Just as Lu Shi finished dealing with the dispute between the two troublesome children, the heavy treasure vault door suddenly made a crisp sound.
Someone opened the door.
Lu Shi then went into stealth mode.
"I told you the alarm at the treasure vault was a false alarm. Look, the gate is perfectly fine," a man's voice said.
“It would be good to come and take a look. You know how much the head of the family values the things inside,” another man responded.
"Don't worry, there's a second layer of protection inside. Besides, even if a thief breaks in and takes what he wants, as long as the door isn't broken, the thief can still fly out!"
As the two talked, they arrived near the stone platform.
Then, the two of them couldn't close their mouths anymore.
Lu Shi smiled, then stealthily passed by them and quietly exited the treasure vault.
Thanks to the two guys who opened the treasure vault door, saving us from having to wait for the teleportation artifact to cool down.
However, inside the treasure vault, the two old men were so frightened that their legs were trembling.
The patriarch's most precious possessions have vanished without a trace, and four large chests filled with magical artifacts are also missing from the ground.
They're finished, really finished.
Lu Shi ignored his two distraught friends and didn't bother with how to clean up the mess or explain things.
Although they didn't manage to kill Wang Qiankun, they still gained a huge advantage by forming a contract with the future divine beast, the nine-tailed fox Xiaobaibai.
She left the Wang family easily and returned to Nirvana High School with satisfaction.
...
For the next period of time, J City remained calm and peaceful.
None of the major families stirred up any more trouble, and no one bothered Nirvana High School anymore.
Every morning, Lu Shi leads six students in physical training.
During the day, she would guide other ordinary students and novice magicians in body training.
At night, she would be alone in her room, transforming her soul weight and practicing her skills with the small scissors.
After a month of intensive training, Lu Shi transformed all the remaining weight of his soul.
She felt she had reached the threshold of the super-tier level, and checked the panel...
Current soul weight: 2884G
[Current remaining unabsorbed soul weight: 0G]
[Current remaining monster soul weight: 371G]
Therefore, the barrier to transcendence is approximately 3000G of soul weight.
Sure enough, the higher you go, the more astronomical the amount of souls required to upgrade becomes.
However, besides the enormous gain in magic.
Lu Shi felt that her biggest improvement was in body refinement. She felt her body was getting lighter and lighter, her strength was increasing, and her stamina was endless. She was also becoming more and more adept at using the small scissors.
In contrast, his contracted beast, Xiaobaibai, had been asleep for a whole month and showed no signs of waking up.
Only Xiaoya would occasionally come out to get close to Lu Shi.
A month later, with the J City Magic Association's continuous promotion, the national magic high school competition—the J City selection competition finally began.
The selection competition is divided into individual and team competitions, just like the future National Magic High School Tournament.
Individual competitions are held in an individual's own name.
Team competitions require teams of five to participate.
Therefore, Nirvana High School arranged for Zhang Qinglan to register for the individual competition on her own.
The other five people signed up for the team competition.
The competition was held at the Magic Association's giant magic training ground.
Lei Cangqiong even summoned magicians and used spatial and light magic to display the competition venue on the exterior walls of all buildings in J City.
On every match day going forward, J City will broadcast each key match live.
This selection competition has the largest number of participating teams in its history.
It is likely that the behemoth that is N County Magic High School has suffered a major disaster, and the landscape of J City is about to be reshaped.
All the magic high schools and their affiliated magic training institutions are putting in their best efforts to compete for top rankings.
The team most favored is the one composed of Magic No. 1 Middle School and Phantom Magic Training Institute.
They also have the Wang family backing them up, but this time the Wang family is inexplicably keeping a low profile.
The captain of the first squadron was Fei Zheng, who was only a first-year high school student.
Fei Zhengcai was already a high-level mage in his first year of high school. He even signed up for the individual competition, claiming that the championship was his for the taking.
In addition, the Third Squadron, composed of Magic Third Middle School and the training institutions under the Jiang family, is also considered the biggest competitor.
Another popular team is Team Six, a joint effort between the Zhou family, the most mysterious of the four great magical families in J City, and Magic Sixth Middle School.
These three teams are the most favored to win the championship.
Below them, the teams formed independently by Magic 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 are significantly inferior.
In a secluded corner, after losing the support of the Jiang family, the Wind Whisper Magic Training Institute partnered with Nirvana High School, which had been renamed from Magic No. 9 Middle School.
Their Nirvana team was not favored by anyone. Some experts even felt sorry for N County Magic High School. After the fall of the old powerhouse team, the newly established Nirvana High School lacked talent and could only be classified as a second-rate training institution, seen as merely filling a quota.
Against this backdrop, the selection competition officially kicked off.
There were 7,964 magicians who registered for the individual competition alone.
Representatives of magic high school students from all the surrounding districts and counties of J City have come.
The number of teams that registered for the team competition was much smaller, with only 467 teams.
Many magic high schools only have one elite team. Only the long-established powerhouses in J City can field two or three teams.
In the presence of Chairman Lei and the presidents of various universities.
The order of the matches was determined by drawing lots.
Nirvana High School had a good draw. They didn't face any strong opponents along the way.
The official competition lasted for ten days.
In the individual competition, Zhang Qinglan's opponents for the seven consecutive rounds were all novice mages, and he easily made it into the top 64.
In the team competition, Nirvana team fought their way through the competition, defeating their opponents in seven consecutive rounds to advance to the quarterfinals.
Because all the teams we encountered along the way were weak or relatively weak opponents.
Despite reaching the top ranks in both individual and team competitions, where many strong competitors gathered, no one was optimistic about Nirvana High School's chances.
They all thought it was just good luck, and that Nirvana High School was where it all ended.
After all, from this moment on, there are no more weak teams.
Only Lu Shi knew that her six students had not yet fully demonstrated their abilities.
The real competition is just beginning.
...
In Zhang Qinglan's room at Nirvana High School, Lu Shi and he sat facing each other.
"Zhang Qinglan, where do you think you rank?" Lu Shi asked slowly, staring at his face.
Zhang Qinglan lowered her head, pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up and said seriously, "Among the top 64, less than half are mid-level mages. I don't yet have the ability to fight against high-level mages."
After saying that, he lowered his head in shame.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m just asking you, do you want to get first place?” Lu Shi asked.
"First place? Can I really do it?" Zhang Qinglan's face showed a strong desire.
"You definitely can't. But I'm here for you!" Lu Shi said proudly. "The draw will be held again tomorrow, and then it's a race against time, level by level, to the final. This is a path to godhood!"
Zhang Qinglan listened, and a look of longing appeared on her face.
“But you probably can’t pull this off on your own. After all, there’s a difference in raw skill.” Lu Shi bluntly poured cold water on his enthusiasm. “But don’t be discouraged, Teacher Lu has a way. Here you go.”
Lu Shi handed over a small, square black ball.
"This is a one-time use magical artifact. Once thrown, it can create a magic-suppressing field that completely covers the duel area and lasts for about ten minutes."
"Isn't that a divine artifact?" Zhang Qinglan jumped up excitedly.
"Let me finish. This magic-suppressing artifact is designed for everyone within the domain, including you as the user, and it can only suppress high-level magic mages at most," Lu Shi added.
"Then it's a bit of a double-edged sword." Zhang Qinglan slumped down again.
"Idiot." Lu Shi tapped Zhang Qinglan on the head.
He continued, "Even without magic, you still have... a strong physique! I hope you can use your physical strength to demonstrate the power of martial arts and make a name for Nirvana High School."
"Can I really do it? But this magic weapon can only be used once! I still have to go through four matches to reach the finals."
"Then trust your teacher. I will eliminate all your opponents before the finals."
Lu Shi laughed coldly.
At this moment, Zhang Qinglan felt the fear she once felt for the Thunderfire Witch.
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