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...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
