"Seventh place, Wang Kun! Score: 828!" Wang Kun's face was dark; being placed seventh was a blow to his pride.
"Sixth place, Bai Xiaoshan! Score: 835!" The scholarly eldest son of the Bai Clan accepted the result with a polite nod.
"Fifth place, Hua Mengyan! Score: 844!" The girl beside Lin Yun beamed, clearly pleased with her placement.
"Fourth place, Bai Chenfeng! Score: 857!"
"Third place, Nangong Qing'er! Score: 891!" A wave of murmurs followed her name. The elegant genius had been pushed down to third.
"Second place, Ji Xuan! Score: 923!" Ji Xuan's jaw tightened, his second-place finish feeling like a defeat after being overtaken.
Elder Kong paused, letting the anticipation build. There was no mystery, but the announcement still carried weight.
"And in first place, for the Martial Prowess category... Lin Yun! Score: 938!"
The announcement was met with a stunned, almost respectful silence, followed by scattered, uncertain applause. There were no cheers for him, only the acknowledgment of an undeniable, if baffling, fact. He was number one.
Lin Yun absorbed the news calmly. It was a good start, but it was only one of three categories.
"Now," Elder Kong's voice cut through the murmurs, "we proceed to the second part of the martial assessment: practical combat. You will not be fighting each other. You will be facing a Profound Beast."
A new wave of tension, different from before, swept through the students. Fighting a beast was different from striking a stationary stone. It was unpredictable, visceral, and dangerous.
"Anyone may choose to surrender at any time if they feel they cannot defeat the beast," Elder Kong continued. "There is no shame in recognizing your limits. Safety is paramount."
As his voice fell, the very arena began to change. The ground rumbled softly. From the edges of the Martial Practice Avenue, high stone walls, shimmering with protective formations, rose from the ground, dividing the open space into ten smaller, isolated battle stages.
At the same moment, the elder who had been guarding the stele returned. He was not alone. He held a thick, spirit-infused chain, and at the end of that chain was a creature that made several students gasp.
It was a wolf, but unlike any natural beast. It stood as tall as a man's waist, its fur a dull, rusty red as if stained by old blood. Its eyes glowed with a feral yellow light, and strings of thick saliva dripped from its snarling maw, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth. Its muscles coiled with predatory power. This was a creature born and bred for battle.
"This," Elder Kong announced, "is a Bloody Wolf. It is a Profound Beast at the 9th Level of the Qi Condensation Realm. Its strength, speed, and ferocity are peak for your realm. This will test not just your power, but your combat instinct, your courage, and your ability to perform under pressure against a living, thinking opponent."
A 9th Level Qi Condensation beast! The atmosphere grew thick with apprehension. For those at the 8th or 9th Level, it was a challenging but fair fight. For those lower, like Lin Yun, it was a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
Elder Kong unrolled a new scroll. "We will begin with the first batch. When your name is called, proceed to your assigned stage. The beast will be released. You may defeat it or surrender."
He began calling out names. "Wang Kun! Zhou Ming! Li Shan!... To your stages!"
The named students, their faces a mixture of determination and fear, jumped down from the stands and landed on their respective battle stages. The elder with the chain released the first Bloody Wolf into Wang Kun's stage. The moment the chain was off, the beast let out a low, menacing growl, its focus immediately locking onto the young man.
Lin Yun was not in the first batch. He sat calmly in his seat, his eyes sharp and observant.
So this is a profound beast?
It was Lin Yun's first time seeing this with his own eyes. From the memory, the original Lin Yun had never fought with any profound beast before and could only see it from the books.
The first batch of students stood on their stages, facing the snarling Bloody Wolves. Lin Yun's attention was immediately drawn to Wang Kun's stage. The bulky youth from the Wang Clan embodied his clan's philosophy perfectly.
With a roar, Wang Kun summoned a massive, double-edged battle axe into his hands. The weapon gleamed with a brutal, heavy spiritual light. He didn't wait for the wolf to attack. He charged.
His technique was straightforward and savage. He swung the axe in wide, powerful arcs, aiming to cleave the wolf in two. There was no finesse, no attempt to dodge or outmaneuver. It was pure, overwhelming force.
The Bloody Wolf was agile. It ducked and weaved, its red form a blur as it avoided the deadly axe head. It lunged, its jaws snapping at Wang Kun's legs.
Wang Kun didn't retreat. He met the lunge with a downward chop of his axe, forcing the wolf to twist away. He was relentless, a battering ram of spiritual energy and muscle. He took a shallow scratch on his arm from the wolf's claws but didn't even flinch.
He was wearing the beast down through sheer, brutal persistence. After a furious exchange of attacks and counters, Wang Kun saw his opening. As the wolf lunged again, he sidestepped with surprising speed for his size and brought his axe around in a horizontal sweep.
THWACK!
The flat of the axe blade connected solidly with the wolf's ribs. A sickening crack echoed through the arena. The wolf yelped in pain, stumbling.
Wang Kun didn't give it a chance to recover. He leaped forward and brought his axe down in a final, devastating overhead chop.
The fight was over. Wang Kun stood panting over the still form of the Bloody Wolf, his axe stained with a few drops of crimson. He was the first and fastest to finish, a testament to his raw power and aggressive style.
On the other stages, the battles were less decisive. Some students struggled, their techniques less potent or their courage faltering under the feral pressure.
One student, after a brief, panicked exchange where the wolf nearly took a chunk out of his shoulder, shouted "I surrender!" The protective formation on his stage flared, and an elder instantly intervened, pulling the wolf away.
Soon, the first batch concluded. Wang Kun and a few others had won; some had surrendered. The stages were cleared, and the wolves, living or defeated, were taken away…