"Xiao Fei, who knew you'd become as slippery as Chen Gou,"
Another side, Li Tianyu, who was being dragged away, asked in surprise.
"It's all learned from Chen Gou."
Li Fei said with a smile.
"Hahahaha, that's what they call 'bad company corrupts good character!'"
Li Tianyu burst out laughing.
Chen Lixin rolled his eyes and didn't want to deal with this pair of siblings.
"But with your maneuver, I must take the top spot today!"
Li Tianyu stated earnestly.
She didn't feel overwhelmed by pressure; instead, she was full of fighting spirit.
"You two, don't blame me for being a wet blanket, but my cousin has a lot of underlings. If I were him, I would just have the underlings in the same group as He Tianyu exhaust her, then Tian Yu would have a hard time making it to the end,"
Chen Lixin said, pushing up his glasses.
The school examination was conducted through initial round-robin matches followed by knockout rounds. So if you encountered a strong opponent during the round-robin, the best strategy was to concede quickly to save energy for other matches, ensuring a chance to advance from the group.
But if Chen Lixin instructed others to specifically target Li Tianyu, refusing to concede and fighting to the bitter end, even if Li Tianyu managed to advance, she wouldn't have much energy left for the knockout rounds.
"Damn, Chen Gou, are all you Chens so scheming?"
Li Tianyu cursed.
Chen Lixin shrugged his shoulders, "If you want to take first place, just defeat each opponent as quickly as possible."
There were four ways to win a match in the graduation examination:
First, knock down the opponent more than three times.
Second, the opponent voluntarily concedes.
Third, throw the opponent off the ring.
Fourth, after five minutes, the referee would declare the winner based on the performance.
To avoid getting worn down, Li Tianyu had to defeat her opponents as quickly as possible, either by knocking them down more than three times or ejecting them from the ring, thus keeping her chances for the top spot.
"Alright, watch me do it!"
Li Tianyu nodded firmly, her fighting spirit high.
The two had never discussed how Li Fei should secure a victory, as based on his past performance at school, it seemed challenging for him to even make it out of the group stage, let alone claim the top spot.
Li Fei stood aside, quietly listening, not joining in the discussion.
He didn't mind being underestimated at all.
Next, all the Zhi Ge Department students began drawing lots to divide into groups, with dozens of students being split into eight groups.
Li Fei was assigned to the 'Earth' platform, and Li Tianyu to the 'Mystery' platform.
"It's a pity, it would have been good if the two of you were in the same group,"
Chen Lixin said, feeling somewhat regretful.
In his view, if Li Fei and Li Tianyu were in the same group, he could help Li Tianyu fend off some enemies, making her advancement easier.
If it were someone else, he definitely wouldn't have said this, but he believed that Li Fei would be willing to make sacrifices for Li Tianyu.
Unexpectedly, Li Fei responded with a smile, "It's better that we're not in the same group."
"Huh?"
Chen Lixin looked at his friend, feeling that something about him was different from before.
"Anyways, good luck!"
Li Tianyu reached out his palm to Li Fei.
Li Fei slapped his hand:
"Good luck!"
The prize money for first place in this graduation examination was three hundred yuan, and now, coupled with the three hundred yuan from Chen Lixin, it totaled six hundred yuan.
For Li Fei, that was the funds needed for the herbs to practice the Heavenly Gang Dominator Body seventeen times!
He 'looked' at the Myriad Blood Pearl inside himself:
[Rank: Level 2 91%
Blood Soul: 12]
The Myriad Blood Pearl was not far from leveling up; a bit more energy absorption and it could upgrade.
"Then let's try to take this top spot!"
Li Fei muttered.
He turned and walked toward the 'Earth' platform.
Under the rising sun, the youth's gaze was determined, his posture straight.
....
"Next match, Li Fei versus Wang Heng."
At the side of the 'Earth' platform, a Zhi Ge Department teacher acting as the referee called out loudly.
Li Fei, who was already at the side wearing a full set of protective gear, stepped onto the platform.
On the other side, a short and chubby boy also made his way up.
His protective gear was obviously too small for him, making it look tight.
Li Fei knew him; his family was in the pork business, so he was dubbed "Pork Heng," a perennial bottom-dweller of their year.
"Lucky break."
Li Fei felt a pang of emotion and quickly got into a defensive stance, waiting for his opponent to attack.
Wang Heng didn't care much about the graduation exam; he just wanted to scrape through and get his diploma. He had been prepared to concede quickly but didn't expect that Li Fei would actually take up a defensive posture against him.
"What's the situation? Being so cautious?"
Wang Heng threw a tentative punch at Li Fei, which Li Fei blocked with his forearms and stepped back half a step, yet he still did not launch an attack.
"Not fighting back?"
Wang Heng continued to probe with a few more attacks, seeing that Li Fei never fought back, he simply let loose, as it didn't matter to him whether he won or lost.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
On the arena, Li Fei only defended and did not attack, allowing Wang Heng to swing his fists and kicks freely.
"This Li Fei is really trash, getting dominated by Pork Wang. He's nothing compared to his sister."
Someone below the stage sneered.
His name was Huang Qian, one of Chen Lixin's lackeys.
Chen Lixin had ordered them to focus all their efforts on Li Tianyu, without any special instructions regarding Li Fei. Huang Qian had initially wanted to target Li Fei as well, hoping to impress the young master Chen, but seeing how pathetic Li Fei was, he suddenly felt it was beneath him to target such a person.
Time passed quickly, and four minutes had gone by, with Wang Heng panting and sweating profusely.
However, he was exhilarated because he had never fought so freely before; Li Fei was simply the perfect human punching bag, thoroughly enjoyable to hit.
Just as he was stepping forward to deliver a straight punch, Li Fei suddenly sidestepped, grabbing his wrist with his left hand and pulling closer, while his right leg swept out quickly and low like a scythe, hooking around Wang Heng's calf.
Li Fei then exerted force with both his arms and legs.
Crack!
Wang Heng instantly lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground.
"A Hook Scythe Leg?"
Wang Heng recognized the move and quickly got up, launching another attack.
But he was easily dodged by Li Fei once again, who used nearly the same move to take him down.
"How did he suddenly become so strong?"
Wang Heng was puzzled, and when he got up again, he didn't punch but instead suddenly bent over, making a diving motion to try and apply a takedown on Li Fei to engage in ground fighting.
He had been in control before, so just dragging out the fight a bit longer would make him the victor.
However, his figure was too bulky, and all his movements seemed like slow motion to Li Fei, who easily avoided the tackle by stepping back.
Then, Li Fei stepped beside Wang Heng, delivering a fierce low sweep that once again sent Wang Heng tumbling to the ground.
Three times.
When Wang Heng stood up again, Li Fei initiated an attack, distracting him with a punch to the face and following up with two consecutive Hook Scythe Legs.
The first kick disrupted his balance, and the second sent him to the ground again!
"Li Fei wins."
The Zhi Ge Department teacher announced from the side.
"Ah."
Wang Heng sighed, feeling it was a pity.
He thought he was very close to winning.
He got up and shook hands with Li Fei, saying sincerely, "Bro, we definitely need to spar more in the future. Fighting with you is just too satisfying!"
Li Fei: "..."
After the match, the Myriad Blood Pearl's rank had increased by 2%, reaching level 2 at 93%.
As for the Blood Soul's consumption, it was almost negligible.
"The little fatty doesn't hit hard enough."
Li Fei muttered to himself.
After waiting for more than twenty minutes, Li Fei faced his second match.
He repeated the same tactic, choosing to take hits at the beginning.
This process allowed him to absorb the opponent's energy to the greatest extent and also benefited his practice of Heavenly Gang Dominator Body.
Compared to the 'static' endurance training, using Heavenly Gang Qi Pile to withstand damage during a real fight was much more challenging because the opponent wouldn't wait for you to adjust your Qi before attacking.
Once Li Fei could achieve 'Qi-Blood Condensation, move at will,' he would reach the minor completion of Heavenly Gang Dominator Body, capable of timely circulating Qi and using this skill in actual combat.
This graduation exam was just the right real combat practice for Li Fei.
Like the last fight, he only started to counterattack in the last minute.
This opponent was stronger than Wang Heng, so Li Fei had to endure the attacks more forcefully, using the Hook Scythe Leg four times in a row to take down his opponent and win.
This time the Myriad Blood Pearl absorbed 4% energy, reaching level 2 at 97%, getting closer and closer to upgrading.
The 'Earth' arena group that Li Fei was part of had a total of seven people, and with four more fights to go, there was a high chance that the Myriad Blood Pearl would level up.
In the third match, Li Fei encountered a tough opponent.
This time he didn't dare to wait until the last minute to counterattack. After being attacked for two minutes, he started to fight back, countering attack with attack.
After practicing Heavenly Gang Dominator Body, Li Fei's resistance to being hit had greatly improved, and with the Myriad Blood Pearl sharing the damage, the opponent couldn't shake him at all.
Anyone who's fought knows that facing an opponent who can't be moved, not even stepping back half a step, no matter how you hit them.
The sense of oppression is too strong!
With this significant advantage, even if Li Fei's martial arts skills and physical conditioning weren't as good as his opponent's, he could still win easily.
He frequently targeted his opponent's lower body with Hook Scythe Legs, taking them down four times before time expired to win the match.
After several matches, Li Fei felt he was on the verge of minor completion of Heavenly Gang Dominator Body, and the Myriad Blood Pearl was just 1% energy away from leveling up.
...