Chapter 1123: Predicting the Champion

If it was anyone else saying this, Headmaster Chen would just take it as a joke, but since it came from San Yuan, he was still skeptical, but also hopeful about the outcome. If No. 60 High really could rank in the top eight, he would probably wake up laughing from his dream.

"Your predictions have always been very accurate, but I want to ask you a question: Who do you think will be the champion school? Devil-Subduing High, or Titan High? Or South Sea Sky High?" asked Headmaster Chen. They were the three schools that he was more wary of, and the ones that he wanted the students of No. 60 High students to avoid as much as possible when they entered the battlefield.

Devil-Subduing High was proficient in the "study of control," Titan High was strong and invincible given their "powerful defense and strength output," and South Sea Sky High had formidable "sense of perception." On their own, they would be particularly troublesome on the battlefield; if they formed an alliance in this competition, it would be disastrous. Thus, Headmaster Chen reckoned that even if the students of these three schools didn't win the championship, they would at the very least make it into the top four. Besides, these schools were relatively famous, and the fighting strength of their students in recent years had been very impressive.

Titan High's basketball team had already defended its number one position in the country for a whole thirty years without ever once losing... mainly because no one could guard against the fearsome bulks of these Titan High tank students. When they moved, each one of them was like an advancing aircraft carrier or battleship. All the teams they encountered didn't dare make even the smallest move; if they were tripped up and pressed down, they would be seriously injured...

Listening to Headmaster Chen, San Yuan pondered for a while. To be honest, there were indeed plenty of famous and powerful enemies among the schools participating in this competition. Compared with No. 60 High this year, Devil-Subduing High, Titan High and South Sea Sky High certainly were all powerful opponents. But in addition to these top-tier schools, there were some middle-tier schools who were also formidable opponents, like Tianshi Imperial High School, Nation League No.1 High School...

Of course, the school which San Yuan thought was the most troublesome wasn't in this list.

He believed that there was a middle school, which Headmaster Chen had underestimated, that could become this year's champion.

"Do you know Balance Flame Middle School, Headmaster Chen?" San Yuan looked up at that moment and seemed lost in thought as he looked at Headmaster Chen.

"Balance Flame Middle School?" Headmaster Chen repeated the name.

This school... It did have a reputation, but Headmaster Chen hadn't put it on the list of schools to watch out for since it was a middle-tier school.

"I know this school." He seemed to be considering his words carefully. "Balance Flame Middle School is a completely closed off cultivation school. All the students board at the school. They only get two hours of sleep each day, and the rest of the time is devoted to cultivation. They get up at 4 o'clock in the morning for collective sword practice, and the food which the school canteen prepares is all nutrition and fasting pills... In my opinion, this kind of education is extremely unscientific."

"But ninety percent of its students get into key universities, and ninety percent of those ultimately enter key cultivation universities; even the worst students can get into a second-tier university," San Yuan said.

"This sort of closed off education is indeed amazing, but I still think it's harmful to the students' physical and mental development," Headmaster Chen said. "San Yuan, do you think this school can win the championship? I don't think so. Although these students are trained to become learning and fighting machines, it's very easy for them to become rigid thinkers who are overly stubborn and dogmatic. In a big national competition like this, it's very important to be flexible. What's more, it'll be Senior Grade One students participating this time, and I don't think the Middle Grade Three students of Balance Flame Middle School will be a threat to them."

"You're wrong, Headmaster Chen."

San Yuan shook his head. "As far as I know, Balance Flame Middle School has its own stringent admission criteria: Students need to have a certain degree of self-discipline and learning capability. Students who can learn may not ultimately do that well in their studies, but those who can't learn will undoubtedly do worse, unless they're possessed by Eurogod1. These students are very good at research and learning, and they know how to use what they've learned from the textbooks and apply it in the real world."

Headmaster Chen hadn't expected San Yuan to suddenly bring up this point. "Learning capability..."

"The first subject that Balance Flame Middle School students learn when they enter the school is copying.' Every student in the school has a unique view on copying someone else's strength. Even if a group from Balance Flame Middle School might have only spent a semester there, if you put them on the battlefield, they'll absorb the tactical thinking of the strong cultivation schools like Devil-Subduing High, Titan High and even South Sea Sky High, and slowly build on it later. In the end, they might become great, fearful devils," San Yuan said.

San Yuan's words might sound like an exaggeration, but Headmaster Chen was in fact well aware that the students of Balance Flame Middle School did have more abnormal learning capabilities.

If San Yuan hadn't reminded him, he would have forgotten this point...

"I recall that the current headmaster of Balance Flame Middle School is..." Headmaster Chen looked a little nostalgic.

"Zuo Qingqiu," San Yuan answered immediately.

"Oh, so it's that boy." Headmaster Chen smiled. It was a familiar name.

"It looks like this Headmaster Zuo is an old acquaintance of yours?" San Yuan chuckled.

Practically all of the headmasters who had graduated from cultivation military school alongside Headmaster Chen that year had been crushed by his formidable tactical thinking before. This included Li Qingxi, headmaster of Devil-Subduing High, and Zuo Qingqiu, headmaster of Balance Flame Middle School; they had suffered tremendously from his array of surprising support spells!

For the national competition this time, all school headmasters had to take command. If this was before Zuo Qingqiu became headmaster of Balance Flame Middle School, Headmaster Chen would have to think carefully about how to deal with this middle school.

But now that he knew that the headmaster was Zuo Qingqiu, he was immediately all smiles in his office.

"Zuo Qingqiu this kid has always been the conservative type, which may become a major weakness of his command." Headmaster Chen tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair and pondered for a bit before saying, "What Balance Flame Middle School has to be careful about is to absolutely not lose too many teammates in the early stage. Given their strong learning capability, they might get the upper hand during the middle and later stages of the competition."

San Yuan: "What do you mean?"

Headmaster Chen snapped his fingers. "Since it's like this, how about we concentrate our firepower and get rid of this time bomb at the very beginning?"