Chapter 80: Martial Arts #1 (Requesting Follows)

Lin Qi’s expression was calm, revealing no emotion.

“Qi Ge, what’s going on with you?”

“Why did you come out so late?” Jiang Tao hurried over, curious.

Lin Qi smirked and replied:

“You know.”

“You can order the skewers now.”

Jiang Tao widened his eyes and shook his head vigorously: “No way, I don’t believe it—unless the scores are out.”

Far away, Yu Jing’s face turned ashen; he could accept that Li Zhou was stronger than him.

But if Lin Qi was stronger too, he couldn’t accept it.

“Impossible—he must have just been wasting time inside the exam.” He found an excuse to comfort himself.

Far away, Zhang Cheng lowered his head and operated his tablet; as soon as he saw Lin Qi and Li Zhou both emerge, he immediately accessed the tablet.

“This guy Lin Qi… wouldn’t he…”

Zhang Cheng suddenly had a thought.

The exam was over—he could check the results early now.

He swiftly clicked to query the martial arts scores for both Lin Qi and Li Zhou.

“Ding!”

The tablet froze for two seconds, then the data refreshed.

Seeing Li Zhou’s score, he smirked—his performance hadn’t disappointed him.

He switched to Lin Qi’s exam score.

“Hm?”

Zhang Cheng’s pupils contracted sharply as his face changed color upon seeing Lin Qi’s score.

What’s going on?

Did Lin Qi score higher than Li Zhou?

Had he misread it?

…

Martial Arts Room 503

Lin Qi returned to it; over an hour remained before scores were released, and he refused to waste even this time.

He settled his mind and plunged into training.

In the recent exam, he barely defeated the No. 9 candidate, but against the No. 10 candidate, he didn’t fall as easily as before.

Instead, he held out for several rounds using the “Solid Rock Spear Art.”

In the end, he was killed by the opponent’s killing move—the Exploding Rock Drill.

Lin Qi stared straight at the spear in his hand; both martial arts exams were over.

He already had a rough idea of his ranking in the second high school.

Now he just waited for the city, provincial, and even national rankings to be released.

…

Meanwhile, backends across the nation were frantically tallying scores.

Major martial arts academies and education bureaus were closely monitoring the results.

An hour and a half later, all rankings were finalized.

Teachers from every school received the final exam results and projected them into their classrooms.

Tianhai No. 1 High School

Guo Heng scanned his own score and grade ranking with piercing eyes, then smiled.

“Grade 3rd, Tianhai City 7th.”

“Congratulations, Ah Heng!” Wu Feng called from the back row.

“You’ve all improved too,” Guo Heng replied modestly—for once—though inside he wondered: What were Lin Qi and Jiang Tao’s scores?

Soon his gaze shifted to the national rankings, and his expression froze.

Too fake. So low?

…

Tianhai No. 2 High School

Everyone had gathered in the classroom.

The air buzzed with tension; many felt icy hands and feet, drenched in cold sweat.

Jiang Tao exhaled, wiped his sweaty palms on his clothes, and admired Lin Qi’s calm demeanor.

“Classmates!”

Yan Hong and Zhang Cheng walked onto the podium; the classroom fell silent.

“The final exam is officially over—the scores are out.”

“This year’s rankings have changed dramatically.”

At these words, every heart rose to their throats.

“I’ll project the score list now—look for yourselves, then we’ll summarize later.”

Seeing the eager faces, Yan Hong began projecting the results.

“Dong dong!!”

Amid the pounding rhythm of racing heartbeats, the projector activated, flooding the green screen with countless data points.

Everyone pounced like wolves hunting prey, searching for their own scores.

Lin Qi lifted his eyes and instantly spotted his own:

【Name: Lin Qi】

【Academic: 928 (1st)】

【Blood Qi: 991 (5th)】【Martial Arts: 915 (1st)】

【Total Score: 955.6】

【Grade Ranking: 9→2】

【Tianhai City Ranking: 108→9】

【Cang Province Ranking: 270→20】

【National Ranking: 503】

…

Lin Qi swiftly scanned all his scores and rankings, exhaled, and let a faint smile touch his lips.

Grade 2nd!!

Beyond his expectations—higher by one rank than he’d imagined.

He owed his leap to martial arts.

!

His martial arts score was the highest in Tianhai No. 2 High School—he had officially surpassed Li Zhou, the top student in grade!

Li Zhou’s martial arts score was 910—five points lower than his.

Beyond the dramatic grade improvement, his city ranking surged even more: from 108th to top ten, climbing 99 places.

His provincial ranking improved by 250 places.

The leap was even more extreme than before.

For him, it was a major gain.

“The A-tier contract is secured!” Lin Qi smiled.

…

Jiang Tao, his desk mate, was unusually quiet, scanning frantically for his own score.

He quickly passed 3rd, then 2nd—his eyes flickered over a familiar name.

But he was focused only on finding his own, so he didn’t think twice.

When he saw his own rank: 3rd in grade, his face lit up—especially after seeing he’d entered Tianhai City’s top 11, his grin could no longer be contained.

Satisfied, his eyes instinctively dropped lower to find Lin Qi’s name.

Yu Jing at 4th—he’d surpassed him.

Qi Yuelin at 5th—he’d surpassed her too.

Zhu Yuqi at 6th…

7th…

He didn’t see Lin Qi’s name until 10th. Jiang Tao suddenly realized something was wrong and started over from the top.

【2nd: Lin Qi!】

He checked the martial arts score: 915—top in grade.

“Holy shit!” Jiang Tao let out a startled yell.

“Qi Ge!”

He stared at Lin Qi in shock, speechless.

“Order the skewers!”

Lin Qi looked at his report card calmly.

At this moment, the entire class erupted in chaos, filled with a cacophony of voices.

Some rejoiced, others wailed in despair, emotions bursting forth.

“Look! Jiang Tao is now third in the grade!”

“No way! Jiang Tao is this strong? He just leapt past Zhu Yuqi, Qi Yuelin, and Yu Jing all at once!”

“Third in the grade—so powerful!” someone shouted.

Hearing the praise, Jiang Tao secretly thrilled—but then he remembered Lin Qi had surpassed him, and his joy faded.

“What’s that? Look at who’s second—it’s Lin Qi. He’s even stronger, surpassed Jiang Tao, and he’s also the top in martial arts, surpassing Li Zhou,” Qiu Jie shouted back.

Everyone looked and saw it was true; they were all stunned, drawing the entire class’s attention.

“We thought Jiang Tao was already insane, leaping past Zhu Yuqi, Qi Yuelin, and Yu Jing—but Lin Qi surpassed him.”

“Lin Qi is even more outrageous—he leapt over seven people at once, surpassed Li Zhou in martial arts, and if not for his blood qi dragging him down, he might’ve taken first place outright,” someone marveled.

“Things have changed—our school’s new top three are now Li Zhou, Lin Qi, and Jiang Tao.”

Hearing the chatter, Li Zhou’s earlier joy at entering the top five of Tianhai City vanished.

He couldn’t smile. He stared at Lin Qi, deeply astonished.

“My martial arts score is lower than Lin Qi’s? How did he do that?”

“His score is five points higher than mine—does that mean he held out longer against Test Subject No. 10?”

“Is his progress speed even real?!”

He felt a threat—he might be surpassed himself in the future.

Nearby, Yu Jing lowered his head, his face twisted, gripping his chair so tightly the metal legs bent under his hands.

“How is this possible? I was surpassed by both Jiang Tao and Lin Qi?”

He could not accept this outcome.

Watching Lin Qi and Jiang Tao’s smug expressions, his heart felt like it would explode.

Farther away, Qi Yuelin blinked hard, her beautiful eyes wide with shock, her cold, aloof facade shattered.

…

(End of Chapter)