Upon witnessing Xu Jingming's strength, Zhou Mingyang, though grumbling to himself, deeply understood one thing: Xu Jingming was indeed stronger than him!
"Where did this monster even come from? His aura doesn't suggest he's a Superpower User. Yet, for some reason, he's killing First-Stage ferocious beasts as if he's chopping cabbages," Zhou Mingyang lamented mentally, continuing on his path of exterminating ferocious beasts.
While he couldn't compare to Xu Jingming, he was determined to hold onto second place. So, he continued to roam the Central Zone, searching for ferocious beasts he could handle.
The first two hours went well: occasionally, he encountered solitary Mid-Rank First-Stage ferocious beasts or small groups of three to four individuals. However, by the third hour, Zhou Mingyang clearly felt that the beasts on his path had significantly decreased. And by the fourth hour, he had been wandering the Central Zone for half a day and, to his astonishment, hadn't encountered a single beast!
"What the hell? Where have all the ferocious beasts gone?" Zhou Mingyang was utterly bewildered. In frustration, he kicked a fist-sized stone lying on the road.
As a Superpower User, he possessed considerable strength. The kicked stone flew forward at tremendous speed and hit a rusty iron sign, creating a deafening clank.
In the past, he would never have allowed himself such a reckless act, capable of attracting the attention of ferocious beasts. But now, on the contrary, he hoped that at least one beast would come running at the noise.
However, instead of beasts, the noise attracted several people. It was a group of two guys and a girl heading his way, waving their hands from afar:
"Hey, Mingyang!"
"How did you all end up together?" Zhou Mingyang looked at the approaching trio with confusion.
Like himself, all of them were students from the elite class of First Middle School, Lower-Rank First-Stage Superpower Users. They all knew each other well; they were old buddies, one might say. Besides himself, this trio occupied the remaining three spots in the top five of the martial arts ranking.
"You'll have to ask Xu Jingming about that," the shaved-headed guy on the right shrugged helplessly.
"Xu Jingming killed all the ferocious beasts in the Central Zone. We couldn't find any, so we were forced to gather together," the girl standing in the middle added softly. She was petite but carried an enormous sword, which created a striking contrast.
"We've been wandering here for over half an hour. When we heard the noise, we thought it was a ferocious beast. We rushed here with excitement, and it turned out to be you," the long-haired guy on the left shook his head, sighing.
"Xu Jingming exterminated all the beasts? How is that possible?!" Zhou Mingyang frowned, instinctively refusing to believe it. After all, for the martial arts exam, at least three to four hundred ferocious beasts were released into the Central Zone! Eliminating that many in just a few hours seemed simply impossible!
"It's obvious you haven't checked the rankings lately. Here, take a look at Xu Jingming's points yourself, and you'll understand everything," the bald guy activated his smartwatch, and with a slight hum, the ranking table projection appeared in the air.
[1st place, Xu Jingming, 3435 points (Jiangcheng Second Middle School)
2nd place, Zhou Mingyang, 1103 points (Jiangcheng First Middle School)
3rd place, Wu Hao, 945 points (Jiangcheng First Middle School) ...]
"Three... three thousand four hundred points?!" Seeing the terrifying number of points earned by the first-place winner, Xu Jingming, the always elegant Zhou Mingyang's eyes nearly popped out of his head in amazement.
"Now do you understand why we say that it was Xu Jingming who exterminated all the ferocious beasts? " The bald guy turned off the virtual projection with a bitter smile.
"Killing a first-level lower-rank ferocious beast earns 14 to 16 points, while killing a first-level middle-rank beast earns 20 to 22 points. He has 3,435 points, and even if you subtract the more than 700 points he earned in the middle zone, he still has more than 2,500 points left. This means that Xu Jingming alone destroyed nearly two hundred ferocious beasts in the central zone! And considering that we also killed quite a few, it turns out that there really isn't a single beast left in the central zone, right?"
Zhou Mingyang fell into a daze at those words. After entering the examination grounds, he only thought about how to kill as many ferocious beasts as possible and score more points. But it never occurred to him that the beasts could be completely exterminated!
"Damn it! No wonder Xu Jingming was so afraid that someone would steal his prey. It turns out he had planned everything out already!" Recalling his conversation with Xu Jingming earlier, Zhou Mingyang felt like a hundred thousand alpacas stampeded through his mind...
"3435 points! That's simply an incredible result! Xu Jingming will enter the top ten in Jiangnan Province at the very least!"
"The top ten! Just think, the top ten! When has our Jiangcheng ever had such outstanding results?!"
"This is a record! Xu Jingming has broken the record for our Jiangcheng!"
"..."
While Zhou Mingyang on the examination grounds was shocked by Xu Jingming's result, the principals and teachers outside the grounds were already rejoicing with delight.
3435 points guaranteed Xu Jingming a spot in the top ten of Jiangnan Province. And this was the best result in the history of Jiangcheng!
"Who would have thought that Xu Jingming, armed with just a spear, could reach such a level!" The Principal of Second Middle School, Zhao Yao, felt his entire body burning with excitement; he couldn't contain his enthusiasm.
What does it mean to enter the top ten of Jiangnan Province? It means becoming one of those outstanding talents who will be fought over by the nation's best educational institutions, those ranked in the top 10 among schools for Superpower Users!
"A Qilin was born in the wilderness. Who would have thought that such a student as Xu Jingming would emerge from our Jiangcheng!" The Head of the Department of Education, Zhang Wenshan, also couldn't help but smile.
He no longer cared that Xu Jingming only had an E-level superpower. After all, with such results, even an F-level possessor would be highly sought after by higher education institutions!
"However, Xu Jingming is truly insane. In just three to four hours, he virtually exterminated all the ferocious beasts in the Central Zone. It seems he will become a real combat maniac in the future!"
While Zhou Mingyang and his comrades didn't know how many ferocious beasts were released into the Central Zone, Zhang Wenshan, as the Head of the Department of Education, was perfectly informed. 450 Lower-Rank First-Stage ferocious beasts and 40 Mid-Rank First-Stage beasts were released into the Central Zone!
Subtracting the beasts that died in skirmishes with each other, as well as those killed by Zhou Mingyang and his three companions, it turned out that Xu Jingming alone eliminated almost half of all the ferocious beasts in the Central Zone! And all this happened in just three to four hours, which indirectly testified to Xu Jingming's incredible strength.
"Xu Jingming's parents perished during a monster invasion when he was still young. Perhaps that is why he harbors such a hatred for ferocious beasts," Homeroom Teacher Chen Fan added.
"I see," Zhang Wenshan nodded in understanding, his expression turning stern. "Hmph! The day will come when we, humans, will wipe out all these ferocious beasts!"
"Don't worry, that day will surely come," recalling the cruelty of the ferocious beasts, Principal Zhao Yao also couldn't help but let a cold tone enter his voice.