Chapter 91: Cousin Tang Qi Arrives! Has Xu Jingming Broken Through to Stage One Yet?

Originally, Song Qiuyun had planned to seek the answer to this question during the morning sparring session.

But Xu Jingming was simply too strong; she couldn't find any clues at all.

Yet she was genuinely curious, so she took this opportunity to invite him to dinner and asked directly.

"But if this involves some secret of yours, you don't have to tell me—I'm just a little curious."

Song Qiuyun added another sentence.

To show she wasn't deliberately probing into Xu Jingming's privacy.

"Beast aura? Your perception is quite sharp."

Xu Jingming smiled slightly and didn't hide it:

"It's probably because I absorb beast blood to cultivate my combat techniques."

In fact, after entering the wilderness zone, he himself had realized this issue.

Generally, low-tier beasts with insufficient intelligence.

Upon seeing humans, they launch attacks without regard to rank differences.

Yet, while in the wilderness zone, Xu Jingming had more than once sensed fear toward himself from certain beasts.

This was an emotion only low-tier beasts exhibited upon sensing the aura of a high-tier beast.

"Absorbing beast blood? So that's why."

Upon hearing this, Song Qiuyun suddenly understood.

Some combat techniques indeed require absorbing beast blood.

Thus, it seems Yang Zhentian, the head of the Weaponry Academy,'s famed S-class body-strengthening technique, "Lei Ting Bu Mie Shen," is the same.

With her greatest doubt resolved, Song Qiuyun felt cheerful and smiled as she handed him the menu:

"Go ahead, order whatever you like—it's on me."

"Then I won't be polite," Xu Jingming chuckled.

"No need to be polite—it's just one meal; do you think you can eat me bankrupt?"

Song Qiuyun said with a beaming smile.

With her assets, she could afford to buy the entire restaurant.

Though verbally saying he wouldn't be polite, Xu Jingming ordered only about thirty thousand worth of dishes.

But the portions were calculated for eleven people—ten for him, one for Song Qiuyun.

After placing the order, the dishes arrived quickly, and the two began eating and chatting.

"By the way, your halberd technique has reached advanced level—why didn't you join the Weaponry Academy, but instead chose the Element Academy's head as your teacher?"

"My family has already arranged a close-combat instructor for me, so I wanted to choose an element-based mentor."

"I see—so you're aiming for both close-combat and magic paths?"

"You could say that, but currently..."

"..."

Though she came from a Grandmaster's family.

Yet Song Qiuyun had none of the spoiled-princess attitude; instead, she was lively and adorable.

What surprised Xu Jingming even more was that Song Qiuyun ate three portions by herself.

Though still far behind him, in the realm of adepts, this appetite was already extremely large.

But as he looked at Song Qiuyun's perfectly proportioned figure—curvy in all the right places—Xu Jingming couldn't help but silently marvel.

This was innate talent—every bit of flesh grew exactly where it should...

After the meal, Song Qiuyun planned to go to the city center with her best friend Qi Dongxia and invited Xu Jingming along.

But Xu Jingming, having already been there once, naturally had little interest.

After politely declining, he returned to the villa's training room to practice his aptitude training method, physical conditioning, and combat techniques.

In the afternoon, he went out for dinner with Liu Wentao, then returned and resumed training.

Thus, by two o'clock the next afternoon,

Xu Jingming changed into casual clothes, left the villa, and headed to the Magu High-Speed Rail Station to pick up his cousin Tang Qi.

Magu High-Speed Rail Station.

Because flying beasts occasionally swooped through the sky, air travel was unsafe.

Thus, most people chose to travel by high-speed rail.

As Magu's most important transportation hub, the Magu High-Speed Rail Station was constantly bustling with people and noise.

Due to the large crowds and mixed populace,

Specialized adept security teams patrolled the station continuously.

"Train G103 from Jiangcheng is about to arrive at the station. Please all passengers remain safe and disembark in order."

"Train G103 from Jiangcheng is about to arrive at the station. Please all passengers remain safe and disembark in order."

"..."

The gentle voice from the announcement echoed again—another high-speed train had arrived.

Amidst the clamor, passengers and students streamed out of the train, some carrying suitcases, others backpacks.

"Magu! We're here!"

"Phew, I'm going to have a great time this trip."

"Mom! Look over there—what are those badges? So pretty!"

"Those are the emblems of different universities in Magu."

"Really? Then I'll definitely apply to a university in Magu!"

"......"

Some travelers and students, arriving in Magic Capital for the first time, looked around excitedly.

Today was August 31st, the day for new students from the various major universities to register and report in.

At the high-speed rail station, each of the major universities had naturally long since set up their reception points.

Each reception point displayed the name of its own school along with the school emblem.

Among them, the Magic Capital Ability University, as a top-tier institution of higher learning.

With its extremely ornate emblem of blades, thorns, and roses, attracted the most attention.

Along with the flow of people, there were two girls and one boy—three young people around eighteen years old.

Chatting with one another as they walked down from the train, pulling their suitcases.

The girl right in the middle had a tall figure and a cool, aloof appearance.

A pair of straight legs beneath her ultra-short shorts were white to the point of seeming to glow.

Drawing subtle sidelong glances from the passersby around her.

The other girl beside her, by contrast, had a petite figure and a cute face, looking around curiously.

As for the last one, the boy, he had short hair and a handsome appearance.

The one in the very middle was Tang Qi.

The two on the left and right were Meng Di and Zhou Mingyang.

All three were students of Rocket Class at Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, and had likewise been admitted by universities here in Magic Capital.

So they had arranged to take the same high-speed train over together.

"Worthy of a top-tier university—even the school emblem has to be more ornate than ours."

Zhou Mingyang glanced at the reception points the various universities had set up inside the high-speed rail station and could not help sighing in admiration.

He and Meng Di had both been admitted to Jing'an Ability University.

Although Jing'an Ability University was also located within Magic Capital's University Town.

Its ranking among the nation's universities, however, was quite a bit higher than the Linjiang Ability University where Tang Qi was enrolled.

This was perfectly normal.

After all, he and Meng Di were Jiangcheng's second place and fourth place respectively.

Tang Qi was only Jiangcheng's tenth place, that's all.

Of course, compared with that person who had risen from Jiangcheng like a comet.

And ultimately claimed the Jiangnan Province provincial top-scorer title—Xu Jingming—and the Magic Capital Ability University he attended, all of this amounted to nothing.

Thinking of this, he could not help asking Tang Qi beside him:

"Will Xu Jingming really come to pick us up?"

"He really will come pick us up, he already told me so on his phone."

Tang Qi rolled her eyes.

It wasn't that she was impatient, but on the high-speed train, Zhou Mingyang had already asked no fewer than seven or eight times.

As for why it was like this, the reason was also very simple.

After Xu Jingming won the Jiangnan Province provincial top-scorer title and claimed this enormous glory that had never before belonged to Jiangcheng.

Almost every middle and high school student in the entire city regarded him as a role model, an idol.

Even this Zhou Mingyang, who had once competed against him at the same examination site, was no exception.

"I remember Xu Jingming seemed to have gone to register at the university just a few days after the results were announced, right?

It's already been over two months at the school—how much do you think he's improved?"

At this moment, Meng Di beside him asked curiously.

"Xu Jingming has an S-rank ability, so the ability training method the school gives him must be the very top-tier kind.

Two months' time should be enough for him to have become a First-Tier Ability User."

After a moment's thought, Zhou Mingyang replied.

"Pretty much what I was thinking too—probably around the lower or middle rank of First Tier."

Meng Di nodded along.

Tang Qi beside them, however, upon hearing this, said nothing.

Already accustomed to the miracles Xu Jingming created, she always felt things wouldn't be as simple as they imagined......