Two p.m. sharp.
"Assemble!" A resonant, powerful voice cut through the clamor and the clang of metal in the Martial Arts Room.
The burly figure of Wang Hu, Class 21's Martial Dao teacher, appeared right on time in the open classroom doorway, like a newly risen monolith.
The din was cut short, as if by a sharp blade, falling instantly silent.
The students—whether they were practicing with equipment, doing breathing exercises, or sparring in pairs—all stopped what they were doing. A hint of reverence mixed with post-training fatigue on their faces, they quickly gathered at the assembly point at the front of the room.
In the corner, Li Wen rose from a rest bench covered with a worn-out mat.
After an afternoon of high-intensity blade practice, the soreness in his muscles had yet to recede, feeling like a constant tide. Beads of sweat still trickled from his hairline.
He casually wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, feeling the slight tremor that remained in his knuckles—an aftereffect of prolonged, precise exertion of force.
Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the heavy feeling of exhaustion and hurried to join the moving crowd, his gaze calm.
Once all forty-plus students of the class had formed into several ragged but swift lines before him, Wang Hu's piercing tiger-like eyes swept over them, and he gave a slight, satisfied nod. His voice was steady as he cut straight to the point:
"Alright, quiet down." His gaze swept over a few young faces filled with veiled anticipation.
"I've gathered you all today to announce something. I imagine some of you have sharp ears and have already heard the rumors—the school board has decided to formally establish this year's senior 'Flying Star Class' at the beginning of next semester!"
The moment his words fell, the crowd didn't explode, but the space was instantly filled with gasps and small pockets of discussion.
The words "Flying Star Class" seemed to have a magnetic pull, captivating everyone's attention completely.
'So it's true!' Standing in the crowd, Li Wen's heart leaped. The words Wei Wu had spoken that morning in a conspiratorial tone suddenly became clear and heavy.
Wang Hu didn't pause, continuing, "The selection criteria: the top sixty students in the entire grade based on Martial Dao scores!"
"Sixty?!"
"It's really happening!"
"Sixty? That's ten more spots than Wei Wu said."
Li Wen keenly caught the difference in the number. A flicker of light seemed to pierce his heart. The path to the Flying Star Class, once a narrow crack, now seemed to widen ever so slightly with these ten extra spots. His hope grew by a fraction.
"The assessment method," Wang Hu's voice rose above the chatter, "will be identical to the Martial Dao college entrance exam! It's divided into three parts: Skill Assessment, Physical Body Level, and Cultural Assessment!"
He enunciated the score weightings—"five, three, and two"—as if striking three heavy hammers, engraving the numbers deep into everyone's mind.
Then, he deliberately paused, his gaze sweeping over the students once more. A rare solemnity appeared on his face, and his voice suddenly rose a notch.
"And... the most crucial point! The teacher responsible for the Flying Star Class's Martial Dao instruction has been confirmed. It is indeed a Super Martial Artist, hired by our school at great expense!"
Wang Hu bit out the words "Super Martial Artist," each syllable landing with the weight of a mountain, smashing into the heart of every student!
The entire Martial Arts Room instantly fell into a brief, absolute silence, as if the very air had been crushed and frozen solid by the weight of that title.
"A Super Martial Artist? Oh my god..."
"A real Super Martial Artist is going to be teaching us personally?"
"Damn! If someone gets into the Flying Star Class... wouldn't that mean..."
The eruption that followed was a wave of shocked and disbelieving murmurs.
A Super Martial Artist! A being who transcended ordinary Martial Artists, someone who had truly stepped into the domain of the Extraordinary! To this group of high school seniors, they were beings to be looked up to in awe!
But beneath this immense temptation, reality hit them like a bucket of cold water.
"A Super Martial Artist... what a shame." Not far from Li Wen, a boy whose last physical assessment score was average shook his head, a look of clear self-mockery on his face. "It has... basically nothing to do with us."
No more words were needed. The entire senior grade had 21 classes. The students in the first 20 classes were mostly top performers or standouts who had passed through intense competition to get into Bluestone Third Middle School.
Only their Class 21 was what was mockingly called the "special channels class." While it couldn't be said that every single one of them lacked talent, it was an indisputable fact that their overall Martial Dao strength was at the bottom of the grade.
Sixty spots, divided among twenty-one classes—did that mean an average of nearly three per class? That was just in theory! Resources would only ever flow to the strong, and then to the stronger. The top sixty? For most of the students in Class 21, it was nothing more than a castle in the sky.
Only the two or three people at the very top of the class had even a faint, glimmering hope of competing for a spot.
The results from the grade-wide mock exam a little over a month ago instantly flashed through Li Wen's mind.
His rank of 34th in the class—just one spot above tenth from the bottom—seemed so glaringly and pathetically insignificant in the face of the grand objective of "competing for the top sixty in the grade."
To rush from the middle-lower ranks of the class to the top three in just over a month? The difficulty was akin to climbing a mountain of blades.
As Li Wen's thoughts raced like lightning, Wang Hu's announcement was coming to an end.
"Alright, that's all the information about the Flying Star Class. As for the application process: any interested students should submit their personal application forms to me before school lets out tomorrow afternoon."
Wang Hu's gaze swept over the students, a barely perceptible understanding in his eyes.
'He knew in his heart that out of all the students before him, probably only Xue Jun was a shoo-in for the Flying Star Class. Even the second-place student's chances were hanging by a thread, let alone the others. He was making this announcement now mostly in the hope of giving these kids a goal, something to strive for, so they wouldn't let their training go lax during the month-long winter break.'