Chapter 46: Great Mountain

One by one, diagnostic patches were applied to the students' arms.

Immediately afterward, the judge gently tapped a student's arm, slowly infusing it with a specialized arcane power.

Simultaneously, the numbers on the monitoring patch panel began to fluctuate with the infusion of power, climbing from 0.5 to 1.3, then 2.4... finally stabilizing at 5.

This indicated that the judge had injected a total of five units of specialized arcane power into the student's arm.

Throughout this injection process, the judge remained cautious, fearing a mishap that could inadvertently lead to the student's demise.

Even if they were just ordinary high schoolers, causing them injury or death would incur monetary compensation, with the price varying depending on the student's potential.

If the student had a contract and belonged to a particular sect, the compensation would be even more exorbitant.

After all, news had circulated of Foundation Establishment cultivators accidentally killing passersby with stray battle energy, only to discover they were dozens of heavily invested-in high school prodigies. The resulting compensation for cultivation costs, food expenses, tuition fees, tutoring costs, and even... reproductive costs... had bankrupted them.

During those few seconds of arcane infusion, the student's body tensed, their breathing grew heavier, clearly affected by the specialized power within.

Even without actively driving the power to attack, its mere presence would cause internal disruption.

Fortunately, the student had taken pain relievers, mitigating the discomfort to a manageable level.

As the injected arcane power reached 5 units, the monitoring patch panel began timing, recording the student's subsequent time to dispel the force. A shorter time would result in a higher score.

Because the injection time varied from student to student, rankings were determined not by order of completion, but by individual dissipation time.

After halting the arcane power infusion, the judge accepted a capsule from an assistant.

He swallowed it and smiled at the camera, "For replenishing arcane power, I choose Violet Cloud! After consuming this Violet Cloud Spirit-Gathering Capsule, my power is rapidly restored. I could inject 50 more students without a problem!"

Thus, as the competition commenced, the judges injected specialized arcane power into the students' arms one after another.

More and more contestants closed their eyes, focusing all their energy on dispelling the invading power. The arena grew silent, filled only with the sounds of regulated breathing.

Since the judge injected that wisp of specialized power, Zhang Yu felt as if a flame was burning in his right arm. With each surge of injected energy, it grew hotter, more intense.

The piercing pain searing from his arm to his brain gave Zhang Yu some understanding as to why so many participating contestants were imbibing pain relieving medicines.

For example, he felt like blasting the old judge currently inflicting him with arcane energy right in his old face.

"Damn it, no wonder I saw people selling insurance. This competition is just too easy to get hurt in!"

Quickly channeling the Desolate Bull Soul-Suppressing Heart Sutra, Zhang Yu felt the unbearable pain gradually diminish.

Then, he channeled the arcane energy from his dantian toward his right arm.

"The invading energy is a heating-type."

"Therefore, I need to use a cooling-type power to counter it."

Zhang Yu recalled the arcane power conversion methods taught by Instructor Yan, manipulating the energy in his dantian into a surge of frigid power that coursed toward his right arm.

As the frigid energy passed through his body, a wave of coolness washed over him, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him.

When Zhang Yu's frigid power collided with the invading heat-based power, he felt the burning sensation in his arm begin to subside.

However, his frigid energy was rapidly consumed in the process, like using a bucket of water to put out a fire. Though the fire was diminished, the water was gone.

Zhang Yu could only try to convert more energy to extinguish the flames.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Cycle Qi-Gathering Method continuously replenished his arcane energy, the Desolate Bull Soul-Suppressing Heart Sutra stabilized his spirit, and his powerful arcane control enabled him to constantly convert frigid energy.

…

Not long before.

Before the judges had even arrived at Songyang High School's zone.

Inside the White Dragon High School zone.

Han Xingye glanced at Song Hailong, who was dispelling the specialized power within him, then looked at the large screen in front, thinking, "It should be soon, right?"

Within Song Hailong's body, his arcane energy flowed like the Yangtze River, ceaselessly surging toward the heat-based energy in his right arm.

The Kang Ling Needle continuously replenished his power. Combined with his own astonishing arcane reserves, it allowed him to recklessly circulate his energy, even enveloping the entire heat-based energy mass, seeking to extinguish it in one fell swoop.

The various pains of dispelling the energy were almost completely suppressed by the drugs, leaving Song Hailong with hardly any discomfort, allowing him to focus solely on the task at hand.

"With my arcane reserves and control, who can be faster than me in this round?"

Just then, a cry for help echoed through the arena.

A student groaned, collapsing to the ground. Others rushed forward to administer Dispersal Pills.

"It's nothing, just exhausted his arcane energy. He's been given Dispersal Pills."

Shortly after, another student screamed, collapsing and vomiting blood.

This was due to mishandling the power dispersal, spreading the specialized power throughout the body and causing internal injuries.

Han Xingye glanced in the direction of the fallen student.

Insignificant, insignificant, insignificant...

He knew that more and more students from ordinary high schools would likely fail, either due to insufficient arcane energy, lack of arcane control, or poor drug quality... leading to their elimination.

He didn't care.

"Thinking that taking the same drugs will close the gap?"

"When everyone is taking drugs, the gap between ordinary high schools and the Three Great Schools will only widen..."

Just as he thought this, the screen in front flashed, displaying a name.

White Dragon High School, Song Hailong, 1:29

Seeing this, Han Xingye smiled slightly, "Oh? Even faster than in school. It seems the atmosphere is getting him excited."

One by one, more names began to appear on the screen, quickly filling ten rows.

This screen only displayed the top ten.

The lines of names changed back and forth, with students constantly shuffling in ranks second to tenth, but Song Hailong's name remained firmly at the top, as if single-handedly suppressing all the other students.

But soon, more and more names began to stabilize, with rankings second to tenth gradually ceasing to change.

The crowd looked at the unchanging ten names in shock. Students quickly noticed an obvious fact: "These ten people... are all White Dragon High School students!"

Although White Dragon High School wasn't among the first batch of participants to receive arcane power injections, after Song Hailong's early ascent to the top, the other students dispelled the power, taking the top ten spots based on their completion times.

Instructor Yan looked at the ten unmoving names on the screen, feeling as if a mountain was blocking Songyang High School's path.

"Sigh, the Three Great Schools... so these competitions are ultimately their territory."

Just then, ranks two through nine suddenly shifted down, as a newcomer charged to second place.

Red Pagoda High School, Xiong Bufan, 1:35

Red Pagoda High School's students had also started dispersing the specialized power within them.

Shortly after Xiong Bufan took second place, two more Red Pagoda High School students made it into the top ten.

Han Xingye turned to look at the Red Pagoda High School area and, through the Eye of Heaven Rune, immediately identified the most conspicuous thing.

Protected Area, Medicine Barrel, High-Speed Arcane Power.

The evaluation of Protected Area was easy to understand. Han Xingye guessed that the monster came from a Demonic Descendant Protected Area.

High-Speed Arcane Power... Han Xingye wasn't sure, but he understood the medicine barrel.

"How many drugs have they crammed into that monster?"

"Damn it, secretly using monsters for drug experiments, are they?!"

That monster must have banned drugs in its system, I should report them.

What? Our school is doing it too? And on humans?

Nevermind then.

Although Xiong Bufan's performance put Red Pagoda High School in the limelight, they didn't reach first place. White Dragon High School still dominated the rankings.

But a moment later, the students ranked from two to nine collectively dropped by one.

With Purple Cloud High School's Le Mulan's name parachuting into first place, the air seemed to rumble.

Purple Cloud High School, Le Mulan, 00:25

"25 seconds!"

More and more students gasped.

They couldn't imagine that while they were struggling with the foreign arcane power, someone had managed to dispel it in just 25 seconds.

Is this even a person?

Everyone could imagine that Le Mulan would undoubtedly receive a perfect score of 100 in the second round, but that 100 points was limiting her, as the point difference between her and everyone else should be larger.

This was Han Xingye's third shock today.

He frowned at the words Ice Muscle Jade Bones above Le Mulan's head, thinking that her rapid dissipation of foreign power must be related to her special physique.

Not far away, Song Hailong didn't seem annoyed. Instead, he laughed heartily in the direction of Purple Cloud High School, "Interesting, interesting. It seems my greatest opponent for the next three years of high school will be this Le Mulan."

A full minute later, the other students from Purple Cloud High School dispersed the foreign energy, with Lian Tianji and another person also entering the top ten.

In the end, Le Mulan, Song Hailong, and Xiong Bufan each occupied 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

The top ten were completely divided between four students from White Dragon High School, three from Purple Cloud High School, and three from Red Pagoda High School.

Looking at the unmoving rankings, the high school students felt a wave of depression.

This was the first time most of them had experienced the gap between themselves and the Three Great Schools.

The ten names and scores on the screen were like a mountain pressing down on them, showing the seemingly insurmountable difference between the Three Great Schools and them.

Just then, the rankings on the screen changed again.

Ranks fourth to tenth collectively dropped by one place.

Just when the Three Great Schools almost dominated the entire arena, someone cut in, forcibly charging into fourth place.

Songyang High School, Zhang Yu, 1:38

When it was detected that Zhang Yu had dispelled the arcane energy in his body, the timer beeped.

That soft beep seemed to be a large stone dropped into the hearts of the students from Songyang High School.

The students from the Three Great Schools also subconsciously glanced at the direction of Songyang High School, not expecting a student with a comparable level to theirs to be there.

Instructor Yan looked at the rankings and quickly took a picture with his phone.

This was all important teaching achievement material.