High Martial Arts: Grinding for the Supreme Talent

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Red List Update, National Top 100

Lin Qi turned his attention to the message that popped up.

[Yang Jian, congratulations on your victory.]

[Congratulations on successfully passing your promotion match!]

[Points +3]

[Congratulations, you have reached 1000 Points and have successfully been promoted to the Bright Moon Rank!]

[Nickname: Yang Jian]

[Rank: Bright Moon]

[Win Rate: 90%]

[Points: 1002]

[Ranking (Cang Province): 8]

...

A smile spread across Lin Qi’s face as he looked at the Bright Moon Rank on his status panel.

He had finally been promoted to the Bright Moon Rank.

He had secured the three million Xia Country Coins.

Furthermore, his ranking in Cang Province had risen again, making him the eighth genius to be promoted to the Bright Moon Rank.

Seven others in Cang Province had already been promoted to the Bright Moon Rank before him.

Lin Qi remembered that he was ranked 20th in Cang Province during the final exams, but in the Red Realm, he had relied on his Martial Arts to break into the top ten.

”Continue matchmaking!”

Seeing that he still had some time, Lin Qi chose to continue matchmaking. He wanted to take advantage of the high number of experts online to spar with them more.

...

In the Virtual City lobby, many people were sitting in the rest area.

Knowing they had no hope of being promoted to the Bright Moon Rank, they just watched the rankings, seeing people get promoted one after another.

For them, this was also a kind of entertainment.

”Look, someone else got promoted to the Bright Moon Rank!” someone shouted.

Countless gazes turned to the Red List on the big screen, discovering that the name in 8th place had changed.

[Eighth Place: Yang Jian, Rank: Bright Moon]

”Who is Yang Jian?” This was the question on many people’s minds.

”Where did this Yang Jian suddenly come from?” The crowd was puzzled; the name was completely unfamiliar.

”This Yang Jian seems to be an expert. I don’t think his rank was very high before!” someone said.

”I know him. He’s a mysterious expert who wears a mask and uses Spear Technique. I was matched against him a while ago and he one-shotted me with his spear,” someone spoke up.

The crowd looked at the speaker and realized he was a relatively well-known expert.

For an expert like him to be one-shotted by Yang Jian meant Yang Jian was definitely a top-tier expert.

And in some nearby seats, the expressions of Lv Xiang, Wu Feng, and Qiu Siying changed.

”Yang Jian got promoted to the Bright Moon Rank? So fast?” Qiu Siying blinked in surprise.

”It seems this Yang Jian is a Top Level expert. Losing to him before was no injustice,” Wu Feng said, shaking his head.

Guo Heng abruptly stood up. ”Even Yang Jian has been promoted to the Bright Moon Rank. I can’t fall behind him.”

”No time to rest. I have to get back to matchmaking.”

”I have to get into the top ten, too.”

With that, he decided not to rest any longer and entered a Virtual Cabin to start matchmaking.

”Looks like Aheng got fired up!”

”He rested for less than an hour. Can his Spirit handle it?” the three worried.

...

Half an hour later, Lin Qi returned.

”Brother Qi, are you done matchmaking?” Wu Feng asked, handing him an energy drink.

Lin Qi shook his head. ”No more for now.”

”It’s fine if you didn’t get promoted to the Bright Moon Rank. It’s really tough,” Lv Xiang said comfortingly.

Lin Qi just smiled after hearing this and didn’t explain.

He glanced at the Red List. The number of people who had been promoted to the Bright Moon Rank had now reached 10.

The ninth-place spot was occupied by Battle Axe Bear.

Lin Qi took a look, left the virtual lobby, and returned to the Martial Arts Room. After eating three nutritional meals and finding his Spirit was still high, he began his training for the day.

...

Time slowly passed, and the 12:00 deadline drew closer.

The geniuses of the Red Realm were still fighting hard, while more people were focused on how many could get promoted to the Bright Moon Rank.

Inside an arena...

”CLANG! CLANG!”

Guo Heng swung his Battle Saber, madly clashing with his opponent who wielded a Long Spear. In an instant, he suddenly exploded with power.

Focusing all his strength into his Battle Saber, he consecutively swung twice from left and right in an extremely short time.

Gold Shattering Saber Technique’s third Killing Technique—Shattering Cross Slash!

The first slash knocked back his opponent’s Long Spear!

The second slash displayed terrifying destructive power, slitting his opponent’s throat and ending the battle.

He watched as his opponent fell and disappeared before his eyes.

Guo Heng’s expression was ecstatic, and he began to laugh wildly.

”Haha, I finally made it to Bright Moon!”

...

Meanwhile, in another arena...

”CLANG! CLANG!”

”Just give up, kid. There’s no point in resisting any longer.”

”Why not just surrender and move on to the next match? You might even get promoted then!”

The speaker was a lean man in his twenties wielding a Longsword. His Swordsmanship was as swift as the wind.

Even while attacking, he had enough spare energy to taunt his opponent.

Jiangtao remained unmoved, weaving a defensive circle with his Battle Saber, struggling to block the attacks.

The next moment, just as his opponent opened his mouth to speak again, Jiangtao suddenly erupted with power.

His Battle Saber and the Longsword collided. He used the force of the impact to spin, closing the distance until their bodies were nearly touching. He unleashed a burst of power, swinging his saber in a perfect circular arc—fast, ruthless, and precise.

Third Killing Technique—Full Moon Slash!

”PFFT!”

The man’s throat was slit, and he disappeared from the ground in disbelief.

”Whew...”

Jiangtao returned to his personal Space and shouted out in excitement.

”I won!”

He looked at the notification on his panel about his promotion to Bright Moon, his expression thrilled.

”I finally got promoted to the Bright Moon Rank!”

’Three million Xia Country Coins in the bag. Now Amiao and I will have enough resources for next semester.’

After seeing his own rank of 15th on the Red List, Jiangtao logged off, satisfied.

He had been matchmaking all day, and his Spirit was about to give out.

”BEEP!”

After getting out of the Virtual Cabin, his eyes fell upon the Red List.

’I wonder if Brother Qi got promoted!’

This time, he was smarter and started searching from the top of the list.

When he saw the name ”Yang Jian” in eighth place, his eyes widened in disbelief.

”Holy crap, 8th place? That’s insane!”

’Brother Qi seems to have gotten even stronger?!’

Jiangtao was shocked. ’It feels like Brother Qi is getting stronger and stronger, while the gap between us just keeps widening.’

...

Time slowly crept toward midnight, but the virtual lobby of the Red Dome Martial Arts Dojo was still bustling.

Lin Qi, Guo Heng, Jiangtao, and the others had all gathered in the virtual lobby.

They watched the red list projected in the air as several numbers appeared.

[3... 2... 1...]

[12:00!]

”The event is over!” someone said.

”In our Cang Province, a total of 28 people successfully got promoted to the Bright Moon Rank.”

Guo Heng looked at his 11th-place ranking, feeling a bit dissatisfied. He felt he could have ranked higher.

”The Red List is updating!”

The crowd looked at the Red List. The crimson leaderboard dissipated, then re-formed into a ball of fire.

”BOOM!”

With intense special effects, a massive, realistic crimson flame exploded, enveloping the virtual lobby before quickly coalescing into a new list.

[Red List (Xia Country)]

[1st Place: Kunlun (Imperial Capital), Rank: Bright Moon]

[2nd Place: Martial Arts·Wu Qiu (Shanghai), Rank: Bright Moon]

[3rd Place: Majestic Sword Qi (Imperial Capital), Rank: Bright Moon]

...

[28th Place: Liy (Cang Province), Rank: Bright Moon]

...

[108th Place: Yang Jian (Cang Province), Rank: Bright Moon]

...

Everyone stared at the list.

”This update to the Red List covers all the high school seniors in the entire Xia Country. I wonder who the top three are in real life.”

”Those are the three strongest among the millions of high school seniors in all of Xia Country,” someone lamented.

”My god, our Cang Province’s Liy is only ranked 28th?!” someone shouted, eyes wide.

”What? Liy is already so strong, but he’s only 28th? What kind of monsters are those top three?” someone exclaimed in amazement.

”Our Cang Province is one of the top ten Martial Arts provinces in the entire Xia Country, yet our strongest, Chen Li, is only ranked 28th, and Wang Qiufeng is even lower at 35th. How can this be?”

Qiu Siying was crestfallen, unable to accept such rankings.

Lin Qi and the others also sighed. There were just too many geniuses.

”It’s perfectly normal!” Guo Heng began to explain.

”The Imperial Capital and Shanghai—those two cities concentrate the most Martial Arts resources in our Xia Country. They are true Martial Arts Sacred Lands.”

”The headquarters of the Three Great Martial Arts Dojos and the three top academies are all located in those two cities.”

”Half of the top thirty belong to them. The rest are from other strong provinces like North River Province, Shu Province, and Jiangnan Province.”

”There’s an endless stream of geniuses out there. Every time the Red List updates, it’s a reality check for all of us.”

Jiangtao shook his head as he looked at his own ranking, which was close to 200th.

Lin Qi didn’t say anything. His rank was 108th, which was even higher than he had expected.

’If I had played a few more matches, could I have broken into the top 100?’ he wondered.

He was ranked 503rd nationally in his final exams, but in the Red Realm, he had nearly broken into the top 100.

’To put it bluntly, it’s my Qi and Blood Value holding me back.’

’Martial Arts can be improved quickly with Comprehension, closing the gap.’

’But the Qi and Blood Value can only be ground up slowly and constantly with resources.’

’Others have spent over a decade and who knows how many resources polishing their Qi Blood, yet I’ve surpassed them in just a few months. I should be content with that.’

He looked at the top three people on the list, firmly committing their nicknames to memory. They were all future targets for him to surpass.

...