"Hey, not bad, kid! You actually earned one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine points. This steward has high hopes for you!"
The registration steward praised him with a broad smile.
Clearly, he too had been stunned by Ying Ming Hao's astonishing performance. After all, a score like that practically guaranteed first place.
Ying Ming Hao smiled faintly and replied modestly, "Haha, Steward Zhao, you flatter me. This disciple was just lucky.
"Now that registration is complete, I won't trouble you any further, Steward Zhao.
"Here's a jar of fine Snowflake Brew. Please accept it, Steward Zhao, as a small token of my regard. I hope you'll enjoy its wonderful flavor. It's also my little way of expressing my gratitude."
With that, he lowered his voice and slipped the jar of wine to Steward Zhao in a smooth, deft motion, then turned and left without hesitation.
Watching Ying Ming Hao's retreating figure, a barely perceptible glimmer of delight flashed through Steward Zhao's eyes. Outwardly, however, he remained perfectly composed, accepting the jar of Snowflake Brew as though nothing had happened and swiftly tucking it inside his robes.
Then he straightened his expression and returned to work, attending to the next disciple who came to register.
Before long, Yun Qingyi and the others also completed their registration one after another.
Once the totals had been tallied, Yun Qingyi had earned nine hundred and eighty-eight points, while Liu Jingyuan had secured one thousand and ninety. As for the other disciples, even the lowest scorer had at least twenty-five points.
Just two days earlier, they had only just managed to scrape together enough points to qualify. Most of these additional points had been seized through the fierce, brutal free-for-all that followed-
At that point, the points of countless disciples had all converged in