What I Want

What I Want

As they walked, the students of Class 01 entered their student card numbers into Martial City and scanned them with their phones.

Feng Wenhao swept his gaze across the class. Of the fifty students, fewer than ten wore Demonic Watches. Then he glanced at Zhou Leng's wrist.

"What rank are you on the Rucheng Freshman Ranking? I'm a little over 9,300," Feng Wenhao asked.

With a light tap, Zhou Leng sent the screen projection floating before Feng Wenhao.

"Rank 2,946? Your current physical exam results are still from the College Entrance Examination. Once today's test is over, you'll climb at least five or six hundred places."

"Don't forget that a lot of people took Perfection Pills and have already advanced to the Blood Circulation Stage. I'm still at the Qi Nourishing Stage. My Total True Qi and True Qi Intensity lag far behind theirs. Not to mention that after advancing to the Blood Circulation Stage, their bodies will become stronger too. Their comprehensive exam scores will definitely crush mine," Zhou Leng said.

"That's true. But they forced their way up with pills, so their bodies haven't been fully tempered. You still have a chance to compete with them."

"What rank is Zhou Leng?" the bald Wei Hong asked as he leaned over.

"2,946," Feng Wenhao said.

"Impressive! At our Martial Arts Hall, that should put you in the top ten. Didn't you do terribly in the physical exam?" Wei Hong asked, baffled.

"The Freshman Ranking and those other rankings don't just look at test results. They also consider things like Battle Merit. He has more than forty Battle Merit points. How many do you have?" Feng Wenhao said.

"Where would I get that much Battle Merit? I fought tooth and nail, and I only got twelve," Wei Hong said.

"Hehe, a few of us got lucky and earned a bit more Battle Merit. Those truly amazing people had already farmed over a hundred Battle Merit points before enrolling," Feng Wenhao said.

"Zhou Leng, our class is counting on you. You might still fall a little short for the first Several Months, but once you advance to the Blood Circulation Stage, you'll be the only one who can contend with Xu Kang'an from Class 02. Still, don't get your hopes up too high. Xu Kang'an isn't the fiercest in our class, but his staying power is the strongest," Wei Hong said.

"You two were in the same high school class?" Feng Wenhao asked.

"Yeah. After the College Entrance Examination, he didn't take a Perfection Pill. He reached Qi Nourishing Perfection through cultivation alone, and his strength far exceeded that of ordinary students from the Top Ten Martial Arts Universities. Our homeroom teacher regretted it terribly. Back then, he didn't realize Xu Kang'an's later potential was this great. If he'd known, he would have fought tooth and nail to stop him from applying to a Martial Arts Hall."

Feng Wenhao looked at Zhou Leng. "With Xu Kang'an around, keep your head down for the first half of the year. Then surpass him in the second half of next year!"

"I think that'll work," Wei Hong said.

"Ask Xu Kang'an what rank he is," Feng Wenhao said.

"Hold on."

Before long, Wei Hong said, "He's 802nd."

The people around them all fell silent.

Zhou Leng's ranking was already high enough, yet he still trailed Xu Kang'an by more than two thousand places.

"We're at the test site," Zhou Leng said.

Instructor Deng Zhijue shouted loudly.

"Everyone, put on your student cards and enter according to your student numbers."

"The physical exam has six subjects. Using True Qi is forbidden. Once discovered, you will be directly disqualified."

"The 5,000-meter sprint run will start in batches because there are too many people. Later, everyone will be running at once. Ignore everyone else. The Demonic Instrument will use your student card to give you a fair score..."

"In the technological era, an amateur 5,000-meter time was around fifteen minutes, while the world record was around twelve minutes and thirty seconds, which meant running roughly 6.7 meters per second."

"For Martial Arts Hall Students, the passing line of sixty points is twelve minutes, far beyond the champions of the past."

"What about one hundred points for the 5,000 meters? Ten meters per second—running under eight minutes and twenty seconds at a speed close to the 100-meter sprint of the technological era."

When they heard that number, everyone's hearts sank.

Going from 6.7 meters per second to ten did not seem like much, but once one reached the limits of the human body, every tiny improvement was extraordinarily difficult.

Without using True Qi, maintaining ten meters per second across 5,000 meters was almost impossible.

"Alright. Ten people per group, take your places on the corresponding lanes..."

Zhou Leng glanced at his student card. 0109.

Zhou Leng walked to the starting line. Along with several others, he lowered himself slightly and assumed a starting stance.

"Run!"

At Instructor Deng Zhijue's command, the ten people shot out like arrows loosed from a bow.

"Go, Zhou Leng!" Feng Wenhao shouted, then walked to the starting line with the second batch of students.

"Run!" Deng Zhijue gave the order, and the second batch set off.

Before long, five batches of students were running on the track at once.

Zhou Leng held first place with an absolute advantage.

Deng Zhijue and several other instructors scanned the fifty students.

"This Zhou Leng is quite good," Deng Zhijue commented. "His College Entrance Examination physical score was only in the sixties, but judging by his speed now, eighty-five points is the minimum."

"Chang Luan isn't bad either. After all, he advanced to the Blood Circulation Stage, and his speed far exceeds those who started at the same time," another instructor said.

"Those few advanced to the Blood Circulation Stage with Perfection Pills, and their Blood Qi is unstable. Look—their bodies are swaying far more than the other students'."

"That's why we have the Opening Term Test. Once they completely absorb the medicinal power, ordinary students will find it difficult to catch up to them."

"But this makeup admission student, Zhou Leng, is truly steady. His breathing is steady, his steps are steady, his center of gravity is steady... Hm? It seems he has improved even more noticeably than during the Makeup Admission Test."

"His sprint run score in the Makeup Admission Test was eighty-eight, not quite ninety. Today, he'll Very Likely break ninety."

"Let's see how many of his final subjects exceed ninety. With results in the 'high eighties,' the Martial Arts Hall Scholarship and Ru University scholarship will be secure."

"I wonder whether he has the ability to compete for the best Martial Arts Scholarship."

The instructors observed and commented at the same time.

Zhou Leng remained firmly in absolute first place.

As the seconds ticked by, those students at the Blood Circulation Stage passed the others.

However, aside from Lu Juncai, no matter how the others accelerated, they fell farther and farther behind Zhou Leng.

Before long, Zhou Leng sprinted across the finish line.

The detectors at the finish line transmitted the data to the tablet in Deng Zhijue's hands.

The instructors all looked over.

Deng Zhijue slowly said, "Zhou Leng's 5,000-meter sprint run result: 9 minutes 13.05 seconds, 94 points."

"That's a good start!" The instructors nodded one after another, smiles on their faces.

"This score isn't high for a Blood Circulation Stage student, but for a Qi Nourishing Stage student, it's extremely rare."

Soon, the entire class had finished running.

"Rest for ten minutes, then enter the Dodge Run field. I'll send screenshots of the results to the class group."

Everyone hurried to check.

Seeing his own score of eighty-seven, Chang Luan smiled. This score far exceeded his previous physical exam result.

Then he looked at Zhou Leng's result, and his brow furrowed slightly.

Tao Bing, the blue-haired student beside him, said in a low voice, "Zhou Leng and Lu Juncai are tied for first, both with ninety-four points. Lu Juncai is already at the Blood Circulation Stage."

Chang Luan sighed. "I'll talk to him again."

With that, Chang Luan walked toward Zhou Leng.

"Zhou Leng, shall we talk somewhere to the side?"

Zhou Leng glanced at Chang Luan. "Sorry. During the exam, I don't want to be distracted."

"Why ruin the harmony between classmates over the results of one or two tests?" Chang Luan said.

"Up to now, things have been harmonious. I want harmony too. I'm just afraid someone else doesn't."

Zhou Leng's gaze remained focused. His mind was wholly on the test, utterly unmoved by anything outside it.

"Name your price. I can give you everything you want," Chang Luan said gravely.

"You have no idea what I want, and you can't give me what I want," Zhou Leng said.

Chang Luan stared at Zhou Leng for a long time, then turned and left.

Feng Wenhao walked over and asked quietly, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Zhou Leng said.

Feng Wenhao looked at Chang Luan's retreating back and whispered, "That guy is very active in the group chat. He's been in contact with quite a few classmates. He definitely wants to compete for class monitor, maybe even for the Senior Disciple position of this cohort. If you can avoid offending him, don't offend him."

"Mm. It's fine."

Chang Luan returned and stood where he was, feeling gloomy.

He had been making moves these past Few Days. Including himself, there were seven Blood Circulation Stage students in Class 01 on the surface, and two had expressed their willingness to fall slightly behind in exchange for pills.

But there was no way to rule out the possibility that others would score higher than him.

He had also contacted the Blood Circulation Stage experts from other classes.

A few of them couldn't be bothered to respond to him at all. Xu Kang'an, the one with the highest scores, was the same; he had absolutely no interest in cooperating with him.

Clearly, more than one person wanted to compete for the position of Senior Disciple.

"Want me to make a move? It doesn't matter if my score is a little worse," Tao Bing said quietly.

"Wait a little longer. Let's see how things go," Chang Luan said slowly.

Before long, the entire class entered the Dodge Run field.

It was a serpentine track, with densely packed multi-barrel ball launchers positioned along both sides.

Deng Zhijue shouted, "According to student numbers, charge in one after another at fifteen-second intervals. Ready... run!"

The student with number 01 charged in with gritted teeth.

After only a few steps, a twenty-barrel ball launcher went bang and fired a full twenty tennis balls. Like celestial maidens scattering flowers, they flew straight at him, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

The student hurriedly dodged, but more than five tennis balls struck him.

He let out a muffled grunt, gritted his teeth, and kept running.

When the second student saw the tennis balls rolling on the ground, his heart sank.

The farther back they went, the harder it became.

"Next!" Deng Zhijue's voice rang out.

The second student began to run.

Soon, it was Zhou Leng's turn.

Zhou Leng charged in like a leopard, but he did not use his full strength.

Bang!

The first wave of twenty tennis balls fired. Zhou Leng kicked off with his right foot, and his body suddenly accelerated and sprang forward, instantly dodging every ball.

When he reached the middle section, more than a dozen ball launchers suddenly fired all at once. Over a hundred balls erupted from both sides like a torrential downpour.

Whether he accelerated or retreated, he could not completely evade them.

Zhou Leng immediately stopped, twisted his body to dodge, and writhed at high speed like an upright earthworm.

Smack! Smack!

Two hits.

Zhou Leng continued running.

"Minor Accomplishment in movement technique. Not bad. He has a chance of reaching ninety points this time too," an instructor said with a light nod.

The student with number 08 ran at full speed, but he vaguely sensed Something Was Wrong.

Whoosh...

What had just gone past him?

Could someone overtake him despite a fifteen-second interval?

The frustrated number 08 could only watch as Zhou Leng raced down the serpentine track ahead.

"Students who have finished, pick up the balls from both sides of the track and throw them back into the ball launchers!" Deng Zhijue shouted.

The students ahead began picking up balls and tossing them back.

Before long, Zhou Leng dashed out across the finish line.

"How many points did Zhou Leng get?" an instructor could not help asking Deng Zhijue.

Deng Zhijue glanced at the tablet in his hand and quietly said, "Total time: 52.07 seconds. Hit seven times. Ninety-four points."

"This kid has some real skills."

"His reaction speed and visual tracking ability are exceptionally strong."

The instructors looked at the figure Bent Down to pick up balls. He appeared utterly ordinary.

After the second subject ended, Deng Zhijue sent a screenshot of the whole class's results to the group.

Zhou Leng stood in first by a cliff-like margin. The second-place student had only eighty-eight points.

Looking at that score, all the students fell silent.