Chapter 303: Imperial Outer Treasury (Third update, added for 100 monthly votes)

"Don't be so modest! Honestly, your grade is just too formidable; you produced two Third Rankers all at once, completely no worse than the Royal Academy!"

Miao Yinfeng hooked his arm around Li Zhangsheng's shoulder, acting like an old friend.

What else could Li Zhangsheng say? He began to trade compliments with Miao Yinfeng.

At this moment, Miao Yinfeng pointed at the Rock Field and said, "Oh, that junior sister won easily too!"

Li Zhangsheng looked over and saw Zhao Shuyi jump onto the field, celebrating her victory with her Red-Armored Earth Dragon.

Just like Li Zhangsheng, she had also accomplished the feat of winning three matches in a row, though the difference was that her Red-Armored Earth Dragon had sustained not-insignificant injuries.

With this, only Zhang Yi and his opponent remained for the first grade.

Seeing Li Zhangsheng and Zhao Shuyi win one after another, Zhang Yi's opponent clearly felt the pressure, which made him feel a bit more anxious; he was desperate to defeat Zhang Yi and win some face for Yingluo Academy.

The more desperately he wanted victory, the more impatient his mindset became, and the more it backfired; soon, he made a fatal mistake, and Zhang Yi seized this opening to secure the victory in one fell swoop.

In the end, it concluded with a sweeping victory for the first grade.

However, this was only a temporary victory; to completely defeat Yingluo Academy, the other three grades were also critical.

At this time, the starting students of the second grade began to take the field.

After about ten minutes, although it had more twists and turns than the first grade, the second grade of Yuanling Academy ultimately won the victory.

Unlike the first grade, the gap between the two sides' second grades was not very large, which led to the loss of two people from the Yuanling Academy second-grade tier, and even the last remaining person only had one Demon Pet slot left.

Well, this was a pyrrhic victory!

Next, it was the turn of the third-grade students from both sides.

Soon, under the leadership of Luo Jing, the Yuanling Academy third-grade tier ultimately won the victory at the cost of losing one person.

With the fourth grade yet to duel, Yuanling Academy still had six people across three grades who could continue to fight, which was definitely an overwhelming advantage; coupled with the fact that Yingluo Academy had no Fourth Rank students, it could be said they were sentenced to death, with only a theoretical possibility of winning.

Seeing such a result, the team leader of Yingluo Academy had a very dark expression; it would be strange if his mood were good.

At this time, Miao Yinfeng led the fourth-grade starting students onto the field.

"A bit boring!" Li Zhangsheng sat listlessly on the contestant bench; he had originally wanted to turn the tide, but as it turned out, his teammates were all very capable and simply didn't give him a chance to fight again.

As for the fourth grade, Li Zhangsheng wasn't worried at all; Senior Miao alone could defeat three of the opponent's people, not to mention he still had two helpers.

The facts were indeed so; Senior Miao easily defeated his opponent, then immediately cleaned up for a defeated teammate, and the last teammate was also quite capable, successfully defeating their opponent.

"The winner of this Group Stage match is—Yuanling Academy, let us congratulate them!"

At this time, the head referee announced the final result of the match.

Whoosh whoosh~

For a time, the arena was filled with the frenzied cheers of the audience.

With a huge advantage of eight people remaining, Yuanling Academy successfully defeated Yingluo Academy and won the first victory of the Group Stage.

"We won!"

"We won!"

At this moment, Vice Principal Xu, the instructors, and the representative students cheered and jumped for joy, beginning to celebrate the first victory.

"We lost!"

Unlike Yuanling Academy, the rest area of Yingluo Academy was silent; one by one, they were as dejected as frost-bitten eggplants, and their morale had clearly suffered a heavy blow.

"Sigh, everyone, don't be discouraged; we still have hope!"

The team leader of Yingluo Academy forced himself to boost morale, but he knew very well in his heart that Yingluo Academy had almost no hope for the top four, and even whether they could become the top eight was a big question.

To become the top eight, it seemed there was only the path of defeating Yecheng Academy, and no matter how difficult it was, they had to seize this last chance.

There were three rounds in the Group Stage, and for every round won, the winning participating students would receive a reward provided by the Imperial Family.

Soon, a eunuch carrying a gold tray arrived at the Yuanling Academy rest area.

"These are all Treasure Vouchers; you can use them to enter the Huangshi Waiwei Baoku and select one treasure in a random manner!"

The eunuch explained this and then distributed the vouchers on the tray to the starting students who had taken the field.

Only starting students had special rewards, and the substitute students could only watch them with envy.

The Treasure Vouchers were made very exquisitely, and the seal of the Imperial Jade Seal was even printed on them.

"Another chance to hunt for treasure!" Li Zhangsheng took a Treasure Voucher, and he couldn't help but feel a bit more anticipation; this was the Imperial Treasury, and even if it were only the outer perimeter, according to common sense, it would contain a few high-quality treasures, otherwise, it would be too shameful for the Imperial Family.

For others, whether they could pick a high-quality treasure depended entirely on luck, but Li Zhangsheng was different; he could rely on his special ability to pick the best treasure.

"The Imperial Treasury is divided into the Core Treasury and the Outer Treasury. The Imperial Family is generous; even in the Outer Treasury, there is hope of obtaining top-tier treasures, though the probability is very small. As for the Core Treasury, it is rarely opened to the outside, but as long as we maintain our status as one of the Four Great Academies, there is hope of gaining access!"

Seeing that some students were a bit confused, Vice Principal Xu explained the Imperial Treasury.

As the captain, Miao Yinfeng suggested, "The Imperial Treasury is in Yecheng; is anyone going together?"

"Let's go, together!"

"I'll pass; whoever is interested can just pick one up for me!"

"Is anyone willing to buy my Treasure Voucher?"

Among these people, a total of three viewpoints appeared: some wanted to go and see it, some did not value the Outer Treasury and hoped their teammates would just bring one back for them, and there were also those who wanted to exchange their Outer Treasury vouchers for resources.

Li Zhangsheng hurried over to a third-grade senior who wanted to sell their Outer Treasury voucher and asked, "Senior, how much are you planning to sell it for?"

"200 Soul Crystals, no bargaining!"

"Good, deal!"

The two completed the transaction, and when Li Zhangsheng wanted to buy a few more, he found that others had already sold theirs; the buyers were basically those teammates who hadn't taken the field.

Seeing this situation, Li Zhangsheng shrugged, then followed Miao Yinfeng out of the arena and rode a Flying Demon Pet to Yecheng.

Miao Yinfeng had clearly been here before; he led Li Zhangsheng and the others to a heavily guarded palace with ease.

This was the Outer Treasury; after showing their vouchers, Li Zhangsheng and the others successfully passed through and began to select items.

Besides Li Zhangsheng and the others, there were students from other academies.

The Outer Treasury is vast in area, likely over ten thousand square meters, filled with a large number of stone platforms, each holding a box made of wood, metal, or jade.

Similar to the Treasure Pavilion of the Yuanling Academy, these boxes vary in size, bear no markings, and are all locked, making it impossible to see the items inside.

Li Zhangsheng's Mental Power was already in a released state, sensing the intensity of the energy fluctuations within the area.

These energy fluctuations vary in strength; the strong ones are like the light of a bright moon, while the weak ones are like the light of fireflies, with a massive disparity between them.

"Huh, such an intense energy fluctuation!" Li Zhangsheng instantly sensed a very strong energy fluctuation and felt a sudden surge of joy, but to his astonishment, this energy fluctuation was in motion and looked as if it were about to leave his sensing range.

Old rules: three, pigs, verify!

(End of chapter)