Enrollment

Enrollment

Zhou Leng and Xu Qingjin were jogging when, suddenly, a Demonic Feather Ball shot over at high speed, flying straight toward the back of Xu Qingjin's head.

"Watch out!" Zhou Leng sidestepped and reached out, catching the Demonic Feather Ball.

"Ah?" Only then did Xu Qingjin turn her head to dodge.

A twelve- or thirteen-year-old child ran over and hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry! This Demonic Feather Ball is broken, otherwise it couldn't fly this far."

"It's fine," Xu Qingjin said.

"Try to stay away from the road next time." Zhou Leng tossed the shuttlecock back.

"Thank you, big brother. Thank you, big sister." The child hurried away.

Xu Qingjin curiously looked at Zhou Leng's upper arm. His biceps stretched his short sleeves tight.

"You seem to have gotten stronger."

"I made a little money in Demon City, and I've been eating Meat Medicinal Cuisine these past few days. It's built my body back up. I also took an Essence Replenishing Pill. What about you?"

"I've taken two now. One was bought by my family, and the other was a Qi Nourishing Pill I'd saved from a school reward and exchanged for an Essence Replenishing Pill."

"Not bad. No wonder you got into a Martial University."

Xu Qingjin looked toward the right front. Rucheng Martial University and the Martial Arts Hall stood there.

The girl's eyes reflected the blue-white Rugao Mountain.

"What are you going to do next? I'm a little lost. Before, I was always studying, cultivating, everything was for the College Entrance Examination. But now that it's over, I suddenly don't know what to do."

"Don't you want to Promote to Xiantian?"

"Of course I do. Who wouldn't want to become a great expert? But I don't think I can become one. You know my personality—I don't like fighting either. But after this, there'll be the Opening Term Test, monthly exams, and the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation... I can't explain it."

"I can't make the decision for you either, but it's enough to do what you like."

"What about you? What do you want to do?"

The softness in Zhou Leng's eyes slowly turned firm.

"I want to become a powerful martial artist step by step. From beginning to end, that has never changed."

Xu Qingjin said, "That's wonderful. Your eyes were like that when you were little too. They haven't changed at all."

"You're the same. You haven't changed much."

"Really? I always feel like I've changed a lot. I used to be so stupid."

"Don't talk about yourself like that. You still are." The corner of Zhou Leng's mouth curved up.

"You're still... Hm? You jerk." Xu Qingjin only caught on halfway through, though her face still wore a sweet smile.

Zhou Leng asked, "You didn't run into any Demonic Beasts while you were in Demon City, did you?"

"No, we were lucky and came back smoothly. You guys couldn't have run into any, right?"

"We really did. One of our teammates even ran away."

"Ah? Tell me about it."

Zhou Leng vividly described the battle against the Ice Crystal Demonic Lion. Xu Qingjin's eyes widened round, and she let out soft cries from time to time, her ponytail behind her head bouncing from fright.

When Zhou Leng finished, Xu Qingjin Breathed a Sigh of Relief. "A blessing in disguise. That's great. By the Way, what level of Greater Mastery are you at? I feel like your true qi is much stronger than mine."

"Seventh Heaven."

"Just as I thought. At this pace, you'll reach Perfection by the monthly exam, then enter the Blood Circulation Stage. It'll probably take me three or four months to reach Perfection."

"Didn't you reach Greater Mastery long ago?"

"I'm only somewhat talented in movement techniques. As for internal cultivation, I more or less stumbled my way through it. After reaching Greater Mastery, my progress slowed down. Do you have any tricks for cultivating internal strength?"

"I wouldn't call them tricks, but I have accumulated some experience recently."

"Then teach me!"

"Sure. When we find time, we can cultivate together. It's hard to explain clearly just by talking." Zhou Leng said.

"Then come to my house when the time comes. My mom has been talking about you too, asking why you haven't visited anymore."

"Alright!"

The girl's steps became lighter, the sky reflected in her eyes became bluer, and the morning light grew brighter.

Zhou Leng's gaze softened again.

After running for a while, the two of them looked toward the right front at the same time.

That was Fifty-ninth Middle School, the middle school alma mater they shared.

Xu Qingjin said, "By the Way, Rao Mingxian didn't get into West Sea Martial University either. He came to Ru University too."

Zhou Leng said, "I thought he could get into West Sea Martial University. His results were fierce in the later stage, and he was even in the same examination hall as me."

"But he really is inspiring. I heard that when he was in middle school, his grandfather beat him in the principal's office until he cried to heaven and wailed to earth. Several little girls in his class even cried for him."

"Yes, he really had it rough in middle school. He complained about it when we played basketball together too."

"I heard..."

The two began quietly chatting about gossip concerning their classmates.

Behind them, Feng Wenhao ran around a corner. When he saw the boy and girl ahead, his eyes lit up. Just as he was about to wave and shout, a mysterious smile appeared on his face, and he shut his mouth.

Feng Wenhao followed more than twenty meters behind them with a grin.

"I want to see when you two notice me."

Then Feng Wenhao watched helplessly as the two chatted while running all the way, finally separating at Ru University's main gate. One went to Ru University Main Campus, while the other headed toward the Martial Arts Campus beside it.

Feng Wenhao blinked. Why was this different from what he had imagined? Shouldn't the two of them suddenly notice him, then let him jokingly tease them?

He had even prepared his lines in advance, yet the two of them simply failed to notice him?

"Zhou Leng!" Feng Wenhao called weakly.

"Hm? Feng Wenhao? Your injuries still haven't healed?"

Zhou Leng looked at Feng Wenhao in confusion. More than ten days had passed, yet there were still faint scars on Feng Wenhao's face.

Feng Wenhao carefully stared at Zhou Leng's face. "You're unbelievable. There's no sign of your old wounds at all. Hm? How did you get so much stronger after just a Few Days apart? Tsk, tsk. These muscles, the lines are too smooth."

"I've been eating more Meat Medicinal Cuisine lately." Zhou Leng carefully examined Feng Wenhao.

Feng Wenhao smiled. "Thanks To Young Master Xue's money, I've eaten quite a bit of Meat Medicinal Cuisine these past few days too. Eating it every day really feels different. I'm especially motivated to cultivate now."

"Me too," Zhou Leng said.

Feng Wenhao glanced at Ru University's main gate. "Ru University ranks third in Ru City. Xu Qingjin's score wasn't enough for West Sea Martial University, but she could easily have gotten into second-ranked Huadong Martial University. Why did she apply to Ru University?"

"Maybe because it's close to home. Someone said in the class group yesterday that Xu Kang'an, the top Martial Arts Hall Student of our year, didn't get into West Sea Martial University's special admissions or supplementary admissions either. He directly tested into Rucheng Martial Arts Hall, also because it was close to home."

"You probably didn't read the whole thing. Xu Kang'an's family has connections in the Martial Guard Bureau. They've probably planned it all out and have ties at Rucheng Martial Arts Hall. He doesn't want to compete for resources with those wealthy families at West Sea Martial University."

The two chatted as they entered Class 01's indoor Martial Arts Hall.

Every class in the Martial Arts Hall had its own independent indoor Martial Arts Hall, about as large as two indoor basketball courts.

Unlike high school, this place contained a Large Amount Of demonized equipment for students to use freely.

The energetic Martial Arts Hall Students were using all kinds of demonized equipment.

Feng Wenhao said excitedly, "The Martial Arts Hall really is better."

"I heard the Martial Arts Hall's treatment used to be terrible. Then the Martial Guard Department took over, and it immediately underwent a complete transformation," Zhou Leng said.

"Come on, let's practice. Want to play rapid badminton?"

"There are too many people. Rapid badminton isn't convenient. Let's play Rapid Table Tennis instead; there's an empty table."

"Let's go!"

The two walked to the table tennis area, which was surrounded by a cage.

Holding Demonized Table Tennis paddles, the two looked at each other.

"Watch closely!" Feng Wenhao tossed the Demonized Table Tennis ball with his left hand and swung his paddle with his right.

Whoosh!

Bang!

The Demonized Table Tennis ball flew out at three times its normal speed. It landed on this side of the table and bounced away; the instant it landed on the opposing side, it accelerated again, reaching five times its normal speed.

Zhou Leng's eyes were like an eagle's. With Eight Trigrams Steps beneath his feet, he adjusted his position and delivered a fierce smash with a wave of his hand.

Bang!

The sound of the table tennis ball striking the table was incredibly loud, as if sparks had burst forth.

"Damn..." Feng Wenhao stretched his arm with all his strength to reach for it, but he was still one step too slow.

The ball shot out with a whoosh. The instant it left the court, it suddenly slowed down and lightly struck the iron cage.

"Five times speed and you already can't handle it?" Zhou Leng said.

"It's only 1 to 0!"

Feng Wenhao's mouth was harder than the iron cage. He picked up the ball and served again.

The two went back and forth, using both footwork and movement techniques.

The ball darted back and forth like lightning, colliding with loud bangs.

Several students approached and looked at the two of them, their eyes eventually focusing on Zhou Leng.

One especially fat and brawny bald student crossed his arms over his chest and said quietly, "The student on the left is well-rounded in every aspect. I can't see any weaknesses at all."

"Footwork, movement techniques, reactions, visual tracking, breathing—everything is quite impressive. At this level, he's no worse than my classmates who got into West Sea Martial University."

"The Martial Arts Hall really has hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

"The score's 21 to 5. The gap is a little too big. It looks like he might be letting him have some points."

Feng Wenhao put down his paddle and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right hand. "This is painful. With this score, I look like I was admitted through supplementary admissions, while you look like you tested in directly."

"Hm? He was admitted through supplementary admissions?" one student asked.

"Yeah. Not only was he admitted through supplementary admissions, he also advanced sixty thousand places in his Martial Arts Examination single subject."

Several students blinked, unable to imagine what advancing sixty thousand places even meant.

"Want to play a round with me?" the fat, brawny bald student asked.

"Please," Zhou Leng said.

Martial arts sports also counted as a form of sparring.

At the beginning, both sides won and lost points, but after ten points, Zhou Leng pulled ahead all the way.

In the end, 21 to 8.

"You're amazing, classmate! You can only feel the real pressure when you step onto the court yourself." The man gave a thumbs-up. "My name is Wei Hong. And you?"

"Zhou Leng."

"Another round?"

"Alright."

It ended quickly: 21 to 6.

Wei Hong carefully examined Zhou Leng. "You're absolutely at the level of the Top Ten Martial Arts Universities. Why did you test into this place?"

Feng Wenhao said, "Don't mention it. He was injured by a Demonic Beast before the College Entrance Examination, then applied for West Sea Martial University's supplementary admissions. His Martial Arts Examination score was 276, but he was rejected because his physical fitness was poor. He didn't even qualify for supplementary admission. Otherwise, how could he possibly be here?"

"A Martial Arts Examination score of 276, rejected because of poor physical fitness? How is that possible? Obviously it was..." Wei Hong shut his mouth and looked at Zhou Leng sympathetically.

After hearing Wei Hong say that, the other students vaguely understood.

"What A Pity."

They were all classmates, and Wei Hong was naturally friendly. After only a few exchanges, they became acquainted.

Before long, Chang Luan and Tao Bing walked over.

"Chang Luan!" Several students around them actually recognized Chang Luan, including Feng Wenhao.

Zhou Leng did not say a word. After registering yesterday, he had gone straight home and had not contacted any classmates.

After chatting for a while, Chang Luan walked over to Zhou Leng and said quietly, "There's something I want to ask you about. Shall we go outside and talk?"

Zhou Leng frowned.

Xue Chengsong had said that Chang Luan's family had trade dealings with the Demon Worshipping Cult, so it was best to keep his distance.