"Sanlu? What Sanlu?"
Lin Xuan frowned when he heard that.
"Nothing." Jiang Ye shook his head slightly. "Just some obscure brand of infant formula."
Lin Xuan gave him a baffled look.
Li Zhichao, standing nearby, snorted. "Key Class or whatever? I could get in if I wanted to. I just like staying in Ordinary Class."
"Wow, you really know how to enjoy life."
Lin Xuan chuckled. "I heard there's a chance to win an advanced combat art in this trial, but there are only three spots."
"Super, you'd better work hard. You're already in your second year of high school, so don't let us first-years beat you."
With that, Lin Xuan didn't linger with the two of them. He turned and left.
As a rich kid from Tianlong Residential Area and a top student at Ancheng First Middle School, he had always disdained standing alongside students from Ordinary Class.
Even staying for one extra second was a grave insult to his status and aptitude.
"Super is such a disgrace to Tianlong Residential Area. He's almost in his third year of high school, and he's still hanging around with the riffraff from Ordinary Class."
Lin Xuan looked down on him.
In his eyes, students from Key Class and Ordinary Class might as well have been different species.
"Then again, Super has Inferior Aptitude. He's no different from the people in Ordinary Class."
"I'd better keep my distance from him from now on. We're destined to walk different roads."
Lin Xuan shook his head as he walked away.
Back where they stood,
Li Zhichao snorted. "That guy..."
The other boy had clearly come over to show off, but Li Zhichao had found himself almost unable to argue back!
After all, he was only the top student in Ordinary Class at Ancheng Third Middle School.
Lin Xuan, on the other hand, ranked in the top ten of his year at Ancheng First Middle School's Key Class!
The gap between them was so wide that even being a year older couldn't make up for it.
"When I get back, I'm going to try sticking five needles in one week!" Li Zhichao clenched his fist in secret.
Jiang Ye wasn't dwelling on it. While Lin Xuan was leaving, he opened the panel and checked his stats.
[Constitution: Mortal Body (Class A, Mid)] [Aptitude: Newly Awakened]
"Class A, Mid constitution. So this is what a top student at Ancheng First Middle School is like? He's practically crushing our school from a higher dimension."
Jiang Ye marveled to himself.
Most students in the hall had Class B Mortal Bodies, while a few had reached Class A Lower.
By comparison, Lin Xuan stood out like a crane among chickens.
By now, the hall was gradually filling up.
But the trial hadn't officially begun.
"Is this trial taking place in the Virtual Starry Sky too?"
Jiang Ye looked ahead, puzzled. "I wonder what the trial will involve. They can't just have us hunt Shadow Clan members again, can they?"
He'd asked Chen Zilu about that.
Unfortunately, the trial's contents were strictly confidential. Nobody would know until it officially began.
"For the school, trials are even more important than the final exams, because they can identify the truly outstanding students."
"So the rewards for passing the trial are exceptionally generous," Jiang Ye thought.
"Besides the substantial cash reward, the most important prize this time is that advanced combat art."
Combat arts.
Techniques for battle.
They could greatly increase a person's fighting strength!
The Star Martial Cultivation Method could improve one's abilities too, but it was a basic cultivation method. It focused more on strengthening the body and did little to improve combat power.
Combat arts, by contrast, had immense destructive power.
Students like Zhao Qingli and Lin Miaomiao, who ranked near the top of their year,
had earned high scores partly because they'd mastered combat arts.
"There are only three spots this time."
"That means I have to place in the top three to get that advanced combat art."
Jiang Ye looked around.
Aside from Lin Xuan, whom he'd need to watch closely, a few second-year students from Key Class were taking part too.
They were probably at the bottom of their class, and their Cultivation Methods weren't yet perfected.
Even so, they weren't far from perfection.
They were all formidable opponents.
Just then, Jiang Ye paused in surprise.
"Wang Ziang? What's he doing here?" He looked in that direction, the corner of his eye twitching.
Even the third-ranked student in the year had come to take part in a trial like this? Had he lost his mind?
Wang Ziang was standing on a raised platform.
Contrary to Jiang Ye's guess, he wasn't there to take part in the trial.
He was there to keep order.
"This is so annoying. The director must have nothing better to do, sending me here to keep order in this scorching heat."
Wang Ziang grumbled. "I'm the third-ranked student in my year, for crying out loud. Don't I deserve some dignity?"
Just then, he sensed an unfriendly gaze.
He followed it and immediately clamped his mouth shut.
On a higher platform, a figure had appeared without anyone noticing.
It was none other than Director Zhang Jianwu!
Zhang Jianwu stood with his arms folded, staring down at him with a cold expression.
Wang Ziang pretended not to see him. The director's hard of hearing. He probably didn't catch what I said. Yeah, that must be it.
He casually scanned the hall and dutifully resumed his role as a security guard.
Just then, his expression changed.
"Those two from Class Nine?"
Wang Ziang looked toward Li Zhichao and Jiang Ye, his expression shifting. "Interesting. They both came to take part in the trial?"
"Good. Let's see how they do."
Wang Ziang rubbed his chin.
Although he was convinced that the "hidden dragon" Zhang Jianwu had mentioned that day referred to him, he still wanted to find out whether those two from Class Nine really had anything special about them.
On the higher platform,
Zhang Jianwu wasn't alone. Several other teachers stood there with him.
Zhang Jianwu glanced toward Wang Ziang and silently snorted. That kid's getting bolder and bolder. Now he even dares to curse me. I'll delay his scholarship until next year!
The top ten students in each year received generous scholarships.
But Zhang Jianwu had decided to teach Wang Ziang what it meant to respect one's teachers.
"Director Zhang."
A clear voice rang out.
A beautiful girl in a white dress, her chest full and high, approached.
"Miss Chen."
At the sight of her, Zhang Jianwu's stern face finally broke into a smile.
Hearing him address her that way, Chen Zilu said helplessly, "Director, just call me Xiao Chen."
"Then I'll take the liberty of calling you Xiao Chen." Zhang Jianwu laughed.
He knew that Chen Zilu came from a family whose background was beyond anything a small place like Ancheng could imagine.
So even though she wasn't yet twenty, he didn't dare show the slightest disrespect.
The other teachers present didn't know the full story, but they too watched Chen Zilu with respect.
Anyone the director treated so cautiously was someone they'd be even less wise to offend.
Chen Zilu was already used to people behaving this way around her, so she said no more about it.
She looked at Zhang Jianwu and asked, "Director Zhang, who do you think has a chance of winning the advanced combat art in this trial?"
At that, Zhang Jianwu swept his gaze across the hall.
"A few second-year students from Key Class are taking part in this trial too."
Zhang Jianwu spoke slowly. "Although they rank near the bottom of Key Class, they're among the best in this group."
"Zeng Xueqing and Xu Lei are both popular picks for the top three."
If another teacher had asked, he would have stopped there.
But now, Zhang Jianwu turned his gaze toward where Jiang Ye stood.
He knew that Jiang Ye was a student Chen Zilu was keeping a close eye on.
"As for those two from Class Nine..."
Zhang Jianwu hesitated before saying, "I think their chances of making the top three are only two in ten. Jiang Ye might have a better shot—perhaps three in ten."
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