21: Chapter 21 The First Provocateur

One week before the City-level Competition, local media began intensive coverage of each school's top seeds.

The "Nanjiang Awakening Daily" launched a daily "City-level Competition Tour" series, introducing the top seeds of each district and county.

Monday reported on City No. 1 High School's Lu Chuan—S-rank Iron-Blooded Battlefield, the number one seed, accompanied by a photo of Lu Chuan on the battle stage with a dense army of undead behind him.

Tuesday reported on City No. 2 High School's Gu Changming—A-rank Molten Giant City, the number two seed.

Wednesday reported on City No. 3 High School's Zheng Chuan—A-rank Storm Canyon, the number three seed.

Thursday, the tour reported on Nanjiang No. 7 High School's Shen Ye.

The headline was "No. 7 High School's S-rank Dark Horse: Full-value Land of Cultivation, boosted by Double Time."

It was accompanied by the file photo taken on the day of Shen Ye's awakening test; his expression was calm, and his eyes were not looking at the camera.

The report content was standard, listing him and Lu Chuan as the two major S-ranks of the City-level Competition, predicting the two would meet in the finals.

The afternoon the report was published, Zheng Chuan posted an update on social media.

"S-rank talents don't have much of an advantage during the development phase; the City-level Competition relies on immediate combat power."

Someone awakened just over a month ago, the development time of their Divine Kingdom is limited; how much combat experience can their dependents have?

I hope to draw him in the lottery and let the S-rank know what real combat is.

The post quickly gathered hundreds of comments underneath.

Some agreed, saying that the immediate combat power of an A-rank who has developed for over a year is indeed stronger than a newly awakened S-rank.

Others retorted, saying that an S-rank is an S-rank after all, and the talent gap cannot be bridged by time.

Some were there for the drama and tagged Shen Ye's social media account, asking him to respond.

Shen Ye did not respond.

He hadn't even looked at social media.

It was Liu Yang who screenshotted the post and sent it to him, along with a dozen comments.

Shen Ye glanced at it and put down his communicator.

"Aren't you angry?"

Liu Yang's eyes widened.

"Why should I be angry?"

"He called you out by name!"

'I hope to draw him in the lottery'—isn't this an open provocation?

Shen Ye thought for a moment.

"What he said isn't entirely wrong."

The advantage of an S-rank talent during the development phase indeed needs time to be realized.

He only got half of it right—he thinks I have no combat experience.

Liu Yang was stunned for a moment, then grinned.

"So how do you plan to reply?"

"I won't."

Shen Ye picked up his jacket. "When we meet in the competition, I'll reply with my dependents."

Liu Yang looked at his back and clicked his tongue twice.

During that afternoon's practical combat class, Qin Shu also mentioned Zheng Chuan's post.

It wasn't from seeing it on social media—Qin Shu didn't pay attention to those things at all.

It was intelligence sent by Gu Qinghan.

Although Gu Qinghan had not officially appeared, her tactical intelligence network had already begun to operate.

Zheng Chuan's post, the trend in the comment section, the past performance of City No. 3 High School in the City-level Competition, and an analysis of Zheng Chuan's own combat style—she compiled it into a concise report and sent it to Qin Shu.

Qin Shu handed the data pad to Shen Ye.

"Your first provocateur."

Take a look.

Shen Ye took it.

Zheng Chuan, senior at City No. 3 High School, A-rank talent, Divine Kingdom attribute: Storm Canyon.

Awakened for one year and two months, Divine Kingdom area of about three hundred square kilometers, number of dependents around three thousand.

The main combat dependents are Wind Elemental Warriors—a type of elemental creature formed by hurricanes, extremely fast, with attacks that carry a tearing effect.

The terrain bonus of Storm Canyon doubles the speed of Wind Elementals in the storm.

His tactical style is fast-attack suppression, using the speed advantage of Wind Elementals to tear through the opponent's defensive line at the start, not giving them a chance to catch their breath.

Weakness: Wind Elemental defense is low; once controlled, their individual survivability is poor.

The core of elemental creatures is in the chest cavity; destroying the core kills them.

Shen Ye read the report from beginning to end.

Gu Qinghan's intelligence work was very detailed—it included Zheng Chuan's public combat records over the past year, recordings of every City-level simulation competition, and even the one match he lost during the City No. 3 High School internal assessment.

The opponent he lost to was a B-rank Earth-type Divine Kingdom, and the dependents were Rock Giants.

The Rock Giants had thick skin and flesh, and the tearing attacks of the Wind Elementals were greatly reduced when hitting the rocks.

The opponent used the Rock Giants to face the charge of the Wind Elementals head-on, then used Earth-type spells to create quicksand traps, trapping the Wind Elementals and picking them off one by one.

"Finished reading?"

Qin Shu asked.

Shen Ye nodded.

"Any thoughts?"

"He wants a fast attack; I won't let him have it."

Shen Ye handed the data pad back. "Mu Sheng's Vine Nets will trap the Wind Elementals, and Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain will slow their speed."

Once the speed advantage of the Wind Elementals is neutralized, their weakness of low defense will be exposed.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator team will cut in from the flanks and shatter their cores.

Qin Shu looked at him.

"That's on a tactical level."

What I'm asking is, why would he publicly provoke you before the competition?

Shen Ye thought for a moment.

"To create public opinion pressure."

If I respond, he will continue to hype it up and keep the topic trending until the day of the competition.

If my mindset is affected by the public opinion pressure, and I perform poorly during the competition, then he will have achieved his goal.

"Anything else?"

"He's gambling."

Gambling that my dependents really have no combat experience.

An S-rank who has only been awakened for a little over a month really doesn't have enough time to accumulate sufficient combat experience in most people's eyes.

He has developed for over a year and has fought in dozens of simulation competitions and internal assessments.

He thinks his experience is richer than mine.

Qin Shu nodded.

"So how do you plan to respond?"

"No response."

Shen Ye said, "Let him keep gambling."

A rare arc appeared at the corner of Qin Shu's mouth.

"Go ahead."

Today's projection training, change the Void Race configuration to Wind Elemental variants.

Speed-type enemies, quantity five hundred.

Practice until you can resolve it with minimal losses.

Shen Ye walked toward the Simulated Rift device.

The light curtain lit up; at the end of the wasteland, blue-gray Wind Elemental variants were gathering.

Their forms were different from Zheng Chuan's Wind Elemental Warriors—the Void Race variants were condensed from the distorted power of the Devouring Abyss, while Zheng Chuan's Wind Elementals were elemental creatures.

But the tactical logic of speed-type enemies is the same: fast attack, tearing, high-speed penetration.

The projections of Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan condensed in front of him.

Behind them were three thousand dependents, organized into five squads of one hundred.

The battle began.

The speed of the Wind Elementals was much faster than the Void Tribe Scout.

They didn't charge head-on; they raided from all directions simultaneously.

Blue-gray shadows left trails on the wasteland, the shrill whistling sound of tearing air merging into one.

Mu Sheng's Vine Net squad bore the greatest pressure in the first wave of the charge.

The Wind Elementals were too fast; before the vine nets were fully deployed, they had already drilled through the gaps in the nets.

Several gaps were breached on the left flank.

Shen Ye didn't panic.

He had Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain squad not rush to deploy attacks, but instead set up the water curtains in advance behind the defensive line, forming a second barrier.

The Wind Elementals didn't slow down after breaking through the vine nets and crashed directly into the Spiral Water Curtain.

The water flow wrapped around their forelimbs, delaying their speed.

Once the speed dropped, the threat of the Wind Elementals was halved.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator squad cut in from the flank, the cone formation wedging into the Wind Elemental group, with flying swords aimed directly at the chest cores.

In the first round, Shen Ye lost quite a few dependents, but wiped out all five hundred Wind Elementals.

Qin Shu made a note on the data pad and restarted the projection.

"Again."

In the second round, Mu Sheng's Vine Net squad adjusted their weaving method.

They no longer wove large-mesh enemy-trapping nets, but instead wove fine, dense Sky-Catching Nets, with meshes so small that the Wind Elementals couldn't penetrate them.

The deployment speed also increased—Mu Sheng had the front-row vine net users deploy simple vine nets first to buy time, while the back-row users calmly wove the Sky-Catching Nets, with two layers of nets overlapping.

The Wind Elementals broke through the first layer and crashed into the second, their speed dropping sharply.

Losses were significantly reduced compared to the first round.

In the third round, Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain squad further compressed the deployment time.

One hundred people acted simultaneously, and one hundred spiral water streams converged in the air, forming a huge composite water curtain that spanned the entire battlefield.

No matter from which direction the Wind Elementals raided, they had to pass through the water curtain first.

The Wind Elementals that passed through the water curtain were wrapped in spiral water streams, their speed continuously delayed.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator squad no longer defended passively, but took the initiative—the cone formation roamed behind the water curtain, wedging into wherever the Wind Elementals were densest.

Losses dropped to a very low level.

In the fourth round, Shen Ye incorporated the Fire Spirit Root Artificer into Mu Sheng's Vine Net squad.

The iron caltrops forged by the Artificer using the earth fire furnace were scattered in front of the vine nets; when the Wind Elementals charged and stepped on the iron caltrops, their speed dropped further.

The Earth Spirit Root Miner laid simple pit traps in front of the defensive line; the Wind Elementals stepped into the pits after stepping into the air, becoming live targets for Jin Lin's sword cultivator squad.

Losses were almost negligible.

Qin Shu turned off the projection.

"That's enough."

Zheng Chuan's Wind Elemental Warriors won't be faster than these variants.

Their numbers won't exceed three hundred either.

With this multi-layered delay system you practiced today, he can break through the first layer of vine nets, but he won't be able to break through the second layer of water curtains.

Even if he can break through the water curtain, his speed will be ruined.

Shen Ye walked out of the light curtain, drenched in sweat.

"Anything else to pay attention to?"

He asked.

"Yes."

Qin Shu handed over the data pad, with another page of Gu Qinghan's report on it.

"This person, Zheng Chuan, has a bad mentality."

When he wins, he gets smoother, but when he loses, he easily collapses.

If you can suppress his fast-attack rhythm at the beginning, he will become impatient.

Once he gets impatient, he will make mistakes.

His Wind Elemental Warriors are fast, but the elemental creatures don't have high intelligence; they rely entirely on his divine sense commands to coordinate.

Once his mentality collapses, his commands will become chaotic.

Once the Wind Elementals lose unified coordination, they will fight on their own.

By then, you won't need to do anything else; they will reveal their own flaws.

Shen Ye kept this in mind.

For an opponent with a bad mentality, the hardest thing to deal with is not his strength, but himself.

You only need to hold steady when his first attack is frustrated, and he will do the rest for you.

"What are you thinking about?"

Qin Shu asked.

Shen Ye looked up.

"Thinking about how to end the battle in the shortest amount of time."

Qin Shu looked at him without comment, just taking the data pad back.

Outside the window, the setting sun dyed the playground orange-red.

The students who had been running in the morning had dispersed, leaving only a few sports students doing extra training.

The evening music played over the loudspeaker.

Shen Ye walked out of Room Zero; the hallway was very quiet, his footsteps echoing between the walls.

In his pocket, the communicator vibrated once.

Liu Yang sent another screenshot—Zheng Chuan had posted another update on social media.

"A certain S-rank doesn't even dare to respond; it seems he really has no confidence."

See you in the finals?

That doesn't exist.

Meeting me in the group stage is his terminal station.

Below the screenshot, Liu Yang added: "This guy is really good at jumping."

Shen Ye replied with one sentence: "Let him jump."

He shoved the communicator back into his pocket, pushed open the door to the training ground, and walked into the twilight.

In the Divine Kingdom, Mu Sheng was teaching the new vine net users the essentials of weaving fine Sky-Catching Nets, Elder Quan was leading the Water Spirit Root squad to practice the synchronized deployment of one hundred Spiral Water Curtains, and Jin Lin's sword cultivator team stood in a cone formation in front of the sword stele, the sound of flying swords leaving their sheaths as one.

One week until the City-level Competition.

One week in the outside world, fourteen years in the Divine Kingdom.

Fourteen years later, Zheng Chuan's Wind Elemental Warriors would no longer have a chance to break through any of his defensive lines.

And Zheng Chuan was still waiting for a response on social media.

Shen Ye did not give him a response.