Chapter 18: Genius Ranking

"Wow, Lu Xun, you're amazing, that's great, now we can both get into Pure North."

"How are you?"

"It's a bit troublesome; Mother brought me to find a Fifth Realm Immortal Cultivator, who said that activating my Ancient Spirit Root would likely require Innate Spiritual Qi, which only exists on the Starry Sky Ancient Road; Mother is currently searching everywhere to purchase, to see if she can buy it."

"That day, Chu Youqing sent a message."

"Lu Xun usually doesn't take the initiative to contact her."

"Because Chu Youqing's mother is strict, she's afraid her mother will see."

"You don't need to worry about me; as long as I activate my Ancient Spirit Root before age 25, I can enter the Pure Void Academy at any time; you cultivate the Martial Meridian, so Beidou University is best for you, of course if you're willing to enter the Pure Void Academy, I'd be happy too."

"Chu Youqing fears Lu Xun will worry."

"After chatting a few more lines, they ended the conversation."

"Innate Spiritual Qi?"

"Lu Xun thought that after binding with Murong Wan, the system rewarded Innate Essence Qi, helping Murong Wan activate her Exquisite Treasure Body."

"If he could bind with Chu Youqing, the system might reward Innate Spiritual Qi."

"Let's talk about it after reaching the Second Realm."

"The system requires Lu Xun to reach the Second Realm before he can bind a second person."

"You can't rush it."

"Lu Xun, give me a definite answer: is it the Pure Void Academy or Beidou University?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Alright, I'll choose first: I cultivate martial arts, so Beidou University it is."

"Monday, Li Bu Fan chose Beidou University."

"He finally didn't disappoint his grandmother's expectations in heaven; on the last day he opened the final Martial Meridian, gaining the qualification to be directly admitted to Pure North."

"Rong Cheng No. 1 High School performed well this year."

"One week before the exam, Pure North early-admitted a full eight people."

"Besides Lu Xun, Li Bu Fan, and Lin Yan, there were five others."

"Among the five, three had opened Spirit Meridians, while the other two, like Li Bu Fan, had opened eight Martial Meridians."

"Pure North has lower requirements for Spirit Meridians; if one can open five or more Spirit Meridians before the exam, they can be directly admitted."

"Among these five, four were from wealthy families, while only one was an exceptionally hardworking student with decent cultivation talent."

"In the era of high martial arts, whether one can rise depends on personal effort and talent, which actually only account for part of the factors."

"A larger part of the factor is resources, background, and money!"

"Let alone anything else, just the body-tempering stage alone would stump countless ordinary people."

"Unless your talent is so strong that you can ignore everything; even without money or resources, you can still rise against heaven."

"A few days later, the exam arrived."

"After being early-admitted by Pure North, the exam meant little to Lu Xun."

"Brother Xun, this year's exam questions are really hard."

"Li Bu Fan went to take the exam."

"Even after being early-admitted, one can still take the exam to see how many points they can score."

"The exam results are comprehensive."

"Half of the score comes from meridian-opening performance, while the other half tests various cultivation knowledge, theory, comprehension, etc."

"Lu Xun didn't go; he isn't as hardworking as Li Bu Fan, so his cultural studies definitely won't meet the standard."

"Why go looking for unhappiness?"

"He remains the same as before, lazily and happily lying around each day."

"Brother Xun, the scores are out, haha, my strength is still top-notch; relying on myself I could also get into Pure North."

"A week later, when the scores came out, Li Bu Fan was overjoyed."

"His exam scores were also enough to get into Pure North."

"Just over two hundred people total?"

"After the exam scores were released, the officials published more data."

"This year, across all provinces in the East, a total of 285 people opened the Heaven Earth Meridian."

"Out of several million examinees, only a couple hundred opened the Heaven Earth Meridian; this ratio is extremely low."

"This is also why the country has adopted the mandatory measure of random marriage at age 25."

"Several disasters have caused a huge population decline worldwide; the situation in the East is relatively okay, but the population has also decreased by nearly half."

"That's several billion people!"

"If the East's population could recover to the peak level of the old era, with over ten million examinees each year, the number of geniuses would also increase proportionally."

"Of course, there are also some examinees like Li Bu Fan who simply haven't opened the Heaven Earth Meridian yet."

"After entering university, they might be able to open it."

"Can the first and second places still be contested?"

"After the exam ended, a topic surged to the top of the online hot search list."

"That is the question of who is the number one genius among all those who opened the Heaven Earth Meridian this year."

"Such a topic arises every year."

"In previous years, the controversy over the number one genius was not significant."

"This year's special aspect is that, besides Murong Wan, there is also a student who awakened a Heaven-defying Physique."

"That is a genius from the Capital, named Liu Xinghe."

Liu Xinghe first awakened the Star Saint Body, then he opened the Heaven Earth Meridian and the Star Martial Meridian.

The Star Saint Body is also one of the ten great innate physiques.

Its heaven-defying trait lies in the ability to cultivate by absorbing stellar power through the Star Martial Meridian; each time a star within the body is lit, battle power doubles.

If one can form a Zhou Tian Star Chart within the body and forge a Star Battle Body, battle power will soar to a remarkably terrifying level.

Compared to Murong Wan's Linglong Treasure Body, the Star Saint Body focuses more on combat and can unleash greater battle power.

The Linglong Treasure Body is a cultivation physique, meaning cultivation speed is exceptionally fast, but its battle power is not as outstanding as that of the Star Saint Body.

Furthermore, Murong Wan is older than Liu Xinghe, already 25 years old.

Liu Xinghe is only 20 years old; he repeated a year to awaken the Star Saint Body.

This leads many to believe that Liu Xinghe should be this year's unequivocal top genius.

But some feel that cultivation is the key; overemphasizing battle power is putting the cart before the horse.

Overall, supporters of Liu Xinghe are more numerous, after all he is too young.

Online, some people have created several versions of the Genius Ranking List.

"There are still people who have good judgment."

On a ranking list, Lu Xun saw his own name, surprisingly ranking third.

On another ranking list, some firmly believe Lu Xun should rank first.

"How come you only look at the scope of the heavenly-earthly phenomenon? That's a chaotic emergence of the azure lotus, such an awesome phenomenon, can't you see it?"

The person who created the ranking list feels heartbroken.

On other ranking lists, Lu Xun's rankings are relatively low.

After all, the system helped him conceal the heavenly secrets; only a tiny amount of heavenly-earthly phenomena leaked out; the phenomena he caused, though overbearing, have limited scope.

It seems there are still people with good judgment.

However, the heat of these two ranking lists is not high; not many people have seen them.

This is fine; Lu Xun doesn't want to attract too much attention, otherwise how could he happily laze around later?