High-Level Martial Era

January 6, 2043.

Li Yuan did not practice "Stellar Spear Technique" or "Dragon Movement Scripture" in the virtual network today.

So, as usual, he left the house a little after three in the morning.

"It's been several days since I last saw the night of Jiang City at three in the morning," Li Yuan looked up at the pitch-black sky, "I still cannot slack off in my daily practice."

He arrived at his personal martial arts room at school.

As usual, he first practiced the Basic Cultivation Method for two hours before starting to practice with the spear.

"Shua!"

"Shua!" The shadows of the spear moved unpredictably as Li Yuan manipulated his long spear in his hand.

As he moved with the steps, sometimes the spear was like a sudden gust of wind or torrential rain, sometimes dreamy and elusive, and sometimes fierce and violent.

Sometimes a sudden straight thrust would cause the speed of the spear's tip to soar, making the air roar and explode.

The eighteen routines of "Solid Rock Spear Technique" had long been perfected to the extreme by Li Yuan.

"I have fully grasped the five deadly moves of the Solid Rock Spear Technique," he said to himself.

"Following Teacher Xu Bo's guidance, what I need to do now is to practice over and over, engraving the flow of vigor from the five deadly moves deep into my bones," Li Yuan thought. "In the end, without deliberately using any particular move, any spear technique I execute should reach a state of flawless vigor."

"Body and mind as one."

"Then that's Fourth Level Spear Technique," Li Yuan mused. "Improvement in skills can only rely on oneself."

"According to the intelligent teacher, the breakthrough from the perfection of Third Stage to Fourth Level is a mysterious one, a breakthrough in the spiritual consciousness' perception of the body."

"Some martial artists may break through just by having a sleep and feeling it."

"Some may have an epiphany during a life-and-death battle, leading to a breakthrough."

"But many more martial artists are stuck at the perfection of Third Stage for their entire lives."

"There is no absolute path to success from Third Stage to Fourth Level," Li Yuan pondered. "What I need to do now is to practice over and over again."

"If a thousand times is not enough."

"Then ten thousand times it is!"

"First, I'll train my spear technique to 99% of the Third Stage," Li Yuan's heart was filled with longing. "Then go and fight in virtual combat, go to real battle."

Years of spear practice told Li Yuan.

If you can't break through?

Then it's not enough accumulation! Just keep training!

"Read a book a thousand times, and its meaning will appear," Li Yuan swung the large spear in his hand. "The same goes for the spear."

"You only ever hear about Spear Technique Masters who practiced their way there."

Over an hour later.

[Your Spear Technique realm has increased from 90% of the Third Stage to 91% of the Third Stage.]

...

Around seven o'clock, Li Yuan arrived at the classroom.

Most of the students had already arrived.

However, compared to the usual scene where most students were earnestly studying on their own, the atmosphere in the classroom today was much more somber, with most people distracted.

"Old Zhou, why the long face?" Li Yuan sat down, pulling out his test papers while asking.

"Brother Yuan, the results for the January mock exams are about to be announced," Zhou Qi said glumly. "Aren't you nervous?"

"Not nervous," Li Yuan shook his head. "It's just a few points difference."

"I forgot you're a martial arts student; cultural classes only account for 100 points," Zhou Qi sighed. "But I'm a cultural student, if I do poorly, I'll get skinned alive when I get home."

"Then you'd be 'Zhou the Skinner,'" Li Yuan said offhandedly.

Zhou Qi gave Li Yuan a helpless look, too lazy to even retort.

"You haven't told your family about your awakening of Martial Spirit, have you?" Li Yuan inquired.

"I told them," Zhou Qi replied. "But what good does that do? My dad just asked me one question: with only a few months left, can you make it into Martial Arts University?"

"A person must be self-aware. I didn't even hope to get into Martial Arts University," Zhou Qi said. "So, I've decided not to go to the Elite Class."

"Just learn the High Level Cultivation Method and that's enough."

Li Yuan was speechless.

Indeed, Zhou Qi's physical quality was only at 4.3 levels up till now, and his martial arts score was quite terrible.

Not going to the Elite Class couldn't be called wrong.

"It's good too," Li Yuan smiled. "With the awakening of Martial Spirit, you can cultivate High Level Cultivation Method, and your martial arts score will improve much faster."

"Even if you go the cultural route, martial arts still account for 30% of the score."

"Mm-hm," Zhou Qi nodded.

At that moment.

The homeroom teacher of the cultural class, dressed in a small chanel-style jacket and pencil pants, appeared at the front door of the classroom.

Teacher Chen's face was as dark as water, holding a stack of papers and two ranking lists in his hands.

Instantly!

The classroom fell silent, everyone knew that the rankings were about to be unveiled.

Especially the students who chose the cultural path, each of them became nervous, many involuntarily bowed their heads.

All were inwardly chanting 'don't call my name.'

Of course, there were also a few with excellent grades, hoping in their hearts 'maybe this time I did well, I can improve by a few ranks.'

For martial arts students like Li Yuan, they were relatively calm by comparison since, at least, they had a rough idea of their own martial arts scores.

"Bang~" The test papers were thrown onto the podium.

The atmosphere grew even more tense.

"This January mock exam really revealed your true levels; hanging around all nonchalant, not studying culture properly, not practicing martial dao diligently..." Teacher Chen's voice was icy. "All of you think that just being in Guan High will get you into a first-tier university? Dream on!"

"Based on the citywide rankings this time, some of you would struggle to make it into a second-tier university, and I won't call out any names - you know who you are!" Teacher Chen scolded like a machine gun.

Many students bowed their heads even lower.

The January mock exam.

As the first major standardized test of the final year in high school, the cultural paper was intentionally difficult, aiming to undermine the students' confidence, to get them to settle down and review better.

At this stage, Teacher Chen, as the homeroom teacher of the cultural class, would not allow her students to develop any sense of pride.

She scolded relentlessly for more than ten minutes, without repeating herself once.

Even Li Yuan, with his strong psychological fortitude, started to doubt if he was one of the 'very few people, rotten mouse droppings, certain individuals' that Teacher Chen was referring to.

Finally.

"But there are very few students who have made significant progress, and they deserve encouragement," Ms. Chen said lightly, "Okay, I'll start with the academic scores now. Everyone listen carefully."

In high school, there is no emphasis on protecting students' grade privacy.

"Li Shutong, 889 points," Ms. Chen paused: "Second in academic performance for the grade."

This immediately caused a burst of exclamations. A score over 850 points in academics is a clear indication of a top student.

"Li Wanxing, 868 points."

...

"Zhou Qi, 849 points."

Zhou Qi, with his head bowed, suddenly lifted it slightly, his face full of pride. His academic performance was quite good.

One by one, the students' grades were announced, some beaming with joy, others showing frustration on their faces.

Where there's ranking, some rise and some must fall.

There are always half dissatisfied.

"Li Yuan, 742 points," Ms. Chen added when she read Li Yuan's name: "Not bad, a great improvement."

Instantly, many students turned to look at Li Yuan, which made him somewhat embarrassed.

They don't praise the ones with over eight hundred points.

Praise his score in the seven hundreds?

"Brother Yuan, didn't you score just over six hundred points last time?" Zhou Qi widened his eyes at Li Yuan: "An increase of nearly one hundred points?"

"Yeah, I've spent more time reviewing recently," Li Yuan said with a smile.

"You're full of it," Zhou Qi immediately retorted: "When have you ever attended the academic study sessions in the evening?"

"I was reviewing in the Martial Arts room," Li Yuan said frankly.

The scores of each student were read out.

Li Tianyou's score was 586 points, which was near the bottom of the class. As for the academic performance ranking for the grade, it likely fell short of the last time.

In fact, among the ten or so Martial Artist Students, Li Yuan's academic performance was already a steep lead.

...

After the academic grades were announced, Ms. Chen didn't pause and went straight on: "Now I will read out the Martial Arts scores, listen carefully."

All ears perked up to listen.

The academic results were known, and knowing the Martial Arts results meant they could calculate the overall score and see where they stood.

Ms. Chen looked at the second transcript and unconsciously glanced at Li Yuan, seemingly hesitant.

"Li Yuan," Ms. Chen paused for a moment before slowly saying: "827 points."

Boom!

The entire classroom exploded in an instant, and many people looked at Li Yuan with a shocked gaze.

They doubted if they heard that right.

You should know, this Martial Arts score doesn't include the academic conversion points. In other words, the total possible score is only 900 points.

Li Yuan exceeded 800 points?

And by several tens of points!

It was known that although Li Yuan had stolen the show at yesterday's Martial Dao Assessment, he hadn't dominated quite like Lin Lanyue, but now this result was truly exaggerated.

"827 points? Brother Yuan, you have 74 points added for your academic conversion. Adding that up," Zhou Qi already started calculating for Li Yuan: "Holy shit! Brother Yuan, your total Martial Arts score exceeded 900 points!!"

"A raw score of 901 points," Zhou Qi couldn't help but exclaim.

"901 points?"

"A raw score over 900 points? Li Yuan." All students were shocked.

It was just too fierce.

Academic performance might be boosted substantially in a short time, but improving in Martial Arts generally happens very slowly.

"Cough, cough, quiet!" Ms. Chen coughed twice, regaining calm in the class.

"Li Yuan really did well this time."

"Physical Quality score of 438 points, third in the grade," Ms. Chen said: "Martial Arts Skills... 389 points, first in the grade."

"This single score in Martial Arts Skills is also the first in Guan Mountain District and second in Jiang City."

Boom!

All the students in the class were once again excited and shocked.

Whether it was the 389 points in Martial Arts Skills or the second-in-city ranking for that category.

Both were somewhat beyond their comprehension.

Normally, such martial arts scores shouldn't appear in their ordinary class.

It was practically fantasy.

"389 points?" Li Yuan remained very calm in his heart, muttering to himself: "Not bad, it seems that to surpass 390 or even get close to a perfect score, I'll probably have to reach the Fourth Level in Spear Technique."

With a total Martial Arts score of 901 points, the result was way better than Li Yuan had expected.

"Teacher, Li Yuan has a total Martial Arts score of 901, what rank is he in the grade, did he make it into the top ten?" Suddenly, a student couldn't help but speak out.

The others, too, were looking at Ms. Chen with curious and expectant gazes.

A total score over 900 points.

Even without extra points for Spiritual Nature, the ranking for the grade must be quite astonishing.

Li Yuan also looked towards Ms. Chen, his fist clenched slightly.

Could he be in the top five?

"In terms of the raw score, Li Yuan is second," Ms. Chen said directly: "The first place in Martial Arts raw score is from the Elite Class, Lin Lanyue, with 929 points."

"As for the final total score, Li Yuan ranks sixth in the grade and two hundred and twelfth in the city," Ms. Chen's face revealed a rare smile: "Based on the rankings from previous years, this score gives him a chance to break into the top five famous schools."

Clearly, Ms. Chen was extremely satisfied with Li Yuan's performance.

"The top five famous schools?"

"A citywide ranking, reaching over two hundred names?"

"Sixth in the grade?" The other students were even more stunned and couldn't help but look at Li Yuan.

"Brother Yuan, that's freaking awesome!!" Zhou Qi was even more excited than Li Yuan.

"Sixth in the grade?" Li Yuan's face only showed a slight smile as he sighed inwardly: "Still short by one rank, huh?"

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