CHAPTER 472: CHAPTER 123 I SURRENDER TO THE REFEREE! I WON’T FIGHT ANYMORE! _1

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, June arrived, and Su Yan’s freshman year was drawing to a close.

Jiuzhou was now about to host its largest national event: the National College Student Competition.

Today was June 6th, with less than a week until the competition began. To determine the contestants, colleges across Jiuzhou had started their internal selection competitions. As one of the top two universities in Jiuzhou, Jingdou University was also about to begin its internal selection to choose the strongest elite talents to compete in the national competition. The selection was scheduled for June 7th, which was tomorrow.

As soon as the selection date was announced, the geniuses at Jing University grew nervous. There were only four spots available from Jingdou University for the National College Student Competition, and with so many contenders for so few places, competition was fierce. Participating in the national competition was a great honor. This prompted many geniuses, who had hidden their strength for a year waiting to feign weakness and catch their opponents by surprise, to start making their moves. They were determined to win one of those four spots!

...

「Central yard building 4, room 404.」

Su Yan walked out of his room looking somewhat tired, while Jiu Li, who followed behind him, was radiant and seemed utterly content.

These days are getting increasingly tough, Su Yan thought. Every day feels like an unbearable burden.

However, he found some comfort in the fact that as long as he kept up with his daily morning and evening sign-in tasks, his number of lives would continue to grow. As of today, his lives had increased from a mere one to over five thousand. As long as he didn’t deliberately court death, he was practically indestructible.

"We can’t go on like this so frequently after this semester," Su Yan said weakly, collapsing onto the sofa. He once again felt the frailty of his original, sickly body.

Jiu Li pouted, a little displeased. "My Lord, a man should never say he can’t."

Su Yan was speechless. "..."

Seeing the Fox Demon beside him pushing her luck, Su Yan couldn’t help but feel a twitch at the corner of his mouth. The days ahead are going to be tough, he thought.

He shook his head and sighed, then took out his phone from his pocket and started to browse the news online.

For the past fortnight, though Jiuzhou hadn’t experienced any large-scale attacks by Foreign Races, one thing was clear: the numbers of Foreign Races—such as mythical beasts, Demonic Plants, Yin entities, and others—had been increasing, reaching a point where everyone felt endangered. Luckily, Evolution Universities everywhere could dispatch students to handle them, which prevented the situation from worsening.

For others, the increase in the number of Foreign Races was worrisome. But for Su Yan, it was a cause for celebration. An increase in Foreign Races meant more targets for him, allowing him to enhance his evolutionary strength as much as possible before the real cataclysm struck. So, as long as incidents weren’t as severe in casualties as the previous Old Shu event, he wasn’t concerned about how much their numbers increased.

There are over two months left before the cataclysm arrives. Considering my current rate of evolution, I should be able to reach the Mythical Level Category before it happens, Su Yan mused.

At this thought, his mood improved significantly. Perhaps the future isn’t entirely bleak after all.

...

「The following day, June 7th.」

Today was the day of the internal selection competition. Su Yan left his dormitory early and arrived at the gymnasium.

The gymnasium was already packed with spectators. A glance around revealed a crowd of onlookers eager for the spectacle. There were only ten contestants participating, and these ten happened to be the students ranked in the top ten on the strength leaderboard.

Su Yan made his way to the waiting area and noticed that the other nine had already arrived. He scanned them with a sidelong glance and spotted several unfamiliar faces.

Without a doubt, these are the ones who excel at feigning weakness to ambush their opponents, Su Yan thought. They deliberately waited until the internal selections were about to start, then unhurriedly climbed the rankings to forcefully secure their spots.

He was somewhat puzzled by their strategy of pretending to be weaker than they were. After all, entering Jing University’s strength ranking comes with monthly academic credit incentives. Don’t these people care about that? Perhaps... they’re all from super-privileged ’Evo Gen 2’ families and look down on such meager rewards. Their true aim must be to hide their real power and then spring a surprise on their opponents during the selections.

He observed a few individuals whose Creature Level had reached Half-step Epic Level, yet had only just barely scraped by to qualify. Too bad, you won’t be able to ambush me, Su Yan mused, a hint of pity in his thoughts. It’s a shame they can’t get the better of me, a being at the Half-step Mythical Level.

Soon, the internal selection competition began. The rules were simple: the tenth-ranked student would challenge those above them, fighting their way up from the bottom. This "upset" style of elimination would determine the top four who would go on to compete in the National College Student Competition.

After more than half a year, the names on Jing University’s strength ranking had undergone significant changes. The rankings, from highest to lowest, were now:

1. Su Zicheng (Epic)

2. Qiu Ziluo (Semi-Epic)

3. Liu Xiaoman (Semi-Epic)

4. Li Changxiao (Semi-Epic)

5. Zhang Zhengming (Semi-Epic)

6. Liu Yigui (Legendary)

7. Zheng Gaoyun (Legendary)

8. Zhou Suowei (Legendary)

9. Wen Rugou (Epic)

10. Su Yan (Semi-Mythical)

Ever since the Old Shu incident, Su Yan had maintained his spot as the gatekeeper of the top ten.

I could have aimed for first place, but there’s no need, he thought. As long as I stay in the top ten, I can participate in the internal selections. That’s enough.