"Family income under one hundred thousand a year?"
A look of surprise crossed Zhao Qingli's pretty face.
She had seen plenty of so-called geniuses in the Ordinary Class.
Even with Primitive Talent, as long as enough resources were poured into them, they could just barely catch up to the Key Class's tail end.
But a family income under one hundred thousand a year meant a poor household.
An Ordinary Class student from a poor household making it into the top hundred in the grade?
That was exceedingly rare.
"What?" Wang Ziang looked at her and smiled. "You think he's a hidden dragon, too?"
Zhao Qingli replied calmly, "The director's judgment is, of course, impeccable."
"Making it into the top hundred in the grade has already proven his potential. If I were in his circumstances, I might not have done any better."
Wang Ziang gave her a long look.
What he admired most about this woman was that, despite being incredibly wealthy, she never flaunted it.
Of course, admiration was one thing.
To Wang Ziang, if you had the means to show off but didn't, what was the point of being alive?
"Don't sell yourself short."
Wang Ziang smiled. "Take me, for example. My family's circumstances are only so-so, yet I'm still third in the grade. That's the advantage of Nascent Talent."
The girl shot him a cold look.
Compared to hers, Wang Ziang's family was indeed only so-so.
But compared with Jiang Ye? His family absolutely counted as wealthy.
Still, Zhao Qingli didn't argue.
Just as Wang Ziang had said,
no matter how outstanding Ordinary Class students were, they still had Primitive Talent.
With hard work and various other factors, Primitive Talent might allow them to struggle to keep up in the early stages of cultivation.
But once they reached the Starry Sky Refinement stage, their true disadvantage would be exposed.
A hidden dragon? At most, a few dragon scales had sprouted on its body. It might look wondrous at first, but it was still nowhere near a true dragon.
In the hall,
Jiang Ye woke up in the virtual cockpit. By then, everyone in Class Nine had finished the assessment.
When he saw his ranking, he let out a long breath of relief.
Top hundred in the grade!
"I just wonder how much the scholarship is."
Jiang Ye muttered to himself.
On the way back to the classroom, he suddenly spotted Li Zhichao, looking utterly dejected.
"Congratulations, first place." Li Zhichao saw him too and immediately said, his face pale.
Jiang Ye's mouth twitched.
Even if Li Zhichao had lost first place to him, did he really have to be this sad?
Anyone who didn't know better would think his wife had been stolen!
"Buddy, are you okay?" Jiang Ye couldn't help asking, trying to comfort him.
"I'm fine."
Li Zhichao shook his head and sighed. "I'm just a little disappointed in myself. I didn't manage to meet my goal of getting a shot every day this summer."
"..."
Now Jiang Ye didn't even know how to comfort him.
Was he supposed to encourage Li Zhichao to work even harder at getting shots?
In the end, Jiang Ye could only pat him on the shoulder, acknowledging that some things were just part of life.
Back in the Martial Arts classroom,
the electronic blackboard at the back of the room was already displaying the class rankings for the assessment.
Jiang Ye was unsurprisingly in first place.
But at that moment, Jiang Ye's eyes fell on the name at the bottom of the rankings.
There, in gray, was a name:
"Xia Qing."
It had been over a month since she disappeared.
And to this day, there still wasn't a single clue.
To prevent panic from spreading, the school explained the disappearance of individual students by saying they had transferred or dropped out.
But it didn't take long for people to realize something was off.
Not long after the start of the school year, the school had arranged a safety lecture that mentioned the Hidden Spirit Organization and revealed its traits and dangers.
They had also repeatedly stressed that students should avoid going out at night.
It was hard not to suspect that the classmates who had suddenly disappeared were connected to the Hidden Spirit Organization.
"Those bastards in the Hidden Spirit Organization are even worse than the Shadow Clan."
After the lecture, many students clenched their fists in secret.
Only Jiang Ye sighed inwardly.
He knew very well that the Hidden Spirit Organization had a way to make people stronger at an astonishing pace.
Not everyone could resist that temptation.
He had a cheat to rely on, so he truly had nothing to fear from it. But what about everyone else?
Among the countless students with Primitive Talent who followed the usual path through school, only a handful would rise above the crowd.
Most of them would end up as wage slaves, dregs of society.
If there were a chance to grow strong quickly and rise above everyone else,
would you take it?
"I can't control other people. I can only control myself."
Jiang Ye took a deep breath.
"Making the top hundred in the grade is only the beginning."
"I'll climb the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder the same way—one step at a time, until I reach the very top and become the strongest!"
Jiang Ye's gaze was firm and pure.
At the mention of the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder, something stirred in his heart.
He had tried climbing it again two days earlier.
As it turned out, he could now make it halfway up the Second Layer.
If he kept progressing at this rate,
Jiang Ye guessed that once he broke through to perfection in the Cultivation Method, he might be able to reach the Second Layer.
"I wonder what the reward for the Second Layer of the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder will be," Jiang Ye thought eagerly.
When he had reached the First Layer, he had received no fewer than three rewards.
The reward for the Second Layer ought to be even more generous.
But he would have to wait until he perfected his Cultivation Method before he could find out.
In the Martial Arts classroom, Chen Zilu, dressed in a White Martial Arts Uniform and white lace-trimmed socks, strode in to begin the first Martial Arts class of the new semester.
Jiang Ye listened attentively.
Before long, he was delighted to discover that he had gained far more from this class than he had imagined.
Thanks to the fifty percent increase in his comprehension,
and the effect of Friend of the Ancestor,
the progress he made on the Star Martial Cultivation Method in a single class was more than double what it had been before.
"Maybe I won't even need a whole semester to perfect my Cultivation Method!"
Jiang Ye felt immensely satisfied.
Three days later,
Jiang Ye was summoned to Chen Zilu's office.
"Teacher."
Jiang Ye looked at the cool, striking woman before him, anticipation stirring in his heart. He had a vague idea what she wanted.
Chen Zilu got straight to the point.
She took two stacks of cash out of her desk drawer.
"This is your financial aid for the semester and your reward for making the top hundred in the grade," Chen Zilu said.
Jiang Ye took the money and opened the bags to look inside.
He had come in second in the final assessment, so his financial aid was ten thousand yuan.
As for the reward for making the top hundred in the grade—
"Twenty thousand?"
Jiang Ye was a little surprised. The reward for making the top hundred was actually larger than his financial aid.
"You're already a student from a poor household, and you're in the Ordinary Class," Chen Zilu said with a smile. "The reward for making the top hundred will be a little higher, too."
"But this is a one-time thing."
She added, "Normally, anyone ranked below fiftieth in the grade only gets a ten-thousand-yuan scholarship."
At that, Jiang Ye's thoughts stirred.
He'd gotten special treatment. Could it be his teacher who had requested it?
"Thank you, Teacher," Jiang Ye said sincerely.
Chen Zilu smiled. "This time, it wasn't me. Director Zhang put in the request for you."
"Director Zhang?" Jiang Ye was a little surprised.
Then he couldn't help sighing to himself.
Once his strength and talent improved, it seemed like more benefactors started appearing around him.
Where flowers bloom, butterflies come.
These thirty thousand yuan would be another substantial help to him.
In the days that followed, Jiang Ye kept up the same two-point routine of cultivation.
Time flew by.
Thanks to the fifty percent increase in comprehension,
Jiang Ye's strength rose at an astonishing pace.
Star Martial Cultivation Method: Great Accomplishment (60%) Great Accomplishment (70%) Great Accomplishment (80%) Great Accomplishment (90%) Great Accomplishment (99%)
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