"You should all know the procedure for the martial skill assessment! But I'm going to emphasize it again!"
Niu Gang stood before the enormous martial skill testing chamber, his bull-like eyes sweeping over the students who had lined up again.
"Before entering the testing chamber, select the martial skill you're going to perform on the control panel behind me!"
"Remember, don't select the wrong one! If the skill you select isn't the one you perform, you get zero for this section!"
"Don't think I'm joking. There are idiots who select the wrong skill every year! If any of you embarrass me over a little detail like this, you know what I'm capable of..."
Niu Gang's dangerous gaze made the students' skin crawl. They all warned themselves inwardly: Don't select the wrong one! Whatever you do!
Otherwise, knowing Niu the Brute's temper, they would definitely be put through hell.
Once everyone looked serious and attentive, Niu Gang nodded in satisfaction. "All right, I've said everything I need to. Let's begin!"
With that, he turned and returned to the examiners' seats.
As Niu Gang moved away, he revealed a control panel embedded in the testing chamber's outer wall.
The panel was about the size of a laptop screen, displaying several dozen martial skills and a [Confirm] button.
Once a martial skill was selected and confirmed, the chamber would automatically adjust to the testing mode for that skill.
The examinee then only had to enter and perform the selected skill three times to complete the assessment.
It was worth noting that martial skill assessment scores were not continuous, but divided into several ranges.
Beginner proficiency earned 5-8 points.
Minor mastery earned 12-15 points.
Major mastery earned 20-25 points.
Perfection earned the full 30 points.
Of course, that was for tier-one martial skills.
For tier-two martial skills, both the upper and lower limits for each proficiency level increased by two points.
Tier-three skills raised them by four points, and so on.
"Number one, Zhou Ling!"
As the teacher responsible for calling names resumed, Zhou Ling stepped forward once again.
Failing to take first place in the cultivation assessment had darkened his expression, even adding a hint of hostility to his gaze when he looked at Zhang Juye.
"You're only ahead for now. First place is mine!"
"Overtake me if you've got what it takes. What the hell are you telling me for?"
Zhang Juye was decent, not a pushover, and shot right back.
Zhou Ling snorted coldly and carried his three-meter spear to the control panel, quickly selecting Tiger Roar Sky-Piercing Spear.
After he selected it and pressed confirm, the chamber door opened automatically.
Zhou Ling entered with his spear held at an angle, his gaze razor-sharp.
This time, he would not only overtake Zhang Juye, but also make Lin Yuan take back what he had said last Friday!
He was inferior to Wang Fengtang from First High? Inferior to Qin Kuan from Second High?
Ridiculous!
With that thought, Zhou Ling looked through the chamber's transparent wall toward Lin Yuan in the examiners' seats.
Yet Lin Yuan, Niu Gang, and the other Bone Forging experts there were not watching him at all. They were looking elsewhere.
What's going on?
Zhou Ling frowned and followed their gazes, spotting Xu Yuan standing on the outside of the formation.
Why are they looking at that piece of trash? Zhou Ling's expression darkened.
Shouldn't they be paying attention to him right now?
What were they doing?
While he puzzled over it, the testing chamber finished its preparations, and a mechanical female voice sounded inside.
"Examinee detected in position. Please perform your selected martial skill after five seconds."
"Five-four-"
Zhou Ling had no time to think further and quickly assumed the opening stance of Tiger Roar Sky-Piercing Spear.
"One!"
Whoosh!
The instant the mechanical female voice fell silent, the spear in Zhou Ling's hands moved!
Outside, however, Lin Yuan and the others still did not turn their eyes toward Zhou Ling inside the chamber.
They continued watching Xu Yuan and chatting among themselves.
"This kid only scored thirty in the cultivation assessment, yet he dared to open a betting pool on himself passing. He might well fall flat on his face!"
"How so?"
"Based on what I know about these students, combined with the cultivation assessment results, I can say pretty confidently that passing will require a total above sixty!"
Lin Yuan explained with a smile, "Even if this kid has perfected his martial skill and gets thirty points, his total will only be 60.2. That's cutting it very close! Unless he's perfected a tier-two martial skill!"
"Not necessarily. What if he has a Transformation Realm martial skill?" Chen Rui said with a smile.
The Bone Forging experts all laughed.
Transformation Realm martial skills might not be entirely beyond reach, but Yang City had produced only four people with them in fifty years.
How could Xu Yuan possibly be one of them?
While they talked, Zhou Ling finished performing Tiger Roar Sky-Piercing Spear three times, completing his martial skill assessment.
Score: 23.6 points.
Zhou Ling's face turned livid at the score.
A tier-two martial skill at major mastery could earn 22-27 points, yet he had only scored 23.6!
That was almost at the lower limit!
He could not help looking toward Xu Yuan, a cold, vicious glint flashing in his eyes!
That damned piece of trash!
If Lin Yuan and the others hadn't been staring at that piece of trash and disturbing my focus, there's no way I would've scored so low!
Now I can't take first place, and I might even lose second!
"Damn it!"
Gritting his teeth, Zhou Ling slowly returned to the formation.
Xu Yuan had been watching the assessment all along and naturally noticed Zhou Ling's strange behavior. He could not help frowning slightly.
What's going on?
Why is Zhou Ling looking at me like that?
Neither I nor this body's previous owner ever provoked him, did we?
The only time we spoke was when I asked him how to earn thirty thousand quickly, and he told me to get lost.
What? You insulted me, and now you're holding a grudge against me too?
"Is he a fucking idiot?"
Muttering that, Xu Yuan could not be bothered to investigate and continued watching the assessment.
Number two, Zhang Juye, stepped up. As he left the formation, he could not resist giving Zhou Ling a couple of strange looks.
"You used Tiger Roar Sky-Piercing Spear and only scored 23.6?"
"Get lost!"
"Tch. You're the useless one. Why take it out on me?"
"What did you say?" Zhou Ling's expression chilled.
Zhang Juye ignored him outright. With a flick of his hand, he sent his long saber flying precisely onto a nearby weapon rack.
He had planned to use Sea-Overturning Wave-Listening Slash to secure his ranking, but now it seemed unnecessary.
He approached the control panel and selected Savage Bull Heart-Shattering Butt.
Boom-boom-boom!
He soon finished performing the skill three times, and his assessment result appeared:
Major mastery Savage Bull Heart-Shattering Butt: 24.3 points!
At this, Zhou Ling's expression grew even uglier.
Zhang Juye had scored 0.7 points higher without even using his tier-two martial skill!
He had lost points!
And lost face!
Xu Yuan, you damned piece of trash!
At the rear right of the formation, Xu Yuan did not look too happy either.
He had been ready to freeload Zhang Juye's tier-two martial skill, only for Zhou Ling to perform so poorly that Zhang Juye had not even deigned to use it.
That useless Zhou Ling. Couldn't he have done a little better? Xu Yuan cursed inwardly.
...The assessment continued.
Number three, Huang Yun: major mastery Wind-Swayed Sword, 25.0 points.
Number four, Liu Yin: major mastery Layered Wave Slash, 24.7 points.
Number five, Hou Le: major mastery Savage Bull Heart-Shattering Butt, 21.6 points.
Number six...
Soon, everyone at Skin Tempering stage four or above except Fatty had completed the assessment.
Without waiting for the assessment to end, some students had already calculated the totals of everyone who had finished and listed the top thirty.
First, Zhang Juye: 92.8!
Second, Liu Yin: 91.8!
Third, Zhou Ling: 91.3!
Fourth, Huang Yun: 88.6!
Thirtieth, Ma Liang: 60.1!
In previous years, this ranking would have been the list of those who passed.
The student named Ma Liang could have started smiling too.
But now Ma Liang was miserable, because Fatty still had not taken his turn.
Fatty had scored 46.1 in cultivation. If his martial skill score exceeded 14.1, Ma Liang would be pushed out of the top thirty.
And everyone already knew that Master Bao's guidance had brought Fatty's Mountain-Crushing Strike to minor mastery.
In other words, Fatty had a chance of scoring above 14.1.
That left Ma Liang in agony, praying over and over that Fatty would perform poorly.
What he did not know, however, was that Fatty was not thinking about him at all.
"Brother Yuan, do I have to beat Zhang Baosheng?"
Fatty frowned as he looked at the list a classmate had posted in their class group chat and asked Xu Yuan.
Zhang Baosheng, twenty-ninth place, total score: 60.7.
To beat him, Fatty would need more than 14.7 points in the martial skill assessment.
So hard.
Fatty felt it really was far too hard.
"Don't panic."
Xu Yuan looked perfectly calm. "Haven't you noticed that everyone I coached scored close to the upper limit for their proficiency level? Zhang Chao got 24.8, Yang Xiaoyu got 24.9, and there's Zhang Yang with fifteen and Liu Rui with 14.8. You'll have no problem getting 14.7!"
Apart from Fatty, he had coached six classmates at the martial arts base.
Zhang Chao, Yang Xiaoyu, and the others were all at Skin Tempering stage four, while another two at stage three had accompanied their friends there.
Those two stage-three students had yet to be assessed, but the first four examples were already enough to prove that those he coached could score close to the upper limit for their proficiency level!
After hearing that and thinking it over, Fatty realized it did seem to be true.
But he was still so nervous.
14.7 really was hard.
Plenty of people with minor mastery only scored twelve or thirteen.
And so, with Fatty on edge, another half hour soon passed.
"Number seventy, Luo Han!"
"Coming, sir!"
Fatty answered nervously and quickly approached the control panel.
At this moment, Fatty, who should have been an invisible bottom-ranked student, received more attention than ever before.
"Can Fatty beat Ma Liang?"
"No idea. If he does, Ma Liang will probably cry himself unconscious in the bathroom."
The buzzing chatter behind him made Fatty even more nervous.
He rubbed his hands against his trouser legs for a while before reaching toward the control panel and selecting Mountain-Crushing Strike...
Boom-boom-boom!
After he quickly performed the skill three times, his assessment result appeared: 14.9 points!
Whoa!
Before Fatty had even emerged from the testing chamber, the crowd outside erupted!
"Holy shit! He beat him! Fatty really beat him!"
"14.9 plus his cultivation score of 46.1 makes sixty-one! Fatty even beat Zhang Baosheng!"
"Fatty, you're fucking awesome!"
"Fatty, you've done us tier-one talents proud!"
The bottom-ranked students with tier-one talent howled excitedly!
Ma Liang, who had previously been in thirtieth place, was now on the verge of tears.
I really got squeezed out of the top thirty. It's over!
Nearby, Zhang Baosheng was still trembling with lingering fear.
Thank goodness. I was twenty-ninth. Even though I've been pushed down to thirtieth, at least I've held on to a passing spot!
At that thought, he looked at Ma Liang, unable to help gloating a little.
This fucker's got it rough.
Just then, Fatty emerged from the testing chamber and rushed toward Xu Yuan, his face brimming with excitement!
Higher than 14.7!
I passed!
I beat Zhang Baosheng!
Fatty could hardly wait to share his joy with Xu Yuan.
Even though Xu Yuan had already seen it, he still had to say a few words!
But before he could reach Xu Yuan, a hand suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Fatty, stop hanging around Xu Yuan. Those of us who passed the assessment are the ones on the same level. Trash like Xu Yuan doesn't deserve to call you his brother!"
Zhang Baosheng looked completely earnest.
Previously, he had thought Fatty would fail too, so he hadn't paid much attention to him.
Now that Fatty had passed, he couldn't help saying something.
Otherwise, with how readily Fatty listened to Xu Yuan, if he didn't sour their relationship first, Fatty would definitely come after him once he dealt with Xu Yuan.
"Who said you passed the assessment? Are you dreaming?"
Fatty shoved Zhang Baosheng aside and continued running excitedly toward Xu Yuan.
Zhang Baosheng: "???"
I'm fucking thirtieth. How did I not pass?
Does this fatty not know how to count?
"Number seventy-one, Sun Hao."
In front of the testing chamber, the teacher called Sun Hao's name next.
Sun Hao still hadn't reached entry level in his martial technique. His face immediately flushed crimson. "Sir, I... I haven't reached entry level in my martial technique..."
At those words, the students burst into laughter.
At the proctors' table, Lin Yuan and Niu Gang looked embarrassed.
Useless trash. What a disgrace to us!
Utterly mortified, Sun Hao instinctively dragged Xu Yuan down with him. "I'm not the only one! Xu Yuan hasn't reached entry level either!"
The words had barely left his mouth when he saw Xu Yuan calmly walk toward the testing chamber.
What the hell?
Had Xu Yuan reached entry level in his martial technique too?
Sun Hao's expression instantly froze.
But now, at least, nobody was laughing at him anymore.
Everyone's attention was focused entirely on Xu Yuan.
Especially the dozen or so people who had bet against him-their grins were already stretching crooked across their faces!
"Xu Yuan, dumbfounded now, huh? Even if you've perfected your martial technique, there's no way you can pass!"
"You just had to bet against us. Stumped now, aren't you?"
"Stop struggling, Xu Yuan. Just pay up!"
"Holy shit, you guys bet money against him? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Xu Yuan had already selected his martial technique and was about to enter the testing chamber. Hearing that, an idea stirred in his mind, and he quickly said, "Anyone else who wants to bet, there's still time to place your bets! Just transfer the money to Fatty through Heavenly Messenger!"
"Fatty, accept the transfers as soon as they arrive, so nobody can change their mind later and take the money back!"
With that, before Niu Gang could explode, Xu Yuan darted into the testing chamber.
"That brat!"
Niu Gang's nose practically twisted with rage.
The faces of everyone beside him twitched as well.
Pulling something like that right in front of them-this brat really had guts fit to burst!
But on second thought, if he dared to do this, it seemed he really had perfected a second-tier martial technique or higher!
That was rather impressive.
Judging by martial techniques alone, this brat could probably rank in the top three among this year's martial arts students in Yang City!
Inside the chamber.
As the chamber door closed, Xu Yuan's mind settled as well.
The clamor outside continued, but he seemed unable to hear it anymore.
Countless insights into the Savage Bull Heart-Shattering Butt surfaced in his mind.
Although he had never performed this martial technique before, he felt as though he had practiced it millions upon millions of times!
"Candidate detected in position. Please perform your selected martial technique in five seconds."
A mechanical female voice rang out:
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"MOO!!!!!"
Almost the instant the countdown ended, Xu Yuan abruptly moved!
Along with his movement, an earth-shaking bull's bellow suddenly exploded through the examination hall!
Outside the chamber, everyone's mind went blank!
What the hell?!!
Had a bizarre beast broken into the school?!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everyone's expression changed drastically as they whipped their heads toward the examination hall's main doors!
Could it really be a bizarre beast?
But just then, a startled cry suddenly rang out:
"Look at Xu Yuan!!!"
Everyone froze, then instinctively turned back to look inside the testing chamber.
Then every pair of eyes instantly went wide!!!
Behind Xu Yuan, the phantom of a savage bull had appeared. Following his movements, it charged ferociously at the practice dummy with an unrivaled momentum!
The savage bull was lifelike, its enormous horns fearsome beyond compare, its gaze savage and bloodthirsty, as though a real mutated savage bull had appeared inside the testing chamber!
"A Transformation Realm martial technique!!!"
Niu Gang sprang to his feet, his voice like a cannon fired inside an empty vat, shaking everyone's eardrums!
BOOM!!!
As if answering Niu Gang's furious shout, Xu Yuan's elbow aligned with the savage bull's enormous horn and drove into the practice dummy's chest with utterly ferocious force!
The practice dummy, as tough as a Skin Tempering Ninth Stage body, was instantly punched through and torn apart!
Then it was left utterly wrecked!
Silence.
Deathly stillness.
The testing chamber issued no instruction for Xu Yuan to perform the technique a second time. Instead, a line of text appeared directly on the score display:
[Transformation Realm Savage Bull Heart-Shattering Butt, bonus +20 points, score: 50!]