Tied for First!
"Seventy-five... point two calories!"
A sharp intake of breath, suppressed despite the utter shock behind it, rang out in the deathly silent arena, instantly lighting the fuse.
"My god! Is she really still in the Qi-Blood Realm? The graduation standard at an ordinary martial arts high school is only a hundred calories, and she's already close to the threshold of the peak!"
"It's over. Completely over. No matter how monstrous that kid Chen Fan is, he can't bridge a Qi and Blood gap of nearly twenty calories! He's going to pay dearly for his arrogance this time!"
"Arrogance? He's courting death! Qin Wuyue is the monster who entered our Prodigy Class as the last elementary division swordsmanship champion of Tiannan City!"
Below the platform, voices surged like a flood through a broken dam.
Almost everyone looked at Chen Fan on the platform with the pity they might show a dead man.
That terrifying, despair-inducing Qi and Blood reading was like a towering divine mountain that could not be crossed, crushing their last shred of hope that Chen Fan might work a miracle.
In a corner, Lei Meng, who had been sent flying with a single blow, had just been carried away by a medical robot. When his companions saw the number on the display, the last trace of indignation on their faces turned to relief.
Good thing I didn't challenge Qin Wuyue.
Only the instructor Feng Lie wore a look of growing interest on his unruly face.
He stared intently at the two figures in the center of the platform. One had Qi and Blood as unfathomable as an abyss; the other was as calm as still water, without a ripple.
His instincts told him that this match might overturn everything everyone thought they knew.
On the platform, the oppressive force of Qin Wuyue's vast Qi and Blood seemed almost tangible. It became a piercing cold wind that whipped Chen Fan's clothes about him.
Chen Fan slowly let out a stale breath.
He knew that unless he displayed his true strength, there would be no suspense in this fight. In his eyes, which had remained as still as an ancient well, a spark of utterly pure fighting intent finally ignited.
If it's a fight she wants, then let's fight to our hearts' content!
The next moment, he stopped holding back!
Boom!!!
Inside his body, his pure Qi and Blood, tempered a thousand times over by Star Power and perfectly fused with his Primordial Ancient Dragon Bloodline Power, let out a soundless roar like a sleeping behemoth awakening in the depths of the starry river, then surged into motion!
An aura utterly unlike Qin Wuyue's cold, aloof sword intent, yet just as vast and profound, shot skyward from his small body. It carried a trace of the lofty aloofness and domineering might of the stars beyond the nine heavens!
Hum!
The enormous Comprehensive Testing System in the center of the arena blazed brighter once more, even emitting a strained buzz!
Everyone's gaze was riveted to the wildly leaping numbers on the display!
Sixty calories!
Sixty-five calories!
Seventy calories!
That barrier, which seemed an impassable chasm in the eyes of countless prodigies, crumpled like paper before the onslaught of Chen Fan's Qi and Blood. He swept through it without the slightest pause!
Finally, as everyone in the arena watched with pupils abruptly contracting, the number jerked to a halt, then settled clearly into place.
[Qi and Blood: 73.2 calories]!
The entire Martial Dao Arena fell into a silence even more complete and suffocating than before.
Time seemed to freeze.
The air seemed to be sucked away.
If Qin Wuyue was a genius seen once in a century...
Then what should they call this child, who possessed a terrifying seventy-three calories of Qi and Blood at just nine years old?
A monster?
A prodigy?
No, at this moment, those words all seemed so pale and feeble.
After a brief, deathly silence, an uproar erupted like a volcano!
"Fake! The testing machine must be broken! Nine years old! Seventy-three calories of Qi and Blood! Did he fucking start cultivating in the womb?!"
"Impossible! This goes against the laws of the Martial Dao! How can his body withstand it?!"
Below the platform, the prodigy who had just been shouting that Chen Fan was bound to lose now stood openmouthed, his eyes as wide as brass bells, his expression a sight to behold.
Meanwhile, the moment Hong Yi, who had been ignored, saw that number, the sickly flush that had just risen to his face drained away, leaving him ashen.
His body swayed, as though all his strength had been drained from him. The last flames of indignation and humiliation were utterly extinguished and ground to dust by that cold, merciless number.
So...
He wasn't ignoring me.
In his eyes, I'm no different from the trash he sent flying with a single blow.
The enormous gap in strength brought not jealousy, but despair.
On the platform.
For the first time, a solemn look appeared in Qin Wuyue's eyes, which had always been as cold and aloof as the moon.
She no longer saw Chen Fan as an opponent she needed to take seriously, but as...
A true equal, standing at the same height as herself!
Hum!!
The archaic longsword in her hand gave a clear, ringing cry, as though excited for the battle to come.
"Beep!"
The whistle signaling the start of the match rang throughout the arena!
The instant it sounded, Qin Wuyue moved.
Her figure seemed to merge with the air. It flickered, leaving only a faint afterimage behind.
The next second, cold sword light filled the sky like moonlight spilling down from the nine heavens. Soundless yet omnipresent, it enveloped Chen Fan in an instant!
Every streak of sword light held a terrifying edge sharp enough to pierce a steel plate!
Facing a net of swords that would make any martial artist of the same realm feel their scalp go numb, Chen Fan advanced instead of retreating!
His right foot slammed forward, and his entire bearing changed with a boom.
His Pinnacle Realm Five Elements Fist met her attack head-on!
Only this time, his fists no longer carried the simple rotation of the five elements. They also bore a trace of Star Fist Intent, comprehended from the Star-Transferring Blood Art: aloof and cold, seemingly capable of crushing anything!
The five elements rotated, empowered by the stars!
Boom!!!
Fist and sword collided in midair with a resounding crash!
There was nothing flashy about it. It was a clash of strength and skill at their purest and most primal!
A raging shockwave swept out in every direction from the two of them! The platform, forged from a special alloy and capable of withstanding heavy artillery bombardment, groaned under the strain of the two forces. Fine cracks spread across its surface like a spiderweb!
Clang, clang, clang!
A flurry of blows rang out in such dizzyingly rapid succession that they echoed through the entire arena like a rainstorm drumming on banana leaves!
The prodigies below could see only two blurred figures moving at incredible speed, constantly colliding and separating in the center of the platform. Every exchange unleashed terrifying shockwaves of energy that made their hearts tremble.
At last, amid the fiercest clash of metal yet!
Bang!
The two figures abruptly separated, each sliding backward.
Chen Fan took three steps back, leaving a deep footprint in the alloy floor with each step.
Across from him, Qin Wuyue likewise took three steps back, not one more or less.
A thin trickle of crimson blood slowly seeped from the web between the thumb and forefinger of her sword hand.
And on Chen Fan's outstretched right fist, there was a shallow white sword mark.
This peak showdown, watched by all, had actually ended...
In an even match!
At that moment, the minds of all the prodigies in the arena completely shut down.
A tie?
Even with his Qi and Blood still two calories lower, Chen Fan had managed to fight Qin Wuyue to a draw?
Didn't that mean Chen Fan had already surpassed Qin Wuyue completely in his mastery of martial skills, the profundity of his cultivation art, and even the purity of his Qi and Blood?!
This nine-year-old child was the true, undisputed number one in the class!
Just as everyone was reeling from that conclusion, too shaken to speak for a long while...
"Ha ha... ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Instructor Feng Lie's wild, unrestrained laughter rolled like thunder through the arena, full of unbridled delight!
"Good! What an even match! What a clash between equals!"
His gaze flashed like lightning as it swept over Chen Fan and Qin Wuyue, who faced each other from a distance on the platform. His unruly face was filled with the ecstasy of having discovered peerless treasures.
"In that case, I'll make an exception today!"
He waved a hand and announced in a booming voice a decision that instantly made every prodigy present breathe faster, wild flames igniting in their eyes.
"From today onward, you two are tied for first!!"