26: Chapter 26 Jiang Sheng Slays the Bear, But Does He Have a Secret Weapon?

"Jiang Sheng, let's give up. This Wasteland Bear isn't something we can handle," a teammate said to Jiang Sheng.

That's right. This team was Jiang Sheng's, and Jiang Sheng was the captain of this team.

"No, I can't give up. If I can just kill this Wasteland Bear, my ranking will surpass Hao Qiang. I can't lose to him!"

Jiang Sheng said stubbornly, his eyes filled with fighting spirit, but his four teammates wore expressions of helplessness.

"Jiang Sheng, you go ahead and fight. I'm not risking it anymore. Getting into the top fifty at the provincial level means a top university is a sure thing. What's there to fight for? I quit!"

A teammate raised his wristband, shouted 'quit,' and with a flash of light, the person vanished, having exited the examination ground.

Seeing this, the other teammates also began to consider quitting.

"Jiang Sheng, let's go. Why bother? If you insist on staying, then we'll have to leave first."

Then, three teammates simultaneously chose to quit. Now, only Jiang Sheng was left, facing the terrifying Wasteland Bear.

"Am I destined to never surpass Hao Qiang?"

A flicker of helplessness passed through Jiang Sheng's eyes. He prepared to exit the examination ground. Staying any longer would be suicidal.

But at that moment, a dazzling blade of light flashed past Jiang Sheng's ear, immediately tearing through space.

The piercing sound of space tearing assaulted his ears. Jiang Sheng couldn't help but cover them.

What he saw next was a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

One after another, silver blades of light, radiating a blinding glow, struck the Wasteland Bear. They severed its limbs as easily as slicing through butter.

Having lost its limbs, the Wasteland Bear crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, blood flowing everywhere. A shrill, miserable howl erupted from its mouth...

Jiang Sheng stared wide-eyed at the Wasteland Bear that had cornered their five-person team, this super beast he had thought invincible, now having its limbs severed in an instant by someone...

When he turned around, he found a handsome figure standing behind him. The person was dressed in snow-white clothes, a long sword in hand.

Not a speck of dust stained his clothes. He walked over as casually as if strolling through a courtyard, a confident smile playing on his lips.

"Lin---Lin Yuan? You---you're a First-Order Martial Artist? Was that Martial Arts just now?"

Jiang Sheng spoke in disbelief. He hadn't expected the person behind him to be Lin Yuan, the Lin Yuan who had just recently broken into the Thousand-Person Ranking.

Lin Yuan gave a slight nod, acknowledging it.

"Heh... So you were always the insurmountable mountain we couldn't surpass. How laughable that I once thought I had overtaken you. I wonder if Hao Qiang's Martial Arts heart would shatter if he saw this scene. Haha... just thinking about it is thrilling."

Jiang Sheng smiled self-deprecatingly.

"What are you waiting for? If you don't want the Wasteland Bear, I'll kill it," Lin Yuan said, glancing at the fallen beast.

Only then did Jiang Sheng snap back to reality. Right, if Lin Yuan wanted to kill it, he wouldn't have just severed its limbs.

"I want it! Of course I want it!"

Jiang Sheng said urgently, then charged forward with his combat knife, stabbing over a dozen times before finally finishing off the Wasteland Bear...

Jiang Sheng took out his wrist device and checked the ranking. He had now surpassed Hao Qiang, becoming 26th, while Hao Qiang had dropped to 28th.

"Alright, I'm off. You can make your own way out," Lin Yuan waved his hand and turned to leave.

"Lin Yuan, wait. Why did you help me? You're only ranked 40th yourself right now."

Jiang Sheng asked. He had no friendship with Lin Yuan; in fact, he had even given him a hard time before.

Hearing this, Lin Yuan paused slightly, then smiled:

"Probably because we're classmates, and you're not as annoying as Hao Qiang. Besides, you pose no threat to me whatsoever. My 40th rank is just temporary. Since we know each other, and I find you somewhat decent, it was just a casual thing. Don't dwell on it."

After saying this, Lin Yuan continued walking away.

Hearing this, Jiang Sheng gave a bitter smile. So in his eyes, we're all just people who pose no threat. And we're only competing against ourselves.

He suddenly felt a surge of admiration and awe towards Lin Yuan.

"Lin Yuan, can I follow you?" Jiang Sheng spoke up.

"Follow me? You'll probably have a hard time keeping up with the beasts from here on out."

Lin Yuan stopped but didn't turn around, speaking indifferently. He didn't want to drag along dead weight.

"I don't mean for the Martial Arts Examination. I want to attend the same university as you---"

"Holy crap--- you're not a woman, saying something like that--- my stomach isn't feeling too great---" Lin Yuan turned around, rolling his eyes.

"Uh--- that's not what I meant. I just see you as a goal to strive for, to push myself to improve," Jiang Sheng said meekly.

"Suit yourself. If you want to go to the same university, I can't exactly stop you."

Lin Yuan curled his lip and turned to leave. With a ranking in the twenties, he could pick any university he wanted. How could anyone stop him?

"Haha--- I'll take that as you agreeing. Wait for me. For the fights ahead, how about I be a live audience?"

Saying this, Jiang Sheng caught up to Lin Yuan and walked alongside him...

...

Outside the examination ground, Principal and Chief Instructor were staring at the Thousand-Person Ranking.

"Principal, that kid is climbing fast. He's already at 40th," Chief Instructor said excitedly.

"Yes, that kid is starting to exert himself. Let's see when he breaks into the top ten," Principal was also very excited.

"Old Tang, aren't you being a bit too exaggerated? Top ten? He's only at 40th now. Reaching the top ten is no easy feat."

Yang Zhenyu, the Principal of No. 2 High School, said with a smile. At that moment, his school's genius, Wang Jingyu, was already ranked third, just behind first-place Han Fei and second-place Sheng Yang.

Their conversation caught the attention of Cheng Guofeng, the director of the Municipal Education Bureau. He turned to Principal and said,

"Old Tang, I remember the strongest from your No. 6 High School were that Hao Qiang, and Jiang Sheng isn't bad either, both ranking in the twenties now. What? Do you have another trump card up your sleeve?"

"Director Cheng, yes. This student named Lin Yuan is actually our school's top genius. I believe the final provincial top scholar will be him," Principal said confidently.

"Is that so? Heh... Old Tang, give me a copy of his information. Let me have a look."

Cheng Guofeng smiled, clearly not taking his words seriously.

Han Fei was this year's seed candidate, yet he was only ranked in the teens at the provincial level. How could a student ranked 40th at the municipal level even compare?

"Director Cheng, you actually believe Old Tang's nonsense? I think you should focus more on our top-ranked students, see if any can make a run for the provincial top scholar."

Yang Zhenyu remarked sarcastically from the side. Hearing this, Cheng Guofeng also lost interest in looking at Lin Yuan's information.

"Old Tang, it's good to have hope. You keep an eye on him. I won't look at the information for now. I'll keep watching our city's seed candidates first."

Cheng Guofeng waved his hand, turned away, and continued looking at the live broadcast screen.

"This..." Director Du held Lin Yuan's information, somewhat speechless.

"Director Du, it's fine. When Lin Yuan charges to first place, let's see what expressions they'll have then."

Principal said in a low, somewhat displeased voice.

"Right!" Director Du nodded heavily.

...

At that moment, Lin Yuan was heading towards the 'high-risk' zone. No matter what beasts he encountered along the way, he casually dispatched them with a single sword stroke. When he encountered stronger beasts, a single [Space Dimensional Slash] would cut them in half.

Jiang Sheng watched, utterly shocked. He finally realized how laughable he and Hao Qiang had been. This guy wasn't here for the Martial Arts Examination; he was here to harvest crops, for goodness' sake...

Lin Yuan led Jiang Sheng up the mountain, searching for beasts along the way.

"Lin Yuan, there's a fight in the distance. Should we go take a look?" Jiang Sheng pointed ahead.

"Let's go, take a look."

Lin Yuan certainly wouldn't miss it. If there were live beasts, he'd kill them. If there were no live beasts, he could still devour soul bodies.

The two quickly approached and assessed the situation on the battlefield.

"It's actually Hao Qiang's team, and this is... a Wasteland Bear? Haha... looks like I'm not the only one with bad luck. Hao Qiang's luck isn't much better either---"

Seeing that Hao Qiang's team had also encountered a Wasteland Bear, Jiang Sheng immediately felt much more balanced inside...