You call this the way of the sword?

Although they weren't his students, the teachers couldn't help but get excited when they saw Yang Qingfeng climb to the top of the list once again.

"Good lad! Well done!"

"Once again, leading the pack! Leaving everyone else in the dust! Standing out from the crowd!"

"Hahaha, this is promising! This time it's really promising!"

In the side hall, all the gentlemen stood up, their eyes fixed on the top of the leaderboard, and they couldn't help but shout their praises, engaging in a lively discussion.

"Top rank, top combat power, top performance—this kid has at least excelled in three areas!"

"More than that. Those with the best performance often also have excellent combat skills and are good at on-site evaluations."

"This year's assessment only has three rounds. If there are no other challenges after the third round, then there will only be five items this year, and this kid has already achieved excellent grades in all five!"

The side hall wasn't just filled with these gentlemen; there were also people from other blessed lands, and even other states. Hearing them talking about Yang Qingfeng, they all gathered around.

"Yang Qingfeng was also at the top of the list in the last round."

"And he's incredibly fast. I don't know how he does it; it's unbelievable."

"Whose student is Yang Qingfeng?"

"Oh, he's not one of our students. His husband was arrested for visiting a brothel."

The gentlemen, who have cultivated themselves for countless years, seem to have unknowingly turned into old children.

The names on the leaderboard are constantly changing positions. Currently, the highest score is only three thousand, while Yang Qingfeng is at the top of the leaderboard, and his score has been consistently over ten thousand, far ahead of the others!

The gentlemen's emotions rose along with Yang Qingfeng's points, and they were so excited that they blushed and even became incoherent.

"With these scores, getting into a national academy is practically guaranteed; he's almost certainly going to be the top student in the province!"

"Be more confident, and drop the estimates!"

"What do you mean, 'be confident'? What do you mean, 'top scorer in the south'? What are you thinking? The whole country! Based on my understanding of Yang Qingfeng, this kid should at least be the top scorer in the country!"

"At least nationwide, haha. What's the highest? The top scholar in the imperial examination?"

"That old ghost's gone mad. He's only met Yang Qingfeng twice, and he thinks he knows Yang Qingfeng like that..."

In fact, no matter how good Yang Qingfeng's grades were, the other teachers were only curious. It wasn't until these shameless old men mentioned the national champion that their interest was truly piqued.

As the largest nation of the human race, the vast territory of the Yu Xia Empire can be described by the single phrase, "It encompasses hundreds of states from north to south, and a hundred years have passed without us even realizing it."

The five southern provinces are already quite large, but there are many places even more expansive than the southern provinces.

This is why Tiannan has produced only a handful of national champions, the most recent being a thousand years ago, and the one before that was five thousand years ago.

If Yang Qingfeng can truly become the top scorer in the country, not only will he himself be proud, but the entire Tiannan region will shine and reap many benefits.

These benefits cover all aspects and reach everyone.

If the state government manages things properly, it could even usher in a new era for Tiannan alone.

The gentlemen's eyes immediately lit up as they all looked toward the top spot, staring intently at Yang Qingfeng.

"Speaking of which, wasn't our family's top scholar from five thousand years ago also surnamed Yang?"

"Yes. The older folks all say that it's all thanks to her breaking through the encirclement back then, otherwise there wouldn't be the Tiannan we know today."

"It's a pity she disappeared after the great war, otherwise she would have been a great pillar of the state..."

Within the assessment space.

Yang Qingfeng sat at the gate of the courtyard, resting his chin on his hand, looking somewhat absent-minded.

Unlike other candidates who switch between various scenarios, he always felt like he was in his own backyard.

Even the gentle breeze that caressed my face had a perfectly familiar feel to it.

This feeling is very subtle.

Apart from the Sword Soul's ruthless yet comical display of blade strikes from afar, everything else was exceptionally peaceful, as if we had returned to those bygone days.

Grandpa was muttering to himself in the yard, both obsessed and at peace.

The woman was sitting on the roof reading a book; she was incredibly beautiful.

Yang Qingfeng sat at the courtyard gate, his back to everything, trying hard to control himself from listening and looking.

But I still couldn't stop thinking about it.

I want to go talk to my grandfather.

I want to ask that woman where she went.

Even knowing there would be no result, I just wanted to do it.

Yang Qingfeng knew that he was still too fragile, and he couldn't control his thoughts when he saw a little hallucination.

Therefore, he tried his best to suppress his thoughts, treating them as an additional trial.

Thinking that he couldn't bear the loneliness now and couldn't overcome his own weakness, he knew he would surely die in the future.

The examiners arranged all of this simply to hone the candidates' skills; they had no malicious intent.

But if you encounter an opponent who can use illusions in the future, like now, if you can't control yourself, you'll be at their mercy, and you might end up with your head separated from your body in the blink of an eye.

"I still have things to do. I don't want to die yet, so I won't look at you."

"A dead man, a deserter, nothing to see here."

With his chin resting on his hand, Yang Qingfeng closed his eyes and gradually raised the corners of his mouth.

In his memory, there were happy times for the three of them, which were much more precious than the counterfeit goods behind him. After realizing this, his mind quickly calmed down.

Time flies by without you even realizing it.

The examiner's voice suddenly rang out: "You're very good. I look forward to your performance in the third round."

Yang Qingfeng opened his eyes and was greeted by the points leaderboard.

He was teleported out.

The open-air plaza was deserted at the moment; he was the first to come out and the first to get a perfect score.

His name unsurprisingly topped the leaderboard with a total score of 50000.

After removing the base score of 1000 points, there were a total of 49 waves of attacks in the second round of assessment.

Just like the first round, after each wave of demons is wiped out, the next wave will spawn 10 seconds later.

Yang Qingfeng used almost no extra time, so his total time was only 8 minutes and 29 seconds.

"Fortunately, it's still the fastest, so we're safe now."

Yang Qingfeng breathed a slight sigh of relief, and the anxiety he had been feeling subsided.

When he wiped out the first wave of demons, he realized that the advantage of the sword soul had been weakened.

Since both are instant kills, the advantage of the Sword Soul is better highlighted by instant kills of higher-level opponents, and it also helps to differentiate the Sword Soul from other candidates.

In the second round of assessment, the level and strength of the Otherworldly Demon remained unchanged. The advantage of the Sword Soul became like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; it was still fast, but it might not be able to widen the gap.

Especially in the first round, many people have demonstrated the ability to fight against opponents of higher levels.

Having the ability to defeat monsters of a higher level roughly means having the combat power to instantly kill monsters of the same level.

As it turned out, Yang Qingfeng's guess was correct; he simply underestimated the difficulty of the second round and overestimated the potential of the newcomers.

About 20 minutes later, the second-place finisher achieved a perfect score at a relatively steady pace.

As the light faded, Xiao Bingning was teleported out of the assessment space and back to the plaza.

She immediately glanced at the leaderboard and saw that she was still only in second place, which inevitably made her feel a little disappointed. However, she quickly remembered something and suddenly turned around, exclaiming, "Senior Brother Yang!!"

There was no one else in the square at this moment. Yang Qingfeng had already walked behind the Sword Soul, but it was no use.

As the fragrant breeze wafted towards her, Xiao Bingning rushed over in a great hurry.

Looking at her delicate, porcelain-doll-like face, Yang Qingfeng could only nod helplessly and say, "We're from the same class, just call me by my name."

Xiao Bingning is petite, only about 160 cm tall. She wore an elaborate and exquisite ice-blue glass dress, which made her look beautiful and dreamy at first glance and cute upon closer inspection.

She was exquisitely beautiful, with a pretty face full of collagen, and a pair of extremely beautiful eyes filled with curiosity about everything. At this moment, she was carefully examining Yang Qingfeng, as if she were observing a monster and thinking about how to defeat him.

Yang Qingfeng felt uneasy under her gaze and couldn't help but ask, "Um...want some sweet potatoes?"