My starting summon is a small skeleton

Three days flew by in a flash.

The top five matches of the university competition officially began.

Early in the morning, the Phoenix Nest Training Ground was packed with spectators.

These viewers were all carrying anger and expectation.

It was clear they were all frustrated by Zhao Futu three days prior and were hoping that today Lu Wu would put on a thrilling performance, crushing that group of wretched youths.

As for Lu Wu,

his mood was clearly not very good.

The past two days, he had been working on crafting equipment.

He planned to forge a piece of Legendary Level equipment for himself.

But after two days of effort, two core materials of Legendary Quality were put to use, and in the end, he had only managed to produce a piece of equipment of Golden Quality.

...

Equipment: Heaven Suppressing Stick

Quality: Gold

Effects: Flexible, extremely hard, highly conductive

Evaluation: Despite using the finest materials, the stick failed to reach Legendary status.

You should reflect on whether something went wrong somewhere.

...

This was the equipment Lu Wu managed to produce after two days, using up two Legendary Quality items.

For the first time, Lu Wu began to doubt his own abilities.

If it weren't for today's competition, he would really have liked to lock himself in the Cultivation Room to thoroughly investigate the stick.

Even upon arriving at the competition venue, Lu Wu didn't forget to study the thing.

He really did figure out what the issue was.

"It must be a problem with the polishing time.

Two days was too hasty to polish this equipment properly. If I'd had two more days, this piece would most likely have become Legendary.

Instead of being stuck at Gold as it is now."

Realizing this was the issue, Lu Wu was eager to return.

Now with the competition and all, Lu Wu had pushed it to one side; his mind was set on working on the stick.

While Lu Wu was constantly caressing the stick in his hands, the security system within the Phoenix Nest Training Ground was being quietly replaced.

The security work for the Phoenix Nest Training Ground should have been maintained by people from the Education Bureau.

Now, they had been replaced by staff from the Summoner Professional Center.

Not only that, but the Feng Chao also welcomed many big shots.

Xing Zhanlong from the Summoner Professional Center personally oversaw the proceedings, and a good number of the upper echelon from his Professional Center also arrived.

One could say half the strength of the Summoner Professional Center was deployed within the Phoenix Nest Training Ground.

This showed how much importance they placed on today's match.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the importance they placed on a certain individual in today's match.

"President, the preparations are complete!

They have also arrived."

Half an hour before the start of the match, the Summoner Professional Center's preparations were done ahead of time.

A huge net was constructed, ready to ensnare.

With everything in place, Xing Zhanlong's side was now ready for the drama to unfold.

Beside Xing Zhanlong, a leader from the Education Bureau suggested.

"Do we need to give Lu Wu a heads-up, so he can be a bit more careful?"

"Let's not, to avoid startling the snake in the grass," Xing Zhanlong shook his head and rejected the suggestion.

Bait was always more tempting when it was unaware.

With Xing Zhanlong acting as the chief commander and stating no notification should be made, Lu Wu naturally wouldn't receive any information.

And so, completely unaware and not understanding anything, he inexplicably became the so-called bait.

But that wasn't the most inexplicable part.

What was truly baffling was that as Lu Wu sat in his seat playing with his stick, someone suddenly came up to him.

The person stood in front of him, looking down on him: "Kid, lift your head, don't look so down and out. You're representing District One in battle today; I expect you to buck up and not lose face for our district."

At that moment, Lu Wu was stunned.

"Sorry, but who are you?"

Lu Wu was puzzled, and so was Xing Zhanlong.

"What's going on? How did this dandy come over here?"

As the bait for today's operation, Xing Zhanlong naturally kept a close watch; he needed to be aware of anyone appearing by Lu Wu's side.

The man standing in front of Lu Wu at that moment was Fei Yun, whose father was a high-ranking official in the Education Bureau and whose grandfather was a member of the Elder Council.

With a distinguished background, the man was notorious for being a wastrel in Beijing, known for all kinds of bad behavior—nothing egregiously wicked, but plenty of petty evils nonetheless, like brazen bullying and stealing love through intimidation.

Seeing this man appear by Lu Wu's side, Xing Zhanlong became incredibly tense.

He worried that this fool would provoke Lu Wu, bringing uncertainties to today's operation.

Fortunately,

what Xing Zhanlong feared didn't come to pass.

Fei Yun did not truly provoke Lu Wu; despite being a wastrel, he wasn't stupid.

Knowing the kind of entity Lu Wu was, provoking him would mean a beating when he got home.

So he merely stood in front of Lu Wu to flaunt his presence and sense of superiority before quickly moving away.

Then he returned to his cronies to boast.

But his appearance as this little interlude couldn't be ignored by Xing Zhanlong, who immediately ordered an investigation into why Fei Yun came over and why he had contact with Lu Wu.

The results came back quickly.

"Fei Yun came here because he was invited by Zhang Yunzhi, and the sudden visit to Lu Wu was also due to Zhang Yunzhi's saying that Lu Wu looked downhearted. He wanted Fei Yun to go over and give Lu Wu a boost!"

"Is this what you call giving a boost?"

His subordinate didn't speak, and Xing Zhanlong had thought that guy went over to pick a fight.

And, as his subordinate's message was delivered,

Xing Zhanlong also had an idea of why Fei Yun had shown up out of the blue.

That Zhang Yunzhi was the grandson of the leader who brought Lu Wu into the Education Bureau's treasure vault three days ago.

Obviously, that idiot was being used as a pawn by someone.

"If things go as expected, they must be using some method to test through Fei Yun whether that box is on Lu Wu."

With this, Xing Zhanlong further confirmed the purpose of that group of people.

"I wondered why they would participate in the university league, and why they wouldn't back down even after being exposed. It really is for that box.

It seems they're very likely to act today."

After further confirmation of the opponent's purpose, Xing Zhanlong became more confident in his actions for the day.

At the same time, his evaluation of Lu Wu lowered somewhat.

"Looking at his track record of growth, I originally had some expectations for him.

Now it seems he's indeed his father's son.

Even if he has an astonishing talent for cultivation, it doesn't keep him from having muscles for brains; he probably doesn't even know how many people are using him as pawn right now."

...

Over at Lu Wu's side, he had just bewilderingly sent Fei Yun on his way.

Shortly after, another staff member came looking for him.

This time the staff member was quite polite, but they discussed topics that Lu Wu didn't want to hear.

The person hinted very tactfully that today's matches had already been arranged, asking Lu Wu to cooperate with them.

They also briefly explained to Lu Wu the arranged matchups.

It was Dudu against Maeshima Kaori, a foreigner from District 3 against Zhao Futu from District 8, and Lu Wu got a bye.

The whole match was clearly arranged by the leaders of the Education Bureau.

It was nice-sounding at first, saying that the match hoped for Lu Wu, the hope of District 1, but now he was simply reduced to being a tool.

"Do you really look down on me that much?"

"We're doing this for the greater good, please cooperate, Master Lu."

After saying this, the staff member left.

Leaving Lu Wu there, shaking his head for a while.

"What the hell is this?!"

...

The competition swiftly began.

The leader of the Education Bureau took the stage to deliver the opening speech.

Xing Zhanlong sat at the back, commanding the entire Phoenix Nest Training Ground from behind the scenes, including the match-fixing.

It could be said that everything was within his grasp.

He was advancing all according to his plan.

Soon, the Education Bureau leader finished speaking.

The top five competition referees took to the stage.

"The top five competition officially begins, and now we invite the five contestants to the stage."

The referee's words pushed the atmosphere of the match to its peak.

Lu Wu's name echoed throughout the arena.

Amid the cheers from the audience, Lu Wu, accompanied by Dudu, stepped onto the stage, followed by the three contestants from outside districts.

However, they didn't get to enjoy that kind of applause and cheer.

For the audience to remain silent was already quite polite.

With the top five contestants on stage,

Five spheres appeared on the virtual screen behind the arena.

"Now please choose a sphere from the screen behind you, and the upcoming matches will be assigned based on the numbers on the spheres.

Number 1 will fight against Number 2, while Number 3 will face Number 4. Number 5 gets a bye!

Please make your selections."

After the referee finished explaining the rules,

The contestants from outside districts promptly reached out; Maeshima Kaori drew Number 2, while the other two got Number 3 and Number 4.

Five contestants were left, with only Lu Wu and Dudu yet to draw.

However, even though they hadn't drawn yet, the audience already began to cheer.

Because no matter what they drew, this result in front of them was the best possible outcome.

Clearly, the contestants knew this too. Zhao Futu glanced at the screen with a smirk, then turned to Lu Wu, who hadn't made his selection yet, and urged, "Kid, go for it. What are you hesitating for? Isn't this all laid out clearly for you?

Don't worry, no matter what you draw it'll be a bye."

Amidst the opponent's mocking, Lu Wu reached out and tapped the screen, and indeed, as expected, out came the Number 5 bye sphere.

"See, I told you, it's definitely a bye."

Zhao Futu's face was full of mockery as he jeered, "The District 1 competition is really fair, huh!"

As soon as Zhao Futu spoke, the arena immediately boiled over, with the audience filled with righteous indignation.

But when they actually wanted to say something, they found they were at a loss for words, because Lu Wu drawing a bye truly carried a strong scent of match-fixing.

They couldn't refute it.

On the other hand, Lu Wu turned his head over to Zhao Futu, "Do you object to this draw?"

"I? No complaints. A bye is a bye. In the end, you'll still kneel before me, let you stand a little longer..."

"Boom!"

Zhao Futu hadn't finished speaking when a flash of lightning erupted with a thunderous noise, and the screen behind shattered into pieces.

The one who made the move was Lu Wu.

With a single strike that demolished the screen, Lu Wu said indifferently, "You have no issues with the draw, but I do. There's no need for any drawing now, and no need for two or three rounds. All three of you, come up at once!"