Who Supports It, Who Opposes It?

As the students emerged from the secret realm, a teacher from the Martial Inspection Department felt something vibrate in his pocket. He casually pulled out a data receiver specially designed to receive information and tapped away at it.

Ever since the secret realm had suddenly swallowed the students, the Recording Rings' data transmission had been cut off. For more than ten days, no one had known whether anything had happened to them.

Now that they had returned, the data loaded once more.

Hmm?!

The teacher's eyes widened abruptly as he cried out, "Kill count: 311. Seventeen mid-tier demonic beasts, including one at the high-tier demonic beast level?!"

"!!!"

Their hearts skipped a beat. More than a dozen nearby Martial Inspection Department teachers pulled out their own receivers in quick succession, their gazes fixed on the displays, their eyes nearly popping out.

[First Place—Field No. 8: Jiang Qiu]

[Kill Count: 311]

[Detected: low-tier demonic beasts*293, mid-tier demonic beasts*17, high-tier demonic beasts*1]

[Second Place—Field No. 1: Li Juefeng]

[Kill Count: 103]

[Detected: low-tier demonic beasts*95, mid-tier demonic beasts*8]

[Third Place—Field No. 8: Xie Kuang]

[]

"Jiang Qiu's kill count is three times Li Juefeng's?!"

"Could that high-tier demonic beast-level Demon Plant have been killed by Jiang Qiu too?!"

The discussions were like stones thrown into a valley, startling flocks of birds. They happened to interrupt the conversation between Zhao Gongzheng and Jiang Qiu.

"Oh, no wonder you managed to obtain a Demonic Plant Fruit." Zhao Gongzheng paused, nodded as he studied Jiang Qiu for a moment, then raised an eyebrow slightly. "But how did you kill the Demon Plant?"

When Jiang Qiu had walked out of the secret realm ahead of Li Juefeng, followed by all the other students, it had become beyond doubt that he had performed the best within the secret realm. He had already earned the recognition of most of the students.

Even Li Juefeng no longer looked at him with the same indifference he showed other students. Instead, there was an indescribable persistence and yearning in his gaze.

Could it be...

"Director Zhao, he has already mastered the Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique." Li Juefeng, standing nearby, stepped forward. His eyes shone as he cut in, "I could only wound the Demon Plant's outer layer, but his spear pierced straight through it!"

Mastered the Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique?

And he had one-shot a high-tier Demon Plant!

Zhao Gongzheng's cheek twitched. Wu Shan, Li Ang, and the other teachers all raised their brows high. Their gazes, like scattered warm light tracing back to its candle flame, converged entirely on Jiang Qiu's calm face.

Some martial artists went their entire lives without comprehending a single Ancient Martial Spear move of their own, relying entirely on inheritance and study.

Yet Jiang Qiu, a mere high school student, had comprehended the Ancient Martial Spear through his own insights and stepped onto the path of mastery!

The students standing behind them, their heads rising and falling at different heights, quietly lifted their chins as well. Their dark eyes glittered like starlight, as if they had all recalled at the same moment a scene that would remain etched into their lives forever. Their blood boiled, their scalps tingled.

"I had a sudden epiphany and was fortunate enough to step onto the path of mastering the Ancient Martial Spear. It just happened to be enough to kill the Demon Plant."

Light shone in Jiang Qiu's eyes as he smiled faintly.

It was not strange that Li Juefeng had taken the initiative to speak for him. During their days in the secret realm, the person who had spoken with him the most had been Li Juefeng, the one who spoke the least with everyone else.

However, every sentence Li Juefeng spoke revolved around the spear. Whenever he heard a few of Jiang Qiu's insights into spear techniques, he would lament that Jiang Qiu had not entered the Heavenly Prodigy Project—

If his talent had been revealed back in middle school, he surely could have been selected for the Military Department's Heavenly Prodigy Project alongside the principal's grandson, Sun Yongsheng.

All kinds of body-tempering resources, multiple out-of-city practical training sessions to kill demons, numerous combat tests with precious rewards, training in both spear and bow techniques...

According to Li Juefeng, if Jiang Qiu had entered the Heavenly Prodigy Project earlier and received training alongside the many Inner City students, he would have had a chance to compete for the title of one of Plateau City's Ten Great Heavenly Prodigies.

But why regret so much? Just because he had missed out on the Heavenly Prodigy Project's resources, did that mean he could not compete for the Ten Great Heavenly Prodigies?

At that thought, Jiang Qiu lifted his chin slightly, the light in his eyes as sharp as a blade's edge.

In Northwest Province, people always die because of the demon race. I do not want that person to be someone I know, and I want it even less for that person to be myself.

To become strong enough, I first need to enter Northwest Martial Arts University as one of Plateau City's Ten Great Heavenly Prodigies and fight for the highest level of resources, broadening my potential for the future as a martial artist...

"Good. A young man with lofty ambitions. Jiang Qiu, I support you as the best performer in this Practical Training Hunt."

Zhao Gongzheng patted Jiang Qiu's shoulder twice and laughed heartily. "You should follow Teacher Zhang to the armored vehicles first. The rest of you teachers stay behind. We'll hold a temporary meeting."

"Alright."

As soon as he finished speaking, a teacher surnamed Zhang led the students away, carrying the bodies of their remaining classmates. The teachers left at the street corner began discussing matters in low voices.

"Looks like Director Zhao intends to organize a vote for the best performer here. Jiang Qiu should be getting the honor."

"Yeah. This time, the demon race set a trap for us. Most of the Outer City high schools that recently organized Practical Training Hunts suffered severe losses. Even No.1 Middle School, which was rescued in time, lost half its students. Yet he managed to lead most of the students to survival. It is enough to be recorded in the school's history."

"What Jiang Qiu did can already be called an accomplishment. After Plateau City was tricked by the demon race this time, No.1 Middle School, which had always been the main source of outstanding Outer City students, will most likely lose its position, while our competitiveness has not been weakened by much..."

"Quiet." A voice heavy as a ten-thousand-pound boulder forced the teachers who had just spoken to lower their heads. Zhao Gongzheng's hawk-like eyes swept across the silenced crowd. "Everyone has seen Jiang Qiu's performance. There can be no objection to him receiving the best performance award."

At those words, Li Ang exhaled through his nose. He remained silent, his gaze dim.

He would have to find another way to deal with the Spear Spirit Incense he had prepared for his son.

"That is why I kept everyone here—to discuss several other matters." Zhao Gongzheng's expression turned solemn, and a grayish light reflected off his lenses. "Many Outer City high schools suffered accidents during their Practical Training Hunts. Plateau City has already been classified by the provincial department's college entrance examination planning team as a high-risk examination area. It will not be included among this year's candidate examination sites. We must improve our students' abilities to deal with a possibly harsher college entrance examination.

"Also, due to the gap in student enrollment at certain Outer City high schools, the city's Martial Arts Education Department will be reallocating martial arts resources on a large scale. No.8 Middle School has retained a high number of students, so we can fight for a portion of them.

"Therefore, we need to discuss the proportion in which the Martial Spirit Incense, and even the Spear Spirit Incense, allocated here will be distributed among the various fields."

At that point, Li Ang flicked his index finger, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Could such enormous changes really be warranted just because they might have been tricked by several special egg-bugs planted by the Crimson Flame Mother Spider?

Still, that was not bad. Perhaps some new Spear Spirit Incense would be transferred over.

"There is one more matter. I had already considered it; this is not a spur-of-the-moment decision."

Zhao Gongzheng's forceful words interrupted his thoughts, and everyone else focused their attention on him as well. "I have not known the name Jiang Qiu for much longer than any of you. At the time, he was not even on the Outstanding Student list, yet he dared to challenge Wang Guanjia, who was then Class Eight's number one, right in front of me. He left a deep impression on me.

"Later, after Teacher Wu Shan discussed him with me, we decided to seriously teach him spear techniques. I never expected that after only seven days, he would defeat Xie Kuang, the student with the greatest martial arts potential at Field No. 8.

"Then came the Practical Training Hunt. Teacher Wu Shan insisted on choosing him as the first pick, and everyone has heard the results from Li Juefeng.

"Within the secret realm, Jiang Qiu comprehended an Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique move of his own and pierced through a Demon Plant at the high-tier demonic beast level with one strike."

After a pause, Zhao Gongzheng's gaze swept over the bright-eyed crowd. His voice rang like a stone hammer striking a chime. "If martial arts talent with such astonishing progress cannot be called heavenly prodigy talent, then there are not many people in Plateau City worth cultivating.

"He deserves more resources and better conditions. Future resource allocations must favor him.

"And I will request the principal's approval to apply through the Martial Arts Education Department to the Military Department, in the name of all martial artists of No.8 Middle School, for a temporary additional Heavenly Prodigy Project slot for Jiang Qiu.

"Who supports it? Who opposes it?"