Chapter 136: Academician of the Lung-tu Pavilion?

The pain of his injury failed to make him frown.

Crackle, crackle. Streaks of starlight drifted continuously, and the progress bar burst into a brilliant radiance, revealing a massive character: "Proficient".

[Progress of Basic Fist Technique cultivation increased to Proficient.]
[Due to a special comprehension, Basic Fist Technique has activated the special attribute "Ruthless".]
[Ruthless: Attacks targeting the eight fatal points of the human body will have enhanced lethality.]

The Basic Fist Technique had leveled up!

Shi Tiexin glanced at it briefly, his imposing aura swelling even further as he stepped directly in front of the ninth person.

Shi Tiexin recognized this individual; he was a classmate from his own class.

"Are you also going to block me?"
"I... I'm not blocking you." The person gave a bitter smile. "But Monitor, why go this far? Haven't you said yourself that yielding at the right time isn't a humiliation? Why must you insist on fighting for supremacy today?"
"Today, I must press forward. For survival, I have no choice but to fight!"

Without wasting any more breath, Shi Tiexin lifted his foot, brushed past him, and continued forward.

His classmates looked at Shi Tiexin with complex expressions, then tugged at the tenth person ahead of them, stepping aside together.

They were already past the halfway mark!

While it was said there were eight hundred people, these eight hundred people could not possibly line up in a single file like the game Snake. Instead, they formed a human wall twenty layers deep. What Shi Tiexin actually needed to face were the twenty people directly in front of him, plus a total scale of sixty people flanking him on the left and right—"nothing more."

Shi Tiexin's momentum grew increasingly fierce. Wherever he passed, neither the left nor the right side dared to make a move—nor was there any need to ruin their own futures over such a trivial matter.

One had to know that this guy's strikes were truly vicious! A life-and-death battle meant it was genuinely not a friendly spar; hadn't they seen that not a single one of the people who had made a move earlier was still able to stand up in one piece?

Regardless of gender, whoever blocked him would be put down!

Besides, he wasn't coming after me anyway, so I might as well dodge... I'll just hide to the side for now, and later I can pretend I tried really hard while offering some verbal condemnation from behind. When He Chong asks about it later, I'll be able to say I verbally condemned the "traitor" too. That's giving him plenty of face, right?

Thus, amidst the roaring curses echoing all around, Shi Tiexin cleaved through the waves and forged upstream against the current. Meanwhile, the people blocking the path ahead felt confident that they had plenty of supporters, and under that illusion, a couple more suicidal fools jumped out.

"Little plebeian, just based on you—"
Die!

"You're all a bunch of blind yappers, not a single one actually stepping up. Watch me take down this little bas—"
Die!

"You truly don't know the immensity of heaven and earth, daring to pass through here? I—no, no, no, I didn't mean to block you. Go on ahead, please pass, civilized overtaking."
Next!

At the very front of the sports ground, the headmaster watched Shi Tiexin forge upstream all the way, practically unstoppable. A trace of astonishment crossed his face, followed by a glance at He Chong standing at the very front. He opened his mouth and shouted, "What are you dazing off for? Don't waste their lordships' time! Someone, drag that troublemaker out of here. This farce ought to end!"

"Hold on—"

Someone spoke up to intervene. It was none other than an official sent by the Scholastic Union. The young man was not old in years, but as he gazed at Shi Tiexin forging against the current, a look of profound interest surfaced in his eyes.

"Headmaster, martial artists opening secret realms to spar is as natural as heaven and earth. It can hardly be considered a disturbance of order, so why fly into such a rage?"

Dammit!

The headmaster's heart sank. This unidentified fellow was a hothead, exactly at the age most susceptible to a rush of hot blood, and precisely the kind of person who loved these lone-hero archetypes!

The headmaster rolled his eyes, a scheme forming in his mind. "Very well, then let us proceed with the test normally." Since you claim it's as natural as heaven and earth, I will simply pretend nothing is happening over there. As long as the testing here continues as usual, even if that Shi Tiexin manages to slaughter his way out through untold hardships, it won't hold much meaning anymore.

You want to fight for first place, only to arrive and find that over twenty people have already lined up and tested? What kind of effect would that be? That's a comedy effect right there, an eternal laughingstock!

Therefore, the headmaster immediately signaled He Chong with his eyes: "He Chong, why aren't you stepping up for the test?"

He Chong was just about to move his foot.

Then, the young man from the Scholastic Union smiled and spoke up again: "Very well, let's proceed with the normal test then. But this fellow student, do you really intend to just remain silent, sneakily serving as the background for an absurd comedy?"

He Chong's footsteps paused once more.

The headmaster grew anxious and couldn't help blurting out, "You..."

Right at that moment, a buzzing sound echoed in the headmaster's ears, leaving him somewhat dizzy and lightheaded. The words stuck in his throat and he could no longer speak.

Struck with alarm, he looked over and saw that the young man had formed sword gestures with his fingers, silently casting an isolation-type mental technique.

"Headmaster, in my view, scholars ought to forge ahead courageously and advance unceasingly. I do not consider what is happening today a joke; on the contrary, I deeply admire this kind of courage." The young man straightened his expression, turning serious. "The Sage of Origins and the Sage of Science established the Great Dao precisely to inspire everyone to strive. The Sage of Space and Time created secret realms precisely to give everyone the courage to battle!"

The young man swept a glance at the headmaster, his smile vanishing, revealing an astonishing majesty: "Before coming here, I heard that Star-Worker's Children's School was a stagnant pool, corrupt from top to bottom, with teachers perfunctorily going through the motions—it has already stunk to high heaven."

"A school is a school of the Scholastic Union, meant to cultivate talents for all of humanity, not merely a private tutoring school for a single family. Since your esteemed school bears the plaque of the Scholastic Union, things must be run according to the rules of the Scholastic Union."

"Headmaster, I might as well speak bluntly. My purpose in coming here today is precisely to evaluate whether your esteemed school still has the qualifications to continue operating."

The headmaster was dumbfounded. He truly had not expected this young man to utter such a string of words.

Nervous? No, before any sense of nervousness, the headmaster felt a profound sense of absurdity.

Utterly absurd!

You are nothing more than an inexperienced youth, and I respected you three parts only because you are an envoy sent by the Scholastic Union. Yet you, at such a tender age, actually dare to speak of abolishing or establishing a school? Do you think I have no connections within the Scholastic Union? Who the hell do you think you are?!

Yet right at that moment, the headmaster suddenly noticed that among the older Scholastic Union officials who had accompanied the youth, not a single one opened their mouth to speak. Those more seasoned and steady individuals actually refrained from stopping the young man's nonsense at this moment.

The headmaster was startled. Just who on earth was this youth...?

The young man continued, "Earlier, I saw an inexperienced youth with unsteady footing and shallow fighting intent—plainly just a pampered young master soldier. Yet he was able to put on majestic airs and act domineering, while eight hundred people faced him and didn't even dare to contend? Heh, it really left me deeply disappointed. However, it now appears your esteemed school is not entirely devoid of someone with backbone."

The headmaster could no longer care about anything else: "My lord, just who are you..."

Swish! Swish!

The young man raised his sword fingers, tracing three strokes in the void, carving out a glowing, radiant insignia.

Upon seeing it, cold sweat broke out all over the headmaster's body.

Manifesting traces in the void!

A Longtu Scholar!

This young man was a Longtu Scholar!

Among the scholar ranks of the Scholastic Union, that was the highest, most supreme, and most noble tier! Compared to a Longtu Scholar, what the hell was his so-called regular scholar title worth?!

Furthermore, there was only one Scholastic Union Longtu Scholar currently present in Tumu Fortress Space City—the prized disciple of that esteemed libationer! The headmaster's hair stood on end. Then, with a flash of the symbol in the void, the headmaster instantly stiffened all over. He could neither speak nor turn his eyes, forced to stand frozen in place as his second-heaven peak mental energy cultivation seemed to become utterly useless.

"Shh—" The young man smiled faintly. "Headmaster, you and I shall simply watch. How about that?"

The headmaster couldn't even roll his eyes; he could only remain planted there like a pestle, sweat pouring from him endlessly. Yet of all this, He Chong, standing mere inches away, remained completely oblivious.