Watching Li Ziyu disappear from sight, Xia Lin headed toward the lounge.
As soon as she arrived at the lounge, Zhao Yanan and the baby-faced girl excitedly stood up from the sofa and hurried over to Xia Lin, unable to wait another moment before asking her questions.
Admiration showed in the way Zhao Yanan and the baby-faced girl looked at Xia Lin.
They were classmates from the same school and close friends.
Moreover, Xia Lin had always been the person they worshiped!
The campus belle of No.2 High School and a super-genius!
The goal they had always chased!
In their hearts, apart from the few prodigies in First High School's Rocket Class, there was no Martial Arts Exam Student in this generation across all of Xujiang City who could compare with Xia Lin!
However, seeing that Xia Lin did not seem very enthusiastic, Zhao Yanan cautiously asked:
"Xia Lin, did the certification fail?"
"It succeeded."
Xia Lin sighed.
"But I ran into a freak during the test this time. He's the same age as us, with 5.99 qi-blood and 999 Combat Power..."
Zhao Yanan froze when she heard that. It took her a long while to react, and she subconsciously glanced at the baby-faced girl. Seeing that the other girl was just as dumbfounded as she was, she instinctively asked:
"Xia Lin, how much qi-blood and Combat Power did you just say?"
Xia Lin helplessly repeated herself.
Zhao Yanan and the baby-faced girl's beautiful eyes instantly widened. Their red lips fell open as though they could swallow a duck egg, and they cried out in disbelief at the same time:
"Ho... how much!!?? 5.99 qi-blood!? 999 Combat Power!!!? Doesn't that mean he's almost surpassed the advanced level?"
"Oh, that's not all. He's also mastered an intermediate blade technique and a Level 1 attack combat technique."
Zhao Yanan and the baby-faced girl were utterly numb. They were so shocked that, for a moment, they did not even know what to say.
Only after a while did they recover. Their voices brimming with curiosity, they pressed on:
"Who is that boy? What's his name?"
"His name is Li Ziyu. He's a student from Class 6 of No.3 High School."
Xia Lin answered in a distant tone.
Zhao Yanan froze. Why did that name sound so familiar?
"Li Ziyu?? Xia Lin, do you mean the boy from just now? The one around 1.9 meters tall, wearing casual clothes, with black hair, sharp features, and a handsome face?"
The baby-faced girl beside them seemed to have thought of something as well and hurriedly asked.
"Yeah, that's him. I even ran into him at the elevator just now."
"I wanted to greet him, but he looked so cold that I didn't dare..."
Xia Lin looked at the baby-faced girl in confusion and spoke.
The baby-faced girl swallowed, her little mouth hanging open. With a dazed expression, she turned to look at the equally dazed Zhao Yanan beside her.
In a distant tone, she said:
"If I'm not mistaken, that's Xiaoya's cousin..."
"Xiaoya, that's really unfair. You actually deceived your best friend by telling me his qi-blood test result was 0.8..."
"But you did it for my sake, too. A prodigy like that might not even take a fancy to me."
"..."
After the shock, Zhao Yanan was numb as well.
Wasn't her cousin just a dull, poor communicator, honest and simple, ordinary person without any Martial Artist talent?
No matter how she looked at it, she could not connect him with the dazzling genius Xia Lin had described.
If she had not witnessed Li Ziyu's transformation with her own eyes just now, Zhao Yanan would have truly thought it was merely a case of people sharing the same name.
Moreover, when Li Ziyu had spoken with the Martial Arts Association staff member earlier, she had thought he was working part-time at the Martial Arts Association.
Now that she thought about it, that Martial Arts Association staff member had clearly been giving Li Ziyu his Martial Artist Badge!
"This Martial Arts Exam is going to be interesting. Judging from the talent and strength Li Ziyu has displayed, he's certain to become Xujiang City's top Martial Arts Exam Student this time!"
"He might even make it into the top ten of the Martial Arts Exam across Jiangnan Province!"
The baby-faced girl spoke with emotion.
Zhao Yanan nodded in agreement.
Xia Lin, however, did not respond. As if she had thought of something, she only shook her head after the other two turned their gazes toward her and said:
"Li Ziyu can definitely make the top five in Xujiang City, but becoming number one probably won't be possible."
"Huh? Xia Lin, what are you talking about? With 5.99 qi-blood and 999 Combat Power, he still can't take first place in Xujiang City's Martial Arts Exam?"
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
The baby-faced girl froze and looked at her in astonishment. Zhao Yanan's expression also became somewhat puzzled.
"There's something the Vice Principal secretly told me."
"Apparently, the class monitor of First High School's Rocket Class, the number-one prodigy Nangong Ao, had already advanced to a Level One Intermediate Martial Artist a month ago."
"And he also awakened a talent, becoming a Talented Martial Artist!"
"Furthermore, the talent he awakened was Speed Talent, ranked third in actual combat!"
"What!?"
Hearing this news, Zhao Yanan and the baby-faced girl both froze, then revealed astonished expressions.
If that was the case, then Li Ziyu truly was unlikely to defeat Nangong Ao.
After all, among Martial Artists of the same level, the combat ability of a speed-type Talented Martial Artist far surpassed that of an ordinary Martial Artist.
Beside Xujiang City Wall, noon had just arrived, and the sun hung high in the sky.
The several-hundred-meter-tall, imposing city wall blocked the direct rays of the sun, casting a vast swath of cool shade across the ground.
At that moment, several boys and girls dressed in combat uniforms and carrying various weapons surrounded the squad leader in the middle, grumbling unhappily:
"Comrade, we're Martial Arts Exam Students! We have the ability to protect ourselves, so why won't you let us leave the city?"
"Exactly! Look, our combat uniforms and weapons are all ready. Going out to hunt vicious beasts will be a piece of cake. Hurry up and let us out!"
Looking at the chattering boys and girls before him, the squad leader spread his hands helplessly and explained:
"Students, it's not that I don't want to let you out. Xujiang City really does have regulations."
"Anyone below the Level 1 Martial Artist realm can leave the city only once a month. Unless you have a Martial Artist accompanying you, it'll be very dangerous outside. I'm only thinking of your safety!"
"You've already gone out once this month, so you can't leave again."
The squad leader patiently explained, but displeasure remained on the boys' and girls' faces. One cute-looking girl muttered:
"What do you mean? We had no experience the first time we went out. We wandered around without even encountering a single red-eyed rabbit. This time, we're prepared—we're going to hunt real vicious beasts!"
The others chimed in one after another.
The squad leader wore a helpless expression. These students were all future favored children of heaven. He could neither hit them nor scold them.
Perhaps after graduating from a Martial University, they might even join the military and fight vicious beasts alongside him. All he could do was persuade them with kind words.
Just as the squad leader was racking his brains over how to deal with the situation, another boy's voice came from behind him:
"Captain Wang, I want to go into the wilderness for a bit. Sorry for the trouble—could you open the city gate for me?"
The squad leader froze and was just about to say that no one could leave without Martial Artist certification.
But then he wondered how this voice knew his surname was Wang, so he instinctively turned around.
He saw a boy wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, a Giant War Blade strapped across his back. The boy looked at him with a smile:
"Brother Li? You're leaving the city again?"
"Sure. I'll have someone open the city gate right away."
The newcomer was none other than Li Ziyu, who had just come out of the Xujiang City Martial Arts Association.
After leaving the Martial Arts Association, he had casually eaten some breakfast before hurrying straight to the city wall.
He planned to take advantage of the fine weather to hunt a few vicious beasts and improve his combat techniques.
A moment later.
Three massive gates, each heavy as ten thousand catties, opened one after another.
Li Ziyu thanked the squad leader and walked out.
The moment Li Ziyu left, the group of boys and girls who had been clamoring to leave the city erupted into an uproar.
Before you continue