The captain and vice-captain of the Jianning Team, being the host team, were also eager to try.

After checking into their room, it didn't take long for Liao Yucheng to find Zhang Chen and ask, "Should we go and check out the competition arena later?"

"What's there to see about the arena?"

"Although we're the host team, we've always competed in the city center. It's our first time here, right? Shouldn't we familiarize ourselves with each competition area's location?"

"Don't worry, there will definitely be staff to guide us. Don't worry about not finding the competition spots."

"That's true."

Persuaded by Zhang Chen, Liao Yucheng still felt a bit restless. "The night is long, we can't just sit here and do nothing, right? That'd be so boring!"

Zhang Chen chuckled. "I want to gather some intel."

He's the rising star representative of the Jianning Nine Directions Middle School and also the captain of the Jianning Team.

As for Liao Yucheng, he's the strongest rookie from Jianning Second High School this year, currently serving as the team's vice-captain. Coming from the same city, the two weren't interacting for the first time, so they were quite familiar with each other.

Upon hearing that Zhang Chen wanted to scout for intel, Liao Yucheng became curious. "How are you going to scout?"

The competition hasn't officially started yet. Each city's representative team has limited knowledge of contestants from other cities, mostly just past competition records, familiar Martial Dao postures and skill combinations, and some background info.

For a Martial Artist like Zhang Chen, who's participated in a few small-scale competitions, videos of arena battles are usually dug up and analyzed.

However, which young Martial Dao rookie isn't improving at Divine Speed?

For any competition held more than a month ago, there's basically no reference value. Even if you stay up all night analyzing all the matches thoroughly, the results would be significantly outdated.

This time it's a formal competition. The cities behind the participating teams, and the schools they belong to, will undoubtedly take this seriously.

When it comes to school exchange matches, everyone might play casually, saving their trump cards.

But now, with a formal competition like the Phoenix Cup, no one dares to be careless.

It's well known that the outcome of the Phoenix Cup directly affects a city's Martial Dao resources, the amount of educational funding the schools behind the contestants can receive, and the honor and status they can achieve within the province.

Zhang Chen clearly understood this, so he placed great importance on winning this competition. "We could try to find a few people, have a couple of matches to feel things out. After all, our supervising teacher hasn't said we can't duel today. Maybe the teachers from other schools didn't mention it either?"

Liao Yucheng was startled by this. Not revealing one's cards or engaging in intense duels before a competition is basic common sense, isn't it? Does it need a teacher to tell?

Zhang Chen obviously had more ideas and sounded confident, "Anyway, not many from other city teams know me, so I'll pretend to be weak first. If I encounter a strong opponent, I'll fake a defeat. I guarantee Jianning Team's trump cards won't be revealed."

"Whoa, that's sneaky. I like it."

After hearing Zhang Chen's words, Liao Yucheng also found the shameless plan quite appealing.

As a result, while the other Jianning Team members went to check out the arena, Zhang Chen and Liao Yucheng sneaked away.

Their supervising teacher trusted Zhang Chen as the captain, so they didn't intervene.

Before long, they encountered their targets.

"Liao Yucheng, do you recognize their school uniforms?"

In the shopping plaza below the hotel, as Zhang Chen and Liao Yucheng passed by a supermarket, they saw two girls in red uniforms shopping through the glass.

One of them had curved eyebrows and a gentle demeanor, catching Zhang Chen's eye and even making his heart skip a beat. "Such nice temperament, they must be contestants, right? I hope they'll accept a challenge..."

"Don't recognize them."

Liao Yucheng shook his head, then gave Zhang Chen a peculiar look, starting to doubt his intentions. "Are you here for intel or to flirt?"

"Ahem, you have to trust in my character!"

Zhang Chen's face turned red, but he still managed to hide his flustered heart.

The two waited patiently outside the supermarket entrance, hoping to catch the girls as they came out.

...

Lii Yan'Er and Lu Jingyao, two girls, came to the competition venue as part of the "friends group" from Mingde Middle School.

Star City, affluent and powerful, assembled the strongest team from its five prestigious schools, and they were even ready to celebrate after winning the championship.

To showcase their overwhelming strength, they not only had the official participants but also assembled a "friends group" of about 200 people to cheer the contestants on.

After arriving at the athlete village, Lii Yan'Er and Lu Jingyao discussed buying some stuff first and then exploring the area.

Since they weren't competing, they treated it as a tourist trip to Jianning.

However, they soon realized they might have gotten themselves into trouble.

At that moment, Zhang Chen cleared his throat and walked confidently up to Lii Yan'Er. "Hi, are you here for the competition too?"

Holding a shopping bag, Lii Yan'Er shook her head. "No, but I'm a Martial Artist."

With guidance from Ye Qingzhou, she had been progressing fast recently and was about to advance from Elite Level to Genius Level. Thus, she was quite confident in her strength.

"Which school are you from?"

"Mingde Middle School, are you guys from a local Jianning school?"

Lu Jingyao thought for a moment but couldn't recall any famous school in Jianning.

"Yes, I'm from Jianning Second High School."

Liao Yucheng nodded.

"I'm from Jiufang Middle School."

Zhang Chen also introduced himself, though neither revealed their true strength.

Since they didn't recognize each other, Lii Yan'Er and Lu Jingyao were about to leave when Zhang Chen suddenly said, "Hey, it's still early. How about a friendly match?"

"Ah?"

Lii Yan'Er was clearly surprised by Zhang Chen's sudden challenge and didn't know how to respond.

Just then, Ye Qingzhou and Lu Yifan happened to pass by, having come downstairs to buy some snacks.

Seeing an old classmate, Ye Qingzhou greeted, "Lii Yan'Er?"

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