Mistaken for a Soft Persimmon Again

"Interesting."

A look of genuine interest finally appeared on Feng Lie's unruly face.

He had seen too many geniuses. Some could stand longer under his pressure, while others could barely circulate their Qi and Blood to resist it.

But this was the first who had ignored it completely.

Was his perception dull?

Or...

Was he truly strong enough to be immune to it?

With a thought—

Boom!

Feng Lie deliberately directed more than seventy percent of his pressure at Chen Fan alone, crushing down on him from all sides like an invisible sledgehammer!

He wanted to see just where this little monster's limit lay.

The other prodigies in the training ground felt the pressure on them suddenly lighten. They gulped for air and looked toward the corner, still shaken.

Yet the instant that terrifying pressure reached Chen Fan—

The Star Power within Chen Fan, cold, aloof, and overwhelmingly domineering, had long since become one with his flesh and blood. It began circulating on its own, without him even needing to activate it.

Like a pebble cast into the vast starry sky, the terrifying pressure, enough to crush mountains, vanished without a trace, without even causing a ripple.

From beginning to end, Chen Fan did not so much as lift an eyelid.

He remained immersed in his insights into the Star-Transferring Blood Art. To him, everything in the outside world was an illusion.

"Hmm?"

Feng Lie's pupils suddenly contracted.

If he had only been interested before, now a genuine ripple had stirred in his heart.

This is... the Star-Transferring Blood Art?

He's already reached the introductory stage of the Star-Transferring Blood Art at nine? No wonder the principal wanted me to give him special attention!

Feng Lie was secretly surprised. He slowly withdrew his pressure, and the entire classroom instantly returned to normal.

"A bunch of trash!"

Feng Lie looked away and swept his cold gaze over the prodigies who were still gasping for breath, letting out an undisguised sneer.

Hong Yi and the others turned pale, both ashamed and angry, yet unable to retort.

Before absolute strength, all pride seemed pale and laughable.

"Remember, the Prodigy Class isn't a nursery, much less a place for you to gild yourselves!"

Feng Lie folded his arms and announced the first and most fundamental iron rule of the Prodigy Class, his voice cold as he enunciated every word.

"Starting today, there will be a comprehensive strength assessment every week, and those at the bottom will be eliminated!"

"The higher you rank, the more cultivation resources you'll receive each week. Cultivation techniques, potions, permission to use the gravity room, even one-on-one instruction from an instructor—everything is tied to your ranking!"

"As for the bottom three..." Feng Lie grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. "All your resources will be halved! Come in last twice in a row, and you'll get kicked straight out of the Prodigy Class to keep company with those mediocrities in the regular classes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the training ground changed.

If pride and defiance had filled their eyes before, now a flame called ambition burned in every prodigy's gaze.

Here, weakness was the original sin!

Feng Lie was pleased with the fighting spirit burning in their eyes. This was exactly what he wanted to see.

A flock of sheep could never become fierce tigers.

His grin widened, and, like a demon whispering, he dropped a real bombshell.

"Of course, where there's punishment, there's reward."

"As for first place in the Weekly Test..."

He deliberately dragged out his words, sweeping his gaze over every tense, expectant face. Finally, it paused almost imperceptibly on Chen Fan for an instant.

"The school will award two Primary Qi-Blood Potions a day, doubled on weekends!"

"In addition, first place will have priority when issuing challenges, as well as... the right to make suggestions on the allocation of class resources!"

Buzz!

The entire place fell deathly silent!

Then came a chorus of sharp intakes of breath.

Two bottles a day!

What did that mean?

Many of them, even those from wealthy families, could only count on receiving two or three Primary Qi-Blood Potions a week because their families were pouring their resources into raising them.

But here, as long as they took first place, they could get a full eighteen bottles a week!

Everyone's breathing grew heated, and their eyes instantly turned red as they stared at one another, as though looking at mortal enemies on their path to the peak.

Yet amid this feverish atmosphere—

Chen Fan, who had remained like an old monk in meditation, indifferent to everything around him, suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes the moment he heard "two Primary Qi-Blood Potions a day"!

In their place was an incomparably pure, burning desire, tinged even with a trace of greed...!

A desire for first place unlike anything he had ever felt before!

He needed resources!

Vast quantities of resources!

Only then could he grow stronger as quickly as possible and earn the right to set foot on the Starry Sky Frontline and search for his parents in the shortest possible time!

Feng Lie keenly caught the change in Chen Fan's eyes.

He smiled.

His smile was one of utter satisfaction.

So this was the boy's weak spot.

As long as he had desires, things would be easy.

"Tempted?"

Feng Lie looked at the feverish crowd, who seemed ready to start fighting at once, and grinned, his voice full of provocation.

"Then show me what you've got and prove you deserve those resources!"

"Everyone, on your feet!"

His sudden roar was like thunder out of a clear sky.

"Follow me to the Martial Dao training hall!"

"Your first class at Jiangnan No. 1 High School... officially starts now!"

Led by Feng Lie, the twenty-five prodigies passed through an austere alloy corridor and arrived at an even grander indoor Martial Dao Arena.

It was more than ten times larger than the previous classroom. A map of the deep cosmos was projected across the dome, while twelve separate fighting arenas, gleaming with cold metallic light, stood in a ring around a vast and intricate comprehensive testing system.

The air was filled with the cold scent of rust and a faint trace of disinfectant.

"Your first lesson at Jiangnan No. 1 High School is to understand yourselves, and your opponents."

Feng Lie's voice was cold. He waved a hand, and an enormous holographic screen suddenly unfolded in the center of the hall. Light flowed across it as a ranking list rapidly took shape.

"This is your initial ranking, generated by the Heavenly Pivot AI based on a comprehensive assessment of your Qi and Blood, martial techniques, actual combat, and other categories during the independent admissions assessment."

As soon as he finished speaking, the list finished updating.

Everyone's eyes turned, as one, to the top of the screen.

Two names, brilliant as the blazing sun, stood high at the top of the list, radiating unquestionable authority.

[First place: Qin Wuyue]

[Second place: Hong Yi]

In a corner, a girl who had been holding an ancient-looking longsword in her arms the whole time, her bearing as aloof as a fairy from the moon palace, had not even opened her eyes when Feng Lie appeared. Now her eyelashes twitched slightly, but she still did not open them.

On the other side, Hong Yi stared fixedly at Qin Wuyue's name. A trace of unwillingness flashed through his battle-hungry eyes, and his tightly clenched fists creaked softly.

Then his gaze flashed downward like lightning, locking precisely onto a name midway down the list.

He was not alone. Almost every prodigy was quickly searching the list for their own name. When most of their gazes converged on the same spot, an irrepressible commotion erupted throughout the hall.

[Eighth place: Chen Fan]

That name looked utterly out of place, squeezed in among the monsters around him, who had Qi and Blood values of sixty or seventy calories.

Many prodigies with Qi and Blood values far above fifty-seven calories had been firmly ranked below this nine-year-old child. The pride on their faces vanished, replaced by undisguised jealousy and resentment.

"How is that possible? Why is a little brat with fifty-seven calories of Qi and Blood ranked eighth?"

"His martial technique assessment score must have been high. I heard the kid got lucky as hell during the assessment and pulled off a decent fist technique."

"Hmph, nothing but flashy moves. On the path of Martial Dao, Qi and Blood is king in the end!"

The whispers were full of sourness and contempt.

"Rankings aren't set in stone."

Feng Lie acted as though he had not heard the discussion. He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, his voice filled with malicious amusement.

"Now, I'll announce the challenge rules!"

"Each of you gets one chance to challenge anyone ranked above you! To make things a little more fun for you little bastards..." He deliberately drew out his words, looking around at everyone's faces. "Anyone can challenge those in the top ten!"

Boom!

His words were like a spark tossed into a powder keg.

Dozens of gazes, filled with greed and ill intent, instantly focused on the small, thin figure ranked eighth, who was only nine years old.

In their eyes, Chen Fan was the frailest, most vulnerable stepping stone lying across the threshold of the top ten!

"I will!"

Before Feng Lie had even finished speaking, a burly youth built like an iron tower, ranked eleventh, had already stepped forward.

His name was Lei Meng. His Qi and Blood was as high as sixty-eight calories, but he had been relegated to a place outside the top ten only because his martial technique assessment score was slightly lower. Now he wore a vicious grin as he extended a thick finger and pointed at Chen Fan in the corner.

"Instructor, I challenge eighth place, Chen Fan!"

An uproar swept through the hall, but no one was surprised.

This was exactly the scenario everyone had expected—squeeze the softest persimmon first and seize a precious spot in the top ten!

Seeing this, Hong Yi frowned almost imperceptibly, a trace of contempt for Lei Meng's behavior flashing through his eyes. In his view, even if one wanted to fight, one should seek a stronger opponent.

Feng Lie, meanwhile, wore a cruel smile of keen interest. This was exactly the effect he wanted.

"Granted." He lifted his chin. "Arena three. The rest of you, open your damn eyes and watch the show!"

Under countless gazes, Chen Fan calmly rose from the corner and walked slowly toward arena three.

His steps were unhurried, yet exceptionally steady, a striking contrast to Lei Meng opposite him, whose Qi and Blood surged and whose every step made the ground tremble slightly.

"Little brat, this isn't a place for you! Get down now, and you'll save yourself some pain!"

Lei Meng held nothing back. His vast Qi and Blood, a full sixty-eight calories, erupted, forming a scorching wave of air visible to the naked eye around him and making his training clothes billow and snap.

The instant the whistle signaling the start of the match sounded, he let out an ear-splitting roar, kicked off the ground with both legs, and charged straight at Chen Fan like an out-of-control heavy truck!

A wide, sweeping, incomparably fierce Mountain-Crushing Fist came smashing down at him!

Before the fist even arrived, the howling wind from the punch had already compressed the air into a sharp explosion. Lei Meng meant to blast Chen Fan, this connected kid, completely off the arena in a single blow and proclaim his own strength in the most violent fashion!

Facing this ferocious punch, powerful enough to shatter monuments and split stone, Chen Fan's expression did not change in the slightest.

He did not even fully activate the Qi and Blood within him.

Just as the violent wind from the punch was about to strike him, he took a seemingly casual step to the left.

It was an incomparably profound footwork technique.

His body, like a willow seed caught in a gale, lightly slipped aside at an angle that defied the laws of physics.

Lei Meng's punch, which he had been certain would land, carried crushing force as it brushed past the edge of Chen Fan's clothes and slammed into empty air!

Now!

Rather than retreat, Chen Fan advanced. In the instant they passed each other, he had already closed in on the opening Lei Meng had left completely exposed by putting too much force into his attack.

He pressed the index and middle fingers of his right hand together, turning them into an indestructible sword.

The pure Qi and Blood within him, tempered by Star Power, poured into his fingertips as he unleashed the Metal-Element Fist Intent, the sharpest and most unyielding intent of the Five Elements Fist!

There was no earth-shaking display, no dazzling play of light and shadow.

Only an afterimage moving at extreme speed.

Pfft!

Like a red-hot steel needle piercing butter, the two fingers, held together like a sword, struck beneath Lei Meng's right ribs as fast as lightning, without meeting the slightest resistance!

Crack!

The exceedingly crisp sound of bone breaking rang clearly through the silent hall!

Lei Meng's protective Qi and Blood, capable of resisting ordinary blades, was as fragile as paper before that finger strike, pierced through in an instant!

A sharp, domineering force, concentrated to the utmost, penetrated his body and exploded inside him!

The vicious grin on Lei Meng's face froze instantly.

The fierce light in his eyes rapidly faded, replaced by endless pain and horror.

He felt an irresistible force surge from beneath his ribs. It was as though he had been struck by a primeval giant beast charging at full speed, and he completely lost control of his body.

The next second, his body, burly as an iron tower, flew sideways like a kite with its string cut, arcing through the air before crashing heavily to the floor more than ten meters outside the arena!

Bang!

The dull sound of his landing struck every prodigy's heart like a heavy hammer.

Lei Meng curled up on the floor like a boiled shrimp, his mouth open, yet unable even to scream. Only thin streams of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs continued to spill from his mouth.

One move.

Just one move.

The entire hall fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared dumbstruck, their jaws nearly hitting the floor, looking in disbelief at the nine-year-old child in the arena who had defeated his opponent in one move without even the slightest disruption to his breathing.

Feng Lie's smile grew broader and crueler at that moment.

He slowly raised his hands and began to clap, once, then again.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The crisp applause echoed abruptly through the silent hall, carrying undisguised mockery and cold approval.

"Not bad. Very good."

His gaze, like a sharp knife, slowly swept over every stunned, horrified face below the arena.