High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Who is Xu Wuyi?

The release of the Dongjiang Province Martial Arts College Entrance Examination rankings was like a giant boulder dropped into a calm lake, creating monstrous waves.

The official website’s traffic peaked within minutes, and the comments section was refreshing at a frantic pace of over a hundred new posts per second.

Nearly everyone following the province’s Martial Arts College Entrance Examination had their eyes locked on the name at the very top of the S-class list—

Xu Wuyi, Honghe First Middle School, Rating: S.

”Xu Wuyi? Who is Xu Wuyi?”

”And where is Honghe First Middle School?”

”Red River City? Isn’t Yu Peiling the only one worth paying attention to there? Where did this Xu Wuyi pop out from??”

”A dark horse! Definitely this year’s biggest dark horse!”

”Look him up! Quickly, find out where this Xu Wuyi came from!”

Shock, doubt, disbelief... All sorts of emotions spread across the web.

To the vast majority of people, the name Xu Wuyi was so unfamiliar it was as if he had appeared out of thin air.

A student from a non-provincial-capital key high school, with no prior legendary feats to his name, had actually taken first place in the ranking battles. This completely overturned everyone’s understanding of the world.

After all, while the ranking battles were fought against supervising instructors and involved a certain degree of ”test-taking strategy,” the results couldn’t be *that* far off from reality.

Historically, the top ten from the ranking battles differed from the final results by no more than three people. The top five were often identical, with only the order changing at most.

This was because geniuses at that level rarely had subpar combat abilities or were cases of ”high scores but low ability.”

In Linjiang City, inside the office building of the Provincial Martial Arts Education Department, some staff members had also noticed the unusual list. Whispers echoed in the hallways.

”Has the data been re-verified? Make sure there wasn’t some kind of mistake.”

”Team Leader Chen Mingyuan personally supervised and confirmed it. How could there be a mistake?”

”Incredible. Linjiang First High School must be getting antsy now, right?”

”The name Xu Wuyi... I think I’ve heard it before, during the special admissions for the Three Greats...”

...

「Red River City, United Middle School.」

Yu Peiling sat in the rest area of her private training room, a slight smile playing on her lips as she looked at the list on her terminal’s light screen.

She had long expected Xu Wuyi to soar to prominence, but she hadn’t thought he would shoot straight to first place.

’He really hid his strength well... To get first place, he must be at least Level 15 or higher,’ she murmured to herself, a hint of relief in her tone.

After the ranking battles began, the Life Energy Levels of the students from the provincial capital were gradually released.

Chu Shanhe had reached Level 15.4. For Xu Wuyi to surpass him, his Life Energy Level couldn’t be much lower; it might even be higher.

’Losing to a monster like that doesn’t seem so unfair after all.’

At the same time, the communicator on her wrist vibrated three times in a row.

A virtual light screen popped up, showing three familiar faces crammed into a split-screen view. They were all classmates from the provincial capital’s special training camp.

Yu Peiling didn’t hesitate, accepting all three calls at once and merging them into a group call.

”Peiling!” the short-haired girl on the left side of the screen said rapidly. ”Do you know that Xu Wuyi from Honghe First Middle School? The list says you’re from the same city!”

The buzz-cut boy on the right added, ”First in the ranking battles, even higher than Chu Shanhe. Since when was Red River hiding a monster like that?”

Yu Peiling ran a hand through her hair, a smile appearing on her round face. ”I know him. We even spar on the Battle Network pretty often.”

The three of them stared, wide-eyed. ”Who wins?”

”I lose every time.” She shrugged, her tone as casual as if she were discussing the weather. ”At the Same Ability Level, I can’t last three minutes.”

The other end of the call fell silent.

A few seconds later, the buzz-cut boy gave a dry laugh. ”Got it... Thanks for the intel!”

Yu Peiling was definitely in the top tier at the provincial training camp; she just couldn’t beat the very best of the best.

If even she had a record like that against him, if the rest of them ever faced him, they could only hope to ”put up a good fight,” assuming they didn’t just surrender.

The moment the light screen went dark, a new call request began to flash.

Yu Peiling saw the caller ID ”Shen Wei” and answered with a light chuckle and a shake of her head.

Shen Wei was in the same training camp as her and was its strongest expert, as Chu Shanhe didn’t participate in this kind of special training.

The two of them were actually quite familiar with each other.

”Heard you got crushed by some mystery man from Red River?” On the screen, a boy in black with a scar on his face grinned, his eyes burning with fighting spirit. ”If I run into him in the practical combat exam of the College Entrance Examination, I’ll test his mettle myself!”

Yu Peiling blinked. ”I’d suggest you stock up on some liniment.”

Although Shen Wei was also very strong, Yu Peiling knew that his specialty was perfectly countered by Xu Wuyi.

If he really were to face Xu Wuyi, his chances of winning were probably even lower than against Chu Shanhe.

”He’s that good?” Shen Wei was stunned for a moment. His expression instantly changed, replaced by a sheepish grin. ”Sister Yu, got any intel you can share?”

”I’ll treat you to barbecue after I win!”

Shen Wei was very young, having just turned seventeen this year, and had enrolled in school a year early.

He usually seemed cold and aloof, but once you got to know him, you’d realize he was just a somewhat cocky kid who could actually be pretty funny at times.

”I can’t say much more about the specifics.” Yu Peiling shrugged and said seriously, ”My only advice is, if you run into Xu Wuyi, you might want to start thinking about your next match early.”

Seeing how serious she was, Shen Wei fell silent, a thoughtful expression on his face.

...

「Linjiang City First High School, inside a training hall.」

A few students were gathered together, their expressions grim.

”Shanhe, this Xu Wuyi...” a stocky student began, indignant. ”He must have used some kind of trick in the ranking battle. We’ve already applied for a review!”

Chu Shanhe stood in the center of the training area. He picked up a towel, wiped off his sweat, and shook his head slightly.

”A trick?” Chu Shanhe’s voice was steady. ”The ranking battles are comprehensively evaluated by an AI. Even if he did use a trick, his strength can’t be that bad.”

”Besides, there’s always a higher mountain and a stronger person. In a province like Dongjiang with tens of millions of people, it’s perfectly normal for a dark horse or two to appear.”

He clapped the other student on the shoulder and smiled. ”Instead of questioning others here, we should be thinking about the upcoming combat exams.”

”We’ll see who’s truly stronger or weaker when we face them in a real fight!”

...

「Downtown Linjiang City, inside a quiet, secluded villa.」

Councilman Lin Liren was sitting in his study, sipping a cup of clear tea and browsing through the day’s government briefings.

His communicator rang. He glanced at the caller ID and saw it was his good friend, Chen Mingyuan.

”Mingyuan, what brings you to call me? I heard you were in charge of the ranking battles over in Red River this time. Must’ve been hard work.” Lin Liren answered the call, making cheerful small talk.

Chen Mingyuan’s calm face appeared on the virtual light screen. He skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. ”Liren, this year’s ranking list has been released. Have you seen it?”

”Haven’t had a chance to look at it closely. Why? Is there something special about it?” Lin Liren took a sip of his tea and asked casually.

Although he paid attention to the Martial Arts College Entrance Examination, he wasn’t so invested that someone of his status would constantly monitor individual students.

”Special. Very special.” Chen Mingyuan’s tone was full of profound meaning. ”There’s a new name at the top of the list. It’s not Chu Shanhe.”