Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Challenge (Guaranteed 1st Update)
Translator: 549690339
Everyone looked at each other without hesitation. If they didn’t even dare to take on the challenge, then what’s the point of coming here?
They all walked in line to the edge of the water pool.
The water pool was not large, only less than 100 meters in circumference, but the water quality was clear enough for people to drink.
Seeing newcomers arrive, the resting Martial Artists at the edge of the pool all raised their heads to look at the group of newcomers. “The new ones this year.”
“I figured it’s about time. They seem to have some strength.”
“Don’t know about their strength, but they sure look good, especially that girl, and the two boys are handsome too.”
“Good looks can’t feed you. At least the ants below don’t care if you are handsome or not. Getting the Star Crystals is the hard truth.”
These Martial Artists talked but didn’t move, clearly curious to see which side these newcomers wanted to challenge.
Such things happened every year. These people were all former students, accustomed to the sight, but were still quite interested, as life inside the Star Fruit Tree was quite boring.
Brother Guang led them to a bark-less trunk, on which the three branches’ grouping situation was written.
“This is the grouping of the three branches. Remember, each branch can only have three groups, and your challenge can only start from the third place. Here are their details, take a look and make a decision before telling me.”
Everyone gathered in front of the tree bark that was like a blackboard and looked at the rankings on the three branches.
On the left branch, the third group: 495th batch students, five members, team leader Zhang Sicheng.
Second group: mixed student combination, five members, team leader Xu Tianjiao.
First group: 492th batch students, five members, team leader Nie Zhenwei.
Seeing this, Jiang Huai couldn’t help but curse, “Damn! There are still 492nd batch students? That’s five years earlier than us. They haven’t left the Star Fruit Tree in five years. Are they planning to stay here until they grow old? How can new students survive?”
Lin Zhen said, “Don’t forget when we first came here, we met Liang Feng, who had been here for eight years.”
Jiang Huai sighed, “It seems that it is really hard for newcomers to survive here.”
Looking down, the middle branch also had three groups, of which the first group was a mixed group, with not only students from the previous two batches, but the team leader was even a student from the 490th batch who had been here for seven years.
The three groups on the right side had people from the 491st batch.
According to the rules, a group must be composed of five people. When challenging, the number of people on the field must be the same as the opponent’s group and not ganging up. Having more people is not very useful. Everyone looked at Ma Mingxing. Ma Mingxing felt embarrassed and said, “1…1 didn’t quite understand it. I thought having more people would be more powerful, so I invited more people. But it’s okay, we can form two teams, right? It’s better to advance together, hehe.”
No one spoke but thought that Ma Mingxing’s words made some sense. Since so many people were not needed, they decided to form another team.
However, forming teams was also a problem.
Su Mingyue definitely wanted to be with Lin Zhen, Ma Mingxing wanted to be with Jiang Huai, and the four Martial Artists from Tianfu didn’t want to split up. The two Martial Artists from Capital Base City wanted to follow Su Mingyue, as she was virtually the symbol of the Capital Base City.
After some discussion, Sun Tie was assigned to Lin Zhen’s group, while Jiang Huai and Ma Mingxing joined the other three Tianfu Martial Artists.
In this way, both teams had some competitiveness. Lin Zhen and Su Mingyue’s strength needed no explanation. One of the Martial Artists from the Capital was an Advanced War General, and the other was an Intermediate War General. Sun Tie was also an Intermediate War General, and their overall strength was not bad.
In the other team, Jiang Huai took the lead, and two of the three Tianfu Martial
Artists were Advanced War Generals. Ma Mingxing and the other person were Intermediate War Generals. Overall, their strength appeared to be similar to Lin Zhen’s.
With both teams formed, Jiang Huai led one side, and on the other side, Su Mingyue was supposed to be the leader, but she insisted on giving the role to Lin Zhen, acting like an obedient girlfriend, leaving Lin Zhen speechless.
Having chosen the team leaders and informed Brother Guang, Brother Guang gave them two team tokens and told them they could start choosing their opponents for the challenge.
The third groups on each side glanced at Lin Zhen’s team, clearly not taking these two rookie teams seriously.
In front of the left branch, team leader Zhang Sicheng of the 495th batch even whistled, “Hey! Gorgeous, how about a spar with us? Your boyfriend is just an Intermediate War General. There’s no future in mixing with that team. If you come over, I will definitely make a spot for you.”
Su Mingyue did not speak, and as a fake boyfriend, Lin Zhen naturally could not remain indifferent and retorted, “If you guys give up all your spots, I might consider it, otherwise, forget about it.”
“Haha! Smelly kid’s quite arrogant! So what? Do you have the courage to challenge us? If you win, I can’t say for sure, but you can still have a chance to get one or two Star Crystals per week.”
The third team had one day a week to access the fruits, and if they were lucky, they could indeed harvest some decent Star Crystals.
Lin Zhen hadn’t made a decision yet, when Su Mingyue suddenly whispered in his ear, “Let’s challenge them, I don’t like the way they talk.”
Lin Zhen nodded. The other party was only two generations higher than them, so they didn’t seem particularly difficult to deal with.
Turning to Brother Guang, he said, “Brother Guang, we’ve decided, we’ll challenge this team from the 495th generation.”
“Good, as long as you have decided, team battle or individual battle?” “Is there a difference?”
“Yes, there is. Team battles are five against five, collective fighting, and individual battles, also five against five, best of three.”
After discussing with Su Mingyue, Lin Zhen decided to participate in the individual battles. At least, Lin Zhen and Su Mingyue had confidence. As long as one teammate performed well and won a match, they have a good chance of winning.
Jiang Huai’s team also made their choice, challenging the third group on the right side, in an individual battle.
Seeing that both teams had made their choices, Brother Guang said to both sides, “Now arrange your order of battle without letting the other side see it.
After you’ve decided, hand it over to me.”
The five Advanced War Generals on the other side went to their side to discuss
with laughter. These kind of battles happened every week, so they were used to it.
Lin Zhen’s group immediately started their discussion in a tense manner. Su Mingyue was the first to speak, “I’ll go first, and try to win one.”
Lin Zhen thought for a moment, “Then I’ll go last, if it is two to two, I’ll strive to win the final round.”
The remaining three were: Sun Tie in the second round, Fu Haisheng, a War General from Capital, in the third round, and Luo Zhen, an Intermediate War General from Capital, in the fourth round.
Once the order was arranged, they handed it over to Brother Guang. He had already received the other side’s order and said to them, “Follow me this way.
We’ll start soon.”
Both teams followed Brother Guang and rounded a corner, arriving before a huge tree stump. The stump was dozens of meters thick, one meter high, and looked like a natural stage.
Many idle Martial Artists followed to watch the match. Conversely, few people went to watch Jiang Huai and his team compete. Among the spectators here, nine out of ten came to see Su Mingyue. After all, beautiful women are pleasing to the eye, especially since women are rare in this place.
Brother Guang told both sides, “For the arena battles, we have a rule that you cannot kill. Once you win, stop. If someone accidentally kills the other party, your team cannot challenge again for a month, and the person who killed will be expelled, never to appear in Ant Nest again. Understood?”
Everyone nodded. Although they couldn’t kill, as War Generals, they had plenty of ways to defeat their foes without killing them.
“Alright, now get ready to start. The first contender can step onto the stage.” Zhang Sicheng of the 495th generation was the first to step onto the stage.
His weapon was a large ring knife. After entering the stage, he swung it around, and said, “Welcome to the Ant Nest, rookies. I, Zhang Sicheng, will teach you a lesson, so you know that once here, you must quietly practice and endure. Don’t presume to challenge your seniors. It will make you lose miserably.”
Su Mingyue sneered, her delicate body turned and lightly jumped onto the stage.
Today, Su Mingyue was still wearing a white robe of the True God of Stars’ priesthood. She had not yet decided whether to continue worshiping the True God of the Stars, but wearing this set of clothes had become a habit, and she couldn’t change it immediately.
Her beautiful long skirt, golden ribbons, waterfall-like black hair, and fairy-like face caused rounds of applause from the audience as Su Mingyue stepped onto the stage.
“Go for it, beauty! Defeat that gorilla Zhang Sicheng!”
“What am I seeing? The real-life Beauty and the Beast?”
“Zhang Sicheng, if you show mercy to the beauty, next time our team gets a Planet Crystal, I’ll give you one, deal?”
Although everyone supported Su Mingyue, nobody really thought that this delicate girl could be a match for Zhang Sicheng.
Zhang Sicheng didn’t expect Su Mingyue to step onto the stage, and laughed, “Hehe, don’t worry, Miss. Although I, Zhang Sicheng, may look rough, I’m not someone who doesn’t know how to cherish a pretty lady. I promise to handle you with care and not hurt a single strand of your hair.”
Su Mingyue didn’t bother to respond. Instead, she took out her sword, which was enveloped in chilly light, and assumed a starting stance.
“The pose seems professional, but I don’t know if you can even kill an ant. People like you shouldn’t be Martial Artists. Wouldn’t it be better to stay home, do embroidery, and raise children? I can support you for a lifetime.”
Zhang Sicheng wasn’t a fool. While he teased Su Mingyue with flowery words, he was actually very cautious, hoping to distract Su Mingyue using this tactic.
However, Su Mingyue was not a girl who could be easily disturbed. Life as a
Saintess had left her mind unshakable. Taking advantage of Zhang Sicheng’s speaking, she suddenly attacked!
Once she struck, her attack was earth-shattering, even Lin Zhen was shocked by it!
Because the technique used by Su Mingyue was actually one she had secretly learned from him!
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