His opponent in the fourth round of the competition was a female student. She was beautiful and refined, but looked a bit sickly.
Feng Hao had intended to be ruthless, but facing such a pitiful-looking girl, he found he couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides, judging by the uproar from the crowd, the female student was clearly very popular.
"I saw your previous matches. You're really strong," the female student said, her eyes full of earnestness. "But I will definitely defeat you!"
"Oh. Good luck," Feng Hao replied. He was still holding in a bellyful of anger and wasn't in the mood for banter.
Hearing this, the female student's pretty face scrunched up. She said in a delicate voice, "Are you looking down on me?"
Stunned, Feng Hao touched his forehead and curled his lip. "Enough with the nonsense. Let's just fight!"
"Hmph! Behold my Flying Flower Swordsmanship!"
The female student let out a dainty huff. Her graceful figure swayed as her Sword Qi scattered into countless petals. The visual effect was stunningly beautiful, making it feel less like a battle and more like a dance.
As she performed her Flying Flower Swordsmanship, the thirsty male students in the audience stared with wide eyes, as if they'd been shot up with adrenaline.
There was even a group of pretty girls who had come together, clearly to cheer for the female student.
"Go, Ting'Er! No one can bully our Dance Team!"
"The team leader is right! Go, Li Ting! Prove it for our Dance Team!"
"Wow, Ting'Er's Flying Flower Swordsmanship is getting more and more beautiful!"
"Of course! Our Dance Team's Secret Techniques have always been famous for their beauty, unlike other Secret Techniques that have no aesthetic appeal."
"Exactly."
...
Feng Hao's footwork was slick, and with his speed advantage, the Flying Flower Swordsmanship couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.
Listening to the chirping of the girls below, Feng Hao looked awkward. 'No wonder Li Ting seems so dramatic. She's a dancer.'
The Mage World had many popular trends, and dance arts were one of them. They were the equivalent of dancing on Earth, but with a difference: dance arts required a Mage to learn them. By coordinating with Magic Power, one could perform all sorts of difficult moves and create dazzling visual effects.
Of course, in the end, dance arts were purely for show. Their practical application in combat was terrible. To put it simply, it was the difference between style and substance!
Having been at Rongcheng Academy for so long, Feng Hao had naturally heard of the famous Dance Team. Among the academy's many interest-based clubs, the Dance Team, with its unique advantages, was always on the front page of the campus news.
"Hey, classmate," Feng Hao said, still feeling a bit bad about fighting her. "Shouldn't you guys on the Dance Team be practicing your dancing instead of coming to the combat assessment?"
Li Ting's delicate brows knitted together. She said indignantly, "A lot of people think our Dance Team isn't suited for combat. I'm going to show everyone that dance arts can be used for fighting too!"
"Ambitious. I like it," Feng Hao said with a note of appreciation, then curled his lip. "But in the end, it's still useless."
"Who says it's useless? I've already won three rounds in a row!" Li Ting retorted, refusing to back down.
"Uh, well, you can keep dancing then. I'll just stand here and watch quietly," Feng Hao said, clicking his tongue.
He had to admit, the dance with added special effects was something else. Paired with Li Ting's pitiful and lovely appearance, it was actually quite pleasing to the eye. Even his anger subsided quite a bit.
Li Ting was clearly incensed. With a delicate cry, she charged forward, her sword light dancing amidst a flurry of petals and dazzling flashes.
Feng Hao couldn't be bothered to attack. Li Ting was already slow, and the fact that she had to pose before every attack made her even slower. As a result, Feng Hao dodged her casually, barely needing to use any skill.
And so it went, with Li Ting dancing and leaping around, chasing Feng Hao relentlessly, while Feng Hao dodged and dodged, leisurely enjoying the show.
Cheers and screams erupted from the audience from time to time. Only the pretty girls of the Dance Team looked nervous, anxious for Li Ting!
"Not bad, keep it up." Feng Hao was enjoying the spectacle, finding it a bit addictive.
"You...!" Li Ting was flushed with shame and anger, feeling like she was being played with.
Seeing Li Ting suddenly stop dancing, Feng Hao said, not yet having had his fill, "Why'd you stop? It was nice to watch."
"You shameless bastard! I'm not fighting anymore!" Li Ting was clearly furious. She yelled at him, then stomped off the battle stage in a huff.
At the same time, the referee's voice rang out: "Match over. Student number 998 is the winner."
'This works too?' Feng Hao was speechless.
And just like that, the four rounds of the assessment's first day were over.
Feng Hao felt like he had advanced without doing anything at all. The first two rounds were fine; at least he'd fought a little. But the last two rounds were just ridiculous. In the third, Tu Xiaoshan had forfeited directly. In the fourth, he'd run into a girl who was a dancer.
Compared to the other students who had struggled to advance, Feng Hao was a strange exception.
"Isn't making it into the top sixty-three like this a bit too high-profile?" Feng Hao said, rubbing his nose.
As it turned out, his guess was right. After the matches, the academy was filled with gossip and curses directed at him.
A large part of it was because of Li Ting, of course. After all, the popularity of the Dance Team's beautiful girls was undeniable. Combined with his status as an unregistered student, a lot of people were unhappy with him.
And sure enough, just as Feng Hao was about to go meet up with his guys, he was cornered by a group of beautiful girls.
"Stop! Are you even a man? Don't you know how to go easy on our Ting'Er?" The leader of the group was clearly a third-year student, her strength already at level twenty-three.
Feng Hao was completely baffled. 'What the hell does this have to do with being a man?'
"Hey, senior, she's the one who got off the stage and forfeited, okay?" Feng Hao retorted, annoyed.
"So you think you're in the right, do you?" The team leader grew even angrier and waved her hand, ordering, "Sisters, tie this guy up and drag him back to the club to apologize to Ting'Er."
"Tie him up! Tie him up!" the Dance Team members responded furiously, swarming Feng Hao without another word.
'Holy shit, what's going on?' A cold sweat broke out on Feng Hao's back. He subconsciously drew his dagger, his eyes filled with terror as he scanned his surroundings.
'Are you kidding me? Even though I have some strength, I'm still a bit scared facing this many female students.'
'You have to understand, there were many second and third-year students in this mob of crazy women. Even if the Dance Team's combat power was low, there was no standing against such overwhelming numbers!'
"Don't force my hand," Feng Hao said, his face dark as he gritted his teeth.
"Oho, so you want to hit women, do you?" the team leader said coldly.
"..." Feng Hao was speechless.
The girls clearly had no intention of listening to him. Each one looked fierce and menacing as they surrounded him, and without another word, they started to get rough.
Feng Hao was baffled again. 'I can't believe there's such an arrogant organization in the academy. To uphold the school rules, I guess I have no choice but to be ruthless with these flowers.'
"In that case, my apologies!" With that, he leaped into a spin, the dark light of his dagger flashing.
However, the next moment, he was buried alive by an overwhelming torrent of flower petal special effects.
If his Assassin build were complete, he might have had a chance to fight his way out. But he was only level seventeen and had just one Basic Secret Skill. There was no way he could handle a situation like this. "What the—you guys don't play fair!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Feng Hao's Qi Blood instantly bottomed out. Even a few points of his life force were knocked away. He felt a stabbing pain all over his body and saw stars before his eyes, then vaguely lost consciousness.
"Leader, this guy has passed out. What should we do now?" a cute, round-faced girl asked as she stepped forward.
The team leader snorted. "Feed him a Blood Recovery Pill. We'll tie him up and take him back to the club first."
"Understood." A few members immediately went forward and held Feng Hao. After feeding him a few Blood Recovery Pills, they clumsily tied him up, even finishing it off with a decorative bow.
When Feng Hao woke up, he found himself lying on a rubberized floor made for dance practice, his body trussed up like a turkey.
"What do you want?" Feng Hao demanded, his face grim. This was no time to be worrying about the details.
"Hmph!" the team leader snorted. "We tied you up to make you apologize to Ting'Er."
Feng Hao was sweating bullets internally. He struggled fiercely and yelled, "Goddammit, you have to kidnap someone for an apology? This is straight-up crime! It's murder!"
"This is the consequence of offending our Dance Team." The team leader had a haughty look on her face. She turned to a member beside her. "Xiaoyou, is Ting'Er still crying?"
"Yeah, she's been crying ever since the match ended. Nothing we do to comfort her works," Xiaoyou sighed.
Hearing this, the team leader's face grew even darker. "Tie him to a chair and send him to Ting'Er's room. We'll let him out when she stops crying."
"Ting'Er has so much pride. What if she gets too angry and tries to kill him?" Xiaoyou asked, looking worried.
"Don't worry. Ting'Er has a very gentle personality," the team leader said indifferently.
"Alright then." Xiaoyou had no choice but to nod. She walked towards Feng Hao. "Sisters, come give me a hand."
Feng Hao listened, dumbfounded. He felt that this wasn't a dance team in front of him at all, but a gang of vicious female hooligans.