Chapter 58: Peak Aspiring Martial Artist

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　In the Vitality assessment zone.

　　This was Fang Ping’s first time seeing how the Vitality Chamber looked like.

　　Saying that it looked like a small house was high praise when it looked more like a vertical crystal coffin in actuality.

　　They were numbered from 1 to 60, meaning that there were sixty of them in assessment zone 1.

　　Wu Zhihao, who had just arrived, said covetously, “One Vitality Chamber costs more than a million!”

　　The average family would really find it hard to afford this gadget.

　　Even the small measuring machine in Wu Zhihao’s house was a secondhand one bought from Taobao.

　　As Wu Zhihao talked, a middle-aged man clad in a white robe walked out from the assessment zone.

　　“Students!”

　　“Vitality is the most crucial component in the martial science exams!

　　“There are many students who will risk everything to pass this test!

　　“But I’ll have to remind every one of you that you only have one go at life. Please cherish it!

　　“Martial artists have to fight, yes, but not blindly!

　　“Many of you have prepared pills in anticipation of the test in order to facilitate your outburst on the spot. This is permissible.

　　“But you must think it through! Some students are willing to take pills that are beyond their limit to achieve a bigger outburst.

　　“There are students like this who try this every year, recklessly going beyond their limits, and end up injured or dead!

　　“Martial artists are not fighters or worse, gormless brutes!

　　“One who has mastered the arts can bring peace to a country, while one who has mastered the martial arts can stabilize it.

　　“Only those who are well-versed in both can be called martial artists!

　　“If one only has physical strength but does not consider their actions, they’re mere thugs and brutes. They aren’t martial artists!

　　“As mandated, I will remind everyone of this here for the last time. If anything happens during the assessments, you’re expected to bear the brunt of it!”

　　The white-robed man said coldly. Those students who had recklessly taken pills that their bodies could not digest might as well die.

　　The country needed martial artists with wisdom. This especially applied to those who studied in martial arts universities. The students were expected to know how to give up, and understand themselves…

　　Those who fulfilled those criteria were the people the government needed.

　　Part of the reason why casual martial artists had not fared well was their lack of wisdom to complement the physical strength they had.

　　Fang Ping did not say anything in response to the speech. Wu Zhihao, though, eyed him strangely from his side.

　　“A brute who did not use his brain…”

　　Wu Zhihao muttered. This should be applied to Fang Ping,

　　Fang Ping did not show any reaction to his muttering immediately, but then he thought of something. He frowned and said reluctantly, “F*ck off!”

　　“Hehe…”

　　Wu Zhihao cracked up hard. He had finally succeeded in getting the upper hand on something.

　　That time when Fang Ping’s Vitality had increased steeply was caused by his taking pills that were well over the limits of his body, was it not?

　　Fang Ping was a little luckier in that he did not die from it.

　　“Now, the Vitality assessments will commence formally!

　　“Students, enter the chambers for assessment following the number, school name, name, and student ID shown on the screen. The number symbolizes the number of the chamber you’re going in!”

　　The white-robed man barked, effectively silencing the students, who then looked up toward the screen.

　　“No. 01, Serenity Experimental High School, Li Zebin, 2008340501176”

　　“No. 02, Auspicious Sun City No.1 High School, Cheng Xuejian, 2008340510336”

　　“…’

　　“No. 36, Sun City No.1 High School, Zhang Nan…”

　　“…”

　　The first sixty students walked out from the crowd as soon as they saw their names on the screen.

　　Zhang Nan from Class (4) was among them.

　　Zhang Nan was stiff with nerves. She was a little nervous, and one could even see the desperation deep down in her eyes.

　　She knew that the possibility of her being admitted into a martial arts university was so low that it did not even warrant consideration.

　　Her Vitality had not even reached 110cal. Forget about the other tests; she might fail at this one.

　　As she put a step forward, someone yelled from among the crowd, “Zhang Nan, it’s nothing if you fail! We can study the social sciences together!”

　　Fang Ping and the others looked sideways toward the sound and saw a beet-red Zhang Hao duck inside the crowd after his declaration.

　　An initially nervous Zhang Nan reddened rapidly. She dared not turn her head back while she dashed toward the assessment zone.

　　The white-robed man, who had disappeared to who knows where, reappeared and admonished in a low tone, “Keep quiet!”

　　He then glanced toward Zhang Hao but said nothing more.

　　This kid’s Vitality was average, but he got the timing down pat when he was wooing that girl. He had a bright future in front of him!

　　…

　　The master control room.

　　Videos of the first batch of students entering the chambers were sent up as soon as they entered.

　　Aside from the videos, the master control room was also connected to the sixty chambers below, so the results would be sent up first thing.

　　They would be transmitted to the related divisions in the Department of Education too.

　　Jin Keming stared at the information and data displayed on the computer in front of him.

　　As the first batch of students entered the chambers and the results were generated, his expression soured terribly.

　　He had given Fang Ping some pills in hopes that he would reach the limit of a peak aspiring martial artist.

　　He could not possibly put all his eggs in a basket, though; this he knew. So he also hoped that those students could perform well.

　　If more than a hundred students whose Vitality surpassed 120cal had appeared, he would not need to depend on Fang Ping.

　　Now, none out of the sixty students had a Vitality of 120cal!

　　Jin Keming inhaled deeply and whispered, “How many students are in the first assessment zone?”

　　“There are 3895 candidates, but 25 of them were eliminated in the previous scarring, vision, and bone scans.

　　“Now there are 3870 of them left…”

　　“Which is to say that there will be 65 rounds of assessments?”

　　Jin Keming muttered. In the first assessment zone gathered candidates from most of Auspicious Sun City’s renowned high schools. There must be fifty of them whose Vitality had reached 120cal.

　　In other words, there must be one student who fits that criteria every four rounds.

　　He tamped his worries down and did not speak, focusing on the computer screen,

　　The first batch of students did not do well. None of them reached 120cal.

　　The second batch of 60 faced the same fate.

　　The third batch was the same. There was one who came close, his Vitality amounted to 119cal.

　　The fourth batch…

　　After the sixth batch was finished with assessments, three hundred and sixty students had already undergone assessments.

　　Jin Keming could not suppress his fury any longer. He turned to look at Tan Zhenping and the others, gritting his teeth. “I admit that we in Auspicious Sun City have not shown enough concern for the education of martial arts in all districts!

　　“But we have been generous in terms of education expenses!

　　“Take Serenity District as an example. The education subsidy has amounted to 280 million in the past year!

　　“Where did the money go?

　　“360 students. Which meant about 4000 Senior Three students. None of them have a Vitality over 120cal!

　　“Where did the money go?!

　　“Bastards!”

　　Jin Keming swore. Some things he knew of, but everyone had gotten used to doing the minimum.

　　He did not feel anything when the situation did not call for it; it was not his money that they were spending after all.

　　Now he was doomed. He thought of how the others would be safe despite that and felt the urge to throttle them.

　　Tan Zhenping and the other two were helpless in the face of that. They dared not utter a single word in retort.

　　Where did the money go?

　　F*ck if they knew!

　　Under normal circumstances, there should be professional martial arts classes that employed martial artists as teaching staff in schools as renowned as Sun City No.1 High School.

　　Also, exceptional students should be awarded pills. Run-of-the-mill pills like Blood-replenishing Pills and Qi-replenishing Pills were prepared for students from poor families.

　　Sun City did not have any of that!

　　It was not limited to Sun City. Most schools in Auspicious Sun City had none of that, the only exception being Auspicious Sun City No.1 High School, given their location near to the authorities.

　　The incident would come to a halt if no one explored it in depth. There would be massive backlash otherwise.

　　If Fang Ping had heard the discussion, it would answer some questions that were plaguing his mind.

　　He was thinking of the lack of a professional martial arts class despite the government’s apparent prioritization of the martial arts, and how unreliable the government was when they had decided to let candidates self-study.

　　In actuality, rules and regulations about this matter existed in black and white.

　　It was hard to spur them into motion, though.

　　The more secluded the location, the harder it was to make it work. It was like how the plan to ensure nine years of mandated education was implemented back in his old lifetime; all the big metropolises had been following the plan for years by the time secluded towns started to implement it.

　　Jin Keming’s fury did not hinder the tests from continuing.

　　With every batch of students came another wave of disappointment and dejection…

　　After the tenth batch went in, Tan Zhenping suddenly exclaimed with fervent emotion, “Director, look! Wu Zhihao from Sun City No.1 High School has reached 120cal!”

　　“Mm?”

　　Jin Keming looked toward him. His mood brightened somewhat and he nodded slightly. “Sun City No.1 High School is doing well…”

　　He thought of Wang Jinyang and Fang Ping.

　　As for that official from Serenity… Jin Keming had already made up his mind. If he had managed to emerge unscathed from this ordeal, he would personally make sure that those bastards from Serenity met their demise.

　　He had spent so much on Auspicious Sun City No.1 High School, only for those abysmal results to pile up in front of him!

　　…

　　In the Vitality assessment zone.

　　Wu Zhihao looked somewhat exhausted when he exited the chamber.

　　Fang Ping and the others advanced to hold him up. Yang Jian asked quickly, “How did you do?”

　　“I… I don’t know. I’d did my best anyway…”

　　Wu Zhihao panted heavily and lowered his voice to say, “I was thinking of how deplorable that bastard Fang Ping is, how he had surpassed us despite being behind us initially.

　　“The feelings of envy and anger, plus the urge to chop him to death all exploded in one go!

　　“I think I might’ve done okay…”

　　Yang Jian’s eyes brightened. He said quickly, “Is that true?”

　　“Really!” Wu Zhihao panted. “Plus I had just taken a Vitality Pill. I think my Vitality won’t be lower than 118cal. It might be higher, even.”

　　“Sweet!”

　　The others were all envious. Fang Ping, on the other hand, looked absolutely furious, as if he wanted to kick him to death.

　　Why did he think of him of all people during the Vitality outburst? Could he not think of some AVs, instead?

　　As they chatted, Yang Jian said all of a sudden, “It’s my turn!”

　　Wu Zhihao said encouragingly, “Add oil! Think of slashing Fang Ping to death…”

　　“F*ck off!”

　　Fang Ping cursed and pushed him away.

　　Wu Zhihao did not mind. He said with a smile, “Okay. I’ll go out to wait for you guys. I’ve done well this time. I’ll treat you to a meal after this. I really have to thank you!”

　　“Are you going to f*ck off or not?”

　　“Okay, I’m going!”

　　“…”

　　The master control room.

　　The martial artist from Serenity said with some surprise, “Lou Yang’s Vitality has reached 122cal! He’s from Auspicious Sun No. 1 High School!”

　　“Xia Qingyi, 121cal! Serenity Experimental High School!”

　　“Zhao Xue, 124cal! She’s from Auspicious Sun No. 1 High School too!”

　　“…”

　　This official from Serenity in charge of education was grinning like a loon.

　　He had almost been shocked to death before. Jin Keming’s stare was practically murderous.

　　Due to unknown reasons, those in the Serenity District with high Vitality were all in the later batches. Now there were six students with Vitalities over 120cal hailing from Serenity among the last three batches.

　　Which meant eight of them in total from the Serenity District.

　　Sun City had four.

　　Rising Stream only had two, and half of the students had already been assessed.

　　Jin Keming had already given up on those people. He disregarded the joyous disposition of the official from Serenity, and asked in an undertone, “Which batch is Fang Ping in?”

　　The official from the assessment center eyed the representatives from the Department of Investigation Services and the security and patrol groups. He was at a loss whether to answer or not.

　　One of the men from the supervision group deployed by the Department of Education smiled and said, “This should be no problem. If Director Jin wants to know, you can check for him.”

　　Jin Keming smiled in gratitude. He then glanced at the screen casually before diverting his gaze toward Tan Zhenping. “Tan Tao is your son, isn’t he?

　　“He did quite well. 121cal.”

　　Tan Zhenping said anxiously, “He’s only average. He can’t possibly compare to your son…”

　　Jin Keming did not continue the conversation. He waited for the search results from the assessment center.

　　After a while, someone said, “Fang Ping from Sun City No.1 High School is in the 46th batch. The 31st batch is being assessed right now, so you’ll have to wait for a while.”

　　“Thank you.”

　　Jin Keming uttered his gratitude. He did not speak after that.

　　Not even when a prodigy from Auspicious Sun City No.1 High School had been assessed to have a Vitality of 132cal.

　　Time went by.

　　Suddenly, Tan Zhenping reminded him softly. “Director, it’s Fang Ping’s turn!”

　　Jin Keming had been paying attention consistently, so he had definitely seen it. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the data analysis on the computer screen and the video feed of the 6th chamber, so focused that he did not even blink.

　　…

　　The 6th chamber.

　　The chamber felt overly small and narrow upon Fang Ping’s entrance. It was a little too cramped.

　　He noticed the camera after scanning the interior of the chamber.

　　At that, Fang Ping suddenly took out a pill from his pocket, put it in his hand, and swallowed it.

　　He did not swallow the three Rank-1 Vitality Pills he had acquired later, but the normal Vitality Pill Tan Zhenping had given him.

　　He had claimed to be close to the limit, and there were cameras both in the chamber and the assessment center.

　　If the director rewatched the feed of the CCTV and did not see him take any pills, would it not be obvious that he was lying?

　　Fang Ping understood the thought processes of the higher-ups. Although the director had achieved his goal, he would still be slightly pissed.

　　Now that he had wasted a normal Vitality Pill, the other would feel much more comfortable even though it was not a Rank-1 Pill that he had taken. At least Fang Ping had considered his feelings.

　　After he swallowed the pill, Fang Ping felt a surge of Vitality stemming from his abdomen.

　　“This feeling…” Fang Ping’s eyes lit up. “This surge of Vitality feels different!”

　　The Vitality supplied by the pills felt similar to the Vitality refined by the Methods of Honing.

　　In other words, the Vitality contained in the pills was more refined than those provided by the system. There was no need to refine it again.

　　“That’s why…”

　　Fang Ping was deep in thought. The Vitality converted by the system was a little too thin, which made it inadequate when attempting breakthrough.

　　Maybe he could take some pills to help him across the barrier of 150cal!

　　He did not dwell on his thoughts for long. He waited for a while and roared aggressively, his Vitality exploding in an outburst!

　　…

　　In the master control room.

　　Jin Keming clenched his fists tightly. He stared at the computer screen, watching intently as the numbers fluctuated, his heart threatening to jump out of his throat.

　　5 seconds later, Jin Keming suddenly punched his fists, so fast that the air around him crackled.

　　“Excellent!”

　　“Director Jin!” The few men behind him stood up abruptly. Someone from the supervising group wrinkled his brow. “Control yourself!”

　　A Rank-3 martial artist like Jin Keming could decimate the control room if he did not rein himself in.

　　Jin Keming nodded fervently in response. He was all smiles, totally relaxed. He could not even be bothered right now to care about someone reprimanding him.

　　“149cal!”

　　“He’s really a peak aspiring martial artist!”

　　“Fang Ping. Excellent! Outstanding!”

　　“…”

　　Jin Keming wanted nothing more but to laugh uproariously. He no longer needed to fear being relegated to the basement!

　　The other representatives were surprised too. The employee in charge of the data transmission muttered, “It was close to reaching 150cal just now…”

　　It stopped at 149cal at last, sadly, which indicated that Fang Ping had not really crossed the line!

　　If his Vitality was 150cal, he was no longer an aspiring martial artist. Those whose Vitality had reached 150cal was half a step more to becoming a martial artist. They were only a breakthrough less to the goal.