Chapter 289: Martial Technique Gained (2)
Afternoon.
Senior class.
Liu Hong arrived.
"Everyone is pretty tired from this morning, so we won't do a Mark of Culture test today. As for the culture test, from this month onward, you will be required to proactively get certified instead of being tested during the monthly exam.
"Each course you get certified for will earn you 10 marks and 1 merit points that can be counted as total earned merit. From next month onward, another subject will be added to your classes. And the same applies to that new subject."
The students weren't really surprised as they had already heard about this before.
This month, Su Yu had taken a few certification examinations himself and had passed the tests of four courses thus far. He was quite happy with himself.
"As for your growth in willpower and Divine Characters, we have already witnessed the progress of most students during the tournament this morning. But some students had not participated..."
Liu Hong looked at Jia Mingzhen's group and said, "There is no need to overcomplicate things. We'll take the simplest approach. I'll suppress you guys with willpower. The one to last the longest will take first place. You will be graded in accordance to how long you last. You can get 10 marks per minute. If you can last 10 minutes, you can get the full 100 marks.
"Some of you are planning to challenge the Top 100 Ranking starting from next month. According to the rules, your position in the ranking will also be your class placing for the monthly exam. If only one student in the class has entered the ranking, then that student will get the first place of the monthly exam as well. That student wouldn't even need to take the monthly exam."
In the end, only strength mattered. The monthly examinations were only held to encourage the students to grow stronger. Thus, nobody deserved the first place in the monthly examination more than the only person in the class to enter the Top 100 Ranking.
"If there are more than one student in the Top 100 Ranking, the monthly exam placing will also be based on their placing in the top 100. For example, if there are 10 students here in the top 100, then those 10 will also place top 10 in the class.
"As for the students who had placed in the bottom 10 last month, I hope I don't see your names at the bottom 10 again this month. If this happens for three consecutive months, you will be advised to quit the academy or be dropped into the intermediate class. Your teachers will also receive a poor evaluation in their performance review."
At that point, he looked at Su Yu with a helpless expression. He had planned to make Su Yu sit at the bottom of the class, but this fellow had been doing better and better instead. There was no suppressing this fellow.
Not even the freaks of the senior class could do so. He had thought that his student, Lin Yao, was a high-high student who should probably be able to do something to Su Yu. But what happened when his student met Su Yu? He didn't want to talk about it anymore.
Lin Yao had basically transformed into Su Yu's loyal little brother. What else could Liu Hong say? His plan had obviously failed.
As for Wu Lan...forget it. This little sister of Wu Qi seemed really silly. She was probably silly enough to help Su Yu count the money he earned from selling her without even knowing what had happened.
Liu Hong asked, "Any questions for this new method of evaluating your performance?"
Su Yu raised his hand and asked, "Teacher, for the willpower test, will you be biased when you suppress us with your willpower?"
"..."
Liu Hong laughed and said, "Don't worry. I am not the only teacher carrying out the test. There will be more teachers coming later. Su Yu, do you think I will be biased against anyone?"
Su Yu said nothing. Of course this scoundrel would! Without any supervision, Liu Hong would most definitely be biased against him! Even with supervision, he still needed to be very careful.
At this time, a Skysoar teaching assistant arrived. The newcomer wasn't Huang Yao. That person had already left the academy for the Talent Fostering Bureau.
Liu Hong did not say much after his helper arrived.
He went straight to the point, "The monthly exam will start now. This will be similar to the Mark of Culture test. If you reach your limit, just withdraw." Then, a powerful willpower engulfed the students.
Su Yu felt a pressure weighing down on him. Suddenly, his expression changed as he hurriedly looked at Liu Hong.
Liu Hong had a calm expression. He was certainly being fair when allocating his willpower toward each student. But he was also taking the chance to scan the students with his willpower.
Su Yu could sense someone prying upon his secrets with willpower. He could only curse inwardly. No wonder that bastard had selected this method of test.
Su Yu did not hesitate to strengthen his shadow barriers. One barrier after another was strengthened.
He had been covering all his acupoints all along. But now, he was actually removing some of the barriers. He had decided to reveal a total of 76 opened acupoints. With the removal of the barriers, his cleansed acupoints started shining brightly.
Liu Hong was busy spying on Su Yu when his expression changed. He looked at Su Yu with shock in his eyes. What was going on?
Yes, 76 acupoints were a lot. Sixth-stage Great Strength, and only eight acupoints away from the next stage. But...why in the world were the kid's acupoints so pure? In fact, Liu Hong was not the only person who had noticed those acupoints. Quite a lot of students looked at Su Yu doubtfully.
Jia Mingzhen and company were also looking at him with astonishment. Such a pure source qi! The kid's source qi was so pure even his acupoints were shining.
"This kid...is definitely no weaker than some seventh-stage Great Strength cultivators. Or he might even be stronger."
It did not take long for them to reach their decision. As for Liu Hong's attempt to spy on them...pfft. He was like a clown to them. The elders all revealed a portion of their acupoints to him. Some revealed 80. Some revealed 90. Meanwhile, Jia Mingzhen revealed 108.
Oh, you’re curious? Fine! Have fun! Are you surprised to see this? Are you shocked?
Ninth-stage Great Strength Realm.
Since cultivators could fuse their acupoints, they naturally could separate their acupoints again. As a Mountainsea cultivator, he could easily fool a mere Skysoar.
Liu Hong wasn't too surprised to see their revealed acupoints. So they were a bunch of fellows above the seventh-stage Great Strength Realm?
He was more surprised to see Su Yu's acupoints. The kid had been growing so quickly. How was he able to maintain such a high purity of source qi while also growing so fast?
Liu Hong had expected to see Su Yu’s source qi filled with impurities. After all, the brat seemed to cultivate by consuming blood essence. And the Wentan Research Center's filter room was a room with concentrated blood essence. This did not make any sense.
Wan Mingze and a few others were also looking at Su Yu. Meanwhile, Su Yu appeared completely calm. There was still a need to show an appropriate level of strength when required. In any case, his pure source qi would be exposed the moment he started fighting.
It was just some pure source qi. Why were they looking at him? Had they never seen pure source qi before?
Nevertheless, Su Yu was not the one to swallow his grievances. He looked at Liu Hong gloomily and loudly asked, "Teacher, you have broken through my willpower defense with your willpower. Isn't that inappropriate?"
"..."
Liu Hong was speechless. He said, "You are the one who has failed to resist my willpower. You need to keep fighting against my willpower intrusion. If you wish to keep hiding yourself, you are free to give up on this test."
Su Yu had a sullen look.
He said, "I never intended to hide anything. I simply do not want to attract too much attention. Teacher, please pull out the willpower you are sending deep inside my body. This is inappropriate."
The other Skysoar teacher looked at Su Yu in surprise before saying to Liu Hong, "Assistant Liu, you only need to put some pressure on the outside of these students. Sending your willpower inside is indeed inappropriate. It is normal for these students to have their secrets. Do not cross the line."
Liu Hong smiled and nodded, "Sure. I went too far because I was simply too surprised and forgot to control my willpower. My apologies, Student Su Yu."
What else could Su Yu say if even a Skysoar was apologizing to him? He could only curse inwardly. Fortunately, he had still been able to hide his actual opened acupoints. The test continued. Slowly, some students started withdrawing after reaching their limits.
Jia Mingzhen and company appeared completely indifferent. Some were eating, some were chatting, and some were sleeping. Liu Hong couldn't help but to look at them and curse inwardly.
These fellows did not look like new students at all. They looked more like old foxes. But they were all Great Strength cultivators. Not one of them was at the Infinite Strength Realm.
That was an acceptable level of cultivation. Their willpower cultivation levels were pretty impressive as well. Even the weakest of them had more than 80 percent willpower. Two of them were already nearing 95 percent willpower.
"With their strength, they are most definitely freaks. But something just feels off about them."
If they were actual freaks, he wouldn't be too surprised about them. But their behaviors were too different from the actual youngsters like Su Yu and the rest.
They seemed like people who had witnessed and experienced a lot, looking at everyone around them with the eyes of a mere observer instead of an actual participant in the lives of these people.
Liu Hong did not say anything and continued suppressing the students with his willpower.
It could be easily seen which student was strong and which student was weak. One after another, the students who had just entered the Mental Tempering Stage withdrew. Eventually, only some strong students remained.
The ones who had done well during the tournament earlier were still in the class. But for this test, their physical strength was actually somewhat helpful. The Secret Character Grotto was a special grotto where only willpower and Divine Characters could be utilized.
But for this test, some of the students who had reached the Great Strength Realm were using the strength of their acupoints to help while they clenched their teeth and endured the suppression.
After 10 minutes, only a few students were left. Even among Jia Mingzhen's group, two had left, leaving three behind. Su Yu and the other freaks were still present.
Liu Hong continued suppressing them, and he was even slowly increasing the intensity of the suppression.
At the 12th minute, Xia Huyou ran out of the classroom.
At the 15th minute, Zhao Shiji clenched his teeth and unleashed all his strength as a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator to last two more minutes before leaving with indignation.
At the 18th minute, Xia Chan frowned and left with disappointment.
At the 20th minute, Hu Qiusheng staggered out of the room helplessly.
Meanwhile, Zheng Yunhui was still in the class thanks to his eighth-stage Great Strength Realm cultivation.
At that point, only Wan Mingze, Zheng Yunhui, Su Yu, and Jia Mingzhen were left.
As for Zheng Hong, he had left around the same time as Zhao Shiji.
Su Yu's body was shining brightly, clearly revealing his cultivation of sixth-stage Great Strength Realm. Beads of sweat filled his forehead as he persevered. Thanks to his highly pure source qi, he had been able to last until now.
Su Yu waited until both Zheng Yunhui and Wan Mingze were reaching their limits before finally dragging his body out of the classroom. His sweat never stopped flowing.
Seeing that Su Yu had left, Wan Mingze and Zheng Yunhui exchanged glances before exhaling in relief. They did not force themselves to stay longer and hurriedly left the classroom as well.
With that, only Jia Mingzhen was left in the classroom. He was happily eating his snacks when he saw everyone leaving. He said, "So weak? I think I can last five more minutes."
"..."
Nobody said anything. The students ignored him completely. Jia Mingzhen did not spend much longer in the classroom. He waited for about three more minutes before running out of the classroom with a pale face while swaying about like he was drunk.
Liu Hong had a look of bewilderment in his eyes.
"Damn it! He ran out? He ran?"
Su Yu and the others had to walk one heavy step at a time when they left. But this fellow had actually run out of the classroom? What did that signify? Was he not at his limit yet? Was that fellow really so strong?
"Just what is wrong with this batch?"
Liu Hong really didn't know what to say.
In the previous batches, very few new students could last 10 minutes under his suppression. But this batch, there were actually plenty of such students.
Even among people from his generation like Xia Yuwen, Hu Wensheng, Bai Feng, Wu Qi, and himself, Hu Wensheng was probably as strong as the current Zheng Hong at the same age. Meanwhile, he himself was probably at Xia Huyou's level at the same age.
Xia Yuwen was very strong, so he was probably at Wan Mingze's level back then. But this Jia Mingzhen...just what was up with him? There was also Su Yu. His overall strength was probably strong enough to place him in the top five of the senior class already.