Chapter 46: Big Mountain

Detection patches were pressed onto the students' arms.

Next, a judge lightly touched a student's arm, and a special kind of magic power was slowly infused into it.

Simultaneously, numbers on the detection patch's panel continuously flickered as the magic power was injected, rising from 0.5 to 1.3, then 2.4... until it stopped at 5.

This indicated that the judge had infused a total of 5 units of special magic power into the student's arm.

During this infusion process, the judge was extremely cautious, fearing an accidental error that might kill the student.

Even if it was a student from a regular high school, injuring or killing them would incur compensation, with prices varying based on their category.

If they were a contracted student, the compensation would be even more expensive.

After all, there had been news of powerful Foundation Establishment stage cultivators accidentally killing passersby with residual battle energy, only to find they were over a dozen talented high school seniors who had received significant investments. The resulting compensation for cultivation, food, tuition, tutoring, and even sterilization fees... had financially ruined the cultivators.

During these few seconds of magic power infusion, the student's body suddenly tensed, and their breathing became heavy, clearly indicating the special magic power's influence within their body.

Even without anyone actively stimulating this special magic power to attack, its mere continued presence within the body would cause some damage.

Fortunately, the student had taken painkillers, so while uncomfortable, it wasn't unbearable.

As the injected magic power reached 5 units, the detection patch's panel also began timing, recording how long the student would take to dissolve this special magic power. The shorter the time, the higher the score would obviously be.

Since each student was infused with special magic power at different times, ranking couldn't be based on who finished first but rather on their individual recorded durations.

After stopping the magic power infusion, the judge took a capsule offered by an assistant.

He opened his mouth and swallowed the capsule, then smiled at the camera in front of him, saying, "For magic power replenishment, choose Ziyun! Just one Ziyun Spirit Gathering Capsule quickly restores my magic power. I could infuse another 50 students without a problem."

And so, as the competition began, several judges infused special magic power into the arms of students one after another.

More and more participating students closed their eyes and began cultivating, fully dedicating themselves to dissolving the special magic power that had invaded their bodies. The entire venue grew increasingly quiet, gradually leaving only the sounds of breathing and exhalation.

Ever since that mass of special magic power was infused by the judge, Zhang Yu felt as if a ball of fire was burning in his right arm. As the magic power continued to be injected, it grew stronger and hotter.

Intense stinging pain continuously shot from his arm to his brain, making Zhang Yu understand why so many contestants took painkillers.

For instance, at that moment, he was in so much pain that he wanted to punch the "old geezer" judge who was still infusing him with special magic power.

"Damn it, no wonder I saw someone selling insurance earlier; this competition is too easy to get injured in."

Quickly activating the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Heart Art, Zhang Yu finally felt the unbearable pain gradually subside.

He then marshaled the magic power within his Dantian, sending it towards his right arm.

"The invading magic power is a heating type of special magic."

"Then I need to counter it with a low-temperature type of magic power."

Zhang Yu recalled Teacher Yan's instructions on magic power conversion routes, circulating the magic power within his Dantian and transforming it into a stream of low-temperature magic power that surged towards his right arm.

Wherever this low-temperature magic power passed, a cool sensation spread through his body, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him.

When Zhang Yu's low-temperature magic power collided with the invading heating magic power, he felt the burning sensation in his arm begin to cool down.

However, his low-temperature magic power was rapidly consumed in the process, much like trying to extinguish a fire with a bucket of water – the flames might subside, but the water would be gone.

Zhang Yu could only try his best to convert more magic power to "extinguish the fire."

Fortunately, he had the Full-Circulation Qi-Gathering Art to continuously restore his magic power, the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Heart Art to stabilize his mind, and powerful magic power control to continuously convert low-temperature magic power.

Shortly before.

Just before the judges arrived at Songyang High School's area.

Inside Bailong High School's competition zone.

Han Xingye glanced at Song Hailong, who was dissolving the special magic power within his body, then looked at the large screen ahead, thinking to himself, "It should be soon, right?"

Inside Song Hailong's body, his magic power surged like a great river, flowing endlessly towards the mass of scorching magic power in his right arm.

The Kang Ling Needle continuously restored his magic power, and combined with his own astonishing magic power reserves, allowed him to freely circulate the magic power within his body, even completely enveloping the entire mass of scorching magic power, intending to extinguish it in one go.

During the magic power dissolution process, various pains were suppressed to almost nothing by the medication, causing Song Hailong to feel almost no discomfort and allowing him to focus solely on the task at hand.

"With my magic power reserves and control, who here can be faster than me?"

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

A student groaned and collapsed to the ground. People immediately rushed over to administer magic-dissolving medicine.

"It's fine, they just ran out of magic power. We've given them the magic-dissolving medicine."

Before long, another student shrieked and fell, spitting up blood.

This was due to improper handling during magic power dissolution, causing the special magic power to disperse throughout their body and inflict internal injuries.

Han Xingye glanced in the direction of the fallen student.

Insignificant, insignificant, insignificant...

He knew that soon, more and more students from regular high schools would likely be unable to endure, whether due to insufficient magic power, poor magic power control, or low-quality medication... one by one, they would be eliminated.

He paid no mind to this.

"Do they think taking the same medication will close the gap?"

"If everyone takes medicine, the gap between regular high schools and the three prestigious schools will only widen..."

As he was thinking this, the large screen ahead suddenly flashed, displaying a name.

Bailong High School, Song Hailong, 1:29.

Seeing this, Han Xingye smiled slightly: "Oh? Faster than when he was at school. It seems the atmosphere here is making him more excited."

One name after another then began appearing on the large screen, quickly filling ten rows.

This large screen only displayed the top ten names.

Subsequently, the names on the screen continuously shifted back and forth, with rankings from second to tenth constantly changing. Only Song Hailong's name remained steadfastly at the top, as if single-handedly suppressing all other students at the venue.

But soon, more and more names began to stabilize, with rows two through ten gradually ceasing to change.

Everyone watched in shock at the unchanging ten names on the screen. Soon, a student pointed out an obvious fact: "These ten people... are all students from Bailong High School!"

Although Bailong High School was not among the first batch of contestants to be infused with magic power, after Song Hailong reached the top, their other students also quickly dissolved the special magic power within their bodies. Based on their individual completion times... they directly dominated the top ten positions.

Teacher Yan looked at the ten unmoving names on the large screen, feeling as if a mountain stood before Songyang High School.

"Alas, the three prestigious schools... this competition is ultimately their domain."

Just then, positions two through nine suddenly all shifted down by one, as a new contestant had shot straight to second place.

Hongta High School, Xiong Bufan, 1:35.

Students from Hongta High School also began to complete the dissolution of the special magic power within their bodies.

Not long after Xiong Bufan reached second place, two more students from Hongta High School also squeezed into the top ten.

Han Xingye turned his head towards Hongta High School and immediately, within the range of his "Heavenly Eye Talisman" vision, spotted the most conspicuous thing.

Protected Zone: Medicine Barrel, High-Speed Magic Power.

The "Protected Zone" evaluation was easy to understand; Han Xingye guessed this "demon" likely came from a demon-descendant protected area.

"High-Speed Magic Power"... Han Xingye wasn't quite sure about that, but he understood the "medicine barrel" part very well.

"How much medicine did they stuff into this demon?"

"Damn it, you're secretly using demons for drug experiments, aren't you?"

"That demon must have illegal drugs in its system. You should really be reported."

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

"Oh, never mind then."

Although Xiong Bufan's performance also brought Hongta High School considerable fame, he ultimately didn't reach first place. On the leaderboard at this moment, Bailong High School still held a dominant position.

However, moments later, the top nine students all simultaneously dropped down by one position.

As Le Mulan's name from Ziyun High School suddenly landed in first place, it was as if a roar echoed in the air.

Ziyun High School, Le Mulan, 00:25.

"25 seconds!"

More and more students gasped in astonishment.

They found it hard to imagine that while they were toiling to dissolve the exotic magic power within their bodies, someone could achieve it in just 25 seconds.

Is that even human?

Everyone could imagine that Le Mulan would surely receive a perfect score of 100 in this second round, yet she was limited by this 100 points; otherwise, the score difference between her and others would have been even greater.

This was Han Xingye's third shock of the day.

He frowned as he looked at the words "Ice Skin Jade Bone" above Le Mulan's head, thinking that her ability to dissolve the exotic magic power so quickly must be related to a special physique.

Song Hailong, not far away, showed no anger. Instead, he burst into laughter while looking towards Ziyun High School, saying, "Interesting, very interesting. It seems my biggest rival for the next three years of high school will be this Le Mulan."

It was a full minute later that other students from Ziyun High School finally dissolved the exotic magic power within their bodies. Eventually, Lian Tianji and one other student also made it into the top ten.

Ultimately, Le Mulan, Song Hailong, and Xiong Bufan respectively secured the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions.

The top ten spots on the leaderboard were completely divided among four students from Bailong High School, three from Ziyun High School, and three from Hongta High School.

Looking at the rankings that no longer showed any changes, many of the high school students present felt a wave of despondency.

For most of them, this was their first time experiencing the significant gap between themselves and the three prestigious schools.

The ten names and scores on the screen felt like a massive mountain pressing down on them, demonstrating the chasm-like difference between the three prestigious schools and themselves.

Just then, the rankings on the large screen changed once more.

Positions four through ten all simultaneously dropped down by one.

With the three prestigious schools virtually dominating the entire competition, someone had unexpectedly broken through, forcefully reaching fourth place.

Songyang High School, Zhang Yu, 1:38.

When it was detected that Zhang Yu had dissolved the special magic power within his body, the timer emitted a "beep" sound.

This faint "beep," however, felt like a large stone dropped into the hearts of the nearby Songyang High School students.

Students from the three prestigious schools also instinctively glanced towards Songyang High School, surprised to find a student there who was nearly at their level.

Teacher Yan looked at the rankings on the list and quickly took out his phone to snap a photo.

These were all important educational achievements.