42: Chapter 42 Xuan Yuan Special Recruitment, Initial Screening

Three days later.

Shen City Airport.

A small, silver-white spacecraft with a streamlined shape like a water droplet hovered quietly on a private landing pad.

Carrying his faded canvas bag, Wang Pingan followed behind Lin Zhan, being the last to step onto the gangway.

Three people were already seated inside the spacecraft.

Two men and one woman.

Including him and Lin Zhan, there were exactly five.

This was the entire roster from Shen City that had managed to reach the threshold for the Special Recruitment Training Camp this year.

There was Su Yue and two other boys; Wang Pingan only had a vague memory of their names, as they weren't even nodding acquaintances.

Five people, the five top geniuses of Shen City.

But at this moment, everyone's face was as stiff as a rock, filled with tension and an indescribable gravity.

The interior of the spacecraft wasn't large, but the seats were very comfortable.

Wang Pingan found a window seat and plopped down.

He looked out the porthole at the city where he had lived for nearly twenty years, watching it shrink bit by bit until it became a blurry speck.

He didn't feel any sentimental melancholy or sorrow over the departure.

He was simply wondering what this city would look like in his eyes when he returned.

"Nervous?"

Lin Zhan had sat down next to him at some point.

This guy was still wearing that same eternal black training uniform, his back straight as a ramrod, his eyes as sharp and terrifying as knives.

"I'm alright."

Wang Pingan replied casually.

He really was alright.

He even felt a small, irrepressible surge of excitement.

With money in his pocket, his heart was at ease.

The over ten thousand pay-to-win points in his system panel were his greatest source of confidence.

Lin Zhan gave him a deep look and said nothing more.

However, his subconsciously clenched fists betrayed a heart that was far from as calm as his exterior.

The others also kept their heads down in silence.

The spacecraft's speed was astonishingly fast.

A few hours later.

An indescribably massive city, radiating a brilliant blue light, suddenly burst into everyone's view, occupying the entire porthole.

Galaxy City.

They had arrived.

The moment the spacecraft slowly landed and the hatch opened.

Wang Pingan felt as if he had plunged headfirst into a jar of thick honey.

A wave of spiritual energy, more than twice as dense as Shen City's—no, even more than the Elite Base's high-grade cultivation rooms—slammed into him.

Every cell in his body cheered and jumped with excitement at that moment.

He greedily took a deep, long breath.

Good grief.

Just taking a breath here was equivalent to a period of hard cultivation back in Shen City.

This was definitely the right place to be.

An airport of unimaginable size appeared before everyone's eyes.

Countless spacecraft of various shapes and sizes were taking off and landing, shuttling back and forth like an incredibly industrious beehive.

Standing before this endless jungle of steel, the five of them were as tiny as five ants that had accidentally wandered in.

An expressionless middle-aged man in a crisp black uniform had been waiting on the landing pad for a long time.

The exquisite badge on his chest indicated his identity.

Someone from Xuan Yuan Galaxy First Martial Arts University.

"From Shen City?"

The man glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, his tone as flat as if he were asking if they'd eaten yet.

"Follow me."

He didn't bother to say another word, turning around and walking away immediately.

Lin Zhan and the others were clearly shaken by the suffocatingly powerful pressure.

They all became cautious, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Wang Pingan, however, didn't mind.

He was curiously sizing up everything around him out of the corner of his eye.

Everything here was filled with a futuristic and sci-fi atmosphere.

Skyscrapers so tall their tops were invisible.

Various types of hover-cars silently shuttling between the buildings.

And on the streets, the hurried martial artists; any one of them picked at random had an aura more powerful than Lin Feng's.

Compared to this place, Shen City was practically a small country town.

They were led onto a fully enclosed hover-vehicle.

The hover-vehicle silently left the airport and plunged into an area shrouded in thick fog.

Wang Pingan knew this was some kind of high-tech shielding method specifically used to block out prying eyes.

About half an hour later.

The hover-vehicle came to a steady stop.

The door opened.

A massive metal island floating in mid-air appeared before them without any warning.

This was the location of the Special Recruitment Training Camp.

The moment Wang Pingan's feet stepped onto this metal island.

He felt his scalp tingle sharply.

So many people.

It was densely packed with people.

In the center of the entire island was an exaggeratedly large plaza.

At least a thousand boys and girls around their age were standing in the plaza.

Each of these people radiated a powerful and unruly aura.

They came from various cities on Galaxy Star.

They were the top, most dazzling group of geniuses on this planet.

Wang Pingan's mind stirred.

The Eye of Truth quietly activated.

Hum.

The world before him was instantly covered in energy halos of various colors.

The thousand-plus geniuses on the plaza turned into humanoid light sources of varying strengths in his vision.

The vast majority were green, representing the mid-stage of the Second Rank.

Interspersed among them were quite a few blue ones, representing the late-stage of the Second Rank.

He even...

Saw over a dozen figures radiating purple throughout their bodies!

Third Rank!

Moreover, there were two or three people whose auras were extremely restrained, yet gave him a sense of extremely dangerous pressure.

Wang Pingan's heart sank abruptly.

Pressure.

An unprecedented, massive pressure like Mount Tai pressing down slammed into him.

His realm at the peak of the Second Rank actually held no advantage here.

It could only barely be considered upper-middle level.

His bit of strength he was so proud of probably wouldn't even make a decent splash if thrown into this pile of monsters.

"Silence!"

A voice as loud as thunder boomed over the plaza.

A burly, bald man in an instructor's uniform appeared on the high platform in the center of the plaza at some unknown time.

He just stood there simply.

A fierce and violent aura, as if he had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, swept across the field.

All the chattering discussions vanished instantly.

The entire plaza became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Rookies."

The bald instructor's gaze, like two sharp knives, scraped harshly across everyone's face.

"Welcome to hell."

"I don't care what kind of so-called geniuses or city hopes you were in your little backwater corners."

"Now that you're here, you only have one identity."

"And that is trash who could be eliminated at any time!"

"From today onwards, you will undergo six months of hellish special training here."

"Only those who can still stand here after six months will be qualified to become Students of our Xuan Yuan Galaxy First Martial Arts University."

"As for the rest..."

The bald instructor grinned, revealing a row of gleaming white, beast-like teeth.

"Get lost back to wherever you came from."

"Now, we will proceed with the first item: preliminary screening."

"It's very simple."

"Two tests."

"Spiritual Energy Affinity."

"And Basic Physical Limit."

After the bald instructor finished speaking, he stepped down from the high platform.

The ground of the plaza began to crack open.

One after another, sophisticated instruments full of sci-fi flair slowly rose from underground.

All the Students were divided into dozens of small groups and began to line up for testing.

Wang Pingan and Lin Zhan's group were placed together.

Lin Zhan's expression was more solemn than ever.

He lowered his voice and said to Wang Pingan.

"Be careful, these two tests aren't as simple as they look."

"Spiritual Energy Affinity determines your future cultivation speed and upper limit."

"Basic Physical Fitness represents your foundation and potential."

"If either of these fails to meet the standard, you'll be kicked out immediately, with no place to argue."

Wang Pingan knew what he was doing.

He had already thought of a strategy.

He didn't plan to stand out too much in the physical fitness test.

With his current peak Second Rank physique, a full explosion would definitely draw unnecessary attention.

Maintaining an upper-middle level would be enough.

But as for Spiritual Energy Affinity...

He wanted to shock everyone.

He needed a label of 'exceptionally gifted, incredible comprehension' to cover up his future rocket-like leveling speed.

Soon, it was their group's turn.

The physical test was simple.

It involved completing a series of high-intensity movements in a specific gravity environment until the body reached its limit.

Lin Zhan went first.

He let out a low growl, unleashing his late-stage Second Rank strength to the fullest.

His endurance and explosive power were both extremely impressive.

In the end, his score ranked first in their group of dozens.

The instructor in charge of the test circled his name.

Clearly, he was marked as a person of interest.

It was Wang Pingan's turn.

He performed within the expected range.

Not too dazzling, but not a laggard either.

He precisely controlled every bit of his strength and 'naturally' stopped when his body felt like it was nearing its limit.

His final result was tenth in the group.

A rank that was neither good nor bad, one that wouldn't be noticed in a crowd.

The instructor in charge didn't even lift an eyelid.

Lin Zhan looked at him with some confusion, seemingly not understanding why he would hold back his strength.

Wang Pingan didn't explain.

Soon, the second test began.

Spiritual Energy Affinity Test.

Students needed to place their palms on a crystal-clear sphere and then do their best to sense and absorb the surrounding spiritual energy.

The crystal ball would give a numerical value from 1 to 100 based on the speed and purity of the absorbed spiritual energy.

It was said that a normal person's affinity was around 20.

Those who could get into a martial arts high school were basically above 40.

And the average for these geniuses from various cities was above 60.

Lin Zhan's test result was 88.

An excellent score that once again drew the instructor's attention.

Su Yue's was 85, which was also very good.

Finally, it was Wang Pingan's turn.

He stepped forward under countless curious or scrutinizing gazes and slowly placed his palm on the cold crystal ball.

He closed his eyes.

In a vision others couldn't see.

His Eye of Truth was already active.

The spiritual energy molecules in the surrounding space, invisible to the naked eye, became incredibly clear to him.

He could even see the flow trajectory of every wisp of spiritual energy and their internal frequencies.

He didn't try to crudely and frantically 'pull' those spiritual energies like the others did.

Instead, he used his mental power to simulate a special frequency that was completely in sync with the spiritual energy fluctuations.

Then, he sent out a gentle 'invitation' to those free-spirited spiritual energies.

The next second.

A sudden change occurred.

The surrounding spiritual energy, like cats that had smelled fish, went crazy and surged toward Wang Pingan's palm!

Inside the originally transparent crystal ball in front of him, the numerical value began to skyrocket at a terrifying speed!

40!

60!

80!

The speed of the numbers jumping was so fast that afterimages appeared!

Everyone's breathing stopped.

The instructor in charge of the test stood up abruptly, his face full of disbelief.

"Hum!"

The crystal ball let out a soft hum.

Finally, that glaring number came to a steady stop.

95!