Xiang Beifei nodded. He probably understood what Elder Luo meant and then asked, "What are the specific rules of the competition?"
"The competition involves nine elite universities, each sending five students, totaling forty-five students. The competition is divided into group and individual. The group competition is like a pioneer team going directly to the desolate wasteland outside the realm to deal with desolate beasts!" Ye Changfeng explained.
"To the desolate wasteland outside the realm?" Xiang Beifei was somewhat surprised. "I thought the group competition would just be a brawl between each other."
Because at school, it was quite common for various clubs to brawl, only now no one had yet come looking for trouble with their Leisure Clouds and Wild Cranes Club.
"A five-person pioneer team brawling is pointless. Pioneers are meant to deal with desolate beasts, so naturally, the method of competition should also be considered from the perspective of pioneers."
Ye Changfeng paused briefly, then continued to explain, "According to the competition model of previous years, it's about setting up an area, then sending the forty-five people from the nine schools into this area to hunt specific desolate beasts, usually those in the Meridian Opening phase, which are very powerful, and then collect Beast Pills. The quantity required hasn't been determined yet; it depends on this year's specific regulations."
"I understand," Xiang Beifei nodded, then asked, "What about the individual competition?"
"That's the problem I'm worried about! In the individual competition, each university will face off, like we have to compete against Qingzhou University first, and then Yanzhou University, and so on, one by one. Each school sends one student for a fight that will decide the victory, and the winner scores points."
"That means during the individual competition, we have to fight eight matches," Xiang Beifei said.
"Yes, with only five people, we have to fight eight matches, meaning some will have to compete more than once."
Xiang Beifei then asked, "Then the strengths are completely unbalanced. If someone in the Meridian Opening phase meets someone in the Qi-Controlling phase, isn't that just pure domination? Such a one-on-one competition seems meaningless."
"That's why there will be a chance to choose the opponent. That is, when two schools face off, they first roll dice, and the winning side gets to decide whether the contest will be in the Meridian Opening phase or the Qi-Controlling phase." Ye Changfeng said.
Using dice to decide the right to choose maximized the fairness of the competition, as everyone had students in both the Meridian Opening and Qi-Controlling phases, and could decide what kind of competition they wanted to hold.
Ye Changfeng said, "But here's the problem. This year, Liangzhou University has no students in the Meridian Opening phase. So if we roll the dice, we won't have the right to choose, and the opponents will definitely choose the Meridian Opening phase. Without any students in that phase, we'll have to send someone from the later stages of Qi-Controlling, almost guaranteeing our defeat."
For instance, after Qingzhou University faces off against Liangzhou University and Qingzhou University wins the right to choose, they would opt for a Meridian Opening phase contest, and Liangzhou University, not having Meridian Opening students, still has to send a Qi-Controlling student to compete.
This way, Liangzhou University essentially has no chance of winning.
What's more, the other schools all know that Liangzhou University doesn't have SSRs. When they face Liangzhou University, as long as they win the dice roll for choosing, they would definitely choose a Meridian Opening contest.
Liangzhou University's only chance of winning against other schools lies in winning the dice roll themselves and then choosing a Qi-Controlling contest. Yet, they still might not be able to win against the opponent, making their situation very passive.
"It's a pity that Xiang Beifei broke through to the later stages of Qi-Controlling just two months ago. How could he reach the Meridian Opening phase in just one month? Sigh!"
Elder Luo was somewhat regretful; currently, Xiang Beifei was the strongest freshman they had.
Although Xiang Beifei's talent was outstanding, even with his talent, he couldn't be powerful enough to contend with SSR freshmen in the elite freshman competition in December.
Just a few days ago, he had boldly bet that Xiang Beifei could reach the Meridian Opening phase in two months, which was already a very bold prediction.
But the problem was, it still required two months.
Xiang Beifei spit out some melon seed shells, thought for a bit, and then said, "Actually, about that cultivation issue..."
"Never mind, if they choose the Meridian Opening contest, I need to see what I can use to protect you. If you go up against an SSR, you'll be at a great disadvantage!"
Elder Luo began browsing his system store, his gaze sweeping over some items for Meridian Opening spiritual defense, contemplating what could protect Xiang Beifei in the later stages of Qi-Controlling.
"Do I have to participate?"
Xiang Beifei felt odd, as it seemed no one had asked for his opinion.
"Right now, you are the strongest student in the Qi-Controlling phase among our new students at Liangzhou University. You can even pin down SRs and scrape them on the ground. You're definitely assured to win against other schools' SRs. We don't have any SSRs in the Meridian Opening phase, so if you don't participate, who will?"
Ye Changfeng didn't give Xiang Beifei a chance to refuse, deciding from the start that Xiang Beifei would participate and not accepting any objections.
Xiang Beifei smirked.
However, he was also quite curious to see this competition since he had almost seen everyone's system at Liangzhou University and it might be time to meet the talents from other universities.
Ye Changfeng was also browsing his own system interface, then he asked Elder Luo, "If Xiang Beifei faces an SSR in the Meridian Opening phase, what kind of items could be used to protect him? I can provide some."
"Meridian Opening and later Qi-Controlling stages are incomparable; all types are needed!" Elder Luo said solemnly.
Ye Changfeng's system store only had all sorts of peculiar swords. He didn't have fancy pills and talismans, just swords.
"I can only provide a few swords with special abilities for him, though, these swords would be virtually useless if it's for the power of Qi-Controlling since he's already invincible in Qi-Controlling. He can't manifest these in the Meridian Opening phase due to his limited strength..."
"Wait, it's not worth the trouble," Xiang Beifei quickly said.
Even the system items for the Meridian Opening phase required a lot of system points, such as Elder Luo seemingly considering the lowest level of Qi-Protecting Armor, just one of which would cost forty thousand leisure values.
Using forty thousand leisure values would decrease Elder Luo's combat power by forty thousand!
Elder Luo might not care, but Xiang Beifei felt it was a waste on his behalf.
"It's troublesome. If only we had another half a year, I think you definitely have the ability to reach the Meridian Opening phase within six months. Now it's troublesome, and this year we'll probably be ridiculed by Ren Jianghai and his people again."
Whenever Elder Luo thought about this, it angered him!
His philosophy was never able to be better validated, and he wanted to prove that the "only system theory" was wrong, but yet he couldn't find the right person to do so.
"Yeah, setting the elite university freshman competition for half a year after enrollment is really unfair to students like Xiang Beifei."
Ye Changfeng also sighed heavily.
Elder Luo and Ye Changfeng were both quite unwilling to accept it.
Xiang Beifei said, "Have you guys not considered that I might have reached the Meridian Opening stage already?"
"I did hope so! But you just broke through to the later stage of Qi-Controlling two months ago…" Elder Luo said helplessly, shaking his head.
Xiang Beifei pondered for a moment, then focused on the sunflower seed shells in Elder Luo's hands, his spiritual power swiftly spreading over them.
"What are you doing?"
Elder Luo noticed that Xiang Beifei was using spiritual power on his sunflower seeds, a level of spiritual power that naturally couldn't escape Elder Luo's notice.
Xiang Beifei didn't say a word, just kept staring at the sunflower seed shells, and then—
A flame suddenly erupted from the sunflower seed shells in Elder Luo's hand.
"You rascal, looking for trouble, huh?" Elder Luo flicked the burning sunflower seed shell and then said, "Huh? You've made some progress recently! This flame…"
He was in the middle of speaking when he suddenly paused, as if he had discovered something, and abruptly looked up, staring at Xiang Beifei!
"This spiritual power... this spiritual power… don't tell me…"
Elder Luo didn't even bother to throw away the flaming sunflower seed shell, letting it burn in the palm of his hand.
Ye Changfeng, on the side, glanced unintentionally at the sunflower seed shell in Elder Luo's hand, then seemed to realize something, his eyes gradually widening.
"You've reached the Meridian Opening stage?" Elder Luo exclaimed.
"Ah, yes, I just broke through this morning," Xiang Beifei said shyly.
He actually had to thank Elder Luo's sunflower seeds; if it weren't for the seeds replenishing his consumed spiritual power, he might have run out of strength and found it very difficult to maintain this level.
Elder Luo and Ye Changfeng exchanged glances, their expressions shocked, and they struggled to regain their composure!
He had reached the Meridian Opening stage already?
But hadn't he just broken through to the later stage of Qi-Controlling at the start of school?
September, October... in just two months, from the later stage of Qi-Controlling to the Meridian Opening stage?
"Wait, wait, something's not right, let me sort this out," Elder Luo said.
It seemed Elder Luo hadn't yet grasped the situation; he gestured with his hands for nearly a minute, as if analyzing something. Despite having heavily invested in his own "mental calculation" skills, he still hadn't clarified it.
Just a few days ago, he had done the same thing, worrying that he had calculated incorrectly and specifically recalculating several times. But now, the situation seemed off—why did it still seem like he had calculated incorrectly after being so meticulous?
After a long while, he suddenly stood up and yelled at Xiang Beifei, "You broke through to the Meridian Opening stage?"
Xiang Beifei had just been cracking sunflower seeds, but Elder Luo was too emotional and didn't control his tone well, the fearsome sound directly causing Xiang Beifei's mind to go blank.
It took him a long while to come back to his senses, his ears still ringing, unable to hear the outside world, he yelled in confusion, "Why are you yelling so loudly!"
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't hold back."
Elder Luo quickly pulled on Xiang Beifei's ear, using his own ability to clear the noise in Xiang Beifei's head, then still in astonishment, he asked, "Are you really... in the Meridian Opening stage?"
"Yes, opening the meridians was indeed a bit tough! I locked myself in my room for five days and only managed to open up a short meridian of half a meter, which is far too short compared to 96,000 kilometers," Xiang Beifei said seriously.
The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
Five days? And opened half a meter!
And you're still not satisfied?
If it was that easy, why would S-level students need three to four years to open a meridian? Why would some R-level students not be able to open a meridian even after graduating?
Many people might not even be able to open a meter in a year, and you did it in five days, yet you're still...
You must be here just to infuriate people!
Asking for a beating, huh?
Elder Luo and Ye Changfeng's faces twitched incessantly, and they nearly burst into curses.