Chapter 80

Xiaoming didn't pay much attention to the gossip caused by his date with the popular teenage beauty Qin Xia'er on the street. Two days later, Li Pu, carrying his backpack, arrived at the entrance of Yingyu Academy, located in the suburbs of Yanjing City. In front of the gate stood a massive iron eagle statue, with many iron feathers inscribed with names. They seemed to be the names of the elite graduates from this school.

"Phew~" Li Pu walked to the reception room, where a tall, muscular man with a square face and a military demeanor was in charge. He checked Li Pu's letter of introduction and nodded, saying, "Hmm, it's from Old Feng, but whether you can enroll still requires a basic assessment."

"What kind of assessment?" Li Pu smiled, "Not a fight or something, right?"

"Basically, you're right." The square-faced man said matter-of-factly, "While physical abilities need to be tested, the most important part is a fight. Losing doesn't necessarily mean you can't enroll, as long as you show enough potential."

After saying that, he made a phone call. Soon, a short-haired man in camouflage walked in. He glanced at Li Pu, who was clearly around seventeen or eighteen years old, and said succinctly, "Follow me."

Li Pu followed him inside and soon entered a fully equipped gym. There were about twenty people in the room, both men and women, ranging from girls and boys younger than Li Pu to young adults over twenty. When they saw a new person enter, some looked at him curiously, while others continued their training.

But Li Pu was also surprised—he saw a little girl with a watermelon-head hairstyle, who looked to be around the second grade, with a few crystal-clear water droplets, about two to three centimeters in diameter, floating above her tender little hands, rotating in an arc like celestial bodies.

"…Psychokinesis?" Li Pu exhaled, this school truly harbors many talented individuals.

"Yan Xiaoyan, come and spar with this student," the short-haired instructor, Gao Shan, called out to a lively girl with a boyish haircut.

The girl named Yan Xiaoyan walked over and glanced at Li Pu. She had delicate and well-proportioned features, was about the same age as Li Pu, and was slightly taller. Her body was well-built like a gymnast, with just the right amount of muscle that didn't detract from her feminine figure, exuding a healthy and vibrant energy.

"Bro Gao, is he a new student who came to enroll today? Is he in the physical abilities program?" Yan Xiaoyan, who was clearly familiar with the instructor, smiled brightly at him.

"Yes, Old Feng recommended him, saying his skills are quite good," Gao Shan nodded, "You're the fourth-best in the physical abilities program, but you still need to be careful."

"Alright~" Yan Xiaoyan shrugged and raised her eyebrows at Li Pu, "Hi, I'm Yan Xiaoyan. Most new students who come with a recommendation letter are pretty skilled. But don't underestimate me just because I'm a girl."

"Yan-nee is really strong. She beat a new student who was recommended and made him sulk for a week," the little girl with the watermelon-head hairstyle, who was clearly close to Yan Xiaoyan, wobbled over, the water droplets on her hands dispersing. She looked at Li Pu with wide, worried eyes. Her voice was sweet, with a childlike habit of ending sentences with "yo."

A straightforward girl, Li Pu smiled, "I'm Li Pu. I believe we'll be classmates soon."

"We'll see, we'll see," Yan Xiaoyan said casually, waving at Li Pu, "Come on!"

With that, she took a fighting stance, one foot forward and the other back, looking steady and focused, yet agile and flexible, ready to unleash a powerful strike at the slightest touch.

"Feiyan Quan, Mizon Art?" Li Pu recognized that Yan Xiaoyan's skills were rooted in agile and swift movements, and her foundation was solid.

Just now, the instructor mentioned she was the fourth-best in the physical abilities program… Let's see what level the physical abilities program at this school is. With that thought, Li Pu walked straight toward the girl without any defensive stance.

Seeing Li Pu approach without a stance, Yan Xiaoyan frowned, feeling a bit underestimated.

He might be strong outside, but this is Yingyu Academy! A place where various elites are selected from over a billion people. She was the fourth-best in the physical abilities program, and many well-known veteran martial artists couldn't match her, a seventeen-year-old girl.

Since that's the case, I'll give him a taste of his own medicine.

With a focused mind, Yan Xiaoyan moved like a cat fighting a snake, twisting her steps and swiftly moving to Li Pu's blind spot on the left. She unleashed a long fist technique, "Jiaolong Qianshui," aiming at Li Pu.

Her movements were as swift as lightning, and her punch was like a thunderclap. The sound of her body resonating with the force of her punch was a sign of her advanced skills. This punch was a whole-body strike driven by her qi and blood, powerful but not using hidden force.

After all, using hidden force could easily lead to serious injury or death if not controlled properly.

Yan Xiaoyan didn't underestimate him, but her probing strike missed its target.

If he had blocked or dodged, Yan Xiaoyan wouldn't have been surprised. After all, he was recommended by Feng Kuchan, a veteran grandmaster who had reached the peak of transformational strength over a decade ago. His judgment was undoubtedly good.

If he had blocked, she could counter. If he had barely dodged, she could follow up with a series of rapid strikes. But the target of her strike seemed to have vanished.

Gao Shan, the instructor watching, frowned, a hint of surprise in his eyes. To him, Yan Xiaoyan had moved agilely to Li Pu's blind spot like a cat fighting a snake. But at the moment of her strike, Li Pu had moved like a snake, strangely shifting to her blind spot.

The cat was quick, but the snake was even more cunning!

Yan Xiaoyan felt a light tap on her shoulder. She couldn't believe it! Even in that split second, he could tap her shoulder, meaning he could have hit other parts.

By the rules of sparring, this alone would mean she had lost. But with a stubborn look in her eyes, she gritted her teeth, crouched down, and indicated, "Hmph, even if you had struck me, I could have deflected it." Then she kicked backward with a powerful leg technique, "Daodeng Zijinguang."

This technique, "Daodeng Zijinguang," was usually a surprise kick to the head. But Yan Xiaoyan's kick had a regal and confident flair, breaking the wind and increasing its speed and power with a determined mindset.

Li Pu couldn't help but admire Yan Xiaoyan's skills. With her two techniques, she could have easily defeated Chen Yunfeng, a renowned martial artist in Huanghai City, in just a few moves.

There was a sharp sound as the air compressed from the speed of her kick. This was undoubtedly a hidden force strike. Yan Xiaoyan felt she had hit her target, but she was more frustrated.

Her kick had hit something, but the force seemed to dissipate like mud into the sea, and the target didn't budge. Uh-oh, he caught my foot!

Yan Xiaoyan's small foot was caught by Li Pu. He pulled her, and she had no choice but to do a split in the air. The frustrated girl knew she wasn't a match, but she quickly exhaled, used her waist to generate force, and struck with a finger technique, "Yuan Gong Daoliao Jian," from under her armpit.

Though it was a finger strike, it had a fierce and military-like quality, capable of piercing a tree trunk to the wrist.

But Li Pu calmly pressed her shoulder, blocking the source of her force. Her finger strike was cut short, and her other shoulder was also pressed, preventing her from using any follow-up techniques.

With her force continuously blocked, the frustrated girl lost her balance and was about to fall face-first. Fortunately, Li Pu released her foot and caught her arm, helping her up.

At this point, Yan Xiaoyan couldn't bring herself to continue. She blushed, pulled her arm away, stepped back, took a deep breath to calm herself, and said bitterly, "You're so strong? This wasn't even a real match, I completely lost…"

"Wow~" The little girl with the watermelon-head hairstyle, with her big, watery eyes, watched the boy who had defeated her Xiaoyan-nee without even using a proper technique.

"You're also very good. You're the fifth strongest person I've fought, but the youngest," Li Pu smiled. Excluding Wu Yuanhuo and other overt strength martial artists, the dark-level experts he had fought included Chen Xin, Zhang Shi, Chen Yunfeng, and Feng Kuchan and Chi Fei, who had sparred with him a few times. Adding Yan Xiaoyan today, there were six people. She was the youngest but not the weakest.

Among these people, except for Chen Xin, the others, including super geniuses like Zhang Shi and veteran grandmasters like Feng Kuchan, would not be his match in a life-or-death fight—regardless of skill, his alien advantage was too strong…

"Seems like the sparring is over. Any other assessments?" Li Pu looked at Instructor Gao Shan, who had barely seen him use any techniques.

"…" Gao Shan looked deeply at Li Pu, "Old Feng's recommendation is indeed reliable. The physical test can be waived, just take the written exam."

After all, it was a special school with a military background, so a basic political review was necessary. Li Pu barely passed and, upon leaving the office, found Yan Xiaoyan and the little girl with the watermelon-head hairstyle waiting outside.

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