Chapter 314 - 224: How Could You Lose With a Flying Dragon In Your Face?
...
「On the third day.」 The selection tournament was proceeding in full swing, right on schedule. The announcer’s excited commentary echoed throughout the venue—
"Shan Bao used Instant Teleportation, successfully baiting the Huajing Cat’s attack!
"Shan Bao closed in behind the Huajing Cat and rammed it with its hard chicken head... The Huajing Cat is knocked out of the ring! Shan Bao wins! Congratulations to ’Su Zhi and His Friends’ for successfully advancing to the finals!"
CLAP CLAP CLAP...
Amidst the audience’s enthusiastic cheers and applause, Su Zhi and Shan Bao shook hands with their opponents and stepped down from the ring.
Ke Yan was also grinning, but the look he gave the announcer was not very friendly.
It was unclear what connections this announcer had to get the job, but her commentary was unprofessional. She didn’t pronounce a single one of Shan Bao’s Skill names correctly, and that "hard chicken head" line was especially ridiculous... Many in the audience were semi-professional Beast Taming enthusiasts who cared a great deal about the proper names for Skills. An announcer of this caliber was definitely a negative.
She was definitely easy on the eyes, though. ’If I were to speculate maliciously... well, never mind.’
Fortunately, the match itself was exciting enough that the audience didn’t mind too much, relatively speaking.
As Ke Yan’s gaze returned to the arena below, his expression softened with relief when he saw Su Zhi’s group cheering with clenched fists in the contestant waiting area.
Over the three days of competition, aside from the Shanda University Affiliated School, the undisputed number one in Shanyou, the team from Huai City First Middle School was the second-most followed.
Su Zhi’s two unconventional Pet Beasts had caused quite a stir, a refreshing sight for an audience long grown weary of formulaic fighting styles.
Furthermore, Su Zhi’s team displayed excellent sportsmanship, never showing contempt for weaker opponents and always shaking hands with the rivals they defeated after each match.
While powerful and arrogant Beast Tamers like Chen Xinghao remained the most popular image with mainstream audiences, the humble style of Su Zhi and his team had become a breath of fresh air that earned them praise.
The attention on this Shanyou Province team selection tournament reached a ten-year high, and the spectacular performances of these two teams were undoubtedly a major reason why.
And now, after three days of intense competition, these two teams with vastly different styles had both entered the finals, pushing the tournament’s popularity to a new peak!
Just as now, today’s matches had just ended, and the audience hadn’t even fully cleared out yet, but people were already starting to argue about tomorrow’s finals:
"Shanda University Affiliated is the best! No arguments!"
"You’re right, but my heart will always belong to the white-haired, blue-eyed girl."
"Let me just ask this: can anyone from Huai City First Middle School take a single hit from Brother Ri Tian’s Thunder Qilin Beast?"
"Hah? My Xiaoyue is no pushover either!"
"Everyone who knows anything knows where Huai City First Middle School stands. You can fool your friends, but don’t fool yourself."
"Haven’t you guys read that super popular Beast Taming web novel? Characters like the ones from Shanda University Affiliated are usually just stepping stones for the protagonist to act cool and slap them in the face."
"LMAO, you actually take web novels seriously? If that bunch from Huai City First Middle School wins, I’ll livestream myself bending over for a Black Fighting Emperor..."
The fans’ arguments grew more and more heated, to the point where it seemed like they were about to jump into the ring and fight a round in place of the two teams.
In contrast, the competitors over in the rest area had a completely different vibe—
"CHIRP!"
The moment Su Zhi finished ruffling its feathers and let go, Shan Bao popped up with a ’bling’ and scampered, patter patter patter, onto Su Zhi’s shoulder.
At the same time, the Attribute Panel in his vision changed:
[Pet Beast: Shan Bao (Flash Gold Sparrow)
Power: 1.00
Agility: 1.05
Intelligence: 1.04
Constitution: 3.42 -> 3.43
Perception: 1.02]
[Assignable Attribute Points: 0.10]
[Real-time Energy Value: 2558]
"Yes, yes, good." Seeing the little one full of vitality, Su Zhi couldn’t help but smile.
’That’s right. This was the secret to Shan Bao’s ever-abundant stamina.’
’Whenever she felt tired, he just had to add 0.01 to her Constitution... Doing it once a day was enough to guarantee she’d recover to full stamina every time.’
’He might feel a bit of a pinch adding points for Yu Bao, since Yu Bao majored in Perception and Intelligence; a point added elsewhere meant one less for those two. But Shan Bao was on the tank track from the start. Her Constitution would have to be raised sooner or later, so he didn’t have as many reservations.’
"A-wooo..."
Yu Bao’s clone lay dejectedly at Su Zhi’s feet.
’For the past two days, Su Zhi had only let Shan Bao fight. He hadn’t let Yu Bao leave the Beast Taming Space except to eat, drink, and relieve himself. It was true: Beast Tamers’ hearts would always stray when they got a new Pet Beast.’
’What a crappy Beast Tamer. Does anyone get it, fam...’
Su Zhi gave Yu Bao a thumbs-up. "Isn’t this all just setting the stage for your grand entrance? We’ll give Shanda University Affiliated a little Two-star shock and show them what ’the river flows east for thirty years, and west for thirty years’ really means."
"...Woof!" Yu Bao’s eyes lit up, and he patted Su Zhi’s shoulder.
’Not bad! You’re getting it!’
After appeasing the little ancestor, Su Zhi looked at the others. "Everyone’s worked hard. How are all your Pet Beasts holding up?"
"Lilith is fine."
"Xiaoyue says he’s super brave!"
"Cotton is... wait a second. Left front paw five centimeters forward, right paw one centimeter to the right, tail on the central axis, head up, chest out, don’t stick your tongue out when you smile... Okay, Cotton is fine too."
"Bilang’s in top form!"
"Xue Li says she hasn’t sprayed any water for days and she’s about to burst..."
"Excellent, everyone’s full of spirit!" Su Zhi nodded in satisfaction.
"What about you, Brother Shu?" Liu Yuhang blinked with some concern. "Shan Bao has had a singles match and a doubles match every day for the past three days. Won’t her stamina be a problem tomorrow?"
"CHIRP!" Before Su Zhi could explain, Shan Bao jumped forward.
Shan Bao indicated that this was her training. She told everyone not to worry.
’No chicken knows endurance better than she does!’
"Don’t worry, Shan Bao will be fine."
Su Zhi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he ruffled the little one’s head. "Alright, everyone get a good rest today. Let’s face the finals tomorrow afternoon in our best condition. Su Zhi... uh, Su Zhi and His Friends, let’s go!"