In this world, there would never be a lack of men who were filled with courage and love to challenge their limits.
The majority of students were choosing salted fish who were easier to fight, but a few guys would purposely challenge strong opponents. To them, the rankings and rewards they could obtain from defeating geniuses were the most valuable of this hunting ceremony.
Hu Qinglang felt the same way. His build was average, but he was like a wild wolf of the plains, armed with a sharp gaze and was prepared to tear apart his opponent’s throat at any given chance.
“Who do you guys think will win?”
The number of students spectating increased because the quality of Hu Qinglang and Baliao’s fight was very high. They were both sixth-year students, and this could be considered combat at the peak level.
“Baliao?”
Everyone felt that the muscular youth would win because he was not only the first ranker in the sixth year, but he also suppressed Hu Qinglang right after their first exchange.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The curved blades of the two youths collided as sparks manifested.
“Teacher Sun, what do you think?”
Duanmu Li looked at Sun Mo as he walked over. His words caused the surrounding students to prick their ears, wanting to hear Sun Mo’s opinion.”
“That youth with the mark of the wolf totem on his neck.”
Sun Mo didn’t hesitate and directly gave the answer.
“Why? Hu Qinglang is currently being suppressed!”
Some students didn’t understand.
Because Hu Qingyan’s personality was brash and he loved to challenge others, in addition to the fact that he had a wolf totem tattoo on his body, he was pretty famous. However, he couldn’t be compared to Baliao.
“His tenacity is very strong. Also, don’t be fooled by his ruthless and fierce attacks. This fellow is actually most proficient in defense. As long as his opponent cannot take him down in a single burst, once they are fatigued, they will immediately become passive.”
Sun Mo explained. “Hu Qinglang knows that it is impossible for him to win against Baliao in a single exchange. Hence, he chose to fight a war of attrition and immediately took on the passive stance at the first exchange, allowing his opponent to attack first as he waited for a chance to counter-attack.”
All the students had their eyes wide open then as they seriously observed. Indeed, they discovered that although Hu Qinglang looked miserable, his gaze was filled with resolve and there was no hint of panic.
His defense was very strong.
“And?”
Duanmu Li was curious.
Sun Mo shook his head and didn’t continue because this involved Hu Qinglang’s secret.
Barbarians were different from people of the Central Plains. They worshipped the strong and used ferocious beasts as totems. Hu Qinglang was from a small tribe, and the wolf was their spiritual animal.
Some tribe members used the fresh blood of ferocious beasts and mixed them with herbs to use as ink to tattoo the totem on their bodies, praying to it for protection. This was a type of custom.
But some tribes also used secret arts to allow the totem to activate during crucial moments to overturn the tides of the battle.
Hu Qinglang’s wolf totem belonged to the latter case.
“The effect of that totem is similar to spirit runes, right?”
Sun Mo observed Hu Qingyan and activated Divine Sight.
Strength: 17. It surpasses ordinary people, but it’s comparatively weaker when compared to his agility.
Intellect: 17. Cunning, intelligent, and loves to plan things out before acting. Once you act, you will have no more reservations and won’t shrink back even in the face of death.
Agility: 20. Max stats. You are like a wild wolf that goes and comes like the wind with nothing binding you.
Will: 18. Failure isn’t terrifying. In any case, you believe you will be the winner as long as you can gain the final victory.
Endurance: 19. Extremely high tenacity.
…
Potential value: Extremely high!
Note: A youth with an extremely tenacious personality. For his goal, he can put in so much effort to the extent where even geniuses will find it hard to match him. The most terrifying thing is that his talent is even better.
Even without the guidance of a great teacher, he can still obtain extraordinary achievements.
Note: He already has a personal teacher, but it is recommended to headhunt him regardless. After all, such geniuses are rare.
Note: The wolf totem on his body is worthy of research.
Sun Mo looked at Hu Qinglang’s off-the-charts data and was extremely astonished. Those who could get the system to recommend him taking them as students were extremely rare.
It was just that the other party already took on a personal teacher, so this was somewhat regretful.
Because Sun Mo would never poach the personal students of others.
Just as Sun Mo was observing Hu Qinglang’s data, the battle situation suddenly changed.
Baliao, as the first-ranker in his year, definitely wasn’t trash. His sharp senses discovered Hu Qinglang’s confidence. Hence, he no longer held back and went all out.
His curved blade was like the raging wind, chopping down directly.
Hu Qinglang hesitated but still chose to continue defending. If not, wouldn’t the injury he had suffered earlier be wasted?
After blocking a few moves, Hu Qinglang suddenly turned pale with shock because Baliao’s momentum was like a raging tempest, rapidly surging up in intensity.
“No way, if I continue defending, I will lose!”
Hu Qinglang gritted his teeth and decisively activated his wolf totem.
Bzz!
His fighting spirit surged instantly. The spirit qi in the surrounding gathered over madly and infused in his body.
Not only did his injuries become better, but they also started to heal. In fact, even his combat strength was enhanced.
“Go to hell!”
Baliao roared in rage. Even though the timing wasn’t right, he decisively used his ultimate skill.
Hurricane Slash!
Hu~
Baliao’s blade was like a fierce storm engulfing Hu Qinglang.
At the same time, Hu Qinglang retaliated.
Wolf of the Crescent Moon!
Swish~
As Hu Qinglang hacked down, spirit qi gushed forth from his blade and formed a silver-colored wolf that bared its fangs as it lunged toward Baliao.
Swish~
The silver wolf passed through the bladestorm and slammed into Baliao’s chest.
Swish!
Baliao’s shirt disintegrated like snowflakes. Wounds then appeared on his body as fresh blood splattered around.
Hu Qinglang also didn’t have it good. After that bladestorm collided against the silver wolf, some of the remnants got passed. He waved his blade and prepared to block them, but the bladestorm arced in a weird way and circled behind him, slashing into his back.
Si~ Si~ Si~
Hu Qinglang’s back instantly turned into a mess of blood and flesh. This also caused him to stagger a few steps and just when he was forcefully enduring it and preparing to launch another attack on Baliao, a thudding sound rang out as Baliao slumped onto the ground.
For this match, Hu Qinglang was the victor.
Sun Mo and Duanmu Li instantly charged out.
“I’ll treat Baliao!”
Duanmu Li spoke.
Upon hearing this, Sun Mo, who had been originally heading toward Baliao, turned and headed to Hu Qinglang. From the perspective of injuries, Baliao was actually more heavily injured.
Sun Mo wouldn’t be biased and choose to save a student first just because they had a good aptitude.
“Teacher Sun is so impressive. Things really went according to what he said.”
“Hu Qinglang is very awesome. I feel that he used a certain secret art that instantly enhanced his strength.”
“As long as he doesn’t eat some strength-boosting forbidden medicine, it isn’t considered cheating.”
The students discussed as they contributed a wave of favorable impression points to Sun Mo.
“I’ll help you stop the bleeding.”
Sun Mo’s fingers poked a few spots on Hu Qinglang’s body as he sealed the blood vessels.
“Damn! Damn!”
Although Hu Qinglang won, he wasn’t happy at all. On the contrary, he used his curved blade to hack the ground.
On the other side, Baliao was also not convinced.
“Eh? What’s with Hu Qinglang’s attitude? He defeated the #1 ranker of the year but is still unhappy, He is simply posturing!”
The students frowned and felt that Hu Qinglang’s actions were too over the top. He should simply have said something polite after the victory.
“Teacher Sun, do you want me to do it or do you want to do it?”
Duanmu Li asked.
For such high-level combat, there should be an explanation so the surrounding students could understand and learn.
“Teacher Duanmu, you go ahead!”
Sun Mo modestly declined.
“Teacher Sun, please speak instead…”
Some students courageously shouted. After that, a wave of pleading rang out from the crowd.
Duanmu Li was a 5-star great teacher and his star-rank was higher than Sun Mo. But his fame wasn’t greater. After all, Sun Mo was a great teacher who had broken the speed-clearing record of the Dragon Subduing Palace.
“Teacher Duanmu…”
Sun Mo bitterly smiled. He had a very good impression of Duanmu Li and didn’t want their relationship to be strained.
“Teacher Sun is worrying too much, am I someone so narrow-minded?”
Duanmu Li indicated for Sun Mo not to be bothered. “Since the students wish to hear your lecture, just comply with their wishes!”
Given Duanmu Li’s bearing, he didn’t feel that he had lost face.
“I’ll embarrass myself then.”
Sun Mo spoke modestly. He then looked at Baliao. “Your ability to make discerning judgments is excellent, and your on-the-spot reaction is also very good. Also, you are extremely decisive and have no hesitation when you act. All of these are plus points.
“As for your flaws, although you have plenty of combat experience, they are all obtained from fighting against weaker opponents and not against equally skilled opponents. Hence, when you fight in a high-level battle, your experience is insufficient.
“For example for this round, you discovered that Hu Qinglang’s defense is extremely strong, and your sharp senses also managed to track the time he would retaliate and the source of strength that powered his retaliation, which is his wolf totem. Hence, you executed your ultimate skill and rushed toward his totem.”
Baliao instantly focused and listened attentively with a respectful attitude. This was because everything Sun Mo had said was correct.
“Because you know Hu Qinglang’s defense is very great, and you didn’t know if your ultimate skill could defeat him, you chose to fight a protracted battle for the sake of finding a chance and damage his totem, taking drastic measures to deal with this situation.
“This is the greatest reason why you lost. You basically never imagined that Hu Qinglang’s ultimate skill could one-shot you. This is a mistake in judgment brought about by insufficient experiences in high-level battles. You were too self-confident.”
The students whispered to themselves and felt that Sun Mo’s words were logical.
“Baliao, in the future, fight more against people on your level. If you cannot find anyone, go and look for great teachers to spar against. It’s already useless for you to fight against students.”
Sun Mo suggested.
“This student has understood your teachings!”
Baliao bowed to Sun Mo, bearing with his injuries because Sun Mo had accurately hit the nail on the head. (I have to fight more high-level battles to gain experience? I’ve noted it down.)
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Baliao +300. Friendly (912/1,000).
(As expected, Teacher Sun does live up to his reputation. Seems like I have to consult him more often in the future.)
Baliao decided to do so. At the same time, he also felt somewhat proud because Sun Mo’s evaluation of him was very high. Looking at the students in the surroundings, all of them were envying him because he received Sun Mo’s praise.
“Hu Qinglang, you must have worked very hard for a long time to wait for a chance to shoot to fame after a single battle, right?”
Sun Mo glanced at the youth beside him.
“Mn!”
Hu Qinglang’s lips twitched, feeling depressed in his heart. Because his wolf totem was already damaged, his dreams of entering the top ten had shattered.
“For this round, your only mistake is after you discovered that Baliao decided to go all out, you hesitated and didn’t choose to attack strongly, deciding to continue defending.”
Sun Mo guided. “One can say that because of a single mistake, the situation ended up like this.”
“My opponent is Baliao after all!”
Hu Qinglang was brave but wasn’t egoistical.
“Do you really dread him though?”
Sun Mo asked. He didn’t wait for Hu Qinglang to answer as he continued, “You do not because before you fought him, you have collected detailed information about him. You were confident in the fight.”
Hu Qinglang was astonished. (How do you know this?)
This caused him to be somewhat shocked.
“This Teacher Sun is somewhat magical!”
Without realizing it, Hu Qinglang’s attitude became more respectful.
“You chose to continue defending because you felt that once you retaliated and became injured, the amount of time you spent defending for so long would be wasted. Hence, you still wanted to fight a long battle to exhaust him more. However, your judgment was too good. At the instant Baliao attacked, you knew you would be heavily injured even if you blocked, hence, you retaliated at that moment.”
Given Sun Mo’s current battle experience, he could see through the thoughts of the two students.
“Ai, it’s too late to say anything more!”
Hu Qinglang sighed. He could sense that the telepathy between him and his wolf totem was already extremely weak. After losing his trump card, how should he continue to fight the future battles in the competition?
