Shocking the Entire Audience

Shi Yan furrowed his brow slightly, sizing up the school beauty before him.

Wait—you wanted me to stop pestering you, and now that I've done it, you're unhappy?

"If you've got nothing to do, don't block people's way," he said.

But those words only made Lu Jiaojiao bristle even more.

Her barely noticeable chest heaved violently, her eyes practically spitting fire. She felt like a pet that had slipped her control—and now that pet was looking down on her, despising her!

"I'm here to get certified as a martial artist—who's blocking whose way?" Her voice rose a few notches, as if stating her purpose aloud would bolster her own courage.

No sooner had she spoken than she calmed down abruptly, shifting to a sneer aimed at Shi Yan.

That's right—she was about to become a noble First-Order Warrior. Why waste her breath on a loser?

Shi Yan was just putting on a brave face, wasn't he?

A D-grade piece of trash—what business did he have at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall?

He must have followed her here, only to clam up because there were too many people around.

If they were somewhere less crowded, Shi Yan would probably have dropped to his knees and apologized by now.

Shi Yan didn't want to waste words. He walked past her and straight into the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

"Hmph, let's see how long you can keep up the act!" Lu Jiaojiao snorted coldly and followed him in.

"Jiaojiao, want me to have someone teach him a lesson?" The gold-rimmed glasses-wearing rich boy sidled up to her, his gaze at Shi Yan dripping with hostility.

He'd been chasing Lu Jiaojiao for a long time. Now that the beauty was throwing herself at him, he couldn't let her slip away.

Especially since Lu Jiaojiao had awakened an A-class special ability—she was a hot commodity, the kind fought over even in the Great Cities.

"No need, Brother Dai. He's just a piece of trash with 1.7 calories of blood vitality—he won't affect me at all." Lu Jiaojiao's face instantly shifted, and she casually activated a hint of her charm ability, leaving the glasses-wearing man trembling on the spot.

With that, the two of them walked hand in hand, trailing behind Shi Yan.

Today, they were determined to see Shi Yan make a fool of himself!

"You're qualified. You can proceed with the certification."

The certification officer returned Shi Yan's student ID, handing him a form along with a signature smile.

That smile was far more pleasant than Lu Jiaojiao's fake one.

Shi Yan smiled back and took his student ID.

To be certified as a martial artist, you had to meet certain prerequisites—like being mentally sound.

The student ID could display his current information, and thankfully, his predecessor had been perfectly normal.

Form in hand, he entered the adjacent hall.

This was the specific venue for First-Order Warrior certification, divided into two areas: a blood vitality testing zone and a strength testing zone, covering a total of eight hundred square meters.

Since First-Order Warrior was relatively basic, the area was open to view, and everyone could see the data on the testing machines.

As soon as he stepped in, Shi Yan saw quite a few people.

Most of them were companions of the test-takers, of course.

After all, for the first order, as long as your awakened ability wasn't too terrible and your family circumstances were decent, you could push yourself up to that level.

After submitting his form, Shi Yan spent five minutes in line.

"Place your palm on the testing platform. Be mentally prepared—anything below ten calories is considered a fail."

Beside the blood vitality testing machine stood a fresh-faced young woman, her smile still more pleasant than Lu Jiaojiao's.

Crack, crack.

Not far away, Lu Jiaojiao clenched her fists so hard they popped.

Damn it! Compared to Shi Yan brushing her off earlier, his smile at a service worker now felt like a needle stabbing into her.

"Keep up the act, will you? Let's see how long you can—impossible!!"

Suddenly, Lu Jiaojiao's gnashing teeth turned into a gasp.

Her eyes went wide, her small mouth slightly open, staring at the display screen on the testing machine.

"Holy shit—21 calories!"

The rich boy beside her took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and wore the same look of shock.

"Jiaojiao, didn't you say he didn't even have 2 calories?"

Lu Jiaojiao didn't respond, just stared at the number, trying to find a decimal point between the 2 and the 1.

Unfortunately, it was still 21 cards.

She wanted to wait for the attendant to speak, to say the machine had malfunctioned.

But what came instead was the attendant's shock and respect.

"Mr. Shi, congratulations, 21 cards." The attendant's face was full of smiles. "My name is Xiaowei. For the next round, the strength test, I'll accompany you to another location."

As she spoke, she had already pressed a red button on an instrument at her waist without realizing it.

That was the button to summon the Curator-in-Chief!

Just turned eighteen, senior high student, 21 cards.

These pieces of information combined could only form two words: genius.

One had to know, Baiyun City hadn't seen a student reach the 20-card threshold for blood energy in their senior year for many years.

This data, even when placed among the high schools of Jiangnan Base City, belonged to the top echelon.

Anyone with half a brain could tell that Shi Yan would shine brilliantly in the College Entrance Examination three days from now.

This was someone the martial arts hall wanted to recruit!

"Look, 21 cards!"

At this moment, others also began to notice Shi Yan's blood energy value, and couldn't help exclaiming in surprise.

"Heavens, he looks so young!"

"Blood energy starting with a 2 in the first-tier certification area, are you kidding me?"

"Yeah, everyone's at eleven or twelve cards, this guy's off the charts."

"Damn, he's wearing... a school uniform!?"

"I'm thirty years old, and I'm only at 11 cards."

Each exclamation stabbed into Lu Jiaojiao like a thorn, making her expression darker and darker.

Damn it, wasn't Shi Yan a waste? How could he have this much blood energy?

She had wanted to mock Shi Yan, but now she was the one who looked like a clown.

"Hmph, Shi Yan has a cousin, his cousin must have secretly fed him a lot of medicine."

She found a seemingly reasonable excuse for Shi Yan, then quickly left the place, afraid Shi Yan might see her expression.

At the same time, she silently resolved to make Shi Yan pay.

A simp should know a simp's place. When useless, they should disappear, not come back to slap her face!

On the other side.

Shi Yan stepped down from the testing platform. Those voices made him feel a bit embarrassed.

Then he looked toward the beauty Xiaowei approaching him.

"We're... not testing over there?"

Shi Yan pointed to another area of the hall, where there were also ten machines, used for testing strength.

"That's right." Xiaowei nodded and made a gesture of invitation. "Your data is rather special. We have a quieter testing room."

"Alright."

Shi Yan swept his gaze over the eyes constantly fixed on him, then walked toward the elevator Xiaowei had indicated.

Soon, the two arrived on the fifth floor.

Compared to the noise of the first floor, it was much quieter here. Only a single figure in white stood silently in the corridor.

"Well done. You may go down."

The white-clad figure turned and spoke to Xiaowei.

Only then did Shi Yan get a clear look at the other's appearance—a middle-aged man.

A long robe with an indistinct pattern of yin-yang fish. Though his hair was completely white, it was cut into a crew cut, making him look spirited and resolute.

"Yes."

Praised by the man, Xiaowei was visibly excited, her slightly chubby cheeks turning red.

Shi Yan also straightened his expression and gave a slight bow in greeting.

"Junior Shi Yan greets Curator Mo."

Mo Changfeng, the Curator-in-Chief of Baiyun City's Extreme Martial Arts Hall, a Seventh-Order Martial General!

If anyone asked who the strongest fighters in Baiyun City were, Mo Changfeng was definitely on the list.

As a big shot, he often appeared on TV, so Shi Yan recognized him.

He just didn't understand—he was only certifying as a martial artist, how had he attracted such an important figure?

"Haha, no need for formalities."

Mo Changfeng's voice boomed like thunder, and without any visible movement, he was already standing before Shi Yan as he spoke.

"Come inside with me. The instruments here are more precise."

He lightly flicked his finger, and a closed door beside him swung open.

Shi Yan's gaze swept over the room, finding it quite empty, with only two machines inside.

But just from their appearance, he could tell they were far more expensive than the ones on the first floor.

"Come on, give it a try."

Mo Changfeng had somehow appeared beside the dark red machine on the left, then looked toward Shi Yan at the door.

Shi Yan didn't stand on ceremony. He entered the room and, just like on the first floor, pressed his hand onto the protruding metal platform of the instrument.

In only three seconds, a blue light screen popped up, clearly displaying the number "21.72."

It was indeed very precise, showing two decimal places.

Seeing this number, a sharp gleam flashed in Mo Changfeng's eyes.

A true genius, no doubt.

After Xiao Wei's reminder, he had quickly looked into Shi Yan's background, and the result was... no background at all.

To have such an impressive blood energy value with no support—if that wasn't a genius, what was?

"Good. Now let's test your strength."

As he spoke, he had already appeared beside a dark gold instrument not far away.