Jiang Ding of Banyan City

Banyan City.

No. 1 High School, classroom.

Name: Jiang Ding

Chinese (full marks 150): 109

Mathematics (full marks 150): 70

Ideological and Moral Education (full marks 150): 137

Comprehensive Sciences (full marks 300; biology, chemistry, physics): 151

Comprehensive Humanities (full marks 100; history, geography): 61

Bonus electives—

Cultivation (full marks 300): Bone Forging Realm peak, 50

Primary weapon elective (full marks 60): Heavy machine gun: 17

Cold weapon secondary weapon elective (full marks 40): Low-tier swordsmanship—Three Gale Slashes, 25

Practical combat (full marks 150): 23

Total score: 643

In the last row,

a delicate-looking boy stared at the mock exam results that had just been handed out for a long time.

"The cultural subjects total 850 points, and I could only score 534."

"The cultivation bonus subjects total 400 points, and I could only score 97. As for practical combat, there's no need to mention it—I can't beat anyone." Jiang Ding sighed.

"Ah... at this rate, forget getting into Qianling University's cultivation department. I won't even get into an ordinary third-tier university. Maybe entering vocational school early to learn a trade is the proper path..."

Relying on spirit veins across the globe, the Immortal Sect had built thirty-nine universities.

Most students at those universities were ordinary people. Only the cultivation departments, with their twenty-year programs, taught immortal cultivation knowledge, granting supernatural power and the hope of longevity.

And to enter the cultivation departments of universities across the land, they did not look at spirit roots, cultivation level, or family background. Even being the direct son of a Golden Core True Person was useless.

There was only one standard: the college entrance examination score!

You could even ignore cultivation and electives altogether. Even if you were trash at both immortal cultivation and martial arts, as long as your college entrance examination score reached the cutoff for a university's cultivation department, you would definitely be admitted.

The Immortal Sect's college entrance examination was the greatest fairness afforded to students across the world!

Of course, throughout the entire history of the Immortal Sect, not many godlike people had managed to give up the 550 cultivation bonus points and still gain admission to a university cultivation department.

And aside from entering a cultivation department, cultivation bonus electives had no other use.

Ordinary university departments looked only at cultural subject scores.

"Bone Forging Realm peak!"

His deskmate said sourly, "That's already pretty good. You can resist eight hundred jin of force. If you were clad in heavy armor in ancient times, you'd at least be a match for ten thousand men."

Li Junhao was short and skinny, making his head look rather large. He looked somewhat comical.

"Nowadays, that's just one magazine from a submachine gun." Jiang Ding shook his head with a sigh, then changed the subject. "What was your cultural subject score, 690 or 698?"

Banyan City No. 1 High School claimed to be the cradle of cultivation department students. Aside from people like him, specially recruited for ideological and moral education, everyone else had real skills.

"701."

The sourness vanished from Li Junhao's voice, replaced by pride.

"Over 700?!!"

Jiang Ding was startled.

That was no trivial matter. Although cultural scores and cultivation scores were separate, they were not opposed to one another. They were interconnected, inseparable as lips and teeth.

Chinese included a great deal of foundational knowledge and principles concerning talismans and cultivation arts. A student who could write a fine essay would definitely not have poor understanding of talismans and cultivation arts when they embarked upon the path of cultivation in the future.

Mathematics explicitly included calculations and foundational knowledge related to arrays.

Physics, chemistry, and biology in Comprehensive Sciences, as well as history and geography in Comprehensive Humanities, were all closely tied to spirit beasts, spirit materials, artifact forging, spirit veins, and more in immortal cultivation.

But!

Immortal cultivation was a discipline where theory and practice were tightly intertwined.

Without becoming an immortal cultivator, without dharma power and divine sense, one could not truly observe or practice those things.

It was like a eunuch painting erotic spring palace scenes: everything relied on imagination. One could only calculate from the principles in books, array structures, dharma power execution diagrams, and the like, then derive the answer.

Separated by a thick layer of cloth.

No matter how intelligent a person was, there was a limit. Even with talent and diligence, under such conditions, an ordinary person scoring four or five hundred points was already excellent.

"You can start considering which of the top two universities you want to attend." Jiang Ding could not hide his envy.

Even the most outstanding ordinary academic prodigies scored only a little over six hundred. That already made them prospects for Clearwind University and Big Dipper University, with a significant chance of entering these two institutions ranked first and second within the Immortal Sect.

Of course, that was only for ordinary departments. The most exceptional cultivation geniuses would not compete with them.

Seven hundred points was a threshold.

It meant that in one or several aspects of immortal cultivation disciplines, he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the most outstanding cultivation geniuses.

Unfortunately, among the three realms of body refinement—skin forging, flesh forging, and bone forging—where inner qi was born and one returned to the innate state, Li Junhao had only barely reached the late Skin Forging Realm. He received 10 realm bonus points, while his firearms, cold weapons, and practical combat electives were equally dreadful, scoring single-digit 5s in all three. His total cultivation elective score was a pitiful 25.

"Ah~"

The two exchanged glances, both wearing bitter expressions.

Over the past ten years, even Qianling University's cultivation department in their province—the one with the lowest score requirement—had a cutoff of 842. Neither of them had any hope at all.

"It's really unfair."

Li Junhao secretly glanced at the dozen or so people seated in the front rows.

"Their cultural scores aren't even 400, yet because they were born with spirit roots, they don't need to train their bodies through martial arts. They produce inner qi, return to the innate state after birth, and can naturally cultivate immortal arts, becoming lofty Qi Refinement cultivators. Without even studying, they can earn more than 200 cultivation bonus points, leaving us—who stay up studying until two every night—far behind."

Li Junhao revealed a trace of unwillingness.

Jiang Ding knew that Li Junhao was actually extremely proud. Without dharma power or divine sense, he had forced himself to study the cultural subjects better than most Qi Refinement immortal cultivators.

But that pride had been smashed to pieces against the gulf of reality.

Whether in school scores, future social status, or even lifespan, he was far inferior.

"...Fourteenth place, Zou Xiyuan. Cultural score: 411. Cultivation score: 377. Total score: 788."

Their homeroom teacher, Guo Kui, finally showed a trace of a smile on his perpetually stern face and raised his head slightly.

"Second level of Qi Refinement. You've improved from before. Keep up this momentum. There's still a year before the college entrance examination. If you can break through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement by then, or improve your geography, biology, history, and chemistry scores a little more, you'll have hope of entering Qianling University's cultivation department!"

The reason it was those subjects was because Blueglow Star's education aimed to select immortal cultivation talent. Chinese, mathematics, and physics involved the principles of cultivation arts and meridian circulation, as well as talismans and arrays—three major related fields. They were extraordinarily difficult and could not be improved without both talent and hard work.

However, the high school curriculum had already been completed in the first and second years. Unless a miracle occurred in the remaining year, it was basically impossible to significantly raise scores in those three cornerstone subjects. They could only work on the other subjects.

As for Ideological and Moral Education, it was a subject that assessed one's understanding and support of the Immortal Sect's system. As long as a normal person studied normally, did not hold too many heretical ideas, and did not write them down, they could basically pass.

But high scores were equally difficult and highly subjective. There were no fixed answers. The papers were graded by the Immortal Sect's accumulated heritage—the Central Array-Spirit Computer—which assigned scores according to its programmed logic, based on the exam paper, the student's past experiences, online and real-life remarks, and even their family's political background.

Over the years, there had been high-scoring Ideological and Moral Education papers, but practically every paper was different. Countless tutors had studied them for who knew how many days and nights, yet found no common ground. Improvement was difficult.

That was also why Jiang Ding, whose cultural and cultivation subjects were both unremarkable, could enter No. 1 High School.

The teachers and principal of No. 1 High School all supported the Immortal Sect. Their political awareness was extremely high—how could they allow a talented person to be left outside the school?

The gazes of more than twenty people in the classroom all fell upon a somewhat freckled girl, filled with complicated emotions such as envy, fervor, and inferiority.

She had hope of entering a cultivation department!

Jiang Ding's feelings were equally complicated.

Immortal cultivators had

far too many advantages!

At the Qi Refinement stage, cultivation gave 200 bonus points. The second level of Qi Refinement gave another 20. For heavy machine gun use, the three subjects of precision shooting, beyond-limit shooting, and suppressive fire were all easily worth the martial artist's maximum score of thirty points with the aid of their divine sense.

—The remaining thirty points were called tank driving and combat. Martial artists without divine sense, even innate martial artists supposedly comparable to Qi Refinement cultivators, were not even qualified to participate.

"Tenth place..."

"Ninth place..."

"Second place, Wu Tianli. Fifth level of Qi Refinement. Cultural score: 730. Cultivation bonus score: 467. Total score: 1197."

Swish!

In an instant, nearly every gaze was drawn toward him, including those of fellow Qi Refinement cultivators.

He was a handsome youth with a sunny, confident air. He nodded slightly and politely acknowledged the classmates around him.

"Fifth level of Qi Refinement!"

An uproar broke out around the room.

"Doesn't Wu Tianli have metal, wood, water, and fire spirit roots? How could his cultivation speed be so fast?"

"His spirit root attributes are better. He might be extremely close to having three spirit roots."

"Three spirit roots! Setting aside those from beyond our realm, that's practically top-tier talent..."

Jiang Ding silently listened to the discussions around him like a transparent man.

More than ten thousand years ago, Blueglow Star had still been a world without spirit qi. Even after intersecting with the immortal cultivation world for over ten thousand years, its native spirit veins and spirit roots remained exceedingly scarce. Four spirit roots were already extremely rare, appearing only once among eighty or ninety thousand people, let alone three spirit roots, two spirit roots, or the legendary heavenly spirit root.

Four-spirit-root cultivators, called pseudo-spirit-root cultivators beyond their realm, were already geniuses on Blueglow Star.

"At the very least, one of the bottom fifteen university cultivation departments. The middle twelve universities are within reach, and even the top twelve universities are not completely impossible." Guo Kui said with a beaming smile.

Among the thirty-nine universities with cultivation departments, the middle twelve universities were generally something only three-spirit-root cultivators could dare to hope for.

"I'll work hard, Teacher." Wu Tianli said seriously.

Everyone knew what he meant.

The top twelve universities, including Clearwind University and Big Dipper University, had a title: the homeland of Golden Cores!

According to statistics from generations of students, cultivators from the top twelve universities had a chance of becoming Golden Core cultivators ten or even a dozen times greater than that of all other schools and independent cultivators combined!

"This..." Guo Kui encouraged him, "Keep it up. Teacher believes in you!"

The cultivation departments of the top twelve universities were also known as the Twelve Dao Palaces. Each Dao Palace had a Nascent Soul True Lord in secluded cultivation. Even native three-spirit-root cultivators found it incomparably difficult to gain admission. Only geniuses who had reached the pinnacle in both Dao studies and cultivation could enter.

Cultivators from beyond their realm had a name for students of the top twelve universities.

Registered disciples of Nascent Soul True Lords!

At least in the eyes of cultivators from beyond their realm, the status of a student from the top twelve universities was equivalent to that of a registered disciple of a Nascent Soul patriarch. If they met, they would treat them as equals.

From this, one could imagine the difficulty.

Basically, among the hundreds of millions in a province, only around a hundred students each year were qualified to enter the top twelve universities.

"First place, Hua Bing! Sixth level of Qi Refinement. Cultural score: 723. Cultivation bonus score: 479. Total score: 1202."

Many admiring and respectful gazes turned toward the girl seated at the center of the first row. She had wheat-colored skin, a valiant and pretty appearance, and the aura of a big sister.

"A high probability for the middle twelve universities, with a small chance at the top twelve."

Guo Kui made his judgment based on his professional experience.

Though she appeared to be only 5 points ahead of Wu Tianli, people were different. With three spirit roots and the dedicated cultivation of her Foundation Establishment Realm father, she was already at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refinement and could enter the seventh level at any moment, becoming a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator.

Late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators would experience a minor qualitative transformation in both dharma power and divine sense. That was the foundation that allowed them to crush early- and middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.

An extra 10 bonus points were nothing. The growth and minor qualitative transformation of dharma power and divine sense—especially divine sense—could slightly enhance a cultivator's calculation ability, memory, divine sense scanning precision, and other crucial abilities.

It would bring a slight increase in learning ability.

Scores in Chinese, mathematics, physics, biology, and other subjects would likely all rise slightly. If the gains were large enough, the top twelve universities would not be beyond hope.

"These are the students with spirit roots. As for the rest of you, you absolutely must not lose heart either." Guo Kui withdrew his gaze from Hua Bing and looked toward Jiang Ding, Li Junhao, and the other ordinary students. His expression turned serious.

"Unlike the extremely difficult and slow cultivation of long-lived professions like immortal cultivators, which requires even peerless talent to accumulate step by step over several years, according to teachers' experience, after the third year of high school, young martial artists with exceptional talent and deep foundations will experience explosive growth in cultivation."

"Every Immortal Sect citizen has their flesh, bones, and tendons cleansed by an innate martial artist with great medicine accumulated over at least thirty years within twenty-four hours of birth. Within three days, a Qi Refinement cultivator cleanses their meridians with Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid."

"In terms of aptitude, any Immortal Sect citizen would be a genius in certain low-grade little worlds possessing only martial arts inheritances."

"The Immortal Sect did not allow martial artists to take the college entrance examination merely to serve as foils for those with spirit roots!"

Guo Kui's tone was exceedingly earnest.

"On the contrary, the vast population of educated ordinary people is the Immortal Sect's most important foundation. The most outstanding students among them will not achieve anything less than those with spirit roots in the future."

"Many great powers of the Immortal Sect also lack spirit roots, but that does not stop them from roaming heaven and earth!"

Many students without spirit roots were stirred, regaining hope.

Jiang Ding pressed his lips together.

He noticed the words "exceptional talent" in Teacher Guo's speech.

Thinking about it, that made sense.

To cultivate immortality as a mortal, if one were not a dragon or phoenix among men, how could one dare to hope for it?

"All right. Now that the results of the last mock exam are out, those who improved must not become complacent, and those who declined must work even harder, so as not to betray their youth."

Guo Kui set the class score sheet aside, rubbed his gleaming scalp, and opened the Ideological and Moral Education textbook.

Ever since the advent of the supernatural, Ideological and Moral Education had leapt into becoming a core subject comparable to Chinese and mathematics. Its full score was 150 points, making it extremely important. A low score was acceptable, but failing to even pass was an exceptionally serious problem.

It would not go so far as to prevent university admission, but many future opportunities would be shut off directly.

"Recite the [First Law of the Immortal Sect]. Your tone must be solemn and dignified. Begin," Guo Kui said.

The sound of clear, ringing recitation rose at once.

"First Law of the Immortal Sect!"

"All knowledge within Blueglow Star, including that of public institutions and private institutions; knowledge owned by individuals; patented and unpatented knowledge; immortal cultivation knowledge and non-immortal-cultivation knowledge; all knowledge created and discovered in the past, present, and future, belongs to all citizens!"

"Any citizen who has not been deprived of political rights may, so long as they submit an application and prove that they possess the ability to understand said knowledge, read any knowledge and any inheritance on Blueglow Star!"

"If said knowledge remains within its patent period, a patent fee approved by the Central Array-Spirit Computer must be paid!"

Jiang Ding and the others recited loudly in solemn tones, every punctuation mark and every pause perfectly exact.

As for their thoughts on it, they had none at all.

Because they had begun learning this on their first day of preschool, along with literacy. For the vast majority of Immortal Sect citizens, these were the first words they learned to recognize.

"If any institution or individual violates the First Law of the Immortal Sect and refuses a lawful citizen's lawful request to read, the citizen shall immediately report it to the local Immortal Sect institution and the Array-Spirit Computer at their place of household registration."

"Institutions or individuals who, after repeated warnings, still refuse to fulfill the First Law of the Immortal Sect shall be subject to rigorous material and soul destruction procedures carried out by the military at their place of household registration under the supervision of the Central Array-Spirit Computer."

The clear recitation abruptly fell silent.

"I won't say much more about the importance of the First Law of the Immortal Sect. I, as well as your middle school and elementary school teachers, have said it many times. It is required on the college entrance examination; even its placement, question format, and score are stipulated."

"These are free points, fifteen points handed to you on a silver platter. But!"

Guo Kui's expression darkened. "Two students in our class actually wrote one character wrong this time! This is copying—there are no variations whatsoever, just copying!"

The anger of a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator sent fierce winds sweeping through the classroom.

It rustled in the wind, until only everyone's breathing gradually became clear.

"I won't say who it was."

Guo Kui steadied himself and said sternly, "I'm the one grading your papers now, so you still have a chance to correct yourselves. Once it's the college entrance examinations, the Central Array-Spirit Computer will grade them. Then everything will be set in stone, and all these years of hard work will have been wasted."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Before a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator in a furious rage, every student answered obediently.

"Good. Now we'll continue with the example from last time: the first confidentiality rule triggered by the words 'lawful citizen of Blueglow Star' in the First Law of the Immortal Sect."

"First question: if the Immortal Sect's ally beyond the realm, the Five Elements Heaven Sect, sends cultivation exchange students composed of true disciples, and they obtain temporary citizen status at customs, then if you have the opportunity to speak with them, what knowledge may be exchanged, and what is forbidden from being divulged in the slightest, lest you trigger the [Immortal Gate Grand Curse]?"

"For this, you may refer to the customs regulations, the detailed rules for temporary citizen permit rights..."

On the podium, Guo Kui spoke eloquently, extending the example into reality before returning to theory. Below, the students took notes at top speed.

The difference was that mortal students like Jiang Ding wrote as if their pens were carried by the wind, sweat scattering everywhere, while cultivators like Wu Tianli in the front row held jade slips and recorded with divine sense and spiritual power, relaxed and unhurried, yet far more efficient than the former.

Ring...

"You must remember the key points from this lesson. When you go back, do more practice problems..."

Two hours later, Guo Kui closed his textbook with lingering reluctance and left the classroom.

The instant he departed, whooshing sounds erupted everywhere as figure after figure vanished at high speed.

The fastest were naturally the cultivators enhanced by the Wind-Riding Art. Like wisps of green smoke, they disappeared in the blink of an eye; some students with lower martial arts realms could not even see when they had left.

Next came the three Inner Qi realm martial artists in the class. Though inner qi was far inferior to a cultivator's spiritual power, it was more than enough to crush the body-tempering martial artists.

Only then came peak Bone-Tempering realm martial artists like Jiang Ding. With one hand braced against the desk, he sprinted toward the cultivation rooms under Li Junhao's envious gaze.

From four to six in the afternoon was cultivation class.

In the cultivation area, just as expected, the top ten cultivation rooms had already been claimed by formidable students from every side. Jiang Ding swiped his student card at the door of cultivation room number forty-one, and the steel door slowly opened.

The students behind him revealed regretful expressions and pounced toward cultivation room number forty-two beside it.

Blueglow Star had intersected with the cultivation world for only a little over ten thousand years. Spiritual energy was thin and resources scarce. At present, all spiritual energy had been claimed by the Immortal Sect, leaving only enough outside for cultivators to barely maintain their breathing and meditation.

Of course, Jiang Ding was only a martial artist. He could neither sense spiritual energy nor use it.

What they were actually fighting over was the Essence-Consolidating Bone-Strengthening Soup uniformly provided by the Immortal Gate Ministry of Education for third-year high school Bone-Tempering students in the cultivation rooms. Developed by the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences and brewed from hundreds or even thousands of medicinal ingredients, it was refined to the utmost. Though mass-produced, its effects were not diminished in the slightest.

In some lower worlds, it could absolutely be called a heavenly treasure. To obtain it, one needed both strength and opportunity.

The higher a cultivation room's ranking, the better the effects of its Essence-Consolidating Bone-Strengthening Soup.

If the user were a cultivator or a martial artist of a lower realm, what they received would also differ. It might be the spiritual energy concentration corresponding to that number, or a nourishing tonic soup for the tendons and bones.

The door opened onto a space of over a hundred square meters. A weapon rack stood to one side, holding sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. At the center was a banyan tree root twisted and entwined into the shape of a hand. Resting in its palm was a bowl of milky-white thick soup, giving off an intoxicating fragrance.

As he stepped into the cultivation room, the metal door slowly closed behind him.

A blue light screen, like a postcard, slowly unfolded.

[Name: Jiang Ding]

[Student Number:]

[Realm: Peak Bone-Tempering Realm]

[Previous Training Subject: <Eagle Hatchling Takes Flight Sword Art, Sixty-Eighth Set> (Proficiency 32%)]

Below the light screen was a virtual little figure composed of threadlike meridians. Every muscle, every bone, and every patch of skin was clearly labeled, and it could be freely enlarged or reduced.

The skin and muscles were mostly at 100%. Only a small number of hard-to-train areas—such as the skin beneath the armpits, the scalp, the cheek muscles, and the stomach and intestinal muscles—stood at 12%, 46%, 0%, and so on.

No matter how one trained, those areas were extremely difficult to reach. Only after inner qi was born could they be perfectly trained with its assistance.

Overall, most of his skin and muscles had reached their current limits. The cultivation room's computer was connected to the Banyan City Array-Spirit Computer, which was equivalent to an incarnation's incarnation of a Spirit Transformation powerhouse assisting with observation and confirmation. There could absolutely be no errors or omissions.

The true difficulty lay in the vertebrae.

His limbs, ribs, sternum, outer skull bones, and the like were all at 100%. Yet among his vertebrae, even those displaying 60% were rare. Most stood at 1% or 2%, with an extremely low degree of tempering.

Jiang Ding knew the reason.

"Young Eagle Takes Flight Formula, Sixty-Eighth Set (Proficiency 32%)."

He sighed.

Young Eagle Takes Flight Formula, Sixty-Eighth Set!

The name of this cultivation method was very ordinary, and it was merely the lowest tier among "scriptures, canons, cultivation methods, and formulas." It was a cultivation method for mortal children to learn, and it looked utterly trashy.

In truth, however, it had a reputation throughout dozens of surrounding worlds, including the cultivation world.

The foremost foundational divine art of all realms!

No one disputed it!

Because this cultivation method possessed an exceptionally terrifying effect: if a mortal could use it to successfully enter the Innate realm, they would forge a "rudimentary Dao body," giving them cultivation aptitude almost on par with the very best Four Spiritual Root aptitude.

It could be called defying fate and changing one's destiny!

.