Chapter 55: Exchange Match

  I smiled and shook my head, saying: "I suggest you bet on Tian Academy. If Tian wins, your benefits will be even greater."

  That person said disdainfully: "The Sky Academy doesn't even have a glimmer of hope, and it's just barely comparable to the bottom-ranked Songshi Academy. As for the other academies, I think they can be dealt with by sending out no more than three people."

  I no longer continued arguing with him about this issue and asked: "Can you tell me when the game starts and where it begins?"

  "You don't even know this? Starting tomorrow, it will be held at the Xilun Academy Square. I reckon many people will go to reserve a spot tonight, otherwise, it might not be possible to squeeze in tomorrow. Our Xilun City hasn't been so lively for a long time."

  "Thank you." Although I'm not really interested in betting, I'm confident that I can make Tiandu win this game. Maybe if Tiandu wins, Ziyuan and the others will be in a better mood, and I'll have a chance too.

  "Brother, listen to me, suppress your greed, although the odds are not high, but it's a sure win."

  I shook my head and squeezed into the crowd. Although there were many people, it was easy for me to squeeze in with my skills. I pressed down on my hat and asked the banker, "Do you accept real goods?" The banker, who was collecting bets from around him, replied casually, "Only gemstones are accepted." I took out a piece of chicken bloodstone from my pocket and said in a low voice, "I bet 1 million gold coins that Tian Du Academy will win."

  The originally noisy crowd suddenly fell silent, and everyone stared at me. The host looked up in astonishment, staring at the chicken blood stone in my hand with wide eyes.

  "What? Isn't it worth this price?"

  The banker collected his thoughts, lowered his head and consulted with the assistant next to him for two sentences, then turned to me and said: "I'm not familiar with gemstones, please follow me." As he spoke, he turned around and walked towards the back of the store, and the crowd that had been watching automatically parted to make way for us. Everyone looked at me with a look that seemed to say I was an idiot for betting on such a long shot.

  As soon as Mr. Zuo entered the store, he politely asked me to step aside and said, "Excuse me, please wait here for a moment, I'll find someone to appraise your gemstone."

  I nodded, this is my last piece of chicken blood stone, if I wasn't confident, I wouldn't have used it as a bet. When Ziyan said that these gems were conservatively estimated to be worth one million gold coins, she was probably right.

  After waiting for more than half an hour, the Zhuang family finally brought in two people. One was very old, with snow-white hair and a beard, but despite this, his waist was straight as a pen, looking robust. The other was very young, about my age, wearing a white Confucian robe, handsome, with a straight nose and square mouth, extremely dashing, with a decorative sword inlaid with gems hanging from his waist, clearly a rich family's son.

  "That's Mr. Sun Ze, the largest jeweler in our city of Xi Leng, and this is the gentleman who wants to use gemstones as collateral."

  I stood up and nodded to the old man.

  "Sir, may I take a look at your gemstone?" I handed over the chicken blood stone. Sun Zedao and the young man who came with him both had an unusual glow in their eyes. I could clearly feel that Sun Zedao's hand was trembling as he took out a magnifying glass from his pocket and carefully examined the chicken blood stone under good lighting. The young man also leaned over beside him, looking bewildered.

  After a long time, Sun Ze and the Zhuang family exchanged a glance. The Zhuang family showed an inquiring gaze, while Sun Ze shook his head and turned to me, saying: "Sir, although you are an outsider, I absolutely cannot deceive you. As a jeweler, I have my own professional integrity. Frankly speaking, this flawless top-grade chicken blood stone of yours is worth over 5 million gold coins. If we only offer 1 million gold coins, it would be a loss." Upon hearing his words, the Zhuang family's eyes nearly popped out as they exclaimed: "What? This little red stone is worth 5 million gold coins?"

  Sun Ze looked at him with some disdain and said, "This is just my conservative estimate. If it were to be auctioned off in the market, it might fetch an even higher price. This is a top-grade chicken blood stone, which has the effect of prolonging one's life, refreshing the mind, and improving memory when worn for many years. For the elderly, wearing it can maintain their vitality and memory, making it a truly invaluable treasure that cannot be found anywhere else nowadays. I'm calling you 'little brother' out of kindness, so I advise you not to use it as a betting chip. Sell it to me instead, and I'll give you the amount I mentioned earlier."

  I hadn't even responded, and the young man who came with him said: "Old Sun, let me have this gemstone instead. I'll give you 60 million gold coins." I was secretly shocked in my heart - what kind of people are these? They can casually take out hundreds of millions of gold coins to buy a single gemstone. Sun Ze turned his head and bitterly smiled at the young man: "Do you want to use money to kill me? Ah, it's not particularly useful for you to have it, but if I had it, maybe I could live another 10 years."

  I sneered inwardly, what does it have to do with me if you can live 10 more years? I took the Chicken Blood Stone back from Sun Ze and said calmly: "Sorry, this gemstone is not for sale, only as a stake. Banker, are you going to accept it or not? Since it's worth 50 million gold coins, I'll bet 50 million then, or bet on the victory of Tian Du Academy."

  The landlord's forehead was sweating, although he knew that the possibility of Tian Du College winning was extremely small, but he had never accepted such a large bet before, and for a moment, he was at a loss. The young man frowned and looked me up and down, wearing a bamboo hat, and said to the landlord: "Since this brother is so determined, then you can take it."

  The host let out a sigh of relief, respectfully took the chicken blood stone from my hand, and it seemed that this young man's identity was not ordinary. I said coldly: "I don't know if you can afford to pay 80 million gold coins in Xilun City. I can tell you that I am one of the participants of the Tiandu College competition, which doesn't count as violating the gambling agreement, does it?"

  A glint of cold light flashed in the young man's eyes, and he said in surprise: "You're a contestant from Tiandu College. I haven't seen you before. However, this doesn't count as cheating. There are also people from Fēngshān College who suppress their own college, only with much smaller stakes compared to yours. Since you have so much confidence, of course, I'm willing to help you fulfill your wish. Do you think Tiandu can win against Fēngshān? Since you're willing to make a free contribution, I'd be happy to accept it."

  I took the heavily betted token from Zhuang's hand and said in a low voice, "Let the lord of Xilun City prepare 80 million gold coins. If there is no cash, it can be replaced with goods." After finishing speaking, I turned around and left. In fact, my demand for money was not much, this time I just thought it was fun, since the lord of Xilun City wanted to make money from this opportunity, I would play along with him, after all, more money is always better than less.

  …………

  At dawn, I carried Mingming to the entrance of Xilun Academy. The scene in front of me was shocking. Compared with the sky, the scale of Xilun Academy was not much smaller, but what surprised me was the sea of people in front of me. The gate was blocked, and the crowd was desperately squeezing inside. It's likely that even a needle couldn't be inserted inside if there weren't many soldiers maintaining order, or else chaos would have erupted early on. As I arrived at the entrance, a loud voice shouted: "Everyone, please don't squeeze in anymore! The academy is already full, please just wait here! We will notify you of the competition situation as soon as possible." The person's voice was powerful and resonant, and it was clear that he had deep cultivation. His words immediately caused a commotion among the crowd, with most people retreating reluctantly, while some hopefuls continued to squeeze inside.

  I can see Ziyan and Zixue right away, how could I back down at this time? I wrapped my body with Kuangshen Douqi, and my whole body emitted a faint yellow aura. The people in front of me were forcibly separated by the energy I released, and the people on the side only felt their bodies being squeezed hard for a moment before returning to normal. I took advantage of this opportunity to enter the crowd, and under the opening of Kuangshen Douqi, I finally squeezed in.

  As soon as I entered the Western Academy, the first thing I saw was a huge high platform, which should be the trial venue. I squeezed to a place about 10 meters away from the platform and stopped. Due to the protection of Dou Qi, people around me couldn't squeeze into my body. At this time, it's still early for the competition, but all the onlookers are in an excited state, discussing and arguing with each other. From their conversations, I learned that the first match today is between Western Academy and Tiandu Academy, and the second match is between Songzhi Academy and Fengtai Academy. This schedule seems reasonable, I thought that as the host, Western Academy would definitely find a way to compete with Songzhi Academy. Now it seems that this competition is still relatively fair.

  A man in a yellow robe walked onto the stage, bowed to the crowd and said: "Thank you very much for coming today. I am the Director of Foreign Affairs at Xilun Academy. Please let our Dean speak a few words." He then invited an elderly man from the VIP seat, who looked like he had practiced martial arts his whole life, to walk up onto the stage with a majestic gait. The person next to me whispered to their friend: "This is the Dean of Xilun Academy! I heard that he has the strength of a mid-ranking Sword Saint and is very famous among warriors on the continent. He's also the Honorary Vice-Chairman of the Dragon God Martial Arts Association."

  Sword Saint? This title interests me, I wonder what realm I can reach after transforming, probably at least the upper rank of Holy Knight, and with my upper rank Demon Mage's magical abilities, heh heh, this old guy may not be a match for me, after all, he doesn't have the help of a Divine Dragon.

  "Hello everyone, first of all, I represent Xiren College to welcome the other three colleges to our Xiren as guests, and also welcome you all to come and watch. This competition, the four colleges are in the spirit of martial arts friendship and exchange...". This old man can really talk, his speech lasted for a whole meal,"...Finally, I hope that during the competition, everyone will not make noise, give the contestants a quiet environment, thank you." Finally finished, I estimate if he continues to speak, probably someone below would have thrown eggs (if anyone had brought them).

  The Foreign Affairs Department director walked up again and said loudly: "The four university exchange competition is now starting, the first match is between Tiandu College and Xilun College, please ask the players to enter the field."

  As he spoke, I suddenly tensed up. From the southern passageway of the competition arena, two teams emerged simultaneously, each with over a dozen people. The six in front were contestants, while those behind them were healers, substitute contestants, and team teachers. I didn't even glance at Xilun Academy; my eyes were fixed on the Tiandu Academy entrants. To my surprise, the one walking at the very front was none other than Feng Wen, whom I hadn't seen in days. As a second-year student, he was already participating in this grand tournament - it seemed that Tiandu's teachers were intent on cultivating him. Feng Wen's aura was more subdued than before, with a hint of melancholy on his face. I looked past him and was shocked to see the person behind him - it was none other than my long-admired Ziyun. Today, she wore a white magic robe, although her hood covered her head; however, her unique sacred aura allowed me to recognize her at a glance. I gazed at her intently, and apart from an even more intense sacred aura, there were no changes in her - her head was slightly lowered, only revealing her chin. My body trembled as I felt my heart racing - it had been less than a year since we last met, and now I finally saw her again here.

  As I went further back, I overtook several senior contestants and searched for Zixue's figure. To my surprise, the first person I saw was Teacher Zhuang, who was also one of the team leaders this time. She was talking to the vice principal with a serious expression on her face, clearly not optimistic about today's competition. After the two teachers walked by, I finally saw Zixue. She was wearing a blue magic robe, and her hood wasn't covering her head. Zixue's small face looked pale, much thinner than when I left Tiandu. Seeing her like this, my heart felt a strong pang of guilt. I knew it must be because of me that she had become like this. Zixue, I'm not worth it, I've wronged you. My eyes were already getting moist.

  Both parties' entrants bowed to the audience and judges around them before returning to their respective rest seats. My gaze remained on Zixue and Ziyuan, Zixue looked very silent, from entering to now, she hadn't said a word to anyone. Ziyuan was slightly better, talking to the vice president about something, due to the noise here, even with my hearing ability, I couldn't hear their conversation.

  After the Director of Foreign Affairs in Xiluo announced the start of the competition, Feng asked the first representative from Tiandu College to come on stage. On the other hand, Xiluo sent out a sickly-looking young man who was slender and wore ordinary civilian clothes, holding a magic wand in his hand. If one were to judge by appearance alone, even a gentle breeze could blow him down. Four middle-aged magicians stood at the four corners of the competition stage.

  After the two men exchanged bows, they began their first match.

  I ignore the loud shouting around me, and just stare fixedly at the purple-clad sisters in the rest area. I really want to rush over and hug them, telling them all the thoughts in my heart, but now is not the right time.

  Suddenly, I felt a strong magical fluctuation coming from the front, and I couldn't help but turn my head to look. The match between Feng Wu and the sickly youth had already begun. The magical fluctuations were coming from the four elderly magicians at the corners, who had set up a powerful defensive barrier around the competition stage that separated it from the surrounding spectators.

  Feng didn't relax his vigilance due to the weakness of his opponent's appearance, carefully casting wind magic on himself. He shouted loudly, "Be careful!" His long sword swung diagonally, releasing a vacuum slash. A pale blue energy shot out like lightning towards his opponent. From just this one move, I could tell that Feng's abilities had made great progress, the vacuum slash was controlled extremely well and the attack area was very large, forcing his opponent to engage in a fierce battle with him. He wanted to first test his opponent's strength before deciding how to proceed with the attack.

  Xilun's slender youth held a wooden magic wand in front of him, muttering incantations under his breath. A layer of pale blue magical barrier appeared before him, which was a water-based defensive magic, similar to the one I used to defend against Lianluo's attack, but with a higher level, it was a third-level magic.

  The Void Cutter was unable to break through this defense and disappeared in the waves of the defensive barrier.

  The slender young man's magic was quite good, silently blocking Fengwen's probing attack. He didn't wait for Fengwen to continue his assault and began chanting: "Gentle waters, condense into ice, transform into arrows, scatter among humans - Ice Arrow Technique." This was a water-based variant magic.

  White light spots gradually appeared in the field, and the light spots continued to gather. Feng Wen was not foolish and knew that the opponent's magic was not easy to resist. His body moved quickly, and he pounced on the opponent like lightning, with his long sword bringing up a cyan glow and slashing down.

  The frail young man's eyes suddenly lit up, and he no longer looked weak and feeble. With a loud shout, his entire body burst out with a layer of purple light. I knew that this was not magic, but a kind of extraordinary aura. The frail young man's body rapidly rotated the purple-red aura directly towards Feng Wen.

  With a loud "boom", Feng Wen was knocked back to his original position. In terms of Dou Qi intensity, the two people were not far apart, but at this moment, the skinny boy's Ice Arrow Technique had taken shape. Hundreds of ice cones, each about a foot long, appeared in the air and accelerated rapidly under the skinny boy's control, shooting towards Feng Wen. Feng Wen hastily waved his long sword in front of him, conjuring up a cyan light screen to resist the opponent's magic, struggling to hold on, his appearance somewhat wolf-like.

  Most of the audience thought Fengwen was going to lose, but I didn't think so. From my understanding of Fengwen, his greatest advantage lies in the fusion of Dou Qi and magic, as well as his speed. At first, he was at a disadvantage mainly because he didn't understand his opponent, allowing the frail-looking youth to seize the opportunity to unleash his own specialty - a combination of magic and Dou Qi. I believe that Fengwen still has a chance to turn the tables.

  A frail young man was exerting his utmost control over the ice cone's gale, while softly chanting another incantation. Judging from his magical power and usage, this youth had already attained the cultivation of a lower-ranked magic conductor, capable of controlling fifth-grade or lower magic. From his appearance, it seemed that he mainly practiced water-elemental magic, which made his magical prowess extremely astonishing.

  A frail-looking young man had a hint of a triumphant smile on his face, apparently another one of his spells was complete. Feng Wu stood firmly on the ground, with the wind elements around him rotating fiercely, and the ice cone could no longer pose a threat to him.

  A frail young man shouted loudly: "Ice Seal Extreme Frost Wave." He grasped his magic wand with both hands and quickly drew a blue six-pointed star in front of his chest, a blue light column with a diameter of nearly one meter shot out straight, covering Feng Wen.

  I was shocked in my heart, knowing that this was a level 5 water magic that could quickly freeze all living things. Fengwen was still resisting the ice cone and seemed to have no time to dodge his opponent's killing move. The thin boy's face had already revealed a victorious smile. His released Ice Seal Extreme Freeze indeed hit Fengwen smoothly, and a beautiful ice sculpture appeared in the arena.

  Just as everyone thought the weak young man had won, a green shadow suddenly flashed out from behind the ice sculpture and flew to the front of the weak young man like lightning. The weak young man only felt a flash before his eyes, and a long sword had already appeared on his neck. And the owner of the long sword was none other than Feng Wen, who should have been sealed in the ice.

  The frail young man loosened his grip, and the magic wand fell to the ground with a clang. He stared wide-eyed, unable to believe it was true, muttering: "This...this can't be possible, you were clearly sealed by me."

  Feng smiled slightly and said, "I admit your magic is very strong, but what you sealed was just the residual shadow I created using my Dou Qi. I also won by a hair's breadth, exhausting all my strength to use that shadow to absorb the magic you released. I think it shouldn't be necessary to continue any further, right?"

  The frail young man sighed and said, "It was my fault for being too careless. You win this time." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked down from the stage.

  The surrounding audience did not ignore him because Feng Wen was not a student of Xilun Academy, but instead gave him a warm round of applause. The vice president, Feng Wen, stretched out his thumbs. A proud smile appeared on Principal Zhuang's face.

  Feng Wu's progress in Dou Qi is not small, he can actually use the residual shadow to block a level 5 attack magic, although this has something to do with calculating the distance from his opponent, but it also shows that he has the strength to take risks. No wonder, the deputy dean let him participate in the competition this time.

  The head of the Foreign Affairs Department of Xilun walked onto the stage and asked Feng, "Can you continue to participate in the competition?" He didn't show any expression because his academy's disciples lost the match.

  The wind nodded in agreement and continued.

  The second person on the platform of Western Academy was surprisingly a girl, wearing a cyan magic robe, obviously a wind system magician. She looked very lovely, with a mischievous smile on her face.

  Feng Wu saw his opponent's appearance and was slightly distracted - this guy wouldn't have fallen for his own opponent during the competition, would he?

  The female magician nodded slightly and said: "Hello, I'm Kaylin. Nice to meet you."

  Feng Wen's face turned red, and he nodded similarly: "Ah, you, you're good, my name is Feng Wen." Just by looking at him, it was clear that he had already lost a few points without even fighting, the power of a beauty was indeed great.

  Kailin's sweet smile, "Then I'll start. Wind of Freedom, listen to my call, shatter the space, tear it apart." Along with her incantation, the airflow on the competition stage suddenly went wild, countless tiny wind blades pounced towards Feng Wen.

  Feng asked, and in an instant, his clothes had been silently slashed by the wind blades in several places. He was shocked and hastily activated his Dou Qi, emitting a faint cyan glow from his body, which barely withstood the opponent's wind blades.

  Kai Lin burst out laughing and said: "You look so silly, Hurricane Dragon, Dragon turns like a scroll, activate it, Dragon Tornado Storm."

  I was shocked in my heart, this female magician's magic application is too strong, the magic she used at first was only to accelerate the wind element in the air, and the incantation behind was the real killer. The magic she used was not as gentle as her smile, the dragon tornado storm was a very powerful move among the fifth-level wind system magic, it was a big magic from the beginning, apparently she wanted to solve the Wind Question in a short time. I think the Wind Question should understand this truth, if he doesn't have any countermeasures, then he is doomed to lose.

  A small tornado appeared in front of the girl, and she clapped her hands together before suddenly separating them. The tornado immediately charged towards Feng Wen, who only then fully came to his senses. However, time no longer allowed him to use powerful magic techniques, especially since he had lost a lot of physical strength during the exchange with his previous opponent. Facing the charging tornado, Feng Wen's body rapidly spun around, and he actually formed a drilling posture with his body as the axis, charging straight at the tornado head-on. This posture reminded me of our first encounter, where I suffered heavy injuries from this very same drilling attack.

  If Feng Wu was in his best state and didn't lose focus when using this move, I think it should be enough to counter the opponent's magic, but his current state... It seems he really is doomed to lose.

  As expected, Feng Wen was immediately swept away by the tornado as soon as he charged in. His body was somewhat out of control, and just when he was about to be blown away, a brilliant blue light suddenly burst forth from his hands within the tornado. A beam of blue light shot out from the tornado, heading straight for Kailin. The speed of the blue light could only be described as lightning-fast, and Kailin's face turned pale with fright. As a pure mage who didn't know any martial arts, she was completely defenseless against such an intense lightning attack.

  Just as the audience thought Kaylin was about to disappear, Qingmang suddenly shifted and flew past Kaylin's face with a loud crash, hitting the defensive barrier of the competition venue. The barrier rippled with large waves, and the four elderly magicians responsible for defense simultaneously tensed up. Fengwen's full-strength blow was indeed not trivial.

  Fengwen, who was about to deliver the final blow, was swept up by the tornado and heavily crashed into another barrier on the side, before falling onto the stage with a disheveled appearance.

  After a while, Feng Wu struggled to get up, with a thread of blood on the corner of his mouth, and smiled bitterly: "Miss Kailin, you win."

  A strange light flashed in Ke Lin's eyes, and he said softly: "You're a good person."

  Feng's face turned red, he looked at her deeply for a moment, then turned and stepped down from the stage.

  Xiren's Foreign Affairs Director came up again and asked Kailin if he would continue to fight. Kailin bowed to the audience and said loudly: "Everyone just saw that his last move could have killed me, but he spared my life. I'm very grateful to Fengwen Shixiong. For this match, I think it should be considered a draw. So, I've decided not to participate in the next match."

  The audience in the field applauded warmly, and everyone was both for Fengwen's tenderness and Kailin's elegant demeanor. I smiled secretly in my heart, Fengwen, you little devil, it seems that you're going to have a romantic luck.

  The following matches were equally exciting, with the two colleges sending out their ace students. Both sides had wins and losses, and the final match was extremely dramatic, almost a replica of Kailin vs Fengwen, except that Kailin was replaced by Ziyuan. Ziyuan's opponent was the trump card of Xilin College, also the last student to take the stage. Ziyuan's stunning beauty gave him a shock that far exceeded Kailin's impact on Fengwen. He didn't even get to show off his skills, to be precise, he didn't even put up any resistance before being blasted away by Ziyuan's light magic. I believe that after returning, the two colleges will definitely strengthen their students' mental education, especially their resistance to beauties.

  If only strength is considered, Xilun is indeed stronger than Tiandu, but they didn't expect that with the emergence of Fengwen's black horse, one person took down their two top experts, and adding Ziyuan's beauty and strength, they were unexpectedly eliminated.

  The contestants of Tiandu returned to their own rest seats, and soon, the other two colleges also started their exchange matches.

  After the match between Matsuzaka and Kaze no Tani began, I found that there was suddenly one more person in the resting seat of Tenkō Academy. This person was the handsome young man I met when I was betting. Looking at him, he seemed to be facing Shigure. A sour feeling surged up in my heart, and I gathered my strength to push through the crowd and squeeze past them. It wasn't until I was twenty meters away that I stopped, focusing my ears and concentrating on listening to their conversation.

  That handsome young man is talking with the vice president, he speaks very politely.

  "Congratulations, Tiandu College has qualified for the final."

  The deputy dean smiled and said: "You're just lucky, don't be polite."

  The handsome young man smiled and said: "Miss Ziyan's charm is really great, almost without much effort, she won the last crucial game, I really admire her."

  Ziyan said faintly: "You're overpraising, my master has already said that we just got lucky, the strength of Xilun Academy is stronger than us, not weaker."

  The young man did not back down due to Ziyan's indifferent attitude and said, "Miss Ziyan, yesterday a gentleman bet that your Tiandu College could win, which I found quite strange. But after seeing your outstanding performance today, I think he indeed has a discerning eye. With Miss Ziyan on their side, it won't be difficult for Tiandu to defeat Fengyue Academy."

  Ziyan furrowed her brow, slightly angry: "Are you saying I won by relying on my beauty?"

  "I don't dare, if I said something wrong, please don't be angry. I just wanted to say that the sacred aura emanating from you is something we ordinary people wouldn't dare to intrude upon. It's not meant in any other way. After all the matches are over later, would you have some time to let me play host and invite you out for a meal?"

  Ziyan gave him a cold glance and said, "Can't you invite my master to dinner instead? Don't waste your efforts, I've never been interested in embroidered pillowcases." Hearing her say this, I secretly rejoiced. After leaving me, Ziyan's arrogant attitude returned, still with that air of reverence for martial arts.

  After hearing Ziyan's words, the young man's face changed slightly, and his body emitted a strong aura. He said: "Miss Ziyan, I'm not some embroidered pillowcase. If there's an opportunity, I'll prove it to you. Since Miss doesn't want to accept my invitation, I'll take my leave first. It seems that I really need to prepare, otherwise if you win tomorrow, we will lose big time." From his aura, his skills are not weak. Originally, he had been hiding his true strength. This person gave me a feeling of being unfathomable.

  Ziyan Qidao: "We win, why would you lose?"