Soaring Rankings

That should be it. After swallowing the Crimson Star Pills three times previously, my Soul Level rose more slowly than my Life Level, and the two were almost neck and neck, Fang Yu thought to himself. But this time, the first-stage awakening of my Star Aspect didn't just cause my Life Level to soar—my Soul Level shot up by a massive margin as well. His Life Level had increased by nearly four levels. His Soul Level had climbed by nearly five levels. In a sense, his soul and spiritual force had advanced even more than his Life Level this time, with his spiritual force nearing Level 30... With powerful spiritual force, sensing the muscles, bones, and flesh of his body with conscious awareness was naturally far easier. No wonder. Many Advanced Martial Artists were merely Intermediate Martial Artists when studying at martial arts universities and could never achieve the skill level of Great Accomplishment in Entering the Minute, yet after years of painstaking cultivation upon graduating, nearly all of them can break through, Fang Yu thought. With a higher foundation, breaking through in martial technique is indeed much easier. Among Advanced Martial Artists, reaching Great Accomplishment in Entering the Minute with their physical technique was the norm. This was not because of exceptional talent. Rather, it stemmed from accumulated cultivation and the blessing of their gradually growing spiritual force... One's foundation determined one's baseline. When Fang Yu was at Life Level 20, his body had already reached Great Accomplishment in Entering the Minute, demonstrating his martial talent... Now, with his spiritual force continuously soaring alongside his persistent, devout cultivation, reaching the pinnacle of Entering the Minute was only natural. Whoosh! Whoosh! Fang Yu continued to practice his saber technique. At full explosive power, his speed accelerated, moving like a swimming dragon breaking from the water, weaving through waves with agile nimbleness. His saber light stirred like billowing clouds, blazing fast to the utmost limit, making it impossible to defend against. "Exhilarating!" "How exhilarating!" Fang Yu felt an immense surge of satisfaction. Under this immaculate control over his body, he could almost hear the gurgling flow of his blood, and faintly, he seemed capable of "seeing" the minute shifts in every fiber of muscle across his limbs. Though it wasn't true sight, it was still incredible. It even gave him the illusory sensation of having his destiny firmly grasped in his own hands. "Strength—this is what true power feels like." A smile formed on Fang Yu's lips. "Unleashing the pinnacle of Entering the Minute, Xia Tao won't necessarily be my match." His base strength was still inferior to the other boy's! Yet Fang Yu was confident that in terms of body control and muscle depth, Xia Tao most likely hadn't attained his level... Xia Tao had reached his fourth year without becoming an Advanced Martial Artist, making him among the weaker students in the Earth Academy despite having such a formidable family background. ... Three hours later, the Scarlet Flame Squad had traveled five kilometers into a forested mountain area. Leaping up into the trees, they looked down at the hillside below. A pack of giant bears covered in silver fur was lazily basking in the sun. The larger ones would easily stand over three meters tall on their hind legs. "Back on Blue Star, you'd never see this many bears gather in one spot," Xiong Meng couldn't resist whispering. "There wouldn't even be enough food to feed them." "For so many powerful beasts to grow, they mainly rely on star force." Fang Yu smiled, but then turned serious. "Everyone, act according to the situation. Remember, don't take unnecessary risks. Block them off if you can." "I'll go test the waters first." Fang Yu lightly exerted force through his legs. Carrying his war saber on his back, he dropped from the tree like an agile cat. His speed surged rapidly, covering over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, nearly vanishing from Bai Chen and the others' sight. "Keep up." "Hurry." Bai Chen, Qin Yang, and the others swiftly followed. A minute later. The tranquil grassy hillside erupted into chaos. Over a dozen massive silver bears roared in fury, swarming to attack the human martial artist in their center. Compared to these silver bears, Fang Yu looked tiny. Whoosh! Whoosh! Like a phantom, Fang Yu burst and shifted in rapid succession, slipping out from under the giant paws of the silver bears time and time again, utilizing the gaps between their massive bodies to evade attacks. Even with his high Life Level and protective combat suit, he dared not clash head-on with these frenzied silver bears. Trading blow for blow was something only a fool would do. What Fang Yu sought was precise command over the flow of the battlefield—a crowd-control ability in the midst of an encirclement that even many Advanced Martial Artists could not match! Slash! Spurt! Saber light flashed, unpredictable and ever-shifting. Every slash landed with astonishing precision, carving massive gashes across the bodies of the silver bears one after another. Spurred by the scent of blood, Thud! Thud! The silver bears grew increasingly rabid, their paws stamping down and shaking the ground beneath them. Yet their bodies were too bulky; at most two or three could attack Fang Yu at any given moment. Riiip! Another upward slash whipped out, slicing cleanly into the neck of a silver bear leader. Blood gushed like a geyser as the bear crashed heavily to the ground, its gigantic frame convulsing. In less than ten minutes, most of the pack's leaders had fallen, and the other adult silver bears were covered in wounds. Their morale finally broke, and they scattered in sheer terror in every direction. "Don't run!" Fang Yu gave chase, but he couldn't intercept them all. Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Several sharp arrows pierced the air in quick succession. One sank directly into the skull of a silver bear, while two more struck the bodies of others. "Kill!" "Cut them off!" Having lain in ambush along the bears' escape routes, Bai Chen, Xiong Meng, and the others charged out immediately, doing everything they could to intercept them. ... Moments later, the battle ended. The silver bear pack was nearly wiped out. "Haha, awesome!" "Taking down a silver bear pack this easily—I wouldn't have dared imagine it." "Easy? It was easy for us, but not for Fang Yu. Watching that whole pack swarm him had my heart in my throat. If that were me, I'd have been severely injured in the first exchange." "The harvest will definitely be huge." The members of the Scarlet Flame Squad were thrilled. Although Fang Yu had done the heavy lifting and earned the lion's share of Primordial Points, even getting a slice of the leftovers yielded far more than hunting ordinary Level 20 fierce beasts. Not to mention the spoils of war—the haul from this single battle alone surpassed their previous two days combined. "Standard procedure: the three of us will butcher the carcasses. Xia Yao, Qin Yang, you two search the surroundings to see if there are any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures," Bai Chen commanded. An hour later, looking at the mountain of bear pelts and materials alongside more than thirty stalks of Crimson Star Grass, smiles broke out on everyone's faces. Suddenly, "Fang Yu, your overall ranking has broken into the top 500," Xia Yao said. "Top 500?" "Already in the top 500?" Xiong Meng was slightly astonished. "If I remember right, Brother Fang's base score is still stuck at his Junior-College-to-Undergraduate Upgrade assessment score, right? Once the practical combat ends and his base score is re-evaluated, won't Brother Fang's ranking skyrocket even further?" Just advancing his Life Level from 20.1 to 26.2 would substantially increase his base score. When multiplied by his coefficient score, the increase would be all the more staggering. "Undoubtedly!" "With Fang Yu's strength, I wouldn't be surprised if he lands straight in the top 100 once the assessment ends," Bai Chen chuckled. "If this weren't his very first practical combat, I'd say he'd even have a shot at breaking into the top 50." Fang Yu smiled at the remark. The vast majority of elite students were no longer his equal in combat strength, but they had already taken part in one or two practical combat assessments and had accumulated coefficient scores. Bai Chen, for instance, had already increased his coefficient score to 1.6. As for the fourth-year Earth Academy students, most had attained Life Level 20 back in their first year and had undergone four or five practical combat periods; their coefficient scores were all above 2.0, with some even approaching 3.0. For now, he couldn't catch up to them. A coefficient score of 1.5? Fang Yu's gaze drifted across his communication star ring as he mused, Am I finally ranked first? In the battle just now, Fang Yu had been the core fighter and earned the most Primordial Points, gaining over 60 points in that single fight... His coefficient score had also reached 1.5. He was the first among the fourth-year freshmen to achieve a coefficient score of 1.5. ... In a mountain forest within the Wilderness Zone, the members of the Black Ice Squad were resting, looks of gloom clouding their faces. They had just suffered a defeat. "Huh?" Looking sullen, Fan Xing suddenly felt a slight vibration from the communication star ring on his arm. He glanced down, and disbelief flashed across his eyes. "How is that possible?! How did he surpass me so fast?" "Fan Xing?" "Something wrong?" Xia Tao, sitting not far away, frowned. "Captain, my spot on the freshman rankings was taken," Fan Xing muttered in a low voice. "It's that Fang Yu we ran into last time. His coefficient score reached 1.5." "1.5?" "A student admitted from junior college can be that formidable?" The other members of the Black Ice Squad were somewhat surprised. In their eyes, it was already rare for a junior college student to produce an elite student like Fan Xing. There was someone even stronger? "Fang Yu? The one from the Scarlet Flame Squad?" Xia Tao narrowed his eyes slightly. When they clashed with the Scarlet Flame Squad last time, only Bai Chen had left an impression on him. Fang Yu? He hadn't paid him much attention. "Yeah," Fan Xing nodded hurriedly. "You're too useless. You're following me—isn't that far better than him tagging along with the Scarlet Flame Squad? Yet you can't even keep up with him?" Xia Tao frowned slightly. "I've given you plenty of opportunities." Fan Xing gritted his teeth. Opportunities? In the Black Ice Squad, his strength was practically at the bottom. What Xia Tao called "opportunities" were actually extremely hazardous tasks. Could he really be blamed? "Don't worry too much. What I promised, I'll naturally do my best to help with," Xia Tao said, patting Fan Xing on the shoulder. "Work hard on your own... Furthermore, if we run into the Scarlet Flame Squad again, go break that Fang Yu's legs." "Huh?" Fan Xing froze. "Break his legs. Once he's injured, he naturally won't be able to participate in hunts anymore, so he won't be a threat to you," Xia Tao said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "But the university..." Fan Xing hesitated. Though he had backing of his own, it wasn't on par with Xia Tao's. "Scared?" "If you don't have the guts, what the hell are you even talking about?" Xia Tao shook his head. "It's not like I'm telling you to kill him. Just fracture his bones. It's not crippling him permanently, so what can the university say? As long as you don't admit to it, that's that. Who'd have proof?" Whoosh! "Enough." "Let's go and try one more time. I refuse to believe it," Xia Tao stood up, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. "Can a pack of beasts really hold me back?" In his mind, squabbles among freshmen were merely trivial matters. Fan Xing and the others hastily followed behind. ... Inside the space base. In a martial arts training hall spanning over a thousand square meters, a young woman clad in black wielded a war sword, practicing at a deliberate, slow pace. Her movements were slow, yet imbued with an extraordinary, aesthetic grace. Outer Vista. The peak of the internal seeks the external to achieve harmony between within and without. Why is this path of Outer Vista so difficult? Associate Professor Tang pondered deeply. Suddenly, Knock, knock, knock. A sound came from outside. "Open," Associate Professor Tang said, sheathing her sword. The metallic door slid open automatically. "Associate Professor Tang," the middle-aged man at the door bowed slightly. "Teacher Li, is there something?" Associate Professor Tang asked with a slight furrow of her brow. "Among this year's fourth-year freshmen, someone has reached a coefficient score of 1.5," Teacher Li reported. "1.5? The practical combat period is only barely halfway through, right?" Associate Professor Tang was somewhat puzzled. "Who is it? That Fan Xing?" "No." "It's Fang Yu."