7: Tianhua City Crisis

"It's you guys again?"

Thunder light flashed, and Lu Yuan looked at Ye Jiwei and the others.

Confirming that the intruders were examinees and not fierce beasts, Lu Yuan commanded the heavenly punishment soldiers to stop gathering the Lightning Cutter.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, and Ye Jiwei rubbed his nose.

He hadn't expected to run into Lu Yuan again. Looking at the room full of ghost puppet soldiers, Ye Jiwei felt envious.

These were Body Tempering Realm Nine-Star monsters, and there were so many of them; any single one could easily crush the seven of them.

"Sorry for the intrusion, we'll leave now," Ye Jiwei said, knowing his place.

He could tell Lu Yuan didn't want much interaction with them, so he immediately prepared to leave the abandoned building.

"Wei Ge..." His teammates hesitated to speak. They had finally found a safe place to rest.

Wandering outside at night meant a high chance of being ambushed by fierce beasts!

"Go to the room next door."

Before Ye Jiwei could speak, Lu Yuan said in a deep voice.

As long as they didn't disturb his rest, everything was fine. Besides, he wasn't someone unreasonable.

"Thank you!" Ye Jiwei was overjoyed and tiptoed with his teammates to the room next door.

With Lu Yuan around, they could have a good night's sleep.

Moonlight refracted through the window, and Lu Yuan looked at the newly created Heavens Punishment Legion!

Unlike the Blood Slaughter Legion, which held long sabers and shields, the Heavens Punishment Legion tightly gripped spiral long spears.

They had hideous appearances, possessed two pairs of eyes on their abdomen, and exuded a rich Thunder Attribute aura.

The heavenly punishment soldiers could not only use Lightning Cutter but also multiple Spirit Skills exclusive to Thunder Attribute Practitioners!

This was also what Lu Yuan was satisfied with.

Among all combat professions, Fire and Thunder are widely recognized as the attributes with the strongest destructive power!

"Tomorrow, I can focus on hunting fierce beasts." Lu Yuan was full of confidence. He now possessed a hundred Blood Slaughter Legions and twenty Heavens Punishment Legions.

Coupled with the blood calamity blood slaughter, he was confident he could kill even a Qi Refining Realm fierce beast!

Taking out a Body Tempering Realm Nine-Star demon crystal from his backpack, Lu Yuan entered a cultivation state.

The Martial Examination was like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge; not a single minute or second could be wasted... Today was the opening day of the Martial Examination, a highly anticipated grand event for Huaxia.

Douyin, Weibo, and other major social software platforms were all intensely discussing this year's Martial Examination.

The top trending topic: [Chu Wushe, son of the Alliance Master of the Thunder Alliance, exposed to have awakened a four-attribute combat profession. Known attributes are Thunder, Earth, Wind, and the last attribute remains a mystery!]

The second trending topic: [Jiang Tianxia of Magic City awakens the Gold Attribute, SSS-Rank Talent combat profession!]

The third trending topic: [Various universities have successively announced their application score lines, with an average increase of 30 points compared to previous years!]

...The top twenty trending topics all revolved around the Martial Examination, with Chu Wushe and Jiang Tianxia receiving the highest level of discussion.

One of them is the son of the Alliance Master of the Thunder Alliance, and the other is the daughter of the current Patriarch of a major family in Magic City. The reason they sparked such high discussion was not their noble status.

Rather, it was the professions and talents they awakened!

After hitting the trending list, the comment sections quickly surged to tens of thousands of messages!

[Practice Bending Over for Self-Sufficiency: Four professions? Chu Wushe is a bit heaven-defying. He will likely be this year's top scholar in the Martial Examination!]

[Even the Coldest Man Has a Warm Spot: Jiang Tianxia is also excellent. Gold Attribute SSS-Rank Talent. Her talent alone crushes 99.9% of the examinees in the Martial Examination!]

[QQ Your Recall Key: Chu Wushe and Jiang Tianxia might be okay in reality, but this is the internet. They're just average compared to me, Shen Jingbing!]

...The discussion about the Martial Examination continued, dominating the trending lists and major social software platforms.

The next morning, in the conference room on the top floor of the Tianhua City Municipal Government building.

A repressive atmosphere pervaded the air. Teacher Zhou Wenbin sat on a chair chatting with a colleague.

"Why does everyone look so distressed?" Teacher Zhou Wenbin wondered.

Today was the second day of the Martial Examination. All senior high homeroom Teachers in Tianhua City had come to the Education Hall to check the scores of the students in their classes who participated in the Martial Examination.

What confused Teacher Zhou Wenbin was that the leaders sitting in the front row, such as the Dean of Students and the Vice Principal, were sighing in distress.

Hadn't the scores been announced yet?

His colleague looked bewildered, unsure of what exactly had happened.

The conference room door opened, and a middle-aged man walked in, around fifty years old with temples streaked with gray.

Seeing the middle-aged man, everyone in the conference room stood up!

The person who arrived was none other than the current Mayor of Tianhua City, Yun Weihua!

Following Mayor Yun Weihua were the principals of the three high schools in Tianhua City. Their expressions were solemn, and they lowered their heads, deep in thought.

"Teachers, I have unfortunate news for you. This year may very well be the last Martial Examination held under the name of Tianhua City." Mayor Yun Weihua's voice was hoarse, and his eyes were filled with reluctance.

The entire conference room erupted in an uproar, as no one understood what the Mayor meant.

"In the past two years, the overall Martial Examination results for Tianhua City have been unsatisfactory. After careful consideration by The Province, it has been decided to abolish Tianhua City and hand over its three districts to the management of three nearby cities!" Mayor Yun Weihua's words were shocking, causing the homeroom Teachers present to tremble.

Tianhua City was going to be gone?

No wonder the Mayor and the three principals had such expressions!

Martial Examination results were the most important standard for evaluating different cities, even surpassing GDP. Tianhua City's overall Martial Examination results in the past two years could only be described as a complete mess.

Although Mayor Yun Weihua claimed that the city's three original high schools would be retained, everyone knew the truth.

Once Tianhua City was abolished and they were incorporated into other cities, they were destined not to receive much teaching resources.

After all, other cities also had key high schools they focused on developing, and no one would yield teaching resources to newly joined high schools!

"Cherish this last Martial Examination, held in the name of Tianhua City," Mayor Yun Weihua said, and the large screen behind him lit up.

[First Place: Li Jinxue, 2000 points (Tianhua High School, Tianhua City)]

[Second Place: Jiang Wangchuan, 1400 points (Xinghui High School, Tianhua City)]

[Third Place: Lin Shuying, 1200 points (Yunhai High School, Tianhua City)]

...The scores were listed from high to low. Seeing Li Jinxue far ahead in first place, Luo Jingrui, Principal of Tianhua High School, smiled.

Li Jinxue was a key student cultivated by Tianhua High School; she ranked first in all subjects, including basic courses and theoretical courses!

Li Jinxue lived up to expectations, awakening a Time Attribute combat profession with SS-Rank Talent. Her Martial Examination score currently ranked first in the entire city, greatly boosting his reputation!

"Mayor, if Li Jinxue gets into a top-tier academy, is there still hope for Tianhua City to be retained?" Luo Jingrui asked.

"It's difficult, but if it is retained, Tianhua High School's educational resources will double next year!"

Mayor Yun Weihua promised.

If Tianhua City ceased to exist, there would naturally be no need for him, the Mayor, to exist either.

Both he and the three principals present hoped Tianhua City would be retained.

Hearing this, Luo Jingrui was delighted, while the principal of Xinghui High School and Principal Zhang Zhenghong's expressions changed.

"Lin Shuying, work harder," Principal Zhang Zhenghong thought.

In previous Martial Examinations, Yunhai High School had always been at the bottom of the list.

Among the students who awakened this year, only Lin Shuying, with her Space Combat Attribute and S-Rank Talent, had the potential to surpass the other two high schools.

Most of the examinees in the top ten belonged to Tianhua High School, followed by Xinghui. Yunhai only had a pitiful two students.

This doubled Principal Zhang Zhenghong's sense of crisis. He hoped his students ranked in the top twenty would work hard and see if they could break into the top ten.

"Old Zhou, is that student from your class?"

On the stage, the Mayor and the three principals were talking. Below the stage, the homeroom Teachers of various high schools were whispering, diligently searching for their own students.

Seeing their students in the top hundred, the homeroom Teachers beamed with joy.

Whether Tianhua City could be retained was something for the big figures to consider; they cared more about their monthly salary.

Schools would give homeroom Teachers corresponding bonuses based on the examinee's ranking. For those ranked between ninety and one hundred, one examinee earned a bonus of five thousand yuan.

Five thousand yuan was already considered quite high in a small city like Tianhua City.

"Stop joking, I don't see Qin Shousheng's name." Teacher Zhou Wenbin said glumly. He knew the students in his class who had hope of reaching the top hundred, namely Qin Shousheng, who had awakened the Fire Attribute and A-Rank Talent.

"Isn't Lu Yuan in your class?"

The Homeroom Teacher of Class (9), who had a good relationship with Teacher Zhou Wenbin, asked.

"Who?" Teacher Zhou Wenbin looked toward the lower ranks.

[Eighty-eighth Place: Lu Yuan, 600 points (Yunhai High School, Tianhua City)]

Teacher Zhou Wenbin was surprised. He remembered that although Lu Yuan's talent was extremely high—SSS-Rank, in fact—his awakened profession was Puppet Master.

This profession had only been awakened by two people on Blue Star so far, so there were no matching Spirit Skills.

For combat Practitioners, students could freely learn Spirit Skills below the Profound Rank that suited their attribute.

Therefore, holding the Martial Examination seven days after awakening was intended to give examinees time to learn Spirit Skills and cultivate.

"So how does he fight?"

Teacher Zhou Wenbin stared at Lu Yuan, ranked eighty-eighth, curious about how Lu Yuan managed to achieve such a high score and what methods he used to hunt fierce beasts.