Chapter 53: Chapter 52: The First Round of Tests
"A fifteen-year-old at the Late Stage of Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven... That’s considered Top-tier Talent even among the Nine Great Families of Mountain and River City. They’d be one in a hundred, the focus of their family’s resources. Yet an elite like that was still eliminated, unable to even pass the first round for the All Stars Academy!"
"The All Stars Academy’s tests are just too strict. It’s a pity... my boy is also at the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven!"
"My little rascal actually broke through to the Martial Arts Fourth Layer this year, but the All Stars Academy requires a bone age under eighteen, and my boy just happened to turn nineteen!"
"Don’t even get me started. Zhao Qing, the genius of our Zhao Family from Wentang Town, was eliminated too, and he was at the Peak of the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven!"
"The genius from our Yan Family in Forbidden Valley Town was just eliminated as well!"
"Same for the genius from our Long Family in Chongming Town..."
...
A chorus of sighs swept through the crowd. Many faces were clouded with gloom and worry. More still were staring at the young geniuses from their own families, a mixture of anger at their failure and pity for their misfortune.
The young elites who had failed looked sick; a few had already gone pale, their hands and feet turning ice-cold as they stood speechless.
"The All Stars Academy’s standards are really that high?" Qin Feng murmured from the crowd, a hint of surprise in his voice.
’A fifteen-year-old at the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven is by no means a low level of achievement. Most people can only begin to temper their bones and sinews after the age of nine, once their bodies have matured. Cultivating any earlier is like pulling on a sprout to make it grow faster—it ruins the balance of one’s vital essence, hinders physical development, and damages the body’s potential.’
’That’s why the vast majority of children only begin their Martial Dao cultivation after turning nine. Before that, they might practice some basic stances, train their fists and feet, and build up their Qi and Blood while stretching their muscles and tendons.’
’To reach the Late Stage of the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven in just six short years, from age nine to fifteen, is something no ordinary person could achieve. For the Martial Arts Ninth Layer, each layer is a world unto itself. The standard pace of cultivation is three years per layer, and that doesn’t even account for the bottlenecks that appear every three layers. It’s not uncommon for someone to get stuck at a bottleneck for their entire life.’
’To break through all the way to the Late Stage of the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven in a mere six years... that kind of cultivation speed marks a one-in-a-hundred genius. They’d be considered an elite anywhere.’
"That’s nothing," Yu Yao said, shaking her head. "This is just the beginning. Anyone who gets accepted into the All Stars Academy is a one-in-ten-thousand talent, far beyond any ordinary elite."
"This is just the beginning?!" Qin Shou and Qin Gang, who had followed them, were stunned. The revelation was a true eye-opener for them.
In their minds, geniuses like Qin Fang of the Qin Family or Yu Yao of the Yu Family were already considered beings of incredible, almost divine, talent. But here, that level of genius was apparently nothing.
Of course, they all subconsciously excluded Qin Feng from the comparison. His talent couldn’t be summarized by the word ’genius.’ He had reached the Martial Arts Fourth Layer in half a month—that was monstrous, an aberration! If word got out, it would scare people to death.
"Look at this bunch of provincials. Young masters from some backwater family, no doubt! Every year, your kind flocks here, hoping to get lucky. Is the All Stars Academy something you nouveau riche can even dream of? A bunch of muddy-legged peasants wanting to leap the Dragon Gate? You should take a good look at yourselves and see what you’re really worth!" a grating voice cut in.
Qin Feng and his companions turned to see an arrogant boy, around eleven or twelve years old and dressed in brocade robes, staring at them with disdain. The kid was decked out in fine silks, every inch the spoiled young master.
He was accompanied by an old man in his sixties with downcast eyes, dressed in a simple blue-black tunic. Behind the old man stood two burly men in martial attire, each carrying a saber on his back. They were clearly the boy’s guards, and the aura they faintly emanated was actually above the Martial Arts Fifth Layer Heaven.
"Who are you? And who do you think you’re talking to?" Qin Feng remained silent, but his protective little Maid, Honglian, had already stepped forward indignantly. The young girl’s eyes were wide with anger, her dark, clever gaze fixed on the boy.
"Uncle Fu, why don’t you tell these upstarts who I am?"
The boy in brocade sneered and motioned with his eyes. The elderly man, who looked like a steward, gave a wry smile and spoke.
"Young masters, young miss, please forgive him. Our young master is just a bit blunt and speaks without thinking. Please don’t take offense."
"Hmph!" Seeing the old man step in to explain, the young girl gave a delicate snort. Though still displeased, she said nothing more.
The brocade-clad boy said, displeased, "Uncle Fu, why are you always building up others’ confidence at our expense? There’s no need to be so polite to these upstarts who crawled out of a ditch hoping to get lucky!"
The young girl was about to fly into a rage at his words, but Qin Feng pulled her back and shook his head.
Just then, a loud cry erupted from the testing platform up ahead. Qin Feng and the others looked over to hear the stony-faced middle-aged man beside the platform suddenly announce:
"Yao Xiaoguang! Early Stage of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer! Age fifteen! Pass! You are scheduled for the second round of testing!" As his voice faded, the crowd erupted.
"Someone passed! They’re moving on to the second round! Someone made it to the second round!" a person shouted, as if they were the one who had passed.
"That must be the genius from the Yao Family of Qinghe Town. To think he passed the first round. The Yao Family is one of the Ancient Families with a history of several hundred years; their foundation is truly profound," someone who recognized the boy murmured in admiration.
"What a young hero! Fifteen years old and already at the Early Stage of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer... so young and promising! Truly promising!" someone said, their face a mask of envy as they glanced at their own son, unable to hide their disappointment.
"The Yao Family of Qinghe Town has produced a true genius!" another praised, their eyes filled with hopeful approval.
...
Many people were murmuring in astonishment, their envy barely concealed. Qin Feng looked up.
A fair-skinned, chubby youth strode smugly down from the testing platform. He walked with his head held high and his chin in the air, looking down his nose at everyone as if he were the greatest hero among them. He was accompanied by several elders, clearly his family’s senior members. They all wore relieved expressions, pleased that their family had a worthy successor.
They fussed over him, offering him tea and water, their wrinkled faces crinkling into smiles as they doted on him.
"Country bumpkin. Getting this excited after just passing the first round. He should know there are three rounds, and the first is the simplest, most basic one! Just as you’d expect from some backwater upstart with no worldliness," the brocade-clad boy sneered from a distance, his expression full of contempt. Catching Qin Feng’s gaze, he shot him a provocative look and a cold smirk.
Qin Feng paid him no mind, his gaze turning thoughtful. ’So, according to that kid, the bone age scan is only the first round,’ he mused. ’There are two more, even stricter tests after this. The All Stars Academy truly lives up to its reputation for having high standards if this is considered the easiest part. I wonder... out of the thousands of people here, how many will be left after all three rounds are over?’
There was a long line in front of the Profound Array. Qin Feng and Yu Yao were somewhere in the middle, with at least a hundred people still ahead of them. Every single one was under the age of eighteen; Qin Feng even spotted some who looked as young as eleven or twelve.
Most of them were young elites at the Late Stage of the Martial Arts Third Layer Heaven. They knew their chances of passing were slim, but they clung to a sliver of hope that one of the powerful experts administering the test might take a special interest in them.
Such a thing wasn’t impossible. A few years ago, some lucky fellow had been noticed by one of the recruiting experts and experienced a meteoric rise, gaining direct entry into the All Stars Academy.
