Supreme Star Card Master-Chapter 186 - 161: The Exchange Meeting is Approaching

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

On this day, Class One gathered once again.

As class was about to start, Xia Yue looked at Su Yuan’s empty seat and asked Shang Baiyu, "Is Su Yuan missing again?"

Hearing Xia Yue’s question, Luo Bingtong, seated nearby, glanced over. At the back, Xiang Dingqian also quietly perked up his ears.

Shang Baiyu nodded. "He has been gone for a while now. He left school a month ago."

"A month ago?" Xia Yue was shocked. "Wasn’t that just a few days after we returned from the hunting trial?"

"Yeah... According to the teacher, he went to the Transversal Mountain Range for training again and hasn’t come back yet."

Xia Yue held her forehead. "He’s truly a cultivation monster..."

At the back, Xiang Dingqian, who had been eavesdropping, secretly nodded.

"Such a pervert, and so hardworking... As expected, no one can surpass him!"

Soon, He Yanan walked in.

"Teacher Xiao He!"

"Mm, all of you sit down."

He Yanan gestured for everyone to take their seats, and then he cut straight to the point.

"The reason you’re gathered here this time is to discuss the Three Cities Elite Exchange Conference. The time and final competition format have been confirmed."

Hearing He Yanan mention this, everyone perked up. After all, this was related to the slots for the Holy Spring of Demon City.

"The time is April 20.

The format, a round-robin team tournament."

"Round-robin team tournament?" The class was somewhat puzzled. They knew about team tournaments, but what was a round-robin team tournament?

He Yanan explained slowly, "A round-robin team tournament involves three teams competing in a ring.

The teams from the Three Capitals Academy, with each team having five members, will take turns, similar to ’Demon City-Capitol City-Demon Capital,’ to challenge other teams one by one.

Once all five members of a team are defeated, that team is eliminated, and the last remaining team is the winner."

Shang Baiyu stroked his chin, thinking aloud, "Simple and clear, but this situation isn’t great..."

Xia Yue said, "Demon City and Capitol City regard each other highly, treating themselves as competitors. We might get ganged up on..."

Zhang Tai scratched his head, confused. "If that’s the case, shouldn’t they recruit us? Why would they gang up on us?"

Xia Yue pursed her lips but said nothing more.

Seeing this, Shang Baiyu explained, "If it were a three-way melee, Capitol City and Demon City might want to use our relatively weaker strength to balance things.

This way, the side with two allies would easily defeat the isolated side, and we might secure second or even first place.

But now it’s in the form of a ring match, meaning all battles are one-on-one.

Turning ’one versus two’ into two ’one versus one’ greatly reduces the effect of teaming up.

In a one-on-one match, if you can’t win, you just can’t win. It’s even possible for someone to take down all five opponents in a row.

Given this, for Capitol City and Demon City, it’s better to eliminate the weaker third party first, ensuring at least ten additional slots, and then vie for the first place themselves."

"Well said." He Yanan looked approvingly at Shang Baiyu.

"Additionally, according to the information I have, Capitol City and Demon City each have two extremely outstanding super geniuses this year.

Not only did they break through to the High Stage a month or two ago, but they also have no weaknesses in terms of soul cards, skills, star devices, or combat consciousness.

Usually, in the exchange tournaments, there would be at most one or two such students a year. But this year, just Capitol City and Demon City have produced four."

If you add Su Yuan and Luo Bingtong, that makes six!

He Yanan’s gaze fell on Luo Bingtong below, pondering.

"Bronze High Stage? And they broke through to Bronze High Stage a month or two ago? Our Demon Capital Academy doesn’t have a single Bronze High Stage student right now!"

The others didn’t know what He Yanan was thinking. They were all amazed at how Capitol City and Demon City students had reached Bronze High Stage so quickly.

The gap of one stage put them at a significant disadvantage even before the battle had begun.

A sense of urgency rose in Xia Yue, Xiang Dingqian, and the others.

In fact, Xia Yue and the others had been honing their star power this past month in preparation for breaking through in the Star Mist Pool.

With nearly twenty days remaining before the Three Cities Elite Exchange Conference, there was still a chance for them to break through.

"Our Demon Capital Academy isn’t without High Stage students," He Yanan smiled. "A month ago, Su Yuan also broke through to Bronze High Stage."

"Ah, this!..."

Xia Yue and the others were first stunned, then involuntarily looked at Su Yuan’s empty seat next to Shang Baiyu.

Shang Baiyu gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I didn’t know either. He and the teacher never told me..."

Shang Baiyu realized that Su Yuan probably went out for more training after breaking through to the High Stage.

Everyone sighed in unison; Su Yuan was truly both perverse and low-key...completely unlike other young people of their age.

If it were someone else, who wouldn’t have told everyone about breaking through to Bronze High Stage right away?

After all, they’re all young people, and a little bit of competitiveness is expected.

But Su Yuan... If they hadn’t heard it from He Yanan, no one would have known he broke through to the High Stage a month ago!

Come to think of it, Su Yuan had always kept a low profile.

For instance, during the Practical Combat Hall incident at South Pole Academy, if he hadn’t single-handedly taken on the five other academies, no one would have known his body strength was as strong as his powerful summoning techniques.

...

"Teacher Xiao He, the super geniuses from Capitol City and Demon City you mentioned earlier, who are they?" Mu Qingyu asked.

He Yanan responded calmly, "Ji Xuan and Wen Chenwei from Demon City, and Xiang Dingkun and Zhu Hongchi from Capitol City."

Xiang Dingkun?

The faces of the classmates turned strange, and they couldn’t help but glance secretly at Xiang Dingqian at the back.

Everyone knew that Xiang Dingqian had a genius younger brother at Capitol City College, but they didn’t expect him to be one of the super geniuses He Yanan mentioned.

Xiang Dingqian’s face didn’t look good. Indeed, back then, his strength was not as good as his younger cousin Xiang Dingkun. This caused Xiang Dingkun to gain more appreciation and resources from the family elders.

It was clear to everyone that Xiang Dingkun’s talent was higher, and the gap between the two brothers, Ding Qian and Ding Kun, would only widen.

Later, Xiang Dingkun looked down on Xiang Dingqian, while Xiang Dingqian also detested Xiang Dingkun. Their relationship turned very bad, which led Xiang Dingqian to leave Capitol City and come to Demon Capital Academy.

Xiang Dingqian’s long-term goal had always been to defeat Xiang Dingkun and win back the family elders’ recognition and more resource allocation.

But that was in the past. Now, Xiang Dingqian had found a new target...

Looking at the empty seat in the front row, Xiang Dingqian felt a lot calmer.

As long as he closely followed this person, surpassing Xiang Dingkun was just a matter of time...

Everyone was observing Xiang Dingqian, but no one noticed that Xia Yue’s face did not look good either.

"Wen Chenwei, I wonder how strong you’ve become now..."

Xia Yue didn’t know the others, but Wen Chenwei from Demon City had been her schoolmate at Demon No.1 Middle School!

Back in school, she had always been second because Wen Chenwei held the top spot for years.

Until the final comprehensive trial before graduation, when Xia Yue finally took first place!

Xia Yue would never forget that day.

Just when she was bursting with excitement at finally taking the top spot alone in the hallway, Wen Chenwei walked up to her out of nowhere.

"You seem very happy..." Wen Chenwei had a faint smile on his face.

"Seeing you place second for three years, I thought of letting you take first once before parting.

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But just getting first place this one time makes you so happy? I don’t get it..."

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Wen Chenwei thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Oh, maybe I’ve always been first, so I forgot that becoming first is something people celebrate..."

Saying this, Wen Chenwei slowly walked away, leaving Xia Yue standing alone in the hallway, pondering his words.

Was her first place something he allowed?

...

"As for our side’s participant list, it has been decided..." He Yanan’s voice drew the class’s attention back. "Captain Su Yuan, team members: Xiang Dingqian, Xia Yue, Ye Qing, Zhang Tai."

"It’s pretty much what I thought."

"Same here, but no Luo Bingtong."

"Given that she took first place in the hunting trial, her strength can’t be underestimated. After all, Su Yuan alone couldn’t have earned over a thousand academic points, right?"

"Exactly, plus she did get the Five-leaf Essence..."

The class buzzed with discussion. This participant list was almost exactly what most of them had expected, except for Luo Bingtong.

Among the top ten new students, Luo Bingtong was in the top five.

Although she didn’t make a move in the South Pole Academy Practical Combat Hall incident, making her true power unknown, her performance in the hunting trial and obtaining the Five-leaf Essence suggested she was no weaker than Xia Yue, Xiang Dingqian, and the others.

He Yanan secretly shook his head. He had planned to include Luo Bingtong, but the dean personally instructed him to leave her out.

"Seems like this girl’s background is even bigger than I thought..." He Yanan mused as he looked at Luo Bingtong, calmly sitting below.

"Prepare well from now on. Use the Star Mist Pool if you need to.

If you take second place, each will be rewarded with 200 academic points. First place, 500 points!

If anyone defeats an opponent in the competition, there will be additional rewards!"

"200, 500? That’s a lot!"

"Yeah, we risked our lives during the hunting trial for a month and only got 200 academic points, and the competition rewards several hundred?"

Most people gasped at the high reward, unable to believe it.

Mu Qingyu pondered and said, "Actually, it’s not too much. Second place gets the academy ten extra Holy Spring slots. Even with a 50% success rate, that’s five people breaking through to a new realm.

Besides, winning against Capitol City and Demon City in the exchange matches brings great honor to Demon Capital Academy. That might be even more important than the extra Holy Spring slots."

"Right, when you put it that way, the rewards make sense," Lu Yingying nodded, propping her chin with her hands, "I’m so jealous. I wish I could win easily."

Mu Qingyu smiled and knocked on Lu Yingying’s head, "It’s not that easy. Didn’t Teacher Xiao He say that Capitol City and Demon City each have two super geniuses?

If it’s as the teacher described, their talents are far superior to those of East Pole College, Wanzhou Academy, and the like!"

Lu Yingying responded, "Do you think Su Yuan will lose?"

Mu Qingyu hesitated, then shook her head, "Hard to say."

Although a team tournament could greatly showcase individual abilities, it was still a team effort.

If Luo Bingtong were also participating, Mu Qingyu thought there was a high chance they’d at least get second place and even a good shot at winning.

But with only Su Yuan... Mu Qingyu wasn’t sure if he could carry the team.

Mu Qingyu turned to look at Xia Yue and other participants, noticing that despite their serious expressions, they all shared a strong sense of confidence.

Clearly, it was not just confidence in themselves but mainly in the person who wasn’t there.

Mu Qingyu looked towards Lu Yingying, finding the same expression on her face.

"They all believe in him so much!" Mu Qingyu was shaken, stunned.

Looking at the empty seat at the front, Mu Qingyu realized that there might be more she didn’t know about.