a high school.

This place was the venue for the Magic Contest, one of Songyang City's three elite schools—Hongta High School.

The group of students from Songyang High School followed their teacher, Yan, into an indoor stadium, where they saw many students already waiting.

Various colorful uniforms of different styles showed that they were from different high schools in Songyang City.

As the Songyang High School group stepped into the stadium, countless gazes immediately swept over them.

Someone sighed inwardly, "Songyang's here too? Another strong school."

Someone carefully observed the crowd and thought, "Such a powerful aura. Are these the academic elites of key high schools?"

Someone else gloated inwardly, "So what if they're from a key high school? They still have to come and be our backdrop."

Arriving at the preparation area assigned to Songyang High School, Teacher Yan began to remind everyone of points to watch for later.

"Today's competition has three events in total. Pay attention to your mana allocation, don't be nervous, just treat it like ordinary practice…"

After Teacher Yan told everyone to rest and use the restroom, Qian Shen hurried off to look at the list of contestants.

He took out his phone, comparing it against the names on the list, and began checking their scores.

"Bailong High School, Song Hailong, last monthly exam 682 points."

"Ziyun High School, Le Mulan, last monthly exam 678 points."

"Sss…"

The more scores he checked, the more Qian Shen drew in a cold breath. "All of them are monsters."

On the other side, Zhang Yu was dragging Bai Zhenzhen to the restroom when he suddenly felt a heavy pressure ripple through the air.

The spiritual energy… was in turmoil! It was like suddenly jumping from shallow water into the deep end.

The two immediately turned their heads toward the source of the pressure.

Then they saw a group of people in white school uniforms slowly walking into the stadium.

And each of them wore a white school uniform with a different number, ranging from 1 to 10.

Zhang Yu was puzzled. "What's this? The Ten Blades are here?"

What he didn't know was that this was a characteristic uniform of Bailong High School—the number on each person's clothing could be displayed.

And after every monthly exam, the numbers on their chests and backs would update, showing their monthly exam rankings.

At this moment, the numbers 1 to 10 on these ten people represented their top-ten positions in their grade.

But what Zhang Yu did know was that the source of the spiritual energy disturbance came from the leader of this group.

A giant man, two and a half meters tall, like a Titan, with long hair pointing straight up into the sky.

Seeing everyone's gaze on him, the giant grinned, rubbed his towering hair in embarrassment, and said, "Sorry, everyone. I just got a Heavenly Spirit Root, not used to it yet. I'll try to control it…"

"!"

With his low shout, the pressure in the air slowly subsided and returned to normal.

Bai Zhenzhen watched this and said speechlessly, "Coming here to flaunt wealth right away. What a nasty rich bastard."

But thinking that she would probably lose to these people in the upcoming competition, Bai Zhenzhen felt helpless again.

After these past days of tutoring and practice, Bai Zhenzhen had confirmed one thing: in pure mana control talent, she was far inferior to Zhang Yu. This competition was destined to be just a bit part for her.

On the other side, Qian Shen looked at the uniforms of the Bailong High School group, and the scores he had just checked immediately surfaced in his mind.

After matching them one by one with the numbers on their uniforms, he looked at the giant and thought, "So he's Song Hailong? The leading figure of this year's Bailong High School. An ultimate monster with 682 points. A super species that may have already undergone reproductive isolation from us."

He Dayou looked in Song Hailong's direction and raised an eyebrow. "What a show-off. But bringing a Heavenly Spirit Root to the competition? His mana is prone to surging, so it should be hard to control, right?"

Not long after Bailong High School arrived, a series of air roars suddenly sounded outside the stadium, and then a huge flying boat stopped above the venue.

Seeing this, countless poor students from ordinary high schools in the stadium caught their breath, feeling as if a wave of wealth was sweeping over them.

Then a group of students in purple uniforms walked down from the flying boat. Zhang Yu recognized one of them—it was Lian Tianji, who had attended the art exhibition with him.

Afterwards, Zhang Yu had added him as a contact, and often saw him in the top three of the daily step count leaderboard.

Lian Tianji seemed to spot Zhang Yu as well, smiled and waved at him, then appeared to say something to a girl beside him before pointing at Zhang Yu's position.

The girl looked ice-cold, followed the direction Lian Tianji pointed, and nodded distantly at Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "She looks like a real icy beauty, not a fake like Ah Zhen."

Qian Shen also looked at the Ziyun High School team, searched online for a photo of Le Mulan, and compared them, finally locking his gaze on the cold girl beside Lian Tianji.

"This must be Ziyun High School's Le Mulan. A high-caste existence with 678 points. In her eyes, beings below 650 points are probably no different from dirt!"

Shortly after the delegations from White Dragon High School and Purple Cloud High School arrived one after another, the host team from Red Tower High School finally showed up, albeit belatedly.

But when Zhang Yu spotted the most conspicuous person among them, he blurted out in surprise, "A monster?"

Bai Zhenzhen immediately jumped aside, pointing at Zhang Yu and saying, "Hey hey hey! Watch your language—it's a demon descendant from Songyang City."

Although that student wore a school uniform, his red, glossy fur, thick tail, and round face made him look exactly like a red panda.

Zhang Yu looked at the student who resembled a red panda and felt a very weak aura coming from him.

Curiously, he asked, "No, but how did this red panda get into Red Tower High School? It can't be just by his innocent smile, right?"

Even though the red panda's smile did seem genuinely innocent, Zhang Yu believed he must have some special talent to get into a key high school and participate in this competition.

Bai Zhenzhen shrugged beside him. "Demon descendants from Songyang City are generally quite gifted in physical strength, but looking at him... I feel like I could take out three of him with one punch."

"Then he must be especially talented in magic power?"

The two chatted as they each entered different restrooms.

After finishing up, Bai Zhenzhen dragged Zhang Yu around, and following messages on their phones, they arrived at a viewing stand on the second floor of the venue.

Two girls were already waiting there. Zhang Yu recognized one of them—it was the girl from Saint Women's Academy who had also attended the art exhibition last time, Wu Qingqing.

Zhang Yu's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at the other girl. He thought to himself, "So this must be another big shot from Saint Women's Academy?"

"Hehe, long time no see." Wu Qingqing came over and greeted Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen. The girl following behind her seemed oblivious to everything around her, holding a book in one hand and reading with her head down, while her other hand clutched Wu Qingqing's clothes, following along.

It felt like even if Wu Qingqing led her all the way into the road to get hit by a truck, she would still just keep reading as she followed silently.

"These two are Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu, the poor geniuses from Songyang High School."

After making the introductions, Wu Qingqing pushed the book-reading girl forward and said, "This is Ye Xianyun, the top freshman in our Saint Women's Academy."

She said proudly, "And she's the only girl in our special class who hasn't had surgery."

Zhang Yu: No, what exactly are you proud of?

Ye Xianyun looked up, nodded silently at the two, then immediately lowered her head and continued reading.