Huang Yu's face instantly flushed with an awkward blush. He gave an embarrassed little laugh, hunched his shoulders, and dodged Wang Ruiming's nearly blazing gaze.
"Fifth place, 138 points..."
"..."
"Fifteenth place, 128 points, Xue Jun."
"Sixteenth place, 125 points, Wang Ruiming."
Once the scores had been read out, some families rejoiced while others grieved.
Wang Ruiming's smugness from earlier had long since vanished. All that remained was shock at Li Wen's sudden rise and frustration at the gap between his own results and expectations, mixed with the grief of having been mercilessly deceived by the "study slut" beside him. He wanted nothing more than to throw his head back and howl.
Ding-a-ling—
The bell marking the end of morning classes dispelled the joy and gloom in the classroom.
[Profession: Scholar lv3 (193→217/400)]
As Li Wen packed his books, his gaze swept over the profession panel floating in midair, its experience bar having quietly climbed another notch.
His lv3 experience bar was already more than halfway full, nearing 218 points. He let out a long breath and stretched his muscles, stiff and slightly sore from sitting so long.
The official final exams began tomorrow. Six subjects in a row—and if he could perform at today's level in math for all of them... reaching lv5 in [Scholar] was no pipe dream.
At the thought of lv5, a blaze of eager anticipation kindled in Li Wen's eyes.
He knew that lv5's [Absolute Focus] would be a qualitative leap! Not only would its comprehension boost rise to a terrifying 50%, more importantly, it would become controllable for the first time.
He could finally decide for himself how long to activate this powerful skill. He would no longer be trapped in a dangerous state where only an outside interruption could stop it, or else it would drain his mental strength and willpower dry.
This would be his most crucial trump card for the final martial arts assessment and the approaching Flying Star Class selection.
But what set his heart pounding most right now was this afternoon's training. He clenched his fist, feeling the power surging through his body.
"Rainbow Light Blade Art... today, I'll finally master the basics."
Repeating the goal silently to himself, Li Wen's eyes blazed with fighting spirit. He strode out of the classroom and headed resolutely toward the martial arts training room.
Time was short, and the final exams were imminent. Every improvement mattered.
The afternoon sun slanted through the light-filtering layer of the Qingshi No.3 High School Library's enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long, orderly grid-shaped shadows across the training room's polished floor.
The air was filled with the scent of dust dancing in the beams of energy, mingled with the faintly metallic tang of sweat and cooling metal.
This was the battlefield Li Wen had chosen—the training room on the library's top floor. Less than two days remained until the finals' blade-edge hour.
"Haah—" Li Wen drew a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, clearing away distracting thoughts.
His left hand gripped the cold sheath of his Standard Quick Blade, while his right rested firmly on the hilt wrapped in nonslip cloth.
His knees bent slightly, and his muscles tensed in an instant, like a spring compressed to its limit.
"First form—Long Rainbow!"
His thoughts flashed, and the instant he issued the command, his body had already become a blur. His legs unleashed astonishing force, propelling him forward in a sudden burst.
"Shing~"
A faint yet razor-sharp sound of air being sliced apart rang out.
The quick blade, which had been resting securely in its sheath, was drawn by Li Wen at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Its cold gleam traced a brief but distinct line of light through the air.
The movement was crisp and clean, the draw and horizontal sweep flowing together as one. It was far faster than the limit of any form he'd performed in advanced blade arts.
The strength of Peak Blade Art lay not only in the finesse of its moves, but also in their perfect integration with footwork.
As a Peak Technique, the essence of Rainbow Light Blade Art was the pursuit of ultimate speed: the blade had to be as swift as light, and the body had to move like the wind.
Only by reaching the state where "the body moves and the blade follows, the blade follows as the body turns" could one finally approach the martial artist's supreme realm of "body, mind, and technique as one."
This blade art made speed the foundation of both attack and defense. On the advance, it could tear through the sky; on retreat, it could vanish without a trace. Only by moving freely between advance and retreat could one remain undefeated in a true fight to the death.
"Still nowhere near as fast as the instructor demonstrating it... but..."
Li Wen finished the form and stood still, carefully absorbing the muscle memory and the air's response to his sudden burst. His gaze was sharp.
"It should be more than enough for tomorrow's final exam."
The final exam was a chance to show what he could do, to prove himself, and to fight for a place in the top ten of his class and the prize money.
A brief rest was meant to make the next burst even more focused. Li Wen made a few adjustments, waited until his breathing steadied, then immediately began the next round of practice.
He put all distractions aside and began practicing the remaining sixty-three forms of Rainbow Light Blade Art one by one.
Thanks to his painstaking breakdown of the moves under the holographic projection and the passive effect of [Once Proven, Forever Proven], the first fifty forms were already etched in his mind.
His execution wasn't as effortless or imposing as that of the senior in the blue martial outfit, but it was still smooth and accurate, with each movement properly performed. He had barely met the standard for Initiation.
However, starting with the fifty-first form, the difficulty rose sharply! His movements began to falter, and his steps grew heavy.
His body couldn't move as fast as the blade path he pictured in his mind, or the subtle changes in the techniques made it impossible for his footwork to align perfectly.
The farther he went, the harder it became, especially with the final dozen forms—the fifty-eighth, "Star Breaker"; the fifty-ninth, "Cloud Chaser"... and the sixtieth, "Shadow."
Either the blade fell half a beat behind and its path strayed by a hair, or his step landed just a fraction too heavily, causing him to miss the perfect point to exert his strength.
His body and the blade were like gears that had yet to mesh properly, always just a hair's breadth from catching together.
Each failure lashed his heart like an invisible whip. A hard-to-describe restlessness began to build in his chest, as if tiny sparks were skittering around inside him.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Every failed repetition drained more of the strength and mental energy he'd built up that afternoon.
"Haah... don't rush." Li Wen took another deep breath, forcing the agitation back down.
The passive effect of [Once Proven, Forever Proven] was his greatest support right now.
"Don't lose focus. One form at a time. As long as I succeed once, my body won't forget. I just need to succeed once!" He repeated the words to himself, anchoring his resolve.
He changed his strategy, no longer wasting time practicing the forms in sequence. Without hesitation, he singled out the final moves that kept tripping him up and practiced them over and over.
Focus meant gathering all his mental energy around a single goal.
The training room seemed to become an isolated island where time raced by. Only Li Wen's figure repeated the same movements again and again, the blade's soft hiss as it cut through the air, and the faint little patter of sweat dripping onto the floor.
Sweat soaked through his training vest and clung to his back, outlining the lean, powerful frame of a young man.
His breathing grew ragged, and fatigue made his movements tremble, but his eyes, bright with total concentration, shone with astonishing intensity.
The golden glow of sunset gradually spread across the training room, warming everything in its path, yet mercilessly reminding him that time was passing.
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