Chapter 53: Struggle

Inside the venue.

With the help of delivery drones, box after box of boxed lunches arrived on site.

The first and second rounds of the Law Tournament had concluded, and it was now lunchtime.

Yet most contestants, still chewing their overpriced lunches, kept talking about the highlights of the previous matches while occasionally glancing at the leaderboard displayed on the giant screen.

The name that had once occupied fourth place had vanished without a trace. The current top ten were once again dominated by the three prestigious schools: White Dragon High School, Purple Cloud High, and Red Tower High.

That was because the top ten shown now represented the cumulative total scores after both rounds.

Only the overall top ten in the Law Tournament would be awarded prizes, ranked officially, and have scores recognized by universities during interviews.

That name—the one that had torn open a path and forced its way into fourth place in the second round—was now gone like an illusion.

Like a bird that had tried to pierce the sky, only to be smacked back down by the mighty hands of the elite schools.

Ms. Yan sighed to herself: “Zhang Yu's score in the first round’s Flying Sword match was just too low. It dragged him down, and he didn’t make the top ten in total score.”

But what could she do?

The wealthy simply had an overwhelming advantage in flying sword control. Ms. Yan couldn’t blame Zhang Yu’s family for not buying him a mana-powered flying sword.

“If anything, it’s just bad luck—this round happened to be sponsored by a flying sword manufacturer.”

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was eyeing his lunch with disgust as he ate.

“This thing cost eighty bucks? Red Tower High really thinks they're highway robbers.”

Just as he was complaining, another boxed lunch was shoved in front of him.

Zhang Yu looked up and saw Ms. Yan walking over with another lunch box.

With a warm smile, Ms. Yan said, “You’ve had a long and exhausting morning. I figured you’d still be hungry, so here—have another.”

Off to the side, Bai Zhenzhen watched and secretly rolled her eyes. “Hungry? I should be the hungry one. Yuzi resolved the Specialized Mana in just a minute and a half—I held out for over eight whole minutes! Damn near killed me!”

Watching Zhang Yu scarf down both meals, Ms. Yan grew more and more pleased. A student with such a healthy appetite must be a good one.

As for Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, and He Dayou with their equally large appetites? Hmph—none of them stood a chance in this kind of Mana competition. If they were eating this much, weren’t they just plain freeloaders?

Ms. Yan encouraged him: “You did really well this morning. Just do your best in the afternoon and don’t stress too much.”

Though she dearly hoped Zhang Yu would go all in with four hundred percent focus, she knew full well that mana control wasn’t something to rush. The key was staying calm. Too much pressure would only backfire.

She worried that Zhang Yu’s high placement in the second round might burden him with expectations, so she hurried to reassure him and help him relax before the final match.

Meanwhile, she mentally tallied his score.

“Round One: 80 points. Round Two: 93 points. Total: 173.”

She looked up at the big screen, scanning from the top—first place at 195 points, tenth place at 176.

“If Zhang Yu can score just four more points, he’ll make the top ten.”

Four points didn’t sound like much, but Ms. Yan knew that in a high-difficulty, high-competition tournament like this, every single point got exponentially harder to earn.

Especially when thirty elite students from the three prestigious schools were all fighting for those top ten spots.

Thinking about the four-point gap, Ms. Yan couldn’t help tensing up. “It all depends on what this last round tests.”

Lunch ended quickly, and the final round of the Law Tournament officially began.

The host stepped onto the stage and said, “Want to master martial arts or Dao Techniques? Come to Xianyun! Three hundred labs, one hundred technique masters, and a hundred years of Immortal Dao education. A big thank you to Xianyun Group for sponsoring this tournament…”

Xianyun Group—Zhang Yu remembered this company belonged to the Wanfa Sect. It was the same big corporation where he’d taken that trial job and obtained the Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Technique.

He also recalled seeing the Director of Xianyun Group’s Songyang City branch at Li Xuelian’s art exhibit.

A moment later, each contestant received a complex mana circulation diagram.

This was the final round's challenge: follow the diagram’s path to transform your own mana into Specialized Mana.

At the same time, the Soul Cultivation Students’ cameras swept across the field, monitoring every contestant’s condition in real time and preparing to record the order of completion.

As the timer began, some students had already started channeling mana along the illustrated route.

Zhang Yu furrowed his brow as he examined the diagram.

“This looks like… some kind of combat-based Specialized Mana.”

Thanks to his level-10 Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Technique, Zhang Yu had excellent mana control.

But the circulation path on this diagram was vastly different from the self-improvement loop of the Qi-Gathering Technique.

Where the Qi-Gathering Technique was an inward-facing method to elevate oneself, this new path was outward-oriented—a means to weaponize mana for combat.

In terms of complexity, it was simpler than Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering.

But in structure and technique, it was completely foreign to him.

Especially one method involving mana vibration and refinement—that was entirely new to Zhang Yu.

“This tournament is seriously going overboard with the difficulty.”

And to make matters worse…

Zhang Yu glanced at the Feathered Tome hovering nearby—no reaction.

“It’s a technique, isn’t it?”

“Guess I’ll have to brute-force my way through it.”

He summoned mana from his dantian and began carefully following the diagram.

…

Over in Purple Cloud High’s section.

Lian Tianji glanced toward Le Mulan, who looked perfectly confident. He thought to himself, “The sacred Number One student in our grade will definitely do well. I just have to keep up and carry our school’s total score.”

Le Mulan tilted her head as she studied the mana diagram.

“This looks familiar… I think I’ve come across something like this before.”

“Let me think… this is the Bodyguard Force technique from the Martial Dao, right?”

She began channeling her mana smoothly, transitioning it into Specialized Mana along the diagram’s path.

Bodyguard Force, derived from mana, was classified under Martial Dao-based Specialized Mana in the immortal cultivation system established by the Ten Major Sects.

Le Mulan recalled that converting mana into Bodyguard Force required a vibration step—the more powerful the final force, the more times it needed to be vibrated.

“Each mana vibration improves the quality of the resulting force, but also makes it harder to control.”

“Based on this diagram, it looks like we need seven vibrations before following the path…”

Suddenly, she frowned.

The grunts and groans nearby were distracting. Many students injured in the last round were still recovering, and now their wounds were flaring up again from trying to circulate mana.

“Can’t these public high school students afford decent healing pills?”

“If not healing pills, can’t they at least get better-quality painkillers?”

Then it hit her—maybe these poor kids really couldn’t afford those things.

That noise?

That was the sound of poverty.

“It’s messing up my exam.”

But Le Mulan knew—money could silence the sounds of poverty.

She reached out and grabbed a pair of noise-canceling earmuffs worth tens of thousands. Slipping them on, she finally felt the peace she wanted.

A slight smile curved her lips as she resumed her mana transformation.