Debate Competition.
Representative teams from various schools sat in their designated seats. Each school's team took turns posing questions, while the other teams had a set amount of time to think and respond. Finally, the judges scored based on the students' answers.
That was how it used to be.
But now...
The captain of a certain university team stood up to ask a question: "Our question is: if a three-tailed fox has already evolved into an Ice Six-Tails, is there any way to steer it onto a different evolutionary path, such as becoming a Sword Six-Tails, Flame Six-Tails, or something similar?"
Su Hao: "..."
This question was akin to asking whether an evolved spirit could revert to its previous form. It was a century-old puzzle that spirit cultivation masters had studied for ages without finding a clue.
Asking it here...
It could only mean that university had run out of decent questions.
One by one, the teams forfeited, admitting they couldn't answer. The masters and experts seated in the guest section—renowned senior spirit cultivators often called specialists—also couldn't answer this question. They merely gave a simple explanation of the relationships between evolution, genes, forms, growth levels, and such.
Su Hao gained +1 intelligence point.
"Sure enough, there's basically no chance to score in the debate competition. No way to catch up. But at least I can pick up some intelligence points, so that's not bad."
Even if there were a chance to score, Su Hao felt it wouldn't be his turn. He had a clear understanding of his own level. In terms of breadth of knowledge and fundamentals, he was slightly inferior to senior spirit cultivators. He only had an edge in a few areas, like 'spirit observation' and 'mixing certain attribute jade powders.' All things considered, he was at best evenly matched with an average senior spirit cultivator. He was far from the level of a spirit cultivation expert.
And in this debate competition, many bizarre questions couldn't even be answered by masters, so what could he do? He could only freeload some intelligence points.
...
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, five questions had gone by. Four of them were equally century-old puzzles, quickly glossed over. Another, with a difficulty coefficient of 5.5, was answered on point by someone from Dragon Capital University, earning 2 points.
Dragon Capital University: 40 points.
Whale Island University: 31 points.
A huge gap. Su Hao felt even more like a slacker at the sight of it. He'd just lie low until the end, collect the second-place prize money, and that would be fine.
He propped his chin on the table, listening to the question posed by Cloud Flower University.
"Our research has found that the Wood Mantis has a second evolutionary path, and its development direction is likely completely different from the Killer Mantis. Now we want to ask: based on this gene analysis chart, what direction might the Wood Mantis's second path take?"
As the Cloud Flower University captain asked, the big screen displayed the sequence they'd discovered hidden in the Wood Mantis's genes, along with some brief data. Detailed, confidential information wouldn't be disclosed here by Cloud Flower University. But even this much had piqued the interest of the masters and experts present. They looked at the data with thoughtful expressions. Many drowsy students suddenly perked up, raising their heads to look.
Su Hao also looked.
The gene analysis chart, explanatory data, and such—normally, he'd struggle to understand it too. Lin Xueguang next to him was half-understanding, frowning in deep thought. But Su Hao already knew the answer.
Looking at it now...
Whoa~ Cloud Flower University's data analysis still had some errors.
He wore a strange expression, unsure how to put it.
"Junior Su Hao, do you have any ideas?" Lin Xueguang noticed his expression. "If you have any thoughts, just say them boldly. Even if you hit just a little bit, you could snag 1 or 2 points."
Su Hao said casually, "I did study Wood Mantises for a while back in the day..."
He rubbed his chin, mentally organizing and structuring his words. He was figuring out how to sound reasonable without leaking key information.
It was tough!
After a moment, he pressed the answer button.
"The second path of the Wood Mantis, based on... and... is likely not purely a physical attack type. I think it might eventually develop dual attributes... According to my speculation, the most likely additional attribute would be light, psychic, or illusion type. Its growth potential is undoubtedly higher than the first path... The evolution conditions should also focus on aspects like attribute affinity."
But the real difficulty lay in the materials.
Obscure ones.
Even so, many masters and experts nodded slightly. Su Hao figured he didn't need to add more.
Since the second evolutionary form of the Wood Mantis hadn't been discovered yet, no one knew if what he said was true or false. The key was logic—convincing the masters and experts present that his speculation was feasible.
"Saying too much would be unreasonable. Without specific experiments and no Wood Mantis spirit, I shouldn't know certain details. I want to save the Prayer Mantis path for my own paper."
That's why he wanted a personal lab. Without a lab, he couldn't adopt or study wild spirits. Only by raising a Prayer Mantis and having sufficient experimental proof could he write a complete paper. Not like before, when he could only produce a 'simplified version' due to 'limited conditions.'
...
Most judges agreed with Su Hao's answer, giving him fairly high scores.
When they tallied it up...
"9.5 points! Awesome, Junior Su!" Lin Xueguang exclaimed.
They had been 9 points behind Dragon Capital University—a gap that seemed almost impossible to close—but Su Hao had overtaken them with just a few sentences.
They were thrilled.
The Dragon Capital University team was stunned.
The masters and experts on stage were quietly inquiring about Su Hao's identity. Whale Island University? They hadn't heard of such a prodigy there.
The debate competition continued.
From the morning session to the afternoon session.
Dragon Capital University scored another 1.2 points, but Lin Xueguang also earned 1 point on a certain question.
Finally, time ran out.
Only Dragon Capital University hadn't posed a question yet, but they couldn't answer their own.
"We won!!"
The freckle-faced girl, the tall, thin boy, the slightly chubby girl, and the other students were overjoyed. A free win? A win was still a win! From now on, they could proudly say that in their year, Whale Island University took the championship! That was a badge of honor on their résumés!
Li Hongzhuo, captain of Dragon Capital University's team, looked a bit disappointed but still presented the question they'd prepared.
"Our question is: spirit energy can be solidified. So... is it possible to solidify psychic power, which can also be externalized?"
Over a decade ago, Dragon Capital University's team had developed a method to solidify spirit energy. Since then, the Dragon Kingdom's application of spirit energy had reached new heights. Today, they were researching psychic power solidification. If successful, its significance would be just as great. But psychic power was even more elusive than spirit energy, and their progress was slow. They needed inspiration and breakthroughs from other spirit cultivation masters.
Su Hao looked at a Fairy Snail on the stage.
From the snail's opening, tiny round beads flew out, hitting the ground with a crisp *dong dong dong* sound, like glass marbles. Those weren't water turned to ice, but pure solidified spirit energy beads.
"It can serve as a storage device, storing unused spirit energy for later use in battle, drawing it out to replenish..." That was the most basic use. But mastering it was still difficult; the Supernatural level was a basic requirement.
Solidifying psychic power? That was even harder. The Dragon Kingdom's psychic power training methods were themselves quite rudimentary. Many spirits' psychic power grew naturally.
"Unless it's a naturally gifted one like Butterfly, with me as its unique spirit master. Otherwise, even if they figure out a solidification method, most spirits would struggle to master it."
He thought, listening to the masters and experts discuss.
Then, almost on a whim, he opened his panel, his eyes landing on a certain line. He froze on the spot.