Practical combat competition, an absolute genius

"A genius!"

"Even setting aside his spiritual talent, he's absolutely a martial arts prodigy."

"Achieving a full Artistic Conception probably won't be much of an obstacle for this kid."

"If I weren't afraid of jinxing it, I'd say even External Realm is well within reach."

Inside the private room of a martial arts teacher, Zhang Haifeng sat on the sofa, watching the scene on the light screen before him and couldn't help but let out a sigh.

He'd only glanced at the surveillance feed out of curiosity when it alerted him that a student had skipped the midday break to train in the classroom. He hadn't expected to witness Li Xijun breaking through one breakthrough after another in cultivation.

First, his Blood Essence Level improved. Then he practiced a set of exquisite boxing techniques from some unknown source, which actually complemented the "True Martial Thirty-Six Forms." Using that insight, he pushed through in one go to master the True Martial Killing Move: Sky-Reaching Hammer.

Zhang Haifeng focused intently on what followed.

When he saw Li Xijun display that talent again—

the ability to firmly solidify his gains after a breakthrough and flawlessly, repeatedly unleash a mastered Sky-Reaching Hammer—his satisfaction only grew.

The Federation needed geniuses like this now. No matter how outrageous the talent, as long as you were brilliant enough and didn't believe in any heretical cults, everything else could be overlooked.

As for the boxing techniques, ever since the early days of the Great Cataclysm, countless new styles had been organized and innovated from old martial arts.

The "True Martial Thirty-Six Forms" was just the mainstream version promoted by the authorities.

Even now, many students from martial artist families or wealthy households barely studied the "True Martial Thirty-Six Forms."

Instead, they had someone measure their bone structure and physique first, then trained in the most compatible boxing or leg techniques. Once they reached around 320 points, they directly advanced to practice spear or blade techniques from the same lineage to boost their martial arts scores.

"It's time for me to increase my investment."

Zhang Haifeng opened his phone and logged into his teacher system, then used his maximum authority to apply for a 100,000 scholarship.

After a moment's thought, he found an old anonymous black card and loaded 100,000 into it.

The first 100,000 was a teacher's help for an outstanding student. This 100,000 was Zhang Haifeng's personal help for Li Xijun.

Given this student's reserved nature, he would surely understand the meaning behind it.

Afternoon

Martial Arts Class

Already eager, Zhang Haifeng walked into the classroom the moment the bell rang.

After sweeping his gaze over the Martial Arts Class, which was increasingly suffused with the pressure and competition of senior year, he nodded in satisfaction first, then put on a stern face and said seriously:

"You've all performed well these past few days. Aside from a few students who still can't focus and keep zoning out, everyone has made progress in martial arts."

"But progress in martial arts alone doesn't tell the whole story."

"I've seen plenty of examinees with great grades in previous years who couldn't even bring out half their strength once they got to the exam site."

"In the end, the martial arts exam during the College Entrance Exam comes down to actual combat. Performance in real fights is the key criterion for your martial arts score."

"Enough talk. I'll use the smart system to pair you up with opponents of similar strength for a practical combat test."

As he finished speaking, a large screen at the front of the classroom displayed randomly arranged student names. In the center of the martial arts classroom, an octagonal cage-like fighting ring slowly rose from the floor. Zhang Haifeng stood inside it, blew his whistle sharply, and waved for attention:

"First match: Xu Yanyan versus Qu Jingcheng."

The large screen at the front of the classroom atmospherically displayed their photos and Blood Essence Levels, with a red-and-blue 'vs' logo in the middle. Li Xijun almost cracked a smile when he saw it.

Soon, a boy and a girl stepped into the center of the ring.

Xu Yanyan was an ordinary girl with bangs and a round face, not very tall.

Qu Jingcheng, on the other hand, was handsome and tall, with rumors floating around that he'd dumped several girls.

After exchanging fist-and-palm salutes as a courtesy for sparring, both assumed their stances.

Xu Yanyan attacked directly, executing the "True Martial Thirty-Six Forms" as usual. Her posture was very standard, and her boxing technique showed some skill.

But Qu Jingcheng sidestepped at an angle, dodging the frontal assault. One arm rose to block her punch while the other shot out, smashing toward her head.

Xu Yanyan hurriedly retreated to evade. Just as she was about to continue with another move from the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms, she suddenly felt a gust of wind bearing down on her. She saw the already tall Qu Jingcheng throw himself straight at her.

Caught off guard by this sudden, aggressive attack and his ruthless, merciless demeanor, she instinctively panicked, thrown off by the sheer pressure.

In that instant, Qu Jingcheng had already driven a fist into her abdomen. The sudden pain made her curl up and collapse to the ground, letting out pained sounds.

The entire exchange lasted only a few blinks of an eye before the outcome was clearly decided.

Zhang Haifeng watched from the side without much reaction. He simply waved for someone to carry Xu Yanyan to the infirmary, then said:

"Before the External Realm, martial artists' fights are this fast. Victory, defeat, life, death—all decided in one or two moves."

"Federation medical technology is highly advanced now. Even broken arms and legs are nothing. So don't be afraid in actual combat. Fear only makes you die faster!"

Under Zhang Haifeng's constant encouragement, the practical combat training proceeded quickly.

The group battles in the class mostly ended within moments of starting, with victory decided in short order.

Li Xijun paid close attention to Ye Liuyun's actual combat performance, but found himself somewhat disappointed.

Because it ended too quickly—the moment the opponent bowed in greeting, Ye Liuyun struck out with a palm that looked utterly ordinary, yet the opponent simply couldn't dodge no matter how he tried, taking the hit directly to the throat and being carried off the stage with a face turning purple.

Until the very end, Whether it was truly the smart brain's arrangement or Zhang Haifeng's deliberate choice to have Li Xijun close out the event, Almost everyone turned their eyes to the final match between Li Xijun and Zhou Yibai.

And when Li Xijun's profile and Blood Essence Level appeared on the large screen at the front of the classroom, an uncontrollable wave of exclamations erupted through the room.

"What's going on, did the smart brain device glitch or something?"

"Holy shit, Blood Essence Level 6—I remember when school just started, Brother Li was at 5.7, right?"

As more voices cried out in shock and fingers pointed at the black standard-font Blood Essence Level info on the front screen, nearly the entire Martial Arts Class began to stir and buzz with excitement.

"The blood essence detector definitely isn't broken—my level came out right."

"Really 6.0? It's only been a little over a week since school started, and he went up 0.3 Blood Essence Levels?"

"Well, it's easier to raise Blood Essence Levels before Level 7."

"Even if it's easier, this is ridiculous—try raising yours three times in one week."

"Everyone says Brother Li is a genius held back by poverty, but who knew six bottles of Blood Essence Potion would boost him this much!"

"Even my buddy in the Elite Class doesn't have this speed—too fast, Brother Li is way too fast!"

It wasn't surprising that the students were so astonished and buzzing with discussion, because this rate of improvement truly was too fast.

Many in the class drank Blood Essence Potions daily, ate three meals of nutrient-rich food costing over three hundred yuan each with mythical beast meat, and some families even gritted their teeth to sign them up for Meditation Class.

Yet their progress, compared to Li Xijun's, was like a snail crawling.

Even Zhang Haifeng, who had already braced himself for this, couldn't help turning his head back again and again for another look, thinking to himself, maybe he should top up that black card with another twenty thousand?

Only Zhou Yibai, standing on the stage at that moment, amidst the entire boiling, chattering class atmosphere, was the sole person who said nothing, his fists clenched tightly.