Dizziness, fatigue, a feverish heat throughout his body, an incessant cough... He was sick!
"You poisoned me?" He looked at Su Ze in shock and suspicion. "When?"
Su Ze couldnât be bothered to answer him, but in reality, right when their fight began, Su Ze had used a "Needle Strike" to implant the Plague Poison inside Yarlinâs body.
After all this time, the Plague Poison had finally erupted.
The Plague Poison attached to "Needle Strike" could affect targets with a higher evolution level than the user, but its effects would be diminished and it would take longer to activate.
With the Plague Poison now active, Su Ze felt even more confident.
He shot out a Gravity Chain, pulling Yarlin in front of him. Then he went all out, laying down Gravity Dust Sand, activating Ant Power, and focusing his Perception Tentacles around Yarlin.
Gravity Control, full-body electric shocks, piercing attacks, Furious Waves, a barrage of fists and feet...
This was a combo that even the Tiger King General couldnât handle, let alone Yarlin, who wasnât as strong. He was being beaten so badly he couldnât even fight back.
Su Ze felt he could have taken on Yarlin even at his peak, to say nothing of a Yarlin weakened by the Plague Poison. He was now simply wiping the floor with him.
Everyone watching was stunned.
Both the contestants and the audience in the stands were frozen in a state of shock.
Even the citizens of the six nations watching the live broadcast on their TVs were dumbfounded.
A Cocoon Stage overwhelming a Butterfly Stage, while extremely rare, wasnât unheard of. But for a prodigy like Yarlin to be defeated by someone of a lower stageâthat was truly unprecedented.
Yarlin was already a prodigy, a top-tier genius. Just how much of a genius did that make Su Ze, who defeated him from the Cocoon Stage?
Li Yongguanâs deadpan expression finally broke, revealing shock and admiration.
The number of people he truly admired could be counted on one hand, and his father, Li Fayi, was not among them. He believed that by the time he reached his fatherâs age, he would definitely be stronger.
But now, Su Ze was one of the few. As proud as Li Yongguan was, even he felt that he could never catch up to Su Ze.
Gu YueâEr and the other Dongli University team members could only curse, "Holy shit!" They never expected their junior to be so ferocious.
In the stands, several officials from the Sovereign Countryâs education department looked at each other, momentarily speechless.
They had misjudged!
They had originally thought Yarlin would be the greatest find of their trip, but it turned out Su Ze was the biggest dark horse.
The potential Yarlin had displayed was already astounding; even in Lin Hua Country, he would be considered a rare talent.
As for Su Ze, who could defeat Yarlin from a lower stage, "genius" was no longer enough to describe him... He was a monster!
"It seems tomorrowâs final is no longer important."
"Thatâs right. The winner has already been decided. Tomorrow is just a formality."
"This Su Ze... as long as he doesnât die and continues to grow, heâll become a major figure in the entire Lin Hua Continent someday."
Not far away, after a moment of stunned silence, Zhou Wenshan burst into hearty laughter, occasionally glancing at Mr. Jin of Island University beside him, his smug satisfaction practically overflowing from his face.
Finally, on the arena, Su Ze ended his brutalization of Yarlin and kicked him off the stage.
Having successfully defeated Yarlin, Su Ze claimed the Golden Arena.
As Yarlinâs body crashed heavily to the ground below the arena, the other contestants awoke as if from a dream. They remembered they were still in the competition and immediately challenged their own targets.
There wasnât much time left!
They only had one final chance to challenge.
But just then, Yarlinâbeaten off the stage by Su Ze, covered in injuries, and looking utterly wretchedâclimbed back to his feet and challenged one of the two remaining Golden Arenas.
Given Yarlinâs pride, after losing to Su Ze, he really didnât want to compete for the other two Golden Arenas.
But this exchange tournament also represented his countryâs honor and interests. If he gave up, Ancient University might fail to place in the top three of the individual competition for the first time.
As a former defender of a Golden Arena, Yarlin had priority to challenge, so the other contestants could only watch as he went first.
Yarlinâs gaze swept over Park Su-joo and Li Yongguan before he finally chose to challenge Park Su-joo.
Park Su-jooâs face went pale. She never imagined that she would be challenged by Yarlin at the last minute.
If anyone else had challenged her, she had a good chance of stalling for time, but Yarlin... She knew she was in danger.
She had been relieved when Su Ze didnât challenge her, never expecting her turn would come after all.
She had managed to avoid Su Ze, only to be caught by Yarlin.
The result was just as Park Su-joo expected. She didnât last half a minute against Yarlin before being eliminated. The gap in their strength was so vast that not even the referee could protect her.
Meanwhile, Li Yongguan was challenged by the number one seed from Great Desert Chief University.
Although their two teams were allies, at this final juncture, with the Sovereign Countryâs generous rewards on the line, a fair competition was unavoidable.
Because less than ten minutes would remain after this match, whoever won would directly lock in a spot in the top three of the individual competition.
Li Yongguan also went all out, using every trick he had and charging at the contestant from the Great Desert Kingdom like a mad dog, determined to defend the Golden Arena beneath his feet at all costs.
In the end, after being chased around the edge of the arena for ten laps by Li Yongguan, the contestant from the Great Desert Kingdom voluntarily withdrew from the contest.
With that, Li Yongguanâs spot in the top three was also secured.
At this point, the fight for the three Golden Arenas had come to a close.
The others, like Park Su-joo, could only compete for the silver arenas.
Thus, the silver arenas saw another wave of purges, as the slightly weaker contestants couldnât even hold onto their positions there.
A few minutes later, the second round of the competition ended, and the results were out!
The top three were Su Ze, Yarlin, and Li Yongguan.
Dongli University, which hadnât placed in the top three of the individual competition for many years, had actually taken two of the spots this time.
Furthermore, Gu Yueâer had also successfully secured a silver arena.
The Dongli University campus immediately erupted!
"Su Ze is a badass!"
"Li Yongguan is a badass!"
"Senior Gu YueâEr is a badass!"
"Our great Dongli will reign for a thousand ages and unite the six nations!"
"Long live Dongli!"
Almost the entire student body was watching the competition. Upon seeing two students from Dongli University break into the top three, everyone spontaneously burst into cheers and shouts.
Of the top ten spots in this yearâs individual competition, Dongli had taken three, with two of them in the top three. This had already broken the Dongli Kingdomâs previous record!
Meanwhile, the Luofan Country and Mu Country, both of whom were on bad terms with Dongli, failed to secure a single spot in the top ten. They had been thoroughly targeted by Su Ze.
On-site, below the arenas, Pei Wuhua was grinning from ear to ear.
"You all did very well!" he praised them repeatedly.
He knew that although this was only the second round, it had effectively revealed the outcome of the finals in advance.
Tomorrowâs final would be just a formality.
Su Ze was swarmed by his teammates as they approached Pei Wuhua. Pei Wuhua smiled and said, "Weâll go out for a big meal later to celebrate. Starting tomorrow, everyone should focus their energy on the team competition and train hard.
"As for the fight for the top three in the individual competition, donât worry about it. First place is already in the bag."
...
Things turned out just as Pei Wuhua had predicted. The individual competition finals the next day were exceptionally dull, and the outcome was completely without suspense.
Su Ze was scheduled to fight both Li Yongguan and Yarlin separately, but both of them forfeited immediately when they faced him.
This allowed Su Ze to take first place with incredible ease.
Li Yongguan and Yarlin fought a match. Li Yongguan, at the Cocoon Stage, was instantly defeated by Yarlin, who was at the Butterfly Stage.
Thus, Yarlin took second place, and Li Yongguan ranked third.
With that, the individual competition officially came to an end.
For the other teams, especially the one from Ancient University, their loss in the individual competition did not extinguish their fighting spirit.
They remained ambitious about the team competition.
No matter how strong Su Ze was, he was still just one person. The team competition was not a one-man show.
And the overall strength of Ancient Universityâs team was superior to Dongli Universityâs.
Meanwhile, after the individual competition ended, Su Ze suddenly received a message from Mr. Zhou. It said that someone from the Ministry of Education, Lin Hua Country wanted to talk to him.