Rival in Chess

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Author: Dali Bao

Translator: MythicWeaver

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Since Su Hao promised Xiaopang and He Qingqing that he would watch their match, he would not break his word.

Early the next morning, Su Hao arrived at the martial arts field.

At this moment, the martial arts field was already bustling with people, more lively than ever before.

There were still about 1,200 students at the academy, and the annual competition did not divide by grade, mixing everyone together to compete.

The annual competition lasted two days. The first day was the preliminary round, dividing the 1,200 people into 12 groups: nine groups for male students and three for female students, with 100 people in each group. From each group, seven people would be selected to advance to the finals on the second day. Each group would have two class teachers acting as judges and safety officers.

This annual competition tested not only the students' strength but also their endurance. To compete for first place, excluding the possibility of a bye, one would need to go through ten matches from start to finish.

This was not something ordinary people could achieve.

But all of this had nothing to do with Su Hao. He was not concerned about these things. To him, the annual competition was just a leveling game for young people.

After Xiaopang and He Qingqing's matches ended, he would return to his dormitory to continue researching blood energy.

Using his radar, he quickly found Xiaopang and He Qingqing in the crowd. It wasn't their turn to compete yet, so Su Hao first showed his face in front of them and then wandered around the field.

As he wandered, he recorded blood energy information, entering it into the "radar" database.

He first targeted the class teachers with blood energy as strong as the sun.

"This class teacher's blood energy is so strong! It's probably Mr. Mo from class four! Record it: blood energy characteristics, soft. Mo Fenghua, high-rank grandmaster martial artist, yellow text. Tsk tsk tsk, the amount of blood energy is almost catching up to mine..."

Thinking this, Su Hao was stunned.

He suddenly noticed something was wrong and frowned as he analyzed internally, "Mr. Mo Fenghua, as the class teacher for class four, must undoubtedly be a high-rank grandmaster martial artist, but why does his blood energy intensity seem weaker than mine?"

Su Hao first suspected there was a problem with his own perception. Perhaps with his current strength, he couldn't accurately sense a high-rank grandmaster martial artist's blood energy? Or maybe high-rank grandmaster martial artists had the ability to shield their blood energy?

Su Hao then found other class teachers and used his "radar" to carefully sense them, finding significant differences in blood energy intensity among them, with clear fluctuations, unlike any shielding.

"My perception is fine. My blood energy intensity is indeed much higher than that of the class teachers! So, based on blood energy intensity, I am already a high-rank grandmaster martial artist, not just a middle-rank grandmaster martial artist."

Su Hao roughly understood that the distinction between middle-rank and high-rank in this world was not clear; when one's strength reached a certain level, it was reached. The real distinction was between ordinary and elite, and between elite and grandmaster levels.

Unable to make sense of it, Su Hao simply stopped thinking about it and focused on entering everyone's information into the "radar" database.

...

Soon, it was Xiaopang's turn to compete. Su Hao went to the edge of the field to watch.

Xiaopang appeared very nervous, holding a training blunt knife and a small round shield, his whole body tense. After entering the field, he constantly took deep breaths to adjust his state.

Xiaopang's opponent was a person with long curly hair, shorter than Xiaopang by half a head, holding the same training knife and small round shield.

Xiaopang's height of 1.7 meters put invisible pressure on his opponent, who seemed even more nervous than Xiaopang.

It was the first time for both of them to compete, and neither wanted to be eliminated in the first match. Once on the stage, their state improved, both staring intently at each other, fully immersed in the match.

"Bang!"

With a sound of the gong, the match began.

Xiaopang and the curly-haired person moved simultaneously, one swinging a heavy slash, the other raising a shield to block, deflecting the knife and looking for a chance to counterattack.

They went back and forth for about twenty rounds, neither able to gain the upper hand. It was truly a match between equals, each meeting their match.

Before long, both were panting heavily.

Since they couldn't win by force, they had to use strategy. So they began using skills and tricks.

Xiaopang slashed down, the curly-haired person immediately raised the shield to block, but Xiaopang's slash was a feint, the real attack was a kick.

"Leg Sweep!"

The curly-haired person was startled, reflexively dropping the shield to block with a hand.

But this was still a feint from Xiaopang. Seeing the curly-haired person drop the shield, leaving an opening, Xiaopang seized the opportunity, thrusting the small round shield forward with his left hand, hitting the curly-haired person squarely in the face.

The match was decided.

Su Hao immediately shouted from the side, "Xiaopang! Well done!"

Everyone turned to look and, upon seeing Su Hao, was collectively startled: it was the irritable flying man, Wu Xiangwu.

People near Su Hao immediately moved three meters away, leaving a large empty space.

"I'll go check on Qingqing. Keep it up," Su Hao said to Xiaopang, ignoring the others around him, and then walked away.

Because of Su Hao's presence, everyone looked at Xiaopang differently, wondering if they should forfeit if they faced this tall, chubby guy next. Even if they won the match, being targeted by the irritable flying man would still mean a loss.

Su Hao went to the 11th group's field and watched for a while; soon, it was He Qingqing's turn.

The girls' fight was more aesthetically pleasing. With the same training blunt knives and small round shields, He Qingqing wielded them with vigor and bravery.

After four rounds with her opponent, He Qingqing suddenly lunged forward, her knife tip inserting between the opponent's shield and long knife, twisting and disarming the opponent. Seizing the moment of panic, she kicked, knocking the opponent down, and won the match.

Learning from Xiaopang's experience, Su Hao didn't cheer loudly. He just ran to He Qingqing and waved.

Seeing Su Hao, He Qingqing's serious and slightly fierce face immediately blossomed into a smile.

In the second round, Xiaopang was tripped by his opponent and fell, regrettably eliminated.

However, He Qingqing won her first three rounds. In the fourth round, she met a third-year student and, exhausted, was defeated by two heavy slashes from her opponent.

With this, Su Hao's task of watching the matches was over. The three found a shady spot under a tree and sat down.

Su Hao first praised them both enthusiastically, saying Xiaopang was incredibly clever to come up with such a brilliant move to defeat his opponent, truly smart. He praised He Qingqing for passing three rounds and defeating six opponents, unstoppable, but unfortunately meeting a third-year student, otherwise, she would have made it to the finals tomorrow.

Their feelings of failure were quickly washed away, and they soon cheered up.

Xiaopang said, "Xiangwu, there's a two-month break coming up. I'm going back to Chashan Post to train with my dad. What are your plans?"

Xiangwu replied, "I'm planning to buy some things for my father first, then go back for a while, and then return to the academy!"

Xiaopang was puzzled, "I heard that for these two months, all the teachers are on vacation, and very few students stay at the academy. What will you do here?"

Su Hao said, "It will be quiet here, perfect for my own training."

At this point, He Qingqing said, "I'm also going back to Chashan Post to train with my dad. Xiangwu, you can train there too, and there will be people to help you."

"I want to stay in town," Su Hao shook his head. They couldn't understand that he had far surpassed his father and couldn't improve through that kind of training anymore.

It would be better to stay in Rising Clouds Town and visit the library. He might gain something there.

He was now very interested in runes and wanted to collect more "beast runes" for comparative research. He wanted to understand why these runes could produce such magical effects and if they had expansion potential.

But according to Old Liu, a beast rune's market price was at least twenty gold coins.

He was short of money, and with only two gold coins on him, he couldn't afford even a fraction of a beast rune. So he needed to find a way to make money, and there were more opportunities to do so in town.