CSMCDB - Chapter 39
Chapter 39
But as it happens, the more you want to see someone, the harder it is to find them.
Wen Yuncheng sat in the A-Class spectator section, listening to the Headmaster recite the opening pledge on the stage, but her mind had already flown over to the S-Class section next door. However, she couldn't see Lin Jinyu anywhere—because only one boy from S-Class had shown up. He sat all alone in the S-Class area, and Wen Yuncheng suspected he had just been sent to save their seats.
The tournament began with G-Class, but the matches featuring the truly strong competitors wouldn't happen until tomorrow. Wen Yuncheng propped her chin on her hand and watched. Although she herself was still a scrub, she could now spot the flaws in the fight between the G-Class and F-Class students on stage. She could even put herself in their shoes and instantly know the best way to dodge or block an attack, as if her body had developed its own muscle memory.
[You are constantly improving, after all,] 1947 said after running a quick scan of Wen Yuncheng's current physical condition. [Your fitness has now reached the standard of a first-layer Star Practitioner. Congratulations.]
Wen Yuncheng: I wouldn't say that. It's all thanks to pills, the Fire Tempering Bath, and sheer exercise.
Without the enhancement of Star Power, improving her physical body was a truly vexing matter. Wen Yuncheng wasn't troubled by a lack of personal strength, but rather by the fact that the process was slow, expensive, and yielded unremarkable results.
Unfortunately, it had to be done. Sigh. Wen Yuncheng thought about the turrets in her storage ring. Those things really took up a lot of space; her eight-square-meter ring could barely squeeze in eight of them. Stroking her chin, she suddenly had a new idea for the battles that might take place tomorrow.
The second day.
"I want to challenge Wen Yuncheng of A-Class!" Lin Jue declared from the stage, his expression resolute. He had boasted from the very beginning that he would defeat Wen Yuncheng to enter A-Class, and this challenge was his last act of stubborn defiance.
"Whoa!~" The spectator stands immediately erupted into a frenzy. Many of the A-Class students whistled and jeered good-naturedly. As Wen Yuncheng rose from her seat and made her way down, she heard someone from an unknown year and class shout from behind, "Wen Yuncheng, Mommy loves you!"
Wen Yuncheng: ???
Zhou Xuan and the others, however, remained calm in their seats, not particularly excited. After all, they had witnessed Lin Jue challenge Wen Yuncheng time and again, only to be defeated each time. Seeing that the young man still hadn't accepted reality and was determined to struggle through the placement matches... Zhou Xuan and his friends sighed and lit a proverbial candle for him.
The imperial family was also in attendance today, and Yan Ling had instructed her: "If you get a chance to go on stage, perform well. Don't embarrass me."
"Wen Yuncheng, I will absolutely, absolutely defeat you!" Lin Jue immediately drew his flashy sword and donned a suit of heavy, red-glowing armor, encasing himself completely.
"Please," Wen Yuncheng said, making an extremely polite 'after you' gesture.
"Let the match begin!-"
"I'll show you how formidab-" Lin Jue swallowed the last word, his eyes wide with shock. He stared, dumbfounded, as Wen Yuncheng waved a hand and eight turrets materialized, encircling her. Every single cannon then swiveled to aim directly at him. "Wait! Hold on! Teacher! Referee! This has to be against the rules, right?!"
"..." In the stands, Yan Ling raised a hand to cover her face. She suspected Wen Yuncheng hadn't listened to a word she'd said.
"But I made them. They're my equipment," Wen Yuncheng said with an innocent expression. She looked down at the A-Class instructor serving as the referee, who was equally speechless. The match was paused. She watched her own instructor run over to the Headmaster to consult him, and after about two or three minutes, they reached a decision.
"Only personal auxiliary armor and weapons are permitted. Turrets may not be used in the competition. The guardian robots you built are also forbidden."
"...Ah, alright then." Wen Yuncheng had no choice but to retract her turrets. She had really thought she'd found an easy way to win.
"Let the match begin!"
Boom!
The match resumed, and Wen Yuncheng gave Lin Jue no opportunity for trash talk. She raised her hand and tossed out an M-84 stun grenade. The massive explosion left Lin Jue unable to utter a word, his hearing and vision momentarily impaired.
Wen Yuncheng immediately followed up by releasing a Pursuer and tossing out an fire explosive and a G-14 grenade. Before Lin Jue could even react, he was hit by two explosions and engulfed in a sea of fire. He staggered back, trying to escape the flames, only for the Pursuer to leap onto him and detonate. Wen Yuncheng swiftly closed the distance, not even bothering to use her mechanical armguards, and knocked him off the stage with a single, sharp kick.
It was too fast.
The crowd was silent for several seconds before the instructor finally announced, "Challenge failed. Wen Yuncheng wins."
Wen Yuncheng flicked some nonexistent dust from her shoulder and turned back toward the A-Class section.
I feel like there's background music playing behind me. 1947, can you hear it? How lonely~ how lonely it is to be invincible~
[...] 1947 sighed, found the song, and began playing it for its charge.
The fight had ended too quickly. Or rather, the audience had barely seen a thing. They just heard four consecutive explosions, and then Wen Yuncheng kicked Lin Jue off the stage. And to think Lin Jue had been dressed so ostentatiously, only to be beaten so badly he couldn't even counterattack.
As for anyone doubting that Wen Yuncheng had created those combat skills herself? Please. Anyone with a high enough cultivation level could easily identify her unique Star Power (mana) embedded within them.
With Lin Jue from B-Class setting the precedent, the subsequent challengers from B-Class all tacitly avoided Wen Yuncheng. While defeating the top student of A-Class would be glorious, it now seemed wiser to just focus on getting into A-Class safely. Even the former A-Class students who had been demoted and were now challenging to get their spots back made a point to steer clear of her.
After all, you'll notice that no one was foolish enough to say, "I'll randomly challenge someone from A-Class."
Lin Jinyu arrived just as the A-Class challenges were beginning and took a seat in the S-Class section. Wen Yuncheng was likely the first person to spot her, as she had been watching for her all along.
The Little Ice Mountain is getting prettier and prettier, Wen Yuncheng mused. In just a few short months, Lin Jinyu had grown taller, and her delicate oval face had become even more striking. Her eyes were cold and impassive, showing neither joy nor sorrow, like a glacial tarn. As Lin Jinyu walked over and sat down in the S-Class section, Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but stare, feeling that her aura held a strange contradiction—it was both sharp and restrained.
[That's sword intent,] 1947 interjected, unable to bear Wen Yuncheng's bizarre descriptions any longer.
Wen Yuncheng: But this isn't a wuxia or cultivation novel!
[This is an eastern fantasy novel! And Lin Jinyu is a sword cultivator!]
Fine. Wen Yuncheng conceded. She looked at Lin Jinyu again. So that cold, sharp aura was the sword intent faintly emanating from her.
[No, she was an ice mountain to begin with. The sword intent can't take the blame for that.]
Just as Wen Yuncheng was about to start an argument with 1947, she looked up and met Lin Jinyu's gaze. She saw Lin Jinyu's expression seem to soften for a moment before she gave a slight nod. Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but smile, her desire to bicker with 1947 vanishing. She sat up straight in her seat, marveling at how skillfully the heavens had crafted Lin Jinyu to be so beautiful.
"I want to challenge S-Class, Lin Jinyu."
It was a student from A-Class.
Wen Yuncheng blinked. She'd fought this young man before; he was a third-layer Star Practitioner. Normally, a student at that level in Class 1-A could contend for the top spot, but unfortunately for him, an anomaly like Wen Yuncheng had infiltrated their class. She had sparred with him often in training. Back when she was a Star Practitioner, their fights had been evenly matched, but ever since she'd advanced to Star Warrior... he was just another opponent she could defeat in an instant.
Still, everyone probably wants to give it a shot, she thought. The chance to break into S-Class... After all, as a second-layer Star Warrior, Lin Jinyu represented the best chance for their year to advance. The rules allowed them to challenge upperclassmen, but not underclassmen, which was why no second- or third-year students had challenged Lin Jinyu.
Watching Lin Jinyu walk onto the stage, Wen Yuncheng instinctively sat up straighter and held her breath. 1947, remember to take screenshots.
[Roger.]
"I ask for your guidance." Li Kongyi gave a formal bow, his expression solemn. In truth, he was extremely nervous. There was an eighty percent chance this challenge would end in failure, but even so... he refused to pass up the opportunity to fight a second-layer Star Warrior.
Wen Yuncheng was an exception. Her flashy, unorthodox skills were simply too overpowered. When fighting her, Li Kongyi never even understood how he lost, let alone learned anything from the experience.
Lin Jinyu nodded, drew her longsword, and placed its scabbard into her storage ring.
-"Let the match begin!"
Shing-
The longsword sliced through the air. Li Kongyi instinctively raised his staff to block, but in the next instant, he was enveloped by a chilling aura. His heart seemed to stop. With dilated pupils, he watched as a wave of white sword qi swept past him, arriving even before the blade itself. It grazed his staff and a few loose strands of hair by his ear before crashing outside the ring, where it was casually dissipated by the S-Class instructor.
The longsword stopped at his neck.
Li Kongyi's face was as pale as paper. He could only watch as Lin Jinyu, her expression impassive, sheathed her sword and walked off the stage.
"Challenge failed. Lin Jinyu wins!"
Li Kongyi's mind went blank. By the time he snapped out of it, his back was drenched in cold sweat. He gave a wry twitch of his lips and prepared to leave the stage. As he moved to put his weapon away, a section of the staff broke off and rolled to the ground. The cut was perfectly smooth, and a faint layer of white frost lingered on the surface.
Li Kongyi raised a hand to his face and discovered a shallow red line on his cheek and the tip of his ear. Blood only began to seep out when he touched it, feeling ice-cold against his skin.
Li Kongyi walked off the stage in a daze. Why on earth did I think it was a good idea to challenge Lin Jinyu? he wondered. Fighting Wen Yuncheng is an instant loss, so why would fighting Lin Jinyu be any different? Both of them had completely wiped the floor with him. Where did he get the naive idea that, "Even though I can't beat Wen Yuncheng, I can surely last a few rounds against Lin Jinyu and learn something from her fighting style"?
Damn it! Monsters! They're both monsters!
Wen Yuncheng watched as Lin Jinyu returned to her seat in the S-Class section, her face as impassive as ever. She blinked. She had never seen Lin Jinyu use that combat skill before. No, that wasn't right—it was a sword style. And... a very different one at that.
Was it from that fateful opportunity?
Get instant access to all chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment