24: Seize, seize less?

The testers, including the Second-tier Martial Artist Jing Yuan, all stood up from their seats. Some could hardly be said to have stood up as much as they had bounced up, and the muscular man in the tank top even collapsed straight onto his buttocks on the ground.

Aisha couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock.

A trace of astonishment lingered in Lin Qingyan's clear eyes.

"F-Forty, forty-one thousand two hundred and thirty-two?!"

Someone's tone trembled, their voice sharp.

The entire room instantly exploded into chaos.

"Wh-What, h-how much?!"

"Holy shit, did I read that right?!"

Someone rubbed their eyes and said with a blank expression, "Am I hallucinating?"

"A dozen or so points of Qi, and over 40,000 in combat value—is this fucking human?"

"If that's a human, I'll eat it."

"That's definitely a machine error!"

Everyone at the testing venue wore looks of horror, their gazes shifting back and forth between the numbers on the combat detector and the youth standing in front of it.

The staff member said in an equally trembling voice, "M-Maybe there's something wrong with the machine. Could you please test it again?"

Jiang Yuan nodded and threw another punch.

Everyone stared intently.

Lin Qingyan grew serious this time.

Upon seeing Jiang Yuan's seemingly ordinary punch strike the combat strength testing machine—

A trace of astonishment and shock appeared on her breathtakingly beautiful face beneath the brim of her hat.

Such formidable force-exertion technique!

The instantaneous release and retraction of strength went through five, no, six changes before finally condensing into a single point, exploding forth like a pebble dropped into water!

Purely in terms of technique, it was not inferior to her own force-exertion skill, and his mastery over power surprised Lin Qingyan even more.

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, the hearts of most people couldn't help but tremble.

"42093."

The number popped out by the combat strength testing machine amidst a roaring tremor was even higher than before.

Jiang Yuan wasn't surprised either. After all, on the way here, he had evenly distributed the 20 free attribute points gained from leveling up across his four-dimensional attributes. With his strength enhanced, the amplified damage was even higher than when he was at the Chongming Martial Arts Hall.

Seeing the numbers on the combat strength testing machine...

The entire venue fell into utter silence. Everyone wore blank expressions with their mouths wide open, their jaws practically dropping to the ground, and the sound of people sucking in cold breath rose one after another.

Everyone's expression as they looked at Jiang Yuan changed, as if they were looking at a monster.

Shock, horror, disbelief...

Some people even had their brains buzzing as they stared blankly at Jiang Yuan, losing the ability to think as if their brains were deprived of oxygen.

Jing Yuan clenched his scar-covered fists, his eyes wide open as he stared blankly at the youth, massive waves churning in his heart.

As a Level 2 Martial Artist, the combat strength he could erupt with a full-force strike was only a little over 20,000 points.

Yet the high school youth before him, who was so young that he was about the same age as his own daughter—excessively young—had broken through his limits to become a Martial Practitioner, which was already enough to shock people into tongue-tied astonishment.

And his combat strength had actually reached a full two times his own!

Two times!

Just thinking about it made this tough man's scalp go numb.

Not far away, Lin Qingyan looked at Jiang Yuan, the expression on her breathtakingly beautiful face also growing grave.

Unless she used her second talent, she wouldn't be able to reach 40,000 points of damage at her current stage.

Gazing at the tall and handsome youth in the center of the venue, Lin Qingyan felt deeply puzzled.

How could she have never heard of such a fellow in her past life? Where did he pop out from?

After a long silence in the spacious testing venue, someone laboriously squeezed out two words from their mouth.

"Monster..."

Possessing such terrifying combat strength at such a young age, if he wasn't a monster, what was he?

Covered in cold sweat, the muscular man in the tank top shrank his neck at this moment, completely losing his previous arrogance and blazing aura as he panicked incessantly. He prayed that Jiang Yuan wouldn't notice him and would just treat what he said earlier as blowing hot air.

"I passed, right?" Jiang Yuan asked the staff member who was still in a daze.

Regaining her senses, she hurriedly said, "P-Passed, you have reached Martial Practitioner LV2."

"This is your Martial Artist badge, please keep it safe."

Jiang Yuan took the badge; its material was like gold and jade, and it felt nice to the touch.

"I also want to apply for that 100,000-yuan subsidy, just like her."

Jiang Yuan said, glancing at Lin Qingyan. Their gazes met for a brief moment.

"N-No problem." The young female staff member nodded like pounding garlic, "Please..."

"Let me handle it." Aisha walked over and said.

"Then sorry to trouble you."

Aisha gazed at Jiang Yuan, her beautiful eyes shimmering with brilliant colors: "To possess an extreme combat strength of over 40,000 as a Martial Practitioner—Student Jiang, you really gave me quite a scare. I finally understand why Yihan said that."

Extreme combat strength?

Jiang Yuan smiled and didn't say anything.

If he were to use his full strength, probably quite a few people present would be scared shitless on the spot.

Watching Aisha lead Jiang Yuan and Lin Qingyan away, the crowd standing in place remained unable to snap out of it for a long time.

Only after a good while did they recover from their crashed state.

"Too outrageous."

"A high school student, a Martial Practitioner with 20 points of Qi, and 40,000 points of damage." Someone almost groaned aloud, "Just what level of Awakening is this talent?"

"Could it be a legendary-class class transfer?"

"But the profile says he's an assassin..."

"It can't be an assassin... Since when do assassins have such high attack power?"

"Exactly. If an assassin with over 40,000 damage sneaks up to you and hits you once, who could possibly withstand that?"

"If he hits me right now, it's probably like beating his own grandson. Once his Qi reaches 100, wouldn't he even be able to fight a Level 3 Martial Artist?"

"Hard to imagine..."

"My daughter is a College Entrance Examination candidate. If she could break through to 4 points of Qi, I'd die laughing getting into a martial arts university. Truly, comparing people really makes you want to die of anger..."

"Why don't you consider if it's your own fault? Did you buy her restorative medicines? Did you buy her Advanced Martial Skills?"

"..."

"Jiang Yuan, never heard of him. Where did he pop out from?"

"Who knows? Anyway, this year's martial arts College Entrance Examination is going to be worth watching."