Genius? Mediocrity?

In front of the Flying Bird Academy's main gate.

After registering, fifty or sixty students lined up and waited to take the test.

The first test was martial talent.

The academy's steward had a stone tablet brought out, inscribed with a fist technique diagram for walking the stakes and condensing blood.

Anyone who could condense their blood energy and circulate it through their meridians within the time it took a stick of incense to burn would pass the test.

Shen Zhou and the others stood at the back of the line. After hearing the rules, he clicked his tongue and said, "Just condensing blood and circulating energy—that should be pretty simple, right?"

A Dai and Xi Mei were completely focused, their expressions serious, looking exactly like high school seniors about to face a major exam.

San Mazi, on the other hand, looked totally indifferent, his expression even carrying a hint that if he failed the test, he could use it as an excuse to slack off and not have to learn martial arts.

Soon, it was Shen Zhou's group's turn to go up. More than ten people participated, including Dongfang Hongyu.

Once the group stepped forward, they took their stances in front of the stone tablet and began punching and walking the stakes.

This fist technique wasn't particularly difficult. The entire sequence had only a dozen or so moves, easy to memorize in no time. The tricky part was that during the punching process, you had to stimulate your blood energy, condense it, and then use it to circulate through all the major acupoints in your body, opening up various gateways.

As long as one's comprehension wasn't too poor, they could quickly grasp the essence and condense their blood energy.

Within the span of a cup of tea, red mist began to seep from the surface of some people in the line—a sign that they had stimulated their blood energy.

A few breaths later, red glow started appearing on A Dai's body surface, followed closely by Xi Mei, then Dongfang Hongyu...

As for Shen Zhou and San Mazi...

"Can this technique really stimulate blood energy? Could it be fake?"

"Uh... boss, Second Brother and Xi Mei have already succeeded. There's no way the technique is fake."

"Then why haven't I felt any blood energy yet?"

"Is it possible that the two of us just have terrible talent?"

"..."

Shen Zhou's breath hitched, and then he stubbornly said, "Impossible. How could I have bad talent? This fist technique definitely doesn't suit me. Hey, steward, I want to switch techniques!"

The academy steward just gave him a faint glance and offered a look that said, Figure it out yourself.

At that moment, Dongfang Cheng stepped forward and advised, "Little brother, it's fine. It doesn't matter if your comprehension is a bit lacking. There's still the bone talent test later. If your bone talent is exceptional, the academy will make an exception and accept you."

Shen Zhou's expression relaxed a little, and he thought to himself: My talent might be bad, but my bone talent definitely won't be. I've got to be good at one of the two.

In the end, out of the more than fifty registrants, twenty passed the talent test. A Dai, Xi Mei, and Dongfang Hongyu were among them.

After everyone's talent test was finished, the academy wasted no time and immediately began the bone talent test.

The rules for the bone talent test were as follows: the steward would hand out one Qi-Blood Pill to each person. After the youths swallowed the pills, the energy would rapidly explode and expand inside their bodies. This process would be extremely painful. The longer someone could endure, the better their bone talent.

One stick of incense was the minimum standard.

Two sticks was average.

Three sticks was good.

Five sticks was excellent.

Those who could last through three sticks were considered qualified.

As for those who had failed the first round of talent testing, they needed to endure five full sticks for the academy to make an exception and admit them.

"When the blood energy erupts, no one is allowed to circulate energy or use techniques. You must rely solely on your physical constitution and bone talent to endure. Violators will be immediately disqualified from enrollment. The bone talent test begins now!"

After the Qi-Blood Pills were distributed, the academy steward gave the order, and all the youths immediately tilted their heads back and swallowed the pills at the same time.

Not long after the pill entered their stomachs, a surge of heat rose from within their abdomens.

At first, the heat flowed like a small stream, traveling through their meridians and spreading to their limbs and bones. Not only was it painless, it actually felt quite comfortable.

But gradually, the heat grew more and more turbulent, more and more violent.

By the time the heat converged into a river, their meridians could no longer bear it, and their bones felt as if they were being roasted in a blazing fire.

"Ah... it hurts so much, I can't take it anymore!"

"It feels like a thousand knives are slicing my flesh—I'm about to break!"

"My bones feel like they're melting..."

Barely half a stick of incense had passed, and the area in front of the academy was filled with wails and screams of agony.

Many students, unable to endure the pain of the blood energy eruption, collapsed to the ground, writhing in struggle.

At that point, young martial artists from the academy stepped forward to help circulate energy and soothe the violent blood energy in their bodies, but that also meant those students had lost their qualification for enrollment.

Among the crowd, A Dai had sweat on his forehead and his face was flushed red, but he still seemed able to hold on.

Xi Mei's small face was pale, her expression full of pain, and she already looked like she was struggling.

As for San Mazi, he was surprisingly unexpected. Nearly a full stick of incense had passed, and his face was still rosy, showing no signs of pain at all. He seemed to be enduring quite well.

The most surprising one, however, was Shen Zhou.

Because up until now, he hadn't even felt any heat flow inside his body.

He turned his head left, then right, looking at the young men around him who were all struggling as if on the verge of death, and once again doubt crept in. "Could the pill they gave me be fake?"

"If not, then what's the problem?"

"Why does it always turn out so abnormally for me?"

Soon enough, the overseer noticed something off about Shen Zhou. He walked over, looked him up and down, and asked coldly, "Did you take the pill or not?" The overseer actually suspected he hadn't taken it and was just pretending to endure.

Shen Zhou immediately straightened up and affirmed, "Of course I took it."

"Then you don't feel anything?"

"No."

The overseer stared at Shen Zhou's expression for a long time. Seeing no sign of a lie, he had someone bring another pill and watched Shen Zhou swallow it.

Shen Zhou was speechless.

This guy still suspected he was cheating.

So, right in front of the overseer, he tossed the pill into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times like a candy bean, and swallowed it.

The overseer stared at Shen Zhou with a blank face, waiting for a reaction. But...

Shen Zhou still had no reaction.

The pill was like a fake—once it entered Shen Zhou's body, there wasn't even the slightest stir.

Shen Zhou even questioned, "Could your pills have expired?"

The overseer's face darkened. He reached out and grabbed Shen Zhou's shoulder, then circulated his Yuan force through Shen Zhou's body. After a long moment, he frowned deeply and said, "Has someone performed marrow cleansing and tendon reforming on you?"

Shen Zhou straightened up again and affirmed, "Of course not."

The overseer stared at Shen Zhou woodenly. "But your body clearly shows signs of having undergone marrow cleansing. Your meridians are wider than others, your Qi sea is several times larger, and your bones are much denser than an ordinary person's. How do you explain that?"

Hearing this, Shen Zhou immediately thought back to yesterday, when he had overexerted his 'Entry' and his body felt like it was about to burst.

Could overexerting the 'Entry' have inadvertently helped him cleanse his marrow and reform his tendons?

And then there were the times he'd casually activated the 'Entry' to fight others, often bursting out with power close to the Celestial Firmament Realm. These unconscious actions could hardly have failed to temper his meridians.

It was like a new pair of shoes—tight at first, but after wearing them once, twice... over time, the shoes slowly stretched out.

That was exactly what had happened to Shen Zhou's meridians and bones.

"If that's the case, could it be that the earlier talent test failed because my bones were too good, but the cultivation technique was too low-grade to stir my blood and Qi?"

Shen Zhou was lost in thought, but there was no way he'd admit it now. Instead, he replied, "Maybe I was just born with good bones, isn't that possible? Besides, whether or not someone helped me cleanse my marrow, the fact is my bones are excellent now. Isn't that a good thing?"

The overseer's expression froze.

That reasoning wasn't wrong, but he still felt it smacked of taking shortcuts—it wasn't the same as a martial artist's innate talent.

It was like a beggar who was given a large sum of money. At best, he'd be temporarily rich, but once the money ran out, without matching skill or knowing how to earn more, he'd end up a beggar again.

Just as the overseer was hesitating over whether to accept Shen Zhou, there was a thud from the side. Xi Mei could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood before falling unconscious.

"Xi Mei..."

Seeing this, Shen Zhou forgot all about arguing over bones and rushed over.

A young martial artist from the academy came to help circulate Qi and stabilize her condition. Xi Mei soon woke up. She glanced at the time and saw that the third incense stick was almost burned out. If she could hold on just a little longer, she'd pass. But...

Seeing this outcome, Xi Mei sniffled in grievance, her voice crisp as she asked, "Brother Zhou, I didn't make it, did I?"

Shen Zhou, A Dai, and San Mazi had always doted on Xi Mei. They quickly comforted her, "It's fine. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it. No big deal.

And to be honest, Brother Zhou doesn't think much of this place either. Judging a person's future potential based on such a simple test, as if only by cultivating here can you rise above others.

We'll find another place to learn martial arts. As long as we work hard and train diligently, we might not end up worse than the people from Flying Bird Academy. Right?"

Hearing Shen Zhou's words, Xi Mei's mood finally improved.

But his speech drew a sneer from the academy overseer nearby. "Young man, if you were talking about something else, I'd have nothing to say. But when it comes to teaching, in Southern Prefecture, if Flying Bird Academy claims second, no one dares claim first. Let alone someone eliminated from our academy—there's no way they can cultivate elsewhere and surpass our students.

This has never happened before, it hasn't happened now, and it never will in the future!"

As the academy overseer spoke, his words, expression, and demeanor all radiated a powerful confidence.

And the people around seemed to agree with him.

Shen Zhou shrugged noncommittally. "Nothing is absolute. Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it never will."

Thud...

Thud...

As the two were still arguing, Dongfang Hongyu and A Dai both collapsed at the same time, falling to their knees.

At that moment, the third incense stick burned out exactly.

Seeing this, Dongfang Hongyu shouted excitedly, "Hey, hey... see that? I made it! Right on time!"

But the academy overseer just glanced over and said flatly, "Barely scraping by on time doesn't count. Our Flying Bird Academy only accepts students without dispute. Only the absolutely outstanding have the right to enter Flying Bird Academy."

As if deliberately showing off and flaunting the academy's superiority, the overseer looked at Shen Zhou while saying this, his expression arrogant, his gaze condescending—as if the words were aimed directly at him.

Shen Zhou squinted, feeling the urge to pull out the Taixuan Sword and chop that insolent steward down.

But by then, A Dai had finished regulating his breath, stood up, and walked over. He helped Xi Mei to her feet and said calmly, "Boss Zhou, let's go back."

Shen Zhou was taken aback by A Dai's composed demeanor. He asked quietly, "A Dai, are you alright?"

A Dai smiled. "I'm fine. Getting into the academy doesn't matter. Like you just said, as long as we're willing to work hard at cultivation, it's the same anywhere. Besides, this test at least proved my talent isn't too bad. What's there to be afraid of?"

Just then, San Mazi somehow sidled over, grinning wide. "Right, the four of us go in together or not at all. I don't really want to learn martial arts anyway—this way I get to slack off for two more days."

Shen Zhou paused, then laughed.

Truth be told, he'd chosen Flying Bird Academy in the first place because of its reputation.

Like picking a university in his past life—if you're going to go, you pick the best.

But if this school didn't suit him, switching to another was no big deal. After all, Shen Zhou had his 'golden finger'; learning martial arts was just to patch up his weaknesses and temper his physical body. It wasn't an absolute necessity.

With that thought, Shen Zhou had no more qualms. He turned and left with the three kids.

The steward hesitated, then called out, "Young man, if you tell me who performed the marrow-cleansing on you, I can make an exception and let you into the academy."

Anyone capable of cleansing another's marrow was undoubtedly a Celestial Firmament Realm expert. If he could earn a favor from such a powerhouse, he wouldn't mind bending the rules for Shen Zhou.

Besides, after the marrow cleansing, the boy's bone structure was exceptional—his future achievements wouldn't be low!

But Shen Zhou didn't look back, leaving only a carefree silhouette for the academy crowd.

This earned him a second glance from many parents.

As they walked away, Dongfang Hongyu's unwilling shouts rang out again at the academy gate.

"I passed fair and square! Can't you make an exception? Let me in..."

"Pah! What's so great about Flying Bird Academy? If I'm not in, I'm not in. I don't care."

"Just you wait. Thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west... Once I've trained elsewhere and made something of myself, I'll beat every last student of Flying Bird Academy flat. Then the whole Southern Prefecture will know your academy's nothing special. Hmph!"

If you find this book enjoyable, don't forget to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose track.