Li Qingshan drew a deep breath, stepped out of line, and planted himself before the light-walls.
After so long lost in speculation, now that the moment had come he was, instead, calm.
Whether "Body Forging Layer 11" existed — he'd know once the test was done!
The thought flashed past, and his right foot stamped down hard.
THUD!
A muffled boom, and his figure shot out with the momentum of rolling thunder.
Power poured freely from his legs, wind howling past his ears.
But now was no time for unbridled running.
In a few strides, the opposite light-wall was right before him.
Li Qingshan stamped one foot down, forcibly killing his forward charge, and twisted on the sole of his foot.
Power rose from the ground, through the root of his legs, past his waist and hips, coiling like a great dragon!
In an instant his body wheeled around and charged out again.
He had no experience with this kind of shuttle-run test,
but between Yu Lei's flawless demonstration and the many flawed ones from his classmates, it was more than enough for Li Qingshan to grasp, learn, and master!
His form shuttled swiftly between the walls, each turn cleaner than the last.
In no time, all ten round trips were done.
Every student craned their necks and stared at the left light-wall.
They couldn't gauge his exact score, but to the naked eye alone—
Fast! Very fast! Incredibly fast!
Just then,
Bang, bang, bang!
The pounding erupted, one after another without pause.
The crowd looked over in surprise — after finishing the speed test, Li Qingshan hadn't paused for an instant, running straight to the punch-force tester.
In a blink, ten punches were thundered out.
Hoo—
Li Qingshan let out a heavy breath, every pore on his body opening, white steam rising, sweat suddenly streaming from his forehead.
A swipe of his right hand sent the sweat flying.
Li Qingshan looked up at the screen above.
Punch force: 260 kg
He hadn't had time to check his speed score yet,
but he didn't need to.
"Bro Shan, you beast! I knew you had to be the strongest!"
Zhao Hongzhou roared in excitement, his voice echoing through the gym.
The students around him couldn't contain their excitement either.
"Speed: 11.3 m/s, punch force: 260 kg — another Body Forging Layer 1."
"Not just Layer 1 — Li Qingshan's the top of the whole class!"
"Three Body Forging Layer 1s, and Li Qingshan beats both Liang Mingyu and Hong Qian on speed and strength alike. He's the undisputed number one!"
The noisy chatter reached his ears, and Li Qingshan tuned it out automatically.
Beating Liang Mingyu and Hong Qian, top of the class — none of it concerned him.
There was only one thing Li Qingshan cared about:
his speed and strength had truly crossed the line — he was a genuine, bona fide Body Forging Layer 1!
Which meant...
Li Qingshan glanced at the Panel, spirits surging.
The Panel's progress bar couldn't be wrong.
Since 9/100 was Body Forging Layer 1, then Layer 10 was 90/100, leaving ten percent of the bar to spare.
Body Forging Layer 11 — it truly existed!
Li Qingshan took a few deep breaths and started back.
By the time he reached the line, his excitement had settled and his face was calm again.
Now that it was confirmed, there was no more need to dwell on it.
That final ten percent was something to consider only after Layer 10.
The chatter up front was loud, all about him, the "class number one," and many went out of their way to greet him.
Wan Keshan stood at the head of the line, eyes on him as well.
But Li Qingshan, well aware of the man's mean streak and with Liang Mingyu's example before him, didn't pause in the slightest and walked right past.
"Not bad!"
Wan Keshan's voice abruptly rang out, overriding all the noisy chatter.
Everyone fell silent of their own accord and looked at him in surprise.
From the very first, Yu Lei, all the way through the two Layer 1s, Liang Mingyu and Hong Qian, Wan Keshan hadn't said a word, hadn't offered a single comment.
Why speak up now, all of a sudden?
Was it because Li Qingshan was top of the class?
Li Qingshan turned in surprise as well to look at him.
Seeing a flicker of approval on the man's face, he was only more puzzled.
From what he knew of Wan Keshan, the man wasn't one to hand out praise over a score like this.
In the crowd, Liang Mingyu knit his brows, his face darkening.
This was exactly what he'd wanted earlier.
He was the first Body Forging Layer 1, and Li Qingshan's score was only a hair higher — so why did Li Qingshan get Wan Keshan's special regard?
"It's clearly favoritism!"
Liu Jingya, hooked on Liang Mingyu's arm, muttered.
Suddenly a frigid gaze swept over them, almost tangible.
Liang Mingyu and Liu Jingya's breath caught, their faces going pale.
"Heh heh!"
Wan Keshan's mouth twitched. He swept his eyes around the room, his booming voice echoing through the gymnasium.
"In this placement test, only in Li Qingshan did I see so much as a sliver of a chance at reaching the New Continent!"
As the words fell, the crowd erupted in an uproar.
The Martial Dao Class was the last ticket to the New Continent.
They all knew it was hard, but none had imagined it was this absurd.
Even Li Qingshan, top of the class, had only a sliver of a chance?
For a moment, everyone present found it hard to believe.
Liang Mingyu and Hong Qian clenched their fists, unable to accept it.
Yu Lei's eyes fixed on Li Qingshan, her expression unreadable.
"Does she know the reason?"
Li Qingshan, baffled by her stare, likewise had no idea what Wan Keshan based his conclusion on.
But none of that mattered.
A sliver of a chance?
With the Panel, his goal had never been merely the New Continent!
What he wanted was the sea of stars!
"I know it's hard for you to believe. Once you've gotten through my first lesson, I'll tell you the reason in due course."
Wan Keshan tapped twice at his comm-band, then folded his arms across his chest and said pointedly:
"Provided, of course, that you can seize the opportunity!"
Opportunity?
Everyone was momentarily stumped,
but soon someone recalled the first thing Wan Keshan had said after introducing himself.
"If the opportunity arises, I'll be your Martial Dao teacher for the coming year."
Li Qingshan turned it over carefully and understood.
This "opportunity" wasn't about Wan Keshan — it was aimed at the students.
So Wan Keshan really did mean to cut people?
Rumble~~ rumble~~
Under everyone's curious gaze, a square crate was wheeled into the gym.
The crate was large, fully two meters to a side, covered tightly by a black cloth.
The young man pushing it was tall — clearly an upperclassman of the Martial Dao Class.
Wan Keshan walked to the center of the gym and shut off the light-walls.
Once the young man had wheeled the crate to his side, he waved him off.
"Enter the Martial Dao Class, test into a New Continent Martial Dao University, go see the true interstellar age."
Wan Keshan paced slowly, musing in a soft voice.
"What a beautiful dream that is!"
"But..." His tone shifted, his eyes blazing.
"The starry sky has never been a byword for beauty!"
"The universe is vast. Beyond humankind, there are countless alien races, savage beasts, and strange, unfathomable, terrible evil gods."
"Of course, you've studied all this in your textbooks before."
"But I'd like to ask you something..."
Wan Keshan halted, faced the students, and said gravely:
"Do you truly dare to raise a blade against them?"
Every student fell silent, eyes fixed on the covered crate.
They had a dim guess already of what lay beneath the black cloth.
FWIP!
The black cloth was yanked away, revealing what was inside.
No — not a crate, but an alloy cage.
Across the cage lay a heavy chopping blade, thick along the spine, sharp along the edge.
Inside was a wolf-shaped savage beast, its massive body nearly filling the cage.
The beast had no fur; beneath its dark-red skin, blood vessels writhed and coiled.
Four sharp fangs interlocked top and bottom, gleaming with a cold light.
Its four limbs were fixed to a steel plate at the cage's bottom, and even its neck wore a steel collar, an iron chain running between the top bars and the collar.
The beast's eyes were shut tight, motionless as a statue.
Even so, facing a savage beast for the first time made many students fall back despite themselves.
And as the crowd retreated,
one figure suddenly stepped forward, conspicuous against the rest.
Hm?
Wan Keshan looked over, surprised.
Li Qingshan drew his foot back, face expressionless.
His back prickled as if pricked by thorns; he could feel many eyes gathering on him.
But Li Qingshan paid it no mind, his eyes locked on the last line of the Panel.
[Function: Martial Dao Space] (Locked)
At the very instant the black cloth was lifted,
that line of text had suddenly flickered.