Chapter 63: The Tournament

Until lunchtime, Shang Luo spent his time flipping through the documents the school had provided him. They included forms for family background, academic performance, and a personal statement. Attached to these was also the matter Lu Huaiyang had mentioned as "the most important thing"—the Secondary School Formula Racing Championship.

The scope of participation was limited to the Capital Region. All academies across the two capitals and thirteen provinces were required to participate, and other schools could also register, though not all racing teams would travel to Yujing to compete. After all, deploying an entire racing team was far too costly; this was vastly different from simply traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations. Racing required transporting vehicles, maintenance equipment, and many other heavy machinery pieces together, along with a racing team of up to twenty members: one primary driver and one reserve driver, twelve tire changers, two fuel technicians, and two chassis mechanics, plus one team manager responsible for operations and one technical director in charge of car construction.

Although post-race benefits varied slightly, the honor of the victory was awarded to the entire team. Every member of the winning team would receive an invitation letter from the Imperial Academy and be directly conferred the academic rank of a military *juren*. The imperial court only issued these two things, but both were exceptionally powerful. Holding an invitation from the Imperial Academy and the status of a *juren* practically guaranteed acceptance to almost any higher learning institution in the Capital Region. Each province would additionally provide its own rewards upon their return, and these varied by province.

The document also included the "Roll of Heroes," and Shang Luo glanced over the list...

The Roll of Heroes recorded the names of past powerhouse teams, highlighting their glorious achievements in bold red lettering.

"Huh? In the 29th year of Taihe, the Guangzhou Neptune Team achieved a pit stop tire change of just 1.4 seconds?"

Sitting opposite him, Lu Huaiyang lowered his newspaper. "That was because all four guys tightening the bolts that year were Qi Refiners. Later on, all four of them joined the Brocade Guard, and they're still serving."

"What about this one... the Shuntian Yanshan Team, hitting a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour? How on earth did they pull that off?"

"Because that year they brewed their own secret-formula fuel, apparently mixing aviation fuel and alcohol—the whole car was blazing with blue fire. They stopped using it later on; I suppose they added too many weird concoctions, and every time they finished a run, they had to tear down the engine to clean out the fuel corrosion, which those lads simply couldn't handle. Still, their lap times using standard fuel were also quite impressive, likely tied to the overall chassis design."

"What about us?" Shang Luo asked.

"As for us..." Lu Huaiyang fell into deep contemplation. "Well..."

"Have we ever won?"

"We are the Jiangning Longjiang Team. When I was a boy, it seemed we made it to the finals once, and occasionally we managed to qualify from the preliminary rounds, but in the end, we've never won a single time."

"Is the Wutaishan Academy not formidable enough?"

"No. Wutaishan Academy is unquestionably the top academy in the country, and it produces the highest number of Level 8 master fitters nationwide. But—have you noticed the team names? The Guangzhou Neptune Team, the Shuntian Yanshan Team. Our team name is the Jiangning Longjiang Team."

Shang Luo spotted the crux of the issue. Guangzhou and Shuntian were both prefectures, but Jiangning was merely a county.

"Why do they compete under the banner of prefectures while we represent a county?"

"You see, that's the problem. Nearly every county in the Southern Metropolitan Region can organize its own racing team to enter, which makes the internal preliminaries in the south resemble a battle of immortals, offering incredible spectacle. Individually, every team has its highlights, sometimes exceptionally striking ones, but viewed as a whole—tsk, tsk."

He shook his head. "Once the final selection is made, our comprehensive strength falls short compared to theirs. They pool the resources of a dozen counties within a prefecture to pick the absolute best of the best. When all is said and done, we are just a single county. No matter what, there is no way we can surpass the combined strength of a dozen counties pooled together, not even Jiangning County. For instance, why did the Guangzhou team have four Qi Refiners that year? Naturally, because they pooled them together."

"How many Qi Refiners participate in the race each year?"

"Hmm... actually, not many. Did I ever tell you the proportion of Qi Refiners? On average, the Capital Region sees twenty million newborns every year, and we ensure that 93% of those children eat immortal-root radishes; we've done our utmost. Although everyone can undergo body tempering by eating immortal-root radishes, making them healthier, taller, stronger, and granting them longer lifespans, only a little over two thousand among them can truly be tempered into a primordial physical body. Among those two thousand, one must search for those with spiritual roots to become a Qi Refiner. Sometimes there are fewer than ten in the entire country in a year, yet that year the Guangzhou team gathered four Qi Refiners just to change tires, all to be 0.29 seconds faster out of the pit than everyone else. Yes, merely 0.29 seconds faster, because everyone is formidable, and everyone is a genius."

"Then how on earth can we fight this?! How can we win? This isn't just about me alone; it's a matter for twenty people! The Longjiang Team hasn't won in decades; how could it be such a coincidence that they finally win with me?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that; I can't interfere with the race. The Dao Ancestor has placed high hopes on you—though I'm not sure if winning a race counts as 'high hopes,' the Dao Ancestor certainly has profound intentions. To look on the bright side, perhaps the Dao Ancestor wants to see if you possess the ability to turn decay into magic. Of course, the Jiangning team is quite formidable as well; they can by no means be considered 'decay.' It's just that they are mere hair's breadth away from claiming the championship. Don't you have the Exquisite Heart of Seven Orifices? Perhaps you can supply that final missing puzzle piece."

"Then I'll try... I can only try. But does anyone else know that the Dao Ancestor wants me to win this race? Aside from the Brocade Guard."

"Well..."

Lu Huaiyang stared at the newspaper for a moment. He considered many things and debated whether he should tell Shang Luo directly. After weighing it over, he straightened his posture.

"Actually, the internal ranks of the Brocade Guard can keep a secret; I trust them on that. Because the existence of the Dao Ancestor is known only to a few, and besides the Son of Heaven, you are the only one who can meet the Dao Ancestor directly. But... I need to impart something rather serious to you. You must realize the nature of this matter. Ever since the ancient Emperor Zhuanxu severed the communication between heaven and earth, the Son of Heaven became the sole intermediary between heaven and man. It remains the same today: the sole intermediary between the Dao Ancestor and all living beings is the Son of Heaven himself. And now, there is also you."

"..."

Shang Luo had actually considered this aspect beforehand. It was inherently dangerous because it encroached upon the domain of the Son of Heaven, and one could even say it shared the divinity of the Son of Heaven.

At that thought, a chill ran down his spine.

"The Son of Heaven—what kind of person is he? How old is he?"

"The Son of Heaven is twenty-eight this year, exactly one Chinese zodiac cycle older than you. But as a person, he is rather reclusive and a bit eccentric."

Great, reclusive and eccentric; he was bound to seek retaliation.

"Though you needn't worry about him targeting you for anything; I doubt he even has the time to bother with you."

"Huh? Is he that busy?"

"Yes, he's very busy, though the crux is that even I have no idea what he's busy with day in and day out; he just gives the impression of being constantly occupied. He's very much like the late emperor. The late emperor didn't hold morning court either, but at least we could still spot him on the pitch playing *chuiwan*, and the senior grand secretaries could go accompany him to play—the late emperor was genuinely brilliant at *chuiwan*, scoring 54 strokes on a standard 18-hole course, missing the world record of 53 by just a single stroke, and all his rankings were surrounded by Qi Refiners. But this current one—he is utterly elusive. I sometimes suspect the Dao Ancestor bestowed upon him some kind of earth-shrinking magic just so we can't catch a glimpse of his shadow. I just have no clue what he's up to."