Perfect Evacuation

Third Rank Innate versus Second Rank Blood Coagulation.

Jiang Yan had never fought such a comfortable battle.

The silver blade surged with fierce thunderlight as Jiang Yan's momentum sharp, he slashed out a strike midair.

He Xiao's body blazed with towering flames, meeting it head-on with his flesh.

Faintly, Jiang Yan's single slash split into two.

System Log updated: You triggered Multiple Casting.

Two blade auras stacked and hacked into He Xiao's hand.

Puchi!

Jiang Yan sheathed his blade, calmly walked over to He Xiao, who was curled up on the ground bleeding profusely, and wore a helpless expression.

"I thought you were pretty strong."

Jiang Yan had truly just swung casually—no talent, no martial skill activated—yet He Xiao, who had been so arrogant moments ago, no longer had the strength to resist.

He mused inwardly: Am I really this strong now?

The livestream room fell silent. The barrage that had erupted when the two met had now died down.

They had imagined He Xiao, as a Modu native, would suppress Jiang Yan so thoroughly he couldn't lift his head.

They had also imagined Jiang Yan, coming from behind, would overcome He Xiao through sheer perseverance.

They had even imagined the two would end in a draw, both grievously wounded.

But what they never expected was that Jiang Yan, with just one slash, would instantly kill He Xiao, who seemed to possess invincible talent.

This sense of unreality felt less like Jiang Yan had cut down a Modu Prodigy and more like he had sliced roadside weeds.

Effortless and carefree.

Jiang Yan raised his blade, his face icy.

In He Xiao's unfocused pupils, a flicker of terror appeared. "No... don't..."

Jiang Yan brought the blade down.

He Xiao closed his eyes in despair.

"What are you thinking? This is an exam venue—do you think I'd kill you?" Jiang Yan merely used the blade to lift He Xiao's clothes and retrieve the Marked Items.

A flute and a jade token. Jiang Yan stuffed them into his backpack and soared back into the sky.

In He Xiao's line of sight, that towering figure grew farther and farther away.

He forced himself up, wryly staring at the wound on his hand, deep enough to show bone.

With injuries this severe, he would likely have no chance at those two schools from now on.

"There's always a sky beyond the sky~"

Facing such an opponent, He Xiao couldn't even muster the effort of hatred.

Jiang Yan continued hunting targets.

He now had five Marked Items, undoubtedly leading everyone in speed.

And that was indeed the case.

Attentive netizens updated the livestream data of various prodigies in real time, even compiling a Rankings based on the numbers.

With five Marked Items in under an hour, Jiang Yan had no contest as first place on the Rankings.

If the First Round Exam could still be explained by luck or special talents, what about this Second Round?

The voices of doubt grew quieter, replaced by the adoration of countless people.

Jiang Yan's livestream room grew even livelier.

Lucky bags came one after another, and the barrage scrolled endlessly.

Amid the crowd's anticipation, Jiang Yan descended upon the lair of a third-rank Fierce Beast.

Two slashes later, the third-rank Fierce Beast met its end in the northwest.

The Martial Exam wasn't just prepared for prodigies; it also had to accommodate mid-tier examinees. So in this Second Round Exam, Jiang Yan had yet to encounter anything beyond a third-rank Fierce Beast.

With his high-altitude, wide field of vision, Jiang Yan claimed several beasts in a row, bringing his Marked Items to nine.

Just one more, and he could directly evacuate the map, securing first place in the Second Round Exam once again.

Soon, from high above, he spotted a massive Silver Horn Rhino.

Generally, this map wouldn't randomly place Fierce Beasts inside. If you found one, don't doubt it—there was likely a Marked Item hidden nearby.

Jiang Yan dove down. Thunderlight flickered along the blade, Geng Metal Qi enveloped his entire body, and the purple-gold electric light turned into a meteor plummeting straight down.

Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens!

The Silver Horn Rhino was cleaved in half, dead beyond dead.

Jiang Yan searched around, then spotted the "Martial" character mark on the rhino's silver horn.

"Tch, not a bad spot they picked."

With that, Jiang Yan had collected the maximum number of Marked Items.

He stepped on empty air again, heading toward the extraction exit.

"Congratulations to examinee 9527, Jiang Yan, for being the first to perfectly extract from the map."

"Congratulations to examinee 9527, Jiang Yan, for being the first to perfectly extract from the map."

"Congratulations to examinee 9527, Jiang Yan, for being the first to perfectly extract from the map."

The announcement repeated three times, and Jiang Yan's name was etched into everyone's memory.

He was teleported once more to a room resembling a luxury hotel and began tallying up the Points he'd earned.

First to summit in the first round: 300 Points.

First to extract in the second round: 300 Points, plus eight extra Marked Items brought out at 50 each, totaling 400 Points.

Combined Points: 1000.

Far ahead of the pack!

Jiang Yan had taken every single point available across both exams, an undisputed first.

Meanwhile, the other examinees were either being hunted down by vicious Fierce Beasts, or had lucked into a single Marked Item only to be robbed by other examinees, all their hard work going up in smoke.

Others chose the steady path, collecting two Marked Items and then lying low while searching for an extraction point.

In the maze-like city streets, the examinees were like grasshoppers trapped within walls, struggling to find a way out.

Unlike an ordinary city, this map's space was severely limited. Ideas like—

"Why not just climb over?"

"If you're strong enough, anywhere can be an exit."

—had long been anticipated by the officials.

An Air Wall cut off all such crooked thoughts, forcing the examinees to trudge along and find the extraction points the hard way.

Three days to both gather enough Marked Items and successfully locate an exit—it was a massive trial for the examinees.

Along the way, Fierce Beasts, other examinees, and even direction itself were stumbling blocks.

A corner of the Jungle Law was applied to these naive, clueless examinees.

Half a day later, the announcement came again: a second examinee had successfully extracted perfectly.

But the attention was nowhere near what Jiang Yan had received.

People only remember the first; who came second didn't seem to matter much.

Lying on the hotel bed, Jiang Yan gave a thumbs-up to the exam-setter who designed this scenario.

He still believed that after the exam ended, he'd return to the hotel.

Little did he know, this was a privilege exclusive to the first-place finisher.

But as long as he stayed first, privilege would become routine.

His consciousness returned to the Divine Martial Space.

Jiang Yan approached the Combat Space. After breaking through to Xiantian, he formally launched his campaign against the Thousand Vine Flower Demon.

The Thousand Vine Flower Demon had an extremely powerful regeneration ability; to kill it, a single, decisive strike was necessary.

"Begin combat."

Countless vines shot out from the flower demon, lashing toward Jiang Yan.

He severed the vines, dodging to other positions as he searched for the right moment to strike.