Not just him.
Even Xia Sichen, standing nearby, felt his eyelids twitch uncontrollably.
Though he didn’t practice swordsmanship himself, he knew how difficult this particular blade technique was to master.
If someone told him that a high school senior—even one from the prestigious No.1 High—had mastered a martial art to perfection after just one demonstration and a week of practice,
Xia Sichen would’ve dismissed it outright.
Unless, of course, the student had awakened an innate martial talent. That, he could understand.
But what he was witnessing now defied comprehension.
Yet the evidence was undeniable.
If even Xia Sichen couldn’t make sense of it,
the other representatives stood no chance.
Especially Li Zihang from Class 4.
"......"
"I must be dreaming… This has to be a dream…" Li Zihang muttered, his expression dazed.
Chen Yuting, on the other hand, had been stunned from the moment Wang Xian made his move. By the time he finished, her entire body trembled with shock—before abruptly settling into eerie calm.
She simply stared at Wang Xian, her thoughts unreadable.
In the crowd, only Ye Miyue watched from start to finish with a faint smile in her eyes.
Though by the end, even she felt an urge to smack someone.
Seriously.
How could he be… this ridiculously skilled?
He was lying to me yesterday, wasn’t he? All that talk about lacking innate vitality and limited spots.
If Class 4’s homeroom teacher knew about this, the school would’ve forced an extra spot for him.
He just didn’t want to perform!
Well…
At this level of mastery,
the only thing left to improve was his vitality.
Even with guidance from a grandmaster, reaching the pinnacle of this technique would be nearly impossible.
It was simple: the stronger a martial art, the higher the physical and vitality requirements.
Even a basic blade technique demanded a certain level of bodily strength to unleash its full, perfected potential.
Without that foundation, comprehension alone was useless.
Hmph!
Bai Hongtian narrowed his eyes at the young man before him.
Half his astonishment came from witnessing such flawless mastery of the blade.
The other half… stemmed from something else entirely.
"Principal Xia…"
Bai Hongtian turned to the principal, his tone layered with meaning. "I never expected your school to harbor such a martial prodigy. In all my travels, I’ve rarely encountered talent like this."
He wasn’t exaggerating.
At Wang Xian’s age, he’d only barely grasped the Flowing Water Blade Technique.
Perfection came much later, well after the martial exams.
Of course, his own martial aptitude had been merely decent by the standards of that era’s Dragon Nation.
But someone mastering this level in a week?
Unless it was an awakened talent…
This was a first.
Principal Xia thought to himself, I’ve been a principal for decades, and even I’ve never seen anything like this.
"Right now, young Wang’s priority shouldn’t be martial mastery," Bai Hongtian observed astutely, smiling. "No need for further instruction—just focus on boosting vitality. With your talent, even the weakest awakened ability would still put you on par with me someday."
It was high praise.
Too bad…
You’re in for disappointment. I don’t even have the weakest ability.
Wang Xian chuckled inwardly.
As the only person in his past life to reach the Eighth Realm through pure martial study,
he knew better than anyone:
Awakened talents in this new era had nothing to do with true martial comprehension.
"Absolutely!" Principal Xia declared fervently. "Wang Xian’s heroic rescue speaks volumes about his character. Our school will spare no effort in nurturing him! Just wait—he’ll shine brilliantly in this year’s martial exams!"
This kid’s our trump card!
After years of being overshadowed by No.1 and No.4 High…
Finally, we’ll turn the tables!
No more ‘No.7 High underlings, No.4 High masters, No.1 High overlords’ nonsense.
This year, the hierarchy flips!
"Hahaha…" Bai Hongtian laughed heartily. "I look forward to it. With reforms in this year’s exams, I’ll likely return as one of Western Shu’s chief overseers!"
And so,
the grandmaster’s demonstration concluded in triumph.
By the time it was over, Wang Xian’s name had spread like wildfire across campus.
["Heroic Savior Shuns Fame, Martial Genius Can’t Hide Brilliance!"]
["Rongcheng No.7 High’s Decade of Preparation, Western Shu’s Blades Ready to Shine!"]
......
Reporters who’d witnessed the event scribbled furiously, crafting headlines to capture the day’s spectacle.
After school,
"Young Wang, Grandmaster Bai wishes to speak with you privately."
At the school gate, Cheng Wu grinned, steering Wang Xian toward a black official car with white license plates.
"Young Wang."
Bai Hongtian nodded slightly. "Today’s event was your school’s arrangement. What follows is my personal request."
Wang Xian agreed without hesitation.
After a pause, Bai Hongtian chose his words carefully:
"When you executed the final stance of the Flowing Water Blade earlier…"
"I sensed a trace of my transcendent technique—‘Tiger Soul Overlord Slash.’"
He hesitated.
"Have we met before?"
Truthfully, Bai Hongtian had detected a wisp of his Overlord Blade Intent within Wang Xian’s technique.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
"No," Wang Xian answered plainly.
Bai Hongtian’s eyes narrowed.
"Then… did you grasp something from my demonstration?"
"Not exactly. Just a minor insight," Wang Xian demurred. "Still far from the real thing."
In truth, he was confident that with a bit of practice, he could fully decipher Bai Hongtian’s Overlord Blade Intent—then integrate it seamlessly into the Flowing Water Blade, elevating it further.
Bai Hongtian exhaled inwardly.
Good. If he’d truly comprehended my Blade Intent from one glance…
That would’ve been too monstrous.
Even I wouldn’t know how to process that!
Smiling, Bai Hongtian added,
"There’s one more thing. A personal thank-you."
Before he could continue,
"You’re Little Xi’s family?" Wang Xian cut straight to the point.
Bai Hongtian wasn’t surprised. "Correct. The girl you saved is my daughter."
Wang Xian nodded. He’d initially assumed Little Xi was some dignitary’s child, but today’s events had confirmed it.
"Don’t thank me."
Wang Xian shook his head, smiling. "You owe me nothing."
"Why do you say that?" Bai Hongtian frowned.
"You saved Rongcheng—and me with it. I saved your daughter. That makes us even."
With that, Wang Xian opened the car door and left.
Silence lingered in the vehicle long after his departure.
Wang Xian meant every word.
In both past and present lives,
without Bai Hongtian’s intervention,
countless lives in Rongcheng would’ve been lost—his own possibly among them.
Back home, Wang Xian didn’t dwell on the day’s events.
Instead, he focused on his gains.
"A second-tier perfected blade technique… and Bai Hongtian’s Overlord Blade Intent…"
"Time to test them in combat."
Wang Xian pondered for a moment. "The concept of 'Yijing'—though typically something you’d touch upon only after reaching the fourth or fifth tier of mastery—isn’t entirely impossible to grasp early. After all, skill levels will inevitably reach that point eventually..."
"Once the Flowing Water Blade Technique reaches the 'Return to Simplicity' stage, I might even refine it further..."
"Understanding it thoroughly now and gradually integrating it into the Flowing Water Blade Technique is like laying the groundwork in advance."
Wang Xian believed in pushing his limits through real combat.
Grinding drills could raise his baseline, but true breakthroughs came from battle.
And if he was going to fight, he might as well dive straight into 'Martial Arts Unbounded.'
It had been about a week since his last login.
The moment he logged in, the game’s AI assistant, Bubble Gugu, bombarded him with notifications.
[You have 99 pending friend requests.]
Wang Xian checked and found that most were from 'Unwavering Kirito,' the opponent from his last match a week ago.
The guy had been spamming friend requests nonstop for seven days.
"......" Wang Xian was speechless.
So he lost and couldn’t take it, huh? Wanted a rematch?
After a brief hesitation, Wang Xian accepted.
Unwavering Kirito: "Holy crap, dude, you finally added me back!"
No way was he letting that loss slide—especially since he was a big-time streamer.
Plus, his gut told him that 'Cao Cao Betrayed Me' (Wang Xian’s in-game ID) was no ordinary player.
Too bad the guy hadn’t logged in all week.
Before Wang Xian could reply, Kirito immediately sent a 1v1 duel invitation to a private arena.
Wang Xian declined without hesitation.
Cao Cao Betrayed Me: "Again? At your current rank, you’re no match for me."
Unwavering Kirito: "Come on, I wasn’t even using my signature martial arts last time! You scared?"
Wang Xian smirked. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Back then, Kirito might have had a sliver of a chance.
But now, with Wang Xian’s Flowing Water Blade Technique at the 'Mastery' level? No shot.
Besides, after their last fight, Wang Xian had already gauged his opponent’s strength.
It just wasn’t interesting anymore.
He’d rather queue for ranked matches—at least there, he’d eventually run into stronger opponents.
Private duels like this didn’t even count toward official records.
Cao Cao Betrayed Me: "Not interested."
Unwavering Kirito: "Oh, so you’re just gonna win once and dip? I haven’t slept right all week! Look—if you beat me one more time, just once, I’ll introduce you to my sister!"
Without missing a beat, he attached a prepped photo of an absolute stunner...
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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?!
