Chapter 39: Leaderboard

College Entrance Exam Official Live Stream Room.

The official live stream room was pinned at the top of the homepage across all streaming platforms, with a staggering viewership of nearly 30 million and a popularity score reaching 200 million.

In the main feed of the live stream, a candidate was engaged in a fierce battle with a Fierce Beast.

The voices of a male and a female commentator echoed from the background of the broadcast.

“This candidate named Ai Ning is showing remarkable bravery. Despite being at the Blood Coagulation Late Stage, he dares to confront a second-tier Perfection Fierce Beast head-on and even seems to have the upper hand.”

“Indeed. However, the map indicates another candidate is heading toward him. It remains to be seen who will ultimately claim the points for this Fierce Beast.”

As soon as the commentators finished speaking, the live stream feed switched to show a candidate rushing toward the scene.

“It’s actually Shang Xingren, currently ranked second on the leaderboard. In just half an hour since the exam began, Shang Xingren has already slain one second-tier Fierce Beast and two third-tier Fierce Beasts, accumulating a total of 110 points.”

The bullet comments in the live stream room were equally turbulent.

: That Ai Ning is done for. Shang Xingren is from the Divine Capital’s Shang Family, a third-tier Middle Stage Martial Artist with countless techniques at his disposal. There’s no way Ai Ning can survive this.

: What terrible luck, running into the top-ranked contender right at the start of the competition. Ai Ning’s exam score is probably in jeopardy.

: Hahaha, Ai Ning is still foolishly dueling that second-tier Fierce Beast like an idiot. By the time Shang Xingren arrives, he won’t even have a chance to escape.

On screen, Ai Ning wielded his nurtured sword embryo, locked in a fierce struggle with the second-tier Fierce Beast, completely unaware that a figure had already appeared behind him.

“Hah! Soaring Sky Sword Slash!”

Just as he was about to deliver the final blow to the Fierce Beast, a figure suddenly materialized before him.

The man appeared eerily in front of Ai Ning, using one hand to clamp down on his unstoppable sword strike, while his other hand formed a fist that shot straight toward the Fierce Beast’s head.

The beast’s skull exploded, and another ten points were added to Shang Xingren’s tally.

“You dare steal my kill!”

Ai Ning roared in fury.

Thud!

Shang Xingren spun around and delivered a kick, sending Ai Ning’s body flying uncontrollably through the air.

“Annoying noise.”

Ai Ning crashed to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

A look of terror crossed his face as he finally realized he had encountered someone not to be trifled with.

He cursed inwardly.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all! Why is everyone so strong?”

Jiang Yan was, and now this man was too—each one an opponent he could hardly hope to defeat.

“No, I can’t afford to lose my ‘revival’ chance here. If I do, I’ll truly fail the exam.”

Gritting his teeth, Ai Ning turned and fled.

Shang Xingren didn’t even glance at Ai Ning, merely sneering at the “insect” before turning to leave.

In Shang Xingren’s mind, a nobody like Ai Ning couldn’t possibly have many points on his scorecard.

His mindset was even similar to Jiang Yan’s—both aimed for the top spot. It made no difference whether he harvested these insects now or waited until the final stage; there was no need to waste effort at this point.

“It seems Candidate Shang Xingren has chosen to avoid further conflict for now, showing no intention to pursue the matter to the end. However, defeating Ai Ning, who is at the second-tier Late Stage, with just one move truly lives up to his reputation.”

“Ai Ning’s decision to flee is a tactically sound choice. The exam has just begun. If he were to lose his revival opportunity now, he would have no room for error in the remaining seven days.”

The two commentators analyzed the battle, presenting their points clearly and logically.

But the bullet comments were far less rational, almost unreasonably emotional, with everyone cursing Ai Ning as a coward who didn’t even dare to fight.

Currently, people still didn’t know what Shang Xingren’s Talent actually was.

So far, every opponent he had faced was defeated in a single move, which was why the audience hoped a candidate would emerge to truly push Shang Xingren to reveal his full strength.

The live stream feed switched.

A girl was wielding a long spear, engaged in battle with a third-tier middle-stage Fierce Beast.

The woman’s presence was fierce, no less imposing than any man, as she thrust her spear through the beast’s skull. Blood splattered, yet she didn’t even blink.

“Ahhh, my wife Qingle is so cool! Not only is she beautiful, but her strength is incredible too.”

“I heard that Wife Qingle suppressed her second-tier Realm for a whole year, only finding the ‘Qi’ most suited to her just before the College Entrance Exam, leaping straight to the third-tier Innate stage.”

“Geniuses like her can break through anytime they want. She deliberately suppressed her cultivation just to pursue the strongest Martial Way. That kind of spirit isn’t something ordinary people possess.”

Generally speaking, Fierce Beasts are stronger than Martial Artists of the same Realm.

But in the face of these geniuses, that notion clearly didn’t hold.

Li Qingle of the Demon Capital’s Li Family, S-grade Talent.

Her spear skills were masterful, attracting a massive fanbase right from the first round.

Of course, her good looks were also part of the reason—this damn world is just that superficial.

In the official live stream room, the large screen continuously switched between the candidates on the Leaderboard.

The top right corner of the stream displayed a real-time ranking, tracking the candidates’ current scores.

Ranking first: Shang Xingren

Ranking second: Li Qingle

Ranking third: Xiao Ziming

…

The rankings kept shifting. In no time, Shang Xingren was pushed down by Xiao Ziming below, but soon, Li Qingle in second place surged back to the top.

The top three spots were essentially contested among these three, with those behind completely unable to catch up.

These three had hardly used their Innate Realm “Qi,” and even Martial Skills were rarely employed.

It was as if the College Entrance Exam was merely a toy to them, and they even had to consider whether it was worth making a move.

Third-tier fighters taking on a bunch of first and second-tiers, and top-tier geniuses at that—left the other candidates utterly helpless against them.

Fortunately, there was an unspoken consensus among the strong.

That was—raising pigs.

They weren’t in a hurry to snatch score tokens, merely killing a few Fierce Beasts to pass the time, planning to let the “pigs” fatten up before slaughtering them. This required absolute confidence in their own strength.

Yet even with this casual, on-and-off attitude, the top thousand on the Leaderboard were almost always the same people.

The gap in strength was too vast. While others casually killed a third-tier Fierce Beast, ordinary candidates had to fight first-tier beasts day and night for days.

Suddenly, a wave of excitement swept through the live stream’s bullet comments.

“What about that Jiang Yan who ranked first in the first two rounds? Why isn’t there any footage of him in the stream?”

“Exactly, I didn’t see Jiang Yan’s name in the top thousand rankings. Surely he isn’t that weak, right?”

“I thought so too. He was hyped up so much a few days ago, but when it comes to actual combat, he just shrinks back.”

“I came from the [9527] live stream room. The current situation… well, how should I put it? You should just go see for yourselves.”

Jiang Yan had stirred up so much buzz in the past two days, yet he vanished as soon as the actual combat began. This truly puzzled those who didn’t watch his live stream.

“Director, look at Jiang Yan!”

“That’s right, stop showing random footage over there, we want to see Jiang Yan.”

The director clearly received the feedback as well, promptly shifting the camera focus onto Jiang Yan.

In the next second, the live stream room with tens of millions of viewers fell into an eerie silence.