I Want to Ride Alone, Dust Flying

At 2:00 PM on the 9th, all examinees were loaded onto specially deployed military vehicles and dispersed to the Hedong Base Province hunting ground.

This provincial hunting ground was over five times larger than the Guanyun City hunting ground, occupying the Taian Mountain Range that spanned the north and south of Hedong Province; it was a mountainous forest region also known as the Taian Hunting Ground.

Due to its terrain, the Taian Hunting Ground served as a natural barrier and link, acting as a buffer zone for battles between the Hedong Province base and exotic beasts.

This was the first time Lu Chong had stepped outside of Guanyun City since arriving in this world.

To be precise, even his original self had never left Guanyun City.

The cost of travel in this era was prohibitively high because the areas between base cities were wilderness, teeming with endless, unceasing exotic beasts.

Although powerful exotic beasts above Level 4 rarely appeared within national borders, they were still not something an ordinary person could easily traverse.

Therefore, people wishing to travel from one base city to another required powerful escorts, and the costs were naturally exorbitant.

The examinees from Guanyun City were now heading to the Taian Hunting Ground, requiring military escort; the military vehicles were surrounded by various weapons, front, back, left, and right.

Naturally, a large number of military experts were deployed, with even Colonel Huang personally leading the Elite Guard Company, and it was rumored that two Martial Ancestors had been invited to oversee the operation.

Students participating in the College Entrance Exam were not like the bounty hunters who voluntarily entered the wilderness; not the slightest mistake could be allowed to happen.

In the event that a powerful exotic beast appeared mid-journey, the Provincial Military Region would dispatch fighter jets and super-experts to provide support, striving to ensure the examinees' states remained unaffected.

During the journey, Lu Chong did not communicate with any other examinees, instead observing his own status while gazing at the primitive scenery of the wilderness through the window.

Name: Lu Chong Level: Martial Artist Stage 4 (1%) Martial Skills-- Human-Grade Low-Tier: Nine-Shadow Step (Perfection)... Heart-Piercing Kick (Perfection) Human-Grade Mid-Tier: Seven-Step Killing Fist (Perfection), Three-Inch Palm (Perfection) Human-Grade Top-Tier: Tiger Roar Skill (Perfection) Earth-Grade Low-Tier: Wind Blade Leg (Perfection), Gale Shadowless Step (Perfection) Earth-Grade Mid-Tier: Golden Bell Shield (Microscopic) (18%)

As expected, I successfully broke through to Martial Artist Stage 4 today.

First was his cultivation; one hour after testing finished this morning, he had naturally advanced to Stage 4.

Second were his two Earth-Grade Low-Tier martial skills, Wind Blade Leg and Gale Shadowless Step, which had finally reached perfection just moments ago.

As for the Earth-Grade Mid-Tier Golden Bell Shield, its cultivation speed had slowed after reaching the Microscopic stage, and it would take at least another month to reach perfection.

Lu Chong was not anxious; he believed that with his current cultivation, martial skills, and the practical combat experience accumulated during special training, taking the provincial top spot in the College Entrance Exam should not be difficult.

Although he had learned that key high schools in the provincial capital had produced several top students this year who had reached Stage 5 or even Stage 6, Lu Chong, possessing several Earth-Grade martial skills, was not worried.

All he needed to do was pay attention to the pace of the exam and not let others disrupt his rhythm.

The faint sound of beast roars drifted from afar, sounding like Level 2 exotic beasts, but Lu Chong noticed that before the beasts could even emerge, they were cut down by the military experts on the perimeter.

Lu Chong's heart remained calm; he was now a minor expert himself and was no longer a stranger to such scenes.

The journey was uneventful, and in less than two hours, the students were delivered to the southern line of the Taian Hunting Ground, the boundary closest to Guanyun City.

The military vehicles began to disperse along the boundary, dropping off examinees one by one to wait for the hunting ground to open.

Every examinee had only an SOS Device and an Amulet.

The SOS Device allowed them to see their scores and ranking, and most importantly, to call for help, while the Amulet was for life-saving in critical moments.

Other than that, they were accompanied only by the Livestream Drone hovering above each examinee's head.

Of course, they also had the nutrition bars and drinking water they brought themselves, enough for six days, all of which had been carefully inspected to rule out any suspicion of cheating.

After waiting in place for half an hour, as it neared 4:30 PM, an alarm suddenly sounded—

"Attention all examinees, enter the hunting ground for the assessment within ten minutes. After ten minutes, the light wall will reset, and entry will no longer be permitted."

"A final reminder to all examinees: failure to enter the hunting ground after ten minutes will be considered an abandonment of the exam."

As this voice rang out, the Energy Light Wall in front of Lu Chong opened, revealing the mountain forest hunting ground within.

Lu Chong did not hesitate, stepping inside in a few strides, and only left his starting position once the light wall rose again after ten minutes.

It's finally started! Lu Chong felt a slight thrill. This is the real exam, and the one with the highest weight in the final score.

Lu Chong glanced at his scoring SOS Device; he was, of course, at zero points.

But in these ten minutes alone, a batch of examinees' names and their scores had already appeared on the top 100 Scoreboard.

Although they were only sporadic single-digit scores, Lu Chong understood that as long as one appeared on the scoreboard, it was easily seen by the millions of viewers outside, thereby increasing the popularity of their personal livestream channel.

Therefore, many students, even knowing they lacked the stamina to keep up, would spare no effort at the beginning just to ride the heat of the scoreboard.

The longer I occupy the scoreboard and the higher my rank, the more traffic I gain, and the more rewards I receive.

Realizing this, Lu Chong no longer hesitated. His gaze locked onto the endless mountain forest to the north, and without further delay, he unleashed his Gale Step and charged out with a roar.

He had entered the Taian Hunting Ground from the southern line, so if he wanted to reach the core of the hunting ground and compete for the locators of those high-level exotic beasts, he had to head north.

This time, Lu Chong would no longer wait; he would leave everyone in the dust and dominate the College Entrance Exam rankings.

It wasn't just him; at this very moment, along the long boundary line surrounding the Taian Hunting Ground, hundreds of thousands of examinees were pushing toward the core.

Through the overhead camera of the Hedong Province official livestream, this scene was visible: the examinees were like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, surging into the inner circle of the hunting ground from all directions.

"It's starting, it's starting!"

The host of the official livestream also began to speak with excitement, stirring the hearts of tens of millions of viewers.

"It is reported that the preparations for this Taian Hunting Ground are extremely thorough."

"Inside the hunting ground, not only are there territories for level one and level two exotic beasts, but in the very core area, there are even two fierce level three exotic beasts waiting for the examinees to explore and score points."

"However, a level three exotic beast is equivalent to a human Martial Master; would any examinee truly dare to venture there?"

At this, the host switched the camera to an expert sitting to the side.

The expert shook his head slightly, "It's very, very difficult."

"The audience should know that among this year's examinees in Hedong Province, the student with the highest cultivation has already reached the sixth stage of the Martial Artist realm."

"From what I understand, this student's practice of Martial Skills is also quite decent."

"But at most, he could break through the territory of a level two, eighth-stage exotic beast; there might be a glimmer of hope if he makes a final push at the ninth stage."

"As for the level three exotic beast zone in the core area, I'm afraid it's hopeless," the expert stated with conviction.

The host couldn't help but ask, "But if that's the case, why did we prepare a level three exotic beast zone in the hunting ground?"