Chapter 83: One-on-One Duel

A few days passed after their first round of matches. Their team had been using all the time that they had to take breaks and prepare for the next round. Over the next few rounds, they defeated a few other teams and secured victories. After those rounds of competition, the name of the Moon of the Nine Heavens team had started to spread among the freshmen, which was good news for them.

Finally, they fought their way through and successfully advanced to the qualifying matches. Unlike the previous dungeon challenge, the rules for the qualifying match were even simpler than they thought before:

Each team has to send out a member to participate in a one-on-one duel against their opponent. The winner would remain in the arena, while the opposing team would need to choose another member to participate in the one-on-one duel with the winner. This cycle would continue until one team’s seven team members had all been defeated.

"In other words, if the first person of the team is strong enough to defeat all of them, then they could literally take on all seven opponents by themselves and win the entire round," Lin Xingxue said thoughtfully as she lowered her head; a light flickered through her eyes.

Inside the waiting room before the match, Mo Shiyan frowned a little as he stared at the competition rules in his hand.

Su Li walked over and glanced toward the paper, asking, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing. But it seems like there’s gonna be some exciting battles happening today," he said calmly and placed the paper onto the table.

"Interesting...?"

Jiang Zihan did not join their discussion; instead, he glanced down at the arena and fell deep into his thoughts.

The first qualifying match had already begun. After a brief introduction of the two teams, they stood on opposite ends of the arena.

The host’s voice echoed throughout the arena as he shouted with a microphone in hand. "Both sides, salute! Teams, please send out your first contestants!"

Two students stepped forward at the same time. After making sure that everything’s okay, the host yelled out, "I declare the first qualifying match—now begin!"

The second the host gave the signal, the two of them instantly charged at each other. One of the students materialized with a long sword in hand and struck it toward the other student, while he materialized a thunderbolt whip in hand and shot it toward him.

Both of them chose to start out with full strength, which caused the audience to cheer even louder, trying to support the teams that they like. After just a few minutes, one of the students seemed to drain his magical energy already and was defeated by a roundhouse kick by his opponent, and tumbled across the floor.

Jiang Zihan just glanced at the arena a few times before turning his head back. He heard the staff membering calling out their team’s name and arranging them at Arena No. 3.

"Let us welcome the Moon of the Nine Heavens team, facing off against... the Blue Crystal team!" the host quickly announced.

"Who’s going first?" Chen Tianyu tentatively asked as he took a step back and walked a little further away from his captain.

"I will go—"

Lin Xingxue decided and stood up from the chair, wanting to prepare for the next round. However, before she could even finish her sentence, Mo Shiyan suddenly announced, "Tianyu, you go first."

Chen Tianyu froze in place and looked around at his team members. Noticing that everyone’s sight was on him, he slowly raised his head and pointed toward himself, his hands trembling. "Me? Captain, did you just say my name?" he asked.

"Mm, you go first," Mo Shiyan nodded his head in confirmation.

Chen Tianyu: "..."

The corner of his mouth twitched a little, which he quickly hid behind Jiang Zihan, trying to pretend that he didn’t hear what Mo Shiyan said. He is now regretting why he had opened his mouth to ask that question.

Now it’s so good... he had just volunteered himself to be the first one to fight.

"Captain, can I choose not to go?" he asked with a low voice, hoping that his captain would let go of him.

"Oh?" Mo Shiyan raised an eyebrow. Then, just as Chen Tianyu’s eyes slowly lit up, the smile on his face immediately disappeared as he replied with a cold voice, "No."

Chen Tianyu fell silent, as he quickly thought of other ways he could try. So he suddenly pressed his hands on his stomach and cried out, "Oh my... why did my stomach suddenly hurt so hard? I really need to go to the restroom."

After saying so, he quickly turned around and planned to leave the waiting room when someone suddenly grabbed him by the back of his collar.

Chen Tianyu: "!!!"

He turned his head and noticed that it was Lin Xingxue who did so as she stared at him expressionlessly.

"Xingxue... can you please let go of me?" Chen Tianyu asked as he forced a smile on his face, trying to make his words sound a bit more realistic. "I think I twisted my ankle just need, and I needed to go to the school infirmary."

"Didn’t you just say that your stomach hurt and that you needed to go to the restroom? Now how did you twist your ankle?" Lin Xingxue retorted, crossing her hands in front of her.

Chen Tianyu’s expression changed instantly. He had been so nervous that he literally forgot what excuse he had just made.

He opened his mouth, wanting to make up another excuse when Lin Xingxue suddenly gripped tighter on the back of his collar and pulled him toward Mo Shiyan, "I guess you could explain to the captain instead."

"Wait—!!" Chen Tianyu yelled out, trying to struggle out of her hands.

"If you keep talking nonsense, you won’t even have the chance to go anywhere," Lin Xingxue warned. Her attitude had caused Chen Tianyu to immediately freeze in place and shut his mouth.

He glanced at Mo Shiyan standing in front of him, then at Lin Xingxue who was standing behind him, and cried out, "Why does it have to be me?"

"...Because you’re the only Hunter who has awakened a summoning Hunter ability in our team. It would be easier for you to observe your opponent’s ability in that way," Mo Shiyan explained.

Hearing this, he let out a sigh of resignation and ruffled his hair before saying, "Fine..."

He stood up straight and straightened his clothes before saying, "If that’s the case, then I’ll go."

As he was slowly walking toward the arena at the speed of a turtle, Shen Qingyi turned toward Lin Xingxue and noticed a sign of concern on her face. She couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle before saying, "Sister Lin had told him to be the first one, but is still worried about his safety."

Hearing her words, Lin Xingxue immediately turned her face to the other side and muttered, "Who’s worried about him? I was just worried that if he loses this match, then it would affect our future rounds."

"But Sister Lin seemed to know Brother Chen very well. Other than the captain, you might be the only person that he would listen to," Shen Qingyi continued.

"Well... at the very least, we had grown up together. It should be pretty normal that I somehow understand how he thinks."

"Although he’s acting as though he didn’t want to participate in the competition, I know that he does want to help the team win the match," Lin Xingxue explained softly.

On the other side, Chen Tianyu did not know that they were discussing him after he had left the waiting room. While Shen Qingyi continued to ask about their past with great interest, Chen Tianyu had already walked into the arena.

At the same time, on the other side, the opposing team had also sent out their first contestant. As he walked onto the stage, the somehow lazy, carefree look on Chen Tianyu’s face had slowly disappeared, and in place was a serious expression.

Although he might have seemed a bit unreliable at other times, he knew what he was doing the second he decided to attend the competition.

The student across from him also stared at him with a cautious expression.

"Contestants, get ready!" the host yelled out as he flew above both of them. After confirming that they were alright, he slowly raised his hand.

"Start!"

The second the host lowered his head, Chen Tianyu immediately raised a hand in front of him and formed a summoning formation. In the next second, the Wind Spirit Butterfly emerged above the summoning formation.

"Tiiiing~~~"

At the same time, his opponent also acted the same way as he did. It seemed obvious that he was also a Hunter who had awakened a summoning Hunter ability.

Shen Qingci immediately stood up from his seat the second he saw that.