Inside Jade Void Palace, Guangchengzi's grief-stricken roar eventually faded into silence.
The great hall fell into a deathly stillness.
The Jade Slip recording the General Knowledge Textbook and Mock Test Paper lay quietly on the floor at the center of the hall, emitting a gentle glow.
Yet in the eyes of the Twelve Golden Immortals, that glow was even more blinding than demonic light from beneath the Nine Netherworlds.
Humiliation.
Unprecedented humiliation.
Chi Jingzi sat upright, his body as stiff as a stone statue.
True Person Taiyi's fingers unconsciously tapped against his cloud bed, each tap seeming so pale and powerless.
They were disciples of the Chan Sect, the Pangu Orthodox.
Since gaining sentience, what they had learned was the Great Dao of heaven and earth, the laws of Divine Abilities, and how to prove the Dao through strength and look down upon all living beings.
But now, this "Official Textbook" from the Interception Sect was telling them in an unquestionable tone—
Nothing you learned before would be tested.
Want to make it onto the Investiture of the Gods?
First learn how to write reports, understand how to read your superior's intentions, and master the art of office relationships.
"Senior Brother..."
True Master Yuding spoke with difficulty, his dry voice breaking the suffocating silence.
"What... what are we supposed to do?"
That question was like a lit fuse.
"Exactly! What kind of things are these?"
"Heavenly Court Official Document Writing Standards? Why should cultivators like us study that?"
"And those essay questions—Personal Cultivation and Collective Development? This is clearly trying to shake the foundations of our Dao hearts!"
Suppressed murmurs rose through the hall, filled with confusion and helplessness.
They did not fear magical combat or the Killing Tribulation.
What they feared was this sort of... rule that they could