Chapter 115  : The Ladder Competition of the Top Class

“You’re not affected!”

Upon hearing the instructor’s voice, Di Qiang turned his head with a lot of difficulty amid this aura. After glancing at where the instructor was looking, he was completely stupefied.

‘How is this possible? Forget that you’re more talented than me. Why do you also have stronger willpower? I have clearly been training with all my might, come rain or shine…’

One could not blame Di Qiang for losing his composure. Lin Yao was dealing with the situation too effortlessly. While facing this overwhelming and oppressive bloody aura, Di Qiang’s body had been completely on guard. However, this aura actually seemed as light as a breeze to Lin Yao, who wasn’t the slightest bit affected.

Boom!

Upon seeing Lin Yao looking indifferent and even looking around with a faint smile on his face amid the strong aura, the ferocious instructor realized he was losing face. No longer restraining himself, he went all out to unleash his aura, maximizing it and directing it at Lin Yao’s mind.

The full-strength aura had already affected reality a little. Although the aura was not aimed at Di Qiang and Xu Wanqing, they could seemingly smell blood and hear the fighting noises of a battlefield.

Of course, they didn’t really hear fighting noises with their ears or smell blood with their noses. They had perceived this with their souls. However, this felt more fearsome and dangerous than when they did so with their external senses.

This iron-blooded flag was not an ordinary flag but a phenomenon that could only be faintly displayed by a silver-level warlord. The phenomenon of the battle flag could only advance after bloodshed on the battlefield and was best at oppressing the willpower of humans.

In the face of this phenomenon, out of fear, ordinary people would become paralyzed and might even sense the iron-blooded soldiers charging toward them and slashing at them with their weapons. If ordinary people truly believed that they had been attacked, they would also die in reality.

Ordinary people could not withstand this. On the other hand, the bodies of martial artists would stiffen, making it difficult for them to unleash their full strength.

From Tu Hong’s point of view, it would be good enough if Lin Yao could perform as well as Di Qiang. However, Lin Yao was completely disregarding it. Even a hero who had just advanced to a warlord would not have been able to achieve this.

He had been restraining himself in order to test Lin Yao’s limit. However, Tu Hong was not a golden warlord after all and could not completely manifest the phenomenon in reality. Although he was trying his best, Lin Yao had God’s virtue and was completely unafraid.

As he was fearless, he would not be affected by the illusory and oppressive aura. As a result, a strange scene occurred.

While Lin Yao and Tu Hong were staring at each other, Di Qiang and Xu Wanqing were trembling next to them.

Some time later, Tu Hong realized that he couldn’t do anything to Lin Yao. On the other hand, Qiang and Xu Wanqing could barely withstand the aura any longer. He then let out an awkward laugh.

“Ha ha ha ha… You are fairly good, fairly good… How did you do it?”

“No comment.”

Upon hearing these words, the ferocious Tu Hong didn’t feel upset. Instead, he laughed again.

“Good lad, you have a temperament. Come with me, I’ll be your instructor henceforth. Of course, you guys have to beat those few good-for-nothings from the top classes first. If you can’t even beat those few useless pieces of crap, scram back to wherever you belong to. The top classes don’t need good-for-nothings!”

After a round of warnings, Instructor Tu Hong led the Lin Yao trio to the training ground. This was where the students of the top class trained. The Lin Yao trio had also been to this place several times. However, they were usually outdoors. This time, they had finally entered the place.

After entering it, Lin Yao realized that everyone from the top class had already assembled. There were not many students—only 36—in this class. At the moment, 10 of them had been singled out.

“Based on internal assessments, those 10 students now rank at the bottom of the class. They are also the ones you can challenge. Go ahead and choose your opponents. The badge in front of them is their ranking in the class. As long as you beat any one of them, even if they are the worst in the class, you guys will also be eligible to enter the class. However, all the resources in the top class are distributed according to everyone’s ranking. The higher the ranking, the greater the reward. It is up to you to make your choice.”

As he said this, Di Qiang’s eyes lit up, and he immediately looked at the student that ranked tenth from the bottom, who was also the strongest one out of those they could challenge.

Upon seeing Di Qiang staring at him, the student snorted coldly and a ferocious gaze filled his eyes. Di Qiang’s expression didn’t change in the slightest in reaction. He glanced at the instructor instead.

“I want to challenge him.”

After he said this, the instructor looked at Lin Yao.

“According to the rules, you have the right to choose first. Do you wish to let him go first?”

Lin Yao didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he inquired about something else.

“Are we allowed to challenge the students of the top class at any point in time?”

“Of course not, you guys have to train. How can you challenge them every day? Nevertheless, there is a minor assessment every month, and you will have three opportunities to challenge those with a higher ranking.”

After saying that, he smiled. “Today is also the day of the minor assessment. If you enter the key class, you will also have three opportunities to challenge the others.”

“I’ll let Classmate Di Qiang go ahead first then.”

Now that he knew he could challenge the stronger ones later on, Lin Yao was no longer anxious.

When Lin Yao nodded, Di Qiang finally took the stage.

Although he was the tenth from last student in the top class, this opponent was not weak. He was also a young genius and intermediate martial artist who had mastered three golden combat skills.

However, it was the proficiency and not the quantity of the combat skill that mattered the most. Without using the Vajra Palm, Di Qiang defeated that young genius, who was an intermediate martial artist, effortlessly just by relying on his full body control stance, which was a result of the unlocked gene lock.

“The profound meaning is too powerful.”

Following that, the second challenger, Xu Wanqing, took the stage. Her abilities were moderate, but she had no shortcomings. Based on her knowledge of the geniuses in the top class, she defeated the seventh from last student.

In the end, it was Lin Yao’s turn. He did not stand on ceremony and selected a fatty who was ninth from last.

When he was chosen by Lin Yao, the fatty’s expression changed drastically.

‘Damn it! This is really bad luck. In the past, everyone targeted the last three places. Why are there so many perverts this year?’

For low-level martial artists, it was easy to advance to higher levels and attain combat skills but extremely difficult to comprehend profound meaning.

To everyone here, every powerhouse who had comprehended the profound meaning was a genius.

Forcibly enduring the fear in his heart, the student looked at Lin Yao bitterly as soon as he took the stage.

“Big Brother, please be gentle.”

Without a word, Lin Yao looked to the side. At the wave of the instructor’s hand, Lin Yao’s figure moved, and his swift and nimble body skimmed toward his opponent like a cheetah.

Boom!

As he charged forward, thunderlight exploded in front of Lin Yao’s chest and then spread toward his surroundings. By the time it reached the fatty, Lin Yao had already led the exploded thunderlight into his brain.

As the electric current stimulated his brain, everything in front of Lin Yao changed suddenly. In his eyes, the world had slowed down, and given the circumstances, Lin Yao was able to catch a clear glimpse of the fatty’s expression. The smile on the face of that friendly fatty had changed into a ferocious look. Simultaneously, his obese figure started shrinking and his aura rose instantly.

‘Was his earlier friendliness a disguise? Sure enough, none of the students from the top class is easy to get along with.’

While he was exclaiming in his heart, Lin Yao’s movements didn’t stop in the slightest. Thanks to the thinking speed acceleration, Lin Yao suddenly halted and got into a sword-drawing position. At the same time, he flicked with his left hand and pulled with his right hand.

Clang. He pulled out a beam of dazzling thunderlight.

Due to the thinking speed acceleration, the thunderlight looked extremely slow in Lin Yao’s eyes. Nevertheless, it was faster than the reaction speed of the fatty.

Being able to unleash 100% of the basic qualities after unlocking the gene lock was no joke. Furthermore, Lin Yao had been using the Body of Light. The strengthening of the medium-level Body of Light 90% could already surpass the fatty’s strength even after the latter blew up his vital energy.

Therefore, as expected, the fatty was hit away as soon as the sword gleam flashed. No matter how he reacted, it would have seemed ludicrous.

At that moment, this attack caused an uproar amongst many geniuses in the top class. Most of them could not catch a clear glimpse of the sword.

“That’s really fast!”

“Xu Lei, did you get a clear look at it?”

“No, his Sword-Drawing Technique is too fast.”

“It’s not a pure Sword-Drawing Technique. No matter how good the combat skill is, it needs the body to unleash it. Don’t you think this guy’s physique is comparable to that of the Yan Yan trio?”

“That’s kind of an exaggeration. They are advanced martial artists.”

“Not at all. There is no way I could have escaped that attack.”

…

Numerous discussions were heard below the platform. Meanwhile, the powerhouses of the top class also began to pay attention to Lin Yao, and many of them had a hostile look in their eyes.

Of course, there was a reason for their hostility. The school was capable of providing resources for many mediocre students, but geniuses needed top-notched resources. For example, more than one person was eyeing the Bodhi Leaf this time. Therefore, everyone competing for the Bodhi Leaf was considered an opponent.

All the powerhouses of the top class were staring at Lin Yao, and Lin Yao did not evade their gazes.

‘So the resources are determined by the rankings. I can strive to do better then.’

As Lin Yao contemplated this, Instructor Tu Hong clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Very well. The qualifying challenge is over. Now, the ladder competition begins. All of you are familiar with the rules of the competition. Any player can challenge a player above them on the ranking. Remember, you can only challenge someone above your ranking.”

Although the school placed emphasis on competitions, this was not the wilderness, where the law of the jungle would apply. The school would still protect the weaker students.

First, the powerhouses were not allowed to challenge a player below them in the ranking. Second, besides exchanging moves during the challenge battles, students could also do so during normal times. However, if they were to injure someone seriously, they would be given a demerit record. In addition, they also had to compensate the students for any medical expenses. The compensation would also take into account the injured genius’s time loss. This was how the school and a normal society protected the students or its weaker members.

“We’re only senior high school students. To students, dropping out of the top class is already the greatest punishment. The situation will be different in university. I heard that we can go to mystic realms to learn during the third or fourth year of our studies. This means that death might occur then.”

Universities focused on grooming the students. For the sake of fairness, one should note that students were not allowed to use advanced weapons during the battles.

For example, Lin Yao’s crystal sword and Type VII Electric Current Stimulation Combat Suit could not be used.

As Lin Yao was contemplating this, the ladder competition began. First, those who had lost their places would challenge the others. Each of the three students who had lost to the Lin Yao trio earlier would have three opportunities to challenge the others. They would be allowed to remain in the class if they beat their opponent.

Those who had lost earlier went first. Then, it would be the last person, followed by the second to last, and so on. Subsequently, it was seventh-to-last Xu Wanqing’s turn to challenge players above her in the ranking.

However, this did not have anything to do with Lin Yao or Di Qiang. The lower-ranking students would rather challenge those above the bottom 10 ranking than deal with Di Qiang and Lin Yao, who were two perverts.

The challenges proceeded very quickly. As the challenges continued, it was soon the turn of Lin Yao, who was now ninth to last.

“Lin Yao, enter the arena.”