I Have Infinite Skill Points

The majestic Star Power surged, and a golden light flowed through half of Wang Lan's body. The golden sunlight, like a curtain cascading down, dyed Wang Lan, making him appear like a half-angel.

From his wrist, a pair of wings engulfed in purple flames unfolded, and a searing arrow of flame took shape at the tip of Wang Lan's fingers.

This astonishing scene left everyone watching with disbelief written all over their faces.

Whether it was Lige, who had guessed that Wang Lan could turn the tides in a desperate situation, or Zhang Xiaoxue, who thought Wang Lan was bound to lose, at this moment they both felt as if they had seen a ghost.

Lige had speculated that Wang Lan might use some unknown method to turn the situation around, whether it be a Star Martial Skill, a self-harming tactic of exchanging injury for injury, or even using a Star Palace Artifact left by a powerful Star Martial Warrior.

But the one thing he had never imagined was that Wang Lan would use a composite Star Martial Skill. And it was not the basic type of composite, which involves merely using two Star Martial Skills simultaneously, but a perfect fusion of Star Martial Skills.

"Xu, be careful!" Wang Lan warned.

"Damn it!" Xu Shiyun cursed.

Wang Lan's arrow shot out instantly. Xu Shiyun frantically condensed his strongest defense, layers of granite walls rapidly rising around him.

The Purple Flame Fire Arrow easily pierced through one granite wall after another, reaching Xu Shiyun in an instant.

At that moment, Xu Shiyun was enveloped in a layer of strange stone that gleamed with a black luster. An odd, egg-shaped barrier had formed around him. It was truly baffling why Earth Attribute Star Martial Warriors seemed to enjoy shaping their defenses like eggshells.

BOOM!

A purple flame exploded instantly, and the black-lustered eggshell suddenly ignited, burning fiercely. Where the eggshell had shattered, Xu Shiyun, his eyes as wide as poached eggs, stared at Wang Lan in genuine terror.

It wasn't that Xu Shiyun wasn't powerful; it was that Wang Lan was too much of a monster! How could he have mastered a composite Star Martial Skill at the Star Shine Stage? What was he trying to do? Make all Star Martial Warriors at the Star Cloud Stage so ashamed that they'd want to disembowel themselves on the spot as an apology to the world?

The world suddenly became very quiet.

Even in the dormitory buildings outside the training ground, the girls who were watching were left in a daze, replaying the heart-pounding moment that had just passed.

Wang Lan's body landed on the defensive wall Xu Shiyun had erected, and then he slid down. By this point, the match should be over, right? Director Wang probably wouldn't…

Wang Qianfeng could no longer maintain his composure. His mouth hung open as he stared dumbfounded at Wang Lan, his throat even emitting meaningless sputtering sounds.

"Being able to simultaneously deploy two Star Martial Skills hardly counts as a true composite Star Martial Skill. That's only the first step, far from the true fusion of two Star Martial Skills. Moreover, a composite Star Martial Skill involves the fusion of two different attribute-altering Star Martial Skills. The Crescent Arrow is a Form Changing Star Martial Skill; it fundamentally doesn't meet the criteria for deploying a composite Star Martial Skill…" He MingXue's voice, imitating Wang Qianfeng's, resounded.

Instantly, Wang Qianfeng snapped back to his senses, his face turning as black as thunder.

"He MingXue, there's no time like the present! I shall seek your 'guidance' today!" Wang Qianfeng declared.

"Wang, how can you be so shameless? You were the one who wanted to teach Wang Lan a lesson, and when you couldn't, you got taught one instead. Don't take your anger out on me!" He MingXue retorted.

"Of course, one can't just vent anger recklessly. But aren't you my punching bag? If not you, then who? He MingXue, take this—"

"Punching bag? Wang Qianfeng, you dare! I'm from the Law Enforcement Department—"

"Law Enforcement Department, my ass! This is just a friendly spar between fellow members…" Wang Qianfeng scoffed.

The training ground immediately became the stage for another high-quality, top-tier duel.

Wang Lan gave a wry smile, shook his head, and turned to leave. Just then, Lige, Zhang Yeqiu, Xu Shiyun, and the others appeared before him. They stared at him with unfriendly, fiery gazes, making Wang Lan instinctively want to clutch his collar.

Suddenly, Xu Shiyun stepped forward, instantly closing the distance to Wang Lan. He grabbed Wang Lan's collar and shook him back and forth. "How did you do it? How did you do it? How can you be such a Demon?"

"I… COUGH, COUGH, COUGH… Let go! Let go!" Wang Lan choked out.

"My lifelong reputation… ruined by you, brat! If I'd known you'd mastered composite Star Martial Skills, why would I have been so unprepared? How could I have let you get the better of me… ARGH!" Xu Shiyun wailed.

"Enough already!" Lige interrupted Xu Shiyun's furious rant in a low voice. "Limited to using only one Star Martial Skill, your options are too restricted. Even if you knew Wang Lan could use composite Star Martial Skills, you wouldn't have been able to stop his arrow with just one. The only defensive method I can imagine for you is the Earth Travel Skill. For countermeasures, perhaps Soil Flow Bomb Delivery or gravity control. What else could you have done? Let go of Wang Lan. Let him explain how he managed to perform a composite Star Martial Skill."

"It's quite simple—" Once released, Wang Lan straightened his ruffled hair and smiled faintly.

"I have a little trick. Once you grasp it, you can perform composite Star Martial Skills. First, divide your mental focus into four parts. Two parts control the left and right sides of your body, respectively, to deploy two different Star Martial Skills.

"A third part of your mind then acts like shuffling a deck of cards, thoroughly overlapping and fusing the Star Power of these two skills. Finally, the fourth part manages the release: you instantly alter the execution methods of both Star Martial Skills. If the alternating frequency is fast enough, it's quite easy to unleash a fused Star Martial Skill."

"See? Isn't it very simple?" Wang Lan concluded with a smile.

The expressions of the four people around him shifted continuously as they listened to Wang Lan's explanation. By the time he finished speaking, their faces had turned ashen.

"Wang Lan, do you have some kind of misunderstanding of the phrase 'very simple'? You call *this* simple?" Zhang Yeqiu asked, clenching her teeth and enunciating each word.

"It's… not simple?" Wang Lan asked, feigning surprise.

"Sis, don't dwell on it," Zhang Xiaoxue said to Zhang Yeqiu. "His brain is just wired differently from ours."

"Some people's talents are simply destined to make others despair," Lige sighed softly, then turned and quietly departed.

"Enough, enough… A Demon's methods are impossible to learn…" Xu Shiyun waved his hand with a defeated expression and also turned to leave.

"Hey, by the way, have there been any leads on that assassin case?" Wang Lan suddenly asked, catching up to Xu Shiyun. The class had recently been discussing whether Mu Shaoyun could return for the city selections. Since they were at the Tianjian Bureau, Wang Lan seized the opportunity.

"Nothing," Xu Shiyun replied. "The higher-ups only speculate that Wang Mingling might have already quietly infiltrated Suzhou City. However, Wang Mingling didn't make a move during the assassination of Mu Liancheng. Those four foreigners were probably Wang Mingling's subordinates. You killed one, and three escaped. But those three seem to have vanished from the face of the earth; we've been searching for a week without a single trace."

"Really? What about Mu Shaoyun then? Is he still receiving treatment?" Wang Lan asked.

"Mu Shaoyun? Your classmate?" Xu Shiyun looked at Wang Lan curiously. "Hasn't he returned to school yet? He was fully recovered and discharged from the hospital the very next day."

"Is that so?" Wang Lan sighed softly. "After such a terrible ordeal, I hope he can pull through."

Wang Lan wasn't very familiar with Mu Shaoyun. Although they had met a few times, they had barely exchanged words. Wang Lan's only impression of Mu Shaoyun was that he was a genius on par with Jiang Xinyu. In terms of family background and talent, he was quite similar to Jiang Xinyu, consistently ranking first in overall scores.

After returning from the Tianjian Bureau, Wang Lan found that Jiang Xinyu and the others had already dispersed. He made a phone call and learned that his four friends were eating at the Eastern Heaven Gate. Wang Lan quickly changed his clothes and immediately headed out to join them.

「Another week passed quietly.」

There had still been no news from the Star Martial Hall.

During this week, the five-person group sparred daily in Wang Lan's home Training Room. With the city selections starting on Monday, it was unrealistic to expect any significant improvement in their strength.

The continuous high-intensity training was primarily to maintain their current condition, ensuring they could face the school selections in peak mental form.

Ever since Wang Lan had submitted the application form, a mission had been active in his system. Undoubtedly, this mission was related to the upcoming provincial martial meeting.

Maximizing the benefits was, of course, Wang Lan's ultimate goal. Whether or not he could break through to the Star Cloud Stage might also depend on this provincial martial meeting. Therefore, even for the city selections, Wang Lan had to give it his absolute all.

Suzhou City's only Star Martial High School was Suzhou No.1 Middle School. In Wang Lan's year, there were five hundred Star Martial Warriors from Suzhou City, spread across ten classes in the senior year of the Star Martial Arts Campus.

However, Wang Lan knew that every year, the city selections for the provincial martial meeting invariably revealed some previously low-profile dark horses. So, even for these initial selections, Wang Lan couldn't afford to be complacent.

「On the last day before the selections」

The five-person group didn't spar. Instead, they sat together to study intelligence on their opponents. In their eyes, everyone outside their small circle was a potential adversary.

"Duan Ziqi and Mu Shaoyun are almost certain to be selected; they reached the Star Cloud Stage last semester," Jiang Xinyu began the analysis. "Moreover, they're all-rounders—exceptional in combat, Star Martial Skills, and tactical thinking. Zhuang Haotian will also likely be selected. I heard he broke through to the Star Cloud Stage during the winter vacation, and his strength is even above mine and Feiyu's."

"This time, out of the five hundred students from our school who signed up, a total of eighty did," Xu Xiangwen continued, laying out the numbers. "Among those who registered, eight are at the Star Cloud Stage or higher, thirty are at the peak of the Star Shine Stage, and the remainder are all in the late Star Shine Stage. There's only one at the mid-Star Shine Stage."

As Xu Xiangwen finished speaking, he looked teasingly at Xie Sisi, who was sitting opposite him. "Many students are wondering where Monitor Xie found the courage to sign up…"

"Hahaha! Don't worry, Sisi. When the time comes, you'll shock them all with your 'unbeatable below Star Cloud Stage' prowess!" Jiang Xinyu chimed in with a laugh.

Jiang Xinyu continued, "From the preliminary data we've gathered, the overall quality of students in our year is significantly higher than in previous years. In the past, each cohort had at most one or two individuals at the Star Cloud Stage. But this year, we unexpectedly have eight. The critical issue is that it's not just Suzhou City; other cities are also reporting their best student quality in nearly a decade."

"It's really damn strange," Xu Xiangwen muttered.

"Is the Golden Age arriving?" Feiyu wondered aloud.

"Perhaps," Jiang Xinyu mused. "The foundation accumulated over the seventy years since the war ended is now beginning to manifest fully. Our generation of elites isn't an isolated spike; the upcoming cohorts and even this year's freshmen are also exceptionally talented."

"Anyway," Jiang Xinyu stated, bringing the focus back to their group, "among the five of us, only I am relatively secure for a top-ten spot. The rest of you four aren't guaranteed. This is especially true for you, Sisi, Xiangwen, and Feiyu."

"Xinyu, why not Wang Lan?" Xu Xiangwen immediately asked, feeling indignant. After all, I'm at the Star Cloud Stage!

"It's different for Wang Lan," Jiang Xinyu explained. "He has mastered composite Star Martial Skills, so his combat power is comparable to someone at the Star Cloud Stage. As long as Wang Lan demonstrates his strength in the initial battles, he's unlikely to be treated as an easy target in the subsequent challenge rounds.

"However, Xiangwen, there are two, maybe even three or four, competitors whose strength is similar to yours. If I eliminate other Star Cloud Stage contenders in the preliminaries, those eliminated will definitely choose to challenge you guys in the challenge rounds. If you're defeated in a challenge match, you only get one more chance to challenge someone else back."

"Therefore, you absolutely cannot afford to lose in the initial selection matches. That way, even if you are defeated in a challenge, you'll still have an opportunity to fight your way back," Jiang Xinyu concluded seriously.

"Understood…" the others murmured, a new sense of pressure settling in.