Among the total of 120 challengers today, there were many familiar faces from last week.
Lam Minh saw Mac Van Khoa, Mai Van, Thai Vi, and Trinh Duc—the one who had knocked him unconscious last week.
Seeing Lam Minh looking, all four of them nodded in greeting.
Trinh Duc was currently standing a few meters away from Thai Vi, not daring to get any closer.
"Vi, don't be angry with me anymore. I'll perform better today than last week, I promise!" Trinh Duc pleaded with Thai Vi.
But all he received was her indifferent expression.
Mac Van Khoa walked over and patted Trinh Duc's shoulder in consolation.
After last week's competition, she had met with him and told him he had no more chances. To this day, he still didn't understand why.
Women were so hard to understand.
Lam Minh quietly observed his opponents. Among all of them, he sensed one person with a rather powerful aura, perhaps the strongest among the other 119 contestants, but still far inferior to him.
A male classmate.
Lam Minh's impression of this person was his sharp eyes, like a predator stalking its prey, and his gloomy, hidden aura that could erupt at any moment.
The same script as before, the screen began to display the countdown.
The spiritual energy cage started to envelop the entire fighting platform.
Everything felt familiar to Lam Minh, but today, the result would be different.
"The match has begun! Which eight contestants will remain on the platform to challenge today? It's truly something to look forward to," the MC's voice rang out with extreme professionalism, exciting the viewers' interest.
Some students began to take out their phones and record footage of today's battles to post on the school forum.
Inside the fighting platform.
The 120 contestants on the vast platform began to move. No one made a move immediately; they were all probing, looking for easy prey or those with prior grudges. The atmosphere was as tense as a drawn bowstring.
The contestants were now looking at each other, silently pairing off for battle.
Lam Minh didn't avoid any gazes. He was confident that his strength was the greatest on the platform today.
Suddenly, four contestants acted at the same time.
They didn't fight each other; there were no collisions.
Their target was Lam Minh. After seeing him on the platform, they were certain he was the weakest one here and immediately wanted to eliminate him first.
"Oh oh, one against four! It seems Lam Minh is an easy target for the contestants right now!" the MC shouted with excitement upon seeing Lam Minh being surrounded.
Indeed, last week, the MC himself had mistakenly thought Lam Minh was a hidden martial arts master, but unexpectedly, the result was him being knocked out with a single blow.
This incident was quite embarrassing for the MC in his career as a host.
"Haha, look, the good show is starting. That Lam Minh guy is about to get knocked out again," a contestant on the platform exclaimed upon seeing this scene.
Lam Minh faced the four figures rushing towards him.
He didn't make many movements, just lowered his stance.
He activated his Wind Walking, and his body became like a gust of wind, gliding forward.
Silently reciting the incantation for the Star Manifestation Sword Art, the blood essence in his body circulated at an extremely high speed.
Lam Minh struck. No one could see how he moved.
Only a swift afterimage flashed by.
Fast! Too fast!
So fast that the other four were just dazed, and Lam Minh's figure had already disappeared from its spot. They only had time to hear a mantra echo:
"Star Manifestation Sword Art – First Form, Scattered Cold Stars!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of wooden swords colliding with the bodies of the four contestants rang out almost simultaneously.
Lam Minh's movements were swift and decisive. Immediately after, he returned to his original position while the viewers still hadn't processed what had happened.
Lam Minh stood straight, the tip of his sword pointing to the ground, his indifferent gaze watching the four figures slowly collapse in front of him.
Everything happened in less than three seconds.
The entire school fell silent. The other contestants also stared at Lam Minh.
The MC's mouth was wide open, as if a chicken egg could be stuffed into it.
After a moment, he regained his composure.
"Whoaaaaa! An unexpected one-on-four from contestant Lam Minh! A completely surprising result! The opponents were Nguyen Tuan from class 11A09 with 512 blood essence points, Truong Phi from class 11A09 with 620 blood essence points... Defeating four classmates with such high cultivation is truly a surprise of tonight's festival!" The MC's voice rang out, his tone almost a scream.
Roars of cheers erupted from the stands, one after another.
"Is that really Lam Minh? He was so weak last week," a female classmate in the stands blurted out.
"Could it be just luck? It's impossible to be so different after just one week," another female classmate chimed in.
Lam Minh slowly walked forward, gliding past the golden bubbles on the ground.
[Ding! The host has picked up +67 accumulated attribute points.]
[Ding! The host has picked up +80 accumulated attribute points.]
...
A series of notifications rang out.
After the last battle, Lam Minh had collected a total of 264 accumulated points. He revealed a satisfied smile.
[Ding! The host has added +264 accumulated attribute points to cultivation.]
[Cultivation]: Mortal (2.137/100 Golden Dragon Blood Essence)
The cultivation points transformed into two drops of Golden Dragon Blood Essence, which took turns circulating throughout Lam Minh's body.
Lam Minh felt that if he were to fight Quynh Nhu again, he wouldn't be defeated so quickly.
At this rate, his cultivation would soon break through to the Body Tempering realm.
He was filled with anticipation.
"Alright, come on up, all of you! I'll take on all 115 of you by myself!" Lam Minh said in an extremely arrogant and insolent tone.
His opponents, both familiar and unfamiliar, were extremely angry after hearing this.
"Hmph, brothers, there are so many of us, are we really afraid of him? Let's go!" a contestant signaled to his group of nine friends, wanting to surround and attack Lam Minh.
He didn't believe that his nine brothers, plus himself, couldn't defeat Lam Minh.
Although Lam Minh had taken down four people at once earlier, it had also scared him.
His comrades also nodded and silently moved to surround Lam Minh.
From the stands, one could see that Lam Minh was being surrounded by ten people.
This sparked a lively discussion.
"Since when did the platform defense battle turn into a gang-up on Lam Minh? These guys aren't playing fair!" A group of classmates voiced their protest.
"You can't blame them. Who told this Lam Minh guy to be so good at attracting attention?"
The great battle erupted in an instant.
A brawl quickly broke out in the arena.
Lam Minh was now using his Wind Walking, a wooden sword in hand, leisurely dancing among the crowd.
Every time he swung his sword, one could see the kinetic wind swirling.
None of his opponents could withstand more than one blow.
They were all hit and fell unconscious.
At this moment, the other contestants no longer had the heart to fight. They all stopped and watched Lam Minh's majestic display.
Before long, Lam Minh was standing amidst ten fallen contestants.
His face was calm, his eyes cold.
It made others choose to avoid his gaze.
What could be done? Lam Minh's strength had been demonstrated through the two brawls just now.
At this moment, no one wanted to face him.
"Well? Anyone else, come on up," Lam Minh challenged each contestant with his sword.
Although the platform was still very crowded, not a single person dared to approach him.
The other contestants remained silent, choosing other opponents to fight.
From the outside, one could see that all the fights were avoiding the central area, which was now ruled by Lam Minh.
"It seems we have a very interesting battle. Perhaps the plan of all the contestants is to give Lam Minh a spot to challenge, and they will only compete for the remaining seven positions," the MC commented, which was very true to the situation inside the platform.
All the challengers, without prior arrangement, shared the same thought.
No one wanted to face an opponent who could defeat 14 people at once.
At this moment, in the principal's office.
The principal of Tran Hung Dao High School, Mr. Ma Vinh An, was sitting at his desk, holding a cup of hot tea.
He was 54 years old, with a shiny patch on his head due to age. A few remaining strands of hair could be seen swaying in the breeze from the ceiling fan.
Mr. Ma quite enjoyed his current life. The position of principal could be said to be the pinnacle of his life. So what if he couldn't cultivate?
With his own talent, Tran Hung Dao High School had produced countless geniuses for the nation. Every year, at least 3-4 students were directly admitted to the Combat University and the National Research Institute.
Although it was still not as high as other top schools.
This made his life extremely glorious. People in the area gave him a nickname: "The Ferryman of Geniuses."
His wife and children were all proud of him.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Just as he was enjoying himself, a series of urgent knocks on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in," he said.
The door swung open, and a figure rushed in.
In his hand was a phone, and he stammered:
"P... Principal, a treasure was found!" the man said as he walked in.
"Teacher Huan, the physical education teacher, what's the rush? Calm down. If the sky falls, the nation will take care of it. Aren't you supposed to be a judge? Why are you here? What treasure did you find?" Mr. Ma replied with a relaxed expression.
"How can I not be in a rush? In today's match, a student named Lam Minh from class 11A10 single-handedly defeated 14 opponents at once. His combat power is truly terrifying," the PE teacher, Huan, said with a look of disbelief on his face.
This made Mr. Ma jump up from his comfortable chair.
"Are you telling the truth? How can there be such a strong student in the school that I don't know about?" Mr. Ma questioned, still unable to believe it.
"Here, see for yourself," Teacher Huan said, opening a recorded video.
On the phone screen was the scene of Lam Minh holding a wooden sword, using his Wind Walking, and dancing among his opponents.
He watched as contestant after contestant fell before Lam Minh's sword.
Mr. Ma's jaw dropped in astonishment.
No one had ever done this before.
A high school student, no matter how strong, could only easily defeat an opponent in a 1 vs 1 match. Yet this guy was being ganged up on and still won in an overwhelming fashion.
"Good! Good! I must go and see this match myself. Since when did our school produce such an outstanding student?" Mr. Ma said as he ran out of the principal's office.
His hand quickly dialed a number on his phone.
"Quickly gather all the information on the student Lam Minh from class 11A10 and send it to me." He said and then disappeared down the corridor, leaving the PE teacher standing there.
"The principal seems to be walking very energetically today. Doesn't he have knee arthritis?" the PE teacher muttered and then chased after him.
Back at the arena.
Lam Minh was quietly picking up attribute points dropped from other people's fights.
The pairs who were fighting were startled when they saw Lam Minh approaching and stopped.
But then, they realized that Lam Minh just walked up, smiled at them, and then left in another direction.
Gradually, various opponents were eliminated from the cage, creating a rather amusing situation.
Some battles were being fought very fiercely, but when they suddenly saw Lam Minh coming, they would all split up and run in different directions.
The spectators in the stands also held their stomachs and laughed because of this.
From a platform defense battle, it had now become a game of avoiding Lam Minh.