I woke up in my seat a few moments later, with Iyana waiting beside me. Seeing me wake up her mood elevated. 'Aw, did she worry about me? She is not heartless after all.' Just then she held her forward.
"Pills, two 1st Rank Rejuvenation Pills. Compensate them." 'Of course...'
"Don't bullshit me, I know the Institute takes care of the injuries. If you need more low-rank pills just tell the Elder."
"Tch, cheapskate."
'Would you look at that, she tried to con me right after my glorious fight. Women have no heart these days...'
"So, how was your match?"
"Easy as it would get, why do you even ask?"
"Who knows, maybe she chanced upon a treasure that makes your physique ineffective."
"Not everyone has Ye Tian levels of luck. Anyway, rest well. I don't want to be called cripple-beater tomorrow." She said standing up.
"Hey I'm not crippled, just slightly cut and a few bones broken. Will be good as New tomorrow." She didn't listen as she walked away. 'At least help me to the inn! Just you wait, tomorrow I will beat the hell out of you!' It was my wishful thinking...
"Hello everyone! I, your announcer Herman Huang, am with you again today with The Crimson Blade of Huoshan, Ronan Huo! We are witnessing a couple fight today, let's see who has the say in the family! What are your thoughts, Daoist Crimson Blade?"
"As I said yesterday, the winner is already decided. And I would say that with her physique, Iyana Jiang would always have the say. It is not to say Young Master Axel is weak. He has shown incredible mastery with the whip and close-quarter combat, it's just that he won't have any chance to capitalise on his strengths. If he has a similar artefact to one Ava Jiang had, then I would say he would be the favourite to win."
"I agree, now let's not waste any more time, both fighters are on to the stage, please. Finals of Martial Examination, start!"
With the cue, we started circling the arena. She didn't talk because she knew it was basically ineffective on me.
"She seems to not want to use her physique, what do you say Daoist Crimson Blade?"
"It is likely she knows something we don't. It could be that he already has an artefact ready, so he would be unaffected. Or it could be that she is showing some leniency to her fiance. I honestly don't know."
It didn't take long to assess each other's strengths. I already had my whip out, she was also taking out her Guqin.
"Oh! Looks like Iyana Jiang is taking out her weapon, which weapon does she use?"
"It is an instrument weapon, guqin. It is a rather soft-sounding instrument. You can attack both body and soul with these kinds of weapons. It needs special verses to do so and effect varies on users skill. Now we can be sure that she won't go easy on him."
'I had listened to her playing guqin before, but I don't really know how much I can take before I pass out. I won't let her finish it!'
I cracked my whip, the tip reaching her in an instant. 'Even Ye Tian couldn't dodge and had to block these strikes, there is no way she would be able to-'
"What an incredible dodge from Iyana Jiang, she didn't move an inch!"
'There should be a limit to how overpowered having experience can be!' Not accepting it I striked repeatedly. None of my strikes hit her. She even started to play her guqin while dodging my attacks, clearly not one bit pressed by them.
~TING
She played just a single note, but it deflected my incoming whip. 'I can't keep doing ranged attacks, she will whittle my resistance slowly if I do so.' I reluctantly went melee. 'Just have to overwhelm her with my body then.'
This time I went for her ankle, trying to coil my whip around it. She obviously dodged and retaliated with another note.
~DING
Its physical power was more potent I thought, despite the seemingly low noise. 'How is that even possible!' Stumbling back due to unexpected force, I had to halt my advance. Then another note hit me.
~TIDING
"And Iyana Jiang finds another clean hit!"
"Those attacks of hers are quite powerful. I doubt anyone below Qi Refining Early Stage can tank them for long. That being said although the first one had quite an impact on Axel, it is obvious that it was because he did not expect to be hit by such a force. The second one couldn't even shake him despite being stronger. Will he go the body refining route I wonder… Building such a potent body is mostly unnecessary for Qi Refining, having good meridians is enough as they use Qi to enhance their strength and defence."
"Could he do both?"
"He could of course. But I wouldn't suggest aspiring cultivators to have such dreams. Both Body Refining and Qi Cultivation require immense resources. It is already hard enough to tread one path, treading both is much more harder. If he wasn't a talented young master of the Lin Clan, he wouldn't be able to acquire enough resources."
"I will have to disrupt you, Young Master Axel has closed in, how will Iyana Jiang deal with it? His fist is about to connect!"
—
The rest was absolute slaughter. There was no better way to explain it. I was beaten with no way to counterattack. I could go offensive for just one strike, my initial punch that was deflected easily. The rest was her hitting me whenever I couldn't block or dodge it. She didn't even use her guqin after I came in melee range. Soon enough I was knocked out cold.
"This... What a display of combat skill! Iyana Jiang wins!"
-WOAAAAHH!
"This year's ranked first student is, Iyana Jiaang! After we tend to student Axel, The Dean of Martial Arts will be doing the announcements, so don't go anywhere!"
I woke up in the infirmary. My last moments before she knocked me out were slowly coming back to me.
"Shit, it hurts."
"As it should."
"Aaack! Since when were you here?" It was Iyana who freaked me out.
"Since they brought you here? Come on heal quickly so I can get my rewards faster."
"Can't you at least pretend to care? Look at my face, it's now blue and purple, no sight of my divine handsomeness!
"Stop blabbering and get up, even the Dean of Martial Arts came and you are sleeping here. How will people see the seventh young master of Lin Clan then?"
"Like I care about that." She kept staring at me after I said that.
"Fine, I care a little." She didn't stop staring.
"Alright! I care a lot. Happy now? But you will have to instruct me on melee combat. Only after that, I will forgive your crime of ruining my face."
"Are you sure you want me to?" She had a sly grin.
"I will get beaten for a long time anyway, then why not shorten it? But be prepared, my revenge will be unforgettable."
I could swear she was trying hard not to laugh. 'Let's see if you can laugh when I'm a Golden Core, I will get my payback for today then.' With that I got up, every part of my body was sore so I walked slowly to the arena. 'Why didn't they just give me a pill on the spot, damn cheapskates.'
When we arrived at the arena, everyone was waiting for us. 'Did I just pull a protagonist stunt, I'm late after all.' Ignoring that it was all because I was knocked out.
"Ahem. Since everyone is here I will announce your rankings." It was the Dean of Martial Arts talking. His name was Wu ShuYuan, another Birth Of Self Reverend. It seemed like he didn't want to be here. "In the first place, it is Iyana Jiang. With her perfect score on both exams, she has 200 points.
-Second place goes to Axel Lin. With his perfect score on the comprehension exam and 99 points on the martial exam, he has 199 points.
The third Place goes to Cerys Xin. With her perfect score on the comprehension exam and top 4 performance in the martial exam. She has 180 points.
-Fourth place goes to...
The tenth Place is Ye Tian. With his top 4 performance in the martial exam and 50 points in the comprehension exam, he has 130 points."
'So he made it to the top 10.' Dean personally announced the top 100 and left the rest to scoreboards. Then he went on to another announcement.
"The points you have earned in the examinations will be given to you as your scholarship. You will be given contribution points depending on your ranking in the previous month. You can change your rankings by challenging higher ranks than you. The top 10 can be challenged by only those in the top 128 and they can't refuse to fight. From the last place to the top 64.000, everyone has three rights to refuse every week, you can't fight the person who refused you for two weeks. After that, you can challenge them again. From top 64.000 to top 128 everyone has two rights to refuse, while top 128 to top 10 only have a single right to refuse. Here is your student tablet, it has access to live scoreboards, a map of the Institute, missions issued by the Institute or teachers and above, your contribution points, challenge status and a booklet about the rules you should follow in the five years going forward. It is also your identification so don't ever lose it. You can follow it to your caves, disperse." With that, the semester started.