Beast Taming Begins with Inheriting a Legacy.

Chapter 96 New Format for Team Competition

Just as Gu Ling sat down against a tree and started browsing the leaderboard on the competition app, a wild and unrestrained male voice suddenly rang out:

"Hahahaha!"

"Found you!"

A boy appeared before Gu Ling with a fluffy pet.

Xian Jiu stood guard in front of Gu Ling, keeping a close eye on the person and pet that had suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Who are you?"

Gu Ling was somewhat surprised.

How did this person manage to evade Xian Jiu's mental perception and approach silently?

"My name is Lu Zichuan."

Seeing Gu Ling's 'ghost-like' expression, the boy grinned mysteriously: "Can't figure out how I found you, huh? Hand over your points obediently, and I'll let you lose more clearly."

Gu Ling's gaze fell on the purple-furred pet beside the boy, which resembled a ball of fur. She recalled the information about the pet in her mind: "Is this a red-eyed furball?"

Red-eyed Furball is a pet animal that excels at tracking. Its red eyes, which take up almost half of its face, can easily detect any living creature within a kilometer using biothermal sensing.

Xianjiu's spiritual perception can only detect a distance of 30 meters, which is why it has been slow to detect that someone is following it.

"Was it your red-eyed furball that found us?" Gu Ling immediately understood, slowly standing up from the ground and asking curiously, "When did you start following us?"

Seeing that Gu Ling recognized the red-eyed furball, Lu Zichuan simply stopped hiding it and said, "On your way to the Yellowtail Bee hive..."

Before entering the competition area, Lu Zichuan had already devised a battle plan. He could secretly follow a relatively strong player, and when that player's pet beast had exhausted a lot of its strength and relaxed its guard, he could launch a sneak attack and steal the points.

Using the tracking advantage of the red-eyed furball, Lu Zichuan has already tricked two players and gained 5 points.

Upon discovering Gu Ling, the captain of Nanping No. 1 Middle School, Lu Zichuan set his sights on her.

At this moment, Gu Ling's Thunder Seal Cat must have been exhausted after the battle at the Yellow Tail Beehive, and had become extremely vulnerable.

Therefore, Lu Zichuan made his appearance openly and generously.

His tactic is called "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," hahaha...

"What are you laughing at?"

Gu Ling couldn't understand why Lu Zichuan suddenly grinned and laughed, looking a bit silly.

...Wow, is this guy out of his mind?

"Cough cough cough!" Lu Zichuan put his hands on his hips and said in a fierce tone, "Enough nonsense! If you don't want your pet to suffer, obediently hand over your points!"

"Swordsman 9! Lightning Five-Star Flash!"

Gu Ling snapped her fingers.

The next second, Xian Jiu's figure flew out with a "whoosh".

Xianjiu, who was using the Lightning Flash, disappeared midway through the journey. When she reappeared, she was already behind the red-eyed furball.

boom!

The red-eyed furball sensed Xianjiu's heat, but before it could react, it was knocked away by a flash of lightning.

"Red-eyed furball! Use String Spit!" Seeing that Xianjiu was launching another Lightning Flash attack, Lu Zichuan quickly called out.

"Mao~" The red-eyed furball stood up from the ground, turned its head and spat out a thread towards Xian Jiu.

But before the silk thread could touch Xianjiu, her figure disappeared again.

Immediately afterwards—

boom! boom! boom!

Xian Jiu's figure seemed to come from all directions, and no matter how the red-eyed furball dodged, it couldn't avoid the lightning-fast attack.

Lu Zichuan's eyes widened.

What kind of skill is this?

A flash of lightning that can bend?

"……hair!"

The red-eyed furball, struck repeatedly by flashes of lightning, could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground in pain.

Gu Ling wasn't too surprised to see this.

So what if the red-eyed furball can sense the location of Xianjiu?

Can you react in time?

"Red-Eyed Furball!" Lu Zichuan rushed to Red-Eyed Furball's side, looking at the battered and bruised creature with disbelief in his eyes.

"How could this be... Didn't Raijin Cat fight a major battle at Yellowtail Beehive? How come it still seems to have plenty of energy?"

Lu Zichuan was wary of the Yellowtail Bees in the Yellowtail Bee Nest, and he also had the Red-Eyed Fur Ball monitoring Gu Ling from a kilometer away. So he never got close to the Yellowtail Bee Nest from beginning to end, and naturally he didn't know that Gu Ling had never allowed Xian Jiu to openly and legitimately seize the points tokens.

But now, no matter how hard Lu Zichuan racked his brains, he couldn't figure it out. He could only watch helplessly as Xian Jiu used her telekinesis to control her phone, which flew into Gu Ling's hand.

"Five points? Not bad."

Gu Ling opened the competition app on Lu Zichuan's phone and saw that the latter already had 5 points.

Even if Gu Ling didn't need those 5 points, she would definitely not be knocked out of first place by anyone else in the remaining few minutes.

However, Lu Zichuan had traveled a thousand miles to deliver points, and Gu Ling could not refuse his kind offer, so she had no choice but to reluctantly accept them.

Gu Ling scanned Lu Zichuan's points into her own phone, then returned the phone to him, and patted Lu Zichuan on the shoulder.

"Thanks, bro."

Xian Jiu followed Gu Ling away. As she passed Lu Zichuan, who looked completely dazed, she softly meowed, "Meow~" Bye-bye, you freebie~

After Gu Ling walked away, Lu Zichuan finally couldn't hold back anymore!

"...Aaaaaah!"

hateful!

Not only did the cunning and hidden Thunder Cat defeat him, but it also stole his points!

They even insulted his character!

Lu Zichuan grew angrier the more he thought about it, and finally, feeling wronged, he hugged his red-eyed furball tightly and burst into tears, wailing, "Waaah, that's so damn unfair..."

"..."

Ten minutes later, the first field battle ended.

As expected, Gu Ling won first place in Group 2, securing a spot in the next round.

As Gu Ling emerged from the competition area, intending to quickly change out of her wet clothes, she was stopped by a contestant from the same area.

"Gu Ling, how did you get the special points token?"

Having reviewed the information of many top students in schools beforehand, Gu Ling quickly recognized the boy blocking her way as Zhang Ze, the second-ranked student in his grade at Qingchuan No. 1 Middle School.

Zhang Ze was another player from the same group who qualified.

Gu Ling blinked: "What special points card?"

Zhang Ze stared intently at Gu Ling: "Your points jumped from 3 to 23 in an instant, which clearly means you received a special points card."

"Special points tokens are usually guarded by a group of pet beasts. How did you get your hands on them?"

Zhang Ze had also considered the special points tokens, but the number of pets guarding each special points token was simply too large, and there were several warrior-level pets among them.

If you force your way in, you're likely to injure your pet or be eliminated from the competition.

Therefore, Zhang Ze had no choice but to settle for second best and try to steal points from other players.

Because Zhang Ze knew how difficult it was to obtain special points tokens, he was constantly troubled and couldn't understand how Gu Ling had obtained them when Gu Ling overtook him in the points ranking.

Gu Ling chuckled: "Guess~"

Zhang Ze, anxiously awaiting an answer: "..."

Xian Jiu, standing next to Gu Ling, put her hands on her hips, looking inscrutable: "Mew~"

Of course, it was me who fought the Yellow-tailed Bee Queen for three hundred rounds, barely winning by half a move in the end, and finally obtaining the special points card!

"..." This time, Gu Ling, the only one who understood cat language, was speechless.

That shameless cat has learned bad habits from cartoons!

Even a brilliant and powerful beast tamer like her wouldn't dare to boast like that! →_→

Zhang Ze snorted coldly: "Even if you don't say it, there will still be a live replay after the match."

"Oh, then I don't need to say anything."

Gu Ling rubbed her arms; being soaked in the cold winter was no pleasant experience, and she had no interest in chatting with Zhang Ze about her "great achievements."

Gu Ling walked past Zhang Ze and politely waved, "Bye-bye~"

Zhang Ze: "..."

……

Half an hour later, in the temporary rest area.

"Achoo~"

Having just changed into new clothes, Gu Ling sat in a chair wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, holding a cup of hot tea in her hand, with a heater fan running beside her.

Meanwhile, Huang Weiwei was drying Xianjiu's fur with a towel.

Gu Ling and Xian Jiu took a sip of hot tea at the same time, and the next second, the two of them let out a long sigh of relief.

Dai Hao brought over the brewed tea and placed it on the table: "Gu Ling, you actually dared to jump into the river in the dead of winter, aren't you afraid of catching a cold and getting sick..."

"Better to catch a cold than be eliminated from the competition, right?" Gu Ling shrugged.

Lou Huayu walked over with his phone and showed the replay of the live stream, which was clearly the scene of Gu Ling in the Yellowtail Beehive: "The part of the live stream where you tricked the Yellowtail Bee swarm was played over and over again on the big screen outside. It's amazing that you could come up with such a terrible idea."

"Lingling, you and Xianjiu are amazing! You dared to go over so many poisonous bees." Huang Weiwei changed the towel and continued to dry Xianjiu's fur.

Gu Ling was stunned: "...Wait, so many people are competing, why did they only record mine?"

"The live stream cameras will focus on the players with the highest scores. You were one of the few players who went to the pet den, so you got a lot of screen time afterwards," Lu Jiuwen, who was watching the live stream, replied calmly.

"……Well."

Gu Ling quickly reviewed her actions during the match and then breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn't do anything bad, did she?

...Well, he still maintains the image of a model student.

Just as the group was talking, Zhou Mengran walked in from outside: "Gu Ling, you should rest well at the hotel for the next two days. The next stage of the competition is the team round of 32 and round of 16, and the individual round of 16 will start the day after tomorrow."

Zhou Mengran had just seen Pei Gang, Xia Zihan, and He Siruo off to the second competition area.

"Okay, Teacher Zhou."

Gu Ling turned to ask, "Have our opponents for the top 32 in the team competition been announced yet?"

Dai Hao nodded: "They're out. It's Wenli No. 1 Middle School."

Upon hearing this, Gu Ling raised an eyebrow slightly.

The one that Director Wan is so determined to defeat, Wenli No. 1 Middle School?

What a coincidence!

Lou Huayu rubbed his hands together excitedly: "Hehehe, Wenli No. 1 Middle School is nothing, no need for our captain to get involved, I can handle it!"

"Director Wan attaches great importance to this team competition with Wenli No. 1 Middle School, so we will send two official team members this time. The opponents are tentatively Pei Gang, He Siruo, and Xia Zihan," Zhou Mengran said.

"Ah... Teacher Zhou, can't I go on stage?" Lou Huayu looked at Zhou Mengran expectantly, hoping that she would change her mind.

Zhou Mengran smiled helplessly: "Director Wan said that just to be on the safe side, Pei Gang and Zi Han should both play, since Wenli No. 1 Middle School also has the strength to be among the top eight."

Pei Gang felt a moment of disappointment, but immediately his mind returned to the spot in the round of 16: "...I want to play in the next match!"

Gu Ling felt much relieved when she heard that Pei Gang and Xia Zihan would both be performing.

Even if He Siruo were a substitute, she would have been a regular starter if she were in previous years at Nanping No. 1 High School.

Unfortunately, this year's Nanping No. 1 High School had some bad luck. Gu Ling and Pei Gang were both unchallenged for the top two spots in the grade.

The rest area had limited facilities, so Zhou Mengran didn't wait for the second field battle to end before having the staff take Gu Ling back to the hotel to shower.

Gu Ling was also worried that she would catch a cold and miss the later matches, so as soon as she returned to the hotel, she immediately took Xian Jiu to take a hot bath, then wrapped herself in a quilt and snuggled in bed, drinking two pots of hot tea.

After the field battle ended, the list of players who advanced to the individual competition from Nanping No. 1 Middle School was released, and they were: Gu Ling, Pei Gang, Xia Zihan, and Lu Jiuwen.

He Siruo and Lou Huayu were a bit unlucky. There were many official team members from Yushou Middle School, Hailan No.1 Middle School, and Hailan Experimental Middle School in the same competition area. Their opponents were too strong, and the two were eliminated.

……

On the third day, when the team competition reached the round of 32, Gu Ling did not go to the central arena but chose to stay in the hotel, wrapped in a quilt, drinking hot tea and watching the live broadcast.

The match was progressing exceptionally smoothly.

Pei Gang and He Siruo were very strong in the first two games, winning 2-0 and shutting out Wenli No.1 Middle School. Xia Zihan didn't even need to play in the next game.

When the main group returned to the hotel for lunch, Gu Ling received the message and went downstairs. As soon as she entered the private room, she heard Director Wan's hearty and smug laughter.

"Pei Gang, you played beautifully in the first game today! Keep it up..."

"Siruo too, a clean sheet 2-0, the other side was dumbfounded, hahaha..."

"..."

When Gu Ling came in, she found that Zhou Mengran was not there.

"Director Wan, where is Teacher Zhou?"

Wan Endong explained, "Teacher Zhou went to a meeting to discuss some matters concerning the top 16 teams in the team competition."

"Lingling, how are you feeling?" Huang Weiwei asked with concern after Gu Ling sat down.

Gu Ling smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm a two-star beast tamer, after all. My body isn't that weak."

After a beast tamer forms a contract with a pet, a "reverse feeding" effect occurs, strengthening the beast tamer's physique. In addition, the beast tamer meditates year after year, constantly strengthening his mental power, so that the beast tamer's physique is much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

If it weren't for her status as a two-star beast tamer, Gu Ling wouldn't have dared to jump into the river for an icy bath in the dead of winter.

After waiting for a while, Zhou Mengran finally returned from the meeting.

As soon as she entered, Zhou Mengran dropped a bombshell on everyone: "In the upcoming team competitions, a new format called the Qiankun Competition will be added. Get ready."

Lou Huayu was the first to ask, puzzled, "Teacher Zhou, what is the Qiankun Competition?"

"This is a new team competition rule added this year. Any team that makes it to the top 16 can choose to start the Qiankun Tournament if they lose in the subsequent team competition. Each side sends out one player to compete in a 1v1 PK match, and the winning side advances."

"If the initiating team loses again, all the prize money for the final ranking goes to the opponent. If the initiating team wins the Qiankun Tournament, they will advance, but they will still have to give half of the final ranking prize money to their opponent," Zhou Mengran explained.

To turn the tide single-handedly is called the "Heaven and Earth Competition".

Everyone was quite surprised after hearing Zhou Mengran's introduction.

"You can play it like this? So regardless of winning or losing, it seems like the opponent doesn't really lose anything except for not being able to advance? And they still get prize money?"

"Which team would dare to use the 'Ultimate Match'?"

"Unless you have a lot of confidence in the strongest member of the team, you wouldn't take such a big risk."

"..."

(End of this chapter)