Wang Xian, Full Marks

Three minutes later.

Headteacher Cui Sanyan checked the time and said indifferently:

“I won’t repeat the rules. Begin the Primordial Chaos Stance.”

“As usual, twenty minutes is passing, thirty is excellent, and forty is the full-score limit.”

Hearing this, the students’ expressions shifted.

Some were pleased, others dismayed.

“Teacher, wasn’t the previous standard twenty minutes for full marks…?” Li Zihang raised his hand and asked.

“That was before.” Cui Sanyan frowned. “You have just over a month left before the Martial Arts Class assessment, and this is the standard. For those of you aiming to join, this is a mandatory requirement.”

The Martial Arts Class.

Also known as the Elite Martial Arts Training Class.

It was a special program established by Martial High School, reserved for top students.

Upon joining, most academic courses could be skipped, allowing exclusive focus on martial training.

The school would also allocate additional resources, providing extra support to help students rapidly improve their vitality and martial techniques.

Every major Martial High School in Rongcheng had such a class.

Generally, joining the Martial Arts Class guaranteed admission into a top-tier martial arts university.

Some might even secure direct recommendations.

The slots were limited. At Rongcheng Martial High School No. 7, with nearly twenty senior classes, only fifty students were selected.

Each class had roughly two spots.

No student in Rongcheng Martial High School didn’t aspire to join.

“Enough talk. Assume the stance!”

The students exchanged glances before dispersing to their positions.

“Remember: stand firm, stand steady, stand correctly.” Cui Sanyan’s face remained stern. “Sink your shoulders, relax your elbows, suspend your head as if lifted by a thread. Your body should be like an unmovable boulder. For every minute, your posture must remain flawless. Any deviation disrupts your balance, wastes effort, and invalidates the time.”

His gaze swept across the room.

Within two or three minutes, some began trembling.

Clatter!

The weights on a girl’s head, shoulders, and thighs fell to the ground.

“Three minutes and fifty-two seconds…” Cui Sanyan frowned at her. “Yuan Xin, I know you plan to pursue academics rather than martial arts, but even the liberal arts track requires a baseline vitality of 0.5. Your innate vitality was 0.2, and after two years, you’ve barely reached 0.38. If you want to qualify for the exams, you must improve your fundamentals through stance training.”

“I’ll work harder, teacher…” The girl sighed, stepping aside drenched in sweat and pale-faced. Suddenly, she glanced at someone in the crowd and muttered, “Strange… wasn’t Wang Xian always the first to collapse before?”

Seemingly catching her words, Cui Sanyan paused and finally noticed Wang Xian.

“Huh—!”

He stifled his surprise.

This kid…

Wang Xian stood perfectly still, like a statue, without the slightest tremor.

His joints were aligned as if measured by a ruler.

Even his gaze seemed frozen, as though he’d merged with the world—utterly unshakable.

“Such textbook-perfect Primordial Chaos Stance…”

Cui Sanyan was astonished.

The stance was flawless.

But…

How long could he last?

Time ticked by.

One by one, students faltered.

Ten minutes was the first hurdle—half had already dropped out.

Among them, Chen Yuting couldn’t resist stealing a glance at Wang Xian nearby.

No way… he’s still standing?

“Chen Yuting! Focus!”

A mere second of distraction earned a sharp rebuke from Cui Sanyan.

Maintaining the stance demanded absolute concentration—no room for wandering thoughts.

Only those who’d already collapsed sat resting, watching the remaining students with envy.

With the teacher present, they dared not chatter.

Twenty minutes passed.

Another half succumbed.

Only a dozen remained.

By thirty minutes, every second tested their willpower.

The weights—on their heads, shoulders, arms, and legs—felt like mountains, totaling over a hundred pounds.

At thirty-five minutes, only five stood:

Chen Yuting, Zhou Xukun, Li Zihang, class martial representative Long Biao… and Wang Xian.

Thirty-six minutes—Zhou Xukun collapsed.

Thirty-seven—Long Biao fell.

Thirty-eight—Li Zihang gave in.

Now, only two remained.

The entire class’s attention fixed on them—or rather, on Wang Xian.

Zhou Xukun, sprawled on the ground and barely able to think, gasped:

“Dude… since when did your stance training get this strong?”

Who even are you right now?

Li Zihang’s face twisted, though exhaustion masked it.

He stared at Wang Xian, convinced this was a dream.

Even Cui Sanyan’s presence couldn’t suppress the murmurs spreading among the students.

“Since when was Wang Xian this good?”

“His innate vitality was 0.1, and it never improved past 0.2 in two years. He slacked off daily… Before, he’d barely last three minutes…”

“It’s almost forty now!”

“He’s hitting full marks in stance training?”

“Did a ghost possess him or something?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Chen Yuting said his family runs a martial school… Maybe a professional fighter coached him…”

Cui Sanyan ignored the whispers, his eyes locked onto Wang Xian.

The final two seemed evenly matched.

But the students couldn’t see what he did.

Chen Yuting was at her limit.

Wang Xian? He looked… effortless.

“Forty minutes—time!”

Cui Sanyan pressed the timer.

Instantly, Chen Yuting crumpled.

The weights clattered to the ground as she lay there, drained.

She mustered the strength to turn her head, staring at Wang Xian in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Wang Xian casually adjusted his posture, flicked the weights off his body, and caught them mid-air with ease before setting them down gently.

“Chen Yuting—full marks.”

“Wang Xian…” Cui Sanyan paused. “Full marks.”

The class erupted.

Now, the difference was obvious.

This guy could’ve kept going?

Wang Xian spared Chen Yuting a glance but said nothing.

She had lasted forty minutes because that was her limit.

He had lasted forty minutes because… that was the full-score cutoff.

“Everyone, ten-minute break. Hydrate.”

“Next—technique assessment!”

Cui Sanyan’s voice boomed before he strode out of the training hall.

The students, jolted back to reality, burst into discussion.

Chen Yuting stood, her initial shock fading into something colder.

“Wang Xian,” she said, voice dripping with disdain, “what’s the point of this charade?”

“?” Wang Xian grabbed a towel.

What’s her problem now?

“You’re barely even sweating.” Chen Yuting sneered. “It’s so obviously fake!”

“Did you take some kind of drug?”

Gasps rippled through the class.

Li Zihang, after a stunned pause, burst into laughter:

“So he took drugs—0.1 vitality, and you lasted this long? You must’ve taken a temporary vitality-boosting elixir! Otherwise, your physique couldn’t possibly sustain you standing in the Hunyuan Stance for so long!”

The others quickly caught on.

“I knew something was off. A month ago, his stance results were worse than Yuan Xin’s. How could he improve this much in just a month?”

“That doesn’t make sense…”

“Those kinds of drugs aren’t cheap, right?”

In the crowd, Zhou Xukun frowned slightly and spoke up:

“Stop talking nonsense. It’s just a test—who would take something like that?”

“Nonsense? You don’t even believe that yourself, do you?” Li Zihang sneered. “Some people would go all out for attention—who’s to say they wouldn’t? Too bad it’s pointless. In an official exam, they’d never let you take that kind of drug.”

“And the side effects afterward…”

“Shut up!” Chen Yuting shot Li Zihang a glare.

Li Zihang immediately fell silent.

“……” Wang Xian.

“I think…” Wang Xian chuckled, “you might want to bring some actual proof if you want to sound convincing.”

With that, he couldn’t be bothered with them any longer.

He hadn’t even wanted to participate in the test in the first place.

Attending school was really just to keep an eye on Ye Miyue’s situation.

As for studying?

Even university-level knowledge was beneath him, let alone high school.

Still, he’d have to take the college entrance exam.

Because in one of the top martial arts universities lay certain resources and treasures he needed.

He’d missed them in his past life—he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

“I don’t need proof!” Unexpectedly, Chen Yuting sighed. “Wang Xian, the next part is the skills assessment. No amount of drugs will help you there. The teacher will see right through you the moment they test you.”

“You should come with me now to explain things to Instructor Cui. He might still forgive you.”

“Didn’t you see him leave earlier?”

“He’s giving you a chance! If you wait until he exposes you in front of the whole class, you might even get disciplinary action!”

“By then, there’ll be no going back.”

Temporary vitality-boosting elixirs were typically banned in schools—they often caused irreversible side effects on students’ bodies.

“Xiao… Chen Yuting, why are you even trying to reason with him?” Seeing Chen Yuting still defending Wang Xian, Li Zihang’s expression darkened.

“Shut up. We’re classmates!” Chen Yuting snapped. “As class monitor, shouldn’t you be looking out for everyone?”

“……” Li Zihang.

Chen Yuting’s presence was overwhelming. Li Zihang, torn between admiration and frustration, could only concede:

“Fine… Chen Yuting’s right…”

“Enough.” Wang Xian waved a hand. “I need to rest. Think whatever you want.”

With that, he went to refill his water bottle.

“See? Total waste of effort.” Li Zihang shrugged.

But Chen Yuting ignored him and followed Wang Xian.

“……”

Meanwhile, in Class 9.

“Was it really necessary to take drugs for a minor test?”

“I know about vitality-boosting drugs, but to improve this much… that must’ve been some heavy stuff.”

“That Wang Xian guy is actually pretty good-looking. How come I never noticed before?”

“Pfft, you hopeless fangirl… That guy’s one of Class 4’s worst performers.”

“What a shame…”

Ye Miyue, who had been quietly observing Wang Xian’s stance, suddenly overheard the chatter.

She stood up, fixing the gossiping girls with an icy stare.

“Could you not spread baseless rumors?”

Her tone wasn’t harsh, but an innate frostiness laced her words.

The girls froze, as if the temperature around them had plummeted.

They awkwardly fell silent.

Only when the murmurs died down did Ye Miyue walk away alone.

With her reputation and presence, few dared to confront her directly.

“Wait up!”

Chen Yuting caught up to Wang Xian at the water dispenser, where he was gulping down water.

“What do you want now?”

“If you’re too embarrassed to back out…” Chen Yuting said coolly, “I can ask the teacher to excuse you from the skills assessment later.”

“……”

“Hah, thanks, but no need.” Wang Xian checked the time. “It’s almost starting. Chen Yuting, you might want to wipe off your sweat or change clothes first.”

He pointed at her training uniform.

Chen Yuting blinked, then looked down.

Drenched in sweat, the fabric clung to her, revealing the outline of her undergarments—especially the strap at her back.

Her cheeks flushed. When she looked up again, Wang Xian was already gone.

“You—ugh!”

“So disappointing!”

Ten minutes passed in a flash.

Soon, Cui Sanyan returned to the training hall, a long staff in hand.

Surveying the neatly lined-up students, he gave a slight nod, as if unwilling to dwell on earlier events.

“Martial techniques are different from stance training. They are a core component of the martial exam.”

Cui Sanyan spoke slowly.

“Choose your weapons, then step onto the platform in the order you fell earlier.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the room with deliberate weight.

“The skills assessment tests your comprehensive martial aptitude.”

“Do not entertain any delusions of cutting corners!”

“Especially certain individuals!”