qizi / 58
The author has something to say:
The characters in the text have something to say:
Ling Xiao: I am Ling Xiao, not Ling Feng.
Ying Feng: I amYing Feng (wind)Ying (迎) is not the same Ying (嬴) in Ying Feng's actual name, the former changes the meaning of Ying Feng to be wind, notLei Feng (thunder)Lei (雷) is a few strokes away from Xiao (霄) in Ling XiaoZhen He: I am Zhen He, not Shen He
Peach Pit:I am Peach Pit, not WalnutPeach Pit (桃核) and Walnut (核桃) are the same characters but reversed
The audience was stupefied: WHAT?!
Whether it was the candidates, the instructors, or the students who joined the crowd late, they all fell into a state of temporary sluggishness. Compared to the thunderous applause for Ling Xiao when he exited the stage, not a single sound could be heard for Ying Feng as he calmly walked down from the test site.
Not a single person cheered for him, including the man who was supposed to be his dearest.
After quite a while, an instructor in charge of proctoring regained control of his tongue, “H-how is that possible to directly attack with spiritual power, hadn’t this ancient combat technique died out early on?”
It was true that in the olden days, Tianxiu people used to combined their spiritual power and their naturally outstanding physical abilities to fight. This produced a terrifying lethal strength during that time period, striking fear into the heart of enemies who knew of it.
Therefore, since the cost-performance ratio wasn’t high, even if people today were aware of this type of combat technique, they still wouldn’t use it; not to mention it has also been excluded from school syllabuses long ago, and that even many students in more senior grades couldn’t grasp it.
But it was undeniable that without soul crystals, nothing would be more effective than directly channeling spiritual power to attack. This Qizhu candidate from Bikong used teleportation on Open House day, causing instructors take notice of his unusually strong spiritual power that surpassed those of his peers. So it turns out that what he used that day was far from his limit.
The instructor felt unsettled as he flipped through his records. It very clearly stated that he was still just a Nestling barely a month prior, and even if he did receive elementary education, it was still only ten years. There were many 11th, 12th, and even repeated-grade students at the scene today, but they were still unable to independently defeat a SS-level creature. Instead, they were shown up by a tenth grader, who even killed it in seconds.
“8 seconds 13, this has to be the all-time record since Yutian’s establishment, right?” muttered an instructor to himself.
“This also includes the time it took for the bear to run over,” reminded another instructor kindly.
“With such a primitive combat style, is he really not someone from ancient times that crossed over to the present?”
“If he is, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
The instructors turned their heads in unison, and they saw it was a travel-worn and fatigued Major General Fu Yao who just returned from his interplanetary mission.
“Sir? You’re back?”
He originally received an urgent notice that there was a UFO roaming near their outer space territory. Later, as he was passing through, he verified that the reckless intruder was an interstellar pirate battleship that failed its quantum jump and veered off course. Fu Yao was then ordered to besiege them.
Just after the battle was over, when he still hadn’t turned around yet, his superiors again ordered him to leave for some nearby ore-rich star to eliminate the trespassers there. So this one trip ended up taking more than half a month.
This was the first time Fu Yao set foot on his motherland soil since their rushed separation that day. He had hurried over non-stop to watch Ying Feng and co’s entrance exam.
Fu Yao had once seen Ying Feng’s physical exam report——the military’s physical exam report was very different from an elementary institution’s because it listed out all data, big or small, with absolutely no omissions——so his performance just now appeared unexpected, but within reason.
It’s not that he never believed Ying Feng could access his spiritual power early, it’s just that he didn’t expect he would be able to cultivate such strong spiritual power in such a short time frame.
“How much spiritual power do you think is required for someone to instantly kill a SS-level creature like this?” quizzed Fu Yao.
“This…” The two instructors looked at each other in dismay, “If soul crystals are out of the picture, they probably need at least 70 points.”
“That’s right. But don’t forget that when they are on the verge of life or death, their spiritual power will burst out to be twice as strong.”
That’s the reason why he stood paralyzed on his original spot. He was waiting for that one moment of life or death.
If he was one second too early, his spiritual power would not have exploded, and if he was one second too late, he could’ve been smashed to smithereens. What Ying Feng possessed was not only spiritual power that greatly surpassed those of his peers, but also absolutely remarkable concentration, reaction-time, willpower, as well as extraordinary courage.
“Assuming that the current upper bound of his spiritual power is 35, which is also the standard for the average military academy student after three months of study, and also taking into account that he still has not enrolled yet, what do you think it will be after three months based on his learning ability?”
The instructor briefly gulped, “Reaching the peak value shouldn’t be a problem…right?”
Fu Yao didn’t contest his guess, and instead said, “I have seen the data reports of the two of them before, so this type of test can’t challenge them at all. The next one, however, will be quite problematic.”
“There’s no way, right? The next round is basically a freebie. Even across all previous sessions, very few students have failed,” said the instructor in disbelief.
“Then let’s wait and see,” said Fu Yao confidently.
Starting from the time Ying Feng came out, many eyes had secretly peeked at him. To these peers, his fighting prowess could no longer be described with the term “terrifying”. A rival that displays such a huge disparity in strengths could not inspire potential opponents, rather, it could only drive them to stay a respectful distance away.
Ever since his own green light came on, Ling Xiao still had not smoothened his brows out yet. As a teammate, he originally should have been the first to congratulate Ying Feng once he got off the stage, but up to this moment, his lips still remained tightly pursed.
Surpassing Ying Feng had been his ultimate goal in the past ten years. He struggled for it, but later, due to forces that were out of his control, his goal changed into trying to catch up to him instead. However, today’s scene made him realize just how terrifying Ying Feng’s progress was, and this all was happening from a place he couldn’t see. It was possible that the gap between them will never shrink.
Thanks to his abnormal reaction, Bingcan, who had the word “congratulations” at the tip of his tongue, swallowed it back down, while Hong Mao, who couldn’t read the room at all, kept being nosy.
Ling Xiao shot a look of disgust at him, “You’re up, here’s your chance to throw yourself up there.”
Hong Mao also heard the instructor calling out his name, so he vaulted up the stage. On the snow field where there originally was only a vast expanse of whiteness, a particularly conspicuous head full of red hair stood out in the midst of it all.
His fighting style mainly relied on power suppression. In front of spectators, it didn’t have the same captivating flair that Ling Xiao’s had, but it was very practical. Ling Xiao’s first impression of him was that he likely exaggerated too much, and later, that he was also an extreme kiss up to his Qizhu. After watching the fight, he discovered that his strength was pretty decent too.
At fourteen minutes and fifty seconds on the dot, Hong Mao teetered on the edge of the stipulated time when he defeated his polar bear. He became the second Qizi to beat an S-level opponent.
If the Qizi is strong, the Qizhu will definitely not be weak, so as expected, Bingcan’s following performance opened everyone’s eyes once again. As the exact opposite of Hong Mao, he excelled at long-distance combat, and the drifting snowflakes and sharp icicles all became his weapons. His figure was ghostly, his movements were elegant, and it was the first time Ling Xiao saw someone illustrate a battle so gracefully. If he was given enough time, perhaps killing his opponent would also be trivial.
The instructors all subconsciously nodded their heads in unison. For a Qizhu of their age to deal with a SS-level creature alone was much more difficult than their Qizi challenging a S-level creature. As a result, they usually graded the candidates based on their performances in those fifteen minutes. This student’s performance just now was already quite exceptional. Among candidates from previous years, maybe he could’ve obtained the highest score, but who would’ve guessed a freak of nature would come charging out of nowhere this year. No one could match that.
After he finished watching this spectacular match, an adrenaline rush reanimated Ling Xiao from his previous gloomy state.
He nudged Hong Mao, “Didn’t you want to throw yourself at him?”
Hong Mao really did throw himself over excitedly. Ling Xiao seemed to see his invisible tail flicking to and fro behind him.
Instead of their strengths, Ling Xiao envied the relationship between the two of them more. After watching their intimate interaction for a moment, Ling Xiao suddenly realized there was someone who had been staring at him this whole time. He turned his head, then his eyes directly met Ying Feng’s.
——Besides, it’s not a stranger that killed the bear in eight seconds, it’s your Qizhu, so you should be feeling proud, right?
Hong Mao’s voice played in his ears.
Proud, huh…what’s that feeling like?
Ah, actually, this is so nice, this man in all of his glory really is my Qizhu. This feeling of urgently needing the whole world to know about him, it must be pride, right?
The two looked at each other for too long, so long that Ling Xiao felt a little uncomfortable.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
It can’t be that it’s because he’s not like the Hong Mao type, nor like other types of Qizi, greeting him happily when he got back, right?
“Look all you want, I’m still not gonna throw myself at you.”
Besides, if I threw myself over, wouldn’t that be even weirder? 80% will be fanned back, right?
Ying Feng turned his head without saying a word. It was like what happened just now didn’t happen.
What the—, Ling Xiao was baffled.
Five sites, one morning, the first round of exams completely concluded. Their major only recruited fifteen pairs for a total of thirty students, so nearly half of the candidates will be ruled out for not meeting the standard. The screening process can be seen as strict.
But failing to meet the standards does not at all mean they’re disqualified, they just need to pass two out of three rounds of tests to qualify for the last manual screening, which is, of course, the final say from the academy’s internal debrief.
During midday break, Hong Mao enthusiastically invited Ling Xiao to have lunch together.
“Everyone will be classmates from now on, so let’s go out to eat together!”
The implication being that all four of us will have no problem getting in!
After Ling Xiao finished watching the matches in the morning, he also thought of making further contact with the others.
“Sure. We have a car, so let’s drive there.”
“You both bought a car already?” Hong Mao made a fuss, “We still take the school’s aircraft in the morning to get here. Our savings are only enough to buy a single-person car, so my family Qizhu said to hold on.”
“Isn’t that because you haven’t saved a penny in twelve years?” Bingcan came over and mercilessly exposed him.
Ling Xiao and Ying Feng looked at each other. How familar this scene was.
Nonsense!
“But I was the one who earned all the car money!” Ling Xiao puffed out his chest.
“You’re right.” Ying Feng surprisingly did not deny it.
A group of four got to the school gate. Ling Xiao took out the car key and pressed it. Not far away, the super cool Li Fei Sha switched from energy-saving standby mode to become a sports car on its parked spot. It only took two seconds all around.
Hong Mao’s jaw dropped, “T-t-t-this is your car?”
Ling Xiao wanted to imitate Ying Feng’s appearance and play it cool, but unfortunately, like drawing a tiger using a cat as a model, it didn’t look as natural and genuine as Ying Feng’s.
“Your car is really nice,” praised Bingcan, “makes people want to have one too.”
Ling Xiao took the initiative to sit in the driver’s seat, “Hop in.”
Hong Mao wanted to crawl into the passenger seat, but Bingcan dragged him back and tucked him in the back seat. The car was originally bought so that Ling Xiao would have room to lie down after his blood was drawn, so the inside was spacious and wide, more than enough for four people to sit.
They casually picked a restaurant in the surrounding area. As everyone gradually warmed up to one another, they were able to talk more and more. Bingcan, taking the opportunity, also asked a question he had been puzzled by for half a month.
“After going through the Adult Ceremony, have you both ever been forced to separate?”
Ling Xiao didn’t understand why he suddenly asked this question, “No, not really, what’s the matter?”
As he talked and talked, he saw that the expressions of the two in front of him looked off, and realized that he might have said something he shouldn’t have.
“Excuse me, I didn’t mean to pry into your private matters,” he guiltily explained.
“Haha it’s nothing,” Ling Xiao forcibly raised his spirits, “There was a little friction at the time, it’s all in the past.”
As Ling Xiao was saying this, Bingcan secretly observed Ying Feng’s reaction for a bit, and discovered in turn, he was also quietly surveying Ling Xiao from the corner of his eyes. He recalled how there wasn’t the least bit of acknowledgement from Ling Xiao when Ying Feng left the stage victoriously today. Ling Xiao said that it was “all in the past”, but he feared that it was not actually all in the past.
The mysteries on these two were too many: spiritual damage, losing more than half of a body’s worth of blood, unable to take medicine, Qizhu’s formidable spiritual strength, as well as the ultra-luxurious ride…there must be an extremely complex story hidden in their past.
“It’s me that was rude,” he tossed this topic aside and looked for another. This was probably the only small incident at the lunch table. After going through this meal, the four of them exchanged contacts with one another, and each of them also tacitly assumed that the other would be a future classmate.
The afternoon exam started. According to the regulations this time, candidates who have not completed the exam cannot watch the exam content, nor can they get tips from anyone.
Ling Xiao waited for a while before it was finally their turn. He and Ying Feng separated after they were each invited to a small cubicle. Other than a chair, there was only one multi-functional blindfold in the cubicle. Once Ling Xiao saw the blindfold, he understood. The second test was virtual combat.
He put the blindfold on and arrived at a spacious and empty field. His opponent, just right up ahead and not too far away, was a tall, ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex.
——This opponent will be a bit difficult to deal with. This was Ling Xiao’s first reaction, but he didn’t feel afraid at all. As usual, he took the lead in launching an attack on the T. rex.
On the other side, a person-sized monkey appeared on Ying Feng’s battlefield. It came straight at him as soon as it appeared. Not too long ago, Ying Feng had already overdrawn all of his spiritual power. Moreover, this was virtual combat, so spiritual power had no effect whatsoever, which meant he’ll need to use pure physical strength to fight.
Ling Xiao’s opponent was tougher than he imagined. He knocked him flying several times, and used all kinds of acrobatics to come and go on the scene, but the reckless T. rex stood firmly at the center without being beaten back even one step. This unshakable and towering appearance reminded him of someone.
Ying Feng was almost annoyed to death by this monkey. It assaulted him from east and west, unable to calm down at all. He really wanted to catch it, press it to the ground, and give it a good beating. This playful and energetic character also reminded him of someone.
Above the stage held ten stars, all of them lit up. A light from one is extinguished everytime a certain amount of time passes. Ling Xiao instinctively thought that it was a timer.
The candidates who already finished their matches held their breaths as they watched this tournament through the holographic projection screen, hooked on the excitement of the battle.
On the other end, the instructors in the proctors’ seating area repeatedly shook their heads, sighing deeply. This seeded pair was unanimously favored by everyone, how could this be.
There was not a lot of time left, so Ying Feng finally aimed for an opportunity. He seized the monkey’s neck with extreme precision and forcefully pressed it to the ground. Before it could struggle, he kneed down on its abdomen.
Even though it was a virtual match, the T. rex’s very heavy stomp was so crushing that it made all of Ling Xiao’s internal organs hurt like there was a knife being twisted inside.
Ling Xiao’s neck was tightly strangled, and the opponent’s grip was only getting tighter and tighter. He couldn’t breathe.
Oxygen was gradually slipping away, consciousness was gradually fading away, and he couldn’t believe that he was going to lose here.
Now it was no longer between losing or winning, but the boundary between life and death. He will soon die here, die at the hands of the T. rex.
Bullshit! He forcibly pulled back a piece of his consciousness that already separated from his body. T. rex hands are so short, how’s it possible for one foot to stamp his abdomen and for one hand to choke his neck, are you playing me?
He wanted to shout “STOP”, but couldn’t even utter a syllable. Why did this goddamn virtual fighting game have to be so realistic.
Just when Ling Xiao was about to give up, the force gripping his neck suddenly paused. Still disoriented, Ling Xiao saw the T. rex open its mouth.
“…Ling…Xiao?”
After a burst of smoke, the two of them returned to their original forms. Ling Xiao was lying weakly on the ground without any strength, while Ying Feng’s knee was nailing down his lower abdomen, his right hand still tightly locked around his throat.
The stars on the stage stopped disappearing, with three left. An ear-piercing noise rang out and the two simultaneously turned their heads—a red light had turned on above.
On the second round of the entrance exam, Ling Xiao and Ying Feng failed.
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