Chapter 150  : The Crimson Battle Flag

‘I am still short of 35,500 grams of energy.’

Upon calculating the shortage in his mind, Lin Yao sprang into action. After he got out of bed and washed up, he quickly rushed to the stadium in the city center.

However, Lin Yao frowned when he entered the stadium and looked at his teammates.

When he had come here last time, both Shi Qiang and Tu Ying had gotten seriously injured. After a few days, their injuries had healed, but it was now Yan Yan and Zhang Feng’s turn to be injured.

Furthermore, the two of them were much stronger than Shi Qiang and Tu Ying. This would impact the performance of Lin Yao’s team greatly.

“Zhang Feng, were you defeated as well?”

Lin Yao was not surprised by Yan Yan’s defeat. Her combat skills and talent were good, and she was normally very diligent. However, due to her estrangement from the Yan Family, she wasn’t provided with a lot of resources. At this stage of the competition, none of the players was weak. For example, Qiao Liang, who had fought against Lin Yao yesterday, was considered one of the weakest ones that Qin Ya had found for Lin Yao.

Even the weaker players were like that. One could imagine how intense the battles in this phase were.

Lin Yao had foreseen the defeat of Yan Yan but not Zhang Feng. His ability to manipulate blood was very useful when it came to dealing with low-level martial artists. In fact, it was more useful than Lin Yao’s insidious Flashing Sword-Drawing Technique.

After all, one could close one’s eyes in a flash, but one couldn’t drain all their blood by using the effect of blood manipulation. Therefore, Lin Yao was very curious about how Zhang Feng had failed.

“Let’s not talk about it. I was down on my luck and I encountered a potential warlord.”

“Forget it, let’s get ready for the competition.”

The individual competition was about to enter its final phase, and so was the team competition. Lin Yao looked around and discovered that, apart from his team, there were almost no other local teams besides those from No. 1 High School. On the other hand, the teams of the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and the Sky Blade Dojo had persisted until now.

Their presence had shamed both the leaders of Ninghai City and No. 1 High School.

This was a local genius competition held in Ninghai City. If the teams from other cities were to clinch the championship, it would be a huge joke that might affect the future of some of these leaders.

After all, martial artist assessments were also regarded as part of politician assessments and were a very important part.

If one had been the mayor of a place for several years and the quality of the local students declined year after year to the extent that they were being crushed by players from other cities… would this be acceptable?

‘Nevertheless, it’s good that these two dojos are the targets now. At the very least, I don’t have to worry about any attacks by No. 1 High School.’

While sitting in his seat, Lin Yao was pondering something. Just as he thought that the battle was going to start, something unexpected happened.

A senior leader stepped forward as if he was about to make a speech.

Lin Yao’s expression became sullen, as he didn’t want to waste time.

“Today, the qualifying matches will end. We will rest for a day tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we will start the matches between the 32 strongest individuals and eight strongest teams. Then, the warlords will participate in the competition as seeded players…”

As soon as he said this, Lin Yao felt baffled.

“Have we reached the top 32 in the individual competition? Why don’t I know that?”

When the others heard Lin Yao’s words, a strange look crept on everyone’s faces. Tu Hong had expected better from him. “You run away and disappear without a trace after every battle. What do you know?!”

‘Uh…’

After recalling what had happened in the past few days, Lin Yao realized that he had no way to refute these words. His entire mind was focused on training and serving the people. He was indeed not too concerned about the competition.

minutes after Lin Yao had been chided, the speech in the arena finally ended. Then, it was time for the team competition.

This was a competition that would decide the top 16 players to enter the quarterfinals. Because there were fewer teams than individuals, this competition had one fewer round of matches than the individual competition.

The quantity of the teams was smaller, but their quality was higher. This was more difficult for Lin Yao, mainly because their team had only been formed a short time ago and couldn’t hold a candle to the others.

According to Lin Yao’s prediction, this would be a very intense competition. The strongest team of martial artists from No. 1 High School would go all out to attack the teams from the Ultimate Boxing Dojo and the Sky Blade Dojo.

No. 1 High School had warlords and would be more certain of victory if the warlords were to take on the battle. However, it was not the warlords’ turn to fight. Furthermore, if Ninghai City were to arrange for warlords to fight against the martial artists from the other regions, they might be accused of bullying the weak. Therefore, No. 1 High School could only send the most powerful team of martial artists to participate in this match.

Lin Yao had been looking forward to this battle. Unfortunately, they were saving the best for last, so these two battles would probably occur close to the end of the competition. The weakest teams would fight in the starting matches. Then… it would be time for Lin Yao and his team to fight.

Lin Yao, who was the first to take the stage, had a sullen expression on his face. However, his few teammates didn’t realize this and looked slightly nervous. They also felt bad for Lin Yao.

“Sorry, we’ve been a burden.”

“I.. Cough… I will try my best to drag down one of the opponents for you.”

“Don’t pay attention to us during the battle.”

“Humph!”

The last word was spoken by Yan Yan. She thought Lin Yao was a jerk, and she was not wrong.

However, she had gotten seriously injured, so she was going to be a burden. Therefore, she didn’t sound too confident as she snorted coldly.

When Lin Yao and the others went on stage, the opposing team did the same. This was also a team of martial artists who didn’t have any talent. There were two potential warlords with Iron Body exceeding 100% and three ordinary martial artists.

There was nothing extraordinary about this team of five. However, besides Lin Yao, the expressions of the other teammates changed when they saw the five of them.

On the commentary stage, E Longsheng let out an excited scream.

“One Sword’s team from No. 4 High School is fighting against the battle flag team of No. 1 High School! This is a powerful team that can gather their aura to unleash strength equivalent to a warlord’s. What a pity. The journey of One Sword and his team will end here.”

E Longsheng’s firm stance and words surprised his partner, who was standing next to him. “Lao E, now that you said this, I feel very worried about the battle flag team of No. 1 High School. During the last few battles, you also thought highly of the opponents of No. 4 High School, but all of them were defeated in the end.”

These words made E Longsheng’s face darken slightly. He thought of his failed predictions for the past few battles but soon came back to his senses and said confidently, “How can this be the same? Although Lin Yao’s team was on the losing end during the past few battles, as I’ve said before, they were on the same level. The outcome of those battles depended on the circumstances, so it was very normal for them to win or lose. This time, the battle flag team of No. 1 High School can gather their auras and attain the strength of a warlord. Warlords have the upper hand. How can they possibly lose?”

“Of course, One Sword might lose the battle, but that will not be entirely his fault. Some of his teammates are weak. If they had five geniuses who were neck to neck with One Sword, they might still have had a slim chance of victory.”

E Longsheng spoke firmly, as though he had already foreseen the outcome. The two commentators were not the only ones who shared this view. There was an audience watching the competition via the livestream, and they empathized with Lin Yao too.

Even Instructor Tu Hong from No. 4 High School said, “Just give it your best shot. Don’t feel too much pressure. You have already done very well.”

Lin Yao, who was about to be defeated, wasn’t mocked by the others. In everyone’s eyes, he was the most tragic hero, as he would be dragged down by his teammates.

Amongst the audience, Yan Yu’er was the most conflicted person. She wanted to see that scumbag being beaten to a pulp, yet she hoped that Lin Yao, who had taken her virginity, would miraculously save the day.

However, she soon noticed a group of girls cheering Lin Yao on. Upon hearing them talking about bearing his children, Yan Yu’er clenched her teeth again.

‘Scumbag, you’d be better off if you failed. This will help you get a clue. Those girls are not true to you. I’m the only one who can take care of you eventually.’

…

Lin Yao was not bothered by the cheers, empathy, or curses of the audience. After stepping into the arena, he focused wholeheartedly on the opponent.

First, the team members bowed before one another. In the process, the five members of the opposing team didn’t utter a word. They stood tall and straight with a cold, aloof expression on their faces.

“This kind of temperament… Why do they resemble soldiers?”

While Lin Yao was feeling puzzled, the two teams of martial artists separated after the martial artist etiquette. Then, the match began at the wave of the referee’s hand.

Boom!

The moment the referee waved his hand, Lin Yao bent his waist and got into a sword-drawing posture, unleashing thunder and lightning from his body.

However, the aura of the opponents was not weaker than that of Lin Yao. A violent outburst of blood and aura came from the team of five. They seemed to have practiced similar cultivation techniques. The similar blood and aura actually converged and condensed a blood-colored battle flag.

The crimson battle flag was hovering on the back of the person standing at the forefront of the team, making the aura of that person rise tremendously.

The person carrying the crimson battle flag was a strong, masculine youth. As the battle flag rose repeatedly, that man’s eyes were blood-red in color, and the veins all over his body were turning red, as if his blood was burning. A terrifying burst of aura was unleashed from his body.

Boom!

There was another deafening noise. As that noise was heard, the man standing at the forefront and carrying the blood-colored battle flag dashed toward Lin Yao like a cannonball traveling at lighting speed.

Roar!

Facing the man charging toward them, Shi Qiang was the first to step forward. He had been wounded the day before and hadn’t taken part in the battle, but he had already recovered.

After unlocking the Titanium Body and activating the Dragon Elephant’s strength, he rushed forward like a tank with a booming sound.

He was full of strength and had extraordinary defense abilities in this state. This had caused Lin Yao a lot of trouble in the past.

However, on this occasion, there was a loud bang the second after he rushed forward. Then, he was sent flying back at a faster speed with fist marks on his chest. The bones in the front part of his chest had been broken, and he was spurting blood from his mouth.

Boom! Shi Qiang landed on the ground and created a large dent with a radius of several meters.

Shi Qiang had been defeated with one blow!

While Shi Qiang was sent flying back, Zhang Feng’s furious voice was heard.

“He has the bloody aura protecting him. My blood manipulation abnormal ability has no effect on him.”

After withstanding Zhang Feng’s abnormal ability and sending Shi Qiang flying with one blow, the charging blood-colored figure didn’t stop at all. He took another step. When the ground exploded and cracked, he dashed forward even faster and continued to smash toward Lin Yao.

Even one punch from him was invincible, and he was advancing instead of retreating. This was the kind of crushing defeat that would occur when a warlord faced a martial artist.

However, Lin Yao didn’t retreat while facing such a powerhouse. Instead, he stomped the ground the moment that person pounced on him.

Boom! The ground exploded and cracked, and thunderlight shone. Lin Yao transformed into a beam of electric light, bursting forward.

In less than a second, the two dashing parties collided, seemingly about to cause an earth-shaking crash.

However, they didn’t do so in the end. The opponent carrying the blood-colored battle flag passed through Lin Yao’s figure directly.

“The refraction illusion!”

After brushing past the warlord-like man, Lin Yao, who was one meter away, looked in front of him.

‘They have definitely gathered the auras of five people to become a warlord. There is only one battle flag. After I defeat his teammates, the battle flag will dissipate.’