Chapter 140: The Strongest Level
Ye Lingxiao looked toward the person who had taken his Red Envelope Talisman completely unscathed.
The newcomer was a slender man who, upon first glance, appeared surprisingly frail.
Beyond his frailness, what drew the most attention were his eyes, which shone like brilliant stars, as if one could see countless resplendent starbursts surging within them.
Watching this unfold from the side, a thought suddenly struck Zhang Yu.
Is that… a bionic?
A bionic. He still remembered the first time he had seen one was on a Foundation Establishment expert, the director of Immortal Resonance’s Group Songyang division. Zhao Tianxing had told him back then that implanting a bionic required at least 100 points of magic power.
Among all the high school students he had met before, Zhang Yu had never seen a single one with a bionic.
Just then, Ye Lingxiao asked, “Yun Jing, why was my Red Envelope Talisman ineffective against you?”
This man before them, frail to an abnormal degree and with a bionic implanted in his eyes, was named Yun Jing.
As the top second-year at ‘Immortal Cloud High,’ the strongest high school in the Immortal Capital, a prodigy living on the one-and-a-half layer of Kunxu, Yun Jing had long since defeated everyone in his school, and was even unmatched throughout the entire Immortal Capital high school scene.
“The strongest high school student on the first layer of Kunxu.”
Was this his own self-assessment?
It was not.
This was the objective judgment rendered by Purple Cloud Supplements’ first-layer headquarters after they had tested him.
Hearing Ye Lingxiao’s question now, Yun Jing smiled faintly and said, “Because I’ve already been placed under an Anti-Fraud Talisman.”
“Your Red Envelope Talisman hitting me is like a moth to a flame—utterly useless.”
He spread his hands wide and laughed heartily, “In other words, I am now immune to this type of talisman.”
At that moment, everyone felt as if a wave of Yun Jing’s hand had summoned rivers of divine power to flow before him, shielding him from all manner of harassment, traps, and scams.
Ye Lingxiao nodded slightly, “The Red Envelope Talisman is still too limited. Only the Favorability Talisman is truly unstoppable.”
Yun Jing shook his head. “A Favorability Talisman is unstoppable for a righteous god, but it’s useless against people.”
Ye Lingxiao shook his head again but said nothing more.
But a thought secretly formed in his mind. Favorability Talismans can work on people. I’ve seen someone use one like that before.
After witnessing that, Ye Lingxiao had even faintly sensed that a great secret might be hidden within it.
This secret made him incredibly curious and, at the same time, filled him with a trace of shock, further fueling his desire to study talismans.
But Ye Lingxiao had no intention of sharing such important and valuable information with Yun Jing and the others for free.
At the scene now, high school students from the Immortal Capital like Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing stood almost in a single bloc, making up ninety percent of the crowd.
Meanwhile, examinees from other cities like Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Yu Xinghan stood in small, scattered groups in the distance, far outnumbered by the natives of the Immortal Capital.
Zhang Yu lamented, “These Immortal Capital natives really have it good; I bet they’ve dominated the Foundation Establishment exam in previous years, haven’t they?”
Yu Xinghan nodded slightly. “I’ve heard that the best high schools here can invite the heads of major corporations to lecture, that the teachers for Daoist art classes are righteous gods, and that every student gets their own Yellow Turban Strongman for sparring practice…”
Zhang Yu was stunned to hear this; the disparity in Immortal Dao educational resources was simply too vast.
Bai Zhenzhen, listening from the side, was also filled with envy. The natives of the Immortal Capital were in a different league than the people of Songyang.
Just then, the metal gate before them shuddered violently, and lines of text appeared on a nearby light screen.
Zhang Yu looked over and saw that it was the rules for the upcoming test.
Simply put, the metal gate required the fulfillment of three criteria—physical body, magic power, and martial arts—to be opened.
One needed enough physical strength to push the metal gate.
For martial arts and magic power, one had to strike different positions on the gate with nine different palm forces in a specific sequence, all within three seconds.
Only then could the metal gate be pushed open, allowing one to enter and complete the Dao heart test.
In other words, once you pushed open the metal gate and passed the Dao heart test within, you had officially completed the registration process and earned the qualification to participate in the Foundation Establishment exam.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, The specific details of these nine palm forces, and the order of impact, are like a combination lock. Only the correct combination will open the door.
According to the wall, this combination changes every time the door is opened…
Just as Zhang Yu was still studying how to condense the nine palm forces, he noticed the text on the wall flicker and change—the sequence and nature of the nine palm forces had been altered.
At the same time, a time of 0.64 seconds displayed above the metal gate.
With a loud creak, the metal gate was forcefully pushed open by Yun Jing, revealing a bottomless darkness.
Yun Jing then stepped forward nonchalantly, and as the metal gate closed once more, he vanished into the darkness in an instant.
After Yun Jing left, Ye Lingxiao’s figure flashed like lightning. Zhang Yu couldn’t even clearly see all his movements as a series of nine loud bangs merged into what sounded like a single collision.
The time displayed above the metal gate read 0.65 seconds.
In the next moment, Ye Lingxiao was already standing before the gate, pushing it open with ease.
They finished striking with nine different palm forces in less than a second? And that probably wasn’t even their full strength.
Watching Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao push open the metal gate one after another, Zhang Yu felt an unprecedented pressure.
Those two are probably second-years… about to become third-years, right?
Just one more year of cultivation than me, and they’re already this much stronger?
Is this the strongest level of high school students on the first layer of Kunxu?
Zhang Yu recognized one thing very clearly: at this moment, he was far inferior to those two.
If he wanted to pass the Foundation Establishment qualification exam, he would need to catch up to their level in the future.
Standing beside him, Bai Zhenzhen also took a deep breath, feeling the spiritual root within her stir restlessly.
They’re all so strong, Bai Zhenzhen thought. Can I really pass the Foundation Establishment exam this year?
Although she had been constantly encouraging herself and cultivating with all her might.
But now, having truly arrived in the Immortal Capital, whether it was the massive floating city, the prices at the train station, or the performance of these Immortal Capital natives before her… it all felt like a series of punches, slowly forcing her straight back to bend, making her feel the gap between herself and the people here, bit by bit.
It was enough to make a sliver of an escapist thought rise in Bai Zhenzhen’s mind. It’s okay if I lose this year, there’s still a chance next year, right?
But in the next moment, she immediately suppressed this distracting thought. No matter what, I’ll give it my all.
Although Yu Xinghan, standing to the side, also felt the pressure, it wasn’t as intense as what Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were experiencing.
He thought to himself, This time, I’m just here to experience the atmosphere of the Foundation Establishment exam in advance and take the opportunity to get my expenses reimbursed. My real chance is next year.
In the time that followed, the contestants went up one by one, gradually pushing open the gate.
Zhang Yu wasn’t in a hurry; instead, he stayed where he was, observing these potential rivals.
The vast majority should be second-years. Aside from the first two who finished in under a second, most of the rest finished within two seconds.
Those who are weaker than me… must be freshmen, taking between two to four seconds to push open the metal gate.
The contestants who took more than three seconds to open the gate failed to meet the test requirements and were promptly dispatched by a large hole that suddenly appeared beneath their feet, clearly eliminated.
Seeing that no one else was going up for the moment, Zhang Yu walked forward. He glanced at the nine palm forces recorded on the wall and began to strike the metal gate, palm after palm.
Relying on his superb magic power control and physical control, he moved like a whirlwind, circling the metal gate. In 2.3 seconds, he had struck nine different locations on the gate with the nine distinct palm forces.
He then stood firm before the metal gate, and with a powerful push of both hands, he swung it wide open and stepped into the darkness.
…
Countless roars of beasts and monsters seemed to echo from within the darkness.
In the next moment, a flash of fire illuminated the scene as hundreds, even thousands, of monsters charged forward.
Zombies, fox demons, ghosts… they all rushed him at once, as if to tear him to shreds.
However, when Zhang Yu mustered the courage to fight the monsters, he found them to be surprisingly weak. He quickly carved a path through them three times over, pushed open the exit gate at the end of the passage, and found himself back in a stall in the train station’s restroom.
The final test of the Dao heart was courage?
Zhang Yu took out his phone, logged into the registration website, and confirmed that he had successfully registered and passed the test, only then breathing a sigh of relief.
However, his mind felt fuzzy, and he had a nagging feeling he had overlooked something.
But just as he tried to think about it, the feeling was already gone.
Zhang Yu shook his head and had just stepped out of the restroom when a hand slapped him from behind, knocking him unconscious.
…
At the same time.
In the office where Zhang Yu had just registered.
The middle-aged woman who had registered Zhang Yu sat behind her desk. On four light screens beside her were the figures of four other individuals.
The middle-aged woman’s name was Deng Bingding.
Although as a World Roaming God, she was already a sixth-rank divine spirit, a major figure compared to a ninth-rank minor Duty God.
But Deng Bingding had never felt any reason to be arrogant.
Everyone thought being a god was great, that divine power was immense, but so what if you actually became one?
Deng Bingding had been to the Heavenly Court; she knew how high its steps were, how far she was from the great gods of the various ministries, how insignificant her authority was in this Kunxu, and understood even more clearly that in the eyes of the immortals, she was nothing more than a useful tool.
Just like right now; because of a sudden order from above, she could only slow down what she was originally working on and devote a large amount of energy and divine power to participate in temporary overtime for the Foundation Establishment exam, maintaining order and protecting student information from being leaked.
She glanced at the other four figures on the light screens, who were the four minor gods assigned to assist her this time.
Deng Bingding said, “This reform of the Foundation Establishment exam comes as a verbal edict from a Exalted Immortal and the written approval of a Divine Monarch. I’ll have to trouble you all to keep a close watch.”
“Not at all, not at all, we will follow your orders, Lady Deng…”
Amid the exchange of pleasantries, Deng Bingding had already received Favorability Talismans from the four minor gods.
It was originally the practice of a few individual divine spirits for a lower-ranking god to send a Favorability Talisman to a higher-ranking one to increase favorability, but it had now unwittingly become widespread throughout the entire divine world of Kunxu.
Deng Bingding was quite disdainful of this, and in her heart, she deeply loathed such pointless formalities.
She glanced at the amounts sent by the four minor gods and her brow furrowed. The others all sent over ten thousand, yet you send me 5,000? What is the meaning of this?
Deng Bingding immediately made a mental note of the minor god who had sent the smallest amount on his Favorability Talisman.
“Huang Zichou.”
To turn a perfectly good Favorability Talisman into a Disfavor Talisman, you’re truly one of a kind. No wonder you’re still a ninth-rank god.
Deng Bingding lamented inwardly, which was why she detested these pointless formalities. They hadn’t even started working together, and ill feelings had already been created. How were they supposed to serve the great gods properly like this?
She still missed the old days when you could state the amount and transfer it face-to-face without anyone investigating.
She formed a Daoist seal with her hands, and as waves of divine power surged, light screens materialized before her, displaying the experiences of each student after they stepped through the metal gate.
Deng Bingding said lightly, “You four are also aware that with so many mouths to feed throughout the Eight Ministries, life has never been easy.”
“The sudden addition of this registration test this year is, on one hand, to use the physical, magic power, and martial arts requirements to screen out some of the freshmen and save some budget for the exam.”
“On the other hand, and this is the main point from above, is to use the Dao heart test to identify truly useful talents and weed out the types who become weak-kneed shrimps the moment they climb up…”