The Pride of Young Geniuses

However, this time Lin Xuan had miscalculated.

Although candidates soon began challenging those who had already claimed the platforms—and there was more than one—none of them chose him.

Ten minutes later, even Xing Yan had received his first challenger, yet no one had come to challenge Lin Xuan.

After a moment of bewilderment, Lin Xuan figured out what was going on.

He had overlooked the pride of youth.

Every candidate present was a favored child of heaven from their respective regions, and the younger a genius was, the prouder they tended to be.

His group was made up entirely of gifted boys under the age of ten.

With the pride these young geniuses possessed, unless they had no other choice, none of them wanted to become the opportunists in others' eyes who only picked soft persimmons to squeeze.

Thus, Lin Xuan, the soft persimmon, was instead left completely alone.

"Whatever—"

Having understood the reason, Lin Xuan decided to make full use of this spare time and began practicing the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step atop the platform.

Before long, panel notifications began appearing in his mind one after another:

"You are diligently practicing the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step. Proficiency +3"

"Through practicing the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step, you have deepened your understanding of speed and evasion. Mystical Swiftness proficiency +3"

"Mystical Swiftness has once again strengthened your comprehension of speed and evasion. True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step proficiency +3, Constitution +0.02"

"Sure enough, practicing the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step here is more efficient than outside!"

Upon seeing the panel notifications, Lin Xuan finally confirmed his earlier suspicion.

As early as when he was climbing the stairs, he had noticed that the results were better than when he trained at home or in kindergarten. At the time, however, he could not be completely sure that it had something to do with being inside the tower.

It was not until Xing Yan mentioned that the tower was likely a secret treasure known as an Old Earth Oddity, called the Unfixed High Tower, that he began to realize that his earlier feeling might not have been an illusion.

Training within this tower might simply have been more effective than training outside.

If even climbing stairs produced better results, would practicing martial arts techniques work the same way?

Once Lin Xuan had that thought, he had wanted to try it. But earlier, he first needed to understand the examination rules and had not had the time.

Now that no one was challenging him, he simply began cultivating on the platform as though no one else existed, and the results were immediate.

The facts proved that this tower could indeed accelerate cultivation.

Lin Xuan had no reason to stand on ceremony, so with the mindset that training was better than wasting the opportunity, he got straight to it.

This sight left quite a few candidates staring dumbly.

The candidates on the other platforms were either being challenged and fighting with blazing intensity.

Even those who had not yet been challenged were standing ready for battle while recovering the stamina they had spent climbing stairs for over an hour.

Only Lin Xuan seemed utterly out of place compared to the other candidates.

"That is... the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step of the True Meaning Sect?"

Vice Dean Pei noticed Lin Xuan as well, a trace of surprise and curiosity appearing in his eyes.

This was not the first time he had noticed Lin Xuan. As early as the first stage of the examination, when he discovered that Lin Xuan had barely been affected by his Martial Soul Domain, he had taken notice of the little fellow.

But that was not even the first time he had paid attention to Lin Xuan. He had noticed him as soon as he saw the candidate list for the third round of the examination.

After all, before this, even the youngest candidate had been five years old—the Wang Family Prodigy who had successfully passed the examination.

Yet in the round he was overseeing, a candidate even younger than the Wang Family Prodigy had appeared. It was difficult for him not to notice.

Still, he had not thought much of it at the time, because Lin Xuan's background information was extremely simple. He was not the child of some prominent clan or noble family.

Subconsciously, he had not believed that three-year-old Lin Xuan had truly come intending to pass the examination.

That was also the first reaction most people had upon seeing Lin Xuan.

Only after the first stage did he change his mind, and from then on, he had quietly kept watch over Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan's performance along the way had also made him increasingly astonished. He even vaguely felt that this little fellow might truly pass the examination.

Of course, that was merely his intuition. Deep down, he still felt it was rather unrealistic.

A difference of a few years might not matter much after reaching adulthood, but for these youths, whose bodies had yet to fully develop, it was entirely different.

Whether it was the impact of differences in physique or the gap in experience, neither was so easily erased.

The Wang Family Prodigy had been able to pass the examination because the Divine Ability he had awakened was truly somewhat monstrous.

But Vice Dean Pei had also read Lin Xuan's file. It did not state that Lin Xuan was a Mutant who had awakened a Divine Ability; it merely listed him as a Martial Artist.

Vice Dean Pei himself was a peak Sixth Realm Martial Artist, so he knew very well that in martial arts, an age gap was not so easily bridged.

However, when he saw Lin Xuan practicing the True Meaning Swimming Dragon Step, Vice Dean Pei was stunned!

Even this Sixth Realm Martial Artist, who had seen countless geniuses, had to admit that his horizons had been broadened!

This is fucking three years old?

Vice Dean Pei, who had remained calm and composed since the examination began, could not help but curse inwardly.

"I concede!"

"Thank you for going easy on me—"

Xing Yan, whose fingers were locked around his opponent's throat, halted his attack, while his opponent had already given up struggling.

Since it was a contest, unexpected situations were naturally unavoidable.

However, Vice Dean Pei had emphasized earlier that once one side voluntarily conceded, if the other side continued attacking, both would be eliminated.

Therefore, unless they could not stop in time, no one would risk being eliminated themselves just to strike a lethal blow.

The one challenging Xing Yan was a candidate who looked about the same age as him, also a Martial Artist.

His strength was not weak either, but Xing Yan was still slightly superior. Only after several dozen exchanges did Xing Yan defeat him.

Once the challenger left, Xing Yan finally had a chance to rest.

According to the rules Vice Dean Pei had mentioned, after each challenge ended, the victorious side would receive ten minutes of rest.

Only after ten minutes could he be challenged again.

Only then did Xing Yan have time to look toward Lin Xuan on the neighboring platform, wanting to see how he was doing.

What he saw, however, was Lin Xuan leisurely practicing by himself, with no one challenging him at all.

Unlike the other platforms, where most were locked in battles that raged like fire.

"Damn it, that guy..."

However, just as Xing Yan revealed a faint smile, he suddenly noticed that the person he had just eliminated was walking toward Lin Xuan's platform.

He immediately realized that the other party was going all out.

I shouldn't have held back just now!

Xing Yan thought in frustration.

Earlier, he had actually had a chance to seriously injure that guy. But since they bore no grudge against each other, and the difference in their strength was obvious, he had not felt any need to strike heavily.

Yet he had never imagined that the man would go looking for trouble with Lin Xuan immediately after being eliminated by him.

It made him deeply frustrated, but it was already too late for regret, because helping was forbidden during this stage.

You'd better not do anything reckless. Otherwise, even if you pass the examination, I'll beat you flat!

Xing Yan fixed his gaze on that person and silently swore to himself.

(2/2) Starting tomorrow, there'll be three updates a day. If I have enough time, I'll add even more. Stop scolding me, stop scolding me (╥﹏╥)