"Genius!"
"Even without considering his spiritual talent, he was absolutely a martial arts genius."
"For this kid, achieving great mastery in Artistic Conception probably won't pose any obstacle."
"If I weren't afraid of jinxing it, I'd say even reaching Exterior Scenery was highly possible."
Inside the martial arts instructor's private room,
Zhang Haifeng sat on the sofa, looking at the scene displayed on the Light Screen before him with a sigh.
He had only seen a notification from the surveillance system saying that a student had skipped their noon break to train in the classroom, so he had decided to take a look.
He had never expected to personally witness Li Xijun break through repeatedly during training.
First, his Blood Essence Level had improved. Then, he had practiced a set of exquisite boxing techniques from who knew where.
It had actually corroborated the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms, allowing him to seize that insight and push the True Martial Killing Move: Sky-Reaching Hammer all the way to great mastery in one burst.
Zhang Haifeng watched the following events with Spirit Condensation.
When he saw Li Xijun once again display that talent—
the ability to firmly consolidate his gains after a breakthrough and perfectly stabilize them, unleashing the great-mastered Sky Grasping Hammer again and again—he became even more satisfied.
The Federation needed geniuses like this. It did not matter how outrageous their talent was; as long as they were talented enough and did not believe in evil cults, everything else was negotiable.
As for boxing techniques, ever since the early days of the Great Cataclysm, countless sets had been organized and innovated from old martial arts.
The True Martial Thirty-Six Forms were merely the mainstream techniques promoted by the authorities.
Even now, many students from martial artist families and wealthy families did not really study the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms.
Instead, they hired people to assess their bone structure and physique, practiced the martial arts most suited to them until they reached around 320 points,
then directly advanced into spear or saber techniques from the same lineage to raise their martial arts scores.
"It's time for me to increase my investment."
After Zhang Haifeng opened his phone and entered his teacher system, he used his highest authority to directly apply for a 100,000-yuan student grant.
After thinking it over, he found an anonymous black card he had once acquired and loaded another 100,000 yuan into it.
The first 100,000 was help from a teacher to an outstanding student. The second 100,000 was help from Zhang Haifeng to Li Xijun.
Given that student's reserved personality, he would surely understand the meaning behind it.
That afternoon.
Martial arts class.
Unable to wait any longer, Zhang Haifeng entered the classroom as soon as the bell rang.
After sweeping his gaze over the Martial Arts Class, which was increasingly filled with the oppressive, cutthroat atmosphere of senior year, he nodded in satisfaction before finally putting on a stern expression and saying seriously:
"You've all performed quite well these past few days. Aside from certain students who are still absent-minded and constantly zoning out, most of you have improved in martial arts."
"However, martial arts progress alone doesn't prove anything."
"I've seen plenty of students who performed excellently in normal times, only to be unable to bring out even half their strength once they entered the exam arena."
"During the College Entrance Exam, the martial arts test ultimately comes down to practical combat. Performance in actual combat is the key standard determining your martial arts score."
"No more nonsense. I'll use the intelligent system to assign pairs of students with similar strength for practical combat assessments."
As he finished speaking, the large screen at the front of the classroom displayed students' names in random order. At the center of the Martial Arts Classroom, an octagonal cage-like fighting platform slowly rose. Standing inside it, Zhang Haifeng blew his whistle sharply and beckoned.
"First match: Xu Yanyan versus Qu Jingcheng."
The large screen at the front of the classroom dramatically displayed their photos and Blood Essence Levels, with a red-and-blue "VS" symbol between them. Li Xijun nearly failed to keep a straight face when he saw it.
Before long, a young man and woman stepped into the center of the arena.
Xu Yanyan was an ordinary-looking girl with bangs and a round face. She was not very tall.
Qu Jingcheng, on the other hand, was handsome and tall, though there were rumors that he had messed around with several girls.
After the two clasped their fists in the customary salute for a sparring match, they each took their stances.
Xu Yanyan attacked directly, just as she normally did while practicing the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms. Her posture was standard, and her boxing technique showed some skill.
But Qu Jingcheng turned half sideways to avoid facing her head-on, raised one arm to block the punch, and suddenly swung his other hand toward her head.
Xu Yanyan hurriedly retreated to evade it. Just as she was about to continue attacking according to the moves of the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms, she suddenly felt a fierce gust strike her. She saw the already tall Qu Jingcheng throw himself directly at her.
Faced with that sudden, forceful attack and the merciless ferocity in his movements, she panicked instinctively, thrown into confusion by his imposing momentum.
In that instant, Qu Jingcheng's fist had already slammed into her abdomen. The sudden pain made her curl up and collapse to the ground with a cry of agony.
Their exchange had lasted only a few blinks, yet the victor had already been decided.
Zhang Haifeng watched from the side without much concern. He merely waved for someone to carry Xu Yanyan to the infirmary before speaking.
"Before reaching Exterior Scenery, battles between martial artists are this fast. Victory, defeat, life, and death can all be decided in an instant, within one or two moves."
"The Federation's medical technology is highly advanced now. Even losing an arm or a leg is nothing, so don't be afraid during practical combat. Fear will only make you die faster!"
With Zhang Haifeng's continued encouragement, the practical combat training proceeded rapidly.
Match after match took place in the class, and nearly all of them ended with a winner decided in a short time.
Li Xijun paid special attention to Ye Liuyun's practical combat match, but he was somewhat disappointed.
It ended too quickly. The opponent had only just finished saluting when Ye Liuyun struck with a seemingly plain palm. No matter how the opponent tried to dodge, he could not avoid it. He was hit directly in the throat, his face turning purple as he was carried away.
Until the very end,
it was unclear whether the intelligent system had truly assigned the match or whether Zhang Haifeng had arranged for Li Xijun to be the finale.
Nearly everyone turned to look at Li Xijun and Zhou Yibai, who were in the final match.
When Li Xijun's photo and Blood Essence Level appeared on the large screen at the front of the classroom, uncontrollable cries of surprise suddenly erupted throughout the class.
"What's going on? Did the intelligent system equipment bug out?"
"Holy shit, Blood Essence Level 6? I remember Brother Li was at 5.7 when school started, right?"
As more people cried out and pointed at the Blood Essence Level information in black regular script on the large screen, almost the entire Martial Arts Class became restless and erupted into excitement.
"The blood essence tester definitely isn't broken. My Blood Essence Level is correct."
"It's really 6.0? It's only been a little over a week since school started, and he rose by 0.3 Blood Essence Levels?"
"Blood Essence Levels are easier to raise before Level 7."
"Even if they're easier to raise, that's still ridiculous. Try raising yours three times in one week."
"Everyone said Brother Li was a genius held back by poverty, but who would've thought that six bottles of Blood Essence Potion could improve him this much!"
"My childhood friend in the Elite Class doesn't improve this fast. That's insane—Brother Li is really too fast!"
The students' shock and heated discussion were understandable. This rate of improvement truly was far too fast.
Quite a few people in the class drank Blood Essence Potion every day. Their three meals were all Nutritious Meals costing over three hundred yuan and containing mythological creature meat, and some families had even gritted their teeth and enrolled them in meditation class.
Yet compared to Li Xijun, their improvement speed was like a snail crawling.
Even Zhang Haifeng, who had already been mentally prepared, could not help turning around and looking again and again, wondering whether he should add another 20,000 yuan to that black card.
Only Zhou Yibai, standing on the platform at that moment, said nothing amid the class's boiling excitement and discussion, his fists clenched tightly.
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