Autumn, year 1433223 of the Immortal Palace calendar.
Before the alloy doors of the cultivation testing facility reserved for university students, on the east side of Handong University's main campus, Chen Fan held two crystal coins engraved with spirit patterns between his fingertips. As he watched the words "Payment successful" pop up on the terminal, his heart gave a vicious twinge.
Twenty Spirit Coins for one hour.
An hour in this lousy place cost as much as four hours in a low-end spirit-gathering cultivation room, or ten bowls of spirit rice noodles with Demon Beast meat and extra eggs.
Expressionlessly, Chen Fan tucked his identity jade token back into his pocket and silently issued a fierce declaration at the middle-aged female attendant munching spirit melon seeds behind the glass:
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west! You fleeced me out of twenty Spirit Coins today, but once I pass the postgraduate entrance exams and make it to professor, the first thing I'll do is apply to lower the testing facility's fees-to five Spirit Coins an hour!
For all his inward cursing, he still carried his jade token inside.
He was a freshman majoring in sword dao theory and science. This week's major courses had assigned a complete, all-dimensional personal cultivation data report. He had no choice but to get tested; it was a mandatory university requirement.
As one of the top five institutions in the Immortal Palace, Handong University followed the "all-round cultivation" path most popularly handed down within the Immortal Palace.
As far back as 1.4 million years ago, after the Immortal Palace's first-generation directors established a firm foothold on the Eastern Divine Continent, they saw straight through the bottleneck of single-path cultivation. The ceiling of the immortal dao was right there; even pushing a single cultivation method to its absolute limit would not break through it.
It was better to let a hundred flowers bloom across body, spell arts, sword, and soul cultivation-able to fight at range or up close, tank hits or control opponents. When battles across star domains actually came, the margin for error would be maxed out.
Trash chose a single path; geniuses chose diverse, complementary development. I was a god-tier being: I chose to stand in the middle, link both sides, and take it all!
By the present day, this philosophy had long become an ironclad rule shared by the Immortal Palace's higher education institutions: most junior colleges allowed students to specialize in a single path, and after graduation, they could land a job as a mayor or county magistrate in the mortal realm.
But undergraduate universities, especially elite institutions like Handong and Jingfu, required students to cultivate four modules simultaneously from their freshman year onward: physical body, spiritual power, soul, and natal cultivation method.
Even a major like sword dao theory, which sounded more like a "liberal arts" subject, required students to punch strength testers and tread on soul scanners. Fail even one component at the end of the semester, and they had to take a makeup exam.
In other words, anyone who got into Handong had no weak subjects, nor were they allowed any. Otherwise, what right did they have to call themselves a noble Handong student?
Everyone was an all-rounder. The competition was never about "whether you could do it," but "how high your ceiling was."
The testing facility was fairly crowded, everyone in undergraduate uniforms, gathered in groups of three or five around the various instruments.
Someone had just finished testing physical strength and immediately plunged into a soul-testing pod; someone else held a spiritual power purity column and checked the results while reciting sword manual mnemonics.
After all, the end-of-semester comprehensive assessment used the average across every dimension. No one dared slack off in any category.
Fatty Wang, a fellow student in Chen Fan's year, was squatting beside the strength tester, panting. Seeing him enter, he waved. "Brother Fan, you finally made it. Any later and I'd be on my second round of tests.
"Seriously, sword dao theory isn't a major fit for humans. We have to memorize the General History of High Antiquity Sword Cultivators and get our bodies up to the Foundation Establishment threshold. Last week, my strength was still stuck at Qi refinement peak. I've been lifting black iron dumbbells every day this week. My hands are practically ruined."
Chen Fan walked over and patted his shoulder. "Keep it up. You've already spent twenty Spirit Coins. You've got to at least get some improvement out of the tests."
"Absolutely." Fatty Wang rubbed his hands. "I'm not asking for much. If three categories can touch the Foundation Establishment threshold, I'll be set for this semester's comprehensive assessment."
This was also the general standard for Handong freshmen: at Qi refining perfection, having two or three measurements reach the Foundation Establishment early stage threshold counted as excellent; anyone with five qualifying categories was a departmental seed student, guaranteed a first-class scholarship.
Beyond that, anyone who reached seven qualifying categories was a genuine talent, the kind guaranteed postgraduate admission. Legend had it that someone at Wu University had once achieved this and been framed by someone who intended to refine him into a Postgraduate Admission Pill, but failed-the attempt ended in failure. A genius at that level had the right to go "ha" at anyone!
As for meeting the standard in all seventeen tests? That basically existed only in university legends. Since the university's founding, only a handful had appeared. Those were seed candidates for the entire Immortal Palace, and if they served the people of the Immortal Palace, they even had a chance to enter the pinnacle competition!
Chen Fan went to the strength tester first. It was a black iron dumbbell apparatus labeled "Physical strength assessment," with spirit-gathering patterns engraved on its handle. Injecting spiritual power would trigger a rating.
He reached out and gripped the handle. Spiritual power circulated steadily within his Dantian, flowing into it along the meridians in his arm.
Humm-
The spirit patterns on the dumbbell lit up layer by layer. Pale golden light climbed from Qi refinement early stage through middle stage, late stage, and perfection without losing any momentum. With a soft ding, it settled firmly on the Foundation Establishment realm early stage mark.
Two girls nearby who had just finished their tests exchanged glances, each seeing surprise in the other's eyes.
"Foundation Establishment early stage? A freshman in the Qi refining realm has that kind of physical strength? Is he from the body cultivation department?"
"Doesn't look like it. Look at his jade token. Sword dao theory."
"Sword dao theory? Don't they spend all day chewing through books? Why's he trained his body so hard?"
Their voices were quiet. Chen Fan heard them but paid them no mind, releasing the handle and walking toward the next soul scanner.
He put on the helmet, and a faint soul impact swept across the space between his brows. The values on the light screen jumped rapidly. A few seconds later, the result froze: soul strength, Foundation Establishment realm middle stage.
Now everyone nearby could not help looking over.
A Foundation Establishment body was one thing, but his soul was at Foundation Establishment middle stage too? Soul cultivation was far harder than physical cultivation. Plenty of people successfully reached Foundation Establishment in their second year while their souls remained stuck at Qi refinement peak.
This guy was in the Qi refining realm, yet his soul was already at Foundation Establishment middle stage. That really was a little outrageous.
Fatty Wang had been drinking and nearly sprayed out a mouthful of spirit spring water. "Holy shit, Brother Fan, you were hiding this much? Didn't you say just last week that your soul had only just reached Qi refining perfection?"
"I've been practicing a few mind-focusing methods lately." Chen Fan brushed him off casually and headed toward the spiritual power condensation tester.
As he injected spiritual power, the waist-high crystal column took on a clear, deep blue hue. Impurities within it rapidly dispersed, leaving it as transparent as a piece of top-grade colored glass. The instrument soon displayed its result: spiritual power condensation, Foundation Establishment realm standard.
For the next forty minutes, Chen Fan became a moving attraction in the testing facility.
Like a precise check-in machine, he moved from instrument to instrument, testing physical resilience, total spiritual power, Divine Sense coverage, elemental affinity, sword intent in hand, reaction speed, and meridian tolerance.
Every result drew another round of sharp intakes of breath.
"Physical resilience, Foundation Establishment early stage..."
"Fire elemental affinity, grade A, Foundation Establishment-level compatibility..."
"Base sword intent value, Foundation Establishment early stage standard, fifteen percent above the average for his realm..."
By the end, several people had stopped testing themselves and gathered around to watch, growing more numb with every result.
"Anyone counting? How many Foundation Establishment categories?"
"Almost fifteen, right... and he's not even done."
"We only had three or four at Qi refining perfection. This guy's going straight for Foundation Establishment in everything?"
"That's what you call all-round development. What we've got is barely scraping a pass all round."
"We're all Han University students. How can the gap be this big..."
No one made sour remarks, much less mocked him. After all, at Han University, being an all-rounder was standard issue. Strong was strong, and everyone acknowledged it.
Especially someone who could stand out in every dimension-he would be a big shot anywhere, deserving nothing but admiration. All they could do was hurry to get his contact details. After all, he would be a high-quality connection in the future!
Fatty Wang was completely numb by now. Leaning against a nearby pillar, he muttered to himself, "Those twenty Spirit Coins were worth it... Brother Fan's gone and tested the testing facility's ceiling."
By the time all seventeen tests were finished, Chen Fan had worked up a light sweat.
He went to the rest area and sat down. He picked up his cup and had just taken a sip when he felt a slight warmth within his Dantian, as though something had completely opened through.
Before he had time to think it over, a familiar mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.