Chapter 160: Champion Competition

With Master Xu Yang's secret advice, Tuan Tuan immediately livened up, picking up the chess pieces and placing them one after another.

At first, with only a few pieces on the board, the girl placed them without a second thought. Her opponent, dressed as a scholar, assumed she was just messing around. He smiled and advised, "Little girl, just mess around as much as you like. Within fifty moves, I'll make sure you don't have a single live piece on the board!"

"Na-na-na-na!" Tuan Tuan ignored him completely. She simply stuck out her tongue, made a face at him, and continued placing her pieces.

However, as the number of pieces on the board steadily increased, the scholar realized that Little Tuan Tuan's seemingly chaotic placements were actually a form of orderly chaos, far more complex than he had imagined.

The scholar's thinking time grew longer and longer. Tuan Tuan, however, didn't have to think at all; whenever it was her turn, she would decisively place a piece with precise execution, putting immense pressure on the scholar.

"Hey, Uncle, could you please hurry up?" Tuan Tuan demanded. "You can't even beat a beginner like me, a little girl, and you claim to be a chess master? If you really lose, you might as well just bash your head in!"

"Shut up, you brat!" the scholar retorted. "Watch me wipe you off the board!"

*Clack!* A piece was placed, and the scholar looked entirely confident.

"Are you... sure you want to play like this?" Tuan Tuan asked. "Since I see you're so bad, I'll give you a chance to take back your move!"

"You, what did you say?" the scholar fumed. "Are you insulting me? I've studied chess for hundreds of years; do you think I can't beat a wet-behind-the-ears little kid like you? Enough talk, you play!"

Tuan Tuan said no more. She immediately placed a piece in the middle of the board. In an instant, an entire "dragon" of black pieces on the board was captured, and half of the scholar's main force was completely wiped out.

"Wh-what! This is impossible!"

The scholar was utterly flabbergasted. If he had treated Tuan Tuan as a master from the start and played with all his might, even if he still couldn't win, he wouldn't have lost so humiliatingly, to the point of utter defeat.

"Idiot, you lost!" Tuan Tuan declared. "It seems your hundreds of years were truly wasted... Whether you bash your head in or not is up to you, but you need to understand something: your entire team has also suffered complete defeat because of your carelessness. You are a complete and utter failure!!"

Tuan Tuan's cute little appearance, combined with such a powerful verbal assault, instantly shattered all the scholar's morale. He lay back, his eyes vacant.

*Whoosh!* A shimmer of light spread before their eyes. The illusionary dream state gradually disappeared, and the outline of the battlefield reappeared before them.

When Tuan Tuan regained her senses, she found that the other four opponents had already fallen. Only the scholar, looking around bewildered, eventually began to shout frantically, filled with grief and despair.

"No, my hundreds of years of chess mastery, to lose to this little girl, no!!"

*Pfft...* A large mouthful of blood spurted out, and the scholar finally lay motionless on the ground.

"I announce, the Dragon Kun Team is victorious!!"

"Oh my god..." someone exclaimed. "That little girl is simply amazing! Her opponent was Xia Xingwei, known as the Saint Soul Academy's top chess player. Even such a powerful individual was completely defeated by that little girl. It's truly astonishing!"

"Dragon Kun! Dragon Kun..."

Unbeknownst to them, Xu Yang's team had already accumulated a significant fan base through this competition. After winning this match, the venue completely erupted, and Little Tuan Tuan naturally became a star player, attracting everyone's attention.

"Boss... this team seems very strong!"

In a corner, several strong individuals in silver armor calmly observed the battlefield.

This group was a team formed by the personal disciples of the academy's top elders, nicknamed the "Unbeaten Royalty." Each of the five members had previously won individual championships in the academy's competitive tournaments, making them an all-star team. They had banded together not only to win the championship but also to gain qualification to enter the academy itself.

"Hmph, we'll see what they're made of once we fight them later," the leader scoffed. "In my opinion, no matter how strong that little girl is, she's just a decoy. The other four are trying to hide their strength. In the upcoming championship battle, we'll strip away their disguise!"

The championship battle finally arrived.

Originally, Master Xu Yang intended to intentionally hold back in this battle. By hiding their true strength, they could also shift all the spotlight from themselves to their opponents.

But upon remembering his previous promise to Long Kun, Xu Yang finally dismissed that idea. After all, with their combined strength, they didn't need to be overly cautious. If anything unexpected happened, even if it meant turning the entire academy upside down, Xu Yang was perfectly capable of doing so.

Not to mention, if Xu Yang simply gave the order to summon Alusha's million-strong demon army, let alone one academy, even the entire Yuanyang Empire would be annihilated!

"Alright! What's about to unfold is the true pinnacle showdown!" the announcer boomed. "Will the all-star Unbeaten Royalty team continue its winning streak, or will the Dragon Kun Team, this exceptional dark horse that has repeatedly broken records, ascend as the new champion? Let's wait and see!"

Amidst roaring cheers from the crowd, the ten top powerhouses from both sides made their entrances one after another.

"Oh my god..." someone gasped. "Out of ten people, eight are at the peak Nascent Soul stage! Only the child from the Dragon Kun Team and that mysterious Qi Cultivation expert haven't reached the Nascent Soul stage. The overall strength of the Unbeaten Royalty is truly astonishing!"

"That's to be expected," another commented. "A team made up of five of the strongest individuals. If it weren't for the Dragon Kun Team, that dark horse, I'd even say we could just hand them the trophy right now."

On the Unbeaten Royalty side, their captain smiled chillingly, clenching his fist. "Little girl," he sneered, "call me 'Uncle,' then step aside, and we won't bully you."

"Seriously, they're starting to tease Tuan Tuan right off the bat?" Tuan Tuan, however, with a proud huff, stuck out her tongue and made a face.

"Na-na-na-na!" Tuan Tuan retorted. "Brag after you win!"

*BOOM!!* The sound of the gong echoed again, and the five members of Unbeaten Royalty simultaneously released powerful spiritual energy fluctuations.

"That's... pure support?" Bai Lianxue murmured. "Interesting."

Bai Lianxue chuckled softly as she looked at the opposing team's only female cultivator, a pure support cultivator whose abilities were all designed to buff her teammates.

"Then let's have some fun with them," Xu Yang said.

Xu Yang also seemed to be in a playful mood. This time, he was ready to teach these arrogant champions a lesson with sheer power.

*Whoosh!* With ghostly footwork, Xu Yang, without resorting to any opportunistic tactics, dashed straight towards the opposing captain in the center.

Bai Lianxue and Ling Yao attacked from the left and right, each facing two opponents, while Ling Qingshu, under Xu Yang's instruction, stayed by Little Tuan Tuan's side to protect her safety.

"Girl," Xu Yang told Tuan Tuan, "just draw whatever you like. At worst, it'll serve as some entertainment for your brothers!"