Was This Kid on Drugs?

March 30 was the day the mock exams began.

The mock exams for cultural subjects had already ended two days earlier.

Unsurprisingly, Lu Chong had once again taken first place in the whole school—or, more accurately, in the whole city.

However, aside from specialized colleges focused on cultural subjects, the country's martial arts universities and comprehensive universities all placed greater emphasis on the Martial Arts Assessment.

In this category of exams, cultural subject scores accounted for only twenty percent. The Martial Arts Assessment was the most important part.

The cultural subject exams lasted two days, while the Martial Arts Assessment went on for a full six days.

The morning of the first day was devoted to the Martial Arts Foundation Exam, which tested the candidates' basic stats.

These included four categories: cultivation level, basic strength, basic speed, and neural reaction. The scores were added together to produce a Basic Total Score.

Each category was worth a maximum of 100 points, for a total of 400.

There was a general standard for a perfect score: the basic stats of someone who had just become a Martial Artist.

Of course, anyone who exceeded that standard could earn bonus points.

As for the Martial Skill assessment, it was tested through Practical Application. It also accounted for the largest share of the score and was the most flexible category.

Lu Chong arrived at school early that morning and met up with his classmates. Then they went to the school's testing center to have their basic stats assessed.

"Brother Chong, are you confident you can make the top ten in the whole school this time and bring some glory to Class 5?"

Chen Yufei followed behind Lu Chong. Their student numbers were both near the end, so they were waiting in line for the test. But Chen Yufei didn't really care. He was still only a Martial Disciple Stage 3, near the bottom of the class.

Aside from their Head Teacher, only he and Lou Qingqing knew that Lu Chong was already a Martial Apprentice Stage 8, leaving their classmates far behind.

Lu Chong smiled but didn't answer.

He had only one goal. He was just afraid that saying it aloud would scare everyone.

The basic tests went quickly, and there were hardly any standout students in Class 5.

Lou Qingqing was the only one ahead of them. Her cultivation had reached Martial Apprentice Stage 6, and her strength, speed, and neural reaction were all fairly good. She scored 268 points in the end, barely meeting the baseline for a Key Martial Arts University.

Soon it was Lu Chong's turn. He entered a testing room by himself.

Outside the room stood not only their Head Teacher, Wang Tong, but also the Head Teacher of Class 1 and Zhou An, the Dean of Academic Affairs for the senior year.

"Old Li, why aren't you with your class? What are you doing over here in Class 5?" Zhou An was a bald man with a big belly. When he smiled, he looked like a statue of Maitreya.

Still, there wasn't a student in all of First High School who wasn't intimidated by this unremarkable-looking Dean of Academic Affairs.

Zhou An was a bona fide Martial Master. Word was he had cultivated some special Martial Skill, which was why his body had grown so out of shape.

He was a true smiling tiger, the sort of person students feared most.

Li Chengjun wasn't intimidated by the Dean of Academic Affairs. He merely smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Aren't you here too, Dean? I just wanted to see how that student our Old Squad Leader treats like a treasure is doing."

"Can't have him held back in Class 5."

Wang Tong snorted. "Why don't you take care of your own class? Don't let us overtake you."

The Dean of Academic Affairs knew the two men were old comrades and didn't truly have any animosity between them. Smiling broadly, he said, "You two—I'm here at Elder Wei's request to check on the kid."

"Besides, he received the biggest reward in the whole school, along with all the Martial Skills. I want to see just what he's capable of, too."

Wang Tong turned away, no longer bothering with Li Chengjun. He focused instead on the changing data on the screen outside the testing room.

The screen showed all of Lu Chong's test results as they came in, along with his scores as soon as they were calculated.

Li Chengjun wasn't ready to give up. He kept muttering, "What a waste of such a good prospect. If he were in my class, he'd probably already be Martial Apprentice Stage 6."

Wang Tong gave a couple of dry laughs, too lazy to bother with this short-sighted fellow.

Just as Li Chengjun was about to needle his old comrade again, Zhou An suddenly stiffened, his face filled with shock. "That can't be right!"

Li Chengjun hurriedly followed their gazes to the screen. His mouth fell open, and he blurted out almost the exact same words. "That can't be right! Is the equipment malfunctioning?"

The screen outside the room displayed Lu Chong's cultivation test results—

Cultivation: Martial Apprentice Stage 8, 80 points

"Bullshit, Li Chengjun! You're a frog at the bottom of a well. Lu Chong broke through to Stage 8 ages ago. I saw it with my own eyes."

Wang Tong's eyes widened as he finally got a chance to hit back. For a moment, he felt completely refreshed.

He instructed Lu Chong every day, so of course he knew how far Lu Chong's cultivation had progressed.

Even so, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Wang Tong would never have guessed that Lu Chong's cultivation could advance so quickly.

Now he finally had a chance to get some psychological balance after being stunned for so long. He'd been bottling it up for over twenty days.

Besides, Lu Chong was his student. No matter how shocked the others were, all they could do was envy him.

"Well..." Li Chengjun and Zhou An stared at each other, too stunned to speak.

They both knew Lu Chong and were familiar with his cultivation level from a short while ago. He had only just broken through to Stage 5, so how had he reached Stage 8 already?

"Old Squad Leader, you didn't give him some kind of banned drug, did you?"

Li Chengjun came to his senses after a moment. "That would ruin the kid. Even if it didn't leave his foundation unstable, it would affect his potential down the line."

Zhou An also looked at Wang Tong suspiciously, though he didn't say anything.

Wang Tong had been feeling great, but the sudden accusation made his face redden with anger. "What kind of bullshit is that? Do you take me for someone like that?"

"I know more about banned drugs than you do."

"Don't rush to argue," Zhou An said sternly. "But the kid's cultivation progress really is a little unreasonable."

"If he secretly took drugs on his own and ruined his foundation, that's not impossible either," Zhou An said, furrowing his brow as he analyzed the situation.

This sort of thing had happened before, and it was even fairly common.

With the College Entrance Exam approaching, students took those drugs to make their cultivation skyrocket. That let them earn more points in this category, and it wasn't against the rules.

The problem was that doing so would burn through their potential and hurt their long-term development.

Wang Tong knew Lu Chong wouldn't do that and was just about to argue when he pointed at the screen. "Why don't you look at his other scores?"

"If he took drugs to raise his cultivation, his scores in the other three categories will show it."

"That makes sense. Let's wait and see," Zhou An said, calming down. He signaled to Li Chengjun not to make any more baseless claims, and they all watched the screen.

Just then, Lu Chong's next score appeared on the screen outside the room.

Basic Strength: 945 kilograms, 95 points

As soon as the result appeared, Zhou An and Li Chengjun blinked almost simultaneously, then rubbed their eyes hard and looked again.

It was still the same.

Wang Tong wanted to rub his eyes too, but ultimately held back. He put on an expression that said he'd known all along.