Three days passed in the blink of an eye.


    When the third day arrived, faint undercurrents began to stir a little in Great Zhou City as numerous factions turned their gazes towards the Great Zhou Institute in unison.


    They knew that today was the ss ranking exam.


    Of course, a mere ss ranking exam was naturally incapable of drawing the attention of so many factions. It was because this ss ranking exam concerned the struggle between the royal n and Qi Manor.


    Everyone knew that Qi Manor had been eyeing the institute for many years and had used all sorts of methods to infiltrate it. It was now time for them to reap their harvest. As long as the B ss was able to take the number one spot in the ss ranking exam this year, Qi Manor’s representative, Xu Hong, would likely rece Chu Tianyang and be the new headmaster of the institute.


    If so, the Great Zhou Institute would secretly be the Great Qi Institute.


    This would be a huge blow to the royal n because it also meant that Qi Manor was gradually gaining the upper hand in the struggle between the two parties, a fact that would undoubtedly sway the stances of the other factions towards Qi Manor, hence furthering the royal n’s decline.


    Thus, the oue of this ss ranking exam could be said to even shake the royal n’s position and its importance was self-evident.


    ...


    Great Zhou Institute, A ss courtyard.


    When Zhou Yuan once again stepped into the A ss courtyard, he immediately felt the many students within look over before being stupefied by the subsequent orderly apuse.


    Zhou Yuan asked in bewilderment, "What are you guys doing?"


    Su Youwei, Song Qiushui and Yang Zai were all smiles as they approached. "Are we not thanking you? If it weren’t for you winning an additional two hours of Jade Spirit Waterfall training time from the B ss, our A ss would have no hope for this ss ranking exam."


    Zhou could not help but smile when he heard this. "Looks like you guys have grown substantially stronger over the past two months."


    Su Youwei’s little mouth was pursed as she let out a softugh. "The three of us have already unblocked our sixth meridian channel."


    Yang Zai also chuckled as he said, "It’s all thanks to the additional Jade Spirit Waterfall training time. Or else, we would likely need another month to unblock our sixth channel."


    Zhou Yuan was somewhat amazed. Looks like the two additional hours of Jade Spirit Waterfall training time had done a rather huge service to them.


    Zhou Yuan asked with interest, "What about the B ss? With only an hour of Jade Spirit Waterfall training time left, they should not have made much progress, right?"


    Song Qiushui pondered a little before she replied, "The morale of the B ss has been rather low recently and they seem to hold some resentment towards Qi Yue."


    After all, three quarters of their B ss’ originally four hour long Jade Spirit Waterfall training time had been lost by Qi Yue. Who could tolerate such a huge drop? Even if they did not dare to say anything due to Qi Yue’s status, some resentment could not be avoided.


    "All of you will be gravely mistaken to believe that the B ss’ strength has fallen just because they lost those three hours." A voice was suddenly heard while they were talking.


    Zhou Yuan’s looked over and saw a solemn-face Chu Tianyang walking over with his hands behind his back.


    Everyone greeted one after another. "ss master!"


    Chu Tianyang waved his hand and nced at Zhou Yuan as he slowly said, "As far as I know, Qi Yue has secretly brought several B students to Qi Manor over the past two months."


    "Oh?" Zhou Yuan’s eyes narrowed when he heard this. "He ns to do all he can to groom them with Qi Manor’s resources?"


    Chu Tianyang’s expression was ugly as he nodded. Qi Yue’s actions were nauseating but there was nothing the former could say. After all, outsiders did not have any right toment on how others were training.


    Qi Manor had abundant resources and it was a very simple task for them to groom another handful of people.


    However, this also made the other B ss students feel rather unhappy and unfairly treated. Thus, there had been a lot ofints recently from the B ss about Qi Yue,ints that ended up forcibly suppressed by Xu Hong.


    Chu Tianyang said in a stern voice, "So don’t becent just because you have unblocked your sixth meridian channel because Qi Yue has already reached seven channels!"


    The numerous A ss students turned silent as worry emerged in their eyes. The pressure Qi Yue gave to the A ss was really too great. Although Zhou Yuan had defeated Qi Yue in the Jade Spirit Waterfall that one time, it was after all a very limited kind of contest and was nothing like the uing ss ranking exam where one needed to rely on one’s own strength.


    As the crowd worried, several gazes turned towards Zhou Yuan. After all, he was the only person who had been able to ’defeat’ Qi Yue in the past year. Hence, they naturally held some expectations for him.


    Zhou Yuan smiled as he looked at Chu Tianyang and said, "Rx ss master, I will deal with Qi Yue."


    Chu Tianyang nodded. However, there was still some worry in his eyes. After all, the ss ranking exam was nothing like the Jade Spirit Waterfall contest.


    However, he also understood that he could not allow the A ss’ morale to be affected at such a time. Hence, he waved his hand and said, "If everyone is ready, follow me to the ss ranking exam site."


    He turned around the moment his words faded while Zhou Yuan, Su Youwei and the rest of the A ss students flocked over.


    ...


    The ss ranking exam site was the northern district of the Great Zhou Institute.


    An enormous field sprawled across the ce. Five tall tforms of varying heights rose on the field, tforms which were also known as the ss ranking exam stages.


    At this current moment, the surroundings of the field was already a sea of people. Practically all of the students had gathered here and even quite a number of people from the city hade to watch.


    Thunderous noises echoed across the field.


    Zhou Yuan and the rest of the A ss students arrived at the field. Their gazes turned towards the five tall tforms before ultimately stopping at the tallest one, the tform that represented the leader of the sses.


    Every year, the first amongst the sses would ce their ss g upon it.


    Currently, a tall g fluttered on the ss leader tform. A g marked by a bold ’B’.


    "Our A ss has lost the ss leader tform for two years." Chu Tianyang sighed softly from the side. This was the shared pain of every A ss member. The glory that was originally theirs had been monopolized by the B ss for two years, making their title as leader of the sses nothing but an empty name.


    Zhou Yuan pursed his lips as a stern look emerged in his eyes. If the B ss still wanted to dominate the leader ss tform this year, they would have to first ask his fists.


    As the sun hung high in the sky, the crowd surrounding the ss ranking exam field grewrger andrger.


    "His and her majesties have arrived!"


    A loud shout suddenly rang out across the area. One could only watch as Zhou Qing, Qin Yu and Yaoyao appeared on the central viewing tform and seated themselves on the highest seats.


    This ss ranking exam was so important that even Zhou Qing could not help but personally make a trip over.


    "King Qi has arrived!"


    Not long after Zhou Qing arrived, another loud shout rang out. One would turn only to see a procession of people rushing over from another direction under the attention of countless gazes.


    Zhou Yuan’s eyes were fixed at the front of the procession where a middle-aged man in official-looking robes was located. His steps were as majestic as a tiger, his expression cold and stern, while his eyes shined brightly. An invisible pressure spread, making it such that no one to dared to look directly at this man.


    "King Qi, Qi Yuan..." Zhou Yuan’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the man. This person was the biggest tumor of Great Zhou and the secret needle Great Wu had stuck here.


    King Qi had the strength of the Alpha-Origin stage and was one of the top experts in Great Zhou.


    Chu Tianyang frostily remarked, "It seems that today’s ss ranking exam is also very important to king Qi."


    On the central viewing tform, Qi Yuan cupped his fists together towards Zhou Qing but did not offer him the greetings of a subject.


    Zhou Qing expression did not change as he nodded. The level of hostility between the royal n and Qi Manor was clear as day.


    Dong dong!


    After Zhou Qing and Qi Yuan appeared, the excitement in the air reached its peak as the sound of a gong reverberated across the area.


    "The ss ranking exam begins!"


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