Chapter 28: Shock
The first one who got examined was naturally the gifted Class 1. Many of the students were already martial artists, eighteen of them to be precise. One of the students was even a tier one, seven-star martial artist while simultaneously having a Mental Power of over a hundred as a spirit cultivator. Everyone was agitated.
Wang Zhe muttered, “What a powerhouse. A tier one, seven-star martial artist that’s also a spiritual cultivator.”
Xiang Ning agreed. He thought he would be the one who would suppress everyone here, but he wasn’t even a frog in a well—if anything, he was merely a frog sitting under a well.
Other than that student, there were ten more martial artists, three of whom were tier one, six-star—while the remaining seven were purely spiritual cultivators.
Xiang Ning even knew some of them. Li Minghao, who was a tier one, one-star martial artist; and Fang Rou, a tier one, three-star martial artist. Xiang Ning was shocked to learn that Fang Rou was also a tier one, one-star spiritual cultivator.
“Li Minghao already stepped through the door and became a martial artist! But Fang Rou is even better, as befitting the Young Lady of the Thunder Dojo. If she didn’t train her Mental Power then she would be at least a tier one, six-star martial artist.” Wang Zhe was spot on.
Xiang Ning nodded, a bit too shocked to speak. There were many prodigies in this world and he felt so insignificant.
Finally it was Class 8’s turn. Just as Xiang Ning had suspected, Li Zimo was a tier one, five-star martial artist and Liu Ruoxue was a tier one, three-star spiritual cultivator.
Zhang Cheng was up next, and he was very cocky after the machine detected him as a tier one, one-star martial artist. He felt that he had regained his dignity after the incident with Xiang Ning in the morning.
Wang Zhe was at Physical Tempering stage nine, but his Mental Power was an astonishing eighty-four.Wang Zhe smiled when he came down. “Actually, my father wanted me to become a spiritual cultivator, that way my life would be safer, at the very least.”
Xiang Ning nodded; that was statistically sound. Out in the wilderness, a martial artist’s survival rate was 81%, while a spiritual cultivator’s survival rate was 97%. But that was merely the survival rate.
The other statistic was the crippled rate, which was the opposite. Even if they survived they would have paid a price, like an arm or a leg…. Regardless, because of their spiritual armor, a spiritual cultivator’s speed and defense would always be above a martial artist of the same Tier. A tier seven martial artist, however, would outperform their spiritual cultivator counterpart.
Martial artists could also wear spiritual armor, but they would be unable to fully utilize its power. For example, a tier one spirit cultivator could call out the full power of a tier one spiritual armor, while a martial artist could only use less than 30% of its power. Dual cultivating as both a martial artist and a spiritual cultivator was something that everyone started doing a decade ago. Before that, it was recommended to only choose a single cultivation path.
Finally, Xiang Ning’s name was called. Zhang Cheng merely looked at him, then continued talking to Li Zimo and Liu Ruoxue. Only the three of them had broken through to martial artist in the entire Class 8. As for the other students who hadn’t broken through, they tried consoling themselves.
“Sigh… I’m at Physical Tempering stage nine, just a little bit more to breakthrough. If I knew how important today was, I would’ve trained even more before.”
“I don’t think it matters since they already said this is just the first batch. There’ll be a second batch.”
“Yeah, we’ll have our chance.”
Xiang Ning walked up to the device and some students started whispering, “It’s Xiang Ning’s turn. I wonder what his current strength is?”
“Probably Physical Tempering stage nine. If not, how’d he win against Li Minghao in the virtual world?”
“I don’t think so, since there’s a difference between the virtual world and the real world. Just because he won in the virtual world doesn’t mean he’d win in the real world.”
“Yeah, plus, he’s just a part-time student. Have you seen a part-time student become a martial artist at the start of the semester? If he were a martial artist, would he be a part-time student?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Wang Zhe was barely suppressing his smile, but he couldn’t help the mischievous gleam in his eye.
Xiang Ning politely bowed to the medical staff and followed their instructions.
Soon the results were announced.“Class 8 Xiang Ning, tier one, six-star martial artist, Mental Power fifty,” the medical staff member read out aloud.
The floor turned silent and the staff member poked his head out to check if everyone was doing alright.
In the next instant, everyone exploded in a flurry of voices.
“Did I hear wrong?”
“Tier one, six-star martial artist? Is the machine broken?”
“What the fuck? How is that possible?”
“It can’t be. Are the rumors that he’s a young master from a super-rich household who came to experience a commoner’s life true?”
The person who was the most surprised was Zhang Cheng. His eyes almost popped out at Xiang Ning. A tier one, six-star martial artist? That meant he was within the top thirty right now. He even had fifty Mental Power, which meant that he also cultivated as a spiritual cultivator! While it was slightly weak, he was still young; he had the potential to dual cultivate in the future.
Su Muhan couldn’t believe it, either. As a teacher, she knew that it was impossible for someone’s strength to increase this much without reason. The only explanation was that Xiang Ning either trained like crazy in the first few months, or he met an excellent teacher.
Either way, it came as a shock to everyone.
The news spread like wildfire across the gymnasium. A tier one, six-star martial artist…. From Class 3 onward there were only tier one martial artists, and all of them were from rich and influential households. Even if they were tier one, six-star martial artists it wouldn’t come as a surprise because the cultivation resources needed could be bought with money.
But Xiang Ning was different—he was a part-time student! When the other classes learned that a part-time student was a tier one, six-star martial artist they were shocked too.
Xiang Ning came down and gave Wang Zhe a high-five. “You go to the special class first and wait for me to catch up. Make sure to guide me when I make it,” Fatty Wang said. Both of them were laughing, while Li Zimo, Liu Ruoxue, and Zhang Cheng had complex looks on their faces. They never expected that Xiang Ning would stand above them as a martial artist, and a six-star martial artist, too! Even Li Zimo was a star lower than him.
Li Zimo and Liu Ruoxue looked at each other and walked toward Xiang Ning. Zhang Cheng hesitated, unsure of what to do.
Li Zimo stood before Xiang Ning and said, “I apologize for discriminating against you…. To think that you were secretly this strong.”
Xiang Ning looked at Li Zimo and Liu Ruoxue. He wasn’t repulsed by their action, because when Xiang Ning was being bullied by Li Minghao it was Li Zimo that stood up. Regardless of the reason, Xiang Ning remembered his name for standing up against Li Minghao.