The morning cultural studies exam proceeded as usual.
After electronic device checks and pat-downs by the teachers,
the proctors handed out thick stacks of test papers.
Quite a few martial arts students who truly focused only on martial arts and barely studied cultural subjects
looked at the dense exam papers in their hands, like little books filled with f(x), cos, αβ, rainfall and soil, cells and biology, and line after line of political case-study answers, and felt like jumping off the building.
In the end, they could only sigh silently, pick up their ballpoint pens, and begin writing furiously like everyone else in the exam hall.
With the promotion of martial arts, the students' average physical fitness was naturally far better than that of high schoolers in Li Xijun's previous life.
They all had ironclad asses. They sat there for an entire morning without moving, scribbling away nonstop until the bell marking the end of the exam rang after noon. Only then did they put down their pens, hand in their papers, leave the exam hall, and head downstairs to the cafeteria.
Of course, times like these never lacked certain pretentious students putting on a performance in the corridors and stairwells.
"I'm doomed. I didn't review last night—I was playing games."
"Sigh, I feel like I couldn't do so many questions. I'm definitely going to bomb this one."
"Same here. I had no idea how to do that last big question, so I just made something up."
Listening to words no different from those in his previous life,
quite a few students in the stairwell couldn't help rolling their eyes.
Li Xijun, however, remained perfectly calm.
For one, he was a martial arts student, and cultural subjects only accounted for 10% of the College Entrance Exam.
For another, as his mental strength increased, both his memory and comprehension had improved dramatically.
The math that had tortured him to death in his previous life, along with all the subjects that had made his head spin from memorization, were now child's play.
"How'd you do?"
When Li Xijun came downstairs, Ye Liuyun, who had been waiting below, tossed him a bottle of sparkling energy water.
"The final exam questions weren't too hard. I probably won't get a perfect score, but I might lose one or two points. What about you?"
"Scoring above ninety shouldn't be a problem. That probably won't be enough to close the gap with the Elite Class."
Ye Liuyun was equally unfazed and casually commented on the day's questions.
The two followed the crowd into the martial arts students' cafeteria and happened to run into the Elite Class students heading up to the second floor.
Whenever the students on the first floor saw this, they could never hide their envy.
This time, after taking a glance, Ye Liuyun held his tray and proactively said to Li Xijun with a smile,
"Once the results are out, how about I treat you to the second floor tomorrow?"
"Okay. I'm going to make you bleed for this."
That afternoon,
on the field behind Yan'an No. 7 High School,
stood ten enormous martial arts arenas.
They were called arenas, but they actually occupied an immense amount of space, no smaller than a soccer field used for league matches.
They allowed thirty martial arts students to unleash their abilities freely. Whether with spears, heavy hammers, swords, blades, or movement techniques, everything could be displayed on those spacious grounds.
Of course, precisely because the martial arts arenas took up so much land, Yan'an No. 7 High School could only accommodate ten of them. This year's top-thirty Cage Melee was therefore divided into three rounds.
Li Xijun had been assigned to Arena No. 9 in the third round.
With his relatively late slot, he watched the Cage Melees in the earlier rounds with great interest.
Naturally, he first went to Arena No. 1 in the first round, wanting to see what kind of performance Su Nianyi, the school's top-ranked student, would put on.
Likewise, nearly all the students who were not participating in the Cage Melees shared the same thought.
As a result, Arena No. 1 was packed to the brim, surrounded three layers deep inside and out. Quite a few people had even climbed trees and rooftops to see Su Nianyi's level.
The teacher in charge of the match clearly understood what everyone wanted. Once the thirty martial arts students on the arena were ready, he began the countdown.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Begin!"
The starter pistol let out an explosive crack, and the martial arts teacher immediately landed in the referee's position atop the platform outside the arena.
The next instant,
all thirty martial arts students wielded various weapons and burst into battle with furious roars.
Inevitably, a large stream of people surged from all directions across the arena toward Su Nianyi, who stood in the center wearing a purple hanfu.
Several students who had already reached Blood Essence Level 7.0 charged at fifteen meters per second. Holding long spears and broadswords, they pounced upon Su Nianyi first like starving tigers and a pack of wolves in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, the year's top student seemed to have fallen into a dangerous predicament.
After all, at the Apprentice Realm, everyone was more or less flesh and blood.
Even if your Blood Essence Level was higher and your speed and strength greater, it was difficult to face a siege by multiple people, especially multiple armed opponents.
Reality was not an online game.
In reality, no matter how high your Blood Essence Level was, once your body took a sword or blade strike, your combat ability would plummet off a cliff, and you would soon be eliminated by the surrounding attackers.
No one found anything wrong with such a situation.
This was something a strong fighter inevitably had to face in a Cage Melee.
The key was to see how these strong and talented students would deal with it. This was also an important reference when evaluating their practical combat scores.
Countless eyes stared at Su Nianyi with utter focus.
Everyone wanted to know whether she would display an impenetrable sword defense or use speed and footwork to escape, then circle around and pick off her opponents one by one.
Then, in the next moment,
Li Xijun suddenly felt a twitch between his brows, and his soul instinctively entered the state of mind of "Crossing Extinction."
He immediately realized something, and his expression turned subtle.
Right after that,
an immense invisible spiritual force centered on Su Nianyi
like the shockwave from an exploding shell,
sent everyone charging at her from every direction flying into the air.
One after another, they crashed helplessly off the arena with loud thuds.
"Holy shit!"
"What just happened?!"
"Where did they go? There were more than thirty people!"
"Bro, I only blinked once. Where did everyone go?!"
"Psychic Power! She used Psychic Power!"
"That's insane! Is this the Psychic Power prodigy who got guaranteed admission?"
Arena No. 1 in the first round immediately became a match without suspense.
Having witnessed the legendary Psychic Power and watched thirty Apprentice Realm Blood Essence martial artists get blasted away, many people cried out in exhilaration.
Only then did many others understand why Su Nianyi had always occupied first place in the year without ever wavering.
Ordinary martial artists could not even fight against telekinesis!
Beyond his surprise, Li Xijun grew even more eager for the Sitting in Oblivion Realm.
Spirit-Refining Cultivators who entered the Sitting in Oblivion Realm could already look inward at themselves and initially project their spiritual force outward to scan their surroundings, equivalent to unlocking a full-map cheat.
After reaching minor mastery, they could be like Su Nianyi before him,
using Psychic Power to move external objects, casually sending these Apprentice Realm martial artists who cultivated Blood Essence flying with a single thought—or even kneading them like toys at will.
Before you continue