Chapter 77: The Most Powerful Move

In the lounge area of Ziyun High School.

Le Mulan had already returned to sit on Lian Tianji's back.

Watching Bai Zhenzhen hurry to the arena, phone in hand, to explain usage rights to the referee, Le Mulan spoke, "Bai Zhenzhen can actually use Zhang Yu's phone to shop? She knows his phone and payment passwords?"

"These two must be lifelong friends."

Seeing Zhang Yu slowly walk back to the lounge, Le Mulan patted Lian Tianji's head and said, "I remember you have Zhang Yu as a friend, right?"

As soon as Zhang Yu returned to the lounge, he poured all the potions he had bought before the match—designed to restore stamina, magic power, and energy—into his mouth.

Feeling his power rapidly return, he felt a little more at ease.

The organizers had provided a half-hour break before the finals, which Zhang Yu believed was enough to restore eighty to ninety percent of his stamina and magic power.

Bai Zhenzhen said from the side, "...Did you remember everything I just told you?"

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, she continued, "Alright then, I won't say more. Get some good rest and prepare for the next battle."

Not long after Bai Zhenzhen left, Zhang Yu felt a slight vibration from his phone. He opened it to find that Lian Tianji had recommended a friend to him.

"Le Mulan?"

Unsure why Le Mulan wanted to add him, Zhang Yu simply accepted the request first.

He then saw Le Mulan send a direct message: "Let's meet. I have something I want to discuss with you."

Zhang Yu arrived at a deserted corridor outside the arena and saw Le Mulan gracefully waiting there.

This top student from Ziyun High School was beautiful with an icy demeanor. Wherever she went, she seemed to be the focus of everyone's attention, drawing all eyes to her.

Now, upon seeing Zhang Yu arrive, she stated directly, "Two hundred thousand. I'll pay you to lose. What do you say?"

Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback. "You want to buy the competition championship?"

Le Mulan replied indifferently, "Wealth is power. Money is part of strength. The martial arts competition is about choosing the strongest, so why can't I use money to buy it?"

Zhang Yu stared at her and snorted, "You're not confident you can beat me?"

Le Mulan shook her head. "I just think that fighting you might cost more than two hundred thousand. Buying a guaranteed victory for two hundred thousand seems very cost-effective to me."

Seeing Zhang Yu fall silent, Le Mulan added, "If two hundred thousand isn't enough, how about four hundred thousand? But that's my maximum. If you ask for more, I won't agree."

Zhang Yu swallowed. He had to admit that the four hundred thousand Le Mulan was offering at that moment was more impactful than all the moves he had encountered in his previous consecutive arena battles.

Four hundred thousand—what kind of cultivation techniques could that buy? How long could one rent a spiritual root? How many training artifacts could be purchased? And how much could it improve one's talismans?

Zhang Yu even felt that if he had this four hundred thousand, his cultivation would improve far more than it would from the martial arts champion's fifty thousand prize money and an expert-level cultivation technique.

After all, in Kunxu, money meant potential, aptitude, and rapid advancement on the path of immortality. Even gods were said to serve those with money.

Zhang Yu said, "Alright, just transfer it directly to my card."

Le Mulan spread her fingers, and a purplish-jade scroll appeared in her palm. "Sign a contract with me under the witness of a True Deity, and I'll transfer the money to you immediately."

Watching Zhang Yu fall silent instead of agreeing, Le Mulan asked in surprise, "Four hundred thousand, and you're still hesitating?"

She found it very strange.

"I heard Lian Tianji say that you could be hired as a security guard for a few hundred yuan, right?"

"You poor people scramble for hundreds or thousands every day. Why are you hesitating now when four hundred thousand is right in front of you?"

"Given your background, it's impossible for you to get into one of the top ten universities. Is first place in this martial arts competition really that important?"

There was no hint of mockery in Le Mulan's tone; she truly seemed genuinely puzzled by Zhang Yu's reaction at that moment.

Shaking her head, she turned to leave. "Since you can't decide right away, I'll go first. However, you can come and claim this four hundred thousand anytime before the finals begin. But that's the absolute maximum; I won't increase the price."

Watching Le Mulan leave, Zhang Yu used his phone to text Zhang Pianpian: "Sis, if I don't get first place in the martial arts competition and only get second, how much will that affect my chances of getting into one of the top ten universities?"

Zhang Pianpian replied: "The path I found for you requires excellent first-year high school grades and a high ranking in competitions. The better your performance, the higher your chances of being selected. First place in the competition naturally makes it more likely to get into one of the top ten than second place."

Zhang Yu understood. It meant that taking the four hundred thousand didn't necessarily mean he couldn't get into a top ten university, just that his chances would decrease...

But just as a genuine thought of agreeing with Le Mulan surfaced in his mind, that damn ritual started wailing at him again.

"I knew it."

"You idiotic thing, you're really afraid I won't get into one of the top ten universities."

Feeling the four hundred thousand slipping away, Zhang Yu felt a piercing pain, a sensation more acute than clashing fists with Lian Tianji or fiercely grappling with Song Hailong.

"Is this the heartache of losing a huge sum of money?"

Immediately, Zhang Yu activated the Heaven Martial Heart Refining Art, severing all distracting thoughts.

At that moment, only one thought remained in his mind.

He was going to pin that rich snob Le Mulan to the ground in the arena and thoroughly beat her up.

As the finals began.

Le Mulan and Zhang Yu simultaneously walked onto the arena.

This martial arts competition had finally reached its final stage.

Streaks of blue and white sword energy surged from Le Mulan's body with overwhelming force, slashing violently towards Zhang Yu.

Once Le Mulan's Star Dou Sword Art was unleashed, it became relentless and formidable, like a meticulously arrayed army, making it incredibly difficult to break through.

Watching Zhang Yu dart left and right under her sword energy, occasionally using his Formless Cloud Aegis to block the attacks, Le Mulan felt as if she were observing a scuttling mouse.

"Are you trying to exhaust my magic power?"

Le Mulan laughed. "Do you think you can exhaust it?"

The next moment, as Le Mulan's sword energy erupted, the magic power within her body grew increasingly turbulent, like a surging river, continuously overflowing. Its power had clearly surpassed all other contestants present.

Simultaneously, a female voice echoed from within her.

"Welcome to the Ziyun Replaceable Inner Core."

"Inner Core remaining magic power balance: eight million."

Le Mulan touched her lower abdomen, then looked at Zhang Yu before her. "I've charged the replaceable inner core within me with eight million yuan worth of magic power."

At the same time, a line of text appeared on her wrist—a number steadily counting down from eight million.

Clearly, as she continuously unleashed magic power and sword energy, the power stored in the inner core was being consumed. However, with a decrease of only a thousand units of value per second, it was still a very long way from completely exhausting the eight million.

Yet, this also meant that for every second Le Mulan fought, thousands of yuan were being spent.

Le Mulan flicked her fingertips, and streams of sword energy blasted towards Zhang Yu like storms. Forget getting close; it was as if she were forcing Zhang Yu off the arena inch by inch.

"And if you're worried my internal meridians can't withstand this surging magic power, you needn't be."

"My combat spiritual root, 'Magic Network,' has already protected all my meridians, allowing me to maintain high magic power output without worrying about wear and tear."

Meanwhile, seeing Le Mulan's extravagant display in the arena—bombarding with seemingly endless, eight-million-yuan worth of magic power—the audience became incredibly excited.

This impressed them far more than Song Hailong's ten-million-yuan insurance premium, because that ten million belonged to an insurance company, while Le Mulan was now spending her own real money.

One spectator, watching Le Mulan spend money so freely, praised, "It's beautiful. This way of spending money as if it's nothing is truly beautiful."

Another spectator felt immense envy: "Being rich is really great, truly blissful."

A third spectator had an epiphany: "Indeed, to go far on the path of immortality, you really need to throw money at it. When I go back today, I'm going to squeeze every last coin out of that old coot. I must take another step forward on the path of immortality!"

With the noisy chatter from the audience stands, Le Mulan slightly furrowed her brow.

As she continued to unleash sword energy, she looked at Zhang Yu and said, "Did you hear that? Although they're a bit noisy, they're not wrong. Money is the foundation of cultivation."

"As a poor person, if you had earned that four hundred thousand today, you could have gotten a little closer to me."

"It's a pity you actively gave up this opportunity to become stronger."

She looked in Zhang Yu's direction and asked with a sincere expression, "I'm very curious. You're so poor, yet you're unwilling to earn money. Why is that?"

It seemed Le Mulan had said all those words just to ask the question that truly piqued her curiosity.

Zhang Yu looked at her sincere, questioning expression and suddenly felt a mix of anger and amusement.

"So a damn rich young lady is here to observe the life of a pauper, huh?"

He snorted coldly, "You set the price at four hundred thousand because you think you can win against me by spending at most four hundred thousand?"

Le Mulan nodded. "Precisely. I calculated that your defeat is worth at most four hundred thousand. Spending a single cent more would be a waste."

At the same time, with the continuous barrage of sword energy, the Formless Cloud Aegis finally broke open, leaving a sword mark on Zhang Yu's palm.

Zhang Yu said faintly, "What if you add a poor man's blood to the equation?"

Blood dripped into the Aegis, staining the Formless Cloud Aegis with streaks of crimson.

But facing the injury on his hand, Zhang Yu showed no panic. Instead, as if prepared, he forcefully flung the blood from his hand towards Le Mulan's position.

Le Mulan, who had remained motionless throughout the entire fight, always using her sword energy to pressure her opponent, now subtly shifted her feet, deliberately dodging the flung blood.

With Le Mulan's dodging movement, a clear flaw immediately appeared in her Star Dou Sword Art.

Zhang Yu shot forward like lightning, intending to break through the layers of sword energy and get close to Le Mulan.

At the same time, Bai Zhenzhen's words flashed through Zhang Yu's mind.

"Le Mulan's first weakness is that she... seems to be a germaphobe."

"I suggest you just spit at her, or even better, phlegm. Not only will she dodge, but she definitely won't want to use her sword energy to intercept spit."