Guan Mountain District First High School.
The April mock exam is the last citywide standardized test before the college entrance examination.
But Li Yuan, as usual, followed his routine and arrived at school for training at three in the morning and went for a shower at seven.
The habit of cultivation is not something Li Yuan would easily change.
“Won’t you come back even for the April mock exam?” Li Yuan, passing by Martial Arts Room 4001, unconsciously glanced inside and involuntarily slowed his pace a bit.
The electronic lock was brand new and had no dust, which was because people cleaned it frequently.
Although Gu Qianghan had already mentioned it half a month ago.
But in recent days, as the mock exam approached, Li Yuan couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of expectation.
“Indeed, I’m thinking too much,” Li Yuan chuckled and shook his head, not taking it to heart.
To travel from Blue Star to Feixing through the Star Bridge is not an easy task.
Given Lin Lanyue’s family background and the fact that she specifically went for a mysterious “special training,” she naturally would not come back just for the April mock exam.
While the April mock exam is important, it is, after all, not the actual college entrance examination.
“Li Yuan.” Suddenly, a voice called out, and a burly teenager greeted him from a distance.
“Dong Haifeng?” Li Yuan greeted with a smile, it was indeed Dong Haifeng who he had rescued during the last combat assessment.
Dong Haifeng had just emerged from the martial arts room, his face beaming with smiles.
Since returning from Jiangbei Martial University, Dong Haifeng’s attitude towards Li Yuan had undergone a 180-degree turn.
Every time he saw Li Yuan again, he became quite enthusiastic, and even had a hint… of respect.
“Is Gu Qiang not here?” Li Yuan walked up and said with a smile.
The door to Martial Arts Room 4003 was also closed, and the trash at the door was the same as last night.
“He doesn’t come to the martial arts room in the morning,” Dong Haifeng replied with a smile, “He even often arrives late for morning self-study.”
Li Yuan was startled and suddenly realized that in the past six months, he seemed to have never run into Gu Qianghan early in the morning.
He usually wouldn’t see him until the afternoon.
“No wonder his progress is slow; if he can’t be seen in Jiang City at four in the morning, how can he cultivate quickly?” Li Yuan said with a laugh, “Let’s go, we’ll eat together in the cafeteria.”
Dong Haifeng was taken aback by the mention of Jiang City in the early hours. He hadn’t seen it either!
“Gu Qiang’s progress is slow? Is this what being a big shot is like?” Dong Haifeng muttered to himself.
…
In the cafeteria.
“Brother Yuan, you really aren’t in a rush at all,” Yan Zhou said while eating a steamed bun and watching Li Yuan and Dong Haifeng slowly enter the cafeteria.
“In a rush for what?” Li Yuan said with a smile and sat down beside his classmate to eat.
Zhou Qi had already bought breakfast for Li Yuan; fried sauce noodles, beef noodles, a nutritious breakfast… plus two soda buns and two portions of siu mai.
In reality, aside from the nutritious breakfast, eating too many carbohydrates does little to help martial arts cultivation and can even be harmful.
But Li Yuan didn’t care.
With his current physical quality, he could digest these foods very quickly.
“Slurp!” Li Yuan devoured the fried sauce noodles with relish, feeling utterly content.
The school’s fried sauce noodles and hot dry noodles actually didn’t taste that special, but after eating them for a long time, Li Yuan would feel uncomfortable if he missed a meal.
These were foods he had eaten since he was young.
“Yan Zhou, you’re the one who’s in a hurry,” Zhou Qi said while eating and laughing, “Last time you were in exam room 21, and this time you’re sitting in exam room 22, almost falling to the same exam room as Brother Yuan.”
“Old Zhou, you think you’re amazing? Perennial runner-up in the exam room.” Yan Zhou immediately retorted.
Yan Zhou’s academic performance was a bit off during the last mock exam in January, which is why his exam room number had been pushed back this time.
But such fluctuations in rankings were very normal, so Zhou Qi teased,
“What’s up with the runner-up?” Zhou Qi tilted his head back. “This is the runner-up among forty exam halls!”
“I’m proud!”
Everyone couldn’t help but laugh.
What Zhou Qi said was the truth. Among the hundreds of students in Grade 12, Class 2, few could be among the top two in the first couple of exam halls.
“Brother Yuan, you’re not going to improve by another hundred points this time, are you?” Zhou Qi suddenly looked at Li Yuan, seemingly worried. “If you improve by another hundred points, your academic score will almost catch up to mine.”
In the January mock exams, Li Yuan’s academic performance had improved by about one hundred points, moving up from the 29th to the 24th exam hall, already approaching the middle ranks of the grade.
“Don’t worry.” Li Yuan smiled. “I’ll aim to score 120 more points, just enough to surpass you.”
“Damn, that’s so inhuman!” Zhou Qi cursed jokingly. “You’re taking all the points, leave some for us.”
However, nobody took Li Yuan’s words to heart. Improve by another 120 points? How could that be possible!
“We’re done eating.”
“Let’s go. If we head to the exam hall early, we can get familiar with the people in front and behind us and strive for a united front.”
“I hope to surpass the key score line this time.” A group of classmates chatted with each other as they walked to their exam halls, most of them very relaxed.
Li Tianyou, on the other hand, was more silent, walking alone at the back.
As they approached the exam hall building, the others gradually went upstairs.
“Tianyou, wait a sec.” A deep voice suddenly sounded from the side.
Li Tianyou was startled, only then realizing that Li Yuan had somehow appeared beside him. “Li Yuan, what is it?”
He stopped.
“Tianyou.” Li Yuan looked at Li Tianyou’s face, smiled. “Have you been losing weight recently?”
Li Tianyou was stunned for a moment, subconsciously touching his own face.
It seemed that he had indeed slimmed down.
“Maybe.” Li Tianyou forced a smile, without explanation.
Suddenly.
Beep~ Li Tianyou’s smart ring trembled slightly. He looked down and his pupils constricted; he had just received a transfer notification for fifty thousand Blue Star Coins.
The sender, Li Yuan.
At the same time, Tianyou also received a message from Li Yuan with a name and a V-chat number.
“Li Yuan, what’s this?” Li Tianyou looked at Li Yuan in shock.
“There’s less than two months left until the college entrance exam. I know you’ve been working hard on your training, but external help is very important. Buy some Qi and Blood potions. At the very least ensure a nutritious meal three times a day. This Zhong Cheng, he’s a Martial Path worker. You go to him to purchase the potions.
Just say you’re my classmate, and he’ll give you a discount,” Li Yuan said with a smile, “Just to clarify, I’m poor too, so it’s not a gift, it’s a loan, okay?”
“But I can’t pay it back,” Li Tianyou said, unable to resist.
“I’m not asking for it back now. What’s more important, money or health? Are you really planning on losing weight?” Li Yuan said with a teasing grin. “Once you get into Jiangbei Martial University, find a good job after graduation, won’t you be able to pay it back? Remember, you have to repay me within ten years at the latest!”
Li Tianyou’s eyes instantly reddened.
He understood all too well that this was just Li Yuan’s way of making him accept the offer.
Who ever offers a loan and then states that it needs to be repaid in ten years?
“Li Yuan, I…” Li Tianyou’s voice choked up for a moment.
“Tianyou, there are people around, behave.” Li Yuan shook his head and said, “I’m not interested in you, don’t let others misunderstand.”
Li Tianyou was taken aback for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh.
“Take it.” Li Yuan smiled. “Actually, with your results, you have a very high chance of getting into Jiangbei Martial University, but you must not get tense.”
“Martial Arts Cultivation, the more anxious you are, the harder it is to progress.”
“Keep a calm mindset.” Li Yuan smiled. “In this regard, you have to trust me.”
“Mm-hmm.” Li Tianyou nodded. In his heart, Li Yuan had considerable authority when it came to Martial Arts Cultivation.
Just like Teacher Xu Bo had publicly said during Martial Arts class, with Li Yuan’s skill and cultivation, he could at least serve as a ‘High-Rank Martial Arts Teacher’.
“I’m heading up first.” Li Yuan waved his hand, “See you later.”
“Fifty thousand Blue Star Coins.” Li Tianyou looked down at his bank account and couldn’t help but raise his head to glance at Li Yuan’s retreating figure.
He wanted to tell Li Yuan it wasn’t necessary, but he couldn’t bring himself to walk away.
Because he indeed needed it.
“Thank you.” Li Tianyou silently mouthed the words in his heart.
…
After finding his seat number, Li Yuan had just sat down.
“Li Yuan is in our exam room?”
“This is exam room 24, isn’t it? A Martial Artist Student with such good academic performance?”
“Heh, my exam number is actually in front of Li Yuan’s. Looks like I’m better than Li Yuan.”
“You really think so? Believe it or not, one punch from him could knock the snot out of you.” Many students whispered among themselves in the exam room.
Throughout this term, especially after the event hosted by Jiangbei Martial University, Li Yuan’s performance gradually began to spread among the senior year students.
With the school’s deliberate promotion, Li Yuan’s fame had become unrivaled within the school, surpassing even Lin Lanyue.
“Discussing me?” Li Yuan listened to the voices around him but didn’t pay too much attention.
He was thinking about Li Tianyou.
“I hope this money can help him somehow,” Li Yuan silently sighed to himself.
Out of all the classmates he knew, the only one Li Yuan truly admired was Li Tianyou.
Sometimes, Li Yuan would even think if Li Tianyou could awaken the talent of the Mind Spirit Divine Palace, even if not as much as himself, he would definitely be dazzling.
One must know oneself.
“Opportunity and luck sometimes outweigh effort,” Li Yuan silently sighed again.
Before, Li Yuan wanted to help Li Tianyou but didn’t have the means.
Why only give fifty thousand Blue Star Coins? And to say it was a loan?
First, Li Yuan knew Li Tianyou’s character was incredibly tenacious, not fond of asking for help, so he didn’t want Li Tianyou to feel too much psychological burden.
Second, this money was meant as a gift from Li Yuan, without the expectation of being repaid.
And third, the most important reason.
“I am also still growing, and cultivation expenses are quite large,” Li Yuan silently sighed, “I hope it can give him a boost and help him get into Jiangbei Martial University.”
Once he got in, it would be nothing less than a turning point in Li Tianyou’s fate.
Beep beep beep~ The bell rang.
The invigilating teacher entered the classroom, and everyone placed their smart wristbands at the front of the room.
The April mock exam officially began.
…
After a day and a half of academic testing, Li Yuan could only say he did his best.
“The score should not be worse than last time,” Li Yuan thought to himself, “Normally, the difficulty level of the April mock exam should be lower.”
The January mock exam had a higher difficulty level, aiming to discourage students from becoming arrogant.
In contrast, the April mock exam often had a lower difficulty level, meant to encourage students.
…
The next afternoon was the Martial Arts Spirituality Test.
Li Yuan’s test sheet, as usual, read ‘Unawakened,’ all within his expectations.
As President Li had said, with Li Yuan’s revealed physical talent and mental talent, if he could resonate with any High-Rank Cultivation Method, it would have appeared long ago.
“Looks like no one else in the class could resonate either,” Li Yuan glanced around.
Throughout the entire senior stage, only Wan Xiao and Zhou Qi from his class had succeeded in meeting the resonance requirements of High-Rank Cultivation Methods.
“Everyone has a Spiritual Nature.”
“It’s just not possible.”
“The current seven High-Rank Cultivation Methods were also created by generations of predecessors among humans,” Li Yuan pondered silently, “In the future, if I can become a Flying Heaven Warrior, perhaps I could also be part of this grand process of civilization.”
…
On the third day, it was the Combat Assessment.
Almost a month had passed since the Jiangbei Martial University invitational event.
Li Yuan finally stopped hiding his Physical Quality and fully revealed it.
40-meter Burst Speed test.
“21.8 meters per second.”
“Damn!”
“Li Yuan’s Burst Speed, this!” All the students present were shocked and could barely believe what they were seeing.
“Brother Yuan is?”
“Too awesome!”
“Is Brother Yuan becoming a real Martial Artist?” Zhou Qi, Yan Zhou, Li Tianyou, they were all stunned. That was a Martial Artist, after all.
Even the three invigilating teachers were somewhat taken aback.
This Burst Speed was already infinitely close to the level 10.0 standard.
Keep in mind, the class they were testing was just an ordinary class.
“What’s so strange?”
“Isn’t this the result Li Yuan should have?” Dong Haifeng, Gǔ Qiánghàn, and those other students among the top ten of the grade, weren’t too surprised.
After all, they had seen someone who had completely dominated the ‘Combat Assessment’ amongst the elite Martial Artist Students in the entire Jiangbei Province with an absolute, precipitous victory.
Another month had passed, and was it so strange that Li Yuan’s Physical Quality was close to level 10?
The subsequent physical tests, wherever public assessment was involved, Li Yuan always managed to shock his fellow students and the examiners alike.
…
With such a large-scale exam, score compilation and grading happened very quickly.
That same evening.
In the principal’s office of Guan Mountain District No. 1 High School, Tan Zhenlong was waiting.
“Ding—” The smart assistant’s voice rang out, “Master, Director Wang from the Education Bureau is video-calling you.”
“Director Wang?” Tan Zhenlong was a little surprised and quickly said, “Answer it, guest mode.”
Whoosh~
The lighting in the office adjusted, subtly altering the ambiance. A holographic screen formed, and a young man in his thirties wearing a shirt appeared in the projection.
“Principal Tan, congratulations,” the young man greeted with a smile.
“Director Wang, congratulations for what?” Tan Zhenlong was momentarily puzzled.
“The April mock exam.”
“Your school produced two city-wide subject toppers,” the young man said with a smile. “Isn’t that worth congratulating?”