Chapter 529 - 231: The Grand Examination Concludes, the National Top Scorer

One large and one small, two fingers bizarrely overlapped in mid-air.

From afar, they pointed down at Zhou Ke.

"Instructor, my apologies."

"I’m the one who won in the end."

Lin Ye’s calm voice echoed across the battlefield.

The instant his words fell, a jet-black Death Ray, as thick as a bucket and condensed to its absolute limit, suddenly shot forth from his fingertip!

The moment that black light appeared, the surrounding space rippled visibly, even tearing open wisps of dark cracks!

Zhou Ke’s pupils shrank to pinpricks!

Death!

It was a pure, unstoppable aura of death!

However, the black pillar of light didn’t strike him directly.

Instead, to his utter shock and horror, it grazed the top of his head and flashed past!

BOOM!!!!!!

A terrifying, eardrum-shattering explosion erupted from far behind Zhou Ke!

He could feel the entire simulated battlefield trembling violently from the force of that single blow!

Wherever the black light passed, all the rubble and ruins in its path, even the ground itself, were utterly disintegrated and annihilated upon contact, not leaving even a speck of dust behind!

Finally, the black light slammed into the alloy wall at the farthest end of the massive indoor arena.

That special alloy wall, strong enough to withstand a full-power strike from a Celestial Human Realm expert, was as fragile as paper before the black light. It was instantly pierced, leaving a massive, bottomless hole!

Through that hole, one could even see the intricate network of pipes and support structures behind the wall, which were also being madly eroded and disintegrated into nothingness by the black energy!

The power of a single strike was this terrifying!

Zhou Ke froze on the spot, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

He had no doubt that if Lin Ye had chosen to aim for his chest or his head just now, he would already be dead.

His burning Primordial Spirit would have been completely obliterated by that black light, leaving not a single trace behind.

After a moment of shock, a complex, bitter smile appeared on Zhou Ke’s face.

He couldn’t hold on any longer.

The power gained from burning his Primordial Spirit receded like a tide, and an endless wave of weakness and exhaustion instantly washed over him.

THUD.

He fell to one knee, and the remnants of the combat saber in his hand fell to the ground with a CLANG.

"I lost."

Zhou Ke looked up and spoke these two words with sincere admiration.

At that exact moment, in the observation hall, the video feed on the massive main screen suddenly cut out, plunging it into darkness.

Facing the black screen, everyone felt as if something was caught in their throats, unable to utter a single word.

A deathly silence fell.

The impact of that final scene was simply too powerful, too overwhelming.

So powerful that all of their minds had gone completely blank.

’What... was that?’

’That mysterious phantom...’

’That soul-incinerating fire...’

’That annihilating, black ray of death...’

’And... Telekinesis!’

Everyone had thought that everything Lin Ye had shown in the battle so far was already monstrously talented.

Everyone had thought that was the full extent of his power.

But at the very end, as if it were nothing, he had casually revealed several more trump cards, each capable of instantly deciding the battle’s outcome with undeniable finality!

After a long silence, Zhu Mingyi, seated in the main chair, slowly took a deep breath. He raised a hand to wipe his temple, where a fine layer of cold sweat had formed at some point.

He stood up and glanced around at the others, who were all still in a daze.

Suddenly, he spoke two words that took everyone completely by surprise.

"It’s over."

He Zhenghong snapped back to his senses, his brow furrowed.

"Zhu... what’s over?"

"Didn’t you arrange an additional test? An extra round for all the candidates who received a perfect score in the final combat assessment."

Beside them, Yi Jiugao’s eyes glinted as he also spoke up slowly.

"I agree. I think it should end here."

Zhu Mingyi looked at the confused He Zhenghong and suddenly chuckled, his smile tinged with self-mockery.

"I originally set up that extra round to give the top candidates—those who were close in skill and had all earned perfect scores—a chance to truly distinguish themselves and decide the national champion."

"But now..."

Zhu Mingyi paused, then turned his head toward the dark main screen and asked, word by word,

"Is there any need?"

As soon as he said this, an uproar erupted!

Immediately after, He Zhenghong’s face twisted into the same bitter smile as Zhu Mingyi’s.

’That’s right.’

’There’s no need anymore.’

Lin Ye’s strength wasn’t just a notch above other geniuses at the national pinnacle like Xia Lianxue and Xiao Lingchen.

He was... in a league of his own!

A crushing dominance from another dimension entirely!

And that wasn’t even the most terrifying part.

The most terrifying part was that this national martial arts college entrance exam, proclaimed as the most rigorous in history, had failed to even begin to measure the true limits of Lin Ye’s power!

The aide-de-camp standing behind Zhu Mingyi was completely stunned.

’The extra round... is canceled?’

’His technical team and the logistics department had spent two full days preparing for this final extra round. All the procedures, rules, and venues were perfectly set up.’

’And now the Chief is canceling it with a single sentence?’

"Chief... then, how should the rankings be decided?"

the aide couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.

Zhu Mingyi didn’t answer him directly. Instead, he turned, picked up the microphone in front of the main seat, and let his gaze sweep over all the officials and proctors in the observation hall.