The Virtual Starry Sky assessment ended, but Jiang Ye didn't leave immediately. He remained in the virtual space.
He looked at his hands.
"Beginner?" Jiang Ye's face was full of surprise.
Just a moment ago, he had seemed to grasp something all at once, and his fist technique had broken through to an entirely new realm.
A breakthrough in the middle of battle!
But breakthroughs in battle had always been the privilege of geniuses. How could they be so easy?
Reality wasn't a novel.
Besides, Jiang Ye had already felt that his fist technique had hit a bottleneck. He would need a long time to hone it, and even more, the chance to achieve sudden enlightenment.
Yet now, he had crossed that threshold in the blink of an eye?
While the system tallied the results, Jiang Ye clenched his fists and focused on the strange change that had welled up inside him.
"Whoosh!"
A wisp of energy flowed along his meridians, coursing throughout his body.
With the help of his breathing technique, Jiang Ye quickly sank into the artistic conception.
His fists surged into motion!
"Boom! Boom!"
His fists tore through the air, unleashing two bursts of thunderous sound in succession, deep and deafening.
As if heavenly thunder really had rumbled!
"The Eight Divisions Thunder Sound Fist clears the way with thunder and crushes demons and monsters!" Jiang Ye kept throwing punches.
One faint peal of thunder after another rang out, the sound waves rippling without end.
Being able to produce actual peals of thunder meant one had become proficient in this advanced art.
And being able to produce a continuous string of thunderclaps—two or more in succession—meant one had reached the beginner level!
A single punch producing several peals of thunder wasn't merely a difference in sound. It represented a stacking of power.
And the more consecutive peals of thunder, the greater the power, increasing geometrically!
"I really did reach the beginner level!"
Jiang Ye slowly lowered his fists, his eyes shining brightly.
According to his original plan, it might have taken more than half a month to reach the beginner level.
But now, a single virtual battle had helped him break through.
"Was it because my comprehension increased by 50%?" Jiang Ye mused.
Earlier,
Jiang Ting had washed his feet, unlocking the "Saintess as Servant" achievement and permanently increasing his comprehension by 50%.
That tremendous increase in comprehension hadn't just made his cultivation faster.
It had also given him the chance to break through in battle.
"Is this what it feels like to be a genius?" Jiang Ye marveled.
It felt wonderful.
They said that those with talents of Dao Bone or higher—the peerless geniuses—could break through just by eating or drinking.
Though he wasn't quite at that level, he'd now had a taste of it.
Still, when he thought back to the battle, Jiang Ye couldn't help feeling shaken.
"The Shadow Clan really is incredibly troublesome."
Jiang Ye thought of that two-meter-tall Shadow Clan member.
At two meters tall, it was still considered an Infant Body.
Only upon reaching three meters did one enter the Juvenile Body stage.
Of course, bigger didn't always mean stronger.
Once Shadow Clan members grew to a certain stage, their bodies gradually shrank again. Adult Body Shadow Clan members were usually about the same size as humans.
But without a doubt, during the Infant Body stage, the taller they were, the stronger they were.
Even that two-meter-tall Infant Body Shadow Clan member had given Jiang Ye a great deal of trouble.
Even after breaking through to the beginner level in his fist technique, he still wouldn't stand a chance if he went back to face it now.
"Shadow Clan members that appear in the real world are basically all Juvenile Bodies."
Jiang Ye's expression grew grave. "If a Shadow Calamity breaks out, it'll be a disaster for Ancheng."
Before, he'd only heard that the Shadow Clan were terrifying. He'd never truly understood why.
Now that he had grown stronger, he was even more wary of them.
Just then, the system finished tallying the results.
[Best Damage: Jiang Ye] [Best Field of View: Jiang Ye] [Best Martial Will: Jiang Ye] [Fourteen Shadow Clan members killed. Time taken: 29 minutes. Average team casualty rate: 79%.] [MVP of this group: Jiang Ye, 120 points]
The other four teammates had also scored more than 60 points each for making it to the fourth round.
"Man, sticking with Brother Jiang is awesome."
"Brother Jiang, I'll treat you to a drink sometime."
All four teammates were deeply grateful to Jiang Ye.
It felt great to coast to victory, too.
Meanwhile, in the hall outside,
the rankings for the senior class kept refreshing on the giant screen.
Just then, an inconspicuous name shot up to the bottom of the rankings.
[Rank 95: Jiang Ye, 460 points]
"It's Jiang Ye!"
"Someone from our class made the top hundred in the grade!"
The students from Class Nine who had already completed the assessment were all astonished.
Xu Sisi had already woken up, and a look of relief appeared on her face, too.
"Losing to a genius like that isn't so bad." She patted her chest, which she couldn't see.
Some were happy, others were worried.
Near the entrance to the hall, a girl in a red dress watched, her expression shifting repeatedly.
"Jiang Ye? Rank 95 in the grade?"
"His progress is so fast."
Zeng Xueqing frowned slightly. Her own rank was only 86th.
It looked like a ten-place difference, but in fact, the gap was less than five points.
She had a Nascent Talent.
And Jiang Ye only had a Primitive Talent, yet his strength was already catching up to hers?
"I have to work hard and improve. I can't let him catch up to me," Zeng Xueqing thought.
She had once challenged Jiang Ye herself. If he caught up to her and challenged her in return, she'd look like a complete fool.
People could make fools of themselves, but they absolutely shouldn't volunteer to do it.
On a certain set of bleachers,
a cold and haughty girl stood overlooking the entire hall, dressed in a shirt and shorts, her long legs pale and slender.
Not far away stood a young man with a languid expression.
They were Zhao Qingli, ranked first in the senior class, and Wang Ziang, ranked third.
"Jiang Ye?"
Looking at the rankings, Wang Ziang couldn't help muttering, "Class Nine really has produced a hidden dragon."
As far as he was concerned, Jiang Ye's current score wasn't anything special.
But he had checked Jiang Ye's earlier scores.
His rate of improvement was far too fast!
It was easy enough to improve while still below 600 points, but even so, the speed of Jiang Ye's progress had surprised him.
"What are you muttering about?"
The cold girl glanced at him.
Her legs were long and slender, and her face was fair as snow. But the most striking feature was the chest above her slender waist, straining against the buttons of her shirt.
At least an E-cup!
Wang Ziang couldn't help glancing at it, but quickly looked away.
He coughed and said, "You might not believe this, but Director Zhang said something to me earlier."
"What?" Zhao Qingli frowned.
Wang Ziang clasped his hands behind his back and smiled. "A hidden dragon lies in the depths. Sometimes the ones who seem unremarkable are the ones who eventually overtake everyone else."
Hearing that, Zhao Qingli immediately scoffed.
"You're the hidden dragon?"
She gave Wang Ziang a scornful look. "You must have misheard. Maybe the director said 'Crouching Dragon.'"
"..."
Wang Ziang's face remained expressionless, but his fist clenched tightly behind his back. He thought, Hold it in. I'm ranked third in the grade. If she knocks me flat here, I'll be humiliated.
He smiled slightly, calm and unruffled. "The director wasn't talking about me. He meant someone from Class Nine: Jiang Ye."
"Jiang Ye?"
Zhao Qingli scanned the top hundred and did indeed find his name.
"An Ordinary Class student made the top hundred. His family must be quite well-off." The girl nodded.
She didn't care.
When it came to family background, almost no one in the entire city of Ancheng could compare with her.
When it came to talent, Ordinary Class students all had Primitive Talents. They couldn't compare with her, either.
Her sights were already set beyond the school, on the people ranked at the very top of Ancheng First Middle School.
And even beyond that, across the whole of Xishan Province.
But just then, Wang Ziang shook his head. "I asked the director. Jiang Ye isn't some rich kid. His family's annual income is less than a hundred thousand."
Zhao Qingli abruptly turned her head.
Before you continue