Chapter 42 : Chapter 42
Chapter 42. Testing My Realm? I’m Already a Fifth-Realm Grandmaster. Why Would I Need to Be Tested?
Hearing that the system rewards had been credited, Jiang Yichen did not choose to open them. Both the low-level and intermediate ones were suitable for gambling on Supreme-grade rewards, while saving them to pad higher-level gift packs offered better value.
He slowly sat back down and continued eating.
But Su Linyu sat there in a daze beside him, seeming to be thinking about something.
“What are you thinking about?” Jiang Yichen asked.
Su Linyu jolted, bit her lower lip lightly, and said with a blush on her face, “Brother Yichen, can you treat me the way Jiang Feng did? It felt so overbearing. I liked it so much~”
???
Jiang Yichen took a deep breath and refused without hesitation. “No.”
Su Linyu pressed both hands to her cheeks. “All right, Brother Yichen.”
“Eat your food and stop overthinking,” Jiang Yichen said, shaking his head before returning to his meal.
Su Linyu, meanwhile, continued fussing over him with great care.
Off to the side, Lin Wan was so jealous she nearly ground her back teeth to pieces, her face full of resentment.
She could not understand it. Even when she had brought up breaking up with Jiang Yichen last time, he had not reacted like this. So why was his attitude like this now?
Had she gone too far at the graduation ceremony?
And she had realized that Jiang Yichen had changed. It was not just his attitude toward her. It was also his assessment results. He had always failed before, yet now he was playing games with score control.
It was simply too strange.
Why had Jiang Yichen started becoming outstanding the moment he left her?
Lin Wan could not understand it. She watched the two of them eating together, her gaze full of jealousy.
That had clearly been hers, yet it now seemed as though she was about to lose it...
Little by little, the jealousy in her heart turned into hatred, and she let out a cold snort.
“So what if he passed the written exam? In this afternoon’s martial exam, with Jiang Yichen’s useless Second Realm strength, he does not even qualify to participate.”
“You’re trying to provoke me on purpose, aren’t you? When they test your realm and you become the only graduate in the entire school who cannot take part, let’s see what you do then!”
Lin Wan had lost her appetite. She took out her phone and called her close friend, Ye Chengyu.
She had been unable to contact him ever since the graduation ceremony, and she was furious.
If Ye Chengyu had not persuaded her to break up, Jiang Yichen would never have left.
“It still won’t go through? Ye Chengyu, just you wait!”
Time passed slowly until two in the afternoon.
At the school’s central plaza, at the entrance to the Monster Battlefield, the thirty thousand students taking part in the graduation assessment had all gathered there in a dense mass.
“Hero Chu, did you see the written-exam rankings? Brother Yichen’s score-control stunt made it onto the school forum’s trending list.”
In the crowd, Tang Long stood there with his big belly, his squinting eyes opened noticeably wider than usual.
Chu Xingchen, dressed in a white robe with a sword at his waist, also showed a thoughtful expression. “Wasn’t Jiang Yichen out leisurely fishing these past few days? He used to fail every time, so how did he suddenly start controlling his scores like a top student?”
“Haha, that’s where you do not understand. Geniuses... true academic gods are all like this. They play around openly before the exam, then secretly study hard enough to crush you.”
Tang Long clicked his tongue and continued scrolling through the school forum. “And there’s more. Brother Yichen and Sister Linyu were probably in on it together. Look at Su Linyu. She always comes in first, and this time she also played around with score control.”
Chu Xingchen frowned and stroked his chin in thought. “Could Jiang Yichen be deliberately hiding his strength?”
“Who knows? Once they test everyone’s realm before the martial exam, we will find out whether Brother Yichen has really been hiding it.” Tang Long’s eyes were full of anticipation.
Because the weakest creatures in the Monster Battlefield were all third-rank demon beasts, there was an extremely high risk of death.
So before the martial exam, they always tested everyone’s realm and advised those between the First Level and Fourth Layer of the Third Realm to withdraw, in order to prevent fatal accidents.
When that happened, everyone’s true strength would be exposed.
“Silence!”
Suddenly, a steady voice carrying spiritual power rang in everyone’s ears. On the high platform at the center of the plaza, Zhou Mingyuan appeared with a transparent tea cup in hand, accompanied by Su Zhan and two others.
Zhou Mingyuan swept his gaze across the students and introduced them with a smile. “This year’s martial exam is a grand occasion. We have invited Su Zhan, one of Huaxia’s Five Martial Gods.”
“We also have Shen Qingyue and Jiang Dongnian of the Jiang Group here to observe the assessment.”
“I hope you will not waste the results of your four years of hard training. Perform well. If any of you catches their eye, your future will be boundless.”
Zhou Mingyuan slowly raised a hand, and four seats rose up on the platform. “Please, have a seat.”
The three of them nodded and sat down, and thunderous applause erupted from the examinees.
“Damn, they even invited a Martial God. If I somehow catch his eye, my life would truly be made.”
“Please stop dreaming. Martial God Su is obviously here to watch his daughter. What does that have to do with you?”
“That is not necessarily true. If one of us performs well enough, it is entirely possible we might be noticed by the Jiang family or the Su family.”
“If that happened, I would wake up laughing even in my dreams. Both families are top-tier elites. If I could join one of them, my martial path would definitely go much farther.”
“...”
Every one of the examinees was as fired up as though they had been injected with adrenaline, fantasizing excitedly.
“Brother Yichen, your mother came to see you,” Su Linyu said, pointing at the high platform.
Jiang Yichen had noticed long ago. To be honest, he was somewhat surprised.
In his previous life, after he had knelt before Lin Wan in front of the entire school at the graduation ceremony, his parents had stopped paying any attention to him.
Even during the graduation assessment, which was essentially the equivalent of the post-Cataclysm college entrance exam, they had not shown up.
Yet now they had come. For some reason, the family bond that had grown distant over four years seemed to draw a little closer.
“Mm, I saw. In the martial exam, stop holding back again, or your father will scold you to death,” Jiang Yichen reminded her.
After lunch, he had received a call from Su Zhan, who had immediately started berating him for leading his daughter astray.
At first Jiang Yichen had been baffled, but then he looked at Su Linyu’s scores and nearly choked. She had gotten 59 in all seven subjects and failed every single one.
He controlled his scores because he was slacking off, but why had she done it?
Su Linyu gave an awkward smile and poked her two index fingers together. “But... if we both do badly, then my father will have no reason to cancel the engagement.”
Jiang Yichen paused. So that was why she had been controlling her scores.
“There is no need for that. Take the martial exam seriously.”
Su Linyu hesitated for a moment. “All right. I will listen to you, Brother Yichen.”
Jiang Yichen gave a slight nod.
“Now come up and test your realms. Anyone below the Third Realm will be disqualified from the martial exam. For those below the Fifth Layer of the Third Realm, for the sake of your lives, we advise you not to participate.”
More than ten instructors in loose robes stood on the platform, and beside them a gate of swirling Spiritual Energy slowly appeared.
That was the entrance to the Monster Battlefield. It could automatically detect a martial artist’s strength.
“Su Linyu, Chu Xingchen, Jiang Feng, Lin Wan, Tang Long...”
One after another, the top ten on the Huazhong Genius List were called up first.
“Brother Yichen, I am going to test my realm first. Take this. Once you enter the Monster Battlefield, I will be able to find you.”
Su Linyu placed a bead containing Vermilion Bird flames into Jiang Yichen’s hand, then flew toward the high platform surrounded by blazing fire.
Feeling the bead’s scorching heat, Jiang Yichen smiled helplessly.
Su Linyu clearly intended to team up with him and carry him through the martial exam. The exam used a points-based system in which students earned points by killing demon beasts, and teaming up and using weapons and equipment were both allowed.
The points earned would be analyzed by an AI algorithm to determine who had contributed the most, and the points for each kill would then be distributed accordingly.
If someone in the team had done nothing, then that person would receive no points.
But Jiang Yichen was already a Fifth-Realm Grandmaster now. With the Black God Suit on top of that, he would simply crush everything in his path.
“Su Linyu, peak of the Fourth Realm. Passed.”
“Chu Xingchen, Fourth Realm, Fourth Layer. Passed.”
“Jiang Feng, Fourth Realm, Third Layer. Passed.”
“Tang Long, Fourth Realm, Second Layer. Lin Wan, Fourth Realm, First Level...”
The test results came out very quickly, and the entire crowd immediately erupted.
“Holy shit! Goddess Su was only at the Sixth Layer of the Fourth Realm in last month’s test. How did she reach the peak of the Fourth Realm so fast?!”
“She broke through three layers in a single month. As expected of an SSS-grade Martial Talent. That is absurdly powerful.”
“She is overwhelmingly ahead of everyone else. Goddess Su is incredible! She is seriously my idol.”
“Heh, too bad your idol likes a useless piece of trash in the Second Realm.”
“Damn it, where did that idiot come from? How dare he insult Young Master Jiang in public? So what if Young Master Jiang is weaker? He has the Jiang family behind him. Do you?”
“What an idiot! Beat him up!”
“...”
On the high platform, Zhou Mingyuan was stunned when he saw Su Linyu’s strength at the peak of the Fourth Realm.
Breaking through three layers in a single month was simply horrifying.
Even rising by one layer in a month was already considered astonishingly fast.
The stronger Su Linyu became, the happier he was. It would only make Su Zhan even more unwilling to marry his daughter to useless trash like Jiang Yichen.
That meant the matter of forming a marriage alliance with the Su family was practically certain.
“Patriarch Su, being able to raise and guide such an outstanding child as Linyu truly is remarkable.”
“I believe she will certainly become a Martial God in the future, and the Su family will grow even stronger. Congratulations, congratulations.”
Hearing Zhou Mingyuan’s words, pride appeared on Su Zhan’s face as well. “Principal Zhou, thank you.”
Jiang Dongnian, seated at the side, also offered his congratulations.
Only Shen Qingyue looked full of sorrow. Su Linyu was simply too dazzling. She felt that her no-good son was not worthy of her at all.
Before even graduating, Su Linyu had already reached the peak of the Fourth Realm, only half a step away from the Grandmaster realm.
The realm of Grandmaster, which countless martial artists longed for in their dreams, seemed within easy reach in Su Linyu’s eyes.
She was even faster than Jiang Zhentian had been back then, and her talent was even more terrifying.
Then Shen Qingyue thought about her own son. His martial talent was only A-grade, and his strength had only just broken into the Third Realm. Sitting there, she even felt a little embarrassed.
Sigh! It seemed there was no counting on Xiao Chen after all. Better to let Jiang Zhentian hand the heir’s position over to Jiang Feng.
Shen Qingyue’s eyes were full of disappointment.
“Next, Jiang Yichen. Come up and test your realm!”
Huh?
Jiang Yichen, standing in the crowd, froze. They were calling him up by himself? Damn it, Zhou Mingyuan was clearly singling him out on purpose!
Speechless, he snapped his fingers, and ripples spread through the surrounding space.
In an instant, Jiang Yichen appeared on the platform, and the entire plaza fell silent.
All the examinees revealed strange expressions. Calling him up alone... something was clearly off.
Jiang Yichen ignored everyone’s stares. Looking at the swirling gate, he was just about to step inside—
when the system’s voice suddenly rang out.
【Ding! Slacker choice triggered...】