Ai Ning's Challenge

Shen Donglin had long harbored doubts—why would a child who should be in school skip the Joint Exam and become a Wilderness Hunter instead?

He focused intently on the conversation between the two in the surveillance feed, and sure enough, he spotted something off.

According to what Chu Ming said, Jiang Yan was originally a student at Linjiang First High School, but for some unknown reason, he got expelled?

A genius who had mastered Blade Momentum, not only failing to receive the school's support, but instead ending up adrift in the wilderness—this made Shen Donglin especially curious about the truth behind it.

"Blade Momentum—what a genius!" Shen Donglin sighed. After all this time here, someone had finally managed to surprise him.

That was right. Shen Donglin was well-traveled and knowledgeable; the moment Jiang Yan drew his blade, he sensed something unusual.

At first, Shen Donglin didn't believe it. How could a kid who looked no more than eighteen or nineteen have grasped something as profound as Blade Momentum?

It wasn't until Jiang Yan's near-instant victory over Chu Ming that Shen Donglin dared to confirm Jiang Yan was indeed using Blade Momentum.

Shen Donglin's mood shifted to fury. A genius who had mastered Blade Momentum, and instead of studying properly at school, they expelled him?

Did this mean their talent screening system was flawed, or... was there something else going on?

"Liu Hair-Ren, I expect a reasonable explanation from you."

Liu Hair-Ren was drenched in sweat. He never imagined that an unintentional move would backfire and trip him up.

He grimaced and said, "This isn't my fault. He was the one who insisted on dropping out. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't."

Liu Hair-Ren concealed the fact that he had banned Jiang Yan from the Martial Arts Field. If Shen Donglin found out about that, he'd have his skin flayed off.

He just had to tough it out. This would eventually become just a minor mistake in his work record. Time would smooth everything over.

"It better be."

Shen Donglin snorted coldly, clearly not buying Liu Hair-Ren's words.

The meeting room fell silent. On the monitors, scenes of students fighting played out, but Jiang Yan's figure had vanished from view.

After killing Chu Ming, Jiang Yan's mind was calm. In the days of battling ferocious beasts, he had grown accustomed to blood and slaughter, not even twitching an eyelid through the process.

He didn't know how the authorities would handle this, but Jiang Yan didn't regret his choice.

This was the wilderness. Under Blue Star law, his killing was legal and justified. Even if it went to court, he had a case.

After slaying a few more Second-Order Ferocious Beasts, Jiang Yan realized that killing monsters now was far too easy.

"Looks like I can start considering Third-Order Ferocious Beasts."

Aside from that freakish Void-Rending Weasel in the Combat Space, Jiang Yan hadn't encountered a single Third-Order Ferocious Beast yet.

"Soaring Cloud Sword Slash!"

A dazzling flash of white light swept past, and a two-meter-tall Second-Order Ferocious Beast, a Giant Demon Scorpion, crashed to the ground, lifeless.

Ai Ning sheathed his sword and casually ordered his underlings to collect the materials from the beast.

In this Joint Exam, Points were mainly earned by gathering materials from ferocious beasts. Of course, one could also skip killing beasts and just snatch Points from other students instead.

The underlings gathered the materials and handed them to Ai Ning.

"Boss, should we go deeper to kill more beasts?"

By now, this group of underlings followed Ai Ning's lead. While everyone else was terrified of their first encounter with ferocious beasts, Ai Ning alone charged in with his sword like he was walking on open ground, sending the beasts fleeing in panic.

As his followers, all they had to do was pick up scraps and rack up decent Points. Maybe they could even squeeze into the top hundred and snag a reward.

"No need to hunt beasts anymore."

But Ai Ning casually spat out a few words.

"What? If we don't kill beasts, where do we get Points?"

Ai Ning carefully wiped his sword tip and said without hesitation, "Don't those students have them?"

"Boss, you mean—"

"Split up. Lure the students from other schools over here, and I'll take care of them all at once."

"Boss, this..."

"Just a bunch of rabble. I'll handle them with one hand."

Hearing this, the underlings were all awed by Ai Ning's domineering words.

Ai Ning's meaning was clear: he wanted to challenge everyone!

What kind of confidence was that? If anyone else had said that, they'd be laughed at by outsiders, who'd think they were just grandstanding.

But Ai Ning was different. He truly had the strength to back it up!

The underlings quickly scattered, heading off to find students from other schools.

This scene was also seen by everyone in the meeting room.

With Jiang Yan's feed gone, all attention returned to this genius who had awakened his talent as a freshman.

"Is Ai Ning crazy? Our school's students aren't pushovers!"

"Exactly. Ai Ning might be strong, but that doesn't mean he can brag about taking on everyone else by himself, does he?"

Ai Ning's arrogance rubbed all the Principals the wrong way, each feeling that their own school had been overshadowed by Linjiang First High School.

Liu Hair-Ren's face regained its confidence. Others thought Ai Ning was full of hot air, but he had personally witnessed Ai Ning's strength—there was only one word for it...

Monstrous.

Sure enough, a bunch of underlings started scurrying around.

"Huangshui Middle School, our boss says you're all trash—come fight if you don't agree!"

"Zeshui Middle School is a pile of dog shit—argue if you dare."

"That guy not wearing a uniform, our boss says you're a scrub. What, got a problem? Come face our boss if you've got the guts!"

Jiang Yan: ?

Had he just been challenged?

The guy shouting ran fast, but how could he compare to Jiang Yan?

He shot out, grabbed one man by the neck, and lifted him up, his icy gaze sweeping over the weakling.

The words "Linshui Middle School" on his chest stood out sharply.

"Heh, I really do have a fate with Linshui Middle School."

"Cough... cough, our boss is Ai Ning from First High... Blood Coagulation Mid Stage. You'd better let me go."

"Ai Ning?"

At the mention of that name, Jiang Yan's mind automatically conjured up a man who held his head high as if touching the sky.

The pride of First High—awakened his talent at fifteen, broke through Body Tempering at seventeen, stepped into Blood Coagulation Mid Stage at eighteen. The sole prodigy of Linjiang First High School, crushing everyone to become the strongest existence.

The complete opposite life template to Jiang Yan, who couldn't even open his apertures.

Back then, who would have thought that Jiang Yan, a guy who couldn't open a single aperture, would ever cross paths with someone like Ai Ning?

Interest piqued, he kicked the man in front of him: "Lead the way."

"Soaring Cloud Sword Slash!"

"Falling Rainbow Piercing Sun!"

Boom!

Ai Ning watched the Huangshui Middle School student collapse among the rubble, let out a cold laugh, and couldn't help taunting a few of them:

"Tsk tsk, even your strongest from Huangshui couldn't block two of my sword strikes, and you still dare to call yourselves the best?"