Tournament

Lan Xiang looked around the waiting room.

In return, none of the other participants returned his gaze.

"Erm, this is awkward."

He was beginning to regret signing up for this sham tournament.

.....

Ren Weiwei and the others naturally sat near each other as they waited. There were no classes for the entire day anyway.

Lu Xifa acted naturally as she chatted with the other girls.

However, on the side was Ye Qingle, who saw through her barely maintained state of composure.

'Come to think of it, she called Xiang out yesterday. Should I ask her about it?'

Looking at Lu Xifa once more, Ye Qingle shook her head. 'I shouldn't. Let's ask her later when we're alone together.'

Zhang Xiaoqin pointed at the wall clock. "Guys, it's almost time. We should get ready."

"Ah, sure." Ren Weiwei grabbed her water tumbler, excited to see the tournament... well, that was a lie! She really only wanted to see Lan Xiang's matches!

Sure enough, a teacher went into the classroom. "Class D? Time to go upstairs. Form a line, whatever order, just make it quick."

As soon as the class finished forming the lines, the teacher took them upstairs and led them to their seats in the wide gymnasium area of the school.

The four ended up sitting in a line, even though they wanted to sit in a square.

Lu Xifa and Ye Qingle were on the sides, while Ren Weiwei and Zhang Xiaoqin sat between them.

This made Ye Qingle frustrated. She really wanted to ask about what happened with her and Lan Xiang!

'Whatever, I can wait until later. For now...'

"Good morning, students of GeSun High! Are you all excited?!"

"..."

"Ahem, students."

"Wooo! Wooo!"

The principal smiled in satisfaction hearing the clamor of cheers coming from his students.

After that, he decided to give a long speech, which demotivated the students even further.

Seeing the current state of affairs, the principal cleared his throat. "Ahem, Teacher Wen will be taking over starting now."

A female teacher on the side widened her eyes, clearly unprepared. She didn't know anything about her being the host of the tournament! All she heard was that the principal vehemently advocated himself as the host, to no one's opposition.

Despite that, she made her unsteady way towards the podium.

Wen Hushui steeled herself before speaking. "Good morning, guys--"

Unexpectedly, the students cheered even louder than they did when the principal greeted them.

'Sure enough, everyone is a critic...' The principal silently weeped in the corner.

And so, despite having no preparation at all, the tournament went off without a hitch as Wen Hushui received the mantle of the host quite gracefully.

"Okay, ahem, the first round, I am told, will be a free-for-all. Everyone will get up on stage and fight it out. If you get knocked out or pushed off the stage, you will be eliminated. And the free-for-all continues until there are 8 left! After that, we will proceed with a bracket."

"The rules are simple, no usage of techniques or movements that may otherwise cause severe or fatal injuries. Punishments range from elimination to expulsion. Remember, this is all for fun, no grades are gonna be altered or changed because of this. So, don't take it too seriously. Although, there is a special surprise for the final winner..."

"Okay, have I explained it clear enough? Then let's welcome all the students!"

Soon enough, a handful of students walked out of the waiting room and jumped onto the elevated stage.

In total, there were 36 students who signed up.

In the teachers' area, the teachers were whispering to each other.

"36 students! That's the most participants we've ever gotten since we started holding this tournament."

"Fortunately, the stage is barely big enough to accomodate three dozen. Otherwise, things would have been a bit screwed up."

"Well, who is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who do you think'll win?"

"Shouldn't it be Student Lan? I mean, among all the students, he has the highest cultivation."

"Yeah, even the third years are no match for him. Their strongest is only at Budding Spirit Realm."

"Heh, even us teachers..."

"To be fair, we wouldn't be teaching in this countryside school if we had talent."

The bluntness of this teacher silenced everyone else.

Lan Xiang jumped onto the stage withholding any usage of his abilities. He monitored the surroundings.

'Hmm, the strongest of the third years is on the Budding Spirit Realm, huh.'

He saw 2 Budding Spirit Realm third years. Everyone else was below them.

"All participants, are you ready?"

Lan Xiang raised his hand.

"Yes, student?" Wen Hushui didn't expect someone to actually answer. She almost stumbled.

"Erm, what if everybody aside from one person gets eliminated in this round?"

"Huh??" The question stumped Wen Hushui, as did many of the spectators in their seats.

Lu Xifa snapped out of her daze, Ren Weiwei widened her eyes, Zhang Xiaoqin felt like eating some popcorn, and Ye Qingle turned stiff.

Everyone of them had the same thought.

'What the hell is this guy thinking?!'

On the stage, the participants other than Lan Xiang nodded to each other as they seemed to have formed an agreement. No matter what happens, it's important to eliminate Lan Xiang first!

Wen Hushui hurriedly ran down the podium and went to the principal.

"Sir! What do we do now? Student Lan's question..."

"Yes, it should be... Mhmm... Okay. Tell him this."

Wen Hushui rushed back to the podium and cleared her throat.

"Ahem. Student Lan. The answer to your question is: This is a question of ability. If you are confident to do it, then do it." She imitated the principal's stiff voice, and even his gestures.

Lan Xiang nodded.

"Okay, I've decided. Since none of them's on my level, I'm gonna finish this as quickly as possible. Screw lowering my level or some other BS like that.

"Problem is, I can't use all my elements just like that. I jrrf to pick and choose just one. And it most likely needs to be fire."

Lan Xiang remembered that he had been recorded once using the fire element. If he used some other element in public now, it won't be long before everyone puts two and two together and finds out that he's the avatar.

"Okay, any more questions?" Wen Hushui felt the tense atmosphere.

"None? Then let the free-for-all officially commence!"

As soon as she said it, Lan Xiang looked around and observed his surroundings. He should be perfectly in the center. His words earlier should have provoked everyone as well.

"Then it's time to charge up Dragon Fist."

Lan Xiang wanted maximum output, so he put his left hand behind his back and let it charge up.

This move was seen by the others as "You aren't good enough to make me use both hands!"

"You...! Lan Xiang, even though you're two levels above me! Don't get too arrogant!" The third year rushed Lan Xiang, who wasn't moving from his position.

Everyone else followed his lead.

Lan Xiang silently chanted, "Fireball. Fireball. Fireball. Fireball..."

Then he aimed his right hand at the third year.

"What is this...? A palm strike?" The third year sneered. "Are you stupid?! A palm strike won't work unless you hit your opponent!"

All of a sudden, a fireball popped out of Lan Xiang's palm.

The third year clearly wasn't expecting that as his pupils constricted. The fireball came too fast; he was unable to do anything as it struck squarely into his chest.

He flew farther than he anticipated, all the way out of the stage.

As he crashed onto the ground and struggled to get up, he saw a continuous stream of people flying away from the stage into all sorts of directions and crashing outside, just like him.

"...Damn."

Meanwhile, on the stage.

"Hmm, Dragon Fist is just about ready."

Without sparing a second, Lan Xiang took out his left hand and struck the ground with an enormous force. Web-like cracks appeared on the stage, startling everybody.

The stage shook as every participant aside from Lan Xiang struggled to keep their balance. They felt that it was getting hotter.

Boom!

A straight spout of flames began to exit any and all cracks, flinging everyone upwards immediately. Only Lan Xiang remained in the center, unscathed.

Soon enough, it was raining students.

Every single one of them, after watching Lan Xiang's performance, gave up on trying to get back into the stage and focused on landing gracefully outside.

"..." Wen Hushui was speechless. As the dust settled and the stage stopped spitting out flames, the winner became clear.

"Ahem, I hereby declare the winner of this tournament Lan Xiang..."

Lan Xiang, meanwhile, started to pick his nose.