Chapter 233: Rewards Arrive, Undercurrents Surge
Aside from Ye Lingxiao, who was still undergoing treatment for his severe injuries and could not be present, everyone else, including Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Yun Jing, as well as the four contestants from the Dao heart and magic power tracks, were now gathered here.
Zhang Yu briefly observed the four contestants from the other two tracks and could tell at a glance that two of them were in high spirits, almost to the point of having the words “Foundation Establishment Certificate” written on their foreheads.
The reason Zhang Yu knew, of course, was that he shared the exact same feeling, wanting to ping everyone he knew and show off the fact that he had earned his Foundation Establishment qualification.
In contrast, the other two looked dejected, like lifeless dogs, making it obvious who had won and who had lost.
Thus, Zhang Yu’s gaze lingered for a moment on the two victors. He remembered that this man and woman had ranked 3rd and 5th overall during the first round of the Foundation Establishment exam.
Their ability to fight their way through the many students of the Immortal Capital was naturally extraordinary; it was just that Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing’s initial performances had been too dazzling, eclipsing everyone else’s brilliance.
Later, because their tracks were different, Zhang Yu hadn’t paid much attention to the other top students from the Immortal Capital.
Now, seeing these two with their Foundation Establishment qualification certificates, Zhang Yu estimated that even if this man and woman weren’t as strong as Ye Lingxiao, they were likely among the top tier of high school students on Kunxu’s first layer.
Of course, compared to me and Zhen, they’re still a long way off.
After their initial excitement, the two students quickly noticed that someone was missing from the assembly.
The male student walked up to Yun Jing and asked curiously, “Where’s Ye Lingxiao? Did he already grab his Foundation Establishment certificate and take off?”
The male student who spoke had a well-proportioned figure and a head of water-blue hair that rippled like waves, clearly another type of bionic.
His name was Sheng Jie, and he was the recipient of the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate from the magic power track.
Yun Jing shot Sheng Jie a gloomy look and said coldly, “How should I know where he went.”
“But you can ask him.”
Yun Jing glanced at Zhang Yu and said flatly, “He was in Ye Lingxiao’s group, right? I think he beat Ye Lingxiao.”
“Beat Ye Lingxiao? How is that possible?!” Sheng Jie’s face showed a trace of shock as he turned his head toward Zhang Yu.
As a top student from the 1.5th layer of the Immortal Capital, Sheng Jie knew full well how terrifying Ye Lingxiao was, and how formidable the Perfect Bloodline was.
After all, as students from the same high school, Sheng Jie had been suppressed by Ye Lingxiao from the day they enrolled; he was practically the shadow of his life.
Furthermore, from the moment of registration, Sheng Jie could tell that Zhang Yu was an outsider.
This was a complete reversal of the natural order. An outsider had actually come and snatched the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate from a young master of the Immortal Capital?
Sheng Jie looked at Zhang Yu and asked, “You… you defeated Ye Lingxiao?”
Feeling the other’s shocked gaze, Zhang Yu struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from turning up, trying his best to say with a calm expression, “Yes.”
Beside him, Bai Zhenzhen shot him a sideways glance, thinking, Yu-boy, oh Yu-boy, your desire to show off is practically bursting from your face. You really can’t keep your cool for a second.
After Zhang Yu gave a slight nod, Sheng Jie drew a sharp breath and asked again, “Then where is he now?”
Zhang Yu recalled the process of Ye Lingxiao’s treatment and said nonchalantly, “It seems his injuries were too severe to recover from in a short time, so he couldn’t come to the award ceremony.”
If Sheng Jie’s gaze was already filled with admiration after hearing Zhang Yu admit to defeating Ye Lingxiao, then at this moment, he was looking at Zhang Yu as if he were a monster.
He thought in shock, That Ye Lingxiao… not only did he lose, but he was injured so badly that even a righteous god couldn’t heal him in a short time?!
At the same time, the other contestants all looked over upon hearing this. As fellow residents of the Immortal Capital, they too wore expressions of utter disbelief at Zhang Yu’s words.
After all, among the high school students of the Immortal Capital, who didn’t know of Ye Lingxiao’s power?
They couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of high school student could be powerful enough to defeat Ye Lingxiao, let alone injure him so badly in a match that he couldn’t be healed in a short time.
In their eyes, Zhang Yu was no longer an ordinary outsider, but a super-outsider, a wealthy tycoon from the outside with immeasurable worth.
Meanwhile, the other female student who had won the Foundation Establishment certificate in the Dao heart track had noticed Yun Jing’s gloomy expression and poor state.
She now spoke up and asked, “Yun Jing, you… you didn’t lose too, did you?”
Yun Jing glanced at the woman who had spoken.
Her name was Tan Shishan, another native of the Immortal Capital like him. Although her status and grades were a notch below his and Ye Lingxiao’s, they generally moved in the same circles, though she was closer to Ye Lingxiao and the Oasis Group’s side.
But the thought that this person who used to trail behind him had managed to get a certificate this time while he had not, sent another wave of helplessness through Yun Jing’s heart.
He knew that from this moment on, with one of them having a certificate and the other not, it was like the difference between being in the top ten of the grade versus the top thirty. They might never sit at the same table again.
Yun Jing took a deep breath. He wasn’t interested in hiding it, since this group would find out soon enough.
“Yes, I lost,” he said bluntly.
Unlike Ye Lingxiao, who had been utterly suppressed by Zhang Yu’s power and physical body in the end, Yun Jing, despite losing to Bai Zhenzhen, felt a strong sense of indignation and… regret.
Because Yun Jing could feel that, in terms of raw power, that woman was definitely inferior to him.
If I had been a little more careful… if I had used a different tactic back then…
Every time he reviewed his three battles with Bai Zhenzhen, Yun Jing grew angrier and more regretful. He was confident that if they fought again, he would definitely win.
It was like getting the last question on a general knowledge exam wrong due to carelessness. Right now, Yun Jing only hated himself for not being cautious enough, not being meticulous enough, and not taking his opponent seriously enough.
Hearing Yun Jing’s words, the Immortal Capital natives present were once again stunned. They hadn’t expected that besides Ye Lingxiao, even Yun Jing had lost.
They all remembered that when the groups were first assigned, they had all assumed that the groups containing Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing were destined to be the groups of death, and that everyone else besides those two would surely be eliminated.
That was why they had all tried to avoid the tracks with Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing, crowding into the magic power and Dao heart tracks to fight for the certificates, which were ultimately won by Sheng Jie and Tan Shishan.
At this moment, the gazes of the several Immortal Capital students on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen changed yet again. Their worn-out outer jackets, the threadbare sweatpants, and the junk that could barely be called shoes all seemed to take on an air of profound mystery.
Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen’s slightly flushed face and thought, This girl, Zhen, her face is about to turn red from holding it in, and she’s still trying to act all cool? She really can’t keep her composure.
Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself, Damn it, I really want to post on my timeline!
However, the students from the Immortal Capital quickly recovered from their shock and began to consider the implications of this unexpected turn of events.
Sheng Jie thought to himself, But with Ye Lingxiao losing, maybe this is a good thing. Do I… do I have a chance to take his place and serve the Oasis Group?
Sheng Jie’s family, like the Ye family, was planning to cooperate with the Oasis Group to launch a revolution, so he knew some of the inside details.
Ye Lingxiao, due to his superior achievements, had been chosen as the main promotional figure for the plan.
But now Sheng Jie saw an opportunity. He also wanted to be the dog for that second-layer master from the Oasis Group who was about to descend.
The idea of being a dog had never bothered Sheng Jie in the slightest.
As long as the pay was good, forget being a dog; he would serve a dog with such devotion it would go bankrupt from rewarding him. Unfortunately, good things in life were never that easy.
Unlike these young masters of the Immortal Capital who had been coddled since birth, Sheng Jie was from a branch of his family and had lived on the ground level of the Immortal Capital since he was old enough to remember.
Because the sky was completely obscured by the floating city, he had never seen daylight until he entered high school.
Outsiders who came to the Immortal Capital always talked about how great the young masters had it, about all the wonderful cultivation conditions they had from a young age.
Every time he heard such talk, Sheng Jie would scoff. Who said everyone in the Immortal Capital was rich?
In his view, there were more poor people in the Immortal Capital than in any other city, because this was the most fiercely competitive place on Kunxu’s first layer, and the place where the most people were eliminated each year.
To him, many of the people on the first layer were just dogs for those on the 1.5th layer, and weren’t those on the 1.5th layer just dogs for the people on the second layer?
In his eyes, Kunxu was like a gigantic dog farm: you either treated others as dogs, or you were someone else’s dog.
And only by learning how to be a dog and how to train dogs could one climb their way up in Kunxu, just as he had climbed from the first layer to the 1.5th.
Wait.
Sheng Jie looked at Zhang Yu and thought, Will this guy also be recruited by the Oasis Group? Doesn’t that mean I’ll have to compete with him?
At this thought, Sheng Jie’s heart soured with bitterness again. How could he possibly compete with this monster who could crush Ye Lingxiao?
But maybe?
Sheng Jie knew Ye Lingxiao’s personality; in his opinion, he was far too arrogant.
Since this guy is even stronger than Ye Lingxiao, his family background and status must be on a whole other level.
Sheng Jie looked at Zhang Yu, sensing the cool, faint aura about him.
His temper is probably even worse than Ye Lingxiao’s. I can’t imagine how haughty and arrogant he must be. He might not even want to serve the second-layer master from the Oasis Group. If so, then I’ll have my chance.
Anyway, after the Foundation Establishment exam, contestant information is no longer confidential.
I’ll investigate his background as soon as I get back. I’ll find out where he comes from and see if I have a shot.
Just then, accompanied by a ripple of divine light, the five righteous god examiners projected their images into the hall.
Deng Bingding, as the chief examiner, first offered some words of encouragement to the contestants, recited a bunch of platitudes, and then began to announce the results of the exam.
As the four recipients of the Foundation Establishment qualification certificates stepped forward one by one, Deng Bingding’s gaze lingered on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen for an extra moment.
She then smiled faintly at the four of them and said, “The four of you performed very well. With your tenacious will, exquisite skill, and fearless courage, you have showcased the spirit of Kunxu’s first-layer high school students…”
“…And now, we will present you with the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificates.”
After listening to her long string of words, the award presentation finally began. Zhang Yu’s eyes widened as, under Huang Zichou’s direction, he accepted a gold-gilded certificate with both hands.
Gazing at the five large words for “Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate” on it, Zhang Yu let out a long sigh of relief.
At the same time, Huang Zichou, who was standing beside him, reminded him, “Keep the certificate at home; it’s mainly for commemorative purposes. For daily use, you’ll primarily use the electronic version.”
Zhang Yu asked, “Does it have special effects? Like the kind that hovers over your head.”
Huang Zichou smiled faintly. “That’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.”
Off to the side, Yun Jing and the other two losers stared intently at the certificates in the hands of the four winners, their eyes filled with a longing, envy, and jealousy so palpable it threatened to become tangible.
Next was the three-million-credit interest-free loan, which all students, win or lose, would receive.
Deng Bingding waved her hand, and a giant red envelope materialized above everyone’s heads, with the number 3,000,000 written on it.
“Accept it. Inside is the three-million interest-free loan.”
For people like Yun Jing and Sheng Jie, this was an insignificant amount of money, but for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, it was another major windfall that greatly eased their financial predicament and replenished their already empty wallets.
The two of them gleefully accepted the red envelopes, watching their account balances skyrocket, and already began to plan how they would spend it.
As for using it to repay their previous loans? That wasn’t the style of a Kunxu native.
Next was the reward of an expert-level cultivation technique. Having spent the last few months researching various techniques, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen already had a clear plan for their next steps. They quickly submitted their requested techniques and would soon receive the user rights and electronic versions.
Finally, there was the matter of a designated university teacher.
Deng Bingding looked at the four and said, “This reward will be granted to you after you enter university.”
“When you ascend to the second layer and enter the university city, the local righteous gods will contact you to assign you a teacher.”
“As for which specific teacher you’ll be assigned, you will need to find that out for yourselves at that time.”
She paused here, then added a reminder, “After entering university, choosing the right teacher is extremely important. If you find it difficult to decide right away, you can hold off on choosing until you have enough information and are confident in your choice.”
“Also, after this Foundation Establishment exam is over, the information protection for contestants will be lifted. When you return, you will likely encounter early recruitment offers from various universities and companies.”
“My advice to you is… do not rashly agree to any conditions.”
As Zhang Yu listened to Deng Bingding, he felt as if she kept looking at him and Bai Zhenzhen the entire time she spoke, as if her words were meant specifically for them.
But… he thought again, the young masters from the Immortal Capital around us must have known about this long ago. In comparison, Bai Zhenzhen and I are indeed the most clueless about such matters.
He then recalled her adding him as a friend and her actions in suppressing the Zhou family. Zhang Yu couldn’t help but feel that this righteous god harbored a subtle kindness towards him.
I didn’t even use a Favorability Talisman… Zhang Yu thought to himself.
With the complete conclusion of the Foundation Establishment exam, the contestants began to leave the examination hall one after another.
Deng Bingding looked out at the now-empty hall, understanding that the results of this particular Foundation Establishment exam would likely not fade into obscurity like those of previous years.
After all, the Oasis Group and several families from the Immortal Capital had decided to join forces to push for a revolution, and they were using this very exam as a promotional weapon.
Even with Ye Lingxiao’s failure, they’ll just switch to a different promotional figure at most…
Deng Bingding knew the impact of this exam would soon spread far and wide, but what the final consequences would be, she could not predict.
The Divine Department’s stance on the Oasis Group’s large-scale interference on the first layer, even their move to consolidate the powerful clans… is there still no reaction? Are they being cautious because of who from the Netherworld Palace is backing the Oasis Group?
Suddenly, the images of Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Zhang Pianpian flashed through Deng Bingding’s mind.
Or have the great gods already made their moves in this exam?