Chapter 5

As a senior high school student preparing for the college entrance exam, all the required courses had long been completed. The last hundred days were mainly for reviewing and taking various exams. Every Monday morning, there was a very important mock exam.

Under the impatient urging of the teacher, Li Yao took a deep breath and stepped into the "exam pod" marked with his student number. The pod door closed, and the world became deathly silent.

"Even without Peng Hai's personal guidance, I will get into the 'Nine Elite Universities.' I'll work hard—what do I have to fear?" Li Yao clenched his fists tightly.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" On the light screen inside the exam pod, numbers flashed, counting down. When the numbers reached zero, a cold, emotionless voice announced, "Exam begins, candidates prepare!"

Tens of thousands of spirit symbols engraved inside the exam pod lit up simultaneously. Li Yao felt a blur before his eyes, and the scene shifted. He found himself in the center of a red-brown desert.

The ground was scorching, and his feet felt as if they were being pierced by needles. The air was so thick it seemed to have solidified, like a wet towel wrapped around his body, impossible to shake off. Occasionally, hot winds carried a strong scent of blood, and ghostly howls echoed from all directions.

His five senses were so vivid, as if he were standing on solid ground, in the midst of a battlefield.

Li Yao knew this was the "Virtual Realm" created by the exam pod. Time was pressing, so he steadied himself and dashed in the direction indicated by a transparent arrow in the sky.

A fifty-kilometer long-distance cross-country run was a basic subject in the federal college entrance exam. To select promising young talents who could become cultivators, the route was fraught with danger and traps.

Sure enough, as Li Yao passed a slightly raised mound of earth, the mound suddenly burst, shooting out countless fragments. From the debris, a two-headed sand wolf, a yellowish-brown color, leaped out!

This demonic beast was larger than an ordinary wolf, with a high, humped back and a deformed small head on top. It was a variant of the low-level demonic beast "sand wolf," known for its ability to lie in wait in the sand and its high intelligence. For high school students, it was a formidable opponent.

But for Li Yao, a "vulture" who had survived for eighteen years in a tomb of magical treasures, observing every change in the environment had become second nature. The two-headed sand wolf's disguise was too crude and had been easily seen through.

"Damn it!"

Before the two-headed sand wolf could fully emerge, Li Yao's legs shot forward, his body curled into a ball, and his shoulders sank. Like a raging bear, he charged forward!

He chose the perfect moment, right when the two-headed sand wolf was at the highest point of its leap, with no force left and no way to change direction. He collided with it head-on.

"Crack!"

The two-headed sand wolf, though cunning, had a weak constitution. It preferred ambushes and was not adept at direct confrontation. Li Yao's "Bear Charge" broke its spine, sending it bouncing back into the sand pit.

Li Yao sneered, stepped forward in a snake-like manner, and extended his claw-like hands, slashing at the small head on the two-headed sand wolf's back.

"Iron Eagle Claw!"

The wolf head shattered instantly, and the two-headed sand wolf let out a惨叫, dying a complete death.

A pleasant "ding ding" sound echoed in the air as the exam pod calculated the points for Li Yao's kill.

Li Yao was secretly delighted. The combination techniques derived from the basic martial arts "Thirteen Beast Forms" would add at least ten points to his score.

He didn't rush to continue his journey but dragged the two-headed sand wolf's corpse out of the sand pit. Finding a sharp-edged stone, he cut open the demonic beast's belly.

A moment later, he had polished four ribs into bone blades, and the wolf skin was fashioned into a water bag filled with wolf blood.

In the scorching desert, a bag of wolf blood could save a life.

Fully equipped and after a brief rest, Li Yao continued his journey. Within an hour, he had survived a black storm and killed four low-level demonic beasts. However, the exam had just begun, and this was only the warm-up. The next part was the most grueling for every federal candidate.

In the sky, green runes rained down like a storm, forming a question:

"Xiao Ming is a Qi Cultivator with 5500 spirit points. During a cultivation session, he accidentally contracted the mysterious 'Heart Devouring Worm,' which consumes 48 spirit points per second. His master discovered this 1 minute and 13 seconds later. To save him, the master transferred 55 spirit points per second into his body and increased it to 59 spirit points per second after 2 minutes. Questions:

1. How long will it take for Xiao Ming to recover his normal spirit level?

2. Please briefly describe the method of refining the 'Heart Devouring Worm,' the symptoms after being infected, and the treatment steps.

3. Please state which sect first successfully refined the 'Heart Devouring Worm.' List at least five patriarchs of the sect and briefly describe the reason for the sect's downfall."

Li Yao lightly patted his cheeks, surprised that the first question was such a challenging "comprehensive question," combining knowledge from mathematics, history, pharmacology, and battlefield first aid. Truly, this was a fully simulated "mock college entrance exam"!

He focused his mind, carefully pondered, and recalled the vast amount of knowledge he had accumulated. Li Yao concentrated and quickly answered, tackling each sub-question one by one. Soon, light blue answers written with his mental energy appeared below the green questions.

After completing the answer, the next question appeared!

"A righteous cultivator from the 'Spirit Mountain Sect' is flying on a flying sword from the east at a speed of 247 meters per second toward a valley. At the same time, an evil cultivator from the 'Blood Kill Fort' is riding a black cloud from the west at a speed of 239 meters per second. They are currently 122.5 kilometers apart. How long will it take for them to meet?

"Assuming both cultivators have similar cultivation levels and use their respective sect's basic techniques and magical treasures, please deduce the battle process between them—deduce at least seven rounds, with no less than 500 words."

This question was clearly much simpler than the previous one. However, just as Li Yao was about to answer, a pungent demonic beast scent came from ahead, and agitated growls grew louder.

—Calculating and answering questions amidst the storm of blood and gore tested the candidates' physical strength, martial skills, willpower, computational ability, and mental agility. Only those who excelled in all these areas could stand out in the federal college entrance exam and embark on the path of cultivation!

Li Yao crossed his hands, drew two white bone blades, licked his lips, and faced the challenge head-on. His mind raced, rapidly calculating...

The vast campus was silent, with dozens of exam pods in each classroom. Inside the Virtual Realm, each senior high school student was fighting and solving problems, battling demonic beasts and answering questions.

Unconsciously, more than four hours had passed in the Virtual Realm, and the exam was nearing its end.

Li Yao's body was covered with dozens of wounds of various sizes, and the blood had dried in many places. A demonic beast's broken tooth was still embedded in his abdomen, and his bone blades were almost worn down.

Only his bright, clear eyes still shone with unbridled passion.

"This should be the last question..."

When the sky rolled down an eight-pointed, golden-radiant rune, Li Yao, with his rich exam experience, knew it was the final, one-hundred-point comprehensive question.

Sure enough, the question was short but weighty: "Please provide a comprehensive summary of the 'Great Dark Age.'"

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