Chapter 175 - Victory Belongs To Me!

“Bad news? I have a chance to strike right after being provoked. Are you sure this is bad news?”

Upon looking at the confident Lin Yao, Qin Ya also laughed.

“It’s fine if you look at it that way.”

They laughed at each other, but Lin Yao also had doubts.

“No. 1 High School made use of connections to manipulate the match, yet the old man from No. 4 High School didn’t make use of connections to veto it.”

The team competition was not just Lin Yao’s battle. It was also about the honor of No. 4 High School. This was why he had doubts.

In response, Qin Ya had an arrogant look on her face.

“It’s incomparable. You do represent the honor of No. 4 High School, but they are representatives of No. 1 High School. They could recruit almost all the geniuses in Ninghai City. Do you think No. 4 High School has as many connections as them? Right now, it is not the other families that are targeting you.”

These words left Lin Yao speechless. No matter how unwilling he was, he had to admit that in that respect, No. 4 High School could not be compared to No. 1 High School.

In the past battles, No. 1 High School had not cared much because it had wanted to show its generosity and graciousness. No. 4 High School only needed to stop a few families from targeting Lin Yao, so their attempts were always successful.

But now, No. 1 High School, which had failed consecutively, needed to regain its status as the most powerful school, and they needed to defeat Lin Yao. Since they had gone all out to make use of their connections, No. 4 High School naturally had no way to stop them.

Unwilling to say more about this, Lin Yao asked about other matters.

“What about the good news?”

“You were indeed targeted, but there are a lot of people that No. 1 High School is after, such as the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and the Sky Blade Dojo. These two external teams seem to be stronger than you and more capable of garnering hatred than you. Among the four warlords from No. 1 High School, two are elites and two are ordinary warlords. Those two elite warlords will fight against the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and the Sky Blade Dojo. Wu Sheng, whom you are going up against, is just an ordinary warlord.”

One could advance to a warlord when the Iron Body reached 100%. However, this was merely a very common advancement, and this was also the enumeration of the warlords.

If one advanced to a warlord only when the Iron Body reached 300%, one would be considered an elite among the human warlords. Such warlords were stronger and could go farther. They could also secure better positions when they entered society.

Wu Sheng, who would be going up against Lin Yao, was the most ordinary warlord.

There was more to the information that Qin Ya had received. She had also managed to get information on Wu Sheng’s combat skills.

This time, Lin Yao did not refuse to read the information. His opponent had known about the match earlier than him, so he should have seen his information a long time ago.

“Wu Sheng was born in a middle-class family. Initially, he practiced the military boxing technique. Now, he practices the Asura Battle Technique. His combat skills include the Five Tiger Jail-Breaking Saber, the Burning Blood Method, the Shadow Step, and the Thirteen-Hero Iron Jersey. His cultivation is at the early stage of a warlord. He mastered the profound meaning of military boxing by unlocking the gene lock, and he achieved real success in various techniques. There is a possibility that he will master other profound meanings. His teammates are four potential warlords who mastered the Iron-Blooded Battle, the very people you faced last time.”

In addition to the information on his combat skills, Qin Ya even obtained the opponent’s character analysis data within a short time.

“This is a very opportunistic person. His talent is fairly strong, and he has the opportunity to become an elite warlord. However, in order to obtain resources faster, he did not accumulate strength but quickly advanced to become a warlord instead. He gained benefits with higher strength and suppressed others. It is true that No. 1 High School intends to weed out other teams this time. However, he requested on his own initiative to provoke your team.”

After she finished speaking, Qin Ya smiled. “Your team is supposedly the weakest among all the teams, but it is also the most famous. If he defeats you, he will gain great popularity.

“Don’t underestimate him. He might seem to be brainless because he provoked you and bragged that he is going to fight the five of you by himself, but he really intends to do so. He knows that you are the only one on the team who is a threat to him. This is why he made that remark.”

Lin Yao smiled after listening to Qin Ya’s analysis.

“He is indeed scheming. Unfortunately, he has provoked me, not someone else.”

Lin Yao clenched his fists, feeling the strong power in his body, as well as the full and warm feeling of the power of the sun filling his body cells. He was brimming with confidence.

‘Speaking of that, I haven’t tried the extreme state after the advancement of the Celestial Tree. I wonder how much power my body and muscles can unleash now that I have Armored Body Of Light LV7 to protect me. Besides, I remember that unleashing vital energy seeds is also related to the toughness of the body.’

Lin Yao had fought a battle yesterday. During that battle, he had also unlocked the gene lock. However, the enemy had not been very strong, so he’d only activated 200% of the gene lock, causing his body muscles to explode with twice as much strength.

This was considered fairly powerful and was seen as a release of power in the eyes of ordinary people. However, it was far from Lin Yao’s limit. With 210% of the power of light to protect him, Lin Yao himself did not know how powerful he could be.

At the same time, in addition to his strength, his body’s toughness was able to withstand more released vital energy seeds.

Before advancing to an intermediate martial artist, a beginner martial artist could only unleash one vital energy seed at a time. When the vital energy seed fused with spirit energy and one’s own blood, aura, and energy burst and merged with the body, it could increase the basic physique by 30% in one go.

An intermediate martial artist could unleash two vital energy seeds, while an advanced martial artist could unleash three vital energy seeds, and a peak martial artist (100%) could unleash five vital energy seeds.

After breaking through the peak martial artist level, Lin Yao realized that he could unleash vital energy seeds at will. The vital energy seeds were mixed with the martial artist’s own blood and aura, and the damage to the body was small. However, as the vital energy seeds were unleashed within his body, they could cause damage to the internal organs if the explosion of power was too intense. Therefore, most people would not dare unleash too many vital energy seeds at a time.

It was different for Lin Yao. The Armored Body Of Light LV7 was no longer limited to his body’s surface. The cells inside Lin Yao’s body were filled with the power of light, enhancing, healing, and optimizing him.

This power strengthened Lin Yao, and the seeds that he was able to unleash each time exceeded the limit.

‘I can unleash at least 10 seeds in one go. That would be an enhancement of 300% of power. Although such explosive power could not last long, it would be sufficient.’

He had 105% power, Armored Body Of Light 210%, ten vital energy seeds that could amount to an enhancement of 300%, as well as the power release that came with unlocking the gene lock.

After getting many enhancements and entering a fully activated extreme state, even Lin Yao himself did not know how strong he would be.

Besides, he had not taken into account the auxiliary abilities provided by the Lord of Light.

Given these enhancements and his abilities, Lin Yao was confident about fighting with an ordinary warlord.

‘I will certainly be the final victor.’

…

“I will be the winner. Don’t mind the evaluations on the Internet. They are fence-sitters, and no one cares about losers. When I win, they will praise me instead.

“Offended a genius? I would not be participating in the competition if I was worried about offending a genius. There are more than 100 classmates in No. 1 High School who have a better family background than me. If I am afraid of offending people, why should I stand out from them? A martial artist should fight for the best and walk this path alone.

“Don’t worry, that genius only hates me for now. No one would dare say that they would not be defeated by others. He will face more defeats when he enters the big city. Over time, as he suffers more defeats, he will forget all this.”

Wu Sheng, who was in a nice apartment building, ended the phone call with a fierce expression on his face. He hung up the phone and looked at the pictures of Lin Yao on the computer. His face was full of brutality.

‘I’m sorry, I hold no grudges against you, but you are blocking my way. Ha ha… This is a hypocritical statement… I am after your fame. It will be mine now!’

…

It was difficult to decide who was a better scholar among literati. However, it was easy to determine who was a stronger martial artist. Besides, the confrontation in the arena made the possibility that someone was unworthy of the rank very unlikely.

As Lin Yao defeated each opponent with one sword move, his victories were broadcast by netizens, and he gained fame. However, many people felt that he was famous due to his good looks and tall and straight figure. Some people considered him unworthy of his rank. In order to be as famous as him, some smart people chose to provoke him head-on.

Wu Sheng was the first to see the benefits and the first to make a move.

His approach was successful, and the hype on the Internet heated up the competition even before it started.

This kind of enthusiasm also had an effect offline, as it made larger crowds than ever come to watch the games.

It was foreseeable that if Wu Sheng really won, he would definitely get their support. Some ordinary people only supported the champion and would only remember the winner.

Due to the heated popularity of the battle, there were many reporters at the entrance. They were looking for Lin Yao and Wu Sheng, as they wanted a short interview with them.

The reporters noticed Wu Sheng, who swaggered to the venue, while Lin Yao entered the stadium silently.

‘Optical invisibility is really useful.’

As Lin Yao sighed, Wu Sheng once again made arrogant remarks.

“I’m targeting him?! What are all of you talking about? I am just being very frank.

“Provocation? Of course, we are opponents. What do you want me to do then? Be all nice and harmonious around him? This is a battle, and going all out shows the opponent your respect.

“Are you asking me who will be the final victor? There is no doubt it will be me. The victory will belong to me.”

Making arrogant remarks was also Wu Sheng’s strategy.

“It is alright to be arrogant. What’s important is that the personality can stand out from the rest.”

While making arrogant remarks, Wu Sheng walked into the stadium and was stunned to see that Lin Yao was already sitting in his seat. Moments later, he made a thumbs-down gesture to provoke Lin Yao. This led to a commotion at the venue and garnered the hatred of many girls.

Lin Yao did nothing, yet his expression turned even colder.

He was not good at responding with words. In fact, it was more powerful to respond with actions.

Lin Yao was not angry, but Yan Yan, Zhang Feng, and the others beside him were fuming mad and felt guilty over Lin Yao.

“Sorry, we have become your burden.

“If you fail, you can blame us for losing.”

Those words of self-blame made Lin Yao slap them fiercely on the back.

“What are you talking about? We are companions.”

These people might not be teammates who would always be with Lin Yao, but he did not intend to abandon his partners.

His words soothed everyone who was feeling down. Lin Yao had not expected that Yan Yan’s attitude toward him would be much better. Wu Sheng’s provocation made her feel guilty for Lin Yao, and she even tried to offer him words of comfort.

“Lin Yao, the opponent is a warlord. You only awakened a month or two ago. It doesn’t matter if you lose. Don’t stress over it.”

“One Sword, I wish all the best. I believe in you. Well, it’s okay to lose.”

“I will cheer you on.”

The warlord did have the power to suppress the martial artist. Before entering the arena, many people came to comfort Lin Yao, saying that it was alright to lose.

Among them were people he was familiar with and a lot of beautiful girls. The waves of comfort made Lin Yao feel completely helpless, but there were people who cared about him, and he could not dismiss them by force.

Fortunately, he had come here on time and after sitting for a while, someone took the stage to host the arena competition.

Due to Wu Sheng’s provocation, there was no pre-match drawing procedure. There were eight teams in the qualifying match, and there were four teams of warlords, which was a total of 12 teams. The sequence of the battles was displayed in front of the arena.

The organizer stated that they had drawn lots in advance.

When Lin Yao looked at the 12 teams, he could not tell if there was a shady deal going on.

It could not be helped. Among the 12 teams, apart from the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and the Sky Blade Dojo, which were external teams, Lin Yao’s team was the only dark horse that had made it this far.

The remaining nine teams were all from No. 1 High School, so it could almost be called a team match within No. 1 High School. Thus, they naturally had a say in the competition.

‘Sure enough, team competitions need to be formed by powerful forces. The talented dark horses can only make their mark in individual competitions.’

Compared to the miserable state of the team competitions, there were nine people outside of No. 1 High School who had been in yesterday’s individual games, which had been considered fairly good.

Thoughts swirled in his mind, and Lin Yao looked at the list of the matches. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed that his team would be going up against Wu Sheng’s team in the opening match.

“Are they using us as human sacrifice?”

“Have you thought of the problem of crushing your teeth?”