84: Chapter 84 The title of top scholar, fought over by all sides.

Major General Lei Wuji's slap pinned Patriarch Zhao Batian, who was in the Wuzong Realm, firmly to the wall.

The furious roar of "wipe out his nine relations" echoed over the Arena, and no one dared to raise even half a word of objection to the result on the stage.

The energy barrier lowered completely.

The medical team rushed onto the battered Ring No. 2 with a stretcher, hurriedly carrying away Zhao Kuang, whose right arm was shattered and who was now like a pile of mush.

The military referee who came up to take over took a deep breath and walked to the center of the ring, stepping over the scorched marks left by the high temperatures.

He glanced at Su Chen beside him.

No Protective Qi, no psionic fluctuations, wearing only a thin black combat suit, and he hadn't even broken a single drop of sweat.

The referee swallowed hard, his throat dry with cold sweat. He had been a referee for over a decade and had seen countless geniuses, but he had never seen anyone perform violence to such a spine-chilling degree.

"This match is over."

The referee raised the microphone in his hand, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"I announce, the winner of the Grand Finals of this Jiangnan Province College Entrance Exam Practical Combat Ranking Tournament is—"

He suddenly pointed at Su Chen.

"Third High School, Su Chen!"

"He is this year's undisputed provincial Top Scorer!"

As soon as his voice fell,

the massive Arena of a hundred thousand people fell into a brief, dead silence for just a single second.

Immediately after,

"BOOM—!!!"

a mountain-moving, sea-toppling wave of cheers, screams, and roars erupted instantly like an active volcano that had been built up for tens of millions of years! The sound waves soared straight into the clouds, almost completely blowing off the Arena's holographic dome!

"He won! He won!"

"My goodness! A single finger shattered a multi-million S-class battle armor!"

"What is a Genius? This is a fucking Genius!"

At the highest point of the stands, inside Third High School's "Cannon Fodder Class" section, absolute madness broke out.

Those commoner students, who were usually oppressed by the noble families and regarded as bottom-tier trash, all had flushed faces now. They wept in each other's arms out of excitement, roaring Su Chen's name at the top of their lungs.

"Su Chen! Su Chen!"

"We won! The commoners won!"

Su Chen's finger had not only shattered Zhao Kuang's armor, but had also, on behalf of all the bottom-tier commoners, fiercely smashed the invincible myth of the noble families' nobility!

At the side of the stage, Instructor Lin Yi, who was holding Jiang Feng, had old tears streaming down his face. He punched the fat boy's shoulder hard and shouted loudly, "You brat, did you hear that! Your brother took first place! First in the entire province!"

On the stage,

Su Chen listened to the tsunami-like cheers, his expression remaining calm.

Just then, a flurry of hurried and chaotic footsteps approached from all directions.

The moment the match was declared over, the various big shots on the VIP platform could no longer sit still.

The admissions directors of the top ten martial arts universities in the country and the recruitment representatives of the Great Xia's four top legions had all lost their usual high-and-mighty, majestic postures.

Like a swarm of frenzied sharks smelling blood, they jumped straight down from the stands without any regard for their image, swarming onto the stage and surrounding Su Chen, who was just about to walk down.

"Student Su Chen! I am the admissions director of Kyoto First Martial Arts University!"

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses squeezed desperately to the very front, directly pulling out a gold-bordered contract, speaking at an extremely rapid pace: "As long as you sign! You will directly enter our school's S-class core sequence! Thirty million Star Coins in scholarship annually! Plus a top-grade body-tempering Cultivation Technique! The principal himself will take you as his disciple!"

"Get out of the way! You think thirty million is enough to dismiss such a peerless Prodigy?"

The representative from Magic City War God Academy shoved the gold-rimmed glasses man aside and stared at Su Chen with bloodshot eyes: "Come to our War God Academy! No nonsense, we will directly assign you a dedicated Martial King-level private mentor! You can choose any high-tier exotic beast essence blood from the school's treasury, as much as you want!"

"Going to your schools is just a waste of talent!"

A burly man in military uniform barged through the crowd like a wild bull, roaring loudly, "Su Chen! Come to our Mad Lion Legion! I'll make the call to directly award you the rank of Major! I'll give you an independent special forces brigade! On the battlefield, you will be king!"

"Come to our Thunder Dojo..."

"Our Jiangnan's Number One Consortium is willing to offer one hundred million..."

All kinds of top-grade Cultivation Techniques, massive wealth, and immense power that would drive ordinary Martial Artists crazy were now being frantically thrown at Su Chen by these big shots like free cabbages in a wet market.

Everyone understood that the strategic value of a physical technique monster who could display such terrifying destructive power without even needing psionic energy was immeasurable!

Whoever could recruit him would hold the absolute initiative in the high-martial landscape for the next few decades.

However,

faced with these overwhelming temptations that could easily make anyone lose themselves,

Su Chen stood in the center of the crowd, acting with a calmness that was frightening.

Not a single trace of ecstasy showed on his face; his breathing was steady and his heartbeat was normal. Those illusory military ranks and tens of millions of Star Coins did not stir even a ripple in his pitch-black eyes.

"Have you argued enough?"

Su Chen spoke calmly.

His voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable coldness that instantly silenced the surrounding, frenzied big shots.

Su Chen did not accept any of the contracts.

He turned his head directly, his gaze passing over the surrounding crowd to look at Major General Lei Wuji of the Zhenyuan Army, who was standing at the edge of the stage, having just finished dealing with Patriarch Zhao Batian, and was now looking over with a face full of anticipation.

"General Lei," Su Chen said.

Lei Wuji's eyes lit up. He strode forward, shoving aside the admissions directors blocking his way.

"Kid, what do you say? As long as you nod, you can name any condition! My Zhenyuan Army can afford it!" Lei Wuji's voice was like a booming bell.

"I can join the Zhenyuan Army," Su Chen said calmly.

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding university representatives and consortium leaders let out collective sighs of disappointment. The admissions directors, who had been red-faced with arguments just moments ago, looked extremely unwilling, but none dared to snatch a recruit from Lei Wuji, who held heavy military power.

Lei Wuji was overjoyed and was just about to pat his chest to guarantee the benefits.

"But..."

Su Chen shifted the topic, directly interrupting Lei Wuji.

He looked at this iron-blooded general of the Martial King Realm and said slowly, "I have two conditions."

Lei Wuji raised a hand, full of heroic spirit: "Don't just say two, even twenty is fine! Name them!"

Su Chen held up his first finger: "First, I still want to spend a few years settling down at the Great Xia's highest martial arts institution. Before graduating from university, I will only be registered in the reserves of the Zhenyuan Army and will not need to perform military duties. After graduation, I will officially enlist."

Su Chen knew very well that although the military was good, there were too many rules and heavy tasks, which would greatly restrict his ways of freely obtaining origin points. On the other hand, top universities possessed abundant Secret Realm resources and a relatively free environment, which was exactly what he needed most right now.

Lei Wuji frowned slightly, but immediately nodded: "No problem! A good blade needs to be polished; I'll keep that reserve slot for you!"

Su Chen then held up his second finger, pointing in the direction of the medical team below the stage.

"Second, I want to bring someone with me."

Su Chen's voice was steady but powerful: "Jiang Feng, who was just carried down, is my brother. Wherever I go, he goes."

Hearing this condition, Lei Wuji froze for a moment.

He was used to seeing those so-called geniuses who abandoned old friends once they gained power, or even turned against their own fathers for resources. In this world, selfishness was the norm.

He had originally thought Su Chen would ask for some divine weapon or sky-high priced exotic beast essence blood.

Yet he never expected that at his Peak moment under the gaze of tens of thousands, the only substantive request Su Chen made was actually to bring along that fat boy who had risked his life for him.

After a brief moment of shock,

"Hahahahaha!"

Lei Wuji burst into a hearty and extremely delighted laugh. He slapped Su Chen's shoulder heavily, the admiration and fervor in his eyes even more intense than when he saw Su Chen shatter the battle armor earlier.

"Good kid! Loyal and righteous! In my life, I hate those ungrateful wolves who turn their backs on you for a few bones the most! This temperament of yours suits my taste perfectly!"

Lei Wuji's eyes shone brightly: "That kid Jiang Feng was also a tough bone on stage just now! No problem! As long as you come to my Zhenyuan Army after graduation, I'll take care of your brother's military rank and treatment as well!"

With their quick exchange, the matter was directly settled.

Meanwhile, the surrounding university admissions directors, who had originally given up hope, seemed to suddenly realize something, and their eyes once again shone with the green light of hungry wolves.

"Wait!"

The middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses from Kyoto First Martial Arts University squeezed forward abruptly, his face flushed as he shouted, "Student Su Chen! You just said that before going to the Zhenyuan Army, you still have to go to university first, right?!"

The other admissions directors also woke up as if from a dream!

That's right! This kid only agreed to go to the Zhenyuan Army after graduation, which meant he hadn't chosen a school for his four golden years of college cultivation yet!

"Student Su Chen! Since you want to go to university, our Kyoto First Martial Arts University is absolutely the top choice!"

The gold-rimmed glasses man yelled at the top of his lungs: "The Great Xia's most top-tier Abyss Simulation Secret Realm and the largest Ancient Martial Arts Library are both in our Kyoto! If you go anywhere else, it would be a complete waste of God's gifts!"

"Bullshit! Our Magic City War God Academy's practical combat resources are the real number one..."

The scramble that had just died down plunged into an even more frenzied, white-hot state once again because of Su Chen's first condition.

Su Chen looked at the university representatives who had fallen into madness once more, his gaze finally landing on the gold-rimmed glasses man from Kyoto First Martial Arts University.

He knew that Kyoto was the absolute center of power and resources in the entire Great Xia. Not only did it house the headquarters of top consortia like the Lin family and the Zhao family, but it also had countless unexplored abyss rifts and S-class Secret Realms.

For Su Chen, who needed a massive amount of "origin points" to unlock his cheats, Kyoto was the most fertile hunting ground.

"I can go to Kyoto,"

Su Chen spoke calmly, cutting off all the arguments.

The gold-rimmed glasses man was overjoyed, so excited that the contract in his hand was trembling.

"But it's still the same condition." Su Chen looked at him, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. "I must bring Jiang Feng."

The gold-rimmed glasses man froze for half a second.

Kyoto First Martial Arts University's admission standards were extremely strict; every single slot was worth a fortune.

But when he thought of the Tier 1 Martial Artist strength Jiang Feng had displayed on the stage just now, as well as his powerful A-grade Titan Giant Bear Bloodline, this kind of practical combat talent was already qualified to enter a martial arts university anyway. What's more, this was the sole condition to secure Su Chen—this province's Top Scorer and a once-in-a-century physical technique Prodigy!

Buy one, get one free—this deal was an absolute steal!

"No problem!"

The gold-rimmed glasses man made the decision on the spot without hesitation, "Student Jiang Feng's practical combat ability displayed just now is fully up to standard! On behalf of Kyoto First Martial Arts University, I specially recruit both of you to enroll at the same time! All resources and benefits will be of the highest specification!"

Su Chen nodded slightly.

"It's a deal."

With this, the ownership of the Top Scorer was completely settled.

The situation on the field seemed to have concluded perfectly. Su Chen had not only secured the highest honor, but had also earned a bright future with limitless potential for his brother.

He turned around and took a step, preparing to walk down from this scorch-marked stage.

However,

at the absolute instant he turned around,

"Weng—!"

deep within Su Chen's mind, his Observation Haki—which had been kept active at its lowest power state—sounded a shrill red alert to the absolute extreme without any warning!

Su Chen's footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

He abruptly lowered his head, his gaze piercing fiercely through the scorched alloy stage beneath his feet, looking deep into the underground of the Arena.

There,

a dark-red Abyss Altar energy that he had locked onto long ago,

like a supervolcano completely detonated, expanded thousands of times over within a thousandth of a second!