?

"Now that I've fallen this far in this life, do I still have a chance to escape this predicament, return to the upper city, and reach the Purple Mansion realm again?"

On many nights in the past, she had gazed up at the sky, obscured by waste produced by the development of immortal cultivation technology.

Hugging her knees and burying herself between them, she had watched the upper city, where the local megacorporation's headquarters hung in the heavens like a shining star.

The young Lin Qi had asked herself that question.

"I don't know-"

That was the only answer she could give herself, but it didn't mean she was willing to submit to her circumstances and become numb and indifferent.

She had once been a Purple Mansion True Person, and she knew what sights lay high above.

How, then, could she possibly accept being beneath everyone else in the lower city, living out her life without accomplishing a thing?

Here was a joke: take the economic crisis that had driven her to her death in her previous life-

Unlike her, a dignified Purple Mansion True Person who had fallen because of it, the people of the lower city hadn't been affected at all?

But that was the most terrifying part.

Why had that happened?

Because they were too insignificant, far more so than people in the ancient era of immortal cultivation, and were regarded entirely as tools and private property.

"So I have to go back. No matter what, I have to go back."

This was the goal she had never forgotten since childhood, so throughout the long years leading up to today,

She had calculated countless times how far she needed to go to return to the upper city.

The conclusion she had reached was that she had to get into the only junior college in the area controlled by the megacorporation Ten Directions Bright, the only path upward open to lower livestock like them!

University-level institutions, whether undergraduate colleges or junior colleges, were all located in the upper city.

That was her only way back.

So just how difficult was it?

The answer was that, unlike in her previous life, when getting into an undergraduate college had been no trouble at all, getting into a junior college in this life was as hard as ascending to heaven-

With the status, aptitude, and immortal cultivation potential of lower livestock, getting into junior college was too difficult!

"So I..."

"I have to take every step carefully, from elementary school to middle school, then high school, making good use of every resource I can, and climbing upward step by step, step by step."

"I'll keep going like that until I reach the highest point in this lower city, the very top of the Bright Yang Tower!"

"To do that, I won't hesitate even if I have to use others as stepping stones."

"Of course, if I become a stepping stone instead, then I'll have brought it on myself. I'll have no reason to resent anyone else."

On the testing apparatus, Lin Qi looked at the result announced above her head and came back to her senses. Then she shook her head.

"It's just... maybe I will become a stepping stone, but not now, not at the start."

She paid no attention to the flattery echoing in her ears inside the testing center, nor did she look at the notifications coming in on her phone.

Lü Yuan was probably the only person she was paying attention to right now.

"Sorry. To get off to a faster start and make it to the end, I have to do this. After all, neither of us has a choice in this world, do we?"

Lin Qi murmured this under her breath, then turned to look at Lü Yuan, who stood far away at the back.

Then she saw him yawning absentmindedly, seemingly oblivious to her nearly unsurpassable test result.

What was more, when he straightened his gaze and noticed that she was looking at him,

He tilted his head, thought for a moment, and gave her a wink.

Lin Qi's CPU instantly overloaded, and she nearly lost control of her expression.

Wait... bro, we're rivals! The kind who signed a contract! Could you take this a little seriously?!

And why aren't you playing by the rules...?

That's not how it's written in webnovels at all!

You're supposed to mock me nonstop before my test, then go wide-eyed in disbelief when my result comes out.

After that, you should question my result in public, asking if something went wrong, and build up my rage meter.

Then, when you find out there's nothing wrong with it, you should decide you can't beat me and, humiliated and furious, try to damage my scales.

Finally, you should be drenched in sweat when you take the stage, and when your test result comes out, fall to your knees and beg me not to take away your immortal cultivation potential.

And when I refuse, you should let me see your defeat CG!

What's with that relaxed look, like you're certain of victory, and that flirtatious wink you just gave me?

Just like that, it was Lin Qi's turn to feel a chill down her back.

"Is he bluffing?"

"But what good would bluffing do him now?"

"But if he isn't, why is he acting like this? Could he think he can get a result higher than 40?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

"I refuse to believe I'd run into such a coincidence. He can't possibly be a once-in-a-century immortal cultivation genius from the lower city, can he?!"

Just as Lü Yuan's top-tier information-gap mind game left Lin Qi more and more horrified the deeper she thought about it, the talk among the people below gradually began to change.

They weren't NPCs. Of course they had seen what Lü Yuan had just done to her.

"Are they having an affair?!"

"I said so ages ago! Those two are just here to drum up attention. They're definitely a pair of adulterers behind the scenes!"

"Damn it, so they're building up accounts again. Are we going to see them on a short-video platform in a few days?"

"Boring. I was hoping to see blood flow like a river."

"Wait, what about their driftwood if they build up accounts like this? Oh, everyone who came here today has no driftwood. Never mind, then."

Comments like these were everywhere.

But neither Lin Qi nor Lü Yuan paid them any attention. Lin Qi simply didn't care; all her attention was focused on Lü Yuan.

If he isn't pretending, did heaven send him here specifically to snipe me?

I had over a century of experience in my previous life and weathered countless storms, only to meet my Waterloo just as I begin immortal cultivation in this one?

Lin Qi sucked in a breath of cold air, doing her part to warm the capitalist cultivation world-

Not this!

A dignified Purple Mansion reincarnator getting blown away by a sniper before she's even started elementary school...

Even if I have to become a stepping stone, at least let it be after middle school—no, high school!

Please don't let my debut be my funeral!

Lin Qi had lost the composure she'd had at the start. After stepping off the apparatus, she stood quietly in a corner.

She listened as the remaining names that hadn't been called appeared one after another, and their owners went up and received their results.

Then she waited for Lü Yuan to go up, to see whether he really was an immortal cultivation genius who could send her home in crushing defeat right at the start.

It was getting closer and closer-

Only a handful of people present had yet to go up for their tests. She would soon know how Lü Yuan would do!

Just then, a drop of water fell on the stone beside Lin Qi. She nervously touched her head, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"So it was sweat..."

"I almost thought it was pee-"

"Right, how could I pee before the result is out?"

But just as she breathed a sigh of relief, the voice that reached her ears made her heart leap into her throat again.

"Next, East District No. 13 Orphanage, Lü Yuan!"

Finally, when only the last ten people remained, Lü Yuan's name was called-

Wang Yan, standing beside him, closed his eyes. Knowing Lü Yuan, he probably already knew the result, but he didn't want to be one of those shocked by him.

The people along the way made room for Lü Yuan, one after another.

Some of them believed he and Lin Qi were hyping each other up, and their gazes were full of resentment.

Those who didn't believe that were divided into two camps: one was eager to see him lose, while the other still placed their hopes in him.

Of course, the latter were in the minority.

Soon, Lü Yuan was about to step onto the apparatus, but he stopped, if only for a moment.

Because Lin Qi was standing there.

"Excuse me," Lü Yuan said calmly, a smile on his face.

Lin Qi's breathing grew a little heavier, but she still stepped aside to give Lü Yuan a clear path.

Lü Yuan passed her without any pressure and walked up onto the apparatus, one step at a time.

At that moment, the entire venue was watching. All eyes converged on him as everyone waited for the final result.

Wang Yan sighed, while everyone else in the venue watched intently.

Lin Qi clenched her hands and stared without blinking. This result would determine how she got her start, and she wouldn't miss a single word.

It seemed to take an instant, yet also a very, very long time. The result was announced on the testing apparatus, the characters slowly appearing.

Silence.

Astonishment.

Disbelief-

"Lü Yuan..."

No one knew who was the first to recover. No longer gloating as they had been, they repeated the result on the screen in a trembling voice.

Wang Yan finally opened his eyes and saw the result. The enormous gap left him a little bitter, yet he was also touched that someone like Lü Yuan was still willing to help him.

He repeated the second line: "Spiritual Qi affinity: 49.68 points."

His result was different from everyone else's, even down to its precision to two decimal places. It utterly convinced Lin Qi that heaven had set her up.

Damn it, I ran into a smurf right at the start. Who could keep it together after that?

At a loss, she gave a bitter laugh and murmured the final three words as though accepting her fate.

"Pseudo Spirit Root..."