Picking Up a Bargain

"It can't be wrong; it should be the embryonic form of intent."

Zhou Ting muttered to himself, his fingers tapping unconsciously against the desk.

As a practitioner who had dealt with various combat styles for years, he was quite sensitive to things on this mental level. If it weren't for the fact that many sensations were blurred in a virtual environment, he would have recognized the embryonic form of intent in the opponent's moves long ago.

But it wasn't too late. Since he had confirmed that this kid was a promising talent, things would be easy to handle.

In previous years, such talents would most likely end up at top-tier national institutions like Kyoto Martial University or Modu Martial University, or top-three regional universities like Tianshu Martial Academy or Canglan Martial Arts University.

Continuing to tap his fingers on the desk, Zhou Ting thought for a moment, logged into his Smart Brain Terminal, applied for access in Qingjiang Province, and pulled up Lin Ye's basic information and Ranking Tournament match records.

"Lin Ye, a student at Linjiang No. 3 High School in Nanjiang City. His Martial Dao Ranking Tournament result stopped at the sixth round."

Zhou Ting whispered, his brows slightly furrowed.

He felt that with Lin Ye's ability, he shouldn't have stopped at the sixth round. He then pulled up the recording of Lin Ye's sixth-round match, and his furrowed brows finally relaxed.

"So he ran into a seeded player; no wonder."

"But the movement technique this kid is practicing is actually Lost Track Steps. Interesting."

After watching the recording of Lin Ye's sixth-round match, Zhou Ting understood. It was no surprise he lost after running into a seeded player in the sixth round. After all, when he had repeatedly watched the recording of Lin Ye's fifth round, he had already noticed that Lin Ye's Blood Qi Value was somewhat low, not the level of Blood Qi one would expect from a normal Martial Dao genius.

At the same time, he felt that this student, Lin Ye, was quite interesting. He had previously only focused on Lin Ye's fist techniques and overlooked his footwork. During Lin Ye's match against Zhou Lang in the sixth round, his Lost Track Steps were finally noticed by Zhou Ting.

"However, the strength of Lost Track Steps lies in its perfection; the subtlety of the 'square inch' is not so easy to grasp."

Zhou Ting whispered.

After reviewing the recording of Lin Ye's sixth round, he pondered for a moment and decided to use his one and only result-inquiry privilege as a special guest on Lin Ye.

A moment later, the access request was approved, and he pulled up Lin Ye's performance score.

The moment he saw the score, Zhou Ting was somewhat surprised, as he had achieved the full 60% performance score.

This meant that the review teachers of the Martial Dao Ranking Tournament unanimously agreed that Lin Ye had reached the limit of his current strength during the sixth-round battle.

To go any further, one would have to reach the perfection of a graded martial art and comprehend "reason" to break through the suppression of realms.

This was very difficult. If there really were such a talent, he estimated that Tianshu Martial Academy or Canglan Martial Arts University would likely offer a special admission. He couldn't help but feel fortunate that Lin Ye's performance was still within his expectations.

With this information, Zhou Ting felt more confident about Lin Ye. Combining this with an estimate of Lin Ye's Blood Qi Value and the number of levels he could likely pass in the Illusion Tower, he began to calculate in his mind.

A moment later, he estimated that the little guy's score should be between 700 and 740.

It was a pity; in previous years, this score might have given him a chance at Canglan Martial Arts University, but this year was an exception.

As a member of a regional university, he had learned at an internal admissions briefing not long ago that because of the existence of the challenge levels, the seventh level of the Illusion Tower had actually been lowered in difficulty. This would cause the cutoff scores for top-three regional universities like Canglan Martial Arts University to rise this year, to around 750.

And that was just the minimum admission score; there was also a risk of being bumped out at the edge of the admission line.

This was a great opportunity.

Zhou Ting's heart skipped a beat as he realized his chance had arrived.

"With this kid's Blood Qi shortcoming... his total score is likely stuck in an awkward position." As he said this, his eyes grew brighter and brighter. "Chasing the top three regional universities is a slim hope. But with his score, for mid-to-lower-ranked regional universities, including our Fenglei, it is more than enough—it's even a high score."

But then he thought of another problem.

Although Lin Ye's score was enough to choose any of their regional universities, why would he choose Fenglei Martial University, which was ranked last? In terms of comprehensive resources, reputation, and future platforms, they were clearly less attractive than the schools ahead of them.

More importantly, that area was East Sea Martial University's territory; the probability of him choosing East Sea Martial University or even Nanming Martial University was much higher than choosing Fenglei Martial University.

"No, I must act first and offer him conditions he cannot refuse!"

Realizing the gap between his school and the others, Zhou Ting stood up abruptly and paced his office for a moment, his face slightly flushed with excitement.

He saw an opportunity—an opportunity for Fenglei to recruit an "unpolished gem" with special potential who was only temporarily held back by his Blood Qi Value.

A talent who could touch upon "intent" might, with a little polishing in the future, be expected to win a spot for Fenglei in the most important University Cup.

"No, I can't follow the standard procedure."

"I need to take a special route."

Having made up his mind, Zhou Ting immediately opened the internal communication system, preparing to contact the director of the admissions office and the vice president in charge of admissions directly.

To this end, he also submitted an emergency report, detailing Lin Ye's situation, the embryonic form of "intent" in his fist techniques, and the "window of opportunity" for Fenglei to "pick up a bargain" given the current shift in cutoff scores.

Finally, in the report, he suggested initiating the "Special Potential Talent Recruitment Program" to proactively approach Lin Ye with conditions superior to standard admission, striving for his inclusion.

Meanwhile, at the Canglan Martial Arts University admissions expert review room.

Inside the conference room, holographic projection walls surrounded them, data tablets were scattered across the floating table, and the scent of star power incense was faintly refreshing.

Three experts with different temperaments were sitting around a circular light screen. They were one of the expert groups responsible for the preliminary review of the "consideration list" for Canglan Martial Arts University. Every year, they had to review hundreds or thousands of recommendation reports and related combat recordings from various regions.

The assistant next to them opened the data projection pushed by Jiang He.

"Next, Lin Ye from Linjiang No. 3 High School in Nanjiang City, recommended by Director Jiang He. Blood Qi Value 335; it is said that his Blood Qi increased by 200 points in three months. He reached the sixth level of the Illusion Tower in the martial arts exam and stopped at the sixth round of the Ranking Tournament. The focus is on his fast progress, strong combat awareness, and very steady temperament."

"Fast progress, good temperament, strong potential? It's the same old story. Which recommendation report doesn't write these lines every year? Last year, there was even a recommendation report claiming someone broke 400 in a month, but what happened? It took them a month to go from 395 to 400."

A slightly chubby male expert with a smile on his face thought of the previous reviews, his expression turning much uglier. He looked at the recommendation report in front of him and couldn't help but shake his head. "Since when does Director Jiang recommend such students? Could it be that he owes someone a big favor?"

"Let's look at the combat."

The old man in the center with a cold face and eyes as sharp as a hawk's spoke faintly, "Let the combat speak for itself."

The two experts next to him nodded in agreement, then let the assistant open the combat recording they had collected in advance. The recording began to play, focusing on the battle between Lin Ye and Zhou Lang—the round where Lin Ye was eliminated.

When they watched Lin Ye use the Mountain-Suppressing Fist and actually hold his own against Zhou Lang for a short time, the three of them also noticed the difference in Lin Ye's fist techniques.