Chapter 160: Rankings
Yu Beixuan noticed that although the four deans were standing between the two of them, most of their attention was actually focused on Si Er.
He felt that was only natural. Si Er’s light attribute inherently gave people a sense of hope—everyone would instinctively like him more.
Moreover, Si Er and Guagua’s inner thoughts were always lively and active, which made him even more eye-catching.
Si Ran couldn’t hear Si Er’s inner voice and didn’t understand what was so special about him aside from slightly better talent. Seeing the four deans treat Si Er so warmly, he couldn’t help feeling jealous.
Before meeting Si Er, Si Ran had always been extremely confident. Back then, everything he did went smoothly, which gradually gave him the feeling that he might be the chosen son of heaven.
At first, that thought had appeared abruptly in his mind like a strange voice descending from nowhere. Si Ran had suspected someone had planted a psychological suggestion in him, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t identify anyone responsible, so he eventually let the suspicion go.
Later, things went more and more smoothly for him. He crippled Si Yi, the most talented of them all, and caused the old master to completely abandon Si Xu. He truly began to believe he was the chosen one.
Even after discovering he wasn’t the biological son of City Lord Si, he had only panicked for a brief moment before quickly calming down and analyzing how to reverse his situation.
He played weak to gain sympathy, but then the scandal involving Third Master Si and Bai Lianrou spread across the continent, dragging his reputation down with it.
After that, Si Jiaojiao caused a scene at the academy, making more and more people view him unfavorably.
Si Ran didn’t understand how his circumstances had suddenly deteriorated so badly, but he still clung to a sliver of hope.
That sliver of hope rested mainly on Si Er.
Although Si Er was the real son of City Lord Si, he had grown up in the countryside for sixteen years—an extremely remote countryside at that. The chances were high that he would be crude and possibly even illiterate.
On top of that, with poor living conditions and inferior education, his strength should have lagged far behind Si Ran’s.
As the real and fake young masters, they were destined to be compared. As long as he was better than Si Er—consistently better, and by a wide margin—he would eventually be able to turn the situation around.
Yet Si Er had an exceptionally likable appearance and carried himself with composure and grace, which had already exceeded his expectations.
Still, appearance and manners weren’t the most important factors—strength was. Si Ran believed he still held the advantage there.
But who could have known that in terms of strength, Si Er alone could utterly crush him?
And that rabbit of his was strange as well. Its combat power was already formidable, and its soul power seemed even stronger—otherwise how could it locate all the Four Symbols Tokens so quickly and precisely?
The more Si Ran thought about it, the more frightened he became. In front of Si Er, his current strength was utterly insignificant.
When Si Er and that rabbit had humiliated him earlier, he had secretly released his poisonous spider to bite them, intending to simply poison them to death.
After all, no one knew he possessed a poisonous spider as a soul pet. He had plenty of ways to clear himself of suspicion.
But the result?
He had no idea what kind of hide that one person and one rabbit possessed—his spider’s venomous fangs couldn’t pierce their skin at all, and the spider even broke its own fangs!
It only had two venomous fangs in total! Both were broken! His secret weapon was rendered completely useless!
Si Ran ground his teeth in hatred, yet there was nothing he could do.
The instructors quickly tallied the rankings for the first round. Black Tortoise Academy taking first place was beyond dispute. Azure Dragon Academy, dragged down by Si Ran, Di Lintian, and Yu Feiqing, sat firmly at the bottom.
The two middle academies were evenly matched, with White Tiger Academy placing second by a margin of just one extra token.
When the results were announced, the entire Azure Dragon Academy fell silent.
The freshmen felt they had disgraced the academy. Ever since the current dean had taken office, they had never achieved such poor results.
The senior students wanted to criticize the freshmen for being incompetent, but when they thought of the footage of Si Er on the screen, they too fell silent.
It wasn’t entirely the freshmen’s fault. The opponents were simply too cunning.
Even if they themselves went up against Si Er now, they probably wouldn’t fare any better. Was that even the level of a normal person?
They certainly didn’t think so.
The Azure Dragon Dean had a headache. He had always been a lucky person, and since taking office, everything had gone smoothly, greatly boosting Azure Dragon Academy’s reputation.
So why had his luck failed him this year? How had he recruited such a batch of monsters and oddities?
He really couldn’t afford this embarrassment!
Meanwhile, the entire faculty and student body of Black Tortoise Academy were overjoyed. This was the first time they had ever achieved such good results.
Even if they only placed first in this round and went back to last place afterward, they would still be satisfied.
After all, true first place—had they ever won it since the academy’s founding?
Unless one day the four academies competed in defensive power, they had never imagined they would take first place.
Classmate Si Er truly was the hope of their entire academy!
However, because almost everyone at Black Tortoise Academy had a turtle, most of them had rather mild and steady personalities. They weren’t the type to cheer exuberantly.
Only the freshmen, who hadn’t yet been fully influenced, were overjoyed—some even itching to flaunt their victory in front of Azure Dragon Academy.
White Tiger Academy and Vermilion Bird Academy didn’t feel much. They had always been second and third anyway. But since they had, for once, surpassed Azure Dragon Academy, they were still quite pleased—just careful not to show it too obviously.
Soon it was time for the second round of competition, and once again it would take place at Four Symbols Mountain.
Although both were called Four Symbols Mountain, the previous one had been the Small Four Symbols Mountain. This one was called the Great Four Symbols Mountain.
One freshman couldn’t help asking, “What’s the difference between the two? Is it just the size of the venue?”
The Azure Dragon Dean explained, “The Small Four Symbols Mountain combines real mountain terrain with illusion formations. Some things you see with the naked eye aren’t real—for example, many of the spiritual fruits inside.”
“If someone can’t resist the temptation and goes to pick them, they may be directly teleported out.”
“And then there was the maze formation that Classmate Lu Taiping accidentally stepped into…”
At this point, he added, “Speaking of which, I hope Classmate Si Er will pay a little attention next time. Maintaining formations isn’t easy for us. Could you perhaps refrain from smashing them outright the moment you encounter them?”
“Some of those formations were set up by great masters ten thousand years ago. We don’t have the ability to recreate them.”
Si Er immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet the deans’ gazes.
The Black Tortoise Dean was rather protective of his own students. He shot the Azure Dragon Dean a displeased glance.
“What are you saying? The next round’s venue is full of various formations. Everyone could fall into one at any time. The rules allow all methods of breaking formations.”
“Violently breaking them is also permitted!”
“You’re saying this now—are you trying to mislead Classmate Si Er so he’ll go easy on the other academies without realizing it?”
The Black Tortoise Dean felt the Azure Dragon Dean was full of schemes and not a good person at all.
The Azure Dragon Dean defended himself, “That’s not what I meant, Old Black. You can’t twist my words like that.”
“I’m just asking Classmate Si Er to be a bit gentler next time if he encounters ancient formations.”
“As for new formations—he can smash them however he likes.”
