In September, the air in Jiangcheng still held the lingering heat of midsummer.
Jiangcheng First High School, Principal's Office.
The air conditioning was blasting, and the Longjing tea on the coffee table gave off curling wisps of steam.
A white-haired but vigorous old man put down the file folder in his hand.
"So, you missed the placement exam because you went to your uncle's wedding?"
The old principal pushed his reading glasses up his nose, looking over the rims to study the casually standing boy in front of him.
Chen Zhi stood before the desk in a relaxed posture, completely lacking the nervousness typical of a new student meeting the principal. He scratched his head with a helpless look. "I couldn't help it. My uncle Zhang Jianguo is in his thirties and finally got a wife. It was a huge event for our family, I had to go."
The principal's mouth twitched.
As the head of Jiangcheng First High, he had seen students miss the placement exam due to illness, traffic, or even oversleeping. But someone giving up the chance to enter the honors class just to "attend a wedding banquet"—Chen Zhi was definitely the first in the school's history.
The old principal's hand paused in mid-air holding his teacup.
"What a pity."
The principal picked up a file from the desk and tapped it with his finger. "Perfect scores in the science subjects on the high school entrance exam. Logically, a talent like you goes straight into the 'Strong Foundation Class.' Even though you didn't take the placement exam, I can make a special exception and put you in Class One."
Class One was the legendary prep squad for Tsinghua and Peking Universities. It was filled with academic gods and relentless overachievers, including quite a few freaks of nature who had been directly promoted from middle school.
"No, no, no."
Chen Zhi waved his hands frantically, shaking his head like a rattle. "Principal, please spare me. I can't handle the atmosphere in the Strong Foundation Class. If I go in there, I'd probably have to time my breathing by the second. I'm used to being lazy; a regular class is much better suited for my well-being."
You've got to be kidding.
He had spent his entire life slacking off in class. Going to a class with such an intense study environment would be the death of him.
The principal laughed out of sheer exasperation and gave him a thumbs-up. "Fine, you're the first top scorer to justify wanting to slack off with such confidence. But let me make this clear: if you don't make the top ten in the grade on the next monthly exam, I will personally drag you into Class One."
"Deal. If my grades slip next time, I'll walk over there myself," Chen Zhi agreed readily.
"Alright, off you go." The principal waved him away, pointing to a middle-aged teacher waiting by the door. "That's Zhu Liming, the homeroom teacher for Grade 10, Class 10. Go report in with him."
Leaving the administration building and passing through two corridors, they arrived at the freshman academic building.
It was class time, so the hallways were quiet.
Zhu Liming looked like a very amiable middle-aged man. He held a thermos in his hands and walked at a leisurely pace, looking every bit the "zen" type of teacher.
"Chen Zhi, even though we're a regular class, you have a solid foundation, so don't slack off," Zhu Liming advised as they walked, his tone mild. "In our class, you can study however you want. As long as you don't tear down the building, I generally won't interfere."
"Understood, sir. I've always been a good student in the eyes of my teachers," Chen Zhi played along smoothly.
"We're here."
Zhu Liming stopped in front of a classroom on the third floor, cleared his throat, and pushed the door open.
The previously noisy classroom instantly fell silent.
Dozens of pairs of eyes simultaneously turned toward the door.
Teenagers going through puberty were always full of curiosity about the phenomenon of transfer students.
"Quiet down, everyone."
Zhu Liming walked up to the podium and tapped the desk with an eraser.
"Let me introduce a new classmate. Due to some special circumstances, he's just reporting in today."
He stepped aside to make room.
Chen Zhi stepped onto the podium, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote his name on the blackboard.
Chen Zhi.
He turned around, tossed the chalk aside, and clapped the dust off his hands.
The movements were smooth and fluid.
"I'm Chen Zhi. I hope we can all get along."
A commotion broke out in the audience.
"Chen Zhi? Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Holy crap! Isn't that the top scorer of the entrance exam? I saw his name on the honor roll!"
"Are you serious? The top scorer is in Class 10? Is this some kind of charity work?"
"He's so handsome! With those looks, he could debut as an idol right now, couldn't he?"
Whispers and discussions rose and fell.
Chen Zhi ignored the chatter, his gaze sweeping across the room.
However, when his eyes brushed past the corner of the last row by the window, his gaze suddenly halted.
A girl was sitting there.
Wearing a blue-and-white school uniform, her long hair was tied into a casual ponytail, revealing a stretch of fair, slender neck.
She was resting her chin on one hand, her head turned as she stared blankly at the sycamore trees outside the window, seemingly indifferent to everything happening in the classroom.
Her side profile was as cold and clear as melting first snow.
Pei Ningxue?
Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.
This was somewhat unexpected.
Given her grades, she should have easily made it into the Strong Foundation Class even with her eyes closed.
As if sensing the gaze from the podium, Pei Ningxue slowly turned her head.
Their eyes met.
In that instant, Chen Zhi clearly saw a fleeting trace of subtle panic flash through her originally cold eyes, but it vanished in a flash, and she returned to her previous aloofness.
"Um..."
Zhu Liming looked around the classroom and pointed to the empty seat next to Pei Ningxue.
"Chen Zhi, just sit there for now. That's the only empty seat left in our class at the moment."
The entire class's gaze instantly became suggestive.
That was Pei Ningxue's spot.
When the class was first assigned, several boys had tried to sit there, only to be frozen away by Pei Ningxue's glare.
Although this young lady was incredibly beautiful, her personality was genuinely ice-cold.
Carrying his backpack, Chen Zhi swaggered over under the envious, jealous, and hateful stares of all the boys in the class.
He pulled out the chair, sat down, and stuffed his bag into the desk cubby.
"Long time no see."
Chen Zhi leaned sideways, lowering his voice with a hint of teasing. "I didn't expect our bond to be this deep. We still ended up together in high school."
Pei Ningxue pursed her lips, redirecting her gaze back to the textbook in her hands, her voice light and cool.
"Mhm."
Chen Zhi didn't mind. He pulled a brand-new math book out of his bag and asked casually,
"My lady, you're easily top five in the whole school. What happened? Did you fill out the placement exam answer sheet with your feet? How did you end up in a regular class?"
Pei Ningxue's finger paused slightly as she turned the page.
She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow over her eyelids, hiding the emotions in her gaze.
"I had a stomachache during the placement exam."
Her voice remained steady, betraying not the slightest ripple of emotion.
"I missed two subjects."
Hearing this, Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.
A stomachache?
You've got to be kidding.
This girl was a badass who could stay up all night playing CS:GO with him and then run an 800-meter race the next day without breaking a sweat.
Furthermore, the seating for the placement exam was arranged based on the high school entrance exam scores.
Chen Zhi didn't show up that day, so his seat was empty.
And Pei Ningxue, being in the top five of the school, would definitely have been seated near Chen Zhi, possibly even right in front of or behind him.
As long as she went to the exam room, she absolutely would have seen that empty seat.
Chen Zhi leaned back slightly against his chair, his gaze landing brazenly on Pei Ningxue's face.
"What a coincidence."
His tone was playful.
"I didn't go to the exam, and you just happened to get a stomachache?"
Pei Ningxue's hand froze mid-page.
She whipped her head around to look out the window, leaving Chen Zhi to stare at the back of her gorgeous head.
"It's just a coincidence."
Her voice was slightly higher than usual, betraying a hint of panic.
Chen Zhi didn't press the issue.
He didn't need to, as he could clearly see a crimson flush rapidly spreading across the girl's fair earlobes.
She sure talks tough.
Chen Zhi looked away, his mood inexplicably lifting.
It seemed the next three years wouldn't be so boring after all.
Just as Chen Zhi was about to rest his head on his desk to catch up on some sleep, a sudden chill ran down his spine, making him shiver involuntarily.
On the other side of the classroom, an elegant-looking girl was glaring daggers at him—or rather, at the sight of Chen Zhi and Pei Ningxue sitting together.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
