After listening for a while to the rules of the scoring competition, Zhang Yu roughly understood how it worked.

"They'll attach sensors to various parts of my body and also to the Yellow Turban Warrior. Every time a sensor is hit, it will be recorded."

"For example, hitting the sensor on the Yellow Turban Warrior's back is worth 5 points, hitting the chest is 3 points, and hitting the arm is 1 point."

"On the other hand, if the sensor on my back is hit, I'll lose 5 points..."

"In the end, the total score within one minute of combat will be calculated."

"Of course, there's another way—knocking the Yellow Turban Warrior out of the ring in one go, which will instantly add 300 points."

Zhang Yu understood that the purpose of this scoring competition was to ensure that high-scoring participants wouldn't be grouped together in the upcoming group matches, preventing strong competitors from being eliminated too early.

"This way, strong participants won't hide their true strength too much, because that might result in them being grouped with another strong competitor."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu nodded slightly and turned his gaze to the Yellow Turban Warrior.

It was a humanoid figure over two meters tall, clad in golden armor with a golden mask.

Its exposed muscles looked like marble, covered in densely packed runes.

"Hmm... something feels like it's missing..."

Just as Zhang Yu was thinking this, a staff member sprayed advertisements onto the Yellow Turban Warrior.

On its chest was written, "Oasis Food—For the Healthy Diet of All Kunxu People," and on its back was, "Ultra-Powerful, Ultra-Intense, Supreme Dominance—MicroBlue Pharmaceuticals."

Seeing this, Zhang Yu finally nodded, thinking to himself, "That's what was missing. Now it feels right."

He remembered that Oasis Food was the company promoting synthetic food, backed by the Netherworld Palace, one of the Ten Great Sects.

MicroBlue Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, was different from Purple Cloud Pharmaceuticals.

It focused more on combat drugs and was one of the sponsors of this martial arts competition.

Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen, standing nearby, commented on the Yellow Turban Warrior, "Songyang High School is really inferior to White Dragon High School. Look, they can use Yellow Turban Warriors for exams and competitions, while we still have to make students fight each other."

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "The realism of this Yellow Turban Warrior is really high. It looks just like a real person."

Bai Zhenzhen, seeing a Yellow Turban Warrior in person for the first time, agreed, "This is how rich people are. They like to make expensive things look cheap."

"For example, making designer clothes look like trash bags, or making Yellow Turban Warriors look like humans."

Zhang Yu suddenly had an idea, "Do you think our school could hire someone to play the Yellow Turban Warrior?"

At that moment, Lei Jun, the martial arts combat teacher and organizer of Songyang High School's practical exams, who was standing behind them, said with a dark face, "Do you think hiring someone to play the Yellow Turban Warrior would be cheap?"

"Who do you think would pay for it? Do you want to pay monthly to take the monthly exams?"

With that, Lei Jun snorted coldly and gestured toward the stage, "The first round of the scoring competition is about to start. Watch carefully and learn. Don't embarrass me when it's your turn."

Earlier, when the participants gathered, White Dragon High School, as the host, had already distributed participant numbers and tags.

Now, they would take turns fighting the Yellow Turban Warrior according to their numbers.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the host stepped onto the stage and stood beside the Yellow Turban Warrior.

"Welcome everyone to this year's Songyang City First-Year Martial Arts Championship, jointly sponsored by Oasis Food and MicroBlue Pharmaceuticals."

"Delicious and natural, nurturing the body naturally—all meals at this competition are provided by the Oasis Group."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen both spat in disgust.

Synthetic food? Even dogs wouldn't eat that.

The host continued, "A thousand-year legacy, essential for every outing—whether in the ring or on the streets, MicroBlue Pharmaceuticals is your trusted companion... Participants who need to purchase medicine can visit the pop-up pharmacy next to the venue."

Finally, after the host finished all the sponsor advertisements, the first round of the scoring competition was about to begin.

"Now, let's welcome the first participant!"

A student wearing the White Dragon High School uniform stepped onto the stage.

As the countdown of 3, 2, 1 ended, he began fighting the Yellow Turban Warrior.

Zhang Yu could see that this White Dragon student's strength and speed were on par with the Yellow Turban Warrior, which had a physical strength level of 1.98.

Every punch and kick was delivered with ferocious power, blocking the Yellow Turban Warrior's attacks head-on while striking the sensors to score points.

From a distance, it looked like two giant bears tearing and fighting on the stage.

Every collision sounded like metal clashing, shaking the hearts of the audience.

After one minute, the White Dragon student had scored a total of 128 points.

The next few participants were either from White Dragon High School, Purple Cloud High School, or Red Pagoda High School.

Qian Shen, watching this, grew more and more alarmed, "These top students from the three major high schools—each of their physical strength levels would easily be the top in Songyang High School's first year. Is the gap really this big? Are Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen going to face people like this today?"

He Dayou, however, wasn't surprised at all, "Unless you can join our school's sports team and receive special training, it's impossible to surpass the physical strength of the top students from the three major high schools."

"Not to mention the gaps in magic, martial arts, spiritual roots, and so on. When it comes to actual combat... it's even more despairing."

As the son of a school board member, He Dayou knew all too well the gap between Songyang High School and the three major high schools.

For example, when it came to the top ten university spots, the top students from Songyang High School could only compete for the leftovers after the top students from White Dragon High School had taken their share.

At that moment, a White Dragon student over two and a half meters tall, like a titan, slowly walked onto the stage.

Standing in front of this student, even the Yellow Turban Warrior looked delicate.

As this student stepped onto the stage, the White Dragon students in the audience, who had been sitting upright, suddenly stood up and began clapping and cheering.

Zhang Yu, however, was more focused on the student's hairstyle, "Isn't that Song Hailong? Why did he change his hairstyle?"

Song Hailong was the top student in White Dragon High School's first year, with a big "1" displayed on the front and back of his uniform.

Zhang Yu remembered that during the last magic competition, Song Hailong had long, spiky hair.

Today, however, it was a short, spiky buzz cut.

Song Hailong smiled slightly and raised his hand to quiet the audience.

Instantly, the cheering White Dragon students sat back down and fell silent.

Seeing this, Zhang Yu suddenly remembered the rumored low-score slavery system at White Dragon High School.

The students in the audience truly obeyed Song Hailong's every command.

Bai Zhenzhen, standing beside Zhang Yu, stared at Song Hailong's new hairstyle and said, "He must have changed his external spiritual root again!"

"The last external spiritual root was clearly for enhancing spiritual energy, useful for magic cultivation."

"Since this is a martial arts competition, Song Hailong must have switched to a combat spiritual root."

With that, Bai Zhenzhen turned to Zhang Yu and urged, "Yu, Yu, quickly take out your 100,000-worth talisman book and use the Heavenly Eye Talisman to see what Song Hailong's deal is."

Over the past two weeks, aside from focusing on martial arts, Zhang Yu had been familiarizing himself with the talisman book.

However, he didn't dare to touch most of the items inside, only using the daily free quota to practice talismans.

The two talismans he practiced the most were the Restraint Talisman and the Heavenly Eye Talisman, both taught at school.

At this moment, Zhang Yu carefully pulled out the talisman book, his fingers quickly swiping across the pages.

As the Heavenly Eye Talisman activated, he immediately felt the world change.

For non-clergy, this was like a paid view.

For a period of time, everyone's heads displayed a composition evaluation.

Having practiced several times, Zhang Yu was already used to this view.

Now, he focused on Song Hailong on the stage.

Elephant Tendon Body (Expand Details)

Meanwhile, on the stage, Song Hailong let out a wild laugh, grabbed the Yellow Turban Warrior's massive hand, and, to the shock of everyone present, flung the warrior out of the ring with a thunderous crash.

In less than a second, the battle was over.

Song Hailong, score: 300.

The White Dragon students in the audience erupted into thunderous applause and cheers.

Watching Song Hailong slowly step off the stage, the other participants felt as if they weren't looking at a person, but a ferocious beast.

Qian Shen, watching this, gasped, "Song Hailong, last month's exam score was 683... Seeing him in action live is just as shocking as that score."

Meanwhile, Zhao Tianxing, who had just entered the venue and was looking for Qian Shen in the audience, suddenly saw the scene on the stage, "This is too brutal. Are Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen really going to fight this monster?"

He couldn't help but feel a pang of worry, "Are they really going to be okay? They won't get seriously hurt, will they?"

On the other side, Zhang Yu looked at the long list of composition evaluations above Song Hailong's head, "What is all this?"

After hearing Zhang Yu read them out, Bai Zhenzhen explained, "I know about the Heavenly Spirit Body. It must refer to a spiritual root for combat. This is a combat spiritual root among heavenly spiritual roots. The spiritual energy channels formed by the root wrap around the entire body, enhancing the user's strength, speed, stamina, and resistance to damage."

Zhang Yu couldn't help but glance at Bai Zhenzhen, "This girl, last time she saw an external spiritual root, she recognized it immediately."

"She can't afford spiritual roots, but she sure knows a lot about them."

When Bai Zhenzhen wasn't sure about the other composition evaluations, Lei Jun, standing behind them, suddenly spoke up, "He's implanted with elephant demon tendons, has been fighting demon beasts for a long time, has very few negative emotions, is a top student at White Dragon High School, and is the ace son of the Song family this year."

Zhang Yu was surprised, "Old Lei, you know about the Heavenly Eye Talisman too?"

Seeing their shocked expressions, Lei Jun said calmly, "If Taoist magic could be used for free like you do, it would be quite useful."

Old Lei! You've betrayed martial arts!

With Lei Jun's explanation, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen gained more insight from this round of the scoring competition.

On the stage, more strong competitors began to show their strength.

First was Purple Cloud High School's Lian Tianji, whose punches and kicks were like a storm, completely suppressing the Yellow Turban Warrior with a physical strength of 1.98, scoring 261 points.

Soon after, a student from Red Pagoda High School, who looked like a brown bear, stepped onto the stage, instantly pinned the Yellow Turban Warrior to the ground, and then flung it out of the ring, scoring 300 points.

Not long after, Purple Cloud High School's Le Mulang took the stage.

With one hand, she pinned the Yellow Turban Warrior to the ground, completely suppressing it.

Then, she began kicking the sensor on the warrior's back, racking up points until she reached 305, just surpassing Song Hailong's 300. She then glanced at Song Hailong and stepped off the stage.

From the moment Le Mulang stepped onto the stage, the Purple Cloud students in the audience remained completely silent.

Zhao Tianxing found this strange.

Qian Shen, hearing this, explained as if reciting from memory, "At Purple Cloud High School, scores are updated daily based on students' classroom performance. The grade rankings are also updated daily, and the top student of the day can set a grade-wide rule that doesn't interfere with teaching order and lasts for one day."

"As far as I know, since the start of the school year, Le Mulang has always been the top student in Purple Cloud High School's first year."

"The daily rule she sets has never changed."

"That is, all first-year students must remain silent in her presence. Students with scores below 650, the 'lowly commoners,' are not allowed to speak to her without her permission."

Lowly commoners with scores below 650? Hearing this, Zhao Tianxing felt insulted.

But then he remembered that Qian Shen, who was speaking, also hadn't reached 650 points, so he quickly calmed down.

Zhao Tianxing asked, "How do you know so much?"

Qian Shen smiled faintly, "I've done a bit of research on the three major high schools."

Meanwhile, in the participant area, Song Hailong, who had been provoked, laughed loudly, "Le Mulang, I'll see you in the finals!"

To be continued next Sunday.

I hope everyone will support me then.

(End of Chapter)