Chapter 273: Chapter 265: An Uncatchable Gap

Meanwhile, the winners from other schools were also researching their national competition rivals.

Jiang Jinling from Forest Valley High School had her teacher specifically pull up the Pet Beast data for Gu Ming and Lu You.

Gu Ming’s emergence in the provincial competition had caught her particular attention.

It was one thing that his Cultivation Technique had one more color than hers, but he even got an S Level rating.

One had to know, such a high-end rating wasn’t awarded in every competition.

She herself had only received an A+ rating.

It might have seemed like only one step of difference, but every past examinee who received an S Level rating had gone on to become a prominent figure in the Beast Taming Realm.

Fortunately, he had only gotten his S Level rating in a provincial competition, not on the national or international stage. The gap between her and Gu Ming hadn’t widened too much yet.

Jiang Jinling was unwilling to admit that Gu Ming was better than her, vowing to crush his momentum in the national competition.

...

At Qing Lake High School, the school’s internal battle arena was still lit up at night.

The third-year students from Class One and Class Two were still training overtime. Occasionally, someone would sit down to rest and scroll through their phone, stumbling upon the news of their own school’s victory.

Zhou Ruoyun sat on the floor, a towel draped over her head, her exhausted Pet Beast collapsed beside her from training.

She watched the introduction in the short video on her screen, listening to the over-the-top praise for the S Level rating, which lauded him as practically the most incredible high school student in Lanqi City. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Her eyes glazed over as she stared blankly at her phone.

It wasn’t until a classmate sat down beside her and asked what she was looking at.

Only then did she turn off her phone, shake her head, and say with a bitter expression, "Nothing, just a boring video."

’She had once seen Gu Ming as a rival, aiming to surpass him in the mid-term exams.’

’But in the end, she didn’t face him in the mid-terms. And now, with the monthly exams approaching in the blink of an eye, Gu Ming had gone off to a competition and even secured a top rank.’

She didn’t say it out loud, but the student next to her couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

"Huh? It looks like our school’s Gu Ming got an S Level rating."

"For real? Doesn’t that make him first in the entire province?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of many students in the training hall shifted slightly.

This was especially true for Fang Leng, the top student from the neighboring Class Two. He was in the middle of training his Shuiliuliu. When he heard that Gu Ming had achieved an S Level rating, his previously determined expression wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant, and his imposing aura vanished in an instant.

In Class Two, many students had been wanting to settle a score with Gu Ming.

When they heard he was participating in the competition, they all thought he would come back. How could an ordinary person possibly endure the intensity of the competition?

They never expected that the next time they heard news of him, Gu Ming would have already ascended.

"By the way, that assistant who went with him... what was her name again? How did she do?" Fang Leng asked.

He rarely cared about other people’s results, especially those who ranked lower and were weaker than him.

This time, however, he felt a sense of imbalance. He started fantasizing about the other student from their school failing and returning to take the college entrance exams with them.

"Uh, you’re asking about Lu You, right? She also got... an S Level rating. She ranked second in the province..."

"How is that possible!"

"Her Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster could get that rating? Aren’t assistants’ contributions usually minimal?"

When Fang Leng heard this news, his world completely collapsed. He swayed, his face a mask of disbelief.

To his right, Wang Teng, who was training his Dumb Flower, was quite amused.

Gu Ming taking first place and ascending like that was shocking to everyone, but it didn’t make them feel bad. After all, his strength and knowledge were plain for all to see.

Lu You was a different story. Many people felt that her success was largely due to luck, and that there were traces of Gu Ming’s involvement in many of her Cultivation Techniques.

Hearing that she took second in the provincial competition with an S Level rating shattered their first impressions and felt like a complete worldview reset. It was a huge blow to their pride.

As Gu Ming’s friend, Wang Teng was happy to see the two of them achieve such great results.

In fact, in his family’s group chat, the well-informed adults were already spreading rumors that hundreds of companies were inquiring about Gu Ming and Lu You’s backgrounds, wanting to invest in them.

This was a hot topic, discussed from six in the evening until well after seven.

Later, the clan head spoke up, mentioning that the Ruan Family had secured them, and then no one talked about it anymore. The topic’s heat died down.

Wang Teng also knew that Gu Ming and Lu You’s Visualization Images were highly tied to their commercial cooperation with the Ruan Family.

It was only natural for them to fall into the Ruan Family’s embrace; in fact, it was only a matter of time.

"’You guys have to keep it up. The reputation of Lanqi City rests on your shoulders,’ Wang Teng murmured."

...

「The next morning.」

The Golden-Eyed Dragon Gate opened once again.

This time, the Dragon Gate opened directly in the sky above Qing Lake High School’s athletic field, instead of being set up between the various schools.

The high school students of Lanqi City looked on with envy.

They knew that in the entire city, only Qing Lake High School had secured spots in the national competition.

The comparison made it instantly clear which school was stronger and which was weaker.

The students looked up at the sky, watching as the gate, brimming with Dragon Mighty, slowly opened from within the clouds.

A series of steps descended from the sky, leading all the way down to the school’s study hall.

Gu Ming and Lu You left the study hall, stepped onto the stairs, and walked up, step by step.

The teachers following behind them had been replaced by the duo of Zhang Yunpeng and Teacher Zhong; Ling Jun was no longer leading the team.

Their homeroom teacher, Teacher Ling, had returned to her class to lead the students in their final sprint of training for the college entrance exams.

Furthermore, after it became clear that Gu Ming had the support of the Ruan Family, the Ruan Family also made a statement in the city, halting the surging undercurrents.

After the school’s upper management learned of this, they no longer dared to have any funny ideas.

To avoid getting caught up in trouble, their homeroom teacher Ling Jun had also received a message from the Ling Family and did not accompany them.

Teacher Zhang was happy about this.

He followed Gu Ming through the Golden-Eyed Dragon Gate and arrived at a transit station in the Dragon Gate Realm.

The other students traveling with Gu Ming to the Capital for the competition had already gathered inside the Golden-Eyed Dragon Gate.

As soon as Gu Ming arrived, several gazes swept toward him. They were looking not just at him, but also at his Cyan Treasure and Ah Kun, with particular focus on Ah Kun.

In the provincial competition, Ah Kun had shone brilliantly, while Cyan Treasure had been the source of the Cultivation Technique questions.

These two points alone put them far ahead of everyone else; it was hard not to pay attention.

Next to the Dragon Gate, there were also a few Six-star Beastmasters, but no Seven-star Beastmasters had appeared.

Gu Ming saw a Six-star Wind Dragon flying in the sky, not landing. On the ground, Teacher Feng Gu was presiding over this round’s team.

He waved his hand, and his Pet Beast began to distribute materials, handing out the information for the national competition to the lead teachers from each school, while also explaining the important points for this competition.

Gu Ming glanced around. There were very few schools present.

In total, there were only twenty-six students, standing scattered in their own groups.

Some were in groups of three, while the smallest groups had only one person. All told, it came to a total of eleven schools.

「Perhaps due to the losses from the Demon Fiend invasion, this national competition’s venue is not in a small world fragment, but has been set up in the Eight-star Dao Field in Zhou Capital.」

「You are secretly excited. You’ve been to the Capital before, but this is your first time visiting the Eight-star Dao Field—a place ordinary people could never go in their entire lifetime.」

After a short while, Teacher Feng Gu, who had presided over the gate’s opening, said:

"We’ve arrived in Zhou Capital. The national competition grounds are right outside."

"Everyone, I wish you all success on the honor roll."

Teacher Zhang was buried in the materials, his brow slightly furrowed.

He gave Gu Ming’s shoulder a light push and said, "Let’s go. We’ll talk as we walk. This time, the exam questions are a bit tricky."