Chapter 129: The Undisputed Top Freshman
Dugu Lin appeared quite dejected. For the first time in his life, he had tasted the bitterness of defeat, and it was such a crushing loss.
In the past, wherever he went, he was hailed as a proud son of heaven, unmatched among his peers, which had fostered his arrogant and self-confident personality.
Losing to Zhang Ruochen made him realize that beyond the sky, there is another sky, and beyond the people, there are other people. No one could claim to be the number one among the younger generation.
Dugu Lin stared at Zhang Ruochen standing across from him, his expression complex. His lips trembled as he spoke with difficulty, "I have lost... Senior Brother Zhang..."
Zhang Ruochen could see that Dugu Lin was somewhat disheartened, so he said, "Today, I won, but in the future, you might not be able to win back. Isn't that right?"
Dugu Lin's eyes reignited with fighting spirit, as if two flames appeared in his pupils. He said, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Zhang. Now, I just want to know, how much of your power did you use just now?"
"One hundred percent," Zhang Ruochen replied.
"I understand." Dugu Lin's complexion improved slightly, and he stepped back.
In reality, Zhang Ruochen had only used seventy percent of his strength, but to avoid discouraging Dugu Lin further, he claimed to have used one hundred percent.
A well-intentioned lie can sometimes serve as encouragement. After all, Zhang Ruochen and Dugu Lin had no deep-seated enmity; they were both fighting for the honor of their academy.
Dugu Lin had severely injured Chiming Hai, crippling a top expert from the Western Academy and greatly diminishing its morale. Zhang Ruochen, in turn, struck Dugu Lin down heavily, neutralizing a top expert from the Eastern Academy and dampening its spirit.
Even if severely injured, taking healing pills could restore them quickly, but they would be unable to participate in today's joint freshman competition of the four academies.
In the distance, Duanmu Xingling fixed her gaze on Zhang Ruochen. Her eyes, beautiful as stars, revealed a look of amazement. She said, "His cultivation has improved too fast. He must have already reached the Mysterious Extreme Middle Position, and his power is astonishing."
"With his current strength, he is not much weaker than those lower-ranked Xuan List martial artists," Huang Yanchen added.
Duanmu Xingling nodded, her beautiful eyes blinking, a faint smile curling at the corners of her mouth, though no one knew what she was thinking.
The vice deans of the other three academies exchanged glances, all showing helpless expressions. The joint freshman competition of the four academies hadn't even begun, yet the first-place winner had already been determined.
In previous years, such a situation was rarely encountered.
The Eastern Academy had lost both its wife and its army. They had intended to undermine the Western Academy's morale but ended up losing their top freshman.
The vice dean of the Eastern Academy felt like crying but had no tears. He deeply regretted not restraining Dugu Lin earlier and failing to stop his battle with Zhang Ruochen.
The dean of the Western Academy was beaming with joy. The more he looked at Zhang Ruochen, the more pleased he became. It was a pity he hadn't been able to take him as a personal disciple—a true regret.
The dean of the Western Academy composed himself, blending his true qi with his voice, and announced, "The joint freshman competition of the four academies officially begins."
With the surge of true qi, the dean's voice echoed throughout the entire Western Academy, reverberating in the mountains for a long time.
Following that, Vice Dean Qinghua began reading out the rules of the freshman competition.
Each of the four academies had one hundred and twenty freshmen, divided into one hundred and twenty groups.
The top freshman of each academy formed Group One; the second-ranked freshmen formed Group Two... and the one hundred and twentieth-ranked freshmen formed Group One Hundred and Twenty.
For Groups Eleven through One Hundred and Twenty, the first place in each group earned three points, second place earned two points, third place earned one point, and fourth place earned zero points.
For the top ten groups, totaling forty individuals, they were ranked in order.
The first place earned eighty points, second place earned seventy points, third place earned sixty points, fourth place earned fifty points, fifth place earned forty points, sixth place earned thirty-nine points, seventh place earned thirty-eight points... and fortieth place earned five points.
Finally, the total points of all students were summed up. The academy with the highest total points would be the overall top academy for this freshman cohort.
Clearly, the real contest lay in the top ten freshmen of each academy, where the point differences were the greatest.
Whether in the Martial Market Academy or the martial arts world, true top-tier experts played a decisive role. This was why the Martial Market Academy had arranged the points in this way.
The Western Academy had one hundred and eighteen freshmen participating in the competition. The other two were Prince Huo Xing and Chiming Hai—one dead, the other severely injured.
The Eastern Academy also had only one hundred and eighteen freshmen participating. Their top freshman, Dugu Lin, was severely injured and couldn't compete. The former second-ranked freshman of the Eastern Academy now represented them as the top freshman.
The Northern and Southern Academies also had some special circumstances, each selecting only one hundred and eighteen freshmen to participate.
The Western Academy's martial field had ten competition platforms, each four meters high and ten meters long and wide. Array inscriptions were carved on all sides of the platforms. Whenever a martial artist's attack struck the platform, it would activate the array inscriptions, forming a protective light barrier.
All ten platforms operated simultaneously.
The battles progressed quickly, concluding by noon.
As expected, Zhang Ruochen became the top freshman of the four academies, earning eighty points for the Western Academy. Among the freshmen, no one could withstand even one of his moves.
Before the competition began, everyone had anticipated this outcome, so it wasn't too surprising. A prodigy like Zhang Ruochen appeared only once in many years at the Martial Market Academy.
The biggest surprise for the Western Academy was Zi Qian. With her Mysterious Extreme Great Extreme cultivation, she defeated the top freshmen of both the Eastern and Northern Academies, securing third place among this year's freshmen and earning sixty points for the Western Academy.
The Western Academy, with a total of five hundred and thirty-nine points, became the overall top academy for this year's freshmen.
The Southern Academy came in second.
Although the Eastern Academy lost their top freshman, Dugu Lin, they remained quite strong, narrowly losing to the Southern Academy to take third place.
The Northern Academy came in fourth.
The first-place freshman received a reward of ten drops of Half-Saint True Liquid.
The second-place freshman received nine drops of Half-Saint True Liquid.
...
The tenth-place freshman received one drop of Half-Saint True Liquid.
Winning the top spot among the four academies' freshmen didn't bring Zhang Ruochen much joy.
Zhang Ruochen's true goal was the next quarterly assessment of the Western Academy. Only by entering the top ten of the Western Academy could he participate in the intermediate relic exploration exam two months later.
In the intermediate relics, there was a chance to find ancient treasures and undergo the most brutal training. It was a crucial opportunity that he couldn't afford to miss.
Tuomuzi had waited for years for the intermediate relic exploration exam, suppressing his cultivation to avoid breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm. Luo Shuihan, Huang Yanchen, and Duanmu Xingling were also waiting for this once-in-a-decade opportunity. Missing it would mean waiting another ten years.
Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait another ten years. In two months, he had to enter the intermediate relics and participate in the exploration exam.
The students from the other three academies didn't leave. They were quite interested in the Western Academy's quarterly assessment, wanting to see just how strong the top experts of the Western Academy were.
Rules of the quarterly assessment:
Every student in the Western Academy had a ranking. Lower-ranked students could challenge higher-ranked ones, with each student having only two challenge opportunities.
If the challenge succeeded, they would gain the new ranking.
If the challenge failed, they would keep their original ranking.
There were still ten challenge platforms, and every student was free to challenge.
Liu Chengfeng stepped onto one of the challenge platforms, standing in the center, and said, "I want to challenge the seven hundred and sixty-fourth place."
Liu Chengfeng's original ranking was eight hundred and ninth. Recently, his cultivation had reached the Mysterious Extreme Middle Stage, so for his first challenge, he chose a somewhat conservative rank.
The student ranked seven hundred and sixty-fourth in the Western Academy was named Xie Xuan, a young man with cultivation at the Mysterious Extreme Later Stage, one level higher than Liu Chengfeng.
After exchanging over twenty moves, Liu Chengfeng used a Spirit-level lower-grade sword technique to defeat Xie Xuan.
"Liu Chengfeng's challenge succeeds. He replaces Xie Xuan as the seven hundred and sixty-fourth in the Western Academy. Xie Xuan automatically drops one rank to seven hundred and sixty-fifth," announced an elder standing beside the challenge platform.
With Xie Xuan dropping a rank, all subsequent students also dropped one rank.
Liu Chengfeng still had one challenge opportunity left, but he didn't use it immediately. He planned to observe others' challenges first before carefully selecting his next opponent.
With only two opportunities, he had to use them wisely.
On the ten challenge platforms, students continuously stepped up to challenge those ranked higher than themselves.
Before the assessment, they had already studied thoroughly, investigating every student. They knew exactly who they wanted to challenge.
The most exciting part was the challenge for the top ten rankings. Since the intermediate relic exploration exam was two months away, everyone was fighting tooth and nail to break into the top ten.
Especially those ranked from eleventh to fiftieth—almost all were at the Mysterious Extreme Great Perfection Peak. Their strengths were similar, and with a bit of luck, they could quickly enter the top ten.
A young man carrying twin swords stepped onto the challenge platform. He stood straight, his expression cold, and said, "I want to challenge the tenth place, Jin Yueming."
The students below recognized the twin-sword man.
"He's Mo Qinglong!"
"Last quarterly assessment, Mo Qinglong was only in forty-seventh place. Just three months have passed, and he dares to challenge Jin Yueming? Let's see—Jin Yueming will probably defeat him in no more than three moves."
From the crowd of students, a woman in her twenties stepped forward.
She let out a cold snort, leaped onto the challenge platform, and stood opposite Mo Qinglong. She said, "Mo Qinglong, you dare to challenge me? Have you cultivated the 'Twin Swords Deer-Slaying Art' to minor completion?"
The Twin Swords Deer-Slaying Art was a Spirit-level middle-grade martial technique. Only martial artists with a spiritual power of at least the twentieth level could possibly master it. It was a formidable technique.
Mo Qinglong didn't waste words. He drew the twin swords from his back, holding them in his hands, and said succinctly, "Whether I've reached minor completion or not, you'll find out after we fight."
...
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