Chapter 308: Xu Xiangzhi Shrinks Back Again (Second Update, requesting everything)

The next day, Yecheng National Arena!

The arena was still packed with people, filled with noisy sounds.

The matches for Group Four were all held in the morning, featuring Yecheng Academy versus Yingluo Academy, and Yuanling Academy versus Rongting Academy.

During the Yecheng Academy versus Yingluo Academy match, Vice Principal Xu wore a serious expression and solemnly reminded them: "You have all seen it, right? Yecheng Academy's strength is very strong. Everyone must observe the Yecheng Academy team members carefully. I hope that in tomorrow's match against Yecheng Academy, everyone can make fewer mistakes!"

It was no wonder Vice Principal Xu was so serious, because in just one night, Yecheng Academy had gained another Fourth Rank student.

Even if they were only a newly promoted Fourth Rank student, they could still unleash the full strength of an Elite Demon Pet, which would create a certain level of deterrence for their opponents and held significant strategic importance.

Looking at the numbers alone, Yecheng Academy had one more Fourth Rank student than Yuanling Academy.

Li Zhangsheng and the others did not speak, instead focusing intently on the match on the field.

Yecheng Academy and Yingluo Academy were both among the top eight last year, so logically they should have been in the same tier, but from the look of the match, Yecheng Academy was clearly suppressing Yingluo Academy.

The reason for such a large gap was very simple: in order to become one of the Four Great Academies, Yecheng Academy had carried out an "internal reform," sacrificing the interests of the majority of students to tilt a massive amount of resources toward Elite Students.

Under the tilt of massive resources, the strength of Elite Students could naturally be greatly improved in a short time, but it was the ordinary students who suffered; the progress of these ordinary students was very slow, and in terms of average level, they were not even as good as Yingluo Academy.

Sacrifice the greater good to achieve the lesser good—this was Yecheng Academy's reform strategy.

However, this would inevitably bring great negative influence to Yecheng Academy. If they became one of the Four Great Academies this session, it would be fine, as they could suppress the negative influence. But if they failed to get it, Yecheng Academy would inevitably face a scenario of a sharp decline in excellent student sources next year.

An academy's goal is to cultivate excellent students, and this refers to the whole. After all, the families of prospective students do not value that small handful of Elite Students, but rather the proportion of graduates from each academy who reach the Second Rank and Third Rank; these data are their main reference objects.

Those excellent students who originally wanted to target Yecheng Academy would inevitably have doubts in their hearts when they saw Yecheng Academy like this, and those who were not very confident in themselves would likely choose other academies.

Not only that, such a "reform" by Yecheng Academy did not conform to the interests of the Langya Kingdom Imperial Family. If Yecheng Academy could not become one of the Four Great Academies, it would inevitably be suppressed by the Imperial Family, and it was even possible they would support other academies to replace Yecheng Academy's status in Yecheng.

In this Exchange Tournament, Yecheng Academy could be described as going all-in; once they failed to advance further, what they would ultimately face would be decline.

After more than half an hour, the two sides finally decided the winner, and Yecheng Academy easily took the victory, with as many as nine members not being eliminated, one more than Yuanling Academy yesterday!

After this match, the situation in Group Four had gradually become clear: Yecheng Academy had 2 wins and 6 points, Yuanling Academy had 1 win and 3 points, Rongting Academy had 1 loss and 1 point, and Yingluo Academy had 2 losses and 2 points. From the wins and losses, Yingluo Academy had completely withdrawn from the ranks of competing for the top four. Rongting Academy seemed to still have hope, but judging from their crushing defeat against Yecheng Academy yesterday, they could not possibly be opponents for Yuanling Academy.

"It will be our turn to play in a moment. Our opponent for this group stage match is Rongting Academy. Judging from their match against Yecheng Academy yesterday, they are not even as good as Yingluo Academy. However, I hope you will not be careless because of this. You must take your opponents seriously, otherwise I will definitely keep you on the bench. Alright, I will now announce the starting students for this match!"

Vice Principal Xu paused, looked at the student list in his hand, and said: "First Grade, Zhao Shuyi, Luo Jie, and Yuan Yongyan! Second Grade..."

Not hearing his own name, Li Zhangsheng did not feel too surprised. There was no help for it; the opponents were too weak, practically a team handing out points.

However, for the sake of safety, Vice Principal Xu still sent out a half-main lineup, and at the same time, to show the importance he placed on this match, Miao Yinfeng continued to play.

Unlike Li Zhangsheng, the other team members whose names were not called could not help but feel disappointed, especially Xu Xiangzhi. Zhang Yi and Luo Jie, who were similar in strength to him, had played, and now Yuan Yongyan, who was not as good as him, was also playing. How could the proud and arrogant Xu Xiangzhi endure this?

Xu Xiangzhi was burning with anger and stood up with a 'swish', but after meeting his grandfather's stern gaze, he subconsciously shrank back and had to sit back down in his seat, sulking.

Soon, the match began!

Just as expected, although the Rongting Academy students were very hardworking, under the absolute gap in strength, there were still no twists and turns.

Yuanling Academy's First Grade won a great victory, still without a single person being eliminated; the Second Grade was Yuanling Academy's lowest-quality tier, but their level still exceeded that of Rongting Academy's Second Grade, with only one person being eliminated.

There was no need to even mention Yuanling Academy's Third Grade and Fourth Grade; they all won with a clean sweep.

"Congratulations to Yuanling Academy for winning the second group stage match!"

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

With a huge advantage of 11 people remaining, Yuanling Academy successfully defeated Rongting Academy and won their second victory in the group stage. Like Yecheng Academy, they had two wins in two matches, and tomorrow's match had become critical!

Whoosh whoosh~

For a time, the arena was filled with the cheers of the audience, but because the match was not intense enough, the enthusiasm of the audience was clearly not as high as the previous match.

"We won!"

"We won again!"

In the Yuanling Academy rest area, Vice Principal Xu, the Instructors, and the representative students began to celebrate, but because they were mentally prepared, this celebration was purely a formality.

On the other side, the team leader of Rongting Academy had a dark face the whole time, but had nothing to say. After all, their level was truly limited; let alone Yuanling Academy's half-main team, whether they could even beat Yuanling Academy's substitute team was an unknown.

"Everyone, please do not be discouraged. The Exchange Tournament is still long. Even if we can only make it to the top 16, 9th place is still the top 16. We must strive for the best ranking possible to win more resources for the academy!"

The team leader of Rongting Academy began to boost morale. Both were in the top 16, but there was a significant gap in the resources allocated to 9th place versus 16th place.

In this round, the participating students of the winning side would receive an Imperial Beast Taming Technique Certificate, which could be used to select one Intermediate Demon Taming Art.

Regarding this reward, Li Zhangsheng did not take it to heart at all; he began to prepare for tomorrow's critical battle.

(End of chapter)