I Can Copy the Talents of All Creatures

Chapter 241: Chapter 177: Battle of the Second and Third

The closer he got, the stronger Yu Fei’s sense of foreboding became.

"Is that..."

He recognized them. The people following Jiang Nianwei were students from his class. He had crossed paths with some of them before and vaguely remembered them.

In Dongyou, his classmates’ attitudes toward him varied from warm to cold, but the feelings were always faint. The same was true for the other S-rank prodigies.

Don’t be fooled by them all talking and laughing now; they didn’t actually know each other well. Whether it was goodwill or malice, deep feelings would only form after they had gone through things together and truly gotten to know one another.

The other S-rank prodigies fell silent as well. After all, anyone would feel a little bewildered being stared at so intently by a crowd up close.

Li Jueyin whispered to Yu Fei, "What’s with Jiang Nianwei from your class? Didn’t we agree it would just be the few of us? Why does it look like your entire class showed up?"

Yu Fei replied blankly, "I have no idea! By the way, where’s Zhang Xunyi? He came in before us, why don’t I see him?"

The group’s pace slowed, their confusion mounting.

As he got closer, he also spotted their counselor, Shui Yiqiu. The cute, blue-haired girl seemed very happy.

SHING!

With a downward chop of her hand, Jiang Nianwei gave the signal. Qin Hao and Liu Ze immediately raised and unfurled a massive banner, and a deafening roar echoed for miles.

[YULIN ARMY’S MIGHT, INDESTRUCTIBLE! CRUSH THE COMPETITION! VICTORY FOR YU FEI!]

CRACK!

With his sharp eyes, Yu Fei had already made out the words on the banner. Standing before the other S-rank prodigies, he was utterly mortified.

Gao Shou stared, stunned for a moment, before joining the roaring cheer. Lin Zihao was right behind him. Then, Li Jueyin gave Yu Fei a hard shove forward.

...

"Hah... Hah... Fuck..."

"So? Are you satisfied, Mr. Yu? The guys and I rehearsed this whole thing just to cheer you on!"

Jiang Nianwei yelled, clearly fishing for praise.

"You planned this?"

"That’s right, Mr. Yu! We in the Yulin Army have to crush the opposition with our sheer presence!"

"Heh heh."

His legs stiff with awkwardness, Yu Fei practically fled into Zige Hall. ’This is so, so embarrassing!’

Inside Zige Hall, Zhang Xunyi stood on the Determination Platform with his hands clasped behind his back. His robes fluttered, and the cold blade in his hand pulsed with a brilliant, clear light.

"Yu Fei, get up here and die!"

Having clearly perfected his Void Wind Shadow Sword, he had made Yu Fei his first target.

Li Jueyin thrust her long spear out, blocking Yu Fei from stepping onto the platform. In a tone that brooked no argument, she stated her intentions.

"I have the highest ranking here, so I should go first. I’ll set the rules! Any objections?"

Gao Shou shrugged, indifferent. Lin Zihao nodded in agreement. Jiang Nianwei looked to Yu Fei, clearly ready to back his play, whatever it was.

You had to remember, Zhang Xunyi and Li Jueyin were in the same class. Clearly, they hadn’t coordinated beforehand and were not on the same page today.

Yu Fei was happy to let this play out. He didn’t want his first opponent to be Zhang Xunyi anyway. No matter how weak the "King of Posturing" actually was, Yu Fei would still have to use at least eighty percent of his true strength to beat him. The others were here to hone their skills, but Yu Fei was here to copy talents. He had to acquire those two "silver gems" today, one way or another. ’Even just getting one of them would be acceptable!’

Besides, at their level, they were bound to have more than just one talent each. Yu Fei wasn’t confident he could fish out both of their silver-ranked talents with only four chances.

Therefore, aside from the chance to show off, there was no real benefit to beating Zhang Xunyi.

Seeing Yu Fei nod, Jiang Nianwei casually yelled toward the platform, "Hey, Ghost Despiser, come on down! Your boss has other plans for you!"

"You!"

Fuming, Zhang Xunyi stomped his foot and drifted down from the stage.

And just like that, a ridiculous nickname can stick.

"Hmph!"

The King of Posturing, in a classic tsundere move, turned his body and tilted his face to a perfect forty-five-degree angle.

Li Jueyin slammed the butt of her Ink Iron Long Spear onto the ground, sending sparks flying.

"I’ll start things off by defending the platform. We’ll go in order of our original placement rankings. Loser steps down. Once we’ve gone through a full round, challenges are open to anyone!"

With that, she vaulted onto the platform, her gaze sweeping over them with domineering confidence.

Gao Shou eagerly leaped up after her. "Jueyin! We never got the chance to fight during the placement matches. Today, let’s settle who’s stronger!"

"Tch!" Li Jueyin scoffed. "In the placement matches, you were obviously scared of me. Today, I’ll show you exactly why you’re only number three!"

On the stage, both fighters removed their virtual lenses. The devices were too fragile and would easily be destroyed in a real fight.

Yu Fei and the others retreated to the viewing platform. The referee’s tag in their own virtual lenses was extremely simple: [Grandmaster Tan Zhiyu].

"Mr. Yu, who do you think will win?"

Jiang Nianwei tilted her head, leaning in to ask Yu Fei.

"It’s hard to say. They’re very close in strength. In the end, it’ll probably come down to who performs better on the day."

Speaking of which, Yu Fei found it strange. For a fellow S-rank prodigy, Jiang Nianwei’s goodwill toward him was the strongest of the group, bordering on genuine friendship.

He had defeated her during the placement matches, but it hadn’t affected her attitude toward him in the slightest. Yu Fei had also noticed that most of the girls in their class were friendly toward him, but the same couldn’t be said for the boys. Many of them might have been all smiles on the surface, but Yu Fei could still sense a cold undercurrent from them.

The most amusing one was Zhang Xunyi. He was like a broken air conditioner, blowing hot and cold all the time.

On the platform, Tan Zhiyu hovered motionlessly in the air. Gao Shou and Li Jueyin were already clashing, their weapons ringing out with a furious PING! PANG! CLANG! Yu Fei watched intently. These two were his main targets for the day. According to the rules Li Jueyin had set, he would be next. ’When two tigers fight, one is bound to be injured.’ He would surely be able to take advantage of the situation.

This sparring session still had restrictions on personal weapons and armor. Everyone had to use the generic weapons provided by Zige Hall, though they were free to choose the type.

Gao Shou’s weapon pouch seemed to be custom-made; it bulged with hidden throwing knives. For his main weapon, he wielded a miao dao.