Jiang Ding looked admiringly at the valiant woman who went up to receive her exam paper.
A single transformation in divine sense seemed to add only nearly a hundred points, not as much as his two hundred-plus points, but that was a hundred points from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred!
The further one went, the closer one came to the fourteen-hundred-point perfect-score limit, the harder it became.
Even one point could potentially lead to vastly different results.
Wu Tianli, ranked second, changed expression as he watched the girl pass by him. In a daze, he seemed to see a goddess drifting away amid curling golden light, leaving the mortal world behind.
Although Hua Bing had rejected his pursuits many times, he had remained full of confidence. He was the finest man in this group, after all, and he firmly believed that one day he would win the beauty's hand and live happily ever after like a prince and princess in a fairy tale.
But now, his heart was filled with bewilderment.
"Alright, alright."
Only after a full five or six minutes of chaos did Guo Kui finally smile and restore order to the class.
"Everyone has improved this time. It seems none of you have slacked off over these past two months, especially student Hua Bing of the Qi Refinement Realm, and Jiang Ding and Li Junhao of the Inner Qi Realm."
"But the same still goes: this is only an in-school midterm test. How much it differs from the actual college entrance examination remains unknown, so you must not grow arrogant or complacent."
"Now, let's go over this exam paper. First question..."
Guo Kui explained at length, laying out the meaning of the questions and the kinds of answers the Immortal Sect wanted. More importantly, he subtly guided the students toward the outlook on life and values the Immortal Sect expected them to possess.
This was not something vague or illusory.
The ideological and moral portion of the college entrance examination would take place on the Heart-Question Platform in the Grand Void Illusory Realm—Education Network section. Faced with the examination paper, every candidate would unconsciously give the truest answers hidden in their hearts. Memorizing answers in everyday life was completely useless.
Ding-ding-ding!
Two hours later, the dismissal bell rang. Guo Kui left, while Hua Bing stepped onto the platform and casually swiped her card over the cabinet behind her.
"The last two classes this morning are cultivation classes taught by Teacher Zhang Dingjun. Everyone, change into your combat equipment."
"Yes, Class Monitor!"
Starting from the first row, the students lined up to collect and change into their camouflage combat uniforms and panoramic helmets resembling 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, formed a neat square formation, and jogged at a fixed pace toward the training grounds behind the school dozens of kilometers away. From time to time, they saw others traveling in the same direction.
Li Junhao moved closer. After remaining silent for a long time, he asked softly, "Jiang Ding, can breaking through to the Inner Qi Realm really improve your academic scores that much?"
He had only just been smug about his own progress, yet Jiang Ding had suddenly charged into the top ten and was assured of entering the School of Dao Cultivation at Qianling University.
They had been fellow sufferers in the same boat. How had Jiang Ding flown off alone?
It had sent him straight into self-imposed isolation.
"It can."
Jiang Ding confirmed, "With inner force, this tangible form of energy, it will greatly aid your study, comprehension, and improvement in cultivation method principles, talismans, formations, and the like. I think it will be the same when you break through to the Inner Qi Realm."
This was not consolation.
Li Junhao's learning ability was extremely strong. Without inner force, spiritual power, or divine sense, he could rely solely on calculations 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 of subjects such as language arts, geography, and biology. He was a top student whose academic score surpassed those of the ordinary departments at the top two universities by a great deal.
"The Inner Qi Realm..."
Li Junhao sighed.
At the training grounds, Zhang Dingjun held a pocket watch and stood firm as a nail. Before him, the Qi Refinement squad led by Hua Bing had already arrived and stood in neat formation.
After waiting for quite some time, the Inner Qi Realm squad filed into formation.
Zhang Dingjun did not move. He merely stared at his pocket watch, his face cold and stern.
Five or six minutes later, Li Junhao arrived belatedly and quickly joined the silent formation.
Many people revealed surprised expressions.
This was Li Junhao's first time arriving at the training grounds on time, though Class One's arrival was already ten minutes later than the other classes.
After signaling Hua Bing to lead the Qi Refinement 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 be a tank support combat course."
"Dismissed!"
"Yes, Instructor!"
The students dispersed in groups of two or three, but Zhang Dingjun called Jiang Ding over. They came to the weapon racks, where he found the relatively slender Type 03 Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle in a corner among the many savage, heavy machine guns. Lines of runic patterns were clearly visible along its barrel.
"This thing costs a lot more."
Zhang Dingjun muttered, placing the rifle in Jiang Ding's hands and having him assume a standard firing posture. He then corrected him point by point, explaining the similarities and differences between heavy machine guns and anti-materiel sniper rifles.
"The core principles are all the same. As long as you're proficient in the Vajra Seal, that's enough. You've done fairly well in that regard."
They went through standing fire, prone fire, and other movements.
"Now, grip the handle tightly and channel inner force into it. 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 fallen into a bottomless abyss.
Three minutes later, Jiang Ding's inner force was exhausted, yet he still had received no indication that there was enough inner force.
"Rest for a while."
Zhang Dingjun said nothing more. "Generally speaking, you need to complete at least a Lesser Celestial Circuit in the Inner Qi Realm to charge a bullet within ten minutes. You should be able to do it within thirty minutes, right?"
He waved a hand and went to correct the other students' mistakes in using the heavy machine guns, paying particular attention to explaining the cultivation of the Vajra Seal martial skill.
Twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes later.
Jiang Ding, pale-faced, looked at the barrel flashing with nearly imperceptible specks of light and let out a long breath. He lay prone, raised the bipod, aimed at a fixed target five kilometers away, and silently recited the Vajra Seal incantation.
Boom!
With a deafening blast, his shoulder felt as though it had been smashed by a heavy hammer. His whole body was driven back several meters, and pain like a broken shoulder made him curl into a ball.
As for the bullet, who knew where it had gone off course.
Sun Xiao and the others were drawn over by the blast. They immediately understood and revealed gloating expressions.
"This is a reconnaissance infantryman."
At some point, Zhang Dingjun had appeared behind him. He said calmly, "A ghost of the battlefield. Its killing power is immense, but it comes with many restrictions: long charging time, high Vajra Seal requirements, and requirements for the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique and one's inner force realm. Otherwise, that single loud blast on the battlefield means death."
"To use it normally, you need to be at least at major attainment in the Inner Qi Realm. That is with Young Eagle Inner Qi. With other internal cultivation methods, whose inner force is mixed and impure, you would need to reach perfection."
His words were somewhat tactful. Knowing that young people had strong pride and cared about their dignity, he had deliberately waited until after Jiang Ding had suffered a setback before offering advice.
"Teacher, I understand."
After the pain had eased, Jiang Ding stood up and patted the dust from his body. Holding the sniper rifle in his arms as if he had noticed nothing, he said, "Teacher, there are some things I don't understand about the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique, namely 1,...2..."
"Oh, it's like this..."
Zhang Dingjun did not try to dissuade him further and carefully explained the difficult points to him.
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