Chapter 581: Pavilion Secret Meeting (Third Update)
As soon as Jiangnan said that, all the classmates felt relieved!
After all, Jiangnan's reputation as the "River-Crossing Dragon" wasn't given for nothing!
There wasn't a single student in the entire grade whom Jiangnan hadn't "guided"!
On the street of heavy training and physical conditioning, ask around who's the boss!
At this moment, Jiangnan seemed to become the hope of the entire village.
As for Jiangnan himself, he wasn't worried about tomorrow's competition at all!
Although the students at Pioneer Academy were the elite among elites, taking on higher-level challenges as easily as eating and drinking,
they were on a completely different level from those scum in the Metropolis.
But Jiangnan didn't think he would lose.
On the way back to the villa, Zhong Yingxue and Xia Yao curiously came over.
"Hey! First place, Xiaonan, how did you do it?"
"Was Xiao Jiuwo's cheek blush flashing on and off giving you secret signals?"
"Do you really know all the incantation texts?"
Xiao Jiuwo sweetly said, "I didn't give my master any secret signals! Master got first place entirely by his own strength!"
Jiangnan smugly said, "Exactly! By strength!"
Oh go laugh!
Xiao Jiuwo was too good to me!
She even knew to cover for me?
With a spirit pet like this, what more could I ask for!
And I actually had thoughts of eating her before—am I even human?
The two girls rolled their eyes. Who would believe that?
"But we still need to be well prepared for tomorrow's melee elimination match! There are quite a few strong students in other classes!"
"Xiaonan! You must not let your guard down!"
Jiangnan grinned: "Don't worry! When have I ever dropped the ball?"
Night fell, and everyone was preparing for tomorrow's ranking match.
The ranking matches for the previous year's students were held on the same day as Jiangnan's class.
In the Toy House, there was no need to worry about insufficient venue space—Han Menglu would naturally handle everything.
However, the veteran students didn't have a melee elimination match; they went straight into one-on-one elimination matches.
For various reasons, only about 300 veteran students remained.
The night was calm as water.
In the small garden pavilion behind the dormitory, nine people gathered furtively.
Six men and three women. Among them was Gao Xingyu, the one with the hood and pale face.
A young man with a perm like a womanizer whispered, "Everyone here? No one followed you?"
"Don't worry, Brother Dong! No one tailed us!"
"I've arranged things at the dorm—made up an excuse to slip out!"
"I didn't tell any of the brothers in the class, afraid someone might leak the news. I'll inform them tomorrow morning!"
"I've activated an air soundproof barrier! Brother Dong, rest assured!"
Wang Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his hands together.
"No need for extra words. The main purpose of this meeting today is to target Jiangnan!"
"I thought that before the ranking match, Boss Nan would still be in the US harvesting corn and wouldn't make it back. Now that he's back, there's no way for us to play!"
Xu Qingliu said, "No one can beat that god in a one-on-one fight! A few days ago, senior student Wei Teng was taken down in three minutes! We have no chance!"
Gao Xingyu's expression moved. He wanted to speak but, for some reason, didn't say anything.
Others started speaking one after another: "To ensure more of us pass the melee elimination match, we must limit Nan Shen's actions. My suggestion is to unite."
"Right, right, right! Me too!"
"Many hands make light work. No matter how strong Nan Shen is, can he turn the sky upside down? We're not pushovers either!"
Wang Dong looked around: "Since we've agreed to unite, let's do it solidly. First, deal with Class 10! After that, we'll each fight for however many spots we can get, relying on our own abilities!"
Everyone nodded.
Wang Dong pulled a printed joint declaration from his chest.
"Come, come, come! Everyone sign and seal here, make a blood oath—press your fingerprints! Until we finish off Class 10, no one can stab anyone in the back, okay?"
"Otherwise, you'll be collectively targeted, struck by lightning from the sky, and have no children—"
"Stop babbling! It's cold on the hands—hurry up!"
Everyone exchanged glances, nodded, bit their fingers, and pressed them onto the paper.
Wang Dong, who had just pulled an ink pad from his bosom, froze on the spot.
"Hey? How do you write the character for 'sha' in 'sha xue wei meng' (blood oath) anyway?"
"Isn't it 'sha' with a standing blade next to it?"
"Get lost! That's the 'sha' of 'brake'!"
"Ah? Is that so? What if I wrote it wrong? If I cross it out and rewrite, does it still count?"
"Write pinyin! Pinyin has fewer strokes!"
Gao Xingyu watched the group sitting at the pavilion's stone table, arguing back and forth, and his face darkened.
Can this group possibly be reliable?
Three minutes later, Wang Dong contentedly retrieved the contract: "Keep your mouths tight, don't let Class 10 know. We'll notify everyone about our alliance tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Meeting adjourned!"
The pavilion meeting ended hastily, and the class monitors of the nine classes sneaked back furtively.
At this moment, Jiangnan was in the bathroom, contentedly giving Xiao Jiuwo a fragrant bath, completely unaware that other students had specially convened a pavilion meeting to deal with him.
The next morning!
Jiangnan and his group were ready to go.
Xiong Er carried two blood-red double-edged broadaxes, Wu Liang carried a shield.
Xia Yao also put on her beloved arm and leg guards, and Zhong Yingxue wore chainmail underneath.
The door to the Toy House was opened early in the morning, and the group was teleported under the lighthouse.
Now, beside the lighthouse was no longer a dense forest but an open plain.
An arena entirely constructed of marble stood there!
The center of the arena was a vast space reaching thirty thousand meters in radius.
Such a grand arena was something Han Menglu could construct in just one night, thanks to her control over the Toy House core.
Though crude, it was sufficient.
This was the fundamental reason the higher-ups valued the Illusory Realm core so much.
Control the core, and you control the realm.
Of course, you first had to understand the incantation texts on the core to perform certain operations.
The arena was split into two halves.
The smaller half was used for the veteran students' ranking matches, which had already started.
Many senior students who weren't yet competing sat in the stands, watching excitedly.
Even the instructors and staff were already seated in the stands.
The elderly folks from the nursing home were also in the stands, cracking sunflower seeds. Watching the matches was far more interesting than watching the morning news.
The ranking matches, held twice a year, were one of the few collective activities at Pioneer Academy, so they attracted much attention.
All 501 students of Jiangnan's grade had already entered.
The ten classes formed square formations according to their class numbers, with each class monitor standing at the front of the line.
Every student had a red headband tied around their forehead, with the class number written on it.
Jiangnan's group wore headbands with the number 10.
Jiangnan looked puzzled and couldn't help glancing at the other nine classes.
He didn't know why, but all morning, he felt like someone was secretly staring at him?
Strange.
At this moment, the ten instructors, including Tao Xinyi, were standing on the viewing platform, looking expectantly at the ten formations below.
"Haha! Looks like Old Liu's reign as top class won't hold this time!"
"Oh? So confident? Feel free to try and take it—I'm quite confident in my students!"
"Remember, Taozi's class did pretty well on the written exam, right? Third in average score?"
Tao Xinyi: (ૢ⁼̴̤̆ꇴ⁼̴̤̆ૢ) "Ah, just average. It's all because they study well."
But the smile on her face was practically overflowing.
The other nine instructors looked at her speechlessly—we were just saying that, not actually praising you!
"But Taozi, your class's overall level isn't great, is it? Most of my class are above Gold Five."
"Isn't that right? Your class's highest-level student, Ye Xinghe, is only Gold Six?"
"After all, they just came up from high school. The age gap is normal. This time, maybe they can manage top five, right, Taozi?"
"Top five is about right. With the top students like Jiangnan, they can pull the overall level up a bit."
A few instructors couldn't help grinning. No matter how strong Jiangnan was, class ranking depended on the overall strength!
Tao Xinyi: (｡˘•～•˘｡)
Hmph! Laugh at us now!
Just wait and see!
She shouted down, "Jiangnan, keep it up! Class 10, keep it up!"
(๑•̀ᴗ•́)و✧
Jiangnan looked up at Tao Xinyi and snickered. Sister Xinyi was too cute!
He made an O78K gesture toward her.
ᕙ(๐՞ټ՞)—☞
The other nine classes looked at the confident Jiangnan and showed sly smiles one after another.
Sorry!
On this street of the arena, today we want to be the dads!
Even over on the veteran students' side, many gazes turned toward them, full of excitement.
"Little junior, do your best! If you win, senior sister will buy you candy!"
"Haha! Master, you can't lose—if you lose, I'll lose face!"
"Melee elimination match! I kind of miss it!"
"Xiong Er! You need to do well! Sending heart! Muah!"
A shout caught everyone's attention.
A little girl in a Lolita-style frilly dress stood on the viewing platform, holding two cheering pom-poms, cheering endlessly for Xiong Er.
✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺
Everyone looked at Xiong Er in shock.
Not even Xiong Er is human?
You really are something!
Xiong Er: (░´㉨`░)
"Th-That... We're just ordinary friends!"