This Will Do

Green Fox High Person has a green eye between his brows. Could he see it directly?

While Jiang Yan speculated about Green Fox's methods, Daoist Chenniu fortunately had the same questions and voiced them.

"High Person, this is certainly faster, but some candidates may have low cultivation now yet possess a measure of fortune. They might still overtake the others in the future.

"In previous years, the examination tasks could pick them out. Won't they all be eliminated this year?

"And how are we to determine the candidates' precise rankings?"

"Fortune? If I eliminate them, doesn't that mean their fortune is still insufficient?"

"As for their precise rankings, this will do."

As Green Fox High Person answered Chenniu's questions, he raised a hand and waved.

Without the slightest ability to resist, Jiang Yan immediately hurtled toward another disciple nearby.

Bam!

Caught off guard by the collision, both instinctively mobilized the Law Power within their bodies.

The two masses of Law Power clung to the surfaces of their bodies, wearing each other down.

After the impact, Jiang Yan's protective Law Power remained intact, while the disciple opposite him seemed unable to sustain his.

Thus, Jiang Yan rose again, hurtling toward the winner of another pair of disciples.

The disciple who had just lost to him also hurtled toward the loser of another pair.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

Amid the unending collisions, one disciple soon exhausted his Law Power.

His position was lowered to the very bottom of the first tier.

Jiang Yan, meanwhile, kept rising. Judging by the glance he had stolen after one collision, he should have already entered the top ten.

After so many collisions, however, he had also consumed a considerable amount of his Law Power.

Bam!

He was controlled into colliding with someone else once more, but this time, Jiang Yan did not rise any farther and instead remained where he was.

Above him, only the final four remained, colliding in pairs.

Jiang Yan reckoned that they had probably all cultivated a full strand of Law Power.

It seemed that this Prefecture Examination had produced no genius capable of attaining the Ninth-Rank Lower Realm's bronze skin and iron bones in a month and a half.

Once the final two had settled first and second place, the unceasing crashes finally stopped.

On the ground below, the disciples eliminated at the very beginning had still harbored some resentment, but now they watched with their mouths agape.

Disciples like Jiang Yan, who had cultivated Law Power, fared somewhat better.

With Law Power protecting them, even repeated collisions would not cause their bodies much injury.

But farther down, many of the disciples who had not perfected their bodies and begun generating Spiritual Qi had been battered until their heads split and blood flowed.

Among them, those ranked higher had actually suffered worse injuries because they had endured more collisions.

Blood dripped down the bodies of quite a few of them, like a little shower of blood.

Fortunately, Green Fox High Person did not simply leave them to their fate.

He reached up, pinched a fine hair from his cheek, and flicked it away.

The hair immediately turned into powder too fine for the naked eye to see, drifting down to envelop the disciples.

Jiang Yan looked down and saw the injuries of the bloodied disciples below improving visibly.

He hurriedly circulated his Cultivation Method as well, trying to cultivate.

His cultivation speed actually far exceeded what he had achieved in the county academy's stone cultivation chamber.

After just one full circulation, more than half his Law Power had recovered.

Unfortunately, it did not last long. Only a short while later, his cultivation speed dropped again.

"This Prefecture Examination is concluded. Those still floating may enter the Prefecture Academy. The rest of you may disperse."

The restraint around Jinbao vanished, and he dropped into Jiang Yan's arms with a plop.

After announcing the results indifferently, Green Fox High Person took a palm-sized Spirit Boat out of his storage Law Artifact.

He formed a hand seal, and the Spirit Boat abruptly transformed into an enormous vessel dozens of zhang long. Then he bundled all the disciples aboard.

"Matters here are settled. I shall return to the Dao Academy first.

"As for the attack on the plane, there will be a result in as little as one year or as much as three. You need not be anxious."

Having left these words, Green Fox High Person showed no intention of letting the heads of the County Daoist Academies reply.

He floated into a room on the Spirit Boat's uppermost level.

Across the enlarged Spirit Boat, the intricate patterns covering its hull lit up faintly.

Jiang Yan felt his vision blur, and with a whoosh, the Spirit Boat was already in the sky.

When he looked back, Rosyglow County had already become a tiny black dot on the horizon.

Perhaps because he saw all the disciples standing dumbly on the deck, Green Fox High Person's voice came from above the Spirit Boat.

"There are accommodations within. Each of you should choose a room. The journey to the Prefecture Academy is roughly a hundred thousand li."

"Thank you for the reminder, High Person!"

One quick-witted disciple had noticed that Green Fox High Person had remained amiable throughout and had even healed all the disciples injured in the collisions.

He immediately shouted his thanks in a fawning manner, but received no further response from above.

The man did not seem embarrassed. His eyes searched about, as though looking for something.

In the end, he actually walked over to Jiang Yan and bent in a respectful bow.

"Greetings, fellow Daoist."

Jiang Yan remained perfectly still, his face expressionless.

"You are too courteous, fellow Daoist. I must choose a room first, so please excuse me."

With that, Jiang Yan walked into the cabin without looking back, leaving Li Shun frozen where he stood.

Watching Jiang Yan depart, Li Shun sensed the barely perceptible looks some of the surrounding disciples cast his way.

His expression did not change. Only a faint ripple stirred in his eyes as he walked into the cabin as though nothing had happened.

By then, Jiang Yan had also chosen a room. There was little to choose between them.

The rooms inside the Spirit Boat had identical layouts, so he simply picked one along the side.

The room had neither a bed nor a table or chairs. There was only a cushion in the middle and a small Spirit Gathering Formation inscribed in the corner.

Apart from the lack of bookshelves, it bore some resemblance to the Jiang household's stone cultivation chambers.

"Is this a reminder to make use of our travel time too? It seems the competition in the Prefecture Academy won't be simple either."

Jiang Yan tried activating the Spirit Gathering Formation and, sure enough, met with no obstruction whatsoever.

"Never mind. This is my first time using a Spirit Gathering Formation. I should try out its effects."

Jiang Yan was not wrong. Before he began practicing a Cultivation Method, he had always cultivated in ordinary stone chambers, which were not equipped with Spirit Gathering Formations.

When practicing his Cultivation Method at the Dao Academy, he had finally managed to secure a superior stone chamber.

Yet the Immortal Stele Square had drawn away all the Dao Academy's Spiritual Qi, leaving him to convert Spirit Stones into Spiritual Qi for use.

Strictly speaking, therefore, this was his first time using a Spirit Gathering Formation normally.

Leaving Jinbao by the door, Jiang Yan sat cross-legged on the cushion, circulated the Guiding Method, and began cultivating.

As for Li Shun from earlier, he had not taken him to heart at all.

That day, Jiang Yan had personally witnessed the spectacle of this man turning his back on the Chen household.

Whatever his purpose in approaching him, Jiang Yan had no desire to associate with someone like that.

As the Guiding Method completed its circuits, Spiritual Qi was continuously drawn into his body, and wisp after wisp of Law Power flowed steadily into Jiang Yan's Dantian.

A long while later, Jiang Yan stopped cultivating and regulated his breathing. By then, it had already grown dark.

A lamp lit up inside the room, illuminating the area beneath it.

Jiang Yan took a Grain-Avoidance Pill from his thumb ring and swallowed it. Jinbao could only eat Grain-Avoidance Pills too, since their circumstances were limited.

"At this rate, another three to five days should be enough to cultivate a full strand of Law Power."

After taking the Grain-Avoidance Pill, Jiang Yan began studying the "Ingestion" method again.