Second Examination

"This is the Water Spirit Law?"

Yun Ye could clearly sense the wonders of this world's spirit laws.

Compared with things like the Fireball Spell and Wind Blade Spell, this world's spirit laws clearly leaned more toward freely manipulating their corresponding attributes!

Using a stream of water to instantly deliver the examination papers before them was simply dazzling, filled with visual impact!

Simply put...

It was cool!

Yun Ye had already imagined his future, freely manipulating flames.

The feeling of flames filling the sky seemed no worse than those blue, glimmering streams of water.

After fantasizing for several seconds.

He lowered his head.

And began writing.

Yun Ye had practiced with the calligraphy brushes used in this world for a year and was already accustomed to them, so he quickly answered the questions.

The Second Examination tested.

The Qi Nurturing Technique.

The Body Tempering Technique.

The Tiger Fist.

There were also various poetry and literary fill-in-the-blanks.

A few multiple-choice questions even tested political topics, such as whom one should swear allegiance to.

During lessons, Yun Ye had let such things enter one ear and leave the other, but the young children might not be the same.

The younger they were, the easier it was to brainwash them.

From this, one could understand why younger children had a greater advantage in school.

They would become one of their own sooner or later, so naturally they would receive better treatment.

Yun Ye wrote furiously, holding nothing back.

He was familiar with all of this. Reading so many books had not been for nothing.

"What is a spirit root? Answer: The foundation of cultivation, and the aptitude to draw spiritual energy from heaven and earth."

"What is an attribute? Answer: The inclination of a spirit root. Possessing a particular attribute allows one to draw spiritual energy of that attribute from heaven and earth."

"What are the five major attributes? Answer: Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth."

"What is the lightning attribute? Answer: A fused metal-and-water attribute."

"What is the ice attribute? Answer: A fused earth-and-water attribute."

"What are spirit laws? Answer: Methods of using one's spirit root attribute."

"How are spirit root aptitudes ranked? Answer: Nearly None, Extremely Inferior, Inferior, Ordinary, Good, Superior, Spirit Body..."

Yun Ye paused when he reached this point.

He had never managed to match up this ranking system.

Was it E (Nearly None), D (Extremely Inferior), C (Inferior), and B (Ordinary)?

Shi Baiyan had said that Yun Ye's Rank D spirit root was Extremely Inferior, far worse than his own.

But Shi Baiyan's spirit root panel had shown Rank C. He should have been only one level above Yun Ye—in other words, "Inferior."

This could be explained as Shi Baiyan exaggerating.

Or did Rank C include both Inferior and Ordinary?

And was Shi Baiyan's spirit root simply of Ordinary quality?

Yun Ye shook his head.

Although he had learned about the divisions of spirit root quality by reading books and attending lessons, they had never been explained in detail.

He could not match the ranks up.

Half a shichen.

It soon arrived.

As before, the examiner raised a hand expressionlessly. Water surged forth, bypassed everyone, and swept up the examination papers.

Then he stacked them neatly before himself.

Once the papers were finished, it was already noon. Every single person was famished from practicing the Qi Nurturing Technique.

But the examination still had to continue, so everyone could only endure it.

After the examiner collected the papers, he directly skipped the Qi Nurturing Technique and Tiger Fist assessments in the Second Examination, merely adjusting the scores. After all, they had already been tested in the First Examination, so there was no reason to test them again.

"Test taker: Yang Shi."

"Main course: Qi Nurturing Technique."

"Mastery: Inferior."

"Effect: Inferior."

"Cultivation: Ordinary."

"Supplementary course: Tiger Fist."

"Mastery: Inferior."

"Evaluation: Grade D, failed."

The passing results from the First Examination had plummeted in the Second Examination. Yun Ye was clearly still a long way off.

With the examination papers and the main and supplementary courses settled, only the demon knowledge questions remained.

This time, the questions were conducted one-on-one. Each question allowed only three breaths of consideration; taking longer counted as an incorrect answer.

Yun Ye was not very confident in this examination format either. Although he had memorized quite a bit of demon-related information, that did not mean he could apply it flexibly. Three breaths was far too short.

"You are a fire-attribute spirit root revivalist. At midnight, you encounter a Green Lantern Ghost in an open area. How should you respond?"

The Green Lantern Ghost was a low-level demon with an illusory body. Only special weapons, lightning arts, and fire arts could harm it, while lightning and fire arts had a restraining effect and dealt tremendous damage.

Normally, a fire-attribute spirit root revivalist could simply hurl fire arts from a distance to deal with a Green Lantern Ghost.

But the setting was an open area. This meant the range illuminated by the Green Lantern Ghost's green lantern would expand, leaving nowhere to hide.

Even a spirit root revivalist who was illuminated by the green lantern would be rendered immobile, greatly reducing their odds of victory.

Therefore, the correct response should be...

"Lie down, reduce your breathing rate, and wait for the Green Lantern Ghost to leave."

"Correct. Green Lantern Ghosts never act alone. Seeing one means a group is hiding nearby. Without control of favorable terrain, the only option is to retreat!"

Green Lantern Ghosts had no physical bodies. They could neither see nor hear, relying entirely on sensing the fluctuations of life to hunt.

Breathing exchanged matter with the outside world, making it an extremely obvious sign of life.

To a Green Lantern Ghost, the faster a living thing breathed, the more vital blood it could absorb. If the breathing was slow, there was no value in absorbing it.

Thus, once one slowed their breathing, the Green Lantern Ghost would "lose sight" of them, avoiding a meaningless battle.

Yun Ye continued answering questions, but the demon knowledge examination was far more difficult than the written test. There were many things he had never even heard of, and he failed to answer question after question.

When the examination ended, Yun Ye made a rough calculation and knew he had absolutely no chance of passing. Regret appeared on his face.

Completing the Second Examination ahead of time had its benefits. One could exchange for a better room and receive an extra serving of Grade D Superior Food each day, which would greatly help with cultivation. Otherwise, why would he study so desperately?

"I really suffered from not knowing how to read. Too much time was spent learning to recognize and write characters."

Yun Ye took a deep breath. He was not discouraged. He left the examination hall with Wang Yao and hurried off to eat.

Since he had not even passed the Second Examination, there was naturally no need to take the Third Examination.

In reality, of the more than one hundred and sixty people, only thirty or forty remained to take the Third Examination. Even among them, many were only seeking early experience and had no confidence in passing.

"Stone, how did you do in the Qi Nurturing Technique?"

As Wang Yao spoke, he handed his score sheet to Yun Ye, exchanging it for Yun Ye's.

"Test taker: Wang Yao."

"Subject: First Examination."

"Main course: Qi Nurturing Technique."

"Mastery: Inferior."

"Effect: Good."

"Cultivation: Good."

"Supplementary course: Tiger Fist."

"Mastery: Good."

"Evaluation: Grade B, passed."

Yun Ye was somewhat surprised. Wang Yao's "effect" rating in the Qi Nurturing Technique was actually two levels higher than his. No wonder he had established his foundation in only a year—he was highly suited to practicing the Qi Nurturing Technique.

Even Wang Yao's evaluation for Tiger Fist was better.

"An Inferior effect but Good cultivation? Stone, did you practice the Qi Nurturing Technique before?"

Wang Yao scratched his head.

"Yes."

Yun Ye nodded.

"No way... 'Inferior' is only half as fast to cultivate as 'Good.' You're two years younger than me, yet the difficulty is actually higher for you!"

With a rough calculation, Wang Yao figured that Yun Ye might need four or five years just to cultivate to Minor Accomplishment. That was far too long.

Would he really have time to awaken his spirit root afterward?

"So, I need to make money."

Yun Ye got some food and gobbled it down, without worrying about anything.

Wang Yao admired this state of mind. He could only shake his head and start eating heartily as well.