79: A battle of mental strength

Qian Mingyu was left speechless by Chu Li's retort and said indignantly, "Then can I switch to someone else?"

Chu Li stuffed his hands into his pockets and said with a slightly roguish look, "Switching to anyone else won't work either; I already said this is a team competition! I won't agree to switching to anyone!"

Qian Mingyu hadn't expected Chu Li to refuse him again, and he stood awkwardly on the stage for a moment.

Over on Chu Li's side, he had already signaled the referee that Nanya was ready.

Qian Mingyu had no choice but to also signal the referee that Xiangzhong was ready to begin the match at any time.

The whistle blew, and both sides summoned their battle pets.

Qian Mingyu's pet was a Nine-Tailed Red Fox, a top-tier Heaven-grade beast, with a growth level at the mid-stage of the first level of maturity.

Gu Xiaoyue frowned; this Nine-Tailed Red Fox could induce hallucinations.

Anyone whose Mental Power was inferior to Qian Mingyu's would likely be affected by his pet, with the possibility of even having teammates' pets turn on each other.

Given her and Chu Li's Mental Power, Qian Mingyu's Nine-Tailed Red Fox certainly wouldn't be able to shake them in the slightest, but it was hard to say for the others.

"Everyone, put your pets away!"

Gu Xiaoyue said to Zhuang Yanxin, Sun Jian, and Zhao Huaiyao.

The three of them understood, immediately put away their pets, and retreated to the side of the arena.

The audience below was discussing, "Xiangzhong's Mental Power pet is impressive; it directly reduced Nanya's combat power by half!"

"No, no, no, just watch!"

"Combat power still depends on my husband Chu Li! His second-level maturity Fire Phoenix is definitely going to be number one this year!"

Ye Wanrou, listening from below, got annoyed; it was clearly Xiao Yue who was the most powerful.

She ignored everything else and cheered for Gu Xiaoyue.

Qian Mingyu stared at the pets Gu Xiaoyue's side had summoned: the Qingluan Fire Phoenix, the Lihuo Red-Eyed Beast, the Raging Sand Bear, and the Devouring Golden Claw Leopard.

"Gu Xiaoyue is very smart, but can your five pets beat our six?"

Gu Xiaoyue didn't reply, simply guarding against the Nine-Tailed Red Fox using its Mental Power skills.

"Does the number matter? Aren't your pets' levels a bit low?"

Chu Li mocked Qian Mingyu.

Except for Qian Mingyu's Nine-Tailed Red Fox, which was at the mid-stage of the first level of maturity, all other pets were at the early stage of the first level of maturity.

Gu Xiaoyue had previously speculated that Qian Mingyu had Heaven-grade talent, and in terms of leveling speed, he was even slightly faster than Chu Li.

If the Fire Phoenix hadn't absorbed the han jiang grass, it would currently barely be at the mid-stage of the first level of maturity, or perhaps even the early stage.

To be able to level up faster than Chu Li, not only did one need talent higher than his, but they likely also used just as many, if not more, rare treasures.

After all, Chu Li had been feeding his pets lanzhi grass the whole time.

Qian Mingyu was retorted by Chu Li once again and couldn't help but get angry, "I won't argue with you; take this!"

The Nine-Tailed Red Fox's Mental Power, combined with Qian Mingyu's Mental Power, began to invisibly spread toward Gu Xiaoyue and her team's pets, attempting to surround them all.

Gu Xiaoyue clearly felt it; her judgment was that Fang Xiaoyu could withstand it, though it was a bit of a struggle.

Sure enough, both Fang Xiaoyu and the Devouring Golden Claw Leopard felt the pressure, and the Golden Claw Leopard, in particular, even began to get a bit irritable.

The Qingluan let out a cry, and the Nine-Tailed Red Fox's Mental Power was disrupted, coming to an abrupt halt.

The pressure from the second-level maturity Qingluan and Fire Phoenix pushed back against the Nine-Tailed Red Fox's Mental Power skill.

"This..." Qian Mingyu felt a bit awkward. He had considered that Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li might not be affected by the Nine-Tailed Red Fox, as the Qingluan also possessed Mental Power attributes.

That was why he had dug a pit for Chu Li, hoping to get Chu Li to agree to let him have a one-on-one duel with the team members he could control.

But he hadn't expected that Chu Li wouldn't fall for that at all, and his provocation tactics were useless.

What he hadn't expected even more was that the Nine-Tailed Red Fox couldn't even survive one move against the Qingluan!

Thinking back, the previous duel with Huaqing must have been because Huaqing underestimated him, which gave him an opportunity to exploit, resulting in a narrow defeat.

Now that Qian Mingyu's Mental Power skill couldn't be used, the combat power of the other team members' pets was also inferior to Nanya's side.

Fighting—would also be impossible to win.

Qian Mingyu struggled for a moment, but ultimately, unwillingly, squeezed a few words through his teeth, "I—concede!"

The audience below had varied expressions; some felt unsatisfied because there was no fight, some felt that Nanya was particularly outstanding this year, and even more were looking forward to tomorrow's duel between Nanya and Huaqing.

"The captain and Gu Xiaoyue are amazing! Another bloodless victory!"

Sun Jian and Zhao Huaiyao were quite excited; they were only one step away from being number one in the National Competition!

Even if they couldn't take first place, the second-place rewards were also very generous.

Gu Xiaoyue and the others went down from the arena, and she felt several unfriendly gazes.

However, ever since the finals started, there had been many such gazes, so she didn't take them to heart.

After all, this was the National Competition; surely no one would use any underhanded tactics.

Later facts proved that Gu Xiaoyue was still too naive.

Shui Lingyu was facing off against Chongbei today.

Gu Xiaoyue had nothing to do, so she took Ye Wanrou with her to watch the match.

Although Shui Lingyu's strength was outstanding, and he could even take on two opponents at once, the strength of the others on Nanya's side was average.

In the end, they were unable to defeat Chongbei and lost the match.

"Cousin, drink some water."

Shui Lingyu stepped off the arena, and a girl wearing a small pink dress handed him water.

Gu Xiaoyue knew that girl; she was a member of the Huaqing Academy team—Xiao Yun.

So she was Shui Lingyu's cousin.

Shui Lingyu naturally took the water and then walked straight over to Gu Xiaoyue's side.

"Junior, I'm very happy that you came to watch my match."

Although he had just lost to Chongbei, Shui Lingyu still had a calm and gentle expression, as if winning or losing didn't affect his mood at all.

Gu Xiaoyue nodded with a smile, while at the same time, she felt Xiao Yun's somewhat unfriendly gaze not far away.

"Senior, you talked to me before about purchasing the National Competition reward resources."

Shui Lingyu tacitly agreed, looking at her with a smile, and Gu Xiaoyue continued, "Now that the contents of the reward resources have been released, I've thought about it, and this transaction probably won't happen."

Whether it was the Golden Herb or the han jiang grass, Gu Xiaoyue wanted them both and certainly wouldn't sell them.

She even wanted to ask if Sun Jian and Zhao Huaiyao had any intention of selling theirs.

Shui Lingyu didn't mind, "It doesn't matter; if it doesn't work out this time, there's always next time. I'll ask others too. It's all a small matter; you don't need to take it to heart."

Gu Xiaoyue could roughly guess that Shui Lingyu wouldn't mind, but since she had promised him this before, if she couldn't do it, she should still explain it to him.

Since the business was finished, Gu Xiaoyue and Ye Wanrou didn't chat much more with Shui Lingyu, greeted him, and went back to rest.

The next day, the final match of the finals finally arrived.

The teams from Nanya and Huaqing stood on the arena.

Gu Xiaoyue saw the lineup opposite: the captain, Lv Hao, was holding hands with his girlfriend, Su Anxi.

Xiao Yun was staring at her unkindly; that look seemed as if it was steeped in poison, full of hatred, as if she wanted to beat her up.

Ye Junhe and Lin Zhiyi were old acquaintances, and there was another boy named Yang Zheming.

The referee asked both sides as usual if they were ready.

Lv Hao held Su Anxi's hand and took two steps forward, "Why don't we change the format—"