Chapter 135: Against the Current!

The spiritual resonance lasted merely for a fleeting instant before vanishing entirely. For practitioners of their tier, such a resonance remained faint, transient, and profoundly hazy—so indistinct as to seem almost illusory, leaving one unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

He Chong paused in a daze, then shook his head. Too preoccupied to correct Wang Jiaxu’s address, He Chong felt a lingering sense of unease. Given the depth of his mental cultivation and mastery, how could a mere outcast from the orphanage possibly make him feel a sense of oppression?

An illusion. It had to be an illusion.

While He Chong was lost in deep thought, Shi Tiexin turned his gaze toward the eight hundred people blocking the path ahead.

Just moments ago, faced with He Chong, these eight hundred individuals had stood in absolute silence, obediently clearing the way. Could they truly not defeat He Chong? Not necessarily. Because He Chong dedicated himself entirely to mental cultivation for the examinations, his martial arts and fist techniques were merely mediocre. In a genuine, no-holds-barred fight, He Chong might not even defeat Shi Tiexin. Among those eight hundred people, there were certainly those capable of stopping him. Yet none of them would choose to do so; they would only submit and respectfully send him off.

Yet when facing Shi Tiexin, those exact same eight hundred people reacted in starkly contrasting ways.

"Why is this guy here?"

"A little bastard from the orphanage actually dares to think about taking the lesser provincial examination? He must be out of his mind."

"Brother Chong made it abundantly clear that he wants to blacklist and freeze him out. The kid doesn't even know enough to bow his head, and yet he still has the nerve to show up for the exams. He’s simply courting death!"

"Let’s see how he gets out of this!"

One by one, they either murmured in whispers or scoffed openly. Scanning the crowd, one could find scarcely a single friendly face. This specialized academy was entirely populated by privileged scions, and while the internal relationships among these elites were immensely complex, their attitude toward an outsider like him remained remarkably uniform.

The exact same crowd of eight hundred people. For one, the winds were favorable and the heavens lent their strength; for the other, he faced a fierce headwind through treacherous waters amid dangerous mountains and treacherous torrents. This was the direct embodiment of the contrasting fortunes of He Chong and Shi Tiexin.

Yet what Shi Tiexin intended to do was precisely the same as He Chong.

That was to tear these eight hundred people apart!

"Hey, what are you doing? Stay obediently in the back and wait your turn!" The person at the very rear turned around and yelled at Shi Tiexin.

Shi Tiexin lowered his gaze to look at him, expressionless. "Do you want to be tested first?"

The male student immediately stammered, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. The first one is definitely..."

"If you don't dare, step aside."

The boy stared blankly at Shi Tiexin, opening his mouth to mock him, when he suddenly saw Shi Tiexin clench his fists and inhale sharply. *Hiss—* His chest swelled outward massively. Then, fixing his gaze upon all the people blocking and obstructing his path ahead, Shi Tiexin burst forth with a thunderous roar: "Today, He Chong and I compete for first place! If any of you wish to contend for it, come and fight. If you do not wish to contend, then do not block my path! Those who neither contend nor wish to fight yet obstruct me shall be treated as He Chong's running dogs—open the secret realm and fight to the death!"

The eight hundred people fell dead silent in a fraction of a second, the echo reverberating throughout the entire campus.

A moment of utter stillness, followed by an explosive uproar.

"This guy has lost his mind!"

"Simply laughable!"

"Damn it, who does he think he is?!"

Shi Tiexin, however, paid no attention to any of that.

He could wait. He could wait all the way until the very end; after all, whether at the front or the back, the test itself remained identical. Yet he could not afford to wait, because this was by no means a fair examination. Whatever He Chong had done once, he could easily do a second time. If he were tested last, the risks would be infinitely magnified.

He had to be first. Only being first offered absolute safety.

Therefore, he lowered his gaze back to the boy blocking his path.

"Are you blocking me?"

"Hehe, and what if I block you? You—"

*Crack!*

Glazed light expanded as the secret realm unfolded. Without another word, Shi Tiexin drove his fist straight forward. The boy started in shock, but it was already too late to block.

*Puff.*

"Ah—!"

With a miserable shriek, the boy was knocked out of the secret realm, collapsing unconscious to the side.

A one-hit KO!

"What on earth just happened?"

"What took place?"

"I have no idea!"

Shi Tiexin stepped forward, arriving before the second person—a female student.

"Are you blocking me?"

The girl stammered, looking somewhat panicked, before puffing out her chest and shrieking shrilly, "So what if I block you? Brother Chong is my—"

*Crack!*

The glazed light expanded instantly, then contracted with equal speed.

"Ah—!"

With a piercing scream, the girl collapsed to the ground, howling in agony. It was yet another instantaneous defeat!

"What on earth is going on?"

"Unclear, I couldn't see a thing!"

"Shi Tiexin wasn't this strong before, was he?"

"That's right, aside from being ruthless, that fellow was completely useless before. But now, how..."

Stepping past the female student, Shi Tiexin looked toward the third person, repeating the exact same phrase.

"Are you blocking me?"

"I... I, this..." This time, the male student hesitated. He looked at the two figures collapsed on the ground; those two likely had no hope of taking the qualification test now.

Ranking so far back in the queue when taking positions indicated that the martial prowess of these individuals was mediocre at best—all of them quite poor. Yet unlike those who had completely given up, this boy still harbored a sliver of hope, wishing to secure the status of an Iron List scholar.

Consequently, the boy stood frozen in place, momentarily caught in a bitter internal struggle.

Shi Tiexin flicked his arm, and the boy was shoved aside without the slightest resistance, neither uttering a sound nor raising his head.

The fourth person.

This was a fellow who had previously been taught a lesson by Shi Tiexin.

"I'm neither competing for first place nor blocking you. I'm clearing the way, I'm clearing the way!"

The fifth person.

Seeing the previous two yield, and knowing Shi Tiexin's fearsome reputation preceded him, coupled with the fact that his own father did not belong to He Chong's faction, he reasoned with himself: With the evaluation right before him, why should he act as He Chong's vanguard? Therefore, he obediently slipped to the side: "Pass, please pass, I am not competing for first place."

The sixth.

"Bah! A bunch of soft-spined cowards! With so many of us here, when is it his turn to act arrogant? Brat, you—"

*Crack.*

*Splat.*

"Ah—!!"

Another one-hit knockout!

Shi Tiexin strode past the individual, his expression as unyielding as rock, and continued onward.

The seventh.

"Screw your mother..."

*Crack.*

*Bang, bang, bang!*

This time it was a lightning-fast triple strike, sending the man sprawling across the ground, spitting a mouthful of blood.

*Tap, tap, tap.* Fragments of light continued to fly into his field of vision, and the progress bar for basic fist techniques steadily lengthened. Shi Tiexin stepped forward once more, killing one man with every step as he approached the eighth.

The eighth person remained silent. After pausing for a moment, he glanced back at He Chong, and without another word, let out an explosive roar, raised his fists, and struck.

*Crack.* The secret realm opened.

This time, the eighth person's fist technique was vastly superior to those who came before him.

Yet Shi Tiexin's expression remained completely motionless; he did not even expend his precious vital energy.

Deep within his mind, a venomous snake that had transformed into a horned dragon was darting and slaughtering through the void. Having witnessed the snake-style boxing of the diminutive Shi Yulei, Shi Tiexin had been profoundly inspired. It was akin to witnessing a master's execution and suddenly having one's horizons broadened, achieving a sudden epiphany that games could indeed be played in such a manner, resulting in a rapid, explosive leap in proficiency over a short span of time.

His already competent basic fist techniques displayed an entirely brand-new, heaven-shaking horizon.

More ruthless, more piercing, conserving stamina, pursuing ultimate efficiency, and achieving a kill with a single strike!

What is empty appears real, what is real appears empty. Employing the simplest yet most effective deceptive stratagem, paying the minimal cost to harvest the maximum battlefield fruits—*Puff!* Shi Tiexin's two fingers pierced straight through the enemy's eyeballs like the fangs of a giant serpent.

"Ah—!"

Amidst the miserable shrieks, Shi Tiexin twisted, coiled, and whipped his single arm. With a crisp *crack*, the man's head rotated a full one hundred and eighty degrees as he collapsed pitifully to the ground. The secret realm shattered with a snap; the slain boy reverted to a state of severe injury, while Shi Tiexin's previously fractured ribs healed back to normal.