Through

Hearing the middle-aged man say this, Xu Gang felt a surge of excitement; he certainly knew Xu Qing was a genius, but Xu Xin would never let Xu Qing out of her sight.

If Xu Qing could join the Limit Martial Arts Hall and receive the hall's vigorous training, it would surely be far better than joining the Underground Alliance.

After all, the Limit Martial Arts Hall was the strongest force in the world, possessing all kinds of cultivation resources.

"How about it? If you agree, I can take the initiative to invite you to join our Limit Martial Arts Hall right now and become a member. Even if you don't pass this actual combat assessment, it doesn't matter; you can just come back next time."

"Once you join our Limit Martial Arts Hall and undergo serious training, becoming a martial artist will be the simplest thing in the world," the middle-aged man said, looking at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing blinked and replied, "I don't know."

He had no concept of these martial arts halls yet, so he didn't know what he should do.

Under these circumstances, he naturally didn't know.

"Cough, cough..." The middle-aged man nearly choked. I said all that, and your only response is "I don't know"?

He then looked at Xu Gang to the side. "You make the decision."

Meeting the middle-aged man's gaze and then looking at the somewhat oblivious Xu Qing beside him, Xu Gang felt conflicted. He desperately wanted to agree, but he was afraid of making Xu Xin angry.

After thinking it over, Xu Gang ultimately gave up; he still didn't want to upset his younger sister.

"I'm sorry, I can't make this decision either, unless my sister agrees," Xu Gang said with an awkward smile.

The middle-aged man shook his head helplessly. "Fine, I won't force it."

With that, he finished operating the computer, and Xu Qing's status as a prospective martial artist was officially recorded.

"This is the actual combat assessment contract. Once you participate, if you are killed by a monster during the assessment, the Limit Martial Arts Hall bears no responsibility. Of course, the death rate for the actual combat assessment is quite low, but the injury rate is very high, as you are fighting real monsters after all."

"If you've thought it over, sign this contract," the middle-aged man said.

Xu Qing did not hesitate and signed his name on the contract.

"The actual combat assessment is in early August, so you have one month. Prepare well and strive to pass on your first attempt," the middle-aged man nodded at Xu Qing.

"Also, according to protocol, every prospective martial artist receives the Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method. You come from the Xu Family, so you might already know this, but we still have to go through the process," the middle-aged man added.

"The Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method? Is that a guiding technique?" Xu Qing asked.

"No, a guiding technique is of a higher order..." The middle-aged man looked at him. "Do you already have a guiding technique?"

"Yes, I do," Xu Qing nodded.

"Alright then, we can skip this step," the middle-aged man shrugged.

If he already had a guiding technique, what would he need the Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method for? That was just an upgraded version.

Subsequently, Xu Gang and Xu Qing left.

Watching their retreating figures, the middle-aged man felt that something was increasingly wrong, especially the sense of dissonance Xu Qing had given him during the assessment, which weighed heavily on his mind.

He was an intermediate War General, not far from becoming an advanced War General, and having slain many monsters, he had developed powerful intuition.

His intuition told him there was a problem, so it was unlikely to be a mere illusion.

"There must be a problem," the middle-aged man pulled up the recording of Xu Qing's test and began to watch it again.

After one pass, the middle-aged man frowned; he couldn't see it.

He continued, watching it a second time, but still couldn't see anything.

The third time, the fourth time... he watched it all the way to the eighth time, yet he still couldn't figure out what was wrong.

In his view, Xu Qing's performance was actually quite normal; many people's prospective martial artist assessments were similar to his.

"This is hellish. Could it really be my imagination?" The middle-aged man furrowed his brows.

Just then, his phone rang. He pulled it out, answered quickly, and spoke with a respectful tone, "Supervisor."

"Hmm, Wu Jiang, is the task complete?" a man's voice asked.

"The task is complete," Wu Jiang replied.

"What was the result?" the supervisor asked.

"He passed the prospective martial artist assessment," the middle-aged man said.

After a pause, he added, "Supervisor, that young man from the Xu Family is only seventeen. I think he might be a genius."

"A young man? You say he is a seventeen-year-old?" The supervisor was surprised. When the young master of the Xu Family contacted him earlier, he hadn't mentioned that the person being assessed was a youth.

Seventeen was very young, but to call him a genius, that was...

"That's right, he is a seventeen-year-old youth. Supervisor, did you not know?" Wu Jiang asked, surprised.

This task had been assigned to him by the supervisor himself.

"I didn't inquire. The Xu Family isn't a martial artist family, so I didn't expect anyone to embark on the path of a martial artist," the supervisor said nonchalantly.

Wu Jiang nodded. To the supervisor, the Xu Family truly didn't amount to much, so it was normal that he didn't care.

"Alright, as long as the task is done," the supervisor said and hung up.

Wu Jiang had wanted to say more, but since the supervisor had already hung up, he had no choice but to let it go.

"Perhaps it really was my imagination. Whatever, the task the supervisor assigned is finished anyway," Wu Jiang shook his head, deciding not to think about it anymore.

On the other side, Xu Gang led Xu Qing out of the Limit Dojo building in the city center.

"A martial artist is truly a martial artist; the pressure from just a single glance was so immense," Xu Gang let out a long breath.

He was certain that the strength of the martial artist from just a moment ago was definitely not weak; the sense of oppression he felt was far stronger than that of the intermediate War Generals hired by the Xu Family.

"It is very likely that he is also an intermediate War General, and a powerful one at that," Xu Gang speculated.

Even among those at the same intermediate War General level, there were gaps in strength, which depended entirely on the individual.

On the drive back to the Xu Family estate, Xu Gang asked, "Xiao Qing, did you hide your strength during the test just now?"

"Mm, Sister Xin told me to," Xu Qing nodded.

"So it really was," Xu Gang was shocked. To think he could actually do that; an ordinary martial artist certainly wouldn't be able to, right? Could this be what a genius is?

"To be honest, given your talent, Xiao Qing, joining the Limit Martial Arts Hall is the best choice. As long as you reveal your true potential, the higher-ups in the martial arts hall will surely treat you like a treasure," Xu Gang sighed with emotion.

Xu Qing heard him say this, but remained silent.

Seeing that Xu Qing didn't make a sound, Xu Gang didn't say anything more; only Xu Xin could make decisions for Xu Qing.

Soon, Xu Gang dropped Xu Qing off at the front gate of the Xu Family estate.

"Xiao Qing, I still have things to attend to, so I won't go in with you. You can tell her about the assessment yourself," Xu Gang said his goodbyes and drove off at high speed.

As soon as Xu Qing returned home, Xu Xin knew immediately.

"Xiao Qing, how did it go?" Xu Xin asked with a smile.

"Sister Xin, I did as you said, and I passed the assessment. Now I'm just waiting for the actual combat assessment," a happy smile appeared on Xu Qing's face.

As long as he passed the actual combat assessment, he would be a true martial artist.

Xu Xin nodded in satisfaction, "When is the actual combat assessment?"

"Early August," Xu Qing replied.

"That means there's still a month left, so there's no rush. The summer vacation is still long; I'll have to think about how to pass the time," Xu Xin pondered.

The start of the school term was in early September, so Xu Qing and Xu Xin still had more than two months.

"Got it," Xu Xin quickly thought of something.

To kill time over these two months, Xu Xin planned to find something to do at the Alliance Mall, much like a summer job.

In the end, under the arrangement of Elder Brother Xu Gang, Xu Xin became a female manager in the welcome hall on the first floor of the Alliance Mall, working part-time as a bartender.

Xu Qing also went along to help out, working as a waiter or something similar.