The clock hand pointed precisely to 9:00 AM.

A clear system announcement echoed across the grounds of Bluestone Third Middle School: "The senior year final Martial Dao skills assessment officially begins!"

In an instant, the massive floating screen in the center of the plaza seemed to spring to life. Across its hundreds of segmented displays, the first batch of students entering the virtual world began to move in unison.

Some hurried, others composed, they all strode from the initial waiting area toward the weapon racks. They quickly selected their arms—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hammers, whips... Light flashed as weapons of all shapes and sizes materialized.

Immediately after, their figures swarmed toward the massive fifty-by-fifty-meter arena suspended in the void.

Their movements were all different. Some were like eagles spreading their wings, leaping onto the high platform with a sharp cry, their clothes fluttering, showcasing their extraordinary skill.

Others were more deliberate, ascending step by step up invisible stairs, their faces etched with solemn focus.

"Look! Xue Jun is on the close-up cam!" an excited voice suddenly called out from the Class 21 crowd, instantly making him the center of attention for their section.

Without needing any prompting, everyone’s gaze—including that of Li Wen, who had appeared to have his eyes closed but was actually restless—subconsciously turned to the specially magnified feed on the screen.

The image quality was so high that even the confident glint in his eyes was clearly visible.

Xue Jun, the champion who had held the top spot in Class 21’s Martial Dao skills for the past three years, was undoubtedly the pride of the class and a constant topic of conversation.

At this moment, he stood in the center of the arena, his posture as straight as a pine tree, tightly gripping a nearly three-meter-long, silver-white spear.

The tip of the spear was angled toward the ground, its cold gleam restrained.

Beneath his sharp brows, his eyes shone like stars. The corner of his mouth was slightly raised, projecting an aura of calm and certainty—a presence forged through countless hours of training and victory.

"Wow... he’s so handsome!" a hushed female voice, unable to contain itself, drifted out, tinged with admiration.

Unlike the girls, the boys’ conversation quickly focused on strength and rankings.

"What rank do you think Boss Xue will get in the grade this time? He was 23rd in the midterms, and he had only just reached the entry level for a top-tier spear technique back then."

Yue Ruijie, ranked third in the class, was clearly close to Xue Jun and knew the situation well.

"He told me he’s made a lot of progress this semester. I think... top fifteen should be a sure thing!" another boy predicted boldly.

"Hey, our class’s Martial Dao scores are going to soar this time. It’s not just Xue Jun—don’t forget we have Li Wen, the dark horse who burst onto the scene!" The conversation suddenly shifted to Li Wen, who was sitting in the back.

"Old Wang must be ecstatic. I’ve seen him walking with a spring in his step lately."

"Hahaha, definitely!"

"It’s starting! Look!" a sharp whisper cut through the idle chatter.

Everyone’s attention instantly snapped back to the screen.

On every screen, an identical virtual human materialized at the opposite end of the arena—a middle-aged man in a plain black robe with a blurry face, holding nothing but an ordinary staff as tall as his eyebrows.

At that moment, all the examinees, along with their virtual opponents, were forcibly set to the exact same physical baseline by the system.

This assessment was designed to test one thing and one thing only: the realm of one’s technique!

These were conditions impossible to achieve in the real world, but they were perfectly replicated in this virtual space.

This was precisely why Third Middle School spared no expense, time, or effort to conduct the assessment virtually—to eliminate all physical disparities and judge only your understanding, control, and application of martial techniques!

Li Wen sat on his stool, his back straight, the earlier daze gone from him.

He raised his head, his sharp gaze locked onto Xue Jun’s screen like a high-speed data analyzer.

Unlike the academic exams, the virtual opponents in the Martial Dao skills assessment appeared in a fixed, progressive order of strength, from lowest to highest.

And the most direct indicator of their strength was the color of their robes!

The relevant knowledge flashed clearly through Li Wen’s mind: The lowest level, the black robe, corresponded to entry-level advanced techniques.

Next in order were:

White Robe: Minor Achievement in advanced techniques

Red Robe: Major Achievement in advanced techniques

Orange Robe: Perfection in advanced techniques

Yellow Robe: Entry-level top-tier techniques

Green Robe: Minor Achievement in top-tier techniques

Cyan Robe: Major Achievement in top-tier techniques

Blue Robe: Perfection in top-tier techniques

And the final Purple Robe: the legendary Unity Realm! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Nine colors in total, representing the insurmountable gulf between mediocrity and excellence.

In all his time at the school, Li Wen had never even seen a Blue Robe, let alone the pinnacle of man and technique as one—the Purple Robe.

It was a term that existed only in the legends of the upperclassmen. While his thoughts raced, the first batch of fights had already begun in earnest.

On Xue Jun’s arena.

The moment the black-robed virtual human solidified, before it could even make a single extraneous move...

A silver line suddenly tore through the space! PFFT— A soft shattering sound was heard.

The black-robed figure on the screen, merely touched by the casual thrust of Xue Jun’s spear tip, popped like a bubble and dissipated into tiny motes of light in the center of the arena.

He hadn’t even moved a single step!

Meanwhile, not all the other fights were so one-sided.

Some students who clearly focused more on academics were struggling immensely against even this weakest black-robed opponent, caught in a desperate back-and-forth full of close calls.

One such student was caught in this embarrassing predicament by an errant close-up.

While the victors on other screens were already waiting for their next opponent, he was still desperately parrying the staff, drenched in sweat.

Perhaps deciding this scene wasn’t "Martial Dao" enough, the close-up camera quickly switched to another student who was handily dispatching their opponent.

And on Xue Jun’s arena, where the black-robed figure had vanished, a white light flared—the second virtual opponent, the White Robe, appeared!

This represented reaching Minor Achievement in advanced techniques.

This was precisely the threshold Li Wen himself had only managed to reach through arduous training before he awakened his past-life memories and obtained the "Scholar" path.

In the midterm assessment, he had given his all to narrowly defeat the White Robe, only to fall before the next opponent, the one representing Major Achievement in advanced techniques.

But to Xue Jun, this White Robe was no different from the Black Robe before it.

Another thrust! It was silent, yet so fast that the spectating students couldn’t even fully track the spear’s trajectory!

The white figure on the screen melted like thin snow under a blazing sun, instantly dissolving into an even more brilliant flash of white light.

Xue Jun still hadn’t moved from his spot. It was as if his spear had never been raised at all.

Next was the red-robed virtual human—Major Achievement in advanced techniques. This time, Xue Jun’s movements finally changed.

Although the fight was still over in an instant, his spear strikes now clearly contained more subtle variations and applications of power.

Not everyone was having such an easy time.

The appearance of the white-robed virtual humans was like opening the floodgates of elimination.

"ARGH!"

"BANG!"

"PFFT—"

Simulated sounds of impacts and the cries of defeated students echoed from the screens from time to time as, one by one, their feeds went dark and their names grayed out.

The number of active feeds remaining on the massive screen plummeted.