Golden Core Seed

Jiang Ding looked admiringly at the valiant woman as she went onstage to collect her test paper.

A single transformation of divine sense had seemingly raised her score by nearly a hundred points, less than his two hundred-plus points, but those hundred points had taken her from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred!

The farther one went, the closer one came to the fourteen-hundred-point limit, the harder it became.

Even a single point could lead to vastly different outcomes.

Wu Tianli, ranked second, changed expression as he watched the girl pass by him. For a moment, he seemed to see a goddess drifting away amid soft golden light, leaving the mortal world behind.

Though Hua Bing had rejected his advances many times, he had remained confident. He was the finest man in this group, after all, and he firmly believed that one day he would win the beauty's heart and live happily ever after like a prince and princess in a fairy tale.

Now, his heart was filled with confusion.

"All right, all right."

Only after five or six minutes of chaos did Guo Kui smile and restore order to the class.

"Everyone has improved this time. It seems none of you slacked off over the past two months, especially Hua Bing, who has reached the Qi Refining Realm, as well as Jiang Ding, Li Junhao, and the other students in the Inner Qi Realm."

"But as I always say, this was only an internal midterm exam. How much it differs from the actual college entrance examination remains unknown, so you must not become arrogant or complacent."

"Next, let's go over this exam paper. The first question..."

Guo Kui explained the questions in detail—the meanings behind them, the kinds of answers the Immortal Sect wanted to see, and, more importantly, subtly guided the students toward the outlook on life and values expected by the Immortal Sect.

This was not something vague or ethereal.

The ideological and moral portion of the college entrance examination would be conducted on the Heart-Question Platform in the Taixu Illusory Realm—Education Network section. Faced with the exam paper, every candidate would unconsciously give the truest answers from the depths of their hearts. Memorizing answers beforehand was completely useless.

Ring, ring!

Two hours later, the dismissal bell rang. Guo Kui left, and Hua Bing went to the front, casually swiping her card over the cabinet behind her.

"The final two classes this morning are Instructor Zhang Dingjun's cultivation class. Everyone, change into your combat gear."

"Yes, Class Monitor!"

Starting from the first row, the students lined up to collect and change into their camouflage combat uniforms and panoramic helmets that resembled dark glass spheres.

"Sun Xiao, First Squad, move out."

"Yes!"

Sun Xiao saluted the temporary commander appointed by Zhang Dingjun, then led five people forward at a jog.

"Second Squad... Third Squad..."

The three columns of squads gathered outside the classroom and formed a neat square formation. Maintaining a fixed rhythm, they jogged toward the training grounds dozens of kilometers behind the school, occasionally passing other groups along the way.

Li Junhao moved closer. After being gloomy for a long time, he quietly asked, "Jiang Ding, can breaking through to the Inner Qi Realm really improve your academic grades by so much?"

He had only just begun to feel pleased with his own progress, yet Jiang Ding had suddenly charged into the top ten and was now certain to enter Qianling University's Cultivation Department.

We were supposed to be in the same boat, so how did you suddenly fly off on your own?

It had completely crushed his spirits.

"It can."

Jiang Ding confirmed, "Once you have inner force, this tangible form of energy, it will greatly help your learning, comprehension, and improvement in cultivation principles, talismans, formations, and the like. I think it will be the same once you break through to the Inner Qi Realm."

This was not consolation.

Li Junhao had exceptionally strong learning ability. Without inner force, spiritual power, or divine sense, he could rely solely on calculation to inscribe Five Elements formations such as the Sharp Metal Formation, Thick Earth Formation, and Condensing Water Formation, and they would take effect once inner force or spiritual power was supplied.

The same was true for subjects like language arts, geography, and biology. He was a top student whose academic score far surpassed those of the ordinary departments at the top two universities.

"The Inner Qi Realm..."

Li Junhao sighed.

At the training grounds, Zhang Dingjun stood motionless like a nail, a pocket watch in hand. Before him, the Qi Refining squad led by Hua Bing had already arrived and stood in neat ranks.

After waiting for a long time, the Inner Qi Realm group finally joined the formation.

Zhang Dingjun did not move. He merely stared at his pocket watch, his expression stern and cold.

Five or six minutes later, Li Junhao arrived late and quickly joined the silent formation.

Many people showed surprise.

This was Li Junhao's first time arriving at the training grounds on time, although Class One's arrival time was already ten minutes later than the other classes'.

After signaling Hua Bing to lead the Qi Refining Realm squad to their own tank training grounds, Zhang Dingjun looked at the remaining eighteen students.

"The first class will proceed as usual with heavy machine gun training. The second class will cover tank support combat."

"Dismissed!"

"Yes, Instructor!"

The students dispersed in groups of twos and threes, but Zhang Dingjun called Jiang Ding over. At the weapon rack, he found a relatively slender Type 03 Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle amid the ferocious, heavy machine guns. Rows of runic patterns were clearly visible on its barrel.

"This thing costs much more."

Zhang Dingjun muttered as he placed the rifle in Jiang Ding's hands, had him assume a standard firing posture, then corrected him point by point while explaining the similarities and differences between heavy machine guns and anti-materiel sniper rifles.

"The core principles are the same. You just need to be proficient with the Vajra Seal. You're doing all right in that regard."

They went through standing firing, prone firing, and other movements.

"Now, grip the handle tightly and channel in your inner force. Remember, keep the frequency and intensity as consistent as possible."

Jiang Ding did as instructed.

His inner force slowly flowed into it, only to be swallowed bit by bit as though it had entered a bottomless abyss.

Three minutes later, Jiang Ding's inner force was exhausted, yet there was still no indication that enough had been supplied.

"Take a break."

Zhang Dingjun said nothing more. "Generally speaking, you need to complete at least a Minor Circulation of Inner Qi before you can charge a bullet within ten minutes. You should be able to do it in thirty minutes, right?"

He waved a hand and went to correct the other students' mistakes in using heavy machine guns, paying particular attention to explaining the cultivation of the Vajra Seal martial technique.

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes later.

Jiang Ding, his face deathly pale, looked at the barrel flickering with nearly imperceptible points of light and let out a long breath. He lay prone, raised the rifle's bipod, aimed at a fixed target five kilometers away, and silently recited the Vajra Seal mnemonic.

Boom!

A tremendous blast rang out. It felt as if his shoulder had been struck by a heavy hammer, and he was forced backward, crashing several meters away. Pain like a broken shoulder wracked him as he curled into a ball.

As for the bullet, it had flown off who knew where.

Sun Xiao and the others were drawn by the blast. They immediately understood and revealed looks of gloating delight.

"This is a reconnaissance infantryman."

Zhang Dingjun had appeared behind him at some point. "A battlefield ghost with extremely powerful killing ability, but also many restrictions. The charging time is long, the Vajra Seal requirements are high, and it demands proficiency in the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique as well as a sufficient inner force realm. Otherwise, that loud report means death on the battlefield."

"To use it normally, you need to have at least reached the major completion stage of Inner Qi. And that is with Young Eagle Inner Qi. With other internal arts, whose inner force is muddled and impure, you would need to reach perfection."

His words were somewhat tactful. Knowing that young people had strong pride and cared about saving face, he had deliberately waited until after Jiang Ding had suffered a setback before speaking to persuade him.

"Instructor, I understand."

After the pain subsided, Jiang Ding stood up, dusted himself off, and held the sniper rifle in his arms as if nothing had happened. "Instructor, there are a few things I don't understand about the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique, specifically 1,... 2..."

"Oh, it's like this..."

Zhang Dingjun did not try to dissuade him further and carefully explained the difficult points to him.