Chapter 135: One Sword
In terms of shamelessness and bickering, Yan Yan was obviously not Yan Yu’er’s match. Yan Yan would not snuggle up to Lin Yao blatantly either. She could only chide Yan Yu’er furiously and tell her to release Lin Yao’s arm.
Unfortunately, Yan Yan’s words had no effect on Yan Yu’er.
However, when Yan Yu’er realized that Lin Yao was reluctant to speak, she finally sealed her lips. She then tilted and rested her head on Lin Yao’s shoulder, seemingly falling asleep.
“Your torture caused me a sleepless night.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone surrounding Lin Yao cast him a strange glance. Lin Yao also felt his head hurt.
However, he still didn’t open his eyes. Simultaneously, Lin Yao was also becoming wary of Yan Yu’er. He didn’t believe she would fawn over him without any motives.
Although he was indifferent, Zhang Feng and Tu Ying were immersed deep in thought upon seeing this situation.
In particular, a bright light flashed across Tu Ying’s slightly mature face.
‘Perhaps I’ve been courting girls the wrong way? I shouldn’t have been that meticulous or caring. I should have beaten them to tears violently so they would pester me afterward.’
With this thought in mind, Tu Ying felt enlightened about the path ahead.
Zhang Feng was tempted to do the same, but his heart soon turned cold when he looked at Lin Yao’s handsome face and powerful talent. Upon seeing Tu Ying’s expression, he contemplated reminding Tu Ying for a moment but didn’t do so eventually.
‘I wish you all the best.’
Lin Yao closed his eyes and rested, while Yan Yu’er leaned against Lin Yao with an aggrieved look. Yan Yan’s chest was heaving up and down, but she was not the most furious person in the entire stadium.
Upon seeing Yan Yu’er’s endearing demeanor, someone in the stadium kept staring at Lin Yao with a scorching look in his eyes.
It was Li Peng, Yan Yu’er’s simp, the one who had rushed to the arena as soon as Yan Yu’er had been knocked out. He had done a lot for Yan Yu’er and he’d even wanted to have a private duel with Lin Yao. Today, he had been prepared to reproach Lin Yao with Yan Yu’er.
His thoughts had been occupied by this. Obviously, he hadn’t expected the defeated Yan Yu’er to be snuggling up to Lin Yao instead of detesting him. Feeling betrayed, he almost lost his cool immediately.
‘Impossible… Yu’er, you… He must have threatened you.’
The teary look on his face made Lin Yao sympathize with him. Afterward, Lin Yao seemingly thought of something. He then turned to look at Yan Yu’er.
“Is this your motive? Are you pretending to be pitiful so that others will deal with me?”
“No, I wouldn’t do that.”
Following that, without waiting for Lin Yao’s response, she quarreled with Li Peng, clarifying immediately that these were two separate matters.
“My affairs have nothing to do with you!”
“How can that be… I…”
In the end, the quarrel escalated into a battle. Of course, Li Peng didn’t want to fight with Yan Yu’er. He had wanted to attack Lin Yao, but Yan Yu’er took the initiative to defeat him before Lin Yao could take any action.
It was a farce, but Lin Yao realized that Yan Yu’er seemed to be wooing him.
‘What’s happening? Does she have m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic tendencies?’
Lin Yao couldn’t understand Yan Yu’er’s train of thought at all. He simply stopped contemplating this after a bit.
Lin Yao didn’t have to wait long. When the clock struck 12 at noon, the arena compet.i.tion began again.
Yesterday, some of the intermediate martial artists had been eliminated. Today’s battle was expected to be much fiercer.
Some of the strongest geniuses also showed themselves for the first time.
However, as the battle progressed, Lin Yao discovered that No. 1 High School, which had many geniuses, was indeed much stronger than the other schools. In a battle between two advanced martial artists, the one from No. 1 High School would often clinch the final victory.
They were more experienced in fighting martial artists of the same level and more proficient at using a set of combat skills. In fact, their various combat skills were all related and not learned randomly.
Due to various advantages, they defeated almost all the disciples and students of ordinary dojos and senior high schools. Only some of the special existences were able to beat them after a close fight.
No. 4 High School, where Lin Yao was studying, was quite fortunate. Yan Yan’s frost talent was outstanding, and Zhang Feng’s blood talent was also a huge killer move. In the end, the two of them survived the second battle round. However, Tu Ying and the rest of the players lost to the others.
No. 1 High School had crushed the rest of the players from Ninghai City, but they had worthy opponents as well. Besides the five players from the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and five players from the Sky Blade Dojo, the individual compet.i.tion featured over 10 more talented and courageous players. All these people were in a full-scale battle with No. 1 High School.
“There are so many experts. Ninghai City is indeed a place propitious for giving birth to great men.”
Lin Yao was sneering, but Tu Hong, who was sitting behind Lin Yao, was nonchalant.
“Our city has a population of millions. In combination with the geniuses from the provinces, this is actually a qualifying compet.i.tion that selects geniuses out of tens of millions of people. This is even more bustling than the national youth compet.i.tions in ancient times and some mystic realm kingdoms. There are naturally many geniuses.”
“Indeed. Although our city seems small, it has numerous personnel and plenty of ordinary resources. However, is a city comparable to a country in ancient times? By the way, what is a mystic realm kingdom?”
“Children shouldn’t be nosy. Watch the compet.i.tion.”
After the series of battles, a sound was soon heard.
“Lin Yao from No. 4 High School vs. Zhuang Jian from No. 1 High School.”
“It’s my turn.”
As the announcement was heard, the camera lenses were immediately aimed at Lin Yao.
Although the ultimate goal of broadcasting this game was to unite the hearts of the people in Ninghai City, the TV station also wanted higher ratings, which would in turn affect the salary of the staff at the station.
With this thought in mind, they naturally chose to film more popular people.
Lin Yao had a unique temperament, perfect appearance, and strong abilities. All of this would make him a hot topic of conversation. Therefore, he was naturally in the limelight as soon as he appeared.
The TV station aside, those who had watched the battle yesterday also had an impression of Lin Yao. As a result, his appearance caused a commotion.
“He is so handsome.”
“That’s One Sword.”
“One Sword? What’s that?
“Don’t you know? His Excellency One Sword fought against three people yesterday and only made three sword moves. The fans named him His Excellency One Sword, meaning that he can defeat each opponent with one sword move.”
“One sword move per opponent? That’s an exaggeration… They were not familiar with him yesterday. By today, they are aware of his abilities and can guard themselves against them, so they certainly won’t be defeated by one sword move.”
…
There was a commotion amongst the crowd of onlookers, and E Longsheng, the commentator on the stage, also noticed Lin Yao.
“His Excellency One Sword Lin Yao is on the stage. Yesterday, Lin Yao made three sword moves and defeated three players. Today, Student Lin Yao will compete against Zhuang Jian from No. 1 High School. Will he be able to continue this legacy? We’ll wait and see.”
Lin Yao first walked to the weapon rack next to the arena and took a long sword in a sheath. While Lin Yao was choosing his weapon, a young man on the other side of the arena chose an ironwood long spear.
As the two of them chose their weapons, the commentator didn’t allow an awkward silence to ensue.
“An inch longer, an inch stronger. To deal with Lin Yao’s rapid attacks, Student Zhuang Jian chose a long spear, which is the right choice. Audience, who do you think will win this time?”
There was audience partic.i.p.ation during the battle. While speaking, E Longsheng also looked at the most popular topics online. In the past, all the trending topics were about which player—in this case, Lin Yao or Zhuang Jian—would win.
However, there was a surprise this time.
The most popular topic turned out to be unrelated to the battle.
“I don’t care about the outcome of this battle. I just find the girl who was snuggling up to Lin Yao earlier very familiar!”
These words made the camera turn in the direction Lin Yao had come from, and E Longsheng saw Yan Yu’er sitting in Lin Yao’s seat.
“Hey, isn’t that Yan Yu’er, the one who lost to cla.s.smate Lin Yao yesterday? This… beauty loves heroes indeed. People often become friends after a fight. I’m so envious of the young.”
After skimming through this topic, E Longsheng a.n.a.lyzed the battle between Lin Yao and Zhuang Jian.
“Student Lin Yao is very strong. Named His Excellency One Sword, he already has strength akin to that of a warlord. However, he only has one sword move at the warlord level. On the contrary, Student Zhuang Jian has been an advanced martial artist for a year. He has also mastered the profound meaning of the Sixth Direction Spear. Perhaps he is no match for Lin Yao in terms of a single move, but as long as he is not defeated with a single blow, Lin Yao will likely lose.
“This will be a fierce compet.i.tion, as well as a fast one. Now, let us see. Will One Sword’s move crush the defense of Student Zhuang Jian, or will Student Zhuang Jian be able to withstand that blow?”
Amid the commentary, Lin Yao was already standing in the arena.
On the opposite side, a student named Zhuang Jian from No. 1 High School was also standing in the arena with a serious expression.
Holding the spear with both hands, Zhuang Jian raised it above his head and spun it furiously.
“Woohoo…”
The spinning spear made the air produce sounds akin to a crying ghost, and Zhuang Jian’s eyes were fixed on Lin Yao.
In response to this, Lin Yao merely took a step forward, a.s.suming the posture of a bow. He was ready to draw his sword at any time.
The two of them were staring at each other, trying to decipher the hidden flaws.
The famous host, E Longsheng, was very competent indeed. He was right about something. Only one move was needed to determine the outcome of this battle. Thus, the two players were focusing wholeheartedly on the battle in the arena.
“The battle begins!”
Following a shout from the referee next to him, Zhuang Jian suddenly stopped spinning his spear. Holding the spear with both hands, he pointed it straight ahead. At the same time, blood and aura exploded within his body, causing his aura to skyrocket by 30%.
“The Blood Explosion combat skill of the Iron-Blooded Battle is a combat skill that burns the blood in the body to increase one’s physical strength. Student Zhuang Jian is under a lot of pressure thanks to Student Lin Yao.”
As his blood burned, Zhuang Jian held the long spear and stared at Lin Yao. Opposite him, Lin Yao had activated the blessed guardian holy seal at the start of the battle. When the power of the seal filled his entire body, he blew up the thunder vital energy seeds in his body. As the electric current flowed through his body, it activated the thinking speed acceleration and gathered the strength of his entire body.
The connection between the electric current and the neural network slowed down everything in Lin Yao’s eyes. Despite this, Lin Yao didn’t manage to find any weaknesses in his opponent.
Although the blood continued to burn, Zhuang Jian, who was holding the spear in both hands, was as motionless as a mountain. Lin Yao did not know where to lay his hands.
E Longsheng said, “Student Zhuang Jian has been practicing for more than 10 years. He has a firm footing and no shortcomings. It is difficult for Student Lin Yao to find any flaws in his moves.”
Standing on the spot, Lin Yao waited for Zhuang Jian to attack, but his opponent was also a strong and steady individual. Despite facing Lin Yao, who was all geared up to attack, he remained motionless. In the end, the two stood in a stalemate in the arena.
One second, two seconds, three seconds… A full three seconds had pa.s.sed. Lin Yao, who was maintaining his sword-drawing posture, and his opponent, who was as steady as a mountain, still didn’t move in the slightest.
Logically, a stalemate like this would bore people, but the auras of Lin Yao and his opponent were too strong. Although the duo was standing still, an oppressive atmosphere had formed in the arena. It was like the calm before the storm.