Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Teacher Xu Yafen first gave them a pep talk, and when she saw the students below with excitement and longing on their faces, she nodded in satisfaction and continued, "The purpose of this selection competition is to select the five most outstanding students from the twelve of you who have signed up to participate in this year's first Asian Ability Exchange Competition."

Five? Qin Xiaochuan stared at Xu Yafen in surprise. He thought he had misheard, but the commotion in the auditorium told him that he was right. Xu Yafen had indeed said five. What was going on?

"Excuse me, teacher, wasn't this competition supposed to have six contestants? Why is it now only five?" someone in the crowd asked on his behalf.

Xu Yafen knew that some people would have questions, so she smiled and said, "The competition does need six contestants, but one applicant has already reached level 6 in spiritual power. After discussing it with Teacher Ge, we decided to exempt her from the selection process and let her directly advance to the competition. So now we only need to select five more contestants."

The moment Xu Yafen uttered those words, the classroom erupted in chaos: Level 6 Spiritual Power! Someone had actually reached Level 6 Spiritual Power? How was that possible? What kind of freak could do that? Why had we never heard of such a thing before?

Hearing the heated discussion around him, Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but sneer. So that's how it is. He knew it! Why would the school waste such a powerful resource? It turns out this girl had already used connections.

Indeed, the moment Xu Yafen uttered those words, he immediately guessed that the person who had advanced to the competition ahead of schedule was Guo Shiyi.

When he was with her before, he didn't have a strong feeling about her level 6 spiritual power. But today, when he looked at these elite students with only level 4 and 5 spiritual power, he suddenly realized that the girl was actually a complete monster.

Then Xu Yafen continued to explain the competition rules to them. This selection competition was not an elimination system, but a scoring system. Throughout the entire selection competition, each person only needed to fight one battle.

The twelve individuals will be divided into six groups to compete. The judges will score them based on their performance in the competition, and the final rankings will be based on the scores. The top five will advance to the next round.

Because this match only determines whether a team advances based on the final score, it has nothing to do with the outcome of the match. One thing is certain: at least one of these six groups will not advance even if they win the match.

This competition format was a bit unexpected for Qin Xiaochuan. He had originally planned to have a fair fight with Su Chen in the selection competition, but now his chances of facing him were only one in six.

Xu Yafen then began announcing the match order, and he kept silently praying that his opponent would be Su Chen.

However, his silent prayers were in vain; that one-sixth of luck was not his.

"The third match, Qin Xiaochuan and Gong Sida." Xu Yafen's gentle voice echoed in the auditorium.

Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but clench his fists, thinking to himself, "Does this mean I can only challenge him in the major competition?"

Xu Yafen quickly finished announcing the match order, and just as she was about to announce the specific match locations and times, Su Chen suddenly said, "Teacher, could we change our opponents?"

Xu Yafen glanced at Su Chen with a puzzled look, but before she could speak, she heard Ge Zishen beside him coldly ask, "Who do you want to switch with?"

Upon hearing Ge Zishen's words, Xu Yafen couldn't help but frown slightly, but she didn't say anything, only looking at Ge Zishen thoughtfully.

"Teacher, Qin Xiaochuan and I have always wanted to have a match with each other, so I hope you can give us a chance to switch the order of our matches."

Su Chen was an outer disciple of the Kongtong Sect. Whether Ge Zishen was intentionally looking out for Su Chen or not, he did not refuse Su Chen's request, but said, "Unless the other three people also agree."

Qin Xiaochuan immediately answered without hesitation, "I'm willing."

This selection competition wasn't about winning or losing to determine who advanced; it didn't matter who they faced. Seeing how enthusiastic the other two were, they naturally couldn't refuse and agreed as well.

Therefore, after some adjustments, his match against Su Chen was finally scheduled for the third game.

The night before the competition, Qin Xiaochuan felt inexplicably excited, so he stopped meditating and went up to the sixth-floor rooftop alone.

There was no one on the rooftop; after all, it was late autumn, and the night air was quite chilly. If it were summer, there would definitely be many people up there, spreading out a mat on the ground, buying a bunch of snacks and a dozen beers, a few classmates sitting together, drinking and enjoying the cool air, their cheerful laughter echoing into the dormitory on the sixth floor.

But now it's late autumn, and no one would have the mood or the courage to do those things anymore. Sitting on the ground for a short while at this time would immediately give you goosebumps. But that's exactly what he wanted. Here, he could be isolated from all the noise and disturbances. There were no more excited shouts in the dormitory, nor the hurried footsteps in the corridor. Only silence remained here.

The rooftop was pitch black, but he didn't need light. He seemed to have transformed into the true Blood Witch King, silently moving through the darkness, step by step reaching the edge of the rooftop.

The edge of the rooftop was a railing. He leaned on the railing, looking at the other dormitory buildings. It felt like standing on a high mountaintop, looking down at the lights of thousands of homes below.

The place was brightly lit, with figures moving back and forth in the lights. Some people were running and playing around, while others were just sitting quietly at their computers, engrossed in playing computer games. Whenever they had a spare moment, they would take out a cigarette from the pack next to the table, light it, put it in their mouths, and take a light puff. They could almost see the other person's eyes squinting with pleasure in the rising smoke.

But he could only see their shapes. No matter how desperately they shouted or how quietly they smoked, it was all like a silent movie to him, as if he and they were from two different worlds.

The rooftop was quiet and lonely.

He remembered that it was autumn just last year, when he had just entered his senior year of high school and had not yet fully immersed himself in the tension of preparing for the college entrance examination. Young and youthful, they still had extra time to fantasize and feel sentimental.

That day, the Chinese teacher probably went over a question about analyzing an ancient poem. The class was really boring. He was lying on the table, quietly watching Xia Ruoyi's back as she sat in front of him. In that increasingly cold autumn and winter, he always liked to look at her back. She was always so well-behaved and quiet. Looking at her back, he felt a warm feeling in his chest.

It should have been after class, but he didn't notice, still lost in Xia Ruoyi's silhouette. Suddenly, she turned around and looked at him, asking, "Qin Xiaochuan, why do you think people in ancient times were so fond of melancholy in autumn?"

When she said those words, Qin Xiaochuan could see a faint sadness in her eyes. At that time, boys tended to fantasize, while girls were more prone to sentimentality.

He chuckled, feigning understanding, and said to her, "Isn't that obvious?"

"What?" she asked.

"Because in autumn, girls wear thick clothes, which is naturally a sad thing," he said with a wicked grin.

In summer, girls always wear very light clothing. When boys see the ridges on their backs through their thin clothes, they can't help but blush and their hearts race. So in summer, the classroom is always inexplicably filled with a restless atmosphere.

To his surprise, Xia Ruoyi wasn't angry at his "evil" words, or even pretended to be angry. Instead, she chuckled, and then they started chatting happily.

That was the first time he and she had a conversation where they could talk about anything.

Will she be there for tomorrow's match? He asked himself, but didn't know who to ask. Even if she was there, who would she be cheering for? Probably not him, right?

No one answered his question; the rooftop was silent.

It's lonely too.