Chapter 123: Carried Along By The Wind
Chapter 123: Carried Along By The Wind
Above the competition stage were two rows of seats.
These seats were reserved for the top 20 students.
The students who sat at those seats could change at any time, and no one could know when they would be removed from that seat.
Some spots changed very rapidly, like Cloud Leopard’s. Every time he surged up, he was quickly knocked back down by others. As time went on, he just stopped sitting down altogether.
But some spots evidently would not change at all.
For instance, the top 5.
Three males and two females sat atop the five most elevated seats.
The person at the front was a male with long hair going over his back. His expression was lazy, and it seemed as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
There truly wasn’t anything to worry about. Ever since the end-of-year competition had begun, he had sat at this position. No one had even challenged him, let alone shake his position.
He was called He Niliu.
The two people sitting beneath him were the giant-blade wielding Duan Jiangshan and the purple-robed prince Jiang Xishui who had appeared earlier.
These three people, along with Ji Hanyan and Yue Longsha, were the ones who had dominated the Hundred Refinements Pavilion leaderboard.
He Niliu was first, while Duan Jiangshan was second. Even though these two had concealed their identities in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, their actions were not subtle at all. They had controlled the first and second place spots on the Dragon Transformation List ever since the first end-of-year competition. Concealing their identities in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion was simply a way to show off; even those with the lowest intelligent would probably be able to discern that the two concealed names belonged to them.
These two believed that they were being very inconspicuous and low-key. Even until now, the top two names on the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s registry of room clearances remained concealed.
Beneath the top three were Ji Hanyan and Gu Qingluo.
Ji Hanyan and Gu Qingluo were significantly more at odds than the top three, who cooperated with each other.
Every time Ji Hanyan turned around, her gaze always drifted over Gu Qingluo’s head. Gu Qingluo, who appeared to be smiling faintly and delicately, would never look at her directly either.
Even though they did not directly oppose each other, they used their own methods to look down on each other.
The positions these five occupied were the stablest amongst their peers of the same year. Virtually no one challenged them, and if they were challenged, most people “just wanted to know how great the gap in strength really was”.
Wang Doushan could be considered as ranked sixth, and his position was quite well-defined as well. Not many people could shake him from his position.
But in the past few days, he suddenly stopped advancing, hovering around 10th place for some unknown reason.
Until just now.
When Wang Doushan immediately surrendered, everyone finally understood what was going on.
That damned bastard had allied himself with Su Chen to boost up Cloud Leopard.
After Wang Doushan surrendered, Cloud Leopard’s ranking was brought up to 10th place. Not including the top 5, only Yue Longsha, Wang Xuan’an, Zhou Donglai, and Yuan Mengshi were now ahead of him.
Upon seeing Wang Doushan surrender, the crowd began to clamor.
“That bastard Wang Doushan, what is he doing?” The fiery Wang Xuan’an slammed his fist into the back of his chair in anger.
“You saw it for yourself. They’re pushing him higher,” Zhou Donglai said darkly. “I already heard that he has been hanging around those without bloodlines, so this comes as no surprise to me. One person without a bloodline reaching the top 20 is already a great shame, but now two have managed to sneak their way in.”
“If they can push him higher, can we not drag him down?” Yuan Mengshi suddenly said.
The three of them stared at each other and then began to laugh darkly.
Very quickly, a student ranked below Cloud Leopard issued a challenge to Wang Xuan’an.
Unsurprisingly, Wang Xuan’an was quickly defeated, and Cloud Leopard’s ranking fell a spot.
Next, someone challenged Zhou Donglai, Yuan Mengshi, and the others, causing Cloud Leopard’s position to continue to fall. Wang Xuan’an and the others could then issue a new challenge and reclaim their position.
As a result of this complicated exchange, Cloud Leopard’s ranking once again dropped below fifteenth place.
Just when everyone thought that Cloud Leopard was on the verge of being squeezed out, he once again issued a challenge.
This time, he challenged Yue Longsha.
Yue Longsha surrendered.
“Yue Longsha, you……!” Everyone stared at Yue Longsha in shock.
When had this woman allied herself with them?
Yue Longsha maintained her simple, elegant demeanor. She said, “Cloud Leopard’s true strength isn’t that weak anyways. He just isn’t suited for doing battle atop a stage, so it’s not necessarily a disgrace to let him in. Why not be generous and just let him off the hook.”
“Ha, it sounds nice when you put it that way, but I just don’t like seeing him up here with us, and I don’t want to let him come up,” Wang Xuan’an harrumphed. “Yue Longsha, if you can bring him up, we can just push him back down! I’d like to see whose side has more people.”
Yue Longsha knitted her eyebrows and was about to say something when Ji Hanyan interjected with a cold laugh, “You’ll need my permission to do that.”
Yue Longsha was originally sixth. Cloud Leopard’s victory over her had given him her position. Because he had already been challenged six times, suppressing Cloud Leopard required them to defeat Ji Hanyan.
In other words, this would only be possible if Ji Hanyan gave her approval.
Wang Xuan’an was caught off-guard. He stared at Ji Hanyan. “Hanyan, you can’t possibly be thinking of letting this person without a bloodline into our group, can you?”
Ji Hanyan didn’t even glance at him. “It makes me happy. It has nothing to do with you.”
When Wang Xuan’an and the others heard this, they finally understood.
This damned Ji Hanyan had chosen to stand on Su Chen’s side.
Even if they were to suppress Cloud Leopard again, Ji Hanyan might even surrender just like Yue Longsha had, bringing him back up.
They all shifted their gazes to Gu Qingluo.
Gu Qingluo first sipped her tea before she said faintly, “My strength is somewhat weak. I am only sitting in fourth place because everyone has been supporting me so far. I do not have any confidence that I can keep this spot. Even though I want to help you all, I do not have the assurance that I will be able to regain my position. I apologize……”
This meant that she was unwilling to help them suppress Cloud Leopard.
Everyone was shocked. They turned to look at Jiang Xishui, Duan Jiangshan, and He Niliu.
Even before they replied, everyone knew what their answer would be.
Indeed, Jiang Xishui fanned himself gently and then looked at Ji Hanyan and laughed, “Since Hanyan is unwilling to give way, how could I do something Hanyan doesn’t like?”
This person was just like Bai Yihong, who was also pursuing Ji Hanyan. Unfortunately, Ji Hanyan never returned his interest.
Even so, Jiang Xishui couldn’t possibly go against Ji Hanyan’s wishes.
Duan Jiangshan rolled his eyes and stared at the sky. “Don’t bother me with these silly quarrels.”
He Niliu didn’t even spare them a glance. He said lazily, “Switching seats back and forth…… is very bothersome.”
“……”
None of the top 5 were willing to give each other any ground. This meant that there was no longer any possibility of keeping Cloud Leopard tied down.
The group of people glanced amongst each other, completely dazed.
It wasn’t just them who were dazed – the entire group of people watching from below was also stunned.
No one expected Cloud Leopard to be supported by so many people.
Su Chen, Wang Doushan, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo……
With so many people pushing a single person higher, they were no longer using brute-force tactics. Rather, Cloud Leopard was basically being carried along by the wind!
The tenth day of the end-of-year competition drew to a close.
Cloud Leopard secured his place in the top 20 with a 6th-place finish, giving him the right to participate in the upcoming battle.