Time hurried by, and four years passed in the blink of an eye.
In a classroom at Nuoding Academy, the same cold-faced Su Da was still teaching the class, except he gave no lecture that day.
Instead, he held a stack of blue papers and began slowly reading out the results.
"Bai Qian, comprehensive Soul Master theory examination, ninety points. Excellent. Approved for graduation."
"Mai Dong, comprehensive Soul Master theory examination, eighty-seven points. Excellent. Approved for graduation."
"Lan Ling, comprehensive Soul Master theory examination, seventy-eight points. Good. Approved for graduation."
"Xiao Wu, comprehensive Soul Master theory examination, thirty-five points. Failed. Held back again!"
"Tang San, comprehensive Soul Master theory examination, fifty-nine points. Failed. Held back again!"
To graduate from Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy, students only needed to obtain their first Soul Ring and score at least sixty points on the comprehensive Soul Master theory examination.
Xiao Wu and Tang San had successfully reached rank twenty a year earlier and obtained their second Soul Rings. They had met the first requirement long ago.
As for the second requirement, however, they were short on sleep, and every noon, Xiao Chenyu, Nuo Ya, and the others would take turns challenging the two of them to fights.
Though both sides had their share of wins and losses, this left Tang San and Xiao Wu with no spare time to cultivate or study theoretical knowledge.
Tang San was better off. After all, Yu Dashi was there to give him extra lessons. If he wanted to, graduating would be a matter of minutes.
But he was held back by Xiao Wu, the "sworn little sister" he had taken in more than three years earlier. Xiao Wu was an academic dunce through and through. Getting her to pass an exam was harder than ascending to heaven.