Chapter 87

Jiang Ding came out and was greeted by a wave of cheers.

"Not bad, kid!"

Sun Xiao and the other male students gathered around him, patting his shoulder: "You won a point back for us."

"Top ten is secure."

"That's enough. We aren't good at this kind of one-on-one combat anyway. Getting into the top ten is enough. We'll make them cry during the practical exam."

Someone comforted him.

"Yeah, okay."

Jiang Ding didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The class spirit was too good, making him feel like he was very fragile, as if he would jump off a building if he lost next.

"Pfft! You guys really dare to think!"

The people from the Seventh Middle School sneered.

"We have Li Tie at the eighth level of Qi Condensation. You want to beat us up? Keep dreaming. And it's not even certain you'll make the top ten in the Internal Qi realm; you're just hiding turtles!"

"Heh, stiff-lipped. Who is the blind person calling a hiding turtle?"

The two sides started scolding each other again, each defending the collective honor of the First and Seventh Middle Schools, including many Qi Condensation students who were spraying spit everywhere.

There was no image to speak of.

Not far away, the Li Yun Sect cultivators of the Canghai Minor Realm, who were waiting in full battle array, looked at each other, full of confusion and incomprehension.

Aren't these just some fights between mortal martial artists?

Why take it so seriously?

Furthermore, the Immortal Sect's spells are truly terrifying. In the secret realm, they can have nearly infinite substitute-death talismans, unlike them, who are as humble as ants, with one cheap life—dead is dead.

Of course, no one felt it was unfair.

Just like how they look at the humble rogue cultivators in the Canghai Minor Realm, Immortal Sect cultivators can naturally take their lives in jest, simply because of a trial.

In the cultivation world, the strong are respected; it couldn't be more normal.

The exam progress continued to advance. Soon, the First Middle School was almost completely wiped out in the Internal Qi cold weapon combat, pushed out of the top fifteen.

Sun Xiao sighed: "If this were some minor world where 'martial arts are respected,' every one of us would be a loser. We really can't beat those Seventh Middle School bastards."

"You guys are still losers; I can't even be considered a human."

Li Junhao said with a mournful face, finally recovering. After the first battle, he had directly conceded.

"Haha!"

Everyone around laughed, though there wasn't too much frustration.

The Immortal Sect ultimately respects realms and cultural course grades. Although they couldn't beat the people from the Seventh Middle School, the score gap was only five to a dozen points, which could easily be made up in other areas.

After all, the total score one can get in the Internal Qi cold weapon exam is only twenty-five points.

In the future, when joining the army or looking for a job, they not only have no disadvantages but are actually more advantageous than people from the Seventh Middle School with the same scores, making it easier to get high-paying jobs.

"Candidate Jiang Ding, please enter the examination hall."

"Candidate..."

The crowd, still chatting and joking, turned their eyes to the last remaining seedling in the sky. Other exams had already ended; what followed was the battle of the top sixteen. The winner would advance to the top eight, widening the score gap from those behind.

Jiang Ding pressed his hand on the sword hilt and opened his eyes.

The ground was filled with yellow sand, and in the distance, there were tornadoes dozens of meters high. If one wasn't careful, they would be swept up. Visibility was quite high, and his feet left dents in the ground.

"Good! Luck is here!"

A short candidate from the Seventh Middle School had learned from Wu Jinqian's lesson, guarding strictly and not wasting any internal power, but he didn't expect to be randomly assigned to the desert terrain where it was difficult to hide tracks.

Overjoyed, he didn't even think about it, grabbed a thick, heavy broadsword, and pounced.

"It's bad!"

Sun Xiao slapped his thigh: "How did it get to this terrain? The Minor Breath-Concealing Technique can't exert its effect."

Others were also very regretful.

"Sigh, it's fine. There's still a resurrection match later to compete for ninth to sixteenth place. Top ten is still possible."

"Luck isn't very good..."

"Wait!"

Li Junhao was a bit puzzled and raised his hand: "Jiang Ding often beats you guys across levels in cold weapons, and he didn't learn the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique then. Why can't he do it this time?"

Sun Xiao, Li Hu, and the others went silent.

Clang!

Jiang Ding didn't dodge. He drew his sword, and a regular semi-arc flashed by.

The tip of the sword landed precisely on the side of the broadsword. The highly condensed sword beam pierced through layers of heavy sword qi, reaching the blade body, and dazzling sparks bloomed.

Although his internal power was a notch weaker, he managed to use one portion of internal power to grind away several portions of the opponent's!

Where the sword tip touched the blade, a massive amount of internal power, weakened by a small half, surged in from the sword tip with a surging momentum. Before it could enter the opponent's meridians, it was weakened layer by layer until it disappeared.

Even if practicing the same technique, being one minor realm lower, one can still hold their own in a head-on clash!

The short candidate from the Seventh Middle School's expression changed slightly. Before he could change his move, a sword light thrust straight out swiftly, aiming precisely at his throat, fast as lightning. In his haste, he hurriedly retracted his sword to defend, blocking the sword tip.

In his hurried change of moves, the massive true qi network in his body couldn't be fully mobilized all at once, and it was again broken through by Jiang Ding's concentrated true qi during the contact, instead forming a local force advantage in a certain sense.

"Get away!"

The short candidate couldn't exert his strength and felt so uncomfortable he wanted to vomit blood. He slashed with his sword, the blade light snow-white and stinging, and used this to fly backward, wanting to get a moment to catch his breath.

Jiang Ding thrust his sword again. Although his speed wasn't faster than the opponent's, he arrived first despite starting later, breaking through the sword qi and pressing straight into the opponent's chest, forcing him to mobilize his internal qi even more hurriedly to defend, worsening the situation.

One sword, two swords...

Each sword fell precisely at the moment the short candidate's sword was about to slash but hadn't yet, making it impossible to exert full force. The sword slashes became weaker and weaker, and even roaring and shouting were of no avail.

This is the huge gap in sword technique!

On the third sword, the sword, which had slowed to a certain degree, could no longer block, and the sword tip pierced into his throat. Sword qi surged in, stirring all his organs into mush.

The short candidate's movements stiffened, his angry pupils dimmed, and his body fell softly.

Jiang Ding drew his long sword, shook off the blood, and sheathed it.

The outside world suddenly went silent.

"... You're right."

Sun Xiao said to Li Junhao: "I saw myself from the cultivation class in the eyes of that guy from the Seventh Middle School."

"Great Accomplishment level sword technique!"

Compared to them, the martial artists of the Seventh Middle School were much more knowledgeable, staring fixedly at the figure slowly disappearing on the screen.

Being able to defeat the strong with the weak—this is definitely Great Accomplishment level sword technique of the "Young Eagle Taking Flight Art" level. No, this isn't defeating the strong with the weak, but defeating the weak with the strong; the level of internal qi realm doesn't always completely determine strength.

"Not only that."

Jiang Jinxian's expression was solemn: "There are too many traces of the 'Young Eagle Taking Flight Art' between the moves. I suspect his technique has also reached Great Accomplishment."

The people around were shocked.

The former represents technique, but Great Accomplishment of the "Young Eagle Taking Flight Art" is the Dao, meaning the opponent's cultivation speed will be very fast. Now they can still rely on internal power advantages to fight back and forth, but in the near future, they won't even have this chance!

The person with the best martial arts talent in their Seventh Middle School had only barely reached Minor Accomplishment in the technique.

"Don't worry, his aptitude is very poor. Even with the amplification of a Great Accomplishment technique, his cultivation speed won't be too fast."

Jiang Jinxian said, a strong fighting spirit rising in his heart.

In the proctor's office.

"What a pity."

Jin Dazheng said regretfully: "With such excellent martial arts talent, he should have applied to our Seventh Middle School. That way, his strength today would definitely be more than this."

"What do you know?"

Zhang Dingjun sneered: "Besides talent, Great Accomplishment level techniques require profound Immortal Dao knowledge as a foundation to be triggered. Is the cultural teaching staff of your Seventh Middle School enough?"

"Blindly being fierce and fighting, after a rapid increase in strength for a while, the subsequent power will become increasingly weak."

Jin Dazheng was silent.