Five Prefectures Joint Exam!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

"Chen An, it's already this late—why are you still sleeping? Get up, the sun's about to roast your butt!"

Early that morning, a burst of knocking sounded outside Chen An's room, followed by a crisp voice carrying in from beyond the door.

Chen An opened his eyes and looked at the shaking door, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

There was no need to look. Aside from Shen Qinglan, no one else would barge into his home like this.

In fact, he had known the moment Shen Qinglan climbed over the courtyard wall.

It was only because he had sensed that the visitor was Shen Qinglan that he had been too lazy to get up.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!"

"Chen An, are you up yet? If you don't get up, don't blame me for letting myself in!"

Seemingly hearing no movement from inside, Shen Qinglan's voice came through again.

"Alright, I know. Wait a moment!"

Knowing that the broken door in his house could not stop Shen Qinglan—and that she truly might smash her way in—Chen An could only climb out of bed to save the door bolt.

After returning last night, he had realized that his cultivation had risen too quickly and his state of mind could not keep up, which would do him no great good. So, after merely tidying the room that the two petty thieves had messed up last night, Chen An had gone straight to bed.

In any case, with his current Grandmaster Realm cultivation, he could walk sideways not only through tiny Wurong County, but even throughout all of Chengtian Prefecture.

After changing into a clean, loose white martial outfit, Chen An raised a hand, pushed open the door, and slowly walked out.

The moment he opened the door, Chen An spotted a dainty, slender figure leaning against the wooden table.

The girl sat as though no one else existed, leisurely crossing one long, jade-like leg. She pinched a snowy white meat bun between her fingertips and took great mouthfuls, eating with relish in a carefree, unrestrained manner.

There was no need to say who she was. She was his childhood sweetheart who had grown up alongside him, Wurong County's acknowledged heaven-blessed daughter and the county school's top student—Shen Qinglan.

Today, she wore a sky-blue fitted martial outfit, its sharp, snug tailoring perfectly outlining her tall, well-proportioned, shapely figure.

Her waterfall of black hair was tied high into a ponytail with a purple ribbon, neat and capable without losing a young girl's bright, graceful liveliness.

Morning light streamed through the window lattice, scattering across the hall like broken gold. It made her brows and eyes radiant as a painting, her skin lustrous and white as jade, a sight that could not help but please the eye.

"You're up. Go wash up. I brought you buns."

Shen Qinglan glanced at him. Her gaze fell upon his face and his plain white martial outfit, and her eyes brightened slightly. Yet she still waved a hand as if casually and spoke.

"Mm, alright."

Chen An nodded, wholly unsurprised by Shen Qinglan's attitude. He turned and went back inside to wash up.

Although he had awakened the memories of his previous life and now primarily relied on the experience of that life, this body had always belonged to him. What was more, he had already fused with all of the original owner's memories and emotions. To Shen Qinglan, it truly felt as though he had known her for more than a decade.

Besides, who wouldn't want a genius beauty as their childhood sweetheart?!

Before long, Chen An finished washing up and came out. He casually pulled over a chair and sat opposite Shen Qinglan, then picked up a bun and began eating.

"The county exam is tomorrow, and you're still sleeping at a time like this. How can you even sleep?!"

Shen Qinglan's cheeks were puffed out like a little squirrel gnawing on a pinecone. As she bit into her bun, she shot Chen An a sidelong glare and rolled her eyes at him, grumbling with a touch of reproach and concern.

"Don't worry. I'm confident," Chen An answered calmly as he ate.

"What confidence do you have?!"

Shen Qinglan rolled her eyes, speechless at Chen An's inexplicable confidence.

As someone who had grown up with Chen An, she knew not only the progress of his cultivation—she even knew exactly how many pairs of trousers he wore that day.

In her memory, Chen An's innate bones were ordinary, and his comprehension was likewise mediocre. Although he was fairly diligent in cultivation, his talent was nothing special. Not to mention compared to her, he was inferior even to the students at the county school.

At the second level of Qi Condensation, he was practically at the bottom of the county school.

And tomorrow was the crucial martial county exam. Rumor had it that this year's county exam was unlike any before it, with geniuses from every side gathering together and dangers lurking everywhere.

Yet he still looked utterly careless and brimming with confidence, leaving Shen Qinglan both exasperated and helpless.

"I'm telling you, I heard some news. This county exam is different from the past!"

Shen Qinglan's beautiful eyes flickered, then she looked at him solemnly. "This time, it isn't just the martial exam of our Wurong County. It's a joint exam across all five prefectures—Chengtian Prefecture, Qingyuan Prefecture, Myriad Peace Prefecture, Changgen Prefecture, and Zhaoming Prefecture!"

"Hm?!"

Hearing Shen Qinglan's words, Chen An raised his brows.

As far as he knew, the county exams of previous years had always been held separately in each county. The fixed subjects were innate bone testing, cultivation realm testing, and practical combat, with scores awarded layer by layer and the best students selected for admission into prefectural academies.

At most, previous years had seen a combined examination among the thirty-six counties under Chengtian Prefecture. Even such a scale was something rarely encountered once in a decade—or even several decades—and the competition had been brutally fierce.

But he had never imagined that this year's martial exam would be elevated so exceptionally. It had not merely broken beyond the bounds of a single county, but even crossed prefectural borders, becoming a colossal joint examination among five prefectures.

Shen Qinglan's expression was grave as she continued, "The prodigies from the five prefectures will all gather, and there will be countless geniuses. The best seedlings of our Wurong County might stand out within a single county, but among five prefectures, they simply won't amount to anything."

Chen An nodded slightly, knowing that Shen Qinglan was right.

The Great Luo Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, occupying more than half of the Azure Origin Continent. Its territory stretched for trillions of miles, with boundless mountains and rivers.

The dynasty's entire territory was divided into nine great regions, each region governing eighteen prefectures, and each prefecture governing thirty-six counties. The hierarchy was distinct, and the territorial structure strict and orderly.

Every county under its rule had a permanent population exceeding ten million. Its land was vast, mountains and rivers crisscrossing it; the area of a single county was no smaller than some large prefecture-level cities from Chen An's previous life.

The nine regions were immense, ten thousand prefectures stood side by side, and hundreds of counties dotted the land like stars, while hundreds of millions of people lived and multiplied.

It was precisely because the territory was so vast and the human population so immense—combined with the Great Luo Dynasty's vigorous promotion of martial cultivation for all—that this flourishing age of thriving martial arts and prodigies everywhere had come to be.

Countless martial artists were scattered across every region and county, painstakingly cultivating techniques and tempering their bodies, all so they could distinguish themselves through the successive martial exams, enter prefectural academies, advance to regional institutes, and climb step by step toward the pinnacle of martial arts.

This Five Prefectures Joint Exam was equivalent to students from one hundred and eighty county schools, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, taking the examination together. Compared to previous years, its difficulty had simply exploded off the charts.

"That's not right. There doesn't seem to have been a Five Prefectures Joint Exam for decades. Did something happen?!"

Chen An looked up at Shen Qinglan, suspicion flickering in his shifting gaze. Specks of silver light flashed deep within his pupils and vanished in an instant, like stardust falling into the night.

At his words, Shen Qinglan's delicate brows furrowed, and a grave look passed through her beautiful eyes. She instinctively looked around, and only after confirming that no one was nearby did she lower her voice and speak solemnly. "You guessed right. This matter is indeed unusual. I heard it from my old man too—this time, it seems to be related to disturbances along the dynasty's border."

"The border?" Chen An narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Mm!"

Shen Qinglan nodded faintly, lowering her voice even further. "It's said that in recent years, the ancient demons of the Northern Frontier in the Heavenly Evolution Mountains have been stirring restlessly. Friction has never ceased, and the flames of war show faint signs of spreading. The Great Luo Dynasty urgently needs a large number of young prodigies to reinforce the military and the core martial forces. This Five Prefectures Joint Exam was ordered by the dynasty to make exceptional selections of geniuses and give priority to supplying the Northern Frontier war zone."

"Besides that..."

She paused, the worry between her brows deepening. "I heard that the top ten prodigies in this joint exam may even have the chance to enter the dynasty's Martial Arts Institute or a martial sacred land directly!"