The Entry-plundering Demon Hunter

Chapter 154: Chapter 154: Somehow Latched Onto a Big Shot?

After a series of complex identity checks.

Lin Yi, Wei Nan, Zhou Qi, and the others were led by a staff member through a door.

After walking through, they found themselves in another small hall.

Before them was a series of large doors.

To their left, a screen displayed the records of the martial arts exam candidates who had already completed their Qi and Blood tests.

”Holy shit, they even rank this?”

Wei Nan stared at the scrolling information on the screen.

The person currently ranked first was someone named Chen Bai from Tenth Middle School.

His realm was One-Star, Second Stage.

Ranked second and third were two students from Fifth Middle School and Eighth Middle School, respectively.

They had just reached the One-Star Realm.

Further down the list were students who hadn’t reached a Star Realm yet.

Zhou Qi and the others also glanced up.

”Out of over a hundred students, only two have reached the One-Star Realm?” Sun Tao said in surprise.

Zhou Qi shot him a look. ”You really think reaching the One-Star Realm is that easy? The requirement to even take the Martial Arts Exam is Fourth Stage. That’s a high bar. Fewer than twenty percent of students can even meet that requirement. You do the math!”

Sun Tao nodded.

Then, numbers began to appear on the electronic screens above the doors across the hall.

”My turn! See you guys, I’m heading in!”

When Sun Tao’s number appeared on a screen, he took a deep breath and turned back to wave at Lin Yi and the others.

The others gave him encouraging looks.

With a determined stride, Sun Tao walked toward the testing room.

Just after he went inside, Zhou Qi, Shen Mengyi, and the other students who had come in with them were also called into different testing rooms one after another.

Finally, Wei Nan’s and Lin Yi’s numbers were displayed as well.

The two exchanged a smile, saying nothing.

Then they walked toward their respective testing rooms.

When Lin Yi arrived at testing room #8, he knocked and walked in.

Inside, he found several staff members wearing white lab coats and surgical masks.

Various instruments were laid out in front of them.

In the center of the room stood a new model of testing apparatus.

Lin Yi handed over his identification, number card, and exam admission ticket.

After checking them, a staff member said, ”Go stand over by the apparatus.”

”Yes, sir!”

Lin Yi nodded and walked towards the apparatus.

It was a testing apparatus about as tall as a person, and it required no manual operation.

All one had to do was step inside and wait.

The person’s various physical stats, as well as their Qi and Blood and realm, would be displayed on the staff’s terminals.

As long as a candidate reached the Fourth Stage, they were considered to have passed the screening.

The moment Lin Yi stepped into the apparatus, a tingling sensation washed over him, as if something was scanning him.

This was followed by a faint humming sound.

Lin Yi patiently stood there.

Suddenly, he noticed the expressions on the faces of the staff members across from him change.

They stared at the computer screen in astonishment.

Then they glanced back at Lin Yi inside the apparatus.

Their heads swiveled back and forth between Lin Yi and the computer, the movement growing faster and more frantic.

”How is that possible? A high school senior with such a high realm?”

”Three-Star? Is the apparatus malfunctioning?”

”It was working fine just a moment ago. There’s no way it’s broken!”

”A high schooler, reaching the Three-Star Realm? That’s just insane, isn’t it?”

Although they did their best to keep their voices down, Lin Yi heard them clearly.

Lin Yi wasn’t at all surprised by their shocked and dumbfounded expressions.

That guy, Lishi, from Beihai River, was only at the Two-Star Realm, yet when the school principal invited him over, he was the talk of the entire school.

Given that Lin Yi had a Three-Star cultivation, it was only natural they couldn’t believe it.

After all, this was unprecedented...

Before him, no one had ever reached the Three-Star Realm while still in high school.

And certainly, no one at the Three-Star Realm had ever participated in the Martial Arts Exam.

”Sirs, is the test done yet?”

Having waited a long time and seeing they hadn’t produced a result, Lin Yi was getting impatient.

”Young man, please wait just a moment!”

”Okay!”

Lin Yi nodded and could only wait patiently.

He watched as the staff member who had spoken quickly pulled out a cell phone and made a call.

After briefly explaining the situation, he turned, walked back, and asked Lin Yi to step out of the apparatus.

They then inspected the machine, and after confirming it was working perfectly, had Lin Yi get back inside.

They went back and forth like this three times, and Lin Yi started to get annoyed.

”Sirs, is it done yet?”

The staff members exchanged a glance.

Just now, they had each taken a turn in the apparatus, and the results were all accurate.

In other words, there was nothing wrong with the apparatus.

This student before them named Lin Yi... really was at the Three-Star Realm.

One of the staff members gave him a look full of complex emotions.

”O-Okay, it’s done. Please, just wait a moment...”

With that, they uploaded Lin Yi’s test data.

「Meanwhile, outside the testing rooms.」

Wei Nan, Zhou Qi, Shen Mengyi, and the others had already been out for a while.

Zhou Qi was temporarily at the top of the leaderboard with his realm of One-Star, Fourth Stage.

Wei Nan was ranked second at One-Star, Third Stage.

Sun Tao and Shen Mengyi had both broken through to the One-Star Realm as well, ranking high on the list.

Only Lin Yi’s data was still missing.

They waited outside for a good ten minutes or so, but still didn’t see Lin Yi come out of the testing room.

”What’s going on? Why isn’t he out yet?”

”Don’t you just get in the machine? It should only take two or three minutes.”

An anxious Wei Nan stood on his tiptoes outside testing room #8, trying to peer inside.

But he couldn’t see a thing and had no idea what was happening inside.

Zhou Qi’s brow was deeply furrowed. ”Let’s just wait a bit longer.”

Shen Mengyi also nodded. ”Maybe Senior Brother Lin’s realm is too high for the apparatus to detect? Hehehe...”

But just as she finished speaking.

Suddenly, someone screamed, ”HOLY SHIT!”

Everyone else turned to look.

Seeing that person staring at the large screen with a look of terror, Wei Nan, Zhou Qi, and the others also looked up.

When they saw the name in the number one spot, they were all petrified.

Lin Yi, Three-Star Realm, Ranked First.

For a moment, everyone—be it Wei Nan, Zhou Qi, and Shen Mengyi, or the total strangers from other schools—was shocked into silence by the information on the screen.

”What the fuck... Three-Star?”

”What kind of monster is this Lin Yi guy?”

”A Three-Star Realm? How did he do that?”

”My God, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone at the Three-Star Realm participating in the Martial Arts Exam.”

An unknown amount of time passed.

Eventually, someone in the crowd snapped out of it.

Staring at the unchanging data on the screen, all they could manage was another ”Holy shit.”

Wei Nan’s lips trembled.

After a long moment, he choked out, ”He lied to me. Lin Yi lied to me...”

Shen Mengyi gave him a strange look. ”What did Senior Brother Lin lie to you about?”

”He... he told me he had a small goal—to break through to the Two-Star Realm before the Martial Arts Exam.

Now look, he’s already at Three-Star...”

”That’s Lin Yi for you. I always knew there was more to him than meets the eye!” Sun Tao said, his face full of envy.

Even the look in Zhou Qi’s eyes dimmed a little.

The truth was, all along, whether it was Zhou Qi, Sun Tao, Hu Quan, or the others from the Martial Arts Hall, they had all viewed Lin Yi as their target, desperately trying to catch up to him.

There was even an unspoken understanding that had formed between them.

If any one of them could catch up to Lin Yi, or even win a single exchange during sparring, they would consider it a success.

But today, after seeing Lin Yi’s realm, they finally realized just how vast the gulf between them truly was.

For them, just reaching the One-Star Realm was a satisfying achievement.

Reaching the Two-Star Realm would be cause for immense pride.

The Three-Star Realm was something they couldn’t even dream of.

At least for now, it was a far-off, distant goal.

And yet... that distant goal.

Lin Yi had already reached it.

In that moment, each of them was filled with an indescribably complex mix of emotions.

A flash of disappointment crossed the eyes of Zhou Qi, who had thought the gap between himself and Lin Yi wasn’t all that large.

Wei Nan was only pretending to cry; in reality, he was probably even happier than Lin Yi was for himself.

Just based on his friendship with Lin Yi, he had inexplicably managed to latch onto a powerhouse.