Since the arrival of the Spirit Revival Era, martial strength had reigned supreme on Sky Net Star.
The annual martial artist assessments had always been a grand event for humanity. Whenever this time came around, martial artists whose strength had improved looked forward to receiving the corresponding benefits ahead of schedule.
As for those young martial artists just starting out, they hoped their Martial Talent would be recognized.
Although most of their cultivation was not yet particularly high, as long as the Martial Dao Alliance deemed them highly promising after testing, soaring into the sky in a single leap would not be far off.
Of course.
For an unknown young person to obtain resources far beyond their actual strength solely through Martial Talent was by no means so simple.
According to the Martial Dao Alliance's rules...
If the test result was D, E, or F grade, they would be eliminated directly.
If the result was C grade, they could be rated as possessing lower-grade Martial Talent.
B grade represented middle-grade Martial Talent.
A grade represented upper-grade Martial Talent.
Under normal circumstances, the vast majority of young martial artists participating in the evaluation possessed unranked Martial Talent. Such people could at most cultivate to Postnatal Realm Perfection in their entire lives.
But if the evaluation result was C grade, that could be considered quite talented. So long as nothing unexpected happened, they were almost guaranteed to advance into the Xiantian Realm.
For instance, before Lu Yun was injured, many people believed that his Martial Talent was quite good and that his future achievements would not be lower than those of his father, Lu Xingwen.
If one could go a step further and be assessed as having B-grade talent, or even A-grade talent, they would become a key target for the Martial Dao Alliance's cultivation and might become a core force protecting humanity in the future.
Then...
Above A+ Martial Talent, did an even higher tier of talent exist?
The answer was, of course, yes.
However, those were peerless geniuses of the transcendent grade, standing at the peak of the pyramid that most people could only gaze up at for their entire lives.
The Martial Dao Alliance collectively referred to geniuses above A grade as... S grade.
In the annual talent-testing stage, whenever a genius of that level was discovered, the Martial Dao Alliance would absolutely spare no cost to bring them under its wing.
Because as long as geniuses of that level could grow normally, they were almost guaranteed to become Sea-Opening Realm experts in the future.
Every one of them was the backbone of humanity's future.
Unfortunately...
S-grade geniuses were simply too rare. Sometimes, not even one could be found in several decades.
For Lu Xingwen of the Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Hall, his greatest hope was that Lu Yun's test result would be a little more dazzling.
If Lu Yun was lucky enough to receive B-grade certification.
Then, according to the Martial Dao Alliance's usual practice.
They would very likely be issued some rare spiritual medicines that were difficult to purchase on the market. Perhaps they might even heal the damage to Lu Yun's dantian.
Early that morning, Lu Xingwen got up at the crack of dawn and personally made breakfast for Lu Yun.
When Lu Yun sleepily opened his bedroom door, Lu Xingwen asked with feigned casualness:
"How... are you feeling today?"
"Don't worry, Dad! I'm only afraid my results will be so good that you won't be able to close your mouth from smiling!"
Seeing that his son really was in decent condition, Lu Xingwen finally felt somewhat relieved. He patted Lu Yun on the shoulder and instructed him:
"The Martial Arts Assessment is of great importance. I hope you can achieve a good result. Of course, your body still hasn't fully recovered. Even if this time's result isn't ideal, we can come again next time."
Lu Yun smiled and nodded, muttering to himself:
I'm just afraid the results will be a little too ideal...
While they were talking, the bus responsible for transporting participants to this martial artist assessment had already arrived at the martial arts hall entrance.
Hearing the honk outside, Lu Yun casually grabbed another meat bun, waved to Lu Xingwen, then turned and pushed open the door.
Not long afterward.
The bus slowly drove into Zhoushui Bridge District 2 of Tong City. There stood a crescent-shaped building capable of accommodating forty to fifty thousand people.
This Martial Arts Assessment was being held there.
Led by two volunteers, Lu Yun quickly arrived before an automatic ticket machine.
After inserting his ID card into the slot, he received his number and found an empty seat to wait for the automated voice to call it.
"Haha! No wonder you looked familiar. Isn't this Lu Yun?"
Lu Yun was sitting there, bored and about to check his phone, when a mocking voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
He looked toward the source of the voice and saw a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth in a red tracksuit and baseball cap staring at him arrogantly.
Four or five slovenly youths of roughly the same age stood beside him.
They appeared to have come for today's Martial Exam as well.
"Sun Zhengchu!"
Lu Yun narrowed his eyes slightly, already recognizing who the person was.
In his memories, Sun Zhengchu was the only son of Deputy City Lord Sun Hongyi. He was arrogant and overbearing, and had once pursued Chu Lingxue, only to be brutally rejected because she said she already had someone she liked.
After making inquiries afterward, Sun Zhengchu became convinced that the person Chu Lingxue liked was Lu Yun. From then on, he always loved causing Lu Yun trouble.
"Lu Yun! Come to think of it, ever since you were injured last time, it seems we haven't seen each other again."
"Before I came here, I was even wondering whether I might run into you."
"Heh heh... Looks like we really are fated!"
"But..."
"I heard your dantian was destroyed and you can't cultivate anymore? Why are you still here for the assessment? Don't tell me you think a miracle will happen?"
Sun Zhengchu looked at Lu Yun with disdain. He made no attempt to conceal his words; they were nothing but naked humiliation.
He said to his companions beside him, "Haha! Come take a look, everyone. This is Tong City's genius youth—the existence none of you will be able to reach after today!"
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