The three-month training had come to an end. Jiang Mang had integrated all of his new skills into his combat strength. This should allow him to become the strongest student of the Imperial Academy. During these three months, he had also reinforced his cultivation at the mid foundation stage, and he should be able to break through again in half a year time.
Xia Ruoyin and Song Meiling had also improved during those three months. Xia Ruoyin had broken through to the mid foundation realm and Song Meiling had learned a low Xuan tier arrow technique which has increased her combat ability to be able to contend against peak foundation stage cultivators for a short period if she can remain distanced. Xia Ruoyin has proven herself to also have the talent required to enter one of the top 9 powers if she can maintain her breakthrough speed.
These two girls had decided to not compete in the tournament as they were still too weak, and they would thus cheer for Jiang Mang during the tournament. The tournament would begin tomorrow and would consist of a preliminary and a ranking of the top ten. During the preliminary, there would be ten stages and the ten people who were able to hold a stage at the end of the day would proceed towards the ranking of the top ten.
Jiang Mang was the only participant of the musician's house and was even looked down upon due to his age, cultivation level, and title. Only the second year students were looking forward to his performance as his ability was still unknown since the last tournament. Jiang Mang went early to sleep and woke up completely refreshed the next morning.
He arrived at the participant area half an hour before the tournament under the headteacher's guidance. He then sat himself down in a corner before starting meditation. The other participants didn't notice his presence, which was what Jiang Mang wanted.
This situation continued until the start of the tournament was announced. The tournament was held under the eyes of the four headteachers from the four houses so that it would be fairly conducted. Jiang Mang stayed in his seated form as the day was still long, and he didn't want to attract the attention towards him. His behavior was different from the expected top participants as they immediately occupied the platforms to show their ability.
The podiums remained unchanged after an hour which showed the extraordinary ability of the podium holders. The spectators were discussing the tournament with passion while watching the battles. In that crowd were two girls chatting about multiple topics as if they were uninterested in the tournament. These two girls were the twin flowers of the academy. They were waiting for Jiang Mang's performance, but they knew his personality and thus expected him to only shoot in action when half the time has passed.
However, this wouldn't happen as Jiang Mang had attracted some attention from a group of people while waiting in meditation. This group was laughing and jeering at him for posturing like an expert. They had recognized the boy as the dainty master who was always beside the twin flowers, and they were jealous because of it. This had led them to provoke Jiang Mang while he ignored them. This had further enraged the group until they wanted to get physical with him. The moment they launched an attack, Jiang Mang reacted by avoiding after he had sensed the changes in the air around him.
Jiang Mang was angry because of their disturbance but managed to keep his cool. He wanted to walk away, but the group hadn't caught the message and obstructed him once again. They threatened him to challenge a podium, or they would keep pestering him. This had further enraged Jiang Mang, who wasn't exactly a patient person, but he didn't want the matter to blow up when this scuffle had already attracted some attention. This made him give in to their threat, and he thus challenged an available podium. Unfortunately for that podium holder, Jiang Mang was angry and would thus not hold his punches.
Jiang Mang had challenged the third podium, which was under the control of an ice qi cultivator at the peak foundation stage. The provocateurs were looking forward to Jiang Mang's defeat while the podium holder was looking at the blind man in front of him in disdain.
Jiang Mang took his flute out before waiting for the match to start. The spectators were confused by his actions as they seemed too arrogant for his age and cultivation realm. This match thus became the center of attention. When the match began, Jiang Mang played the technique illusion song combined with a mysterious tune. This immediately pulled his opponent into an illusion and incapacitated him. Jiang Mang had out of anger decided to play with his opponent by sending him into an illusion maze, which can only be broken by escaping the maze as he isn't strong enough.
The match was directly won by Jiang Mang, which astonished everyone and resulted in awkward silence. The spectators recognized Jiang Mang as the dainty master, after a couple of minutes when the twin flowers started cheering for the boy. This unexpected match had converted Jiang Mang's image from a weakly protected flower to a mystery that had to be unraveled. Unfortunately for the crowd, Jiang Mang didn't pay any attention to their opinion, and he sat himself down on the third podium as the new holder.
This action caught the other participants' attention, who decided to challenge the unknown opponent instead of the already known ones who they couldn't defeat. However, they were seriously mistaken as Jiang Mang didn't even stand up anymore and only played his flute while sending every opponent also into an illusion maze to teach them a little lesson. This situation happened twenty times until no one dared to challenge him anymore, which resulted in Jiang Mang advancing to the ranking of the top ten. Jiang Mang was declared as the black horse of the top ten and had become the center of attention, but he didn't bother with it and returned to his residence to sleep through the night.