Jinghai City No. 7 High School.
Wang Teng walked through the school gates and immediately sensed that the atmosphere was different today. The entire campus seemed filled with just two words.
‘Martial Arts Track!’
Many final-year students around him were discussing the results of yesterday’s martial arts assessment.
Someone having exceptional Martial Aptitude or someone else having no martial arts talent at all had become popular topics of conversation.
The students who had chosen the Martial Arts Track all wore proud smiles.
After all, this was a high-martial world. For young students, becoming a Martial Artist in the future was something incredibly impressive. Wherever they went, they would naturally feel a sense of superiority.
What young person didn’t dream of becoming a respected Martial Artist?
Moreover, among students, possessing Martial Aptitude but still refusing to apply for the Martial Arts Track was practically an admission that your family was poor.
Such words naturally struck directly at the sensitive pride of young students.
If Wang Teng had been forced to choose the Academic Track, he certainly wouldn’t have been in a good mood when he entered school today.
‘I really never expected Dad to actually let me choose the Martial Arts Track!’
Wang Teng was both excited and nervous.
Just as he was thinking about this, someone suddenly slapped him on the back.
“Wang Teng, wait for me!”
Wang Teng stopped. He didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was.
The speaker was his best friend, Fatty Liu Feng.
Once, Wang Teng had seen a joke online claiming that protagonists in certain novels always seemed to have a fat best friend by their side.
Then, once the protagonist rose to greatness, he would bring his fat best friend along with him.
Later, however, Wang Teng realized the truth.
Not every skinny person with a fat friend was a protagonist. Hua Nation simply had an enormous population, so naturally, there were plenty of skinny-and-fat friend combinations.
Fatty Liu Feng was half a head shorter than Wang Teng. He quickly caught up and chuckled. “So, Wang Teng, did your dad agree to let you apply for the Martial Arts Track?”
“My dad originally refused. After all, my Martial Aptitude is even a little worse than yours. But luckily, my grandfather supported me.”
“So now I can apply for the Martial Arts Track too.”
Wang Teng nodded. “My dad agreed as well.”
Liu Feng immediately exclaimed in surprise, “Really? That’s great! I thought your dad would definitely refuse. I didn’t expect him to actually agree.”
Wang Teng forced a smile.
The two continued walking while chatting.
Liu Feng suddenly sighed. “There are only 100 days left until the Martial Arts Entrance Examination. Who knows how much we can improve our Qi and Blood by then? I just hope I can get into a third-tier Martial Arts University.”
“I heard that many children from wealthy families started taking medicine to increase their Qi and Blood as soon as they reached adulthood at the beginning of their final year.”
According to Hua Nation’s regulations, students were only divided between the Academic Track and Martial Arts Track during the second half of their final year. By then, all final-year students were presumed to have reached adulthood and could formally begin cultivating martial arts.
However, not every final-year student had the same birthday.
Some naturally reached adulthood earlier.
For wealthy families, the moment their children came of age, they began pouring money into their cultivation.
As for Martial Aptitude tests, wealthy families had naturally arranged private tests for their children long ago.
Only ordinary students like Wang Teng and Liu Feng had waited for the school’s free Martial Aptitude assessment.
In other words, some students had already begun cultivating their Qi and Blood Power.
Wang Teng remained silent. Naturally, he already knew about these things.
Liu Feng complained indignantly, “Why do other people get such capable fathers who can provide them with amazing cultivation conditions? Ordinary people like us just don’t have fathers like that.”
“I told my dad about it, and he told me to go find myself a better father.”
“What am I supposed to say to that…”
“This society is all about competing through your parents. Compared with the support provided by the previous generation, our own efforts are practically insignificant.”
“We should just honestly aim for a second-tier or third-tier Martial Arts University. After graduating, if we can become 2nd-Rank Martial Artists, we can work as security guards in some luxury residential community.”
“I heard they can earn 10,000 yuan a month. That’s way better than doing manual labor.”
Liu Feng talked endlessly, and Wang Teng gradually found him somewhat irritating.
Everyone wanted a capable father.
Suddenly, Wang Teng remembered what his father had told him, and a faint fantasy inevitably arose in his heart.
‘A 5th-Rank Martial Artist… a Martial Arts Family?’
‘Could that actually be true?’
‘If it were true, that would be incredible. With a 5th-Rank Martial Artist as my father, I could practically walk sideways through the school without fearing anyone.’
Unfortunately, he could only fantasize about it.
If his father really was a 5th-Rank Martial Artist, then what were all the hardships they had endured over the years supposed to mean?
Proof that Wang Teng was good at enduring hardship?
Liu Feng suddenly grabbed Wang Teng’s arm. “Look! That’s Wu Longfei from the neighboring class. We haven’t seen him for one winter vacation, but his strength and physique have both improved considerably. He obviously started cultivating Qi and Blood ahead of us.”
“His father is a Peak 4th-Rank Martial Artist. His family also owns a Martial Arts School and a gym. Their businesses are huge around the Old District.”
“Naturally, they’re going all out to nurture Wu Longfei.”
“He even has High-Grade Martial Aptitude!”
“Damn it. Having a rich and capable father really is amazing!”
Wang Teng looked over.
The young man standing nearby radiated an unmistakable sense of abundant Qi and Blood.
Wang Teng had heard of him before.
Wu Longfei came from a wealthy family and was also handsome, making him one of the more famous students in their year.
Whenever people saw him, many couldn’t help feeling that he had been born with an incredible life. After all, he had a father who possessed both wealth and strength.
A group of followers surrounded Wu Longfei.
He casually allowed some of the Qi and Blood he had recently cultivated to show, and his followers immediately began flattering him.
One of them exclaimed, “Brother Fei, with this level of Qi and Blood, you’ll definitely be the strongest male student in Jinghai City No. 7 High School!”
Wu Longfei merely smiled faintly.
Wang Teng withdrew his gaze and said, “Fatty, stop worrying about people like that. Since we’ve chosen the Martial Arts Track, we just need to cultivate properly.”
“Once we become powerful Martial Artists, it won’t matter what background someone has or how capable their father is. They’ll still have to lower their heads before us.”
Fatty Liu Feng patted Wang Teng on the shoulder. “All right, all right. Then let’s cultivate hard.”
“If either of us becomes rich and successful, don’t forget the other.”
Wang Teng nodded. “I wonder if we’ll still end up in the same class after today’s class assignments.”
Once the students were divided into their respective tracks, they would naturally be separated into Academic Track classes and Martial Arts Track classes.
Today’s main task was precisely that class reassignment.
The two soon arrived at their classroom.
Final-Year Class 6.
The classroom had been thoroughly cleaned and tidied, clearly in preparation for the upcoming reassignment.
The room was noisy, with most students discussing what would happen after they were separated into different tracks and classes.
Wang Teng and Fatty Liu Feng sat down in their usual seats.
Fatty Liu Feng leaned closer to Wang Teng’s ear and whispered, “Look. Class Beauty Wei chose the Martial Arts Track too.”
“Her family has connections with the Ministry of Education, and she has High-Grade Martial Aptitude herself. She’s a genuine rich young lady.”
“So choosing the Martial Arts Track isn’t bad at all. If we end up in the same class as Class Beauty Wei, at least we’ll have something beautiful to look at every day.”
Wang Teng smiled.
Quite a few students probably shared Liu Feng’s thoughts.
He glanced toward Wei Lai, who was sitting in the front row.
Wei Lai sat beside the window with an elegant, upright posture. Her long black hair wasn’t tied up and instead fell naturally across her shoulders, partially concealing her fair, slender neck.
Morning sunlight streamed through the window and fell across her profile, making her appear gentle and beautiful. Her lively eyes seemed to shimmer brilliantly beneath the light.
Wei Lai was called the class beauty. Although she had never actually been compared with every girl in the school, Wang Teng felt that she was probably beautiful enough to be considered one of the school beauties.
However, Wang Teng didn’t continue staring.
He understood his own circumstances perfectly well.
He had heard that Wei Lai had an uncle in Magic City who was a 7th-Rank Grandmaster.
A Grandmaster was unquestionably an enormously influential figure.
Wang Teng and Wei Lai simply belonged to completely different social classes.
There was no point imagining anything between them.
Several boys in the back row whispered among themselves.
“I heard Wu Longfei from the neighboring class is planning to pursue Wei Lai. Their families are actually pretty well matched. People like us shouldn’t even bother dreaming about her.”
“Exactly. Who told Wu Longfei to have such a capable father?”
After hearing them, Liu Feng curled his lips. “Forget Wu Longfei. I don’t think anyone in our entire year is worthy of Wei Lai.”
He turned toward Wang Teng. “Wang Teng, if your family were a little richer and your dad were a little more impressive, then with your looks, you’d be more than good enough for Wei Lai.”
Wang Teng fell into brief thought, seemingly wondering whether such a possibility could actually exist.
Before long, the class bell rang.
Yang Liu entered the classroom right on time with a stack of documents in her arms.
The noisy classroom immediately fell silent.