125: Chapter 125 A Battle to the Death! I Can't Hurt Myself!

A torrent of murky Luck, invisible to the naked eye, surged across space and poured relentlessly into Zhao Kuo's body, carrying with it the entirety of Liu Ruyan's remaining Foundation!

Zhao Kuo's body stiffened.

He could feel it.

A stream of Luck, so dense it was almost tangible, surged into his limbs and bones.

His Source Energy fluctuations began to climb.

Tier 2 Peak.

Quasi-Tier 3.

Approaching Tier 3!

The alloy walls on both sides of the corridor warped under the intense heat, and several passing exam staff members were knocked to the ground by this distorted aura.

Zhao Kuo did not look back.

He clenched his fist and sneered.

"Enough!"

"I'm going to win this for sure!"

...

Outside the arena.

Chief Examiner Li Feng stood in the center of the main ring, his expression stern.

"Next, I will announce the rules for the Free Arena Challenge—"

The entire arena instantly fell silent.

"Rule One: Standard Challenge.

Only lower-ranked challengers may challenge higher-ranked ones; the winner takes the loser's position."

"Rule Two—"

His voice suddenly deepened.

"Life-and-Death Duel!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the entire arena seemed to hold its breath for a beat.

"No Rank restrictions!

Both the challenger and the challenged must voluntarily sign the [Federal Martial Arts College Entrance Exam Special Exemption: Life-and-Death Contract]!

Once signed, the arena's Source Energy barrier will be raised to the highest defensive level, isolating all outside interference!

Within the arena, one is responsible for their own life and death!"

"The winner will legally obtain one hundred percent of the loser's academic credits, as well as...

the entire set of looted supplies the loser obtained during this year's entrance exam!"

"If the challenged party refuses to fight, it will be considered cowardice, and they must automatically surrender half of their own academic credits to the challenger!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

Deduct half their credits?

If Su Ming were challenged and refused, he would drop from two hundred and fifty to one hundred and twenty-five, making Zhao Kuo the first!

This rule was clearly designed to force people onto the arena.

No sooner had he finished speaking—

"BOOM!!"

A dark red fireball erupted from the end of the stairwell, mixed with an eerie gray airflow, and slammed heavily onto the main arena!

A charred pit was burned into the ground.

As the smoke and heat dissipated, Zhao Kuo's figure emerged.

In his current state, he was like a fire demon crawling out of Hell.

From the gaps in his expensive high-tier combat armor, terrifying Tier 3 Early Stage Source Energy fluctuations spewed out continuously!

His eyes were bloodshot, and his face wore the manic expression of someone high on drugs.

He didn't bother with any standard challenge procedures, pointing his finger directly toward the area where Su Ming was in the preparation zone. His hoarse voice tore through the arena:

"Su Ming!"

"Life-and-Death Duel!"

"Get up here!"

"Today, I'm going to burn you, body and bones, into a pile of black ash!!!"

...

The whole arena exploded.

"Holy crap! How did his Source Energy skyrocket like that?"

"Something's wrong, he was clearly only Tier 2 before..."

"What's going on? Did Zhao Kuo take drugs? Disqualify him!"

The candidates in the front rows, closer to the arena, were instantly forced to retreat repeatedly by the scorching heat wave, and some even fell on their bottoms, their faces filled with terror.

"Is he cheating or what?"

"Su Ming is a pure physical close-combat fighter!

Facing this kind of high-burst AOE elemental attack, can a Physical Body without a Source Energy shield really withstand it?"

Even the audience members who were previously full of confidence in Su Ming began to worry.

Chief Examiner Li Feng on the arena frowned.

He was very dissatisfied with Zhao Kuo's arrogant behavior.

However, he had heard that the two had long been feuding and that a reckoning was inevitable.

However, in the center of the storm under the eyes of the masses,

Su Ming slowly stood up.

On his face,

there was no anger at being humiliated,

no tension of facing a formidable enemy.

His pitch-black eyes were merely observing the crazed Zhao Kuo on the arena with great interest—a gaze like someone inspecting a slaughtered fat sheep at a market.

A chance to legally "loot gold coins"—wasn't this it?

A feud match delivered to his doorstep, and he could make a fortune on the side; why not?

Under the gaze of tens of millions of viewers, Su Ming didn't even blink.

With a movement of his body, he lightly tapped his toes on the railing, and his hundred-ton silicon-based Physical Body floated onto the arena as if weightless.

Chief Examiner Li Feng pushed an electronic Life-and-Death Contract, shimmering with the radiance of legal principles, in front of the two.

"Snap!"

Zhao Kuo bit his finger without hesitation and, with a sneer, pressed his bloody handprint firmly onto it.

It was Su Ming's turn.

He scratched his head but hesitated to press his bloody handprint.

Instead, he took out a pen from his spatial storage.

The whole arena was stunned.

Chief Examiner Li Feng frowned:

"Candidate Su Ming, you need fingertip blood to activate the contract."

Su Ming looked at him with an embarrassed expression, then looked at his own fair, slender finger.

"Um... Chief Examiner."

"Can I just sign it?"

The crowd was in an uproar.

"What is he doing? Is he showing off to this extent?"

"Could it be... is he afraid of blood? No way??"

The livestream chat was flooded with question marks.

Just as Zhao Kuo was about to mock him as a "loser who doesn't even dare to bleed," Su Ming explained seriously:

"The main thing is... my Physical Body is too strong; I can't even injure myself."

The livestream comments exploded.

[Hahahaha, I give this humblebrag full marks!]

[The King of Posers will never disappoint you!]

[What does it mean to achieve sainthood through the Physical Body? The kind where you can't even self-harm!]

[This is even more ridiculous than tearing up the test paper, holy crap]

...

Zhao Kuo's face flushed red.

He was clearly infuriated by Su Ming's cocky remark.

Chief Examiner Li Feng no longer had the heart to guess whether Su Ming was deliberately messing around.

Today was just too absurd; everyone was playing by their own rules.

Helplessly, he had the exam staff print out a paper copy.

Soon, a paper contract was delivered to the arena.

Su Ming signed his name with flair.

Zhao Kuo also fiercely wrote his name next to it.

[I bet the King of Posers wanted to trick Zhao Kuo out of a drop of blood! How insidious!]

[Zhao Kuo: Thanks a lot, you gave me a psychological critical hit before the fight even started!]

Laughter continued online.

As the two finished signing, the two names side-by-side on the paper Life-and-Death Contract suddenly flashed with Source Energy, turning into two streams of light that merged into their respective student ID cards.

The contract was established.

Across the arena, Zhao Kuo's face twisted inch by inch.

His original manic killing intent was now mixed with rage after being humiliated to the extreme.

"Loser, you can go die now!"

"Childish."

"F*** you!"

...

Inside the barrier, the two stood twenty meters apart, already exchanging pleasantries about each other's families.

Chief Examiner Li Feng exited the barrier, and only one last sentence remained on the loudspeaker.

"Arena Life-and-Death Duel—"

"Begin!"