Come On, Try Some Junk Food!

Come On, Try Some Junk Food!

After passing the gray banner, Luo Jun had not gone far before he saw a white banner. By his estimate, the little pavilion was still about halfway up, less than a thousand steps away.

Just like before the gray banner, a heap of people lay here as well, but all of them had white wristbands wrapped around their wrists.

There were far fewer people with White Wristbands than Gray Wristbands. Luo Jun found a gap and bounded over in three hops, arriving beneath the banner. When he turned his head, he saw a chubby staff member sitting beside the stairs, holding a piece of Victory Chocolate as he crossed his legs and scrolled through short videos.

He looked quite young. Luo Jun suspected he was an upperclassman dragged in to help out...

"Hello." Luo Jun greeted him.

The chubby guy glanced at him and lazily pointed upward. "This is the White Finish. The blue-green one is farther up."

Luo Jun stepped forward and showed his White Wristband.

"You have a White Wristband?" The staff member was startled. Seeing how refreshed Luo Jun looked, without a red face or labored breathing, he was somewhat suspicious.

"The real deal."

"Don't tell me you snatched someone else's wristband to exploit a loophole!" the staff member warned. "Every wristband is registered with the examinee's information when issued. You can't impersonate anyone!"

"Then scan it and find out."

With a beep, the staff member checked the tablet in his hand. The candidate information displayed on it, including the photo, matched the kid in front of him exactly.

And his arrival time, after calculation, was only four minutes and thirty-eight seconds.

Not even five minutes!

This was a full nine hundred steps, with a height difference roughly equivalent to sixty floors. Forget the Trial Stone Steps—even climbing the stairs of a sixty-story building would be impossible for an ordinary person in five minutes!

"Could they have issued you the wrong wristband?" the staff member muttered, but verifying such matters was not his responsibility, and he could not be bothered to care.

After finishing the last of his chocolate, the chubby guy pointed toward the woods behind him. "See the white line painted on the ground? Follow it for a few dozen meters. Someone will lead you from there."

Luo Jun nodded his thanks and entered the forest beside the path. Before he had gone far, he saw several student-looking staff members gathered around playing cards.

When they saw Luo Jun approach, one bald guy stood up, not forgetting to call back, "Don't cheat and steal cards. I'm keeping track!"

As he spoke, he took out his phone and scanned Luo Jun's wristband. Once he confirmed everything was correct, he pointed to an empty patch of ground about five meters square nearby.

A formation had been painted on the ground with special pigments. It contained many profound Magic Runes and talismans. At the edge of the formation stood something resembling a cane, with a bead embedded at its top.

"What's this?" Luo Jun asked curiously.

"A Teleportation Array!" The bald guy had returned to his card game, flipping through his hand as he spoke. "The next examination site isn't on Trial Peak, so you can teleport there. But activating the array uses quite a bit of Vital Energy, so we usually wait until we have at least five people before sending a group over. A group just left before you arrived."

"Vital Energy can be used like that?" Luo Jun was fascinated. Standing inside the formation, he reached out to touch the cane at its edge. "What's this for?"

"That's the activator... straight!" The bald guy answered distractedly. "The array's energy comes from the spirit stone at its core, but it needs an external force to activate it. Each use consumes five breaths' worth... beat that!"

"If you don't want to wait, you can stand in the array and inject Vital Energy yourself... but after climbing up here, I doubt you can even muster any Vital Energy..."

Before he finished speaking, they saw the formation light up. Turning around, they found that Luo Jun had already vanished.

"He teleported himself?"

They froze for a moment. They had sent several groups of examinees off already, but this was the first time they had seen someone with enough strength to teleport himself.

"Wait... I think I just saw something..." The bald guy blinked, took out his phone, opened Luo Jun's information page from the scan, and flipped to the results section.

"Four minutes and thirty-eight seconds?"

The group was dumbfounded.

After injecting Vital Energy, Luo Jun felt his vision blur. Then the scenery around him changed.

Once everything stabilized, he found himself inside a massive stadium. There were quite a few staff members around the venue, as well as food stalls. In the Rest Area, around a hundred examinees sat or lay scattered about.

At the very center of the stadium was an empty fifty-meter-square area, divided into nine sections in a three-by-three grid. Each section was spaced roughly five meters apart, creating nine small fighting arenas a little over ten meters square.

A Mechanical Puppet stood in the middle of each fighting arena. In some arenas, people were battling the puppets, while in others, the puppets stood alone.

Luo Jun smiled faintly. The first two subjects of the annual examination were always fixed, and his Master had trained him for the second subject long ago.

But the intensity was far too different.

Most of the Mechanical Puppets in the arena had ordinary humanoid forms and were roughly the size of normal people. Only the one in the very center had three heads and six arms like his sparring partner, standing two heads taller than an ordinary person.

As soon as Luo Jun stepped out of the Teleportation Array, a staff member came over to scan and register his information while explaining the rules.

"The second examination is a battle against a Mechanical Puppet. Last five minutes, and you pass."

"There are nine arenas. The one in the center has an Advanced Mechanical Puppet, while the surrounding ones have ordinary Mechanical Puppets. Since you have a White Wristband, just choose an ordinary one. We'll adjust the puppet's output level to one suitable for you."

"If you used too much stamina in the first examination, you may rest first. Food and drinks are available around the venue, but you must complete the second examination before five this evening. Otherwise, you will automatically lose your qualification."

"Do you have any questions?"

The staff member receiving him was a sweet-looking Round-faced Girl. She gave Luo Jun a standard professional smile.

"Yes..." Luo Jun looked around the venue. "You said food is provided. Is it free?"

"Eh?" The girl apparently had not expected that question. Her smile stiffened for an instant before she replied with another smile, "It's free..."

"Is there a limit?"

"No limit..."

"Can I get it packaged?"

"P-probably not..."

Faintly seeing the veins throbbing on her forehead, Luo Jun gave up on asking the cute receptionist to recommend any specialty snacks. After thanking her, he turned and headed toward the venue.

It was still morning, and there was plenty of time before the five o'clock deadline. Subject Three and Subject Four would surely be tomorrow's events. Since he had not yet completed Subject Two, he might as well fill his stomach first.

"Boss, one Jianbing Guazi, extra spicy, and add an egg!"

"Two orders of grilled squid, and a mixed chicken rack!"

"This tripe looks good. Give me a serving."

"Oh, you even have Korean Cold Noodles. Extra vinegar!"

While the other examinees hurried to rest and seriously prepare for battle, Luo Jun alone lingered around the snack area, too happy to think about anything else.

"I say, have you never eaten before?"

Luo Jun, who was eating happily, suddenly heard an irritating voice.

Stuffing the last bite of Korean Cold Noodles into his mouth, Luo Jun turned around and saw Han Yuri standing behind him.

"Why do I always run into you whenever I'm in a good mood?" Luo Jun clicked his tongue, then looked around. "Where's Ling Xin?"

"You're still thinking about her?" Han Yuri gave a Cold Snort. "Don't think that just because she said a few words for you in the group chat, she actually cares about you. You and us aren't from the same world!"

Han Yuri glanced at Luo Jun's White Wristband, then confidently displayed his own wristband. It was green.

That meant he was at least at the third level of the Body Refinement Realm, but had yet to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"Ling Xin was ahead of me. I never saw her all the way here. Either she's a Cultivator at a higher level than me, or she's already passed this subject. Either possibility proves that she's stronger than I am!"

"You're an unwanted orphan. Even if you happened to come into contact with Vital Energy by chance, it can't change your trashy nature."

He glanced at the Korean Cold Noodles Luo Jun had just finished eating. "Trash only deserves to eat this kind of junk food."

With that, he gave a disdainful snort and brushed past Luo Jun.

Without Ling Xin around, he could not even be bothered to maintain his usual pretense of refinement.

Luo Jun said nothing. He walked over to the stall and picked up a freshly made serving of Korean Cold Noodles.

"Hey? That's not yours..." The owner was about to stop him, but Luo Jun had already chased after Han Yuri.

"Hey, Han!"

Han Yuri instinctively turned around, only to see a bowl of Korean Cold Noodles slam into his face!

Pfft!

Caught completely off guard, Han Yuri fell backward. Luo Jun straddled him in one motion and viciously pressed the Korean Cold Noodles into Han Yuri's face, crushing even the paper bowl out of shape.

"Come on, have a good taste of some junk food!"

The freshly made Korean Cold Noodles were still steaming hot, scalding Han Yuri until he screamed. But when he opened his mouth, the broth mixed with chili and aged vinegar rushed into his Nose and Mouth, making the burning flavor even more agonizing!

Han Yuri had not cultivated Vital Energy for long, much less possessed any Combat Experience. He had once been a pampered young master and had never fought before. Although he had entered the world of cultivation, he mainly focused on Realm Breakthroughs. Despite undergoing plenty of combat training for the examination, he had never fought for real and had no idea how to handle such a sudden situation.

For a moment, he forgot all the fighting techniques he had learned. He could only flail wildly, throwing clumsy punches, utterly unable to shake off Luo Jun, who was sitting on top of him.

At the critical moment, the nearby staff rushed over and pulled Luo Jun away, helping the still-flailing Han Yuri to his feet.

"Report this to the teachers! He attacked me! You must revoke his examination qualification!" Han Yuri's face was a mess, Full of sauce, nosebleed, and tears. He looked both pathetic and ridiculous as he pointed at Luo Jun and loudly accused him. "Someone like him has violent tendencies! He's a poison to society! Letting him into Ningdong University will bring endless trouble!"

"Enough!" A crisp voice cut off Han Yuri's tearful complaint. Luo Jun turned his head and discovered that the speaker was a cute Round-faced Girl—the very receptionist who had been beside the Teleportation Array.

A staff member beside her walked over. "Senior Sister Miao, Teacher Xu isn't here right now, so this..."

"Teacher Xu isn't here, so I'm in charge!" Senior Sister Miao's previous professional smile vanished. Her eyes turned fierce as she erupted with an intimidating aura, sweeping her gaze over the two of them. "Seriously, being assigned to greet people was irritating enough, and now I have to deal with examinees like this!"

"That's right!" Han Yuri wiped his face, moved closer to Senior Sister Miao, and pointed at Luo Jun as he chimed in. "Someone like him should have his examination qualification revoked!"

"I was talking about you!" Senior Sister Miao's eyes widened. She grabbed Han Yuri by the collar and flung the boy, who stood over six feet tall, away with one hand.

Han Yuri lost his balance and landed on the ground with a thud.