Chapter 51 - Inner Yard Opening

Clap clap clap!

A huge round of applause!

Everyone in the audience had stood up to pay their respects, and none were stingy with their applause, as they'd been completely captivated by the battle.

How should they describe this final...

It had started out strong and ended with a bang, with Xu Xiaoshou becoming the center of attention.

Everyone thought it was a little weird, but as they looked at this young man in the arena drenched in blood, they all felt that with him around, it was no surprise the match had ended with such a heated battle.

It was undeniable that this had been an extremely fantastic battle!

Xiao Qixiu waved and sent the medical staff to receive Mo Mo from Xu Xiaoshou's hands.

The remaining four staff members all awkwardly stared at Xu Xiaoshou.

"Do you need any treatment?"

The four familiar faces...

Xu Xiaoshou was amused. "It's okay!"

He took off his shirt and rubbed off the dead flesh that had been cooked by the lava, then passed it to them.

"Since you guys are here and I don't have anything nice for you guys, take this as a souvenir!"

"Cursed, Passive Points. +4."

The four staff members turned around and immediately left. This time, they didn't even bother to check out his condition.

He really was a monster. How had such horrifying lava not burned him? What a shame.

During the battle just now, these four people had been the least worried when they saw the lava appear. When they saw the audience start to feel nervous for Xu Xiaoshou, they'd all thought that the audience knew nothing about him. Then again, if they hadn't checked his body before, they probably would've thought him in danger too.

Xiao Qixiu signaled for the crowd to settle down and stop clapping, then smiled and said, "First, I would like to congratulate Xu Xiaoshou on winning the Wincloud Competition. To be honest, this was beyond my expectations!"

The spectators all smiled simultaneously, as they'd all thought the same thing.

Except for Xu Xiaoshou, who was inwardly cursing this middle-aged old man, his expression dark.

"So you thought I couldn't win the competition, huh?" he thought.

Xiao Qixiu didn't pay him any mind and added, "I noticed him in the group play-off because he was stirring up trouble. I noticed him once again in the subsequent matches, as he was making even bigger trouble. In the qualifying match..."

"Ha. Ha."

"I could no longer ignore him. This man almost p*ssed me off!"

The audience burst into laughter, but Xu Xiaoshou's expression darkened.

Revenge!

This middle-aged old man had finally seized an opportunity to tease him!

Xiao Qixiu went on. "However, Xu Xiaoshou is undeniably a black horse!"

"Everyone encounters a turning point in his or her life at some point, be it a setback or an opportunity. It all depends on your own effort to determine if you can overcome your own limitations."

He was taking such a roundabout way to praise him, and Xu Xiaoshou shyly scratched his head.

"Effort?" he thought.

"Well, it was okay."

"However, after your encouraging speech, I'll try harder to earn more Passive Points."

Xiao Qixiu wasn't aware that his words were being twisted by someone else. After he gave another round of appraise, he finally ended the post-game commentary.

"I hope that in the next cohort, there will still be people who can 'impress' me...

"Now to the prize presentation!"

He activated the formation order, and a podium emerged in the arena. There were only ten spots.

The staff escorted the top ten contestants to the podium. Although the rest of the people who'd participated in the qualifying matches were also awarded, they couldn't enjoy being on the podium in this moment of glory.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced over and saw many of his subordinates...

Cough cough, familiar old friends!

Zhao Qingteng, Mu Zixi, Mo Mo...

The medical staff was indeed capable, as Mu Mu had regained consciousness and was able to move on her own.

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled as these people walked by him, and even waved enthusiastically to greet them.

However, he was shocked when he glanced at his information bar.

Zhao Qingteng walked by in front of him and said emotionlessly, "Congratulations!"

"Cursed, Passive Points, +1."

Mu Zixi passed by, playing with her twin ponytails, and looked away, wrinkling her nose at him.

"Despised, Passive Points, +1."

Mo Mo walked over, not even looking at him.

"Ignored, Passive Points, +1."

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

"Hey!" he thought.

"All I did was stab you guys a few times and simply knock each of you out!

"Why are you people so narrow-minded?

"You guys really bear me a grudge, huh?"

Since everyone was being like this, Xu Xiaoshou didn't bother to wave his hand to greet anyone anymore.

Intolerant, shallow, and unbecoming!

The staff gave everyone another space ring, which Xu Xiaoshou really loved. This was his second ring.

"I'm not going to list out all the other prizes. Just take a look for yourself."

Xiao Qixiu turned to face the audience after saying this and raised his voice. "The top ten of the Windcloud Board each gets a chance to enter Spiritual Library Division to pick his or her spiritual skill."

"The top three will each be awarded an Innate Pill. If you don't need it, you can exchange it for other pills of equivalent value!"

The audience was amazed by the prizes, and they all looked envious.

The Spiritual Library division was one of the most important divisions in the entire Tiansang Spirit Palace. It contained countless spiritual skills, including the Acquired Stage, Innate Stage, and even Master Stage skills.

The Innate Pill was a Grade Eight pill that could increase the chances of evolving to the Innate Stage by thirty percent. This was the dream pill that was highly sought after by everyone!

Of course, the top three this year were a little unusual, as Xu Xiaoshou, the champion, was the only person who could use this...

The other two had already reached the Innate Stage!

Xiao Qixiu felt rather helpless too, as the quality of this cohort was higher than usual, and the Innate Pill, which was usually a popular prize, looked rather pathetic to them this year.

Of course, being able to exchange the Innate Pill for other pills of equivalent value was a pretty flexible option.

Xu Xiaoshou was pretty thrilled, as his cultivation level wasn't as high as those monsters.

These rewards were indeed timely for him. The Innate Pill would be useful to him, same for the opportunity to enter the Spiritual Library Division to pick a spiritual skill.

God knows that he had enrolled into the Spirit Palace for three years and only gotten a chance to enter there to get a White Cloud Sword Technique. Since then, he hadn't gotten a chance to enter there again.

Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoshou felt sad.

Just look at the other contestants. They all had huge reserves of spiritual skills to use. Look at Mo Mo. Her spiritual skill rank was probably higher than the Innate Stage!

A poor underdog like him could only rely on his self-invented skills, which were rankless.

Hmm?

But he had won at last.

"Heheh!" At this thought, Xu Xiaoshou chuckled, feeling good about himself.

The audience in turn felt conflicted as they watched the prize presentation ceremony being carried out in the arena.

At last, Xiao Qixiu smirked and said, "Very well. We've finally reached the last segment.

"The opening for Inner Yard!"

When he said this, people started to discuss enthusiastically.

"It's finally here! I've been waiting for this moment. I wonder how many will make it to the Inner Yard this year!"

"If I remember correctly, Su Qianqian was the only one who made it last year. I think the years before that saw few cohorts with people who made it."

"That's right. The benchmark for qualifying to enter the Inner Yard is too high, but the quality of the students there is really cream of the crop."

"Yeah, even with the thirty-three people in the Inner Yard, adding up the others wouldn't even surpass a hundred people..."

"Yup!"

Xiao Qixiu took out a paper from his pocket and read, "First Inner Yard Opening, Zhou Tianshen!"

Zhou Tianshen, who was sitting among the audience, stood up in disbelief and pointed at himself.

"Me?"

"You sure you aren't mistaken?"