Chapter 158: The Mysterious Zhang Yu
When Zhang Yu came to his senses again, he found himself in an underground passageway.
Has the teleportation completed?
He walked forward along the passage and soon saw a figure.
Zhang Yu quickly walked over, wanting to see if it was Bai Zhenzhen who had come down with him, but he found it was a boy wearing a school uniform.
Hearing the footsteps, the boy turned his head to look at Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu nodded at him and greeted, “Hello, are you also here for the exam?”
The boy’s name was Dai Xingzhi. He didn’t immediately respond to Zhang Yu’s greeting but instead looked him up and down, confirming one thing.
The person before him was not a student from the Immortal Capital.
Dai Xingzhi was certain of this for two main reasons.
On one hand, he was very unfamiliar with the other’s appearance, and he remembered every outstanding and wealthy high school student in the Immortal Capital very clearly; this person was definitely not among them.
The second reason was that, judging from the other’s accent, speech, clothing, and so on… this was an outsider.
As an old Immortal Capital native whose ancestors had lived in the city for ten generations, in Dai Xingzhi’s eyes… people from the Immortal Capital and outsiders were completely different, practically two different species.
And he, Dai Xingzhi, could basically tell the difference at a glance.
Outsiders are just outsiders, they lack the air of us Immortal Capital people.
Realizing that the person before him was most likely an outsider, he straightened his back, almost unconsciously.
Because he, Dai Xingzhi, was a staunch supporter of Immortal Capital supremacism.
The Immortal Capital was the center of Kunxu’s first layer, a concentration of the strongest, smartest, and wealthiest people on the first layer. The Upper City of the Immortal Capital could even be called Kunxu’s 1.5th layer.
Theoretically, I’m not even from Kunxu’s first layer; I should be considered a person from Kunxu’s 1.5th layer.
As for the other cities on the first layer? In Dai Xingzhi’s heart, weren’t they all just the countryside?
Looking at Zhang Yu before him, Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, You stinking outsider, coming to the Immortal Capital to snatch our Foundation Establishment certificates?
So after glancing at Zhang Yu a couple of times, Dai Xingzhi said nothing and turned to leave. He walked briskly forward and soon saw the back of another person.
Ye Lingxiao…
Dai Xingzhi had long heard of this top student who had recently become obsessed with Red Envelope Talismans, as he was from within the second ring of the Upper City.
In Dai Xingzhi’s understanding, the Immortal Capital was the center of Kunxu’s first layer.
The floating city above the Immortal Capital, always known as the Upper City, was the center of the center.
And this Upper City was divided into ten rings from the outside in, with the area inside the second ring being the center of the center of the center.
Ye Lingxiao, born in the second ring, came from one of the wealthiest families in the Immortal Capital.
According to Dai Xingzhi’s knowledge, people from the second ring only befriended other people from the second ring, only married people from the second ring, and would only have children with people from the second ring. Some second-ringers might not even come down their entire lives.
Seeing Ye Lingxiao at this moment, Dai Xingzhi’s recently straightened back immediately bent again as he said fawningly, “Lingxiao, hello.”
“Do you remember me? I’m Dai Xingzhi from your school. My family lives in the north sixth ring.”
Then he added, “It’s inside the sixth ring, not outside.”
Ye Lingxiao nodded without lifting his head, continuing to practice with his Red Envelope Talismans single-mindedly.
After the last Dao heart test, his curiosity about the Red Envelope Talismans and Favorability Talismans had deepened, and he was now ninety percent certain that a tremendous benefit was hidden within them.
Unfortunately, because the secret involved was so great, he didn’t dare tell anyone and could only study it slowly on his own.
Just then, a shout came from behind. “Hey! Why are you throwing Red Envelope Talismans around again, kid?”
Zhang Yu followed, dodging the Red Envelope Talismans on the ground, and said with dissatisfaction, “If you just toss this dirty stuff around, aren’t you endangering public safety?”
Ye Lingxiao glanced at Zhang Yu with some surprise, as if he hadn’t expected this student from the outside to have survived the last test.
Ye Lingxiao said flatly, “If no one picks up a Red Envelope Talisman, it will disappear after a while. Besides, if you don’t want the money inside, you can just return it immediately…”
As the two spoke, Zhang Yu had followed him into a large underground hall.
From a distance, he could see Examiner Deng Bingding and others standing in the center of the hall, surrounded by a dozen or so contestants who had arrived earlier.
However, at the moment, these contestants seemed to be discussing something with the examiner.
One of the students was heard saying, “Examiner, please announce the rankings from the last test.”
Another student said, “That’s right, what kind of test doesn’t announce the rankings?”
Someone loudly supported, “If you don’t have rankings, can you even call it a test? Can it be considered a proper exam?”
After listening for a few moments, Zhang Yu understood. It was a group of Immortal Capital masters demanding the release of the rankings from the previous test.
And looking at their posture and the information revealed in their words, it seemed that if a local Immortal Capital school didn’t announce rankings after an exam, it would be a scandalous breach of custom, and both the teachers and the school would be reported.
Damn it, another bunch of ranking fiends… Zhang Yu thought to himself that no matter where you went in Kunxu, you couldn’t escape these types who loved to rank everything, showing no regard for the privacy of the examinees.
Just then, Bai Zhenzhen also walked up to Zhang Yu’s side and asked curiously, “What’s all the commotion up ahead?”
Zhang Yu said disdainfully, “A bunch of score-obsessed fanatics are making a scene, demanding the release of the last test’s rankings.”
Bai Zhenzhen recalled her own performance in the last test. “Hmm, the strongest few Immortal Capital masters took half a second to open the door, while I took just under three seconds. My rank is definitely low.”
Then thinking that her Dao heart test was also likely inferior to these Immortal Capital masters, she shook her head and sighed.
“It’s just a pre-exam test. These people still care too much about empty fame.”
Zhang Yu agreed, “How can the true Immortal Dao be defined by temporary scores and rankings?”
Hearing this, Ye Lingxiao, as a supporter of the exam-ranking theory, felt he could no longer pretend not to have heard.
But just as he was about to speak, Dai Xingzhi beside him couldn’t hold back any longer and said, “What are you two outsiders spouting nonsense about? Scores are everything! Ranking is the standard for whether a person is qualified to continue on the path of the Immortal Dao!”
“If a person only cares about scores but not rankings… then what’s the difference between them and a devil incarnate?”
Although Ye Lingxiao didn’t speak, his frequent nodding showed that he very much supported this view.
Dai Xingzhi looked at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, but there was another thought he left unsaid.
Hmph, only those who know their ranking is low would be afraid of the rankings, he thought to himself.
And in his mind, how could these two outsiders possibly compare to the top students of the Immortal Capital? They were bound to be low-ranked.
I’ve seen plenty of outsiders like you who lack score-virtue. If you two were ranked first and second, you’d probably be dying to have the rankings announced.
At this moment, facing the demands of so many students, Deng Bingding, standing at the forefront of the examiners, said, “I understand everyone’s desire to know the rankings, and there’s no rule here that forbids disclosing the previous rankings.”
“It’s just that we felt they weren’t particularly meaningful for reference, so we didn’t plan on announcing them.”
“Now, since everyone wants to know, I will display the rankings for you.”
The previous test was divided into two stages.
The first was pushing open the metal gate, and the second was the Dao heart test.
However, for the results of the first stage, pushing open the gate, the many students present weren’t particularly concerned; they just glanced at it and set it aside.
After all, the requirement for this stage was not high, purely to eliminate first-year high school students with insufficient strength, and many contestants had not used their full power.
On the contrary, the second stage, the Dao heart test, was seen by everyone as not only a display of willpower but also a reflection of a contestant’s wealth, and it was what the students present cared about the most.
So everyone was more concerned with the ranking of this Dao heart test.
First Place, No. 55, Valuation Unknown
Second Place, No. 23, Valuation 5.5 Billion
Third Place, No. 11, Valuation 5 Billion
…
Looking at the rankings above, everyone immediately fell silent, quietly searching for their own numbers, clarifying their position in the current group, much like finding their seats in a movie theater.
And after confirming their own ranking and their approximate level in this exam, the next step was naturally to check others’ rankings.
Usually, they would first check their friends, or perhaps the people they disliked.
And for Dai Xingzhi, the first thing he confirmed was the top three.
When in a group of people, the first thing to do was to recognize who had the highest score and the most money; this had always been his habit, and it was one of his Dai family’s ancestral teachings.
At the same time, Dai Xingzhi was recalling the content of the last Dao heart test.
This valuation, does it refer to the value of the temptation one could resist in the end?
Then those who can be valued higher on this list are not only resolute in their Dao heart but are also absolutely wealthy.
Number 11 is Yun Jing, third place, with a valuation of 5 billion?
Dai Xingzhi looked towards the boy who was surrounded by several students from Immortal Cloud High.
The most eye-catching thing about him was his pair of eyes that shone like stars; Dai Xingzhi knew that was a bionic.
Yun Jing… called ‘the strongest high school student on Kunxu’s first layer’ by Purple Cloud Pharmaceuticals.
Dai Xingzhi had heard that a month ago, apart from his magic power, even his Dao heart and physical strength had already reached the limits of Qi Refinement.
Sigh, one of the four Foundation Establishment certificates this time should belong to Yun Jing.
Nearby, Ye Lingxiao also glanced at Yun Jing. He still remembered that the other person could pick up his Red Envelope Talismans without any loss last time.
Dai Xingzhi thought, Second place, number 23, is Ye Lingxiao next to me, valuation 5.5 billion. Did he hold out until the 5.5 billion offer in the illusionary landscape? Truly worthy of being a rich kid from the 2nd ring.
His various stats probably reached the Qi Refinement limit two or three months ago, right? After all, he was evaluated by the Oasis Group as having the most perfect physique and the most perfect bloodline among contemporary high school students.
One of the four Foundation Establishment certificates should be his as well.
But then, seeing the first-place number 55, Dai Xingzhi found that he couldn’t find the person even after looking around, and he grew increasingly puzzled.
In this Foundation Establishment exam, is there actually someone stronger and wealthier than Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao?