44: Chapter 44 The Ice Queen – Xue Muhan

Lin Fan stood at the edge of the playground, looking down at the "Star-Shattering Finger" in his hand with a complex expression.

A Profound Rank Low Grade Martial Skill.

Did Han Ming just give it to him so casually?

He opened the first page and scanned it roughly, his brows gradually knitting together.

Although this Martial Skill was only a Profound Rank Low Grade, it was not easy to Cultivate; it required condensing Qi and blood at the fingertips to break through a point with force.

Yet, its power was more than a notch stronger than the average Profound Rank Low Grade Martial Skill.

After Han Ming left, he did not rush home but instead found another bound target, Li Xuewei.

After handing the "Star-Shattering Finger" to Li Xuewei, he took out ten rank 3 blood vitality pills and gave them to her.

Her current strength was much stronger than at the time of the original Martial Exam; she was already a Four-Star Martial Apprentice and should be able to reach a Five-Star Martial Apprentice by the time of the Martial Exam.

When she Awakened her talent, with these ten rank 3 blood vitality pills, she might be able to break through to become a Martial Artist in one go.

"Thank you, Han Ming, I will Cultivate hard."

Li Xuewei did not refuse and, blushing, took the items Han Ming handed to her.

After saying this, she blushed and scurried back to her dormitory.

In her view, she was already Han Ming's woman, so there was no need to be polite; once she became stronger, she would be able to help him.

Seeing her blushing, shy figure running away, Han Ming shook his head helplessly.

Forget it, if it's a misunderstanding, so be it!

Actually, Li Xuewei's looks were no worse than Su Wanning's; both were top-tier beauties, far better looking than those social media influencers from before his Transmigration.

Over the next few days, the entire Jiangbei Base City was preparing for the Martial Exam.

Major Martial Arts high schools suspended classes to let students adjust their states on their own.

The streets were filled with students and parents discussing the Martial Exam, and business at the Medicinal Pill shops was several times better than usual.

The day before the Martial Exam.

The atmosphere in the entire Jiangbei Base City was tense to the extreme.

Early in the morning, the city gates were placed under martial law.

Large numbers of City Guard and Martial Arts Alliance enforcement teams appeared in the streets and alleys to maintain order.

Several black hovercars drove in from outside the city.

Citizens on both sides of the street stopped to watch.

"They're here, they're here! The experts sent by the Great Xia Alliance have arrived!"

"I heard that the one sent to oversee this time is a Martial Emperor, along with several Martial Kings!"

"A Martial Emperor! That's a big shot who can fly through the sky and burrow into the earth!"

The hovercar convoy drove all the way to the Martial Arts Alliance headquarters in the city center.

The door of the center car opened, and a woman stepped out.

Everyone was stunned.

She was a woman who looked only in her twenties, tall, wearing a white robe, with long, waterfall-like hair and a cold, stunningly beautiful face.

Standing there, she seemed to carry an Aura of cold air, causing the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees.

She was the Martial Emperor-level expert sent by the Great Xia Alliance to oversee this Martial Exam.

She had another identity: a Genius instructor at Modu Martial Arts University, the Ice Empress — Teacher Xue Muhan!

"Is she the Martial Emperor sent by the Alliance? She looks too young, doesn't she?"

"What do you know? Martial Emperor experts have techniques to maintain their youth; she looks young, but her actual age might be greater than yours."

"But she really is so beautiful..."

The discussions rose and fell, but were soon interrupted by a burst of hurried footsteps.

A group of people from the Martial Arts Alliance headquarters walked out quickly to greet them.

Walking at the very front was President Zhou Zhenghe of the Jiangbei Martial Arts Alliance branch.

Following behind him were Vice President Chen Tianxing and a group of high-ranking Alliance members, a total of over a dozen people, each with a robust Aura, with the lowest-ranked among them being a Martial Ancestor-level expert.

On the other side, several black official vehicles sped over and stopped at the edge of the square.

The doors opened, and a burly, imposing middle-aged man stepped out with large strides.

The Mayor of Jiangbei Base City, Zhao Zhennan.

A Peak Martial King expert, only one step away from the Martial Emperor level.

Behind him followed the vice mayor, the commander of the City Guards, the director of the Supervision Bureau, and other officials, a massive group of twenty or thirty people, with a grander display than the Martial Arts Alliance.

The two groups converged in the center of the square and headed together toward the woman in white.

"President Zhou Zhenghe of the Jiangbei Martial Arts Alliance branch, leading my Alliance colleagues, respectfully welcomes Martial Emperor Xue!"

President Zhou Zhenghe led the Martial Arts Alliance members to step forward first, all bowing to Teacher Xue Muhan in greeting.

Zhao Zhennan also stepped forward and cupped his hands: "Mayor Zhao Zhennan of Jiangbei Base City, together with the city officials, respectfully welcomes Martial Emperor Xue to Jiangbei!"

Behind the two men, dozens of people bowed in unison, a quite spectacular scene.

Teacher Xue Muhan nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over everyone, and said indifferently: "Thank you all for your hard work. During the Martial Exam, I will have to trouble you all for your cooperation."

"It is only right, it is only right!" President Zhou Zhenghe quickly said, "Martial Emperor Xue and the several Martial King lords have come from afar; we have already prepared a place for you to rest, please..."

"No need. I will go to the Secret Realm entrance to take a look first."

Before President Zhou Zhenghe could finish, Teacher Xue Muhan interrupted him.

After saying this, without waiting for anyone to react, her figure flashed, and she turned into a streak of white light, speeding off toward the north of the city.

The several Martial Kings following behind her saw this, exchanged glances, shook their heads, and also flew off in the direction of Teacher Xue Muhan.

President Zhou Zhenghe and Zhao Zhennan exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat helpless.

This Ice Empress was indeed just as the rumors said: decisive and swift, and disliked socializing.

"Let's go, follow her." Zhao Zhennan sighed and led everyone to give chase.

...

North of the city, at the Secret Realm entrance for the Martial Exam.

This was a huge circular square with a diameter of five hundred meters.

In the center of the square stood a ten-meter-high stone archway, its frame carved with dense runes, faintly emitting spatial fluctuations.

This was the entrance to the Jiangbei City Martial Exam Secret Realm, usually guarded by heavy troops, and only opened during the annual Martial Exam.

Teacher Xue Muhan stood in front of the archway, closed her eyes to sense it for a moment, and nodded slightly.

"The Secret Realm space is stable, and the teleportation Formation is operating normally."

She turned around and looked at President Zhou Zhenghe and Zhao Zhennan who had caught up, "What about the monitoring Formation and rescue mechanism inside the exam venue?"

"Everything has been checked, there are no problems." President Zhou Zhenghe quickly said, "Three hundred and sixty monitoring nodes have been set up inside the Secret Realm, covering over ninety-five percent of the area.

Each examinee will be issued a positioning bracelet; once the distress button is pressed, the nearest invigilator will arrive within three minutes."

Teacher Xue Muhan nodded: "Is there any news from the Blood Demon Alliance and the Destiny Sect?"

Zhao Zhennan's expression became a bit more serious: "Some suspicious traces have indeed been discovered outside the city recently, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

We have strengthened the city defenses; during the Martial Exam, the city gates will be under the highest level of martial law, and all personnel entering and exiting will be strictly vetted."

"Not enough." Teacher Xue Muhan said indifferently, "The people from the Blood Demon Alliance have extremely strong disguise abilities; ordinary vetting cannot detect them at all.

When the examinees enter tomorrow, I will personally oversee the entrance and use my Divine Soul power to scan everyone entering the Secret Realm."

Zhao Zhennan and President Zhou Zhenghe exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat surprised.

A Divine Soul scan at the Martial Emperor level—let alone a disguised Blood Demon, not even a mosquito could sneak in.

Unless a Martial Emperor or a Martial King with powerful concealment methods took action, no one could escape Teacher Xue Muhan's Divine Thought investigation.

"With Martial Emperor Xue personally overseeing, we can rest easy." President Zhou Zhenghe breathed a sigh of relief.

After checking the Secret Realm entrance, the group sent people into the Secret Realm to clear out those beasts that exceeded expectations once more.

The beasts in the Secret Realm were cleared out once before every year's Martial Exam to prevent the beasts inside from being too powerful and causing casualties to the students.

Of course, there was a quota for deaths and injuries every year; the schools were cultivating experts who could fight and kill beasts, not flowers in a greenhouse.

Therefore, deaths and injuries were unavoidable.

"Alright, Xue Chengwu, Lin Junfeng, you two guard the Secret Realm here to prevent the Blood Demon Alliance from having any plots or arrangements."

After all inspections were completed, Teacher Xue Muhan turned around and said to the two Martial King experts behind her.

"Yes, Martial Emperor!"

The two who were named responded respectfully.

President Zhou Zhenghe and Zhao Zhennan also arranged for over a dozen Martial Ancestor and Martial Marquis experts to be stationed here, and they would follow the orders of the two Martial Kings, Xue Chengwu and Lin Junfeng.

Everything was prepared, waiting only for tomorrow's Martial Arts Exam.