As the referee's whistle blew, chaos erupted in the stands.
"Wait, it’s over? Already?!"
"What just happened? Did that Fla Hound just teleport? Isn’t it a fire-type beast?!"
"Did they even fight? I just bent down to grab a bottle of water, and it’s over?!"
This was absurd!
Every student competing in the National Campus Beast Mastering League was a top contender from their respective schools. Even with so differences in strength, the gap shouldn’t be this massive!
Amid the uproar, Qiao Sang remained remarkably calm.
She understood why the victory had been so effortless: Her opponent had no idea that Yabao had an additional psychic attribute. This information gap ant they were completely unprepared.
As the tournant progressed, battles would inevitably beco tougher.
Opponents would grow stronger, and her beast’s abilities and strategies would beco more exposed, giving future challengers a chance to devise counterasures.
Such swift and decisive victories were rare and unlikely to happen again in later rounds.
"Yabao, don’t let your guard down. This is only the first match." Qiao Sang cautioned.
"Yap!" Yabao barked confidently, signaling his readiness to fight seriously.
The whistle for the second match blew, and Zhao Weiwei, still dazed from her earlier defeat, hesitantly ford the summoning seal.
A gray star array lit up, and Qiao Sang, along with Yabao, fixed their gazes on the field.
"Eary~"
From the array appeared a feline-like beast with ears longer than a rabbit’s, lazily licking its left paw.
Qiao Sang: …
Yabao: …
An entry-level beast: Long-Eared Cat. Wasn’t this just handing them the win?
The match began, and with a single Fire Whirl, Yabao overwheld the Long-Eared Cat. The match ended even faster than the previous one, by two seconds.
The crowd in Zone C fell silent.
Though everyone had anticipated the outco, they hadn’t expected the match to end before they could even process it. The gap in strength was simply too enormous.
Except for those from Shengshui High, the expressions of participants and leaders from other schools grew increasingly grim.
After all, most of them were in Group A2 and would eventually face Qiao Sang.
Over at the Fiqi Beast Taming High bench, the senior coach addressed the team with a stern face.
"When it’s your turn, hold back. Don’t show your full strength. If necessary, just lose. Understood?"
"But why?" A girl with a headband asked, puzzled.
"The coach ans to conserve our strength for others." Li Kun explained, his eyes never leaving Qiao Sang on the field.
"We have no chance against her. It’s better to lose deliberately and keep others guessing about our abilities."
Exactly! The coach nodded in satisfaction.
This was a points-based preliminary. Missing out on a few points here was fine as long as they made up for it elsewhere.
Realistically, they never stood much of a chance against Shengshui High, especially not against this monster of a student.
Fire and psychic attributes together? Their school’s students didn’t stand a chance.
The girl with the headband mulled it over and added, "Honestly, even if we wanted to show all our strength, I don’t think we’d have the opportunity to."
Coach: …
The preliminaries required each participant to face three mbers of another school’s team in a single day. After each match, there was a ten-minute break for healing and recovery.
Ten minutes later, Qiao Sang and Yabao took the field again.
At the Shengshui High bench:
"The second opponent is Li Kun. I saw Qiao Sang chatting quite a bit with him earlier. She might go easy on him in the next matches." He Dadao analyzed.
Xu Yixuan snorted.
"I thought the sa before Qiao Sang started competing."
Who would have thought such a seemingly genuine and straightforward junior could be so devious?
If Xu Yixuan hadn’t overheard Qiao Sang and Li Kun’s entire conversation earlier and then seen her send out Fla Hound instead of Treasure-Seeking Demon, she might have believed they’d hit it off.
Junior Qiao was terrifying!
On the field, the whistle blew.
Li Kun, adopting his usual strategy, prepared to feign weakness.
"You tricked ." He said, his tone full of grievance.
"Ember." Qiao Sang commanded.
"Yap!"
Yabao shot out a concentrated burst of flas filled with devastating energy.
Startled, Li Kun’s Twin-Tailed Snake instinctively lashed the ground with its tail, propelling itself several ters away.
However, the fla spark curved mid-air and hod in on the snake as it landed.
Boom!!!
The flas erupted on impact, and the Twin-Tailed Snake crumpled to the ground. The match was over.
Li Kun: ???
I just said one sentence, and you attacked imdiately? Where’s your sportsmanship?!
Not even a word of small talk before striking? We talked so much earlier, did that an nothing?!
After the referee announced the match results, Qiao Sang looked at Li Kun and sincerely advised, "This is an official match. Don’t let yourself get distracted. I hope you won’t make the sa mistake next ti."
Li Kun: …
"Was that Ember?"
"It should be. I think I heard her call it Ember."
"Can Ember really be that powerful? Enough to knock out a beast of the sa tier?"
"It’s all about proficiency. If I’m not mistaken, that Fla Hound has likely mastered the skill to its peak."
"Mastered it? You an…"
"Yes, the ultimate form: The ‘Secret Art’ level."
A collective gasp swept through the crowd.
A Secret Art-level skill? That was sothing rarely seen, even in the finals of the National Campus Beast Mastering League!
Amid the murmurs, the next match began.
This ti, Li Kun summoned a Power-Beaked Duck.
"Water counters fire. Finally, Fiqi Beast Taming High won’t be instantly defeated. I’m starting to feel bad for them."
"Don’t forget, Fla Hound is also psychic-type."
"That’s true. Still, how long do you think this match will last?"
"Ten seconds, maybe? At least water counters fire."
"I’m guessing eight seconds."
Despite the discussion, no one doubted Qiao Sang’s victory.
The whistle blew.
Li Kun raised his hand, ready to issue a command.
But before he could speak, Qiao Sang said, "I didn’t an to deceive you earlier."
Li Kun froze, caught off guard.
In that brief mont of distraction, a pained squawk echoed across the field.
Li Kun turned toward the noise, only to see his Power-Beaked Duck standing outside the arena’s boundary.
During that fleeting pause, Yabao had used Psychic Control to push the duck out of bounds.
According to tournant rules, a beast was disqualified if it was forced out of the arena.
Qiao Sang looked at Li Kun, her tone serious.
"I told you, this is an official match. Don’t get distracted so easily."
Li Kun: !!!
Reviews
All reviews (0)