Sorry for stealing your monster, Li Ziyu's saber technique is at the peak level!?

The Sabertooth Wild Boar was still foraging, completely unaware of his arrival. Everything was unfolding according to Wang Hao's plan.

But when he was only thirty meters from the Sabertooth Wild Boar—

Suddenly!

A black afterimage flashed past him with a whoosh.

Wang Hao was startled. He hurriedly stopped, every hair on his body standing on end.

"Fuck! What the hell just passed by?"

Wang Hao rubbed his eyes and instinctively looked in the direction the black shadow had dashed.

The scene before him instantly made his eyes widen.

The black afterimage, whose appearance he could not make out, swept past him and charged straight at the Sabertooth Wild Boar.

The instant the black afterimage touched the Sabertooth Wild Boar, it flashed past.

Then he saw a line of blood. The Sabertooth Wild Boar's head shot into the sky, and its enormous body crashed to the ground.

It had happened so quickly that the Sabertooth Wild Boar was still frozen in its foraging pose.

"Holy shit!!?"

"One-slash-kill against a Level 1 Beginner Ferocious Beast, the Sabertooth Wild Boar!? What kind of strength is this?"

"That silver bracelet—he's a candidate taking the retest just like us?"

"He must be a genius on the same level as Bai Haoran. A genius of this caliber should be in the central area. Why did he come to the outskirts?"

Looking at the scene before him, Wang Hao's eyes widened. He subconsciously swallowed, wearing an expression as though he had seen a ghost.

The silver-white bracelet on that person's right wrist clearly showed that he was a student taking the Martial Arts Exam just like them.

But with strength of this level, which school's prodigy was he?

At the very least, he had to be a Martial Artist on the same level as Bai Haoran, the number-one genius of their school.

Even Bai Haoran definitely could not kill a Level 1 Beginner Ferocious Beast with one slash.

This person should be a powerhouse on the same level as Nangong Ao.

But a powerhouse of this caliber should have gone straight to the central area to hunt Ferocious Beasts. Why had he come to someone else's area?

It was not only Wang Hao. Dozens of meters away, Dahei and Liu Can were equally stunned, staring blankly at the distant back holding the long blade.

"We need to work together just to kill a Sabertooth Wild Boar, but this guy killed one with a single slash—and so cleanly, too."

"His speed is incredible as well, not just his attack!"

"Which school's genius is he?"

After their shock faded, the same question surfaced in all three of their hearts.

At that moment, the black-clad figure seemed to notice them as well. He slowly turned around, revealing a striking face with sharp brows and bright, star-like eyes.

"Hiss!? Yu... Brother Yu?"

When he saw the newcomer's face, Wang Hao's mouth fell open as though he could swallow an egg. Even his trembling tone betrayed the shock in his heart.

The expert who had just killed the Sabertooth Wild Boar with one slash was actually his deskmate, Li Ziyu—the same Li Ziyu whose blood-and-qi test had measured only 0.8, who had been weak beyond belief?

The shock was indescribable.

It was like suddenly discovering that the old man who had always set up a stall beneath your building selling savory pancakes had one day spread his wings like a great roc, leaped over a ten-meter-high city wall, and revealed himself to be a martial arts master.

"Eh? Wang Hao?"

"You're here too? What a coincidence."

Li Ziyu froze. He had entered a state while killing the boar just now, and on top of that, he had been running too fast to notice Wang Hao beside him.

Only after killing it did he realize.

A moment later, Li Ziyu looked somewhat embarrassedly at his deskmate, as well as at Dahei and Liu Can, who had walked over and were gazing at him with reverence.

"I didn't realize I stole your monster. Sorry for the trouble."

Li Ziyu scratched his head, his face full of apology.

Although the monsters in the examination grounds were public property, it would have been fine if he did not know them. But Wang Hao was practically his sworn friend at school.

After Xu Mengyao broke up with him, Wang Hao had often sent him messages to comfort him.

He felt somewhat embarrassed about stealing his monster.

"Not... not a problem, Brother Yu. We only wanted to farm it; we hadn't even attacked yet."

Wang Hao swallowed and cautiously sized up Li Ziyu. He suddenly felt that he could no longer understand his deskmate.

"Still, I feel bad about stealing your monster. How about this? Wait here."

Li Ziyu waved his hand, giving the three of them no chance to object. He shifted his feet, and a gust of wind lifted his figure as he shot toward the distance.

A moment later—less than ten minutes had passed—

Li Ziyu dragged three Sabertooth Wild Boars back by their tails and threw them before the three of them. Their eyes had rolled white, foam hung from their mouths, and their bodies continued to twitch.

"I stole your monsters, so take these three Sabertooth Wild Boars as compensation."

"I'll keep farming monsters. Keep it up, you three."

Li Ziyu pointed at the Sabertooth Wild Boars on the ground, said a few more words to the three of them, and then ran toward the depths of the examination grounds.

Name: Li Ziyu.

Realm: Level 1 Advanced Martial Artist.

Combat Skills: Advanced Raging Bull Body Tempering Method, Peak Level Blade Technique, Vajra Body, Gale Blade Technique, Intermediate Movement Technique.

System: Martial God System.

Function: Can absorb all things and increase blood and qi. Other functions await the host's discovery.

After being fed by so many Ferocious Beasts, his blade technique had now reached the Peak Level.

"...That person just now really was Brother Yu, who had a blood-and-qi test result of 0.8 a few days ago?"

"Am I dreaming?"

"Quick! Check Brother Yu's ranking!"

After Li Ziyu left, the three of them stood rooted to the spot, looking at one another. It took them quite a while to recover.

Wang Hao was still the quickest to accept it. Moments later, he suddenly came to his senses, hurriedly opened the Points rankings on his bracelet, and called the others over to look.

"Hiss! Rank 49!? 160 points?"

"Is Brother Yu really that strong? In such a short time, he's already killed sixteen Level 1 Ferocious Beasts? He fought his way to forty-ninth place among more than ten thousand candidates?"

At the outskirts of the Wilderness Area, in a four-story building not far from the Wilderness Area—

This was a command center temporarily constructed for this year's Martial Arts Exam.

It allowed the various bigwigs overseeing the Martial Arts Exam to watch the proceedings.

In the center of the command room, which covered several thousand square meters, countless monitoring screens were densely packed together. Every candidate's voice could be heard clearly.

When the Martial Arts Exam began, several thousand surveillance drones equipped with ultra-high-definition laser cameras had followed every candidate and spread throughout the examination grounds.

They transmitted clear footage of every candidate back to the command room.

In front of the monitoring screens stood rows of broad chairs arranged in a semicircle around them.

The chairs were already filled with people. They were all staring intently at the images on the monitoring screens without blinking.

"Young as he is, he has already obtained certification as a Level 1 Intermediate Martial Artist. Moreover, he can kill a Level 1 Advanced Ferocious Beast while remaining at the Level 1 Intermediate realm. Nangong Ao is truly powerful!"

"Principal Wang, your First High School was able to nurture a genius like Nangong Ao. You deserve a great deal of credit!"

"There's still a deputy director's position at the Municipal Education Bureau available. Once this Martial Arts Exam ends, you can take it."

In the center of the first row, Mayor Wang Jiannan looked at the golden figure on the screen battling a Ferocious Beast with all his might and nodded in satisfaction.

"Judging from Nangong Ao's performance, he is undoubtedly going to take first place in this year's Martial Arts Exam in Xujiang City."

"Perhaps he may even contend for a ranking in Su Province!"

"It's all thanks to your leadership, Mayor! If the city hadn't strongly supported our First High School, a genius like Nangong Ao could never have been born!"

Beside Wang Jiannan, the bald, gold-rimmed-glasses-wearing principal of First High School, Wang Defa, wore a modest expression.

But the smile blooming across his face and the irrepressible delight in his eyes betrayed his mood.

"Mm, you're too modest. But Xia Lin of No.2 High School is quite strong as well."

Wang Jiannan laughed and praised Liu Youde, the principal of No.2 High School, who sat beside him and wore a white shirt.

The principal of No.2 High School responded with an equally broad smile.

"Damn, Wang Defa and Liu Youde are such bootlickers. What does a genius awakening have to do with them? It's something beyond their control."

From the distant back row, Chen Youde, the principal of Third High School, looked at the flowering smile on Principal Wang's face. Feeling sour inside, he spoke to the principal of Fourth High School beside him.

First High School, No.2 High School, and Third High School had always been old rivals.

Now, the principals of First High School and No.2 High School could sit before the leaders. Principal Wang Defa had even received the mayor's promise of a promotion.

Meanwhile, he, the principal of Third High School, could only sit in the back row on a cold bench. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"There's nothing we can do. Who told our schools not to have geniuses like Nangong Ao and Xia Lin? Tsk, deputy director of the Education Bureau... Old Wang really stepped in dog shit."

The principal of Fourth High School was equally sour, his face full of envy and jealousy.

Chen Youde, the principal of Third High School, fell silent.

Great Xia placed Martial Artists above all else. If First High School could produce a genius as formidable as Nangong Ao, he truly had nothing to say.

Although Third High School also had Bai Haoran, compared with Nangong Ao and Xia Lin, he was still a whole level behind.

"Alas, what a pity. Why doesn't my Third High School have a genius?"

"Those who can enter the top fifty in such a short time are all elites of Xujiang City."

"Secretary Wang, bring up the rankings and let everyone see which geniuses made the list and which schools they're from."

Wang Jiannan pointed at the large screen in the command room and spoke to the secretary wearing gold-rimmed glasses beside him.

Secretary Wang hurriedly nodded.

After some operations, fifty of the tens of thousands of densely packed monitoring screens were enlarged.

Beside those fifty screens, the rankings based on changing Points were also displayed.

The first and second places were none other than Nangong Ao and Xia Lin.

Mayor Wang Jiannan looked down the list from the top, commenting and praising as he went.

"Excellent. Xujiang City has produced so many geniuses this year! This is a blessing for Xujiang City!"

Wang Jiannan finished looking through the list. Before the Martial Arts Exam, all the schools had already reported to him the prodigies with hopes of placing.

With the memory of a Level 3 Martial Artist, he had already memorized all their information.

The fifty people shown in the rankings were basically the same as those reported by the schools.

The only thing that surprised him was Wang Long of Fourth High School. His ranking was actually third, and his Points were catching up to Xia Lin of No.2 High School. It was quite unexpected.

"Looks like this Martial Arts Exam has produced another dark horse."

Wang Jiannan smiled and continued browsing downward.

But when he saw the name at the very bottom of the rankings, he let out a light exclamation and revealed a puzzled expression.

"Hm? Li Ziyu? Why haven't I heard of this name?"

"Principal Wang, is this Li Ziyu from your school?"

"He isn't from our school. We don't have anyone by that name."

Wang Defa also looked puzzled. He first took out his phone and quickly searched for Li Ziyu's name on his school's official website. Only after finding no result did he answer.

"Mayor, Li Ziyu seems to be from Third High School."

Less than ten seconds after Wang Jiannan asked, Secretary Wang softly replied.

"Third High School? Old Liu's school?"

Wang Jiannan glanced back at Liu Youde. After pondering for a moment, he said nothing more and turned his gaze back to the screen.

The footage showed Li Ziyu killing a Sabertooth Wild Boar.

Li Ziyu wore a black combat uniform. With a calm expression, he drew his blade at the Sabertooth Wild Boar before him, struck, and sheathed it.

The blade fell, and the Sabertooth Wild Boar's body crashed to the ground.

The entire movement was as smooth as flowing water, completed in a single breath.

It was so fluid that Wang Jiannan felt he was not watching someone hunt a Ferocious Beast in the wild, but a fishmonger who had slaughtered fish for decades raising his cleaver to chop fish.

It was filled with beauty.

Even the three secretaries beside the two principals, who were watching the screen with them, were stunned.

The blade technique of the black-clad youth before them was practically art.

"What level is this kid's blade technique? Why does it look so practiced?"

Secretary Wang murmured.

"Peak Level Blade Technique!?"

"This Li Ziyu's blade technique is at the Peak Level!"

Wang Jiannan frowned and stared fixedly at Li Ziyu on the screen as he smoothly harvested the Sabertooth Wild Boar's corpse, his face thoughtful.

A moment later, he suddenly seemed to think of something. He shot up from his chair and spoke in astonishment.