Translated by Rara of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
You XiaoMo looked at the time on the wall, twenty-five minutes had passed.
Inside the Gravity Room, only five people remained. However, at the twenty-six minutes and three seconds time, Tong YueXu gave up. With his condition, continuing wouldn't be much problem, but Tong YueXu was never the type to fixated on competing with other people, so getting a perfect score was satisfied enough for him.
“You XiaoMo, do your best…”
Before being sent out, Tong YueXu turned around and gave You XiaoMo an encouragement, as his eyes vaguely swept across Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng. It seemed that he want to say something, but was sent out before he could say anything else.
You XiaoMo looked at both Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng's 'refuse to admit defeat' eyes, it seemed so stupid to him. Since Tong YueXu had left, those who remained were only him, Qing Qiu, Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng. Each of them occupied a corner while staring at the others.
Time quietly passed to twenty-six minutes and forty seconds.
Qing Qiu was still a girl after all, the moment the clock hit forty-one seconds, she decided to give up. She had no better option to choose, since her face had gone ghastly pale and her knees had slightly bent down. Had she stayed for a moment longer, her body would very likely to collapse under the pressure of gravity. Furthermore, with her condition, she wouldn’t be able to reach the thirty minute mark.
Qing Qiu regrettably looked at You XiaoMo, and then crushed the transport stone.
You XiaoMo had no interest in knowing the meaning behind that regretful look. The only thing he cared about was that his body was on the verge of collapsing, his knee were trembling slightly as if he could be crushed anytime soon.
If this situation continued any further, he was afraid that he might be unable to withstand to twenty-eight minute mark.
You XiaoMo clenched his teeth, he didn’t want to lose to Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng. To be able to come this far, if it had not for the willpower, no one would be able to survive to this moment. You XiaoMo looked at them and saw they both clenched their teeth, however their appearance told him that they still had a little bit of strength left, You XiaoMo couldn't help but feel puzzled.
You XiaoMo could almost be certain that, his strength was definitely no less than Teng ZiXin, which meant there was no reason she could tolerate while he couldn't, not to mention, he was a man. It would be an extreme humiliation if he lost to her.
Although he only enrolled in the academy for less than a year, but he knew the competition didn’t allow to use external force on others.
Simply put, the Gravity Room was for training students and testing their strength and ability. Especially during the competition period, if a person got found out, not only it equal disqualification, punishment would also be present.
You XiaoMo believed, Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng wouldn’t dare to violate the rule if they knew about it, which meant this probably had something to do with soul force.
Thinking about this, You XiaoMo tried to release some soul force and then cover his hands with it, he discovered that his finger movement was faster than before. His eyes flashed a glimpse of pleasant surprise, it had worked.
He finally understood why Teng ZiYe, despite being a mage, could score higher than a practitioner, turned out it has something to do with the soul force.
Although practitioners were strong, however, they didn't have soul force, so strength and perseverance were the only things they could rely on. But for mages who had soul force, they were in more favor than practitioners, of course, only little bit, since the fact a mage's physique was weaker than a practitioner.
You XiaoMo stopped hesitating, he immediately used his soul force to cover his whole body. Although this method was a bit waste of soul force, but the pressure on his body had indeed lessened.
You XiaoMo couldn’t help but sigh in relief, he now had the confidence to endure for some more minutes and taking the risk to go against both of them to see whoever had more soul force.
On the opposite, seeing You XiaoMo relax his facial muscle, Teng ZiXin and Chai Zheng couldn’t help but be bitter. As expected, a soul force showdown was unavoidable.
However, using soul force to cover the whole body was very soul draining. Normally, their soul forces were very abundant, but inside the Gravity Room, it would still be a struggle to maintain that state for a few minutes.
The time slowly reached to twenty-eight minutes, and twenty-six seconds, Chai Zheng suddenly made a large sound as one of his leg heavily kneeled down to the floor, his shoulder gave in and his face was pale. He managed to hold on for five seconds before he completely flattened down to the ground and has to crush the transport stone unwillingly. The air distorted a bit before his whole body vanished.
Chai Zheng’s time was shorter than Teng ZiYe's by almost a minute.
At first, You XiaoMo thought Chai Zheng could withstand to twenty-nine minutes, he didn't expect Chai Zheng would give up at twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds. You XiaoMo felt so narrow-minded, now that he finally became aware how formidable Teng ZiYe was.
You XiaoMo looked at his soul force circulating around his whole body, even though he had soon predicted it, but he didn't expect his soul force would be deplete this fast, almost half had gone. He then glanced at Teng ZiXin who seemed like she also couldn't hold on for much longer.
Her gaze also fixed on You XiaoMo, her goal was not only to surpass You XiaoMo, but also to surpass her brother. This double pressure was the very reason she could come this far.
As her soul force kept depleting, her complexion became more and more unsightly. She might have been a level six mage, but even herself couldn't confidently say how good her control of soul force was. Above all, covering the whole body with soul force was not something she had to often do before, so her movement was rigid and she end up wasting a lot of her soul force.
This was the reason why Chai Zheng and Qing Qiu, whose level was clearly above You XiaoMo, still were eliminated sooner than him.
You XiaoMo ignored Teng ZiXin and stared at the time on the wall. The time currently was twenty-nine minutes and seventeen seconds, very close to Teng ZiYe's record. As long as he managed to upholding for a bit longer, he could beat Teng ZiYe's record. Nevertheless, this wasn’t enough for him, his goal was more than just surpassing Teng ZiYe.
While You XiaoMo's mind was occupied with this thought, on the other side, Teng ZiXin suddenly moved.
Her response was roughly the same as Chai Zheng as one of her legs gradually knelt down, but thanks to her persistence, she held on for some more seconds.
Twenty seconds. Twenty-nine minutes twenty-two seconds…
Teng ZiXin who was half kneeling on the ground suddenly moved her finger, her eyes lit up for a second before that light died out while carrying a hint of an unwilling forbear.
How did You XiaoMo withstand until now? – Teng ZiXin couldn’t figure this out.
Teng ZiXin didn't know that what You XiaoMo had learned was way more than what she knew. In other words, the method of refining magic pills without needing a hand and to only rely on the soul force manipulation that the old geezer had taught him was still something only a level seven mage could pull off.
Yet, this wasn't the only thing You XiaoMo had learned from him, he also learned how to refine several magic pills at once, which also required stricter control. Thus, even if both Teng ZiXin and Chai Zhen were also taught how to only use their soul force to refine magic pills, in the end, You XiaoMo would still more powerful than them, since he was more skillful in wielding his soul force.
Of course, You XiaoMo didn’t know about this fact as he always thought that using soul force to refine was common among mages.
To the people inside the Gravity Room, each second passed very slowly, but to the spectators outside that were waiting for them, half an hour had passed quite fast. They could see people being sent out constantly almost every minute, one after another. Hence, when familiar forms started to appear next, everyone knew the climax of this battle had begun.
Before the clock hit the twenty-five minute mark, a person came out, and it was Zhong Jingshan.
Zhong Jingshan was an unknown figure to some people, but as long as people recalled back to the match between You XiaoMo and Chai Jun, they would remember Zhong Jingshan was the person who had proposed that You XiaoMo and Chai Jun should take their fight to the arena.
Not long after his turn, Tong YueXu also came out.
What left people in surprise was that both Qing Qiu and Chai Zheng came out faster than Teng ZiXin and You XiaoMo. Qing Qiu and Chai Zheng's strength were higher, yet they still lost to both You XiaoMo and Teng ZiXin..
Their complexions was terrible, especially Chai Zheng as his was so unsightly as if he just ate shit.
However everyone’s attention soon returned to the Gravity Room. The final two were You XiaoMo and Teng ZiXin, who had been compared nonstop since their first day at the academy.
Some said Teng ZiXin was more powerful, some said You XiaoMo’s skill was one step higher, tons of diverse opinions, yet no opinion had won yet. Now was the perfect opportunity to clarify, so everyone couldn't help but fixed their gaze on the Gravity Room.
About a minute later, a white shadow appeared in front of the Gravity Room.
When people saw that white shadow’s appearance, everybody went quiet. They silently looked toward Teng ZiXin who couldn’t stop panting while carrying an unwilling expression.
Teng ZiXin had even lost to You XiaoMo…
Not only so, she couldn’t beat Teng ZiYe’s record.
The time was twenty-nine minutes twenty-six seconds.
“Where is You XiaoMo? Why hasn’t he come out yet?” After the surprise had passed, some people found out that the time had exceed Teng ZiYe’s record, but You XiaoMo's figure was still nowhere to be seen.
Speaking of which, now that they had realized it, You XiaoMo had broken Teng ZiYe’s record! And time didn't wait for any discussion to break out, as it finally reached the thirty minute mark.
People couldn’t help but widen their eyes, the record had been broken again.