Next came the moment when the students of Hualing finally opened their eyes.
Zhou Mu displayed every trait a Taotie should and shouldn’t have, letting everyone witness the true spirit of a famous ancient beast.
He chomped Gui Youqi down to just two legs, completely ignoring his hysterical wails, and then dashed toward the other contestants on the field, joyful as if he’d entered a self-service supermarket.
You Qi was holding down a mountain-paste beast when Zhou Mu barreled in, snatched it away, and bit off its tail in one gulp. The beast, naturally foul-mouthed, didn’t dare curse under the pressure of both You Qi and Zhou Mu. Instead, it screamed, “I surrender!! Take the flag!!”
Zhou Mu shot You Qi a provocative look, then darted off to the next target.
You Qi stood frozen, watching Zhou Mu’s figure. It was a stark contrast to the Zhou Mu he’d known, and yet, still unmistakably him. Strangely, the unfamiliar side wasn’t contradictory— every small movement still triggered the same affection in You Qi’s heart.
Zhou Mu could’ve kept hiding his identity, but instead, he rushed in, stole You Qi’s ‘prey,’ and cast him a look that was fierce on the surface—but he never laid a finger on You Qi. That familiar, now slightly dangerous gaze made You Qi’s heart race.
Could this be what Lord Cong was referring to?
But… did Zhou Mu know?
……
According to the rules, a team only needs one flag to advance. But Zhou Mu, driven by primal instincts, grabbed all three—and kept going. He pounced on anything that looked tasty, took a bite, and demanded, “Which school are you from? Name? Hand over your flag!”
…Flag? What flag? They’re all in your hands already!
And yet, the arena remained eerily quiet. Under Zhou Mu’s oppressive aura, most contestants didn’t even dare to run—they just collapsed on the ground.
The rules stated that the top three teams in each group would advance to the next round.
But Zhou Mu had almost singlehandedly eliminated all the other teams. To his credit, he did understand the concept of sustainability—he didn’t eat anyone completely. Still, his bites left the opponents utterly incapable of fighting…
He was so fast that by the time Xie Rulin had gathered the judging panel to stop Zhou Mu, the latter had already ‘tasted’ nearly everyone.
Xie Rulin leapt into the field and let out a belated roar: “Stop!”
Zhou Mu obediently withdrew his aura and turned back into human form.
With that suffocating pressure gone, the audience—over ten thousand strong—finally exhaled in unison: too terrifying!
Even though the monster category of the demon university sports competition was notoriously brutal, nothing had ever reached this level. But no one could say Zhou Mu broke the rules—what he did was within the bounds of his own ability. And for a Taotie to restrain himself to just a bite per person… that was practically legendary self-control!
The only real question was: why was a top-tier beast like Zhou Mu even allowed to attend Hualing Academy without any restrictions?
As it happened, Director Cui Jue was present, wearing an expression of helplessness, not surprise—clearly, he had long known Zhou Mu’s identity but was powerless to do anything about it.
Such an uncontrollable beast was truly terrifying. Thankfully, Head Referee Xie Rulin was a descendant of the Qilin—specifically, a Xiezhi. A righteous beast still stood a chance against a savage one.
Everyone watched Xie Rulin approach Zhou Mu, filled with hope. For the first time, he tried to reason with a combatant: “Zhou Mu, a warrior may die, but must not be humiliated. Please, at least consider the dignity of your fellow contestants and uphold the spirit of the modern demon race.”
Translation: Eat less.
Zhou Mu didn’t comment, only stepped closer to Xie Rulin: “Is the next round right after this?” His tone made it sound like he was asking when the next dish would be served.
As soon as he moved, Lord Xiezhi instinctively raised his hand to protect his head, only realizing a moment later Zhou Mu wasn’t about to hit him—and slowly lowered it: “…Yes.”
The audience, desperately clinging to hope: “???”
Every person who had once gushed about Zhou Mu on forums or fawned over him in class was now covered in cold sweat, wondering whether it was time to run—but even that might not get them to safety. QAQ
Some students were just now piecing things together: You Qi and Chun Shijiu?
That wasn’t just lucky roommates—it was clear now that Zhou Mu had targeted and charmed these poor souls from the start.
You Qi might’ve been sharp enough to let Zhou Mu move in with Chun Shijiu instead. Now, recalling all the things Chun Shijiu used to say sounds hilarious in hindsight. Poor Chun Shijiu—you probably should’ve died first.
Chun Shijiu, sitting front row holding Zhou Mu’s lunchbox while watching the match, suddenly felt the wave of pitying or mocking stares directed at him.
He gave up trying to save face and snapped, “What are you looking at? Keep staring and I’ll tell my roommate to eat me with you as a side dish.”
Everyone: “…………”
No one could come up with a response to a line that self-destructive.
……
The first and second rounds were always tightly connected. Once the five teams from the first round advanced, the barriers between their arenas dropped, forming one large battlefield—signaling the official start of Round Two.
Out of these fifteen teams, only the top three would move on to medal contention in the days to come, so this was a critical round.
Cai Bisheng, from Yunzhong Academy, was a Cang Bi. In the first round, his team resorted to every dirty trick—scams, ambushes, assassinations—to grab just one advancement flag.
During that first round, everyone had felt the terrifying aura of a top-tier beast, but being inside the arena, they couldn’t see who it was. Unlike the audience.
Given that this was also You Qi’s first time competing, most contestants were left wondering: Was that really You Qi’s aura?
Before the match, You Qi had already been the subject of the most speculation and research. Now, Cang Bi only felt that all his prep work might have been far from enough. He had knocked out Shu Lin—who had Qilin blood—in the 8000-li preliminaries and originally thought he could place this time too, maybe even sneak into second or first.
But just the flash of You Qi’s aura made Cang Bi instinctively feel like giving up.
With grim expressions, Cang Bi and his four teammates moved stealthily across the battlefield, observing the other teams.
It was clear that nearly everyone had suffered some injuries, but the worst off were the two teams in the same group as You Qi—they were literally missing limbs. As in the previous round, the teams other than You Qi’s began to gather together, forming a natural alliance against him.
Most of You Qi’s team remained unharmed—only the ghost-headed fish was seriously injured and was being gently comforted by Zhou Mu.
The overhead drone camera zoomed in, capturing Cang Bi and his team’s discussion and broadcasting it onto the big screen in the stadium.
Cang Bi took in the entire battlefield and calmly said, “We’ll go with Plan B. Hands raised, we approach You Qi’s team and seek a chance to cooperate. Judging by Zhou Mu’s physical condition, he’s still a key member of their team. Despite the rumors about arguments, he clearly still enjoys You Qi’s protection. As long as we can survive, we’ve already half-won. When the time is right, I’ll sneak attack him—use Zhou Mu as leverage. That way, we just might take the championship.”
The team members were stirred—plotting mind games with a beast like You Qi during a combat event? Now that’s exciting.
There were a lot of variables, but they trusted Cang Bi’s judgment. He had already analyzed pre-competition that You Qi might only be participating because of Zhou Mu. With such a vast difference in power between the two, a sneak attack on Zhou Mu might really flip the tables.
“All right, let’s go!” Cang Bi gave the signal. They approached Zhou Mu with their hands up, removing all signs of aggression. “You Qi,” Cang Bi called out, “we don’t intend to fight for first place. The other teams have already allied against you. We’re only aiming for second and would like to offer our services—to clear the way for you.”
Cang Bi stepped out of cover and saw that You Qi wasn’t stopping them, and the other four teammates were simply looking at him with complex expressions.
He knew why they were looking at him that way.
He had already made a name for himself in the track and field events—it made sense they’d be a little wary of him.
But Cang Bi prided himself on his silver tongue. He smiled and said, “All I want is second place. I already got the first-place medal from the track events. Grabbing a second here would be a bonus. If our teams work together, we can end the match early.”
But for some reason, You Qi still didn’t speak.
No objection… but no agreement either. What did that mean?
Cang Bi was trying to figure out his next move when Zhou Mu sniffled and said, “Cang Bi, hurry over, then! They’ve all teamed up? That’s so scary! You don’t know what they did to poor Guigui in the last round!”
As he spoke, he rubbed Gui Youqi’s head beside him.
Gui Youqi: “…”
The audience watching the whole thing on the big screen: “…………”
Speechless. Absolutely speechless…
When Cang Bi had revealed his ‘sinister’ plan with that sly grin, everyone had already started cringing. But when Zhou Mu started fake-crying, their expressions completely broke down.
Everyone knew the tournament was being broadcast live, but Zhou Mu still shamelessly put on an act in front of ten thousand people without hesitation.
Is this a top-tier predator? What terrible sportsmanship!
Cang Bi sat down beside Zhou Mu and even offered to heal Gui Youqi’s wounds. Seeing this, Zhou Mu looked moved—true to his ‘naïve and sweet’ reputation. “You’re so kind. I thank you on Guigui’s behalf.”
“No problem at all. I really envy your team’s friendship,” Cang Bi said cheerfully.
The now 50-jin-heavy Gui Youqi said expressionlessly, “Welcome, welcome.”
Xu Tianyi and Yan Xingke were silent for a moment, then awkwardly laughed: “Heh… yeah, yeah…”
Zhou Mu gave a shy smile. “You guys seem nice too… ah.”
“Don’t mention it. They’ve suffered because of me,” Cang Bi said, half lies and half truths. “In the last round, we were in the same situation as you. The others ganged up on us because they didn’t like my approach in the track events.” In truth, it was true they didn’t like him—but not to the point of ambushing him. He was just saying that to fool Zhou Mu.
Zhou Mu looked at him sympathetically. “You were isolated?”
Cang Bi, suddenly in drama king mode and hoping to gain sympathy from You Qi as well, said, “Yeah… they all hated and feared me. No one ever even ate lunch with me…”
“Eating’s important! How can anyone skip meals?” Zhou Mu said, genuinely concerned.
But to You Qi, their conversation sounded exactly like the ones he used to have with Zhou Mu. His lips trembled as faint runes flickered on the sealing charm over his mouth. Emotion surged within him. Is this how Zhou Mu used to look at me? Is he treating this shameless Cang Bi the way he used to treat me?!
Already emotionally unstable these past few days and struggling with his confidence, You Qi stared at Zhou Mu for a few seconds, chest rising and falling rapidly. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. With a roar, he lunged at Cang Bi and slammed him to the ground, punching him hard!
“Pffft!!” Cang Bi instantly coughed up blood—along with a tooth.
He stared at You Qi in disbelief. Was this guy a lunatic?!
Cang Bi never expected the usually calm and collected You Qi—calm in every bit of his pre-match analysis—to suddenly lash out and be the first to launch the second round of the combat event.
Even more unexpected, Zhou Mu’s expression also changed. He stood up and said, “What gives you the right to lay hands on my person!?”
His slender, elegant—not remotely muscular—body burst with terrifying strength as he lifted Cang Bi with one hand, his aura instantly flaring as he glared fiercely at You Qi.
In the previous round, Zhou Mu had also ‘stolen’ You Qi’s target, but that didn’t stop him from being extremely displeased now that You Qi had laid hands on his chosen prey.
Even though Zhou Mu was going against You Qi, the terrifyingly familiar aura radiating from him at such close range completely shattered Cang Bi’s nerves.
Cang Bi’s four teammates didn’t even dare to step forward and rescue him. Cang Bi himself had his eyes wide open, panting as he desperately rolled his eyes around, trying to glimpse Zhou Mu behind him.
It’s him? It’s really him?!
Zhou Mu being completely unharmed wasn’t because You Qi was protecting him—it was because Zhou Mu himself was the one who had gone on a bloody rampage earlier! All that talk of an alliance against You Qi… was really just a desperate attempt to survive Zhou Mu!
If Cang Bi hadn’t been so self-assured and come looking for Zhou Mu alone, he might’ve learned the truth from the other teams who had already been grouped with him. But now… it was far too late for regret.
You Qi’s face darkened. He condensed a blade of wind in his hand, ready to strike directly through Cang Bi’s chest.
But Zhou Mu moved terrifyingly fast—just before You Qi could act, Zhou Mu opened his mouth and swallowed half of Cang Bi’s body in one bite!
I had so many plans left… do they even know? Or care…?
That final pang of regret became Cang Bi’s last conscious thought.
Zhou Mu looked at You Qi smugly. “Hmph.”
You Qi said nothing—but with a sudden lunge, he tackled Zhou Mu to the ground.
The two of them rolled down a steep slope beside them, tumbling into a large thicket of bushes below.
They were fighting!
Up above, Yan Xingke and the others peeked over the edge but didn’t dare go near the battle between two monsters. Since before the competition began, the tension between the two had only grown. Now that it had finally exploded into a physical fight… it wasn’t exactly unexpected. Honestly, they were relieved it had finally happened.
Even Zhou Mu’s first reaction was that You Qi was attacking him—after all, You Qi was moving aggressively toward his head and neck!
Zhou Mu’s combat instincts kicked in immediately. As soon as he was tackled, he adjusted his physical state. During their roll, he exchanged several lightning-fast strikes with You Qi amidst a flurry of grass and leaves. When their bodies finally came to a stop, Zhou Mu was already straddling You Qi’s waist, his hand locked firmly around You Qi’s throat.
His pupils had turned amber again. His long, pale fingers slowly slid upward as his gaze swept across You Qi—dangerous and captivating.
You Qi saw Zhou Mu’s hand stop at his face. Zhou Mu pinched the muzzle seal on his lips, stared straight at him, and taunted, “Wanna bite me? Go ahead!”
With that, he ripped the straps of You Qi’s muzzle clean off!
The Vermillion runes that held the natural power of the seal were helpless before that sheer force. They were tossed into the grass, dimming rapidly. In contrast, the atmosphere grew more intense, electric, and full of sparks…
This was also the first time You Qi’s entire face was revealed. There was a fresh cut near the corner of his lips—left by the flying muzzle. He looked up to see Zhou Mu, eyes blazing like fire, and felt the wind—matching Zhou Mu’s unstable aura—wrap around him and pull him downward.
In a sudden gust, Zhou Mu was slammed into You Qi’s chest. His eyes dimmed—but You Qi, completely ignoring the fact that his arteries were exposed right in front of Zhou Mu, grabbed Zhou Mu’s chin and kissed him hard, the scent of blood still fresh in the air.
