The students from the other academies didn’t pay much attention to what Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were talking about. When those who were roughly the same age gathered together, a sense of superiority would almost always manifest in them, although it was not intentional.
Maturity. Young teenagers always thought that they were superior to the rest, even though they were of the same age and had roughly the same experience. In reality, everyone in society could see that they were delusional. Only they themselves were unaware of it. Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were among the few exceptions that didn’t manifest a false sense of superiority.
When everyone had gathered, they started drawing lots. Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were relaxed and drew their lots quite decisively. The rest of them took their time.
Once it was over, every team was arranged in such a way that no two teams of the same city would contest against each other, just as instructor Lei had said. But what Xiang Ning hadn’t expected was that they would be fighting against the second seed in Group E. He remembered that it was Ye Xuanxuan’s team.
Her usual cheery demeanor withered the moment she realized she was in Group E and she wanted to chop off her unlucky hand.
Tan Qi came over and consoled her. “Hey, look on the bright side. I don’t think it's too bad to be in the same group as Xiang Ning. While you’ll lose, at least Xiang Ning will tutor you.”
Even though his information had been suppressed by the government, the people of Tranquil City had paid close attention to every single detail of Xiang Ning and Marsh City. They knew a lot about him, especially since most of the viewers from the live stream of the Seven Deadly Sins were from Tranquil City. They knew that some of them even called Xiang Ning their teacher.
That was why they had saved most of the footage of his battles and learned a lot from it.
Xiang Ning smiled, but stayed silent. They soon split up as Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were chatting. They hadn’t even gone very far when they heard footsteps behind them. At first they decided to ignore it, but the footsteps followed them all the way to their dorm. They had no choice but to turn and look at who was following them.
“You are?” Xiang Ning asked the two students who were wearing the same uniform, which indicated they were from the same city. The boy was very cheery and friendly, while the girl was elegant. Both of them gave off a really good first impression.
“Hello! We’d like to talk to you. May I know if both of you are free?”
“Sure.” Wu Rui and Xiang Ning knew what they were all thinking. It wouldn’t hurt to meet more friends in the outside world. They were also free.
The two students brought Xiang Ning and Wu Rui to the bar on the second floor.
All of them sat down before the boy spoke. “We’re the representatives from the Border Academy and Lode Academy of Lode City. My name is Luo Lei, and she is Shen Yi.”
“Oh, nice to meet you.” Xiang Ning and Wu Rui introduced themselves, but they weren’t smiling. It wasn’t that they were being rude, but they knew that the two students would be fighting them in the tournament.
“We’ll be frank with you. We’re confident that we’ll win this, but we don’t want to risk getting hurt and affecting our performance in the other tournaments. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Luo Lei was propping his chin on his hands as his eyes squinted.
Xiang Ning and Wu Rui had thought that they were good people. Not only were they courteous, but their smiles looked genuine, too! Their first impression of them had been good, so they thought that they could be friends. But now they just looked disgusting.
Wu Rui wanted to say something but was held back by Xiang Ning. He winked at Wu Rui before he talked. “Really? You have the confidence?”
“Of course. We’ve investigated all of the teams for this tournament. Every single one of them has either one or two students that’re below tier three, four-star. As for us, every single student in my team is higher than that. While we’re more or less guaranteed to get into the top five, it’ll consume too much of our energy to fight everyone.” Luo Lei happily talked about what he knew.
Xiang Ning almost wanted to clap. While it was true that both Luo Lei and Shen Yi were above tier three, six-star, their team members were also at least above tier three, four-star. It should be fairly easy for them to get within the top five, but there were always exceptions.
“And why do you think we’ll lose to you?” Xiang Ning answered. To them, they thought Xiang Ning was just someone stubborn. They had expected that kind of answer.
This time it was Shen Yi’s turn to speak. “Based on the pairings, we’ll be fighting each other on the third and last turn. The two teams before that aren’t weak, either. While we’re confident in winning, the cost would be too high. It’s also impossible for us to recover our strength in one night. It would be our victory against you, but we don’t want to suffer any more damage.”
Xiang Ning and Wu Rui looked at each other. If it weren’t for Xiang Ning’s signal, Wu Rui would have laughed like a pig.
“Oh? Really? Then what do we get in return?” Xiang Ning lazily smiled. The two students from Lode Town frowned.
“A tier three martial technique for everyone and a million dollars, how’s that?”
“Hmm, not bad, but it seems that your investigation on your opponents is outdated,” Xiang Ning laughed as he stood up and left.
Wu Rui stood up and followed him. Before he left, he glanced at Luo Lei and Shen Yi like idiots. Where the hell did they find the confidence in winning against two tier four martial artists that can even fight tier five martial artists?
It was laughable when they said they had conducted an investigation on every team.
The two students thought that Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were mocking them and didn’t realize their investigation report was indeed outdated. For the sake of his team, Luo Lei decided to bear the embarrassment and shouted at Xiang Ning, “Why don’t you consider our offer? The top five is not something attainable with just passion. Since you won’t be winning, shouldn’t you at least take the tier three martial technique and a million dollars?”
They thought that Xiang Ning was too prideful and had been offended, but as long as they took the bribe there were many ways to lose. They could purposely lower their strength and lose in the fight, as the results would still be the same.
“Hehe, I usually earn a thousand dollars for every spar back at home.” Having said that, Xiang Ning left with Wu Rui.
“Wha-what?!”
“Bastard!”
The students from the other academies didn’t pay much attention to what Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were talking about. When those who were roughly the same age gathered together, a sense of superiority would almost always manifest in them, although it was not intentional.
Maturity. Young teenagers always thought that they were superior to the rest, even though they were of the same age and had roughly the same experience. In reality, everyone in society could see that they were delusional. Only they themselves were unaware of it. Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were among the few exceptions that didn’t manifest a false sense of superiority.
When everyone had gathered, they started drawing lots. Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were relaxed and drew their lots quite decisively. The rest of them took their time.
Once it was over, every team was arranged in such a way that no two teams of the same city would contest against each other, just as instructor Lei had said. But what Xiang Ning hadn’t expected was that they would be fighting against the second seed in Group E. He remembered that it was Ye Xuanxuan’s team.
Her usual cheery demeanor withered the moment she realized she was in Group E and she wanted to chop off her unlucky hand.
Tan Qi came over and consoled her. “Hey, look on the bright side. I don’t think it's too bad to be in the same group as Xiang Ning. While you’ll lose, at least Xiang Ning will tutor you.”
Even though his information had been suppressed by the government, the people of Tranquil City had paid close attention to every single detail of Xiang Ning and Marsh City. They knew a lot about him, especially since most of the viewers from the live stream of the Seven Deadly Sins were from Tranquil City. They knew that some of them even called Xiang Ning their teacher.
That was why they had saved most of the footage of his battles and learned a lot from it.
Xiang Ning smiled, but stayed silent. They soon split up as Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were chatting. They hadn’t even gone very far when they heard footsteps behind them. At first they decided to ignore it, but the footsteps followed them all the way to their dorm. They had no choice but to turn and look at who was following them.
“You are?” Xiang Ning asked the two students who were wearing the same uniform, which indicated they were from the same city. The boy was very cheery and friendly, while the girl was elegant. Both of them gave off a really good first impression.
“Hello! We’d like to talk to you. May I know if both of you are free?”
“Sure.” Wu Rui and Xiang Ning knew what they were all thinking. It wouldn’t hurt to meet more friends in the outside world. They were also free.
The two students brought Xiang Ning and Wu Rui to the bar on the second floor.
All of them sat down before the boy spoke. “We’re the representatives from the Border Academy and Lode Academy of Lode City. My name is Luo Lei, and she is Shen Yi.”
“Oh, nice to meet you.” Xiang Ning and Wu Rui introduced themselves, but they weren’t smiling. It wasn’t that they were being rude, but they knew that the two students would be fighting them in the tournament.
“We’ll be frank with you. We’re confident that we’ll win this, but we don’t want to risk getting hurt and affecting our performance in the other tournaments. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Luo Lei was propping his chin on his hands as his eyes squinted.
Xiang Ning and Wu Rui had thought that they were good people. Not only were they courteous, but their smiles looked genuine, too! Their first impression of them had been good, so they thought that they could be friends. But now they just looked disgusting.
Wu Rui wanted to say something but was held back by Xiang Ning. He winked at Wu Rui before he talked. “Really? You have the confidence?”
“Of course. We’ve investigated all of the teams for this tournament. Every single one of them has either one or two students that’re below tier three, four-star. As for us, every single student in my team is higher than that. While we’re more or less guaranteed to get into the top five, it’ll consume too much of our energy to fight everyone.” Luo Lei happily talked about what he knew.
Xiang Ning almost wanted to clap. While it was true that both Luo Lei and Shen Yi were above tier three, six-star, their team members were also at least above tier three, four-star. It should be fairly easy for them to get within the top five, but there were always exceptions.
“And why do you think we’ll lose to you?” Xiang Ning answered. To them, they thought Xiang Ning was just someone stubborn. They had expected that kind of answer.
This time it was Shen Yi’s turn to speak. “Based on the pairings, we’ll be fighting each other on the third and last turn. The two teams before that aren’t weak, either. While we’re confident in winning, the cost would be too high. It’s also impossible for us to recover our strength in one night. It would be our victory against you, but we don’t want to suffer any more damage.”
Xiang Ning and Wu Rui looked at each other. If it weren’t for Xiang Ning’s signal, Wu Rui would have laughed like a pig.
“Oh? Really? Then what do we get in return?” Xiang Ning lazily smiled. The two students from Lode Town frowned.
“A tier three martial technique for everyone and a million dollars, how’s that?”
“Hmm, not bad, but it seems that your investigation on your opponents is outdated,” Xiang Ning laughed as he stood up and left.
Wu Rui stood up and followed him. Before he left, he glanced at Luo Lei and Shen Yi like idiots. Where the hell did they find the confidence in winning against two tier four martial artists that can even fight tier five martial artists?
It was laughable when they said they had conducted an investigation on every team.
The two students thought that Xiang Ning and Wu Rui were mocking them and didn’t realize their investigation report was indeed outdated. For the sake of his team, Luo Lei decided to bear the embarrassment and shouted at Xiang Ning, “Why don’t you consider our offer? The top five is not something attainable with just passion. Since you won’t be winning, shouldn’t you at least take the tier three martial technique and a million dollars?”
They thought that Xiang Ning was too prideful and had been offended, but as long as they took the bribe there were many ways to lose. They could purposely lower their strength and lose in the fight, as the results would still be the same.
“Hehe, I usually earn a thousand dollars for every spar back at home.” Having said that, Xiang Ning left with Wu Rui.
“Wha-what?!”
“Bastard!”
