It was an evening where the setting sun bled across the horizon, casting a desolate, crimson-gold hue over the Martial Arts Testing Ground of Jiangcheng University.
Thirty years had passed since the Great Awakening of Spiritual Qi. The world had long since stripped away the gentle warmth of the old era, etching the ruthless law of the jungle into the very marrow of every human being. In this age, wealth and fame were mere ornaments; Martial Arts was the sole ladder to the pinnacle of power.
A peculiar, sweltering heat permeated the air—the scent of sweat evaporating under high temperatures, mingled with the scorched tang of adrenaline. In the center of the track field, a "Longteng V-Series" strength tester stood as cold and silent as a monolith of obsidian, looming like a deity presiding over the judgment of all living souls.
"BOOM—!"
A dull, explosive thud erupted, sounding like a clap of ground-level thunder. On the massive holographic projection screen, crimson digits flickered frantically before finally freezing at a breathtaking value:
"Strength Value: 196 kg!"
Silence—a deathly, absolute silence—was followed by a tidal wave of cheers.
"My God! He's nearly at the 200-mark! And Wang Hao is only a sophomore, right?"
"That is the threshold of a Quasi-Warrior! One punch from him could pierce through a half-centimeter steel plate. If that hit a person..."
On the testing platform, the young man named Wang Hao slowly retracted his fist. Due to the exertion, the muscle fibers on his arm coiled like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, his veins pulsing slightly. He nonchalantly wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, savoring the gazes of awe and trepidation directed his way.
The martial arts instructor, whose face was habitually encased in frost, finally managed a rare, faint smile. He made a heavy stroke on his tablet. "Wang Hao. Grade: Excellent. Next."
At the rear of the crowd, Lin Nye stood in silence, his fingernails digging deep into his palms. His school uniform was washed out and faded, looking jarringly out of place among the surrounding students dressed in expensive, high-polymer training gear.
"Lin Nye, you're still here?"
A mocking voice drifted from the side. Zhang Kai stood with his arms crossed, his piercing gaze filled with undisguised disdain. "If I were you, after seeing Wang Hao's punch, I'd head straight to the academic office to apply for a major transfer. The path of Martial Arts isn't something that can be cleared by a cheap word like 'persistence'."
"You scored a 78 last year, and a 76 the year before," a lackey behind Zhang Kai chimed in with a sneer. "In two years, you haven't even progressed as fast as a pig. Do you know what that means, Lin Nye? It means your ceiling in this life is being a manual laborer."
Lin Nye did not retaliate. In this world, the anger of the weak was the most pathetic of decorations. He simply stared at the testing machine, his heart beating heavily and slowly within his chest, like an old, rusted engine struggling to find the final spark of ignition.
"Lin Nye!" the instructor's voice called out, cold and mechanical.
Lin Nye moved through the crowd as gazes of ridicule, pity, and voyeurism surged toward him like a tide. He stepped onto the platform, feeling the synthetic track beneath his feet grow exceptionally heavy.
This was his final chance. According to university regulations, if a junior failed to break the 100 kg passing mark in the strength test, they would face expulsion and a lifetime ban from any martial-arts-related profession. That would mean three years of relentless day-and-night training and every cent saved for low-grade Qi-Blood Pills would vanish into smoke.
Inhale... Exhale...
Lin Nye dropped into a horse stance, driving power from his waist and hips as he attempted to condense his entire body's strength into his right fist.
"Break!"
He let out a low growl suppressed in his throat, throwing every ounce of his being into a single punch that slammed into the induction pad of the tester.
"Thud."
The sound was muffled, lacking the sonic boom of Wang Hao's strike. The display flickered twice before revealing a cold, cruel number:
"78."
The field erupted into a roar of laughter; some were even doubled over in derision.
"Stagnant! It's actually still 78!"
"This guy is a genius in his own right—perfectly 'consistent' performance."
Zhang Kai shook his head, his expression one of utter boredom. "Trash is trash. It seems even miracles refuse to linger on him for a single second."
The instructor sighed, the last ember of expectation in his eyes flickering out. He marked a heavy "X" next to Lin Nye's name on the roster.
"Lin Nye, go to the side and collect your certificate of completion."
Lin Nye stood frozen. The world seemed to lose its sound at that moment. His right fist throbbed with a dull ache, blood seeping from his knuckles. A profound, bottomless despair submerged him like seawater, making it impossible to breathe. Was this truly the end?
Just as his heart turned to ash and he turned to descend the steps—
[Ding!]
A crisp sound, like the shattering of ice crystals, resonated deep within his mind.
[Detected: Host's intense willpower. Ten-Thousand-Fold Critical Hit System has finished loading...]
[Detected: Current Environment—Martial Arts Testing Ground.]
[The Host has just performed an attack action. Triggering System Correction...]
Lin Nye's footsteps jerked to a halt. He looked around in shock, only to find that the expressions of those around him remained frozen in mockery and indifference. Time had not stopped, yet a line of eerie, golden text had appeared on his retina.
Immediately following, he felt a searing current of heat erupt from the base of his spine, surging through his meridians like a flash flood! Those once-exhausted muscles in his arm began to vibrate violently, and a sense of unprecedented expansion nearly threatened to burst his veins!
He whipped his head back, staring intently at the testing machine. The red digits, previously fixed at "78," suddenly gave a ghostly flicker.
79!
80!
81!
The speed of the numerical climb grew faster and faster. Under Lin Nye's astonished gaze, the internal mechanisms of the tester began to emit the creaks and groans of gears under unbearable strain!
The students who were about to leave froze in their tracks. Following Lin Nye's gaze, the smiles on their faces began to calcify.
"Look! Is the tester... broken?"