Chapter 124: Ranking Match
Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Ranking Match
Morning light was just breaking over the academy, carrying a slight chill in the air.
Fang Chen walked along the bluestone path, feeling completely refreshed. Having just broken through to the High Martial Realm with Unharvested Qi, he was indeed in a transitional phase. He wasn’t anxious, however.
"Except for the Realm-Breaking Pill, which needs to be saved for the final sprint of Qi Collection, I’ve basically used all the supplementary elixirs I can take and the medicated baths I can soak in," Fang Chen calculated inwardly.
"Others usually only specialize in one or two High Martial Martial Skills, and reaching Minor Achievement is already considered quite good. But me..." A sharp gleam flashed in Fang Chen’s eyes. "I’ve pushed all five High Martial Martial Skills to the realm of Great Success!"
This was by no means a simple accumulation of numbers. Every High Martial Combat Skill at Great Success signified a profound understanding of power application in its respective field. It meant possessing yet another formidable method to defeat enemies and handle complex situations in real combat. The addition of five Great Success martial skills brought a qualitative leap to his overall combat strength.
"Even against martial artists who have already collected a wisp of Spiritual Qi and officially stepped into the Yellow Tier... if their martial skill cultivation can’t keep up, and they rely solely on the base enhancement brought by Spiritual Qi," Fang Chen evaluated inwardly, "I might not just hold my ground; I might even have the upper hand."
He soon arrived at the academy’s academic affairs office.
Cyan Yang Martial Arts Academy had strict management requirements for students at or above the High Martial Realm. If a student went out for personal reasons, they had to apply in advance and report back promptly upon their return to cancel their leave, allowing the academy to keep track of their movements. This was to prevent situations where a student caused major trouble or met with an accident outside without the academy’s knowledge.
The process was a bit troublesome, but it wasn’t deliberately making things difficult. As long as the reason was legitimate and the time spent outside was brief, approval was usually easy to get.
Fang Chen walked up to the designated window and handed over his student Identity Token along with a statement explaining his reason for leaving.
Sitting behind the window was a stern-faced, middle-aged female instructor. She took the documents, let her gaze linger on Fang Chen’s youthful face for a moment, and asked in a routine manner, "Student Fang Chen, did you get into any conflicts with anyone during your time off campus? Were you involved in any public security cases?"
"No, Ma’am," Fang Chen answered calmly and openly.
The female instructor nodded, seemingly too lazy to pry further. As long as the Martial Arts Association or the police station didn’t call the academy directly to "demand a student" or "report a situation," the academy generally considered the students to have "done nothing wrong" while outside.
She picked up the official seal and stamped it down on Fang Chen’s leave cancellation form with a loud THWACK. "Alright, it’s been cleared. You can go back to class now."
"Thank you, Ma’am." Fang Chen put away his identification and turned to leave the academic affairs office. Now that the procedure was complete, he headed straight in the direction of the Skill Transmission Hall.
Yesterday, the Skill Transmission Hall had been bustling with noise, gathering all the True Martial Realm students in the academy. Today, however, it had returned to its usual layout. It was a stark contrast to the scene of over three hundred people crammed together the day before.
Today, the number of people in the hall had noticeably decreased by sixty to seventy percent. There were only about a hundred people scattered across the broad stone seats. The aura exuding from each person was more solid and vigorous, faintly carrying the unique rhythmic sense of flowing True Essence. They were all bona fide martial artists who had broken through to the High Martial Realm.
As for the True Martial Realm students who had yet to break through, they had already returned to their True Martial Skill Transmission Hall to continue their arduous cultivation. Only when they reached the day of breaking through their realm would they be able to step foot in here again.
"Yesterday..." A subtle, profound sense of daze rose in Fang Chen’s heart.
To the outside world, only a single day had passed. But for him, who had buried himself in arduous cultivation within the Time Stop Domain for decades, the scene of receiving the cultivation technique inheritance and breaking through his Qi Sea yesterday felt like an extremely distant memory.
Fortunately, while fully immersed in his cultivation within the Time Stop Domain, he hadn’t experienced any complex interpersonal changes or emotional turmoil, other than the refinement of his martial arts techniques and the tempering of his physique. The pure and lengthy cultivation process had long accustomed his mind to this sense of temporal dislocation. Upon returning to reality, he quickly settled down and integrated into the present moment without much hindrance.
He was just about to find a seat towards the back when he heard a familiar voice.
"Over here!"
Fang Chen looked toward the sound and saw Fan Yutong waving at him from an area near the middle right. Beside and behind her sat a dozen people, none of whom had a weak aura. Fang Chen recognized a few of their faces; they all seemed to belong to the Liuyun Society.
It appeared that although there were no explicit rules regarding seating in the High Martial Realm classroom, a sort of unspoken zoning had faintly taken shape. Fang Chen walked over and took an empty seat next to Fan Yutong.
"Not bad. You broke through to the High Martial Realm in just one day?" Fan Yutong smiled as she looked him over, her eyes filled with approval.
"Yes." Fang Chen nodded, replying simply.
"It makes sense. After all, you had already reached Perfection in the True Martial Realm before, so you had enough accumulation," Fan Yutong said, then added in a lower voice. "Still, being able to adjust your state and complete the breakthrough so quickly shows a very steady temperament. You’re the first freshman to break through to the High Martial Realm this year."
"Mm," Fang Chen murmured in agreement, his gaze sweeping over the other students in the hall.
He could feel quite a few gazes subtly falling onto his unfamiliar face, filled with scrutiny and curiosity. Only upon reaching the High Martial Realm did one truly step into the core competitive circle of the academy. Here, everyone was a potential rival or ally.
The two conversed in hushed tones for a bit longer. Fan Yutong casually asked which cultivation technique Fang Chen had chosen. When she heard it was the *Yin Yang Two Forms Creation Skill*, she raised an eyebrow but didn’t say much, simply patting him on the shoulder.
"A Celestial Tier... That takes guts. In the future, if you need to ask around about resources, you can consult the seniors in the society. The group’s information network is always better than going it alone." She sighed, a hint of self-deprecation and regret coloring her tone. "Sigh, if I had known, I would have chosen a Celestial Tier technique back then, too.
"At the time, I thought that choosing an Earth Tier would at least give me a decent ’dead-end road’ with good potential. And an Earth Tier is still better than a Profound Tier or Yellow Tier, right? I never expected... to get stuck on the very first wisp of Spiritual Qi. I still haven’t figured it out."
Just then, a person entered through the doorway. It was none other than Liu Suifeng, the teacher in charge of *Practical Disassembly* and *Weapon Application*. His appearance instantly silenced the hall.
Fan Yutong’s attention was drawn back as well. She nudged Fang Chen’s arm and lowered her voice, a trace of excitement in her tone. "Hey, hey, did you know? The academy’s ranking tournament is about to begin!"
Fang Chen tilted his head slightly. "Ranking tournament?"
"Yeah!" Fan Yutong nodded affirmatively. "I’m guessing this class will cover it today. Around this time every year, the academy organizes a ranking tournament for all High Martial Realm students."
Fang Chen’s interest was piqued. "What are the rewards?"
That was his primary concern. If the rewards were just ordinary Cultivation Technique Jade Scrolls, Spirit Crystals, or money, they wouldn’t hold much appeal to him at the moment. He wasn’t lacking in those generic items.
Fan Yutong lowered her voice even further. "The top ten rankers get to represent the academy in Jing’an City for the Ten Academies Grand Competition! Just participating comes with a reward, and winning a match yields a massive prize. If you can make it into the top ten individuals in the entire province, the reward is—"
She looked directly into Fang Chen’s eyes and articulated word by word: "A wisp of Primordial Spiritual Qi! And they will even try their best to match it to your Cultivation Technique Attribute!"