900 Points? The Final Rankings

Chapter 48

January 6, 2043.

Li Yuan did not cultivate the Starry Sky Spear Technique or the Dragon Movement Secret Manual in the Virtual Network today.

So, just after three in the morning, he went out as usual.

"It's been several days since I last saw Jiang City at three in the morning." Li Yuan looked up at the pitch-black sky. "Daily cultivation still can't be neglected."

He arrived at his personal Martial Arts Room at school.

As usual, he first cultivated the Basic Cultivation Method for two hours before starting his spear practice.

Whoosh!

Whoosh! The spear shadows shifted unpredictably as the long spear in Li Yuan's hands transformed without end.

As he moved with his footwork, his spear was sometimes like a violent storm, sometimes dreamlike and elusive, and sometimes fierce and savage.

At times, he suddenly thrust straight ahead, and the spearhead's speed would soar, making even the air roar and explode.

Li Yuan had long mastered the eighteen forms of the Rock Spear Technique to the utmost degree.

"I've comprehended all five ultimate killing moves of the Rock Spear Technique."

"Following Teacher Xu Bo's guidance, what I need to do now is practice them again and again, engraving the force circulation of each of the five ultimate moves into my bones." Li Yuan thought to himself. "In the end, I won't need to deliberately use any particular killing move, yet every spear technique I perform will reach a flawless realm of complete force."

"Body-Mind Unity."

"That would mean Fourth Stage spear technique." Li Yuan pondered. "Improving one's technique can only rely on oneself."

"And according to the intelligent teacher, breaking through from Third Stage perfection to Fourth Stage is extremely mysterious. It is a breakthrough where the mind and consciousness sense the body."

"Some martial artists might simply sleep, feel it, and break through."

"Some martial artists might gain insight through repeated life-and-death clashes and break through."

"But even more martial artists remain trapped at Third Skill Stage perfection for their entire lives."

"From Third Stage to Fourth Stage, there is no path guaranteed to succeed." Li Yuan contemplated. "What I need to do now is cultivate again and again."

"A thousand times isn't enough."

"Then ten thousand times!"

"First, I'll cultivate my spear technique to Third Stage 99%." Li Yuan's heart brimmed with longing. "Then I'll enter virtual battles and engage in real combat."

Years of spear practice had taught Li Yuan something.

If he could not break through?

That meant his accumulation was insufficient! Then he needed to practice!

"Read a book a thousand times, and its meaning will reveal itself." Li Yuan swung his heavy spear. "The spear is the same."

"One only ever hears of spear masters forged through practice."

More than an hour later.

[Your spear technique realm has increased from Third Stage 90% to Third Stage 91%]

After seven o'clock, Li Yuan arrived at the classroom.

Most of his classmates had already arrived.

However, compared to the usual scene of most students diligently studying on their own, the classroom was much more stifling today. Most of them were absent-minded.

"Old Zhou, why are you hanging your head?" Li Yuan sat down and asked as he pulled out a test paper.

"Brother Yuan, the January Adjustment Exam results are about to come out." Zhou Qi said gloomily. "Aren't you nervous?"

"Not nervous." Li Yuan shook his head. "The difference is only a few points."

"I forgot you're a martial arts student. Cultural subjects only account for 100 points for you." Zhou Qi sighed. "But I'm a cultural-track student. If I don't do well, I'll get skinned alive when I go home."

"Then you really ought to be called Zhou Bapi," Li Yuan said casually.

Zhou Qi shot Li Yuan a helpless glance, too lazy even to refute him.

"You didn't tell your family about awakening Martial Arts Spirituality?" Li Yuan asked.

"I did." Zhou Qi said, "But what use was that? My dad only asked me one thing: with only a few months left, could I get into a Martial Arts University?"

"A person needs to know their own limits. I never expected to get into a Martial Arts University anyway." Zhou Qi said, "So I've already decided not to join the Elite Class."

"It's enough if I learn the Advanced Cultivation Method."

Li Yuan was speechless.

Indeed, Zhou Qi's physical fitness was only Level 4.3 even now, and his martial arts grades were quite terrible.

Choosing not to join the Elite Class could not be called wrong.

"That's not bad either." Li Yuan smiled. "You've awakened Martial Arts Spirituality and can cultivate an advanced cultivation method. Your martial arts grades will improve much faster."

"Even if you take the cultural route, martial arts grades still account for 30%."

"Yeah." Zhou Qi nodded.

At that moment.

The cultural class's homeroom teacher, dressed in a Chanel-style jacket on top and pencil pants below, appeared at the classroom's front door.

Teacher Chen's face was dark as water. She held a stack of test papers and two ranking sheets.

In an instant!

The classroom fell completely silent. Everyone knew the rankings were about to be revealed.

Especially those students who had chosen the cultural path. Every one of them became nervous, and many could not help lowering their heads.

They silently chanted in their hearts, Don't call my name.

Of course, there were also a few with exceptionally good grades, harboring fantasies in their hearts. Maybe I did well this time and can move up a few places.

Martial arts students like Li Yuan were comparatively much calmer. After all, they at least had a rough idea of their own martial arts scores.

Bang! The test papers were tossed onto the podium.

The atmosphere became even more oppressive.

"This January Adjustment Exam has really exposed your true standards. Every one of you usually loafs around. You don't properly study cultural subjects, and you don't properly train in martial arts..." Teacher Chen's voice was icy. "Do you all think that just because you attend Guangao High School, you'll get into a first-tier university? Keep dreaming!"

"Based on the citywide rankings this time, that small handful of people will have trouble even getting into second-tier universities. I won't call out names. You know perfectly well who I'm talking about!!" Teacher Chen scolded them like a machine gun.

Many students lowered their heads even further.

The January Adjustment Exam.

As the first major unified examination of senior year, its cultural papers were actually rather difficult. The point was to crush the students' confidence and make them settle down to review properly.

At this stage, Teacher Chen, as the cultural class homeroom teacher, would never allow her students to become arrogant.

She scolded them nonstop for more than ten full minutes without repeating herself once.

Even Li Yuan, with his strong mental fortitude, began to wonder whether he was one of the "very few people," "bad apples," and "certain people" Teacher Chen had mentioned.

Finally.

"But there are also a very few students who made great progress, and they should still be encouraged." Teacher Chen spoke lightly. "Alright, I'll announce the cultural paper scores first. Listen carefully."

In high school, no one cared much about protecting the privacy of students' grades.

"Li Shutong, 889 points." Teacher Chen paused. "Second in the grade for cultural subjects."

A wave of gasps immediately broke out. Anyone who could score more than 850 cultural points was unquestionably a top student.

"Li Wanxing, 868 points."

"Zhou Qi, 849 points."

Zhou Qi, who had been hanging his head, immediately raised it slightly, his face full of pride. His cultural grades were quite good.

One classmate after another had their scores announced. Some beamed with joy, while others looked dejected.

Since there were rankings, some would rise, and some would fall.

There would always be half who were dissatisfied.

"Li Yuan, 742 points." When Teacher Chen read Li Yuan's name, she added, "Not bad. You've improved a lot."

Immediately, many classmates turned to look at Li Yuan, making him feel rather awkward.

Those scoring over eight hundred had not been praised.

Yet she was praising him for scoring over seven hundred?

"Brother Yuan, didn't you only score a little over six hundred last time?" Zhou Qi stared at Li Yuan with wide eyes. "You improved by nearly a hundred points?"

"Yeah, I spent more time reviewing lately." Li Yuan smiled.

"Bullshit." Zhou Qi immediately retorted. "When have you ever come to the cultural classroom during evening self-study?"

"I reviewed in the martial arts classroom." Li Yuan answered calmly.

One student's score after another was read aloud.

Li Tianyou's score was 586, already near the bottom of the class. His cultural ranking in the grade was probably even worse than last time.

In truth, among the dozen or so martial arts students, Li Yuan's cultural grades were already far ahead by a cliff-like margin.

After finishing the cultural scores, Teacher Chen did not pause at all before saying, "Now I'll announce the martial arts scores. Listen carefully."

Everyone pricked up their ears.

Now that they knew the cultural scores, once they knew the martial arts scores, they could calculate the conversion and learn their total scores.

Teacher Chen looked at the second score sheet, then unconsciously glanced at Li Yuan, seemingly somewhat hesitant.

"Li Yuan." Teacher Chen paused for a moment before slowly saying, "827 points."

Boom!

The entire classroom instantly exploded. Many people stared at Li Yuan with stunned expressions.

They suspected they had heard wrong.

One had to understand that this martial arts score did not include the converted cultural score. In other words, the total score was only 900 points.

Li Yuan had actually exceeded 800 points?

And by several dozen points!

Although Li Yuan had made a huge splash during yesterday's martial arts assessment, he had not been as overwhelmingly dominant as Lin Lanyue. Yet this score was simply outrageous.

"827 points? Brother Yuan, your converted cultural score is 74 points. Adding that..." Zhou Qi had already rapidly calculated it for Li Yuan. "Holy shit! Brother Yuan, your martial arts total score is over 900!!"

"Your raw score is 901." Even Zhou Qi could not help shouting.

"901 points?"

"A raw score over 900? Li Yuan?" All the students were shocked.

This was simply too ferocious.

Cultural grades could perhaps rise sharply in a short time, but martial arts grades usually improved very slowly.

"Cough, cough, quiet!" Teacher Chen coughed twice, making the class quiet down again.

"Li Yuan did indeed do quite well this time."

"His physical fitness score was 438 points, third in the grade." Teacher Chen said, "His Martial Arts Technique... 389 points, first in the grade."

"His individual Martial Arts Technique score was also first in all of Guanshan District and second in Jiang City."

Boom!

All the students in the class were stirred up and stunned once more.

Whether it was the 389-point Martial Arts Technique score or his second-place individual ranking in Jiang City.

Both were somewhat beyond their understanding.

Normally, a martial arts score like this should not appear in an ordinary class like theirs.

It was simply surreal.

"389 points?" Li Yuan, however, remained very calm. He muttered inwardly, Not bad. It seems if I want my Martial Arts Technique score to exceed 390 or even approach full marks, I'll probably need Fourth Stage spear technique.

A martial arts total score of 901 was already far better than Li Yuan had expected.

"Teacher, Li Yuan's martial arts total is 901. What place is he in the grade? Did he make the top ten?" A student suddenly could not help calling out.

The others also looked toward Teacher Chen with curiosity and anticipation.

A total score above 900.

Even without Spirituality bonus points, his grade ranking was probably astonishing.

Li Yuan could not help looking at Teacher Chen as well, lightly clenching his fist.

Could he make the top five?

"For raw scores, Li Yuan is second," Teacher Chen said directly. "The first in raw martial arts score is Lin Lanyue from the Elite Class, with 929 points."

"As for the final total score, Li Yuan is sixth in the grade and 212th in the city." A rare trace of a smile appeared on Teacher Chen's face. "Based on previous years' rankings, this score gives him hope of charging into the Five Great Prestigious Schools."

Clearly, Teacher Chen was satisfied with Li Yuan's performance beyond measure.

"The Five Great Prestigious Schools?"

"His citywide ranking is already in the two hundreds?"

"Sixth in the grade?" The other students were even more shocked and could not help looking at Li Yuan.

"Brother Yuan, that's fucking awesome!!" Zhou Qi was even more excited than Li Yuan.

"Sixth in the grade?" Only a faint smile appeared on Li Yuan's face, but inwardly he sighed. Still one place short?

(End of chapter)