Geniuses Were as Numerous as Crucian Carp Crossing the River (Please Follow)

Lin Qi listened to his classmates' astonished voices without feeling particularly proud.

Only the faintest ripple stirred in his heart.

Jiang Tao secretly marveled. As expected of Qi Ge. No matter the occasion, he always stays calm. Even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, his expression wouldn't change. Compared to him, I'm still far behind.

"I think everyone needs to take a look at their ranking in Tianhai City."

Homeroom teacher Yan Hong suddenly spoke up to remind them.

Everyone's attention shifted to the city rankings.

"For this Tianhai Monthly Exam, all ten key high schools and forty-three ordinary high schools in Tianhai City participated."

"Unfortunately, only one student from our school made it into the citywide top ten in this monthly exam."

Li Zhou frowned at the score sheet, his mood written plainly across his face.

After Yan Hong finished speaking, some people immediately became unsettled.

Lin Qi swept his eyes over the list and saw Li Zhou's ranking.

[First in grade, 9th in Tianhai City]

"Damn, I only noticed now—Li Zhou is only ranked ninth in Tianhai City. He almost fell out of the top ten."

"Li Zhou's qi and blood value is 9.8. He's practically about to break through to the First Realm. He's that strong and only ninth? Just how strong are the eight people ahead of him?"

The entire class erupted in an uproar, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Look, Yu Jing, who's second in the grade, is only fifteenth. He's far behind Li Zhou. Qi Yuelin has it even worse—she's only twenty-fourth."

"As for the people below them, it's even worse. They're all ranked past fortieth."

They would never have known if they had not looked. Once they did, they realized that the impressive students in their class were not all that impressive in the rankings for all of Tianhai City.

Yu Jing and Qi Yuelin both looked displeased when they heard the others talking.

"Damn, I'm seventh in the grade, yet I'm only ranked one hundredth. I almost fell out of the list."

Jiang Tao smiled bitterly, no longer carrying the pride he had shown earlier.

Everyone found it hard to accept such rankings. Before their senior year, martial arts students did not undergo unified examinations or receive rankings, so no one knew where they stood in the city.

Now that they had seen the real rankings, they all felt like they were about to break down.

Among them, Yu Jing looked the worst. At Tianhai No. 2 Middle School, the gap between him and Li Zhou had been very small, giving him the illusion that he could surpass Li Zhou.

Now, however, it seemed that the gap between them was enormous. How could he accept that?

The entire class seemed to have suffered a tremendous blow, their hearts shaken to the core.

Yan Hong spoke again.

"Among Tianhai City's ten key high schools, there are thousands of students. Geniuses are as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river."

"If you don't work hard, elimination will be waiting for you. Keep striving. This is only the beginning."

"In the upcoming Midterm Assessment, we will see the results and rankings of all senior-year martial arts students across Cang Province."

"Then, you'll compete with even more geniuses, and your rankings will fall even further. Only true geniuses can move against the current and keep rising."

Every word Yan Hong spoke felt like a mountain of crushing pressure bearing down on everyone.

No one could remain calm.

"Alright, the rankings are out. The Martial Arts Room assignments and scholarships will be handled tomorrow. I'll send the score sheet to the group chat. Class dismissed."

Yan Hong announced loudly.

A group of students began packing up and leaving the classroom.

"There are too many geniuses. We need to work even harder." Jiang Tao shook his head.

"Our rankings may be low for now, but with our talent, we still have plenty of room to improve." Lin Qi remained calm.

"That's right!" Jiang Tao nodded.

"Chen Zichuan, congratulations on your huge improvement."

Lin Qi spoke when they ran into Chen Zichuan on the way to the Martial Arts Classroom.

"Yeah, Chen Zichuan, you really are a genius. You rose from fiftieth in the grade to thirty-fifth this time, jumping fifteen places. You're second only to Qi Ge." Jiang Tao gave him a thumbs-up as well.

Chen Zichuan rarely smiled. "Thanks for the praise."

Back in the Martial Arts Room,

Lin Qi changed into his Martial Arts Uniform, took a Qi and Blood Capsule, and prepared to begin today's training.

Tonight would be his final time training in Jiang Tao's Martial Arts Room.

Tomorrow, he would have his own Independent Martial Arts Room.

Thinking of this, he checked his Panel.

[Name: Lin Qi (17)]

[Profession: Martial Artist]

[Template: Erlang Shen · Yang Jian (6%)]

[Talents: Stomach Enhancement, Dragon Vigor Tiger Might]

[Techniques: Perfectly Round Stance, Five Form Fist: Tiger Form, Basic Spear Technique, Mountain Shattering Spear Technique]

[Qi and Blood Value: 8.2]

[Fist Technique: Second Order 10%]

[Spear Technique: First Order 92%]

[Movement Technique: First Order 87%]

Lin Qi looked over the various figures and let out a breath. In the little over a month since activating the Template, his progress had been tremendous.

His qi and blood value had reached 8.2, leaving him only 1.8 away from the Second Realm.

His Fist Technique, Spear Technique, and Movement Technique had all improved greatly, exceeding the goals Lin Qi had expected.

This progress is only natural. With the Dragon Vigor Tiger Might talent, I can spend more time training every day. My energy is abundant, my body recovers quickly, and my efficiency is higher.

If I still can't make it into the top twenty like this, I might as well smash my head into a block of tofu.

Now that I've improved so much, the Second-Class Genius Loan is no longer a problem.

Next, I just need to wait for tomorrow's Star Rank event. After sorting out his thoughts, Lin Qi began training in the Perfectly Round Stance.

Principal's Office

Jiang Zhiguang sat in an ergonomic chair, studying the projected spreadsheet with a grave expression.

"These results..."

"They're truly not bad!!"

Jiang Zhiguang's expression changed, and he broke into a smile. He picked up his blue-and-white Teacup and took a large gulp.

"Among Tianhai City's ten key high schools, their overall strength can be divided into three tiers. No. 1 High School, No. 8 High School, and Senior High School are in the first tier."

"Senior High School, No. 3 High School... those three schools are in the second tier, while our No. 2 High School and the other three schools are in the third tier."

"Compared to previous years' monthly exam results, we didn't even have a single student in the top ten. But this year, we have Li Zhou."

"Not just Li Zhou—the other students' scores and rankings are generally higher than those of previous classes as well."

Yan Hong sat upright on the sofa, carefully analyzing the score sheet and producing all kinds of pie charts.

On the sofa opposite her, Zhang Cheng crossed his legs, snuffed out the cigarette butt he had finished smoking, and grinned.

"Li Zhou making the top ten is his own achievement, but the class's overall results were still brought about by my training."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Lin Qi's results on the score sheet, and he smiled.

"Old Zhang, bringing you here was indeed the right decision." Jiang Zhiguang rarely smiled.

"But after the monthly exam, the major Martial Arts Halls, especially the Three Great Martial Arts Gyms, will begin making their moves."

"They'll compete for geniuses, sign contracts, and provide sponsorship."

"I wonder how many geniuses from our school can sign an A-Rank Contract."

Zhang Cheng shook his head after hearing this. "That'll be difficult. From the looks of it, only Li Zhou, Yu Jing, and Qi Yuelin have a chance."

The next day, No. 2 High School

Inside the Martial Arts Classroom,

Zhang Cheng stood in the middle of everyone.

"First, let me say something. For those who fell out of the top thirty in this Tianhai Monthly Exam, sorry, but starting today, your Martial Arts Rooms belong to someone else."

"Pack up your things later and vacate the Martial Arts Rooms."

"Lin Qi, you're going to Room 503..."

Lin Qi nodded. He finally had his own Martial Arts Room. From now on, when he came over at four in the morning, he would not need to use the Martial Arts Classroom anymore.

Now everyone in the class knew that he, the study-and-training fanatic, got up after four every morning to train.

"You've all seen your rankings, right?"

"Feeling a lot of pressure?"

"Good. Turn that pressure into motivation. Train like your life depends on it. If it doesn't kill you, train even harder and raise your rankings."

"I hope that in the Cang Province Assessment one month from now, every one of you will be able to improve your ranking."

"If you have no confidence, get the hell out now and make room for students willing to work hard."

Zhang Cheng roared, and everyone immediately began training.