Chapter 199: Chapter 79: World’s Number One

At that moment.

「In the Meiling Mountain Range.」

In the surrounding rivers.

Beneath the thick snow and soil, snakes hibernating for the winter were drawn out by a mysterious aura. They awoke from their dens, flicking their tongues and hissing.

In the bone-chilling river water, schools of emaciated carp, their spines marked with Red Gold lines, swam against the current, churning the water as they struggled upstream.

It wasn’t just snakes and fish. In the frigid air, all sorts of long-slumbering insects and strange spiritual bugs were startled awake by an inexplicable ripple. They broke through the soil and instinctively ’looked’ in a single direction, as if gazing upon some immense existence.

A similar scene had occurred once before, several months ago.

That time, their actions had been driven by fear of some vast and terrifying existence, and they had not dared to draw near out of awe.

But this time, they chose to endure the harsh winter cold and move, doing everything they could to draw closer and closer to that unknown location in the distance.

It was almost like... a pilgrimage.

「Meanwhile, inside the physical assessment camp.」

BOOM!

No longer supported by the overflowing Spiritual Power, the Spirit Sand Hourglass floating in mid-air crashed back to the ground with a heavy boom.

The electronic instruments, which had been malfunctioning due to the electromagnetic interference, began to return to normal, though their screens still flickered with blurry errors from time to time.

The gale gradually subsided, but the crackling arcs of electricity and the smell of burning metal lingered in the air.

Only then did the crowd, which had been silent for so long, seem to snap back to their senses, letting out irrepressible gasps of shock.

While most people had no idea what had just happened, nor did they know what an Anomaly from a breakthrough to the Extraordinary Realm was, the brilliant Spiritual Light—like something out of a CGI movie—and the spontaneously erupting lightning and gales were more than enough to leave them stunned.

But compared to the students, whose less-than-eloquent reactions were mostly limited to shouts of "Holy shit!", "So cool!", and "Awesome!", it was the professors and the Transcendents present who were truly, utterly shaken!

"Extraordinary!"

An arc of electricity flashed across Zhang Fucheng’s body, accidentally setting the list in his hands on fire. He hurriedly smothered the flames, but the look of astonishment on his face wouldn’t fade. "The Extraordinary Realm?! And it’s a Thunder Attribute Spiritual Power variant!"

’No wonder my Thunder Technique felt slightly drawn to him when I saw him. Two strong magnetic fields would naturally sense each other... But how is this possible!’

Ever since the severing of Heaven and Earth a thousand years ago, the concentration of Spiritual Qi worldwide had plummeted, and what little remained had become almost completely inert. This not only cut off the path of Cultivation for most people, but it completely sealed the road to ascension—no matter how brilliant or talented one was, it was now impossible to connect with external Spiritual Qi and achieve the Extraordinary Realm.

Over the past decade or so, the concentration of Spiritual Qi had been rising, and the Qi itself had gradually become more active. While this had certainly brought a great deal of trouble and conflict, it had also allowed many Cultivators who had been stuck for decades to advance once more... But still, the Spiritual Energy Revival only truly began a mere four months ago!

Even the world’s top Cultivators, those who had been stuck at the Awakening Peak for decades, had only just entered the Extraordinary Realm a short while ago!

"Four months, from Spirit Awakening to the Extraordinary Realm..." Professor Zhang slowly closed his eyes and let out a long breath. "An Innate Daoist Body... No, this is... this is the makings of an Immortal!"

"Damn." On the other side, Guan Wanjing’s jaw, as solid as a steel brick, hung open. Thinking he had first place in the bag, he had crushed the hand gripper he was holding and now stared dumbfounded at Su Zhou, who had already stopped and seemed to be regulating the Spiritual Qi in his body.

Guan Wanjing was so stunned that after letting out that simple, unadorned Zhengguo expression of shock, he even forgot to close his mouth. "Holy shit, is he even human?"

’Su Zhou... he shouldn’t have any inherited Cultivation Technique, right...? Don’t tell me he advanced to the Extraordinary Realm at a time like this, purely on Talent?!’

He had already revised his estimation of Su Zhou’s Talent upwards time and again, guessing that Su Zhou might indeed be incredibly strong, perhaps even stronger than himself. Guan Wanjing had guessed the outcome correctly, but he had never imagined the gap would be this huge!

Meanwhile, the two geniuses from the Zhengyi Sect who had been sizing Su Zhou up earlier now just looked at each other. The female student said coolly, "So this is what you meant by ’just handsome’?"

The round-faced boy frantically waved his hands. "I never said that! And besides... it looks like being handsome really does give you Superpowers!"

It wasn’t just them. The professors from the other academies were also crying out in shock, their voices filled with utter disbelief and astonishment.

"How is this possible, yet it actually happened..."

"To think, right now, he’s already..."

"I want all the information on this student within three minutes—all of it!"

Su Zhou, however, paid no mind to the praise and gasps directed at him.

He had already accomplished his goal: to fully display his Talent on the grand stage of the physical assessment.

Su Zhou already had his theories and calculations about what would happen next.

’The best-case scenario is that I’ll be treated as an unprecedented genius, summoned for a talk by the local leadership, and marked for special development. In fact, this is highly likely. My parents are public officials, and while I theoretically shouldn’t expect help from Uncle Shao’s family, other people won’t see it that way. My advancement might be mysterious, but that’s precisely why they’ll be curious.’

’The next-best scenario is that I’ll be placed under strict observation... I can’t actually think of a reason why they would do that, but who knows? Maybe the Zhengguo Government and local leaders will have a brain fart. It doesn’t really matter. In any case, as long as they have a normal level of intelligence, they won’t let a genius of my caliber be met with hostility and neglect. This is especially true since they have no idea what my Bottom Card is.’