Master of Nine Stars

As she spoke, Yang Chunxi took the notebook a teacher handed her. Flipping through it, she began, "All students invited to Pine Soul Soul Martial for the Junior Class assessment are exceptionally talented. The school has never doubted your potential.

"The standard for this assessment is your overall quality. In addition to hard requirements like Combat Readiness, we are more focused on discovering your soft skills.

"The soldiers have provided us with reports on all of your actions north of the wall."

Yang Chunxi flipped through the notebook and called out, "Xu Taiping!"

Instantly, everyone turned to look at the Soul Beast youth. However, Xu Taiping just stared silently at Yang Chunxi, not even thinking of answering with a "here."

Fortunately, Yang Chunxi wasn’t taking attendance. After she called his name, a teacher with a piece of chalk walked to the blackboard and found Xu Taiping’s name.

Yang Chunxi said, "Eliminated... seven people, plus 35 points. Obeyed orders, followed commands, and cooperated with soldiers to rescue students, and did not cause any fatalities among the eliminated students, plus 20 points."

"Gasp..."

"That bastard eliminated seven people? Holy fucking shit..."

"Why is he getting points for that? Shouldn’t they be deducting points? I just don’t get it..."

At two-thirty in the morning, the sleepy and exhausted students were instantly wide awake upon hearing this piece of news.

Yang Chunxi frowned slightly, looking at the records in her notebook, and continued, "Tenacious, calm, and possesses a clear understanding of his situation. Knows when to endure and when to advance or retreat. Hid in the snow for an entire night just to assassinate Rong Taotao..."

At this point, Yang Chunxi’s gaze lifted from the notebook, and she looked at Xu Taiping in the audience.

Looking at the expressionless Xu Taiping, Yang Chunxi said flatly, "Another 30 points."

Rong Taotao: ???

’Madam Yang, you...’

Beside him, Sun Xingyu leaned over and whispered, "You’re worth a lot, huh? He only got 35 points for eliminating seven people but gets 30 for one assassination attempt on you."

Rong Taotao: "Uh..."

Jiao Tengda, also nearby, said, "Those aren’t points for assassinating Rong Taotao. They’re for the qualities he demonstrated during the assassination attempt."

Yang Chunxi lowered her head to the notebook again. "Li Xiang. Team member. Hardworking and uncomplaining. A qualified teammate. Plus 10 points."

Yang Chunxi was already on the next student, but Rong Taotao was still stuck on Xu Taiping’s score.

’So there are no bonus points for leftover supplies?’

Yang Chunxi went through the names one by one, clearly stating every point addition. As the teacher at the back wrote on the blackboard, scores appeared under each student’s name.

Most scores were in the 10 to 20 point range. Some people only had a pathetic 5 points, not even qualifying as a decent teammate. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Sun Xingyu!" The moment Yang Chunxi spoke, the girl puffed out her chest, peering curiously at the blackboard.

Yang Chunxi: "Sun Xingyu, excellent team member, plus 15 points.

"Provided assistance to another team, offering them shelter for the night, plus 10 points.

"Fought with heroic tenacity in battle, unafraid of death while protecting teammates, and eliminated two people, plus 30 points.

"After experiencing a major setback, once again offered shelter to another student team for the night..."

At this, Yang Chunxi looked at Sun Xingyu with an appreciative expression and said, "Another 30 points."

"Yay~" Sun Xingyu was so happy she actually jumped. When she noticed everyone looking at her, she quickly covered her mouth with a hand and hid behind the tall Li Ziyi.

"Stone Tower, Shi Lan." Yang Chunxi spoke again, this time calling two names at once.

"Excellent team members, 15 points each. Jointly repelled Xu Taiping once, and rescued two students from different teams on two separate occasions, 40 points each. Stone Tower was brave and decisive, willing to take responsibility, and searched for a lost teammate in a blizzard, an additional 10 points."

The Shi Family Sisters were both stunned. They had thought advancing was hopeless, but after seeing the rows of 10-20 point scores on the board, and then seeing their own scores...

’Is... is there a chance?’

"Yi Tiancheng, excellent team member, plus 15 points. Cooperated with multiple teammates to repel Xu Taiping and resolve a team crisis, plus 10 points."

"Fan Lihua... Tamed a wild Snow Night Shock, plus 30 points. Solo-hunted one Snow Dragon, plus 20 points. Solo-hunted one Snowflake Wolf, plus 20 points.

"Snow Burning Army evaluation: A natural-born Warrior, possessing both wisdom and courage. Perceptive, with an extremely strong mentality.

"Adept at using factors like terrain and the weaknesses of a Soul Beast’s temperament to skillfully maneuver against powerful enemies.

"Made choices above the average for an outstanding Warrior during several crises. Successfully escaped an encirclement by a Snowflake Wolf Pack, plus 100 points!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"My god, this is..."

The sound of sharp intakes of breath was incessant, followed by a series of amazed clicks of the tongue. The students looked at each other, but it seemed no one knew this Great God.

Rong Taotao was also a bit dazed. ’What kind of Immortal-level scores are these?’

’This is unreal.’

’This Fan Lihua is on a completely different level from us middle school graduates, isn’t she?’

’We’re just trying to survive, to scrape by with our lives intact, and you’re out there conquering new territories?’

It was clear that as long as you were a qualified team member, you got a base score of 10 points.

The school’s assessment sent a very clear message: Teamwork! As long as you stuck together, you got points!

But this Fan Lihua...

’So ferocious? She dared to take on a Snowflake Wolf Pack all alone and practically laugh in its face?’

’Did that girl actually go to the Second Wall or something?’

Rong Taotao dared to take on Snowflakes single-handedly too—Snowflake beer, that is. Once he was drunk, he might even feel brave enough to take on the world.

But before he was drunk, Rong Taotao wouldn’t dare to cross a Snowflake Wolf Pack.

Rong Taotao quickly nudged Jiao Tengda beside him. "Who is Fan Lihua? Did you look into her?"

Jiao Tengda looked awkward. He had cast a wide net before but failed to find any information on such an Immortal-level figure. He grimaced. "During the Tang Dynasty’s Zhen Guan Period, I think there was a legendary female general named Fan Lihua."

Rong Taotao: ???

’Like I need you to give me a history lesson right now?’

Sun Xingyu calculated for a long moment before stammering, "One hundred... one hundred and seventy points?"

Stone Tower and Shi Lan’s faces were filled with astonishment as they exchanged a look.

’So this is what they meant by "there’s always someone better out there."’

The two sisters were widely recognized as the top middle school graduates from Chang’an City in the San Qin Land, but in front of this Fan Lihua, it seemed they weren’t even worthy of carrying her shoes.

"Rong Taotao." Yang Chunxi spoke, her lips pursing slightly as she stared at the soldier’s evaluation in the notebook.

The crowd still hadn’t recovered from the shock of Fan Lihua’s 170 points, and Rong Taotao also stared dumbly at Madam Yang.

"Rong Taotao, team leader. Led from the front, protected the team, valued teammates’ suggestions, and demonstrated certain leadership qualities. Rated excellent, plus 30 points.

"Provided assistance to another team, offering them shelter for the night, plus 10 points.

"Performed well in combat, directly or indirectly eliminating two students, one of whom was the opposing team’s leader, plus 15 points.

"After experiencing a major setback, once again helped another team, offering them shelter for the night, plus 30 points.

"Did not abandon or give up on injured teammates, plus 20 points.

"Provided a resting place for the supervising soldiers, plus 5 points.

"In a blizzard, under extremely disadvantageous conditions, single-handedly repelled Xu Taiping. Remained calm in the face of danger, with a stable mentality. Heroic and tenacious. Combat proficiency rated excellent, plus 50 points."

The room exploded! It completely erupted!

Rong Taotao was still busy calculating his score, but the room had already gone wild.

Two high-scoring contestants in a row had left the students’ heads buzzing...

"160 points? Where did this Immortal pop out from?"

"He solo-killed Xu Taiping! And in a blizzard, no less! What a total badass! This guy might not be any worse than that Fan Lihua, huh?"

"Yeah, our team worked together just to repel Xu Taiping. That kid has both Snow Burst and Snow Step Soul Skills, and he’s fucking sneaky. He’s not just sparring, he’d actually kill you..."

Listening to the buzzing discussions, Rong Taotao felt a sour taste in his mouth.

’160?’

’Only 10 points behind Fan Lihua?’

Rong Taotao felt awful. ’Where did I lose points?’

’Wait! Providing a resting place for the supervising soldiers only gets me 5 points?’

’You guys from the Snow Burning Army, if you’d just given me a few more points, I would’ve surpassed her!’

’I saw you all freezing your asses off out there, looking pathetic, and I was kind enough to let you into the cave, and you only give me 5 points?’

’Are you even human?’