“You just now, you wanted to run as soon as you saw me?” the ponytailed girl stared at Gu Qiang.
“No, I just wanted to use the restroom,” Gu Qiang hurriedly shook his head.
“Really?” the ponytailed girl eyed him with doubt.
“Really,” Gu Qiang asserted with confidence.
“Then why aren’t you going anymore?” the ponytailed girl glared at Gu Qiang.
“Seeing you, I no longer feel the need to go to the restroom,” Gu Qiang blurted out.
“Bullshit, if you want to run just say it. Anyway, when I want to beat you up, you can’t run away,” the ponytailed girl huffed.
The pretty girl beside them had already started to laugh.
Gu Qiang’s face was almost green; just moments ago, he’d been boasting to her about how tough he was.
“I’m not dealing with you anymore.” The ponytailed girl flipped her hair and then her gaze fell upon Lin Lanyue not far away, her eyes lit up, and she jumped over: “Yue Yue sis.”
“Dongdong, long time no see.” Lin Lanyue smiled and opened her arms to embrace the ponytailed girl.
Lin Lanyue was half a head taller than the ponytailed girl, looking just like an older sister hugging her younger sister.
Li Yuan watched the two from the side.
After letting go of Lin Lanyue, the ponytailed girl curiously looked at Li Yuan and hesitated, “Are you Li Yuan?”
“Mm-hmm.” Li Yuan nodded.
“You’re handsomer than how Yue Yue sis described you.” The ponytailed girl showed her little tiger teeth and extended her hand, “Hello, my name is Wu Dongdong.”
“Wu Dongdong?” Li Yuan looked at the ponytailed girl.
“She’s Wu Dongdong.” Lin Lanyue smiled at Li Yuan, “Yuan Yue test, first in Jiang City, don’t be deceived by her appearance.”
“Mm-hmm.” Li Yuan nodded lightly, still feeling somewhat surreal.
Martial Arts Skills, Physical Quality high school exam double full score.
A Martial Arts genius that is hard to come by in the entire Jiangbei Province in a year, looking at the whole world, probably at the top among her peers, it’s hard to associate with the ponytailed girl in front of him.
“Yue Yue sis said you have excellent Martial Arts Skills, not many can impress Yue Yue sis.” The ponytailed girl looked at Li Yuan, extending her smart ring, “Come on, add me on V, we can spar on the Combat Network later.”
“Sure.” Li Yuan smiled and added her as a friend.
Li Yuan could tell, Wu Dongdong was naive, incredibly talented, and well-acquainted with Lin Lanyue; her background must be quite significant.
“Dongdong, sparring on the Combat Network is fine,” Lin Lanyue whispered, “But later during the skills assessment, in the melee, if you come across Li Yuan…”
“Understood.” Wu Dongdong nodded like a pecking hen, “If I encounter Yue Yue sis and Li Yuan, I’ll first take out the others, then we can have a one-on-one at the end.”
“What if you come across me?” Gu Qiang edged forward, full of anticipation.
“I’ll take you down first.”
…
Time passed, and after a quarter of an hour, aircrafts arrived one after another.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, everyone finally arrived.
Immediately after, Professor Ming delivered a stirring speech, and lastly announced the start of the invitation to visit.
Then, everyone received their campus ID cards.
The first item—campus tour.
…
Li Yuan had to admit.
Jiangbei Martial Arts University was indeed super large, far surpassing the area of ordinary universities.
They took a sightseeing car for a cursory visit, and it took an hour to go around the main campus once.
And that didn’t even include touring inside each teaching building.
“So you see, Li Yuan, students at Martial Arts University mostly run when they’re in a hurry,” Gu Qiang pointed to the students running furiously on both sides of the road, “Inside Martial Arts University, students are not allowed to ride bicycles.”
Li Yuan looked around.
Indeed!
There were very few leisurely strolling students; most were either jogging or sprinting.
Before, Li Yuan had only heard of this from the internet, but this was his first time seeing it.
Things like in ordinary universities, where boys and girls enjoy romantic walk under the moonlight, casual talks on the grass, exploration of the mysteries of human bodies in the woods… were even rarer.
After a quick tour of Jiangbei Martial Arts University, Li Yuan’s impression could be summarized in four words: “Big! Fast!”
…
After the tour, it was time to eat.
“Ten Blue Star Coins?” Li Yuan looked at the lavish nutritious meal on the table and was somewhat surprised.
Outside, it would cost at least two hundred Blue Star Coins
“This ten coins is also to prevent waste, it’s essentially issued by the school,” Gu Qiang laughed beside him, “Students at Martial Arts University receive subsidies on their campus card each month, you can’t even finish it normally, in reality, room and board are free, with additional subsidies… Of course, supplementary Cultivation Resources are limited.”
“Each month, there’s a ranking, the higher you rank, the more Cultivation Resources you get.”
Li Yuan ate while listening to Gu Qiang’s explanations.
It was clear, Gu Qiang knew a lot about Martial Arts University.
“The welfare and benefits at Jiangbei Martial Arts University are already like this, what if one gets into one of the top five famous schools?” Li Yuan’s resolve grew the more he understood, “I must get in.”
“And strive to reach the core tier.”
Getting into one of the top five famous schools could completely alleviate his aunt and uncle’s financial pressure.
“Uncle?” Li Yuan thought of the war in the Rob Sea Star Realm, his expression dimming momentarily, and he lowered his head to continue eating.
Wu Dongdong suddenly slapped the table and muttered, “I’m going to get another portion.”
After that, she got up and dashed out.
“She eats that fast?” Li Yuan was shocked.
He had only eaten half.
“You’re comparing eating speed with her?” Gu Qiang looked at Li Yuan with a strange look, “Li Yuan, that’s her Domain.”
Li Yuan laughed.
Turns out, this Wu Dongdong was a foodie.
Within ten minutes, Wu Dongdong grabbed four large portions of nourishing meals, and devoured them all.
Li Yuan prided himself on being a big eater, but he had to admit defeat.
“Li Yuan, Dongdong’s physical talent is very special,” Lin Lanyue said, “Her digestive speed… is incomparable to ordinary people.”
“`
“In addition to her regular practice of high-rank cultivation methods, she also consumes two Essence Pills of Origin Power every month,” Lin Lanyue said with a smile.
“Impressive,” Li Yuan sincerely remarked.
When it comes to physical cultivation, growth normally has its limits.
For martial artists, being able to eat and digest quickly is a remarkable talent, ensuring rapid physical development.
“Indeed.”
“At school, it feels like I’m in a small pond. Apart from Lin Lanyue, nobody is my match,” Li Yuan put down his chopsticks, his peripheral vision unintentionally sweeping over Wu Dongdong, who was still diligently focusing on his meal.
At a distance, all were students. Li Yuan had tried to use Divine Palace Inquiry.
Each one had a Physical Quality of over level 8.
“Participating in this event, and seeing the best high school seniors from the entire province, makes me recognize my own insufficiencies,” Li Yuan realized one of the purposes of the country holding such invitation events.
It was to tell them, these students.
First in the grade? First in the county? High Martial Path talent?
Even if you are one in a thousand talents, just in Jiangbei Province, a year will produce over a thousand such talents.
And what if you look at Xia Country? Or the whole world?
Or even the entire human civilization? How many martial arts prodigies will emerge in a year?
“One step at a time.”
“From middle school till now, I’ve worked desperately hard to have the chance to attend this invitation event today,” Li Yuan’s eyes were full of longing: “This time, I must seize the opportunity.”
…
Eight at night.
All visiting students, carrying their student cards, entered the accommodations arranged by Jiangbei Martial Arts University.
“A large flat?”
Many ‘impoverished students’ like Li Yuan were a bit shocked.
“Normally, two students share one Martial Arts Room, with an area of over eight hundred square meters, including the martial arts room, bedroom, therapy room, dining room… someone comes regularly to take care of it,” the leading third-year student said with a smile: “Each semester, the top 20% of elite students in the assessment get an independent Martial Arts Room…”
“Students in the top 5% of the Martial Arts Class get a detached villa, not including the garden, with a total area of 1200 square meters.”
“This time you are here to compete, so you’ll be sharing a room with one other, don’t feel slighted,” this third-year student said with a smile.
At last, Li Yuan and the others understood why the Martial Arts University covered such a vast area.
Just the dormitory area alone was astonishingly large.
“No wonder the number of martial artist student slots from the country has always been limited,” Li Yuan sighed inwardly: “Not counting cultivation resources, just the accommodations alone are consuming enormous resources.”
Jiangbei Martial Arts University consistently accommodates about fifty thousand students a year, not including teachers and support staff.
The Martial Arts University is a five-year program.
Those who enjoy more resources also bear greater responsibilities.
…Male and female students stay in separate accommodations.
Li Yuan and Gu Qianghan were assigned to the same room.
After setting down their backpacks, they immediately sat down in the virtual network pods in the lounge.
Consciousness connected.
“Just like what that senior student said, after entering our campus card information, we can temporarily enter the space of Jiangbei Martial Arts University’s campus,” Li Yuan said with a proud smile.
With a thought, he entered.
…Shh! Shh! Shh! One figure after another appeared out of thin air, taking their seats.
This was a colossal battle space.
Quickly, close to a thousand people had appeared on the vast circular Spectator Platform, bustling with excitement.
In the center was a circular arena over 200 meters in diameter.
“Li Yuan.” A clear voice rang out; it was Lin Lanyue with her dyed red hair sitting next to him.
The others who had appeared were also students from Guan Mountain District.
Obviously, the system tried to arrange for students from the same school and district to sit together as much as possible.
“You’re pretty early,” Li Yuan said with a smile, and then his gaze swept around: “Do you know the fighting rules? Is it by number order, or random?”
“It should be a pseudo-random selection,” Lin Lanyue said.
“Pseudo-random?” Li Yuan was puzzled.
“It’s to make an effort to separate students from the same school or same county district, to avoid people teaming up and to ensure fairness,” Lin Lanyue explained with a smile: “For example, if by complete random selection, our school’s ten students were chosen for the same battle, wouldn’t we team up to take out the others first?”
Li Yuan understood.
Two minutes later, the consciousness of over a thousand students participating in this invitation event had descended upon this arena space.
All the students knew that the first real test of this invitation event was about to begin.
“Good evening to all the students from across the province,” a deep voice said.
Shh!
A nearly two-meter-tall man in black martial attire appeared above the arena, standing in mid-air with an impressive aura.
“Let me repeat the rules again,” his voice naturally amplified, echoing throughout the venue.
“Cage melee.”
“Each round, 200 people will be randomly chosen to enter the arena to battle, with a total of 6 rounds,” the man in black said in a deep voice: “During the fight, you continuously attack; the more enemies you kill and the longer you survive, the higher your score.”
“Until ultimately, only one person remains.”
“Your virtual bodies will all have the same physical quality, which is level 10.0.”
“This is an assessment of your martial arts skills.”
“In each round, rank 2 to 9 will be rewarded with a hundred thousand Blue Star Coins.”
“The top scorer in each round will receive five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins!” the man in black proclaimed robustly, reverberating across the entire battle space.
Li Yuan’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?” Li Yuan’s gaze sharpened.
With his uncle’s life and death unknown, Li Yuan had long since resolved that in the worst-case scenario, he must be able to support his family.
What is responsibility after all?
Firstly, it’s about earning money.
Not just for his own cultivation but also to afford the education his younger brother and sister need.
“My goal is to be first,” Li Yuan decided, his eyes filled with desire: “No one can stand in my way!”
“`