Heavenly Dao Sect

Jiang Yan was incredibly fast, landing in front of Ai Ning in the blink of an eye.

Ai Ning broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly backed away, muttering nonstop, "Jiang... Jiang Yan, don't come any closer."

Jiang Yan smiled. "I still prefer the way you used to be—wild and untamed. Can you go back to that?"

Embarrassment appeared on Ai Ning's face, followed by a trace of anger, but he quickly concealed it.

"We have no grudges from the past and no enmity in the present. Let me go now, and I guarantee I'll make it worth your while after we get out."

Jiang Yan spread his hands and shook his head helplessly. "Sorry, this is the College Entrance Exam. To me, you're just points."

With that, he stopped wasting words and drew his blade.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Ai Ning roared, raised his sword, and charged forward.

One second later.

Jiang Yan looked at the extra 600 points on his scoreboard, a gratified smile appearing on his face.

"This kid was pretty loaded."

Ai Ning's Martial Exam journey ended there. However, most of the examinees who had survived until now were tough bones. There was little point in continuing to hide, and with these 600 points added to his previous score, he could already get into a decent university.

"Heavenly Thunder Edict!"

In the distance, a yellow Talisman came flying over and exploded in midair. In an instant, a bolt of Startling Thunder descended from the empty sky, accompanied by a vast, rumbling roar.

Boom!

The Thunderfall struck behind Jiang Yan. Aside from blasting a hole in his clothes, it did not even leave a scratch on him.

Jiang Yan turned his head and saw a young man dressed like a Daoist priest staring at his unharmed body with wide-eyed shock.

"Good heavens, I've run into a real monster. This little Daoist is out of here."

With that, the Daoist formed a Talisman with his bare hands. Wind rose beneath his feet, and he swiftly fled the area.

How could Jiang Yan possibly let him have his way?

With the Swiftness Trait and the Battle Saint Armor, he used the Nine Consecutive Steps to tread upon the wind, his figure transforming into a hurricane as he gave chase.

The Daoist's legs moved like wheels. Thinking he had already put some distance between them, he was about to rest when a series of sonic booms suddenly rang in his ears. Looking back, he saw that the man from before had actually taken to the air—and was moving incredibly fast.

"Patriarchs of the Three Purities, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Tathagata Buddha, all Buddhas of Prajna, what the hell kind of monster is this?"

The Daoist cursed and crushed another Talisman, his speed suddenly surging.

"Abyssal Thunder—Annihilation Slash!"

Jiang Yan's aura abruptly rose as he swung his blade at the rapidly fleeing Daoist ahead.

You triggered Dual Casting

The Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash at Subtlety proficiency triggered the momentum of Startling Thunder. Purple divine lightning filled the sky, sweeping forth alongside Blade Momentum.

Endless lightning engulfed the Daoist's body, and a terrifying aura of destruction tore through everything.

"Golden Body Talisman!"

"Heaven-Earth Derivation Spell."

"Infinite Golden Body!"

A chill ran through the Daoist's entire body. He could only feel a force powerful enough to take his life charging straight at him.

"What the hell, which sect's old ancestor came to take the College Entrance Exam? Wasn't it supposed to be ordinary mortal martial artists?"

The Daoist cursed as he exhausted every protective Talisman on his body. The dozens he had inscribed over the past few days, life-saving trump cards meant for the final stage, were all used up.

The Daoist looked back at the lightning filling the sky and swallowed.

"It should be able to block it, right?"

Regret gnawed at his heart. If he had known, he would never have foolishly launched that sneak attack. Now, all his Talismans were gone.

Boom!

Thunder flooded the world as the phantoms of two massive blades came slashing down.

Pfft!

The Daoist was sent flying like a kite with its string cut. He crashed through countless trees before gouging a deep trench across the ground.

Those Talismans had blocked at least ninety percent of the attack for him, but the remaining ten percent was still more than the Daoist could withstand.

He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, and his aura quickly became feeble.

Jiang Yan descended from the sky, his indifferent gaze as lofty as a god's as he looked down upon the barely living Daoist.

"Big brother... it's a misunderstanding."

Jiang Yan did not listen.

He sliced apart the Daoist's clothes, and a score token fell out.

Before the Daoist's despairing eyes, Jiang Yan picked up the scoreboard.

The next second, the Daoist was directly eliminated and teleported out of the examination grounds.

1902.5

That was Jiang Yan's current score.

"Still, a Daoist priest actually entered the College Entrance Exam. That's quite rare."

Jiang Yan muttered to himself, wondering whether there might be disciples of other famous reclusive schools in this exam as well.

That was indeed the case.

Official Live Stream Room.

The person ranked first was neither Shang Xingren, who had been in the limelight these past few days, nor the spear-wielding female war goddess Li Qingyue.

Instead, it was an extremely unfamiliar name, one that had barely shown any presence in the previous rounds.

Heavenly Dao Mansion—Zhang Daoran.

In the live broadcast, Zhang Daoran formed hand seals with his fingers and silently recited obscure words. He assumed a strange stance, and before long, a bolt of lightning as thick as a water bucket fell from the sky, piercing straight through an early third-rank Fierce Beast.

Zhang Daoran's expression was icy. He showed little emotional fluctuation after gaining points, merely looking in a certain direction as his sword-like brows faintly furrowed.

"What a dense Talisman aura. Did Junior Brother Daoqing encounter an opponent he couldn't handle?"

Zhang Daoran had intended to take a look, but after taking one step, he stopped again.

"Forget it. Although Junior Brother usually likes to fool around, since he used so many Talismans, he should have resolved the trouble. There's no need for me to step in."

As he spoke, he turned and headed elsewhere.

Right now, points were what mattered.

Naturally, this scene was captured by the live broadcast.

: Wow, are these the disciples of the Heavenly Dao Sect? They're really strong.

: Hurry, Director, check what happened to the junior brother he mentioned.

: We want to see the Talismans! Director, switch the camera angle already!

The director was naturally happy to oblige and immediately switched the footage to Jiang Yan's location.

Unfortunately, the battle had already ended.

Jiang Yan had also disappeared somewhere.

On the ground was a deep mark left by Zhang Daoqing's fall, alongside a bottomless sword scar stretching across the land. The surroundings were charred black, with faint crackles of lightning still sounding. It was clear that a fierce battle had taken place here.

"All right, the battle here was intense. Let's replay the footage and see exactly what happened."

Very soon, the livestream footage was brought up.

From Jiang Yan defeating Ai Ning, to being ambushed, to eliminating Zhang Daoqing, every part was displayed in full.

When they saw Jiang Yan's face, the Official Live Stream Room truly erupted for a while.

Jiang Yan had almost not appeared on screen at all these past few days, so many people had gradually forgotten about him.

"Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash!"

The moment the thunder blade emerged, the entire Live Stream Room erupted.

"Holy shit, it's the Heaven-grade Martial Skill, Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash!"

"Look, Startling Thunder has appeared, rolling on without end. That is clearly Startling Thunder that only comes with Subtlety proficiency!"

"So Jiang Yan was this strong all along?"

"No, what rank martial artist is he? How is he already cultivating a Heaven-grade Martial Skill?"

Generally speaking, the higher a martial skill's quality, the harder it was to master—especially during the initial stages of the martial path.

At this point, most martial artists focused on tempering their bodies. They simply did not have the energy to cultivate high-quality martial skills.

High-quality martial skills only displayed effective power when paired with high-rank martial artists. Martial artists who had only just begun cultivating had no need to touch such things at all.

For an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old student, having to raise his realm while also attending to martial skills was simply too much to manage.

Yet Jiang Yan had done it. Not only that, he had raised its proficiency to the astonishing realm of Subtlety. It was terrifying beyond measure.

Only after the Daoist Zhang Daoqing was eliminated by Jiang Yan did comments begin appearing one after another.

"This guy is a freak, isn't he?"