Gao Wu insists on cultivating immortality.

Chapter 97 The Great Battle

"What? You know him?" Yuan Qiansheng noticed that Bai Yushuang kept glancing at a young man, and he became curious as well.

Judging from the location of the boy, he was clearly from a small city below.

For the people of Ankyoreh, everything outside Ankyoreh is the countryside. Everyone outside Ankyoreh is a country bumpkin.

This arrogance stems from Anjing's bustling prosperity, but also from the innate human tendency to compare oneself with others.

The creation of a hierarchy of contempt through comparison, and the resulting immense sense of superiority, is one of the fundamental driving forces behind human progress.

Yuan Qiansheng, a genius from Anjing No. 1 High School, became a samurai at the age of eighteen. In his eyes, students from outside Anjing No. 1 High School are all trash.

He wouldn't even give a second glance to a boy from the countryside. He knew Bai Yushuang was more proud than him at heart, so why would she be so interested in that boy?

Bai Yushuang sneered: "Gao Wu, an extremely arrogant and conceited fellow."

Yuan Qiansheng slightly curled his lips; he didn't detect any source energy aura on Gao Wu. A country bumpkin who hadn't even opened his acupoints—it was a waste of time to even glance at him.

Bai Yushuang didn't explain her grudge against Gao Wu. Instead, she turned her gaze to Song Mingyue, who was standing in the staff area. Song Mingyue was wearing an iron-gray trench coat and sunglasses. She stood there with her hands in her pockets, looking particularly cool and arrogant.

The staff around her looked like her entourage.

Bai Yushuang liked it more and more as she looked at it, but Song Mingyue seemed unaware of her gaze and never glanced in her direction.

She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but when she looked at Gao Wu, she perked up again. If she could meet him on the arena, she would teach Gao Wu a lesson.

It doesn't matter if she doesn't run into him; she can go to his place and teach Gao Wu a lesson. She can also show Song Mingyue what she's capable of.

Bai Yushuang didn't really like girls that much; she just enjoyed the thrill of teasing others and the uniqueness of being different from others.

She's not good at flirting with guys, so playing around with younger girls is quite fun for her.

She was initially only slightly interested in the arrogant Song Mingyue, but now she was very annoyed by her arrogance. She wanted to find a way to trample Song Mingyue and Gao Wu underfoot to vent her anger.

Of course, you can be more direct when criticizing Gao Wu, but you need to be more skillful when criticizing Song Mingyue.

Song Mingyue had long since noticed Bai Yushuang, and even sensed her subtle malice.

Her main attention was focused on the martial arts masters on the organizing committee, and she had no interest in paying attention to a spoiled girl who didn't know her place.

The chairperson of the organizing committee for this year's Qilin Cup competition is Song Yunzhen, a martial arts master and the dean of the Longteng Martial Arts Academy at Beihai University.

Speaking of Song Yunzhen, he was the first martial arts master in the third generation of the Song family. It is said that he was favored by the Martial King when he was young and received a lot of resources from the family. He can be said to be the most direct descendant of the Song family.

Although Song Mingyue is a direct descendant of the Song family, there are hundreds of direct descendants of the Song family in her generation. Her relationship with her father is still very bad, and she has almost no contact with the Song family.

Even if Song Yunzhen was her aunt, the two had never met. Song Yunzhen might not even know she existed. There were simply too many fourth-generation members in the Song family.

Since they were relatives, Song Mingyue couldn't help but glance at them a few more times. She had no intention of trying to establish a connection through kinship.

The preliminary round of the Qilin Cup not only featured Song Yunzhen, but also An Ziru from Anjing University and Shen An, the vice president of the Hunter Association, both of whom are martial arts masters.

In addition, there were Cheng Peng, a senior deacon of the Hunter Association, He Yuanfang from Beizhou University, and a group of martial arts masters. There were also dozens of warriors present.

Although it was Song Mingyue's first time participating in the Qilin Cup, she knew that such a large lineup was somewhat unusual.

She guessed that the danger might lie in the preliminary rounds, and in order to avoid any accidents, the organizing committee had equipped the event with a high-level security team.

The 450 participating middle school students are all exceptional talents, selected from among thousands. If anything were to happen to any of these students, it would be a huge blow to the martial arts world of Beizhou.

No one should be able to bear such a huge responsibility, so such a strong security team was dispatched to protect them.

The organizing committee was willing to go through all this trouble to hold the preliminary rounds in the secret realm, probably to train these middle school students, to help them adapt to the secret realm as early as possible, to the battles with alien beasts, and to the cruel and bloody reality.

Sure enough, the situation was getting out of hand, which is why universities are adopting more radical methods to train students...

Song Mingyue had long suspected this, and the situation at the Qilin Cup confirmed her suspicions.

Thinking of the terrible disasters caused by the dramatic changes in the world, her heart sank.

The best way to deal with disaster is to improve one's own strength, and fortunately, she has high martial arts skills.

She burned her spiritual power to slay the Angel of Death, but instead established a deeper and more stable spiritual resonance with Gao Wu. Gao Wu's spiritual power was very peculiar, full of endless vitality like a divine dragon in the heavens, the exact opposite of her spiritual power.

The spiritual energies of both sides intertwined, like dragons and snakes dancing together, allowing her to draw vitality from the spiritual energy of the high-level martial arts, which in turn nourished her spiritual foundation and suppressed the destructive and cold aura brought about by the spiritual energy.

The Frosty Celestial Serpent formed from her spiritual power can, in turn, subtly refine Gao Wu's dragon-like spiritual power. Of course, Gao Wu is indispensable to her, but Gao Wu doesn't need her that much.

Having cultivated to this point, Song Mingyue was well aware of this. But she didn't see anything wrong with it; on the contrary, she quite enjoyed the feeling of being able to rely on high-level martial arts...

Gao Wu sensed Song Mingyue's gaze. He grinned, his neat, beautiful white teeth gleaming in the sunlight, but his smile was even brighter and more radiant than the sun.

Song Mingyue's lips curled up slightly, but the smile vanished in an instant.

Bai Yushuang saw it all very clearly. She vowed in her heart that sooner or later she would make Song Mingyue smile at her like that, and smile even more obsequiously...

Song Yunzhen, the chairperson of the organizing committee, stood on a makeshift platform and gave a brief speech.

The martial arts master was stunningly beautiful, dressed in a short trench coat in the style of the Song Dynasty, and spoke with a gentle voice. She didn't say anything particularly special, only emphasizing the rules of the preliminary rounds and the importance of safety.

She emphasized that participating teams can choose to withdraw, but once they participate, they assume all risks and responsibilities.

Gao Wu couldn't help but glance at his coach, Song Yunhui. She was also a third-generation member of the Song family and bore a striking resemblance to Song Yunzhen, both possessing beautiful features and tall statures.

It has to be said, the Song family has really good genes. The men are handsome and the women are beautiful. They also seem to have strong martial arts aptitude.

However, Song Yunzhen was a martial arts master, while Song Yunhui was only a high-level martial artist. Putting aside their social status, the difference in their martial arts cultivation was too great.

Under the blazing sun, Gao Wu activated his Yin Spirit to scrutinize the members of the organizing committee.

The sunlight was like fire, burning the Yin spirits until their blood-red aura surged and rippled. Gao Wu endured the excruciating pain at the Yin spirit level and surveyed the organizing committee and all the participants.

Once the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Mantra reaches its peak, the Yin Spirit becomes exceptionally sensitive to the aura of demonic gods and otherworldly spirits. Gao Wu didn't want any demonic believers among his companions, so he needed to make sure beforehand. He wasn't sure if his Yin Spirit could definitely identify demonic believers, but he needed to see for himself.

After Song Yunzhen stepped down from the stage, a tall woman came up. She had very high cheekbones, deep-set eyes like an eagle, and strong, masculine features.

He was dressed in a full camouflage combat uniform, with a pistol and a longsword on his tactical belt, exuding a tough and soldierly aura.

When she introduced herself, Gao Wu realized that she was actually a martial arts master from Anjing University named An Ziru.

An Ziru spoke in a rough voice and very directly, saying that this preliminary round was even more important than the final round, as it tested everyone's courage and wisdom.

If you perform well in the preliminary round, you will receive an invitation to directly participate in the interview for Ankyo University Martial Arts Academy.

Finally, An Ziru emphasized the importance of unity.

"We will never allow vicious competition, we will never allow mutual attacks, and we will never allow anyone to stand by and watch someone die. The reason we, the descendants of Yan and Huang, have been able to survive to this day is because we have been united as one through blood and civilization."

"Of course, individuals must compete with each other to move forward; this is the foundation of survival for individuals and the race. However, we must distinguish right from wrong and understand the greater good. Simply put, you can only receive help from others if you know how to help them; it's a two-way street..."

Gao Wu agrees with this principle, but explaining it to middle school students participating in competitions is unlikely to be effective.

He could only tell that the martial arts masters took this preliminary round very seriously, sparing no effort to educate a group of teenagers.

Through the Yin Spirit, one could see that the members of the organizing committee were at least martial arts masters, and they had condensed at least twelve source energy acupoints, which shone like clusters of bright light around their bodies.

In particular, several martial arts masters had their acupoints condensed like stars, radiating a bright and stable light, making them appear like gods.

However, the stars condensed by each master were different; some were triangular, some were quadrangular, and the source energy light was also distinguished by different colors. Gao Wu didn't quite understand what these differences represented.

Fortunately, their source energy is pure and powerful. There shouldn't be any problem.

Four of the teenagers also gathered their source energy to open their acupoints, but the light of their source energy mostly flickered and seemed unstable.

The gloomy young man standing next to Bai Yushuang also had a glimmer of light between his brows, suggesting that he had awakened some kind of spiritual power.

Compared to Song Mingyue, she's far inferior, there's practically no comparison...

Just as Gao Wu had predicted, no one noticed the presence of the Yin Spirit. The entire observation process was one-way, which is probably the most mysterious aspect of the Yin Spirit.

According to the preliminary round rules, ten teams form one large team, which is divided into nine large teams in total, and they enter the secret realm of Dragon Claw Mountain along different paths.

Once inside the mountains, you are free to move around, and teams can cooperate with each other.

At the end of April, the sun shone brightly and the spring breeze was refreshing. Everywhere you looked, everything was lush and green, with occasional patches of pink, yellow, and blue adding a sudden richness to the layers of the mountains.

"It's the perfect time for a spring outing..." Gao Wu muttered to Han Yang as he looked at the long line ahead.

Han Yang chuckled and nodded in agreement: "The weather is indeed nice, and the scenery is beautiful too."

As a child of Dongjiang, although he grew up in the city, he often went to the mountains. Seeing the green mountains and forests naturally gave him a sense of closeness.

Yang Ru also became interested: "Let's find a shady spot with a good view for lunch later, it'll be a picnic."

Gao Wu glanced at Yang Ru. This girl was tall and beautiful, a standard beauty, but she wasn't very bright.

He was just joking, but Yang Ru took it seriously. How could she be thinking about having a picnic in a secret realm? She really doesn't know what death means.

Gao Wu had no interest in educating other people's girlfriends. As for Yang Ru's lack of intelligence, Han Yang would take care of her. As long as she didn't do anything stupid in the secret realm and implicate him, that was fine.

He said to his teammates Han Yang, Song Minglin and others: "Have you thought about it? There are about 450 people participating in the preliminary round, and we only have three days to hunt the strange beasts, which means the activity area is only about 2,000 square kilometers."

"Even if some people spare no effort and expand their activity range to 4,000 square kilometers, how many strange beasts would there be in such a large area?"

"Taking snow wolves as an example, an adult snow wolf that has awakened its source power needs at least two hundred square kilometers of territory to meet its food needs. An ordinary snow wolf also needs a territory of several tens of square kilometers."

"In other words, even at the highest possible number, there are only one or two hundred snow wolves in this area. That's not even enough for one wolf per person..."

Han Yang looked at Gao Wu with some surprise. He had always felt that Gao Wu didn't like to use his brain. It wasn't that Gao Wu wasn't smart, but he wasn't the kind of smart person who excelled academically.

These words were well-reasoned and supported by evidence; even though it was just a simple deduction, it was very convincing. Perhaps it was Song Mingyue and Gao Wu who said it?

Han Yang was a little unsure. He pondered for a moment and said, "Does Brother Gao mean that there are very few prey, and we must go deep into the secret realm if we want to enter the top sixteen?"

Anxiety appeared on Yang Ru's pretty face: "The secret realm is connected to another realm. If we go too deep, our safety will be hard to guarantee."

She wanted to make it into the top 16, but she never thought she would risk her life for that spot.

Given the team's strength, they would definitely be eliminated in the first round even if they made it to the top 16, so there's no need to push themselves so hard.

Song Minglin and Yu Rulong nodded repeatedly. They had come to broaden their horizons, and their first reaction to any situation was to play it safe. This was something Coach Song Yunhui had repeatedly emphasized.

Even though Gao Wu was incredibly powerful, everyone admired his martial arts skills and character. However, they wouldn't follow him into a life-or-death situation.

Gao Wu understood his teammates' thoughts, and he never intended to lead them to fight to the death.

If something really happens and a few people die, he, as the team leader, will have to take responsibility. Besides, this isn't really a matter of responsibility.

Life is dead!

The other world is dangerous, and even Gao Wu wouldn't dare say he could protect himself, let alone run away with a few teammates.

He said seriously, "You've misunderstood. What I meant was that there are several martial arts masters and instructors overseeing this preliminary round, as well as numerous warriors providing security."

"Such a large-scale operation indicates that the match is extremely dangerous."

"What do you mean?" Han Yang's expression also turned serious.

"What I mean is that there must be a large number of exotic beasts prepared in the mountains and forests, enough to meet the hunting needs of hundreds of people," Gao Wu said slowly, looking at the rolling mountains and forests.

The team members were all intelligent and immediately understood Gao Wu's words. Their expressions turned serious, and the ease they had shown earlier vanished...

(End of this chapter)