Everywhere Is a Pit

In the blink of an eye, it was June 25th, the day of the higher academy examinations.

In the morning, it was the War Academy's turn to be assessed.

The War Academy would be assessed first, followed by the Civilization Academy. On the 26th, it would be the turn of the Internal Affairs and Research Academies. The difficulty of these latter two assessments was relatively low, and most students only applied because they had no other choice.

The examination location was at Nanyuan Academy.

Early in the morning, the area around the academy was already packed with people. The city guard, Jifeng Hall, and the Dragon Martial Guard had all been deployed, and Nanyuan Academy had already been put under martial law.

Thousands of students were participating in the examination. These students were the future of Nanyuan, and Nanyuan attached great importance to them. Moreover, the incident with the Ten Thousand Races Cult's surprise attack had only recently passed, so Nanyuan dared not be careless.

Su Yu and Chen Hao arrived together. When they arrived, many parents were waiting outside the academy.

The traffic was so bad it was almost completely blocking the road leading into and out of the academy.

At the traffic control point, Su Yu even saw Chen Hao's father directing traffic.

At the academy entrance, several unfamiliar staff members checked Su Yu and the others' student and identification documents before allowing them into the academy.

"A'yu, what if I don't pass the exam?"

Chen Hao was a little nervous and kept asking.

Su Yu sighed, "If someone at the fifth level of the Kaiyuan Realm can't pass, then very few people in Nanyuan will be able to."

"But being at the fifth level of the Kaiyuan Realm doesn't guarantee passing."

"You pedant!"

Su Yu cursed inwardly. It wasn't that no one at the fifth level of the Kaiyuan Realm failed, but this guy insisted on putting himself in that category. What could he do?

The two walked towards the examination area. Along the way, they also met many classmates.

Of course, they didn't recognize most of them.

Not only were there people from Nanyuan Academy here, but also people from other academies in Nanyuan, as well as many outsiders.

Outsiders were actually easier to identify. Nanyuan students generally wore academy uniforms, while outsiders mostly wore their own clothes, which were more stylish, or rather fashionable, and at least looked better than those from Nanyuan.

These outsiders also had serious expressions on their faces at this moment. Most of them were alone and didn't pay any attention to how the Nanyuan students were.

Even though many Nanyuan students looked at them with hostility, these people didn't pay any attention.

They didn't care at all and didn't consider the Nanyuan students as opponents.

Outside the academy examination venue.

Several young students gathered together, both male and female.

These people seemed to have just met. Most of the other outsider students didn't know each other, but these few seemed to know each other.

In the center of the crowd, a girl with her long hair tied up, tall in stature, and with a cold expression.

The people around her were also handsome men and beautiful women.

At a glance, they were clearly different from the other crowds.

From a distance, people who knew them were pointing and discussing something.

This group of people ignored those guys. When they met, they seemed a little awkward and didn't know what to say.

After a long while, a sunny young man smiled and said, "Everyone's here, what a coincidence!"

"Yeah, it's quite a coincidence. I thought you all were in Great Xia Prefecture!"

"You guys weren't confident about passing in Great Xia Prefecture either. I thought I was the only one who lacked confidence."

"..."

With someone starting the conversation, these people chatted with each other, and soon they were talking.

The girl in the center of the crowd couldn't help but frown. After they had chatted for a while, she said unhappily, "Stop pretending! Even in Great Xia Prefecture, we would have passed for sure! We all know why everyone is here!"

After all, they were young and somewhat awkward, not yet so worldly.

A moment later, another young man said sheepishly, "I didn't want to take the exam in Nanyuan. It would be embarrassing even if I passed. My uncle insisted that I come here to see that Su Yu, the one Assistant Bai suddenly wanted to take as a student..."

As soon as he said this, everyone's expressions changed. Many looked at the girl with the ponytail, "Wu Lan, are you here for this reason too? Your comprehensive score is in the upper-middle range, and you might even be in the upper range now. Do you really need to come?"

Wu Lan's expression turned cold, "I also want to see how outstanding this Su Yu is! So outstanding that Assistant Bai Feng said at the admissions office that I, Wu Lan, am nothing!"

She was Wu Qi's sister!

When Liu Hong had recommended Bai Feng to take students that day, Bai Feng had looked disdainful. Wu Qi hadn't paid much attention, but when the matter spread, it was a huge blow to Wu Lan.

Not only was it a blow, but it also made the young girl feel ashamed.

If Bai Feng hadn't spoken up, it would have been fine. But he insisted on saying he didn't care, that upper-middle was nothing. These words made the person involved feel extremely awkward.

Her purpose for coming this time was different from the others.

These people were somewhat holding onto a glimmer of hope. If they were much more outstanding than Su Yu, creating a contrast, would Bai Feng still accept them as students?

But Wu Lan didn't think that way. She just wanted Bai Feng to see how trashy the student he accepted was!

She's not even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Wu Lan!

It wasn't that Bai Feng didn't want to take Wu Lan as a student, but rather that she herself looked down on Bai Feng, an assistant researcher. If it weren't for Bai Feng's teacher, an assistant researcher wouldn't amount to much in the academy.

Her sister was one, and she was even closer to becoming a formal researcher than Bai Feng.

Since the topic had come up, everyone stopped holding back. Someone said in a low voice, "He registered for the assessments at two academies. The War Academy is probably just a formality; the main event is the Civilization Academy assessment this afternoon. What do you think, has he learned to sketch Divine Script?"

"Him?"

Someone chuckled, "It's not that I'm looking down on him, but he's a Nanyuan student. Setting aside everything else, how many Divine Scripts has he even seen? How high could his Willpower accumulation be? Sketching Divine Script, he probably doesn't even know what Divine Script is."

As the crowd discussed, Wu Lan grew impatient. "We're not here to compete with him!"

Although they were in Nanyuan, they weren't comparing themselves to Su Yu. The real competition was against Bai Feng.

While their individual goals differed, their overall objective was the same: to let Bai Feng know that the students he took were truly trash, so terrible that taking them was an embarrassment.

If they hadn't shown up, the other person might have been ranked first in Nanyuan, which would have been good for appearances.

Now that they were here, forget first place in Nanyuan; he wouldn't even be in the top ten, and the gap between him and first place would be vast.

This way, whether they were hostile towards Bai Feng or wanted him to abandon his intentions, it was an opportunity.

Just as they were speaking, someone spotted Chen Hao and Su Yu over there. "Is that him?" they asked uncertainly.

Everyone looked over. They had seen some of Su Yu's information before, and soon someone confirmed, "It's him!"

"Should we go talk to him?"

"No, it's pointless!"

Someone refused, having no intention of interacting with Su Yu. However, observation was unavoidable.

There was no point in interacting!

Su Yu couldn't change anything. Whether Bai Feng took him as a student or not, Su Yu had no say in the matter.

These people weren't stupid. Their goal was to perform better than Su Yu and see if they could catch Bai Feng's eye, not to build a relationship with Su Yu.

The next moment, someone else said, "He's ignorant and thinks Nanyuan is the whole world. Why don't we strike a blow to his ego, let him know how weak he is, and make him voluntarily give up on going to the Civilization Academy?"

"Then you go try!"

The crowd ignored him. They were being assessed under the rules. If Su Yu felt inferior due to his own poor performance, that was Su Yu's problem.

Why would they go out of their way to demoralize Su Yu? Did they think Bai Feng was dead?

Did they think Liu Wenyan wouldn't explode?

Their goal wasn't to make Su Yu feel inferior; that would be useless. Besides provoking the animosity of some Civilization Masters, it offered no other benefits.

They were all prospective students of the Civilization Academy; those without brains had already been eliminated.

The person who made that suggestion probably had ulterior motives.

The person who made the suggestion then said, "Then we'll just watch? The information says he's at the fifth level of Kaiyuan. Why don't we use our Willpower to intimidate him, make him perform poorly later, and mess up his assessment at the War Academy?"

"You go!"

Wu Lan suddenly said coldly from the crowd, "You go try! Don't just talk the talk! If you think Assistant Liu Hong can guarantee your safety, then go! If you dare to instigate again, believe it or not, I'll forfeit my assessment this year just to make sure you never get another chance to be assessed in your life!"

As soon as she said that, the male student who had spoken earlier's expression changed. He denied, "Wu Lan, I'm not familiar with Assistant Liu Hong, don't talk nonsense!"

"Yes, I was talking nonsense just now!"

Wu Lan snorted, "I was just trying to trick you! Liu Hong and Bai Feng are in fair competition, and it's all within the rules. You're trying to break the rules now, trying too hard to cover up, and shifting the blame! No matter who sent you, it's definitely not Liu Hong. Stop treating everyone in the world like an idiot!"

Beside them, a male student chuckled, "Maybe he's from the Ten Thousand Races Cult! Those people love to stir up trouble at times like this, treating others like idiots. Do they want Bai Feng's assistant and Liu Hong's assistant to fight? If you're not from the Ten Thousand Races Cult, then you're someone from one of the other assistant instructors' factions. Shut up!"

"If you say one more word, we'll have the Dragon Martial Guard investigate you. We'll find out everything, we remember you!"

"..."

The person who made the suggestion's expression changed again. After a while, he said, "I'm not from the Ten Thousand Races Cult. If you don't believe me, I can curse all the gods, demons, and myriad races of the heavens. Don't frame me. Reducing competitors isn't played like this, and slander also comes with responsibility!"

The crowd ignored him. Whether he was from the Ten Thousand Races Cult or not didn't really matter.

People from the Ten Thousand Races Cult wouldn't dare to show their faces recklessly. If they did, what was a Kaiyuan Realm cultivator against them?

As they were discussing, Su Yu, not far away, seemed to feel their gazes.

He turned his head and looked in their direction. Those people were dressed in fine clothes, clearly outsiders.

These people were sizing him up. Su Yu glanced around with his peripheral vision and continued walking. Their gazes followed him. Su Yu confirmed they were looking at him, though it was possible they were looking at Chen Hao.

However, the possibility of them looking at Chen Hao was very slim; it was most likely him.

"Did Bai Feng's side cause this?"

"Or did the news about assisting in killing a Wanshi leak?"

Su Yu pondered, not entirely sure.

Su Yu didn't pay them any mind and pretended not to see them.

Just then, a man walked out of the examination building and shouted, "Line up to enter. The examination hall is divided into five sections, on floors one to five! Please enter your respective examination halls according to the hall numbers you received earlier!"

"The assessment period has not ended, no one is allowed to leave!"

"No one is allowed to cheat. If caught cheating, all academies will permanently disqualify you from admission!"

"Maintain order within the examination hall. Disruptors will have their examination qualification revoked and will be barred from retaking the exam for three years!"

"Those who score 200 points or above will be admitted on the spot. Those below 200 points will await notification!"

"Students participating in the Civilization Academy assessment this afternoon, please manage your physical and mental energy accordingly. If you are unable to perform in the afternoon assessment due to this, and fail the War Academy assessment, you will be responsible for yourselves!"

The man announced a series of rules and regulations, and soon, the guards at the gate began to let people through.

Su Yu looked at the assessment number he had received: 5-101.

Examination hall on the 5th floor, number 101.

Chen Hao wasn't with him; his examination hall was on the third floor.

Chen Hao looked at Su Yu nervously at this moment and whispered, "A'Yu, we're not on the first floor, what should we do?"

"You're still planning to cheat?"

Su Yu said exasperatedly, "Just take the test properly. It's not a big deal. If you're nervous about an exam, how can you expect to go to the Battlefields of the Heavens? You'd probably be so scared you'd wet your pants!"

As Su Yu spoke, he lowered his voice, "We've even killed Qianjun. They aren't letting you kill anyone in the assessment, so what are you afraid of?"

As soon as he said this, Chen Hao thought about it and let out a small sigh, as if it made sense.

I'm a man who has done great things!

Do I need to be afraid of an exam?

Students began to enter the examination hall one after another.

Examination Hall No. 5.

Five examiners.

For the War Academy assessment, the examiners were one person each from the Great Xia War College, the Dragon Martial War College, and the Department of Education, plus one supervisor dispatched by the local government, which was Nanyuan City.

Finally, there was also one person from the military. This person was not from the Dragon Martial Guard but from the front-line Demon Suppression Army, who would be supervising.

The Demon Suppression Army also had small detachments stationed in Great Xia Prefecture, mainly responsible for recruiting soldiers.

For the academy assessments, some people could not get into an academy or were unwilling to, and afterwards, the Demon Suppression Army would extend invitations to recruit them into the army.

In Examination Hall No. 5, the five examiners were already in place.

The person from the Dragon Martial Academy was none other than Old Xie.

The Great Xia War College sent a young man. After the examiners took their seats, the young man asked with some confusion, "Instructor Xie, weren't you assigned to supervise the five examination halls and be part of the supervisory team? Why are you here?"

Besides these on-site examiners, there was also a supervisory team within the examination hall, responsible for resolving disputes and overseeing all examiners and examination halls.

Old Xie was the leader for this assessment, so by rights, he should have been in the supervisory team.

Old Xie chuckled, "I'm old, and running back and forth is too tiring. Let others do it; I'm fine here!"

The young man didn't bother to ask further; it didn't matter who was proctoring.

The Department of Education sent a middle-aged woman, whom no one was familiar with, and there was no interaction.

Nanyuan City sent the deputy commander of the City Guard, who was also a Wanshi Realm expert. However, compared to a Soaring Realm expert like Old Xie, the gap was significant, so he remained very low-key and silent at the moment.

As for the Demon Suppression Army, the soldier did not interact with anyone else, so the examination hall appeared rather quiet.

Old Xie looked around, smiled, and stopped talking.

In reality, they were all in a competitive relationship. If they encountered good seedlings, they couldn't help but fight over them.

It was not easy for the Dragon Martial Academy to secure such a quota. In the past, for assessments like this, the Dragon Martial Academy was not qualified to send supervisors, so all the good seedlings were taken by the Great Xia War College.

However, ten years ago, when the Prefecture Lord gave them special treatment and obtained the right to supervise, they were now qualified to compete for good seedlings from the very beginning.

After waiting for a while, Old Xie spoke, "If everyone has no other questions, shall we officially begin the assessment?"

"Begin!"

"No objections!"

"..."

Several voices chimed in. Old Xie looked at the City Guard at the entrance of the examination hall and said, "Let them through, students may enter!"

The guards at the gate responded, and soon, the large doors opened.

The next moment, the students from outside began to enter the examination hall.

Su Yu was among them. He looked up inside. This building was not usually open to the public, and it was his first time here. He could tell at a glance that it was different from other teaching buildings. The entire floor was empty, just one large space.

This was specifically used for student assessments.

There were five examination halls, each accommodating about six to seven hundred people. The assessment was unified, not conducted in batches, so it was very fast and could be completed within a morning.

"Students, find your assigned seats and be seated!"

"No noise in the examination hall!"

"The examination content must not be leaked!"

"Remember to allocate your time, energy, and stamina reasonably!"

"On the battlefield, analysis and decision-making are also abilities. The War Academy does not cultivate mindless brutes!"

The speaker was the young man from the Great Xia War College. He continued with a serious expression, "You have seen the examination process, but that is only a general outline. It doesn't mean that if you are at the sixth level of Kaiyuan, you will definitely get 120 points for the sixth level of Kaiyuan. Whether you get it depends on your own decisions and abilities!"

"Kaiyuan and Kaiyuan are also different!"

"Even at the same realm, someone at the sixth level of Kaiyuan might be inferior to someone at the third level of Kaiyuan!"

"We will only select the most outstanding talents to cultivate in the War Academy. Others... must find their own way!"

Below, the students who were looking for seats suddenly became a little nervous.

They had actually heard from others that the assessment was generally based on strength and knowledge reserves, but the specific content of the assessment sometimes varied. Some students at the fourth or fifth level of Kaiyuan had very low scores in the end.

"The total examination time is 4 hours. It will start precisely at 8 o'clock and end precisely at 12 o'clock!"

"Remember to allocate your time, energy, and stamina reasonably!"

This was the examiner reminding them again!

Su Yu's eyes moved slightly. He had heard about reasonably allocating time and energy several times now.

Below, someone among the students said in a low voice, "Isn't it just a matter of making trade-offs? Why repeat it so many times? It's not like we don't know..."

As soon as the voice fell, Old Xie's eyes instantly turned cold. "Take him out and put him in confinement. Release him after 4 hours!"

As the words fell, two city guards walked towards the person. While the student was stunned, they escorted him out of the examination hall.

"I... I didn't say anything... I didn't say anything..."

"Teacher, give me another chance!"

Old Xie ignored him and calmly said, "No loud noises. Raise your hand if you have a question. Orders are to be obeyed. This is the War Academy. We don't want to say it a second time! If you were on the battlefield, would you be like this? Have five years of study in a middle-tier academy failed to teach you to follow rules?"

"On the battlefield, ambushes and sneak attacks often occur. Your comrades are right beside you. If you are told to shut up and you insist on speaking, the consequences could be the annihilation of a squad or even an army. Who will give you a second chance?"

"You are academy personnel, not idle bystanders. Remember, follow the rules!"

Old Xie's act of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys instantly quieted the examination hall.

However, Su Yu and several students in the hall had rather strange expressions.

Just now... was that a fake student?

It was arranged deliberately to scare the students, right?

Most students didn't notice anything unusual, but Su Yu felt something was off. When that student was escorted out, although he appeared nervous, he actually seemed somewhat indifferent.

It was as if he had completed his mission and finally didn't have to endure this with everyone else...

Su Yu couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. Such a scene was happening in the examination hall, but he had to admit, it was very effective. The hall was now so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.