Physical Assessment Begins

May 1st. Today is the day when students everywhere have their martial artist vitality checked—the moment parents often call "the carp leaping over the dragon gate."

Lu Hao and the others were notified to wake up early to get their blood flowing at the hotel so they would be in top form later. Lu Hao simply swung his blade a few times and didn't do much else.

After all, with his current vitality value, even if he didn't perform at his best, taking first place wouldn't be a problem.

At eight o'clock, they boarded the bus and arrived at the Magic City No. 1 Physical Examination Center shortly after.

Outside the building, five student teams stood in distinct, clearly defined groups.

These were the candidates from Magic City who had chosen to take the martial arts entrance exam.

Magic City is divided into six districts: Beiding District in the north, Nanfeng District in the south, Xijiang District in the west, Dongpu District in the east, and the central commercial hub, Wanhui District.

There is also the area near the southeastern coast, which was specifically zoned as a university town; that is where Magic City Martial Arts University and several other martial arts colleges are located.

As soon as Lu Hao and his group arrived, they got off the bus and gathered to wait.

The surrounding students were buzzing with discussion.

Even Lu Hao's classmates were debating who had the strongest vitality.

Generally speaking, Wanhui District has the strongest talent among the five districts of Magic City. Since Wanhui is not only a commercial hub but also a foreign trade zone, the martial artists there are rarely short on money. With the resources provided, it is easy for them to achieve results.

"That must be the group from Wanhui District, right?"

"I heard they treat pills like pocket change, using Blood Vitality Pills every day to recover their vitality and temper their bones."

"Wanhui District will probably take first place again this year; after all, they have so many resources."

The surrounding students talked most about the students from Wanhui District. As the region that had won the championship for many consecutive years, they naturally piqued everyone's curiosity.

After waiting for a while, they were finally allowed to enter the physical examination center, and all five teams began their testing simultaneously.

Lu Hao followed his team to begin the examination.

External physical examination—checking for major scars to prevent them from being too large, which could cause vitality to rupture during a breakthrough and lead to serious consequences.

Lu Hao didn't have any major scars, but he had a lot of small ones, all caused by opponents in the Duel Arena.

The examining doctor didn't say anything about Lu Hao's numerous small scars. After all, it is very normal for martial artists to have some minor injuries; martial artists must compete, and clashes between them are a common occurrence.

Next was the vitality test.

In the vitality testing area, everyone lined up to enter a Vitality Chamber. Inside, one must stimulate their vitality to the maximum, which then allows the machine to detect their vitality value.

"No. 01, Xijiang No. 1 High School, Ke Jincheng, ID 20083451280."

"No. 02, Dongpu No. 1 High School, Shi Yuelan, ID 20083462530."

As the staff in the testing area began calling out names, students started entering the Vitality Chamber one after another to begin their tests.

Before long:

"No. 76, Wanhui No. 1 High School, Zhao Lei, ID 20083462764."

"That's Zhao Lei. I heard he's the strongest person at Wanhui No. 1 High School. They say he's already reached the mid-stage of the first grade."

"Yeah, I heard from others that Zhao Lei has always been an overwhelming presence at his school. It looks like this year's Magic City top scorer will be Zhao Lei."

Listening to the chatter around him, Lu Hao watched as a boy with an unremarkable appearance but an exceptionally determined expression walked out.

Mid-stage first grade, interesting. And he's a double-tempered bone cultivator; he looks like a genius.

As time passed, more and more people went to the Vitality Chamber for testing. Finally, Lu Hao heard his name.

Following the staff's instructions, Lu Hao entered the Vitality Chamber. It didn't look like anything special.

Without overthinking it, Lu Hao directly unleashed his vitality. A surge of energy erupted outward, but it was all contained by the Vitality Chamber.

In the back control room:

"Inspector Zhang, could you take a look and see if this Vitality Chamber is malfunctioning? The data shows this Lu Hao's vitality has reached 292. He's already reached the level of the second grade."

"292? It's been a long time since we've seen a genius reach the second grade before the martial arts entrance exam, hasn't it?"

"It looks like this year's national top scorer will be born in Magic City. We'll finally be able to get one over on the capital."

The onlookers around him remarked.

Upon hearing this, Inspector Zhang immediately walked over to the screen and checked it carefully, finding no errors.

He then turned to the principals of the various schools present.

"Which one of you is this Lu Hao a student of?"

"Inspector Zhang, Lu Hao is a student from our Beiding No. 1 High School. He reported that he was doing double-tempered bone cultivation at home this semester."

Liao Jinghui, the principal of Beiding No. 1 High School, replied. He hadn't expected Lu Hao to give him such a huge surprise. Originally, he thought Lu Hao was just an ordinary double-tempered bone cultivator, but it turned out his vitality had reached 292.

"Double-tempered bone? Looking at the data, Lu Hao is still in the first grade. His lower limb bones haven't finished tempering yet; he's at the high-stage of the first grade. With vitality this high, it looks like he's a triple-tempered bone cultivator."

This Inspector Zhang was not a careless man. From Lu Hao's bone-tempering status, he instantly analyzed Lu Hao's cultivation realm and his triple-tempered bone status.

"Triple bone-tempering?"

"It seems Principal Liao is really taking off this time. To reach triple bone-tempering at such a young age, it's hard to say how far he'll go in the future."

"Triple bone-tempering, reaching the high stage of the First Rank—it looks like this year's top scholar is a sure thing."

Liao Jinghui listened to the congratulations from the surrounding principals, his smile unable to contain his pride.

"Pull up the information on this Lu Hao. I'm a bit curious about him."

Inspector Zhang, standing to the side, said.

Before long, a staff member brought out Lu Hao's file. It displayed his basic family information, but there was no record of when he had achieved triple bone-tempering.

However, at the very bottom, Inspector Zhang saw three incredible entries. The records showed that starting in mid-April, Lu Hao had begun taking on missions for the Detective Bureau. In just half a month, he had completed three missions, one of which involved a target at the peak of the First Rank.

This is what a genius is—a true genius, not one of those hollow talents who have vitality but no combat power, the group of principals nearby exclaimed in awe.

"No one is to disclose any information regarding Lu Hao."

Inspector Zhang said to everyone present.

"Understood, we all know the drill."

After the outburst, Lu Hao exited the Vitality Chamber. As for the results, they wouldn't be known until the day after tomorrow, which was also when the Ministry of Education would announce the vitality cutoff lines.

After checking a few other minor things, Lu Hao and the others returned to the bus to wait for the rest of the students so they could head back to the hotel.

"Lu Hao, how did you perform? I'm so nervous, I don't even know if I did well or not."

A classmate who was on decent terms with Lu Hao asked.

"It was alright. My performance was fine; we'll know the results the day after tomorrow."

"Sigh, if I don't pass the vitality line the day after tomorrow, I'll have to go back and study liberal arts. But I really don't want to study liberal arts."

Lu Hao offered a few words of comfort before falling silent. Although Magic City had extremely abundant educational resources, there were still students who couldn't pass the vitality line, accounting for about half of the total.

These people were only here for a three-day trip; after three days, they would be weeded out.