Chapter 170: Second Round Grouping, Ye Lingxiao’s Battle Intent
Deng Bingding looked at the twenty remaining students before her and offered words of encouragement. “The cultivation techniques you just learned—I have already sent the usage rights for all of them to you.”
“This is a reward from the Heavenly Court to motivate the candidates of the first layer, prepared for you for advancing in the examination.”
“I hope that you will remain neither arrogant nor impatient, but will continue to advance bravely, strive diligently on the path of the Immortal Dao, and in the future, reach even greater heights, serving the Heavenly Court and your sects…”
After encouraging the students present, Deng Bingding proceeded to discuss the next round of the examination.
“The next round of examinations will be held on October 15th, at this same location.”
“However, unlike this comprehensive examination, the second round will be a specialized examination. Each of you must choose one of four tracks to participate in: Dao heart, magic power, body tempering, or martial arts.”
“You have been kept here so that we may arrange your registration…”
And so, under the guidance of the righteous god, the students took out their phones and logged into the registration website.
According to Deng Bingding, following the recent reforms to the Foundation Establishment examination, the registration for the four tracks had also changed slightly.
Each student could now register for two tracks, which would allow for adjustments based on the students’ total scores from the first round, in case some tracks had too few or too many participants.
In short, the purpose was to better discover talent on the first layer, to make the distribution of participants in the four tracks more balanced, and also to avoid too many strong contestants being crowded into a single track and getting eliminated.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu’s brow furrowed slightly. Register for two?
But Zhen and I only discussed one track.
Could it be that after all the adjustments, Zhen and I will be placed in the same track?
Zhang Yu wanted to discuss this with Bai Zhenzhen, but the righteous god had just forbidden any communication between the candidates.
This clearly required them to complete their registration independently now that they had been informed of the rule change.
Then I can only rely on my unspoken understanding with Zhen.
According to their original agreement, Zhang Yu would register for body tempering arts, and Bai Zhenzhen would register for martial arts.
Now, with a second registration option, Zhang Yu had to choose between Dao heart and magic power.
Dao heart or magic power?
Recalling his performance in the first magic power examination, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. Unknowingly, because I have neglected to continue practicing my magic power control, Zhen has already surpassed me in this area, hasn’t she?
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu chose Dao heart for his second option.
A moment later, as the candidates on site finished their registrations one by one, all the data appeared before the eyes of the righteous gods.
Deng Bingding nodded. “As expected, Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao have avoided each other. It seems they also have a tacit understanding.”
Huang Zichou commented, “If those two were to meet in the same track, it would be a great pity no matter which one was eliminated.”
Deng Bingding’s gaze swept over the registration choices of the third, fourth, and fifth-place students, and she said, “Let’s begin the adjustments.”
In Deng Bingding’s view, the first thing to confirm was naturally the tracks for the first and second place finishers, Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing.
This was because the strength of these two was on a completely different level from the other 18 students present.
Deng Bingding thought to herself, Whichever two tracks Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing are placed in, they will be the winners of those tracks.
So after some discussion, the righteous gods placed Ye Lingxiao in the body tempering arts track he had registered for, and Yun Jing in the martial arts track he had registered for.
They then continued to group the students from high to low scores, taking special care to separate the top ten contestants from Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing.
And with the high-speed thinking of the righteous gods operating within the Heavenly Net, the participant lists for each track of the second round were quickly finalized.
Huang Zichou glanced at the assignments of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen and thought to himself, These two are a bit unlucky.
Zhang Yu had been assigned to the body tempering arts track, while Bai Zhenzhen had been assigned to the martial arts track.
In the eyes of the righteous gods, due to the presence of Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing, the body tempering arts and martial arts tracks were effectively death groups, where all contestants besides Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing were destined to be eliminated.
Huang Zichou mused, But even if Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are eliminated this year, they can still take the exam again next year.
Although these two from poor backgrounds have astonishing potential and seem to have some mysterious support, they are still short one year of cultivation time. Let them go back and consolidate for a year before returning.
He knew that the main purpose of this Foundation Establishment examination reform was to discover more talent and channel it upward.
Therefore, assigning the lower-scoring contestants to Ye Lingxiao’s and Yun Jing’s groups as much as possible, while placing the remaining high-scoring contestants in the other two groups, was the most reasonable choice.
And in the examiners’ eyes, contestants like Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who could participate in the Foundation Establishment examination again next year, were no great loss if eliminated in the next round.
As the righteous gods finished their deliberations, a light screen immediately appeared in front of the 20 students, showing the groupings for the next round of the examination.
Looking at the results, some breathed a sigh of relief, some looked nervous, and others appeared helpless—a wide range of reactions.
The first thing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen checked, of course, was whether the two of them had been placed in the same group.
When they found that they were in the body tempering arts and martial arts tracks respectively, they both breathed a slight sigh of relief.
But when they saw who their opponents were in their respective tracks, their expressions immediately became solemn.
Number 23? Zhang Yu looked at Ye Lingxiao. I have to compete with this guy?
Recalling Ye Lingxiao’s performance in the three exams today, Zhang Yu lamented, Damn it… this guy is definitely using a hack, right? A bigger one than mine, even?
Rich and a cheater. Number 23, you really deserve to die.
At this moment, Zhang Yu truly wished that Ye Lingxiao would get hit by a car the moment he stepped outside.
But he also knew it was impossible. Never mind whether a car could even kill him, the protective forces around him were certainly not ordinary.
Feather Book, oh Feather Book, in the end, it’s you who’s not powerful enough.
If you were even a little more powerful, would I still be here worrying?
In the end, I still have to rely on myself to upgrade you.
At first, Zhang Yu thought the Feather Book was his cheat.
Later, after improving his strength through his own efforts time and again, Zhang Yu felt the Feather Book was just his latent potential.
Now, thinking that he still had to find ways to hunt evil gods just to upgrade the Feather Book, he felt like he was the one who was the Feather Book’s cheat.
On the other side, Bai Zhenzhen looked towards Yun Jing. So this is number 11? Damn it, they put me in the same group as him? This has to be rigged!
Can’t his family just suddenly go bankrupt?
Bai Zhenzhen scratched her hair in frustration. The martial arts examination will eventually come down to actual combat, right? To defeat this guy…
She began to meticulously recall Yun Jing’s performance in today’s three exams, committing it to memory, unwilling to miss a single detail.
Yu Xinghan looked at the body tempering arts group he was assigned to. Although he frowned slightly, he was not too dejected.
After all, based on his own expectations, he never thought he could obtain a Foundation Establishment qualification certificate this year. To have come this far was already quite an achievement.
“Alright,” Deng Bingding said. “Everyone has seen the list. That will be all for today.”
“Go back and prepare well for the next round of examinations.”
After speaking, Deng Bingding pointed to the passage from which they had come, signaling that they could leave.
As Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were walking towards the passage, they found that Ye Lingxiao had, at some point, started walking beside them.
Upon noticing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen beside him, Ye Lingxiao met their eyes and gave a slight nod, as if in greeting.
Not far away, Dai Xingzhi saw this scene and thought, Ye Lingxiao actually took the initiative to greet them? As expected, he sees them as individuals on his own level.
Recalling when he first came in with Zhang Yu and secretly looked down on him for his outsider status, Dai Xingzhi could not help but smile wryly. Sigh, it’s good to be rich. Even if you’re not from the Immortal Capital, you’re still a force to be reckoned with.
After meeting Zhang Yu’s eyes, Ye Lingxiao spoke. “Was today’s examination not worth your full effort?”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu’s focus sharpened instantly. What does he mean? Is this some kind of Immortal Capital slang for bullying? Is he mocking my poor performance today?
Ye Lingxiao continued, “But in the next round of competition, you won’t be able to hold back.”
“I will look forward to our match then.”
“So… see you at the top.”
The “top” Ye Lingxiao referred to was the second layer of Kunxu.
After all, from his perspective, with the level of skill Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had shown, even if they did not obtain a Foundation Establishment qualification certificate this year, advancing to the second layer in the future was practically guaranteed.
Watching Ye Lingxiao disappear into a black hole that opened at his feet, Zhang Yu registered the battle intent in the other boy’s eyes.
The next moment, he and Bai Zhenzhen also fell into a hole and were teleported back to the station’s restroom.
That guy… Zhang Yu thought to himself, he wasn’t being sarcastic?
Zhang Yu clenched his fists slightly. Don’t worry. In the next exam, I will definitely give you a surprise.
Back at the station, looking at the gray, hazy night sky, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen did not dare to linger in the high-consumption city of the Immortal Capital. They quickly bought train tickets and left not long after.
As the train started moving, just as Zhang Yu began to feel a little relaxed, the sound of the ritual rang out again.
With a sigh, Zhang Yu could only go to the corridor to cultivate the Spring and Autumn Endless Zen.
When Bai Zhenzhen saw Zhang Yu like this, she cursed inwardly, Still grinding?
After enduring three consecutive exams, Bai Zhenzhen felt utterly exhausted and had no motivation to continue cultivating.
But thinking about the opponents she and Zhang Yu would face in the next round, Bai Zhenzhen could understand Zhang Yu’s state of mind.
Yu-boy must be very anxious right now.
Sigh, but being anxious won’t help.
At least we just finished the exam, we should rest on the train for a bit…
Just as Bai Zhenzhen was thinking this, her phone vibrated.
“Hello?”
A gentle yet polite female voice came from the other end of the line. “Excuse me, is this Miss Bai Zhenzhen?”