Chapter 326: Is Sister Gu a Soft Persimmon That Everyone Wants to Pinch?
At the Central Plaza, before the notice board.
After a brief silence, the crowd burst into an uproar.
"What the hell? Am I seeing things? A freshman?!"
"I know Gu Yuexi is strong—the new Future Empress and all—but... this is to represent the nation in a competition! Isn’t that a little too risky?"
"A Fifth-Grade? Going to the White Eagle Empire? Is she going there to feed them kills or just to sightsee?"
"Sure, she defeated Su Yingxue after she artificially boosted her power to the Seventh-Grade, but that wasn’t a true Seventh-Grade."
"I object! I won’t accept this! I’m a senior, and I busted my ass to reach the Peak of Sixth-Grade. On what grounds does some little Fifth-Grade underclassman get to take the spot?"
A tide of dissenting voices surged forth.
This skepticism wasn’t just mindless jealousy.
At Jing University, Great Xia’s most prestigious academy, many elite juniors and seniors had already reached the Sixth-Grade, and some were even at the Half-Step Seventh-Grade.
Every one of them was a prodigy, desperate for a chance to rise above the rest, and for the life-altering opportunities that came with it!
Sometimes, a single lucky break could be all it took to send someone soaring. The reason many students weren’t on the Celestial Pride List wasn’t a lack of strength, but simply the lack of such an opportunity.
This International Youth Martial Dao Tournament was one such opportunity—or at the very least, a chance.
But now, the university had given this chance to a freshman who had been enrolled for less than six months.
Who could possibly think that was fair?
It was a slap in the face to all the upperclassmen!
"Look! There are rules explained at the bottom!"
A sharp-eyed student spotted a few lines of small print at the bottom of the poster.
"...Those with objections may sign this poster to issue a challenge. The victor will take their place..."
The moment they read that line, the furious crowd fell silent for a beat.
Then, an even greater commotion erupted!
"We can challenge her?"
"Does that mean we still have a chance?"
"I’ll challenge her! Let me go first!"
A senior immediately went up and signed his name beneath Gu Yuexi’s poster.
"I’m signing up too..."
Not far away, a flamboyant-looking girl watched the scene, a smirk playing on her lips.
"Heh, it looks like our dear Sister Gu has become a soft target. Everyone wants to have a go at her!"
...
「In the days that followed.」
The Central Plaza became the liveliest place on campus.
However, this bustling activity revealed a bizarre polarization.
Shen Yixuan’s poster was spotless. Forget names, there wasn’t even a speck of ink on it. Who in their right mind would challenge the second-ranked prodigy on the Celestial Pride List? That was just asking for a beating!
Luo Qingyu’s poster was likewise blank.
The "Female Tyrannosaur’s" fearsome reputation was well known; even most in the Seventh-Grade Early Stage didn’t dare to provoke her, let alone anyone else.
But Gu Yuexi’s poster...
It was practically a disaster zone.
From top to bottom, it was densely packed with names written so close they were almost on top of each other!
"Lei Hu, a senior from the Martial Arts Academy!"
"Zhao Tianyi, a senior from the Beast Taming Academy!"
"Li Miao, a junior from the Mind Master Academy!"
...
At a rough glance, there were a good ten or twenty names!
Furthermore, any one of those names, picked at random, belonged to a fairly well-known figure at Jing University. Many were even heavy hitters who had long dominated the top-ten rankings for their respective years.
At other top universities, reaching the Sixth-Grade Early Stage by senior year would be enough to be considered an outstanding graduate.
But at Jing University, Sixth-Grade was just the baseline. You had to be at the Peak of Sixth-Grade to be called a genius, and only by reaching the Seventh-Grade did you earn the right to contend for a spot on the Celestial Pride List!
These challengers were all simmering with indignation.
’Sister Gu, don’t blame your seniors for being unsporting. The prize is simply too big, and you’re too small to handle it!’
’Instead of letting you go abroad and embarrass us, we’d rather teach you a lesson about the true strength of Jing University!’
However, to everyone’s surprise...
One day passed.
Two days passed.
Five days passed...
Gu Yuexi, the girl whose poster was covered in names, never showed up. Not even once!
No matter how fiercely the debate raged outside, no matter how loudly the challengers clamored in the plaza, she was like she had vanished into thin air, utterly silent.
"This Gu Yuexi... Don’t tell me she’s scared?"
"She’s definitely chickened out! With so many seniors at the Peak of Sixth-Grade challenging her, not to mention a few at Half-Step Seventh-Grade, how is a mere Fifth-Grade supposed to fight back?"
"Heh, I think she plans to just hide in her shell and drag this out to the final day."
"Stalling is useless! If she doesn’t accept the challenges by the last day, she automatically forfeits!"
In the plaza, a few of the challengers who had signed their names gathered, their expressions sour.
"Hmph. A bunch of us seniors, queuing up to challenge a freshman. It’s a joke."
"She’d better hope she doesn’t show up and just forfeits. Otherwise, I’ll make sure she learns her place!"
...
The storm brewing outside didn’t affect the two of them in the dorm room in the slightest... scratch that, the one person and one mosquito.
Neither Gu Yuexi nor Chu Sheng were particularly bothered by this sudden tempest of challenges.
The moment they learned she was on the preliminary list, they had already guessed this would happen.
But so what?
’They object? We’ll just have to beat them into submission.’
But, no rush.
Gu Yuexi locked herself in the Cultivation Chamber, fully activated the Spirit Gathering Array, and began refining the Emperor’s Soul Profound Crystal with single-minded focus.
Chu Sheng, on the other hand, was having a much cushier time.
During the day, he hid in the dorm, devouring the Qi Blood Crystal Balls he’d taken from the hive one after another, popping them like sunflower seeds.
SLURP—
[Ding! Qi Blood +10,000! Estimated digestion time...]
This feeling of getting stronger just by lying down was simply addictive.
But when night fell, on a dark and windy evening...
A sleazy... oh, no, an *agile* mosquito would flit silently out the window, turning into a ghostly black shadow as it infiltrated... the girls’ dormitory area.
’Ahem, don’t get the wrong idea.’
’This Lord Mosquito is going to cultivate! I’m on serious business!’
’What serious business? Sucking Mental Power, of course!’
Chu Sheng was like a picky gourmand, flitting from dorm to dorm, reluctant to leave, and "sharing the love" equally among them.
Of course, he was very measured. He only took a tiny bit from each target, never enough to cause the girls any harm. At most, they’d just wake up the next morning feeling like they’d slept a little too deeply.
Just like that, the days passed one by one.
And so, Chu Sheng’s power skyrocketed at an insane pace!
...
「On the morning of the tenth day.」
Chu Sheng lay on the windowsill, let out a satisfied burp, and checked his system panel.
Over the past few days, he had finally sucked dry all 20 of the Qi Blood Crystal Balls he had stockpiled in his Lifebound Space!
A full 200,000 Qi Blood had caused his Qi Blood Realm to level up again, reaching the Late Sixth-Grade!
[Current Qi Blood: 809,800 (Sixth-Grade Late Stage)]
[Note: The threshold for the Peak of Sixth-Grade is 900,000 Qi Blood, and for the Seventh-Grade Early Stage, it is 1,000,000 Qi Blood.]
He was less than 200,000 away from the one million Qi Blood mark of the Seventh-Grade!
’Tsk, tsk. So this is the Sixth-Grade Late Stage...’
Chu Sheng felt the power in his body, like an active volcano about to erupt, and a confident light shone in his compound eyes.
’Right now, even without activating the Silent Annihilation Battle Armor, I could run roughshod over anyone in the Sixth-Grade realm with my physique and Speed alone.’
’If I activate the second gear of the Silent Annihilation Battle Armor, I could probably take on someone in the Seventh Grade Middle Stage! Against a Seventh-Grade Late Stage, I could at least hold my own!’
’Heh heh!’
’Jing University really is a great place.’
Aside from his explosive growth in power, his Evolution Points had also recovered nicely.
He had gained around 20,000 Evolution Points from digesting the Qi Blood...
[Current Evolution Points: 29,910]
Although he was still a long way from the 100,000-point mark needed for a full evolution, at least he’d escaped the abject poverty of a three-digit balance.
Finally, there was his Mental Power, which had seen the smallest gains. There was no helping it; siphoning it from the girls’ dorms just wasn’t keeping pace anymore.
Even though Chu Sheng worked his butt off visiting dorm after dorm every night, he had only managed to absorb a little over 10,000 Spiritual Points in total.
[Current Mental Power: 322,500]
’Still, that’s not bad!’
"BZZZ— (So satisfying!)"
Chu Sheng gave a lazy stretch, his gaze falling upon the door to the Cultivation Chamber, which had been sealed shut for ten days.
’By my count, today’s the last day.’
’That woman should be coming out of seclusion about now, right?’
’The pack of howling "challengers" outside must be getting impatient.’
...