Chapter 66: Past Exam Papers

"I can't reveal the specifics, but it will be announced in a few days after the college entrance exam."

Chansi was tight-lipped, and Chen Mobai could only suppress his curiosity and leave her office.

In the school's cultivation room, Chen Mobai did not waste any time.

After practicing the "Nourishing Mind and Casting Spirit Technique" for a while, he stopped when he felt his mind beginning to tire. He then went online to look up the entrance exams of various Dao Colleges from previous years.

Last year's entrance exam involved representatives from the major Dao Colleges setting up nine linked arrays. The difficulty of the arrays ranged from simple to complex, one after another. The threshold for admission to the four major Dao Colleges was solving seven arrays.

However, among all the students in Danxia City, the best performer solved six arrays and ultimately ended up at the Star Observing College, one of the top ten colleges.

Chen Mobai frowned when he saw this. He was not entirely ignorant of array formations. Over the past period, with Chansi's persistent guidance, he had become thoroughly familiar with the second-stage Azure Water Array in the Water Mansion.

By analogy, he believed his expertise in array formations ranked him among the top three in his class.

Thus, he confidently used 100 points to download the past ten years' entrance exam papers from the Immortal Gate question bank.

Nine linked arrays, like a string of pearls.

The name of the exam was quite fitting, Chen Mobai thought to himself. He then took out his stationery from his backpack and began to work on the array problems.

Half an hour later, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and dejectedly put down his paper and pen.

He barely managed to solve the first two arrays. By the third array, the knowledge and array patterns involved were already about half beyond his understanding, exceeding the content of the nine-year compulsory education textbooks.

According to last year's results, solving two arrays allowed one to choose from the 120 mansions of the Immortal Gate.

In other words, Chen Mobai's level was only this much.

However, Chen Mobai himself would not admit this. He believed that the content on array formations taught in school was too limited, and he had not been particularly interested in them, so he had not delved into expanding his knowledge in this area.

So he switched to the previous year's exam papers.

That year, the four major Dao Colleges had separate exams. The Goumang Dao College tested the cultivation technique of a certain spirit herb, requiring it to be upgraded from the first stage to the second stage within a month.

Chen Mobai was not very familiar with spirit values, so he skipped it.

The Wuchi Dao College gave each eligible student a six-ounce piece of iron essence and required them to refine it into a flying sword, with a requirement of at least the second stage.

He also skipped this.

The Butian Dao College's entrance exam involved repairing a defective array disk...

Another array? Skip!

Chen Mobai, with his last hope, looked at the entrance exam for the Kunpeng Dao College: each student was to take a piece of second-stage Jade Phoenix Tree bark, draw a talisman on it, collect lightning and fire essence, and upon completing a second-stage talisman, they could be admitted.

He continued to skip, opening the exam papers from two years ago.

That year, the format was even more varied, requiring teams of ten to work together to cultivate a spirit vein, upgrading it from the first stage to the second stage, with the entire process being recorded. If successful, the representatives of the Dao College would score each team member on leadership, teamwork, and skills.

Again, no one was admitted to the four major Dao Colleges.

Three years ago, four years ago...

Chen Mobai finished reviewing the past ten years' exam papers and was left in a daze.

There wasn't a single year's exam he could handle.

However, Chen Mobai had never really expected to be admitted to the four major Dao Colleges. His goal had always been the top ten colleges.

Specifically, the Pure Yang College and the Taiyuan College.

After all, based on his spiritual root talents, the artificial primordial spirit at the National Library suggested that following the "Pure Yang Scroll" and the "Jade Purity Scripture" might give him a slight chance of cultivating a primordial spirit.

Trust the state.

Chen Mobai consoled himself and then looked at the past exam papers for the Pure Yang College and the Taiyuan College when they had separate entrance exams.

This time, he finally felt a bit more confident.

At least, unlike the four major Dao Colleges, which generally required second-stage knowledge to complete the entrance exams, the top ten colleges only required first-stage advanced knowledge. Occasionally, when there were more applicants, the threshold would be raised to the second stage.

After reviewing the past ten years' exam papers, Chen Mobai also discerned some patterns.

If the four major Dao Colleges and the top ten colleges held a joint entrance exam, it usually covered the four major subjects: techniques, alchemy, artifacts, and arrays. These were the basics, making it easy to distinguish the students' abilities.

If they had separate exams, the formats could be quite varied.

For example, the Pure Yang College focused more on mental cultivation, the Taiyuan College valued lineage and powerful divine senses, the Five Thunder College exempted those with lightning spiritual roots, the Natural College exempted those with unique spiritual roots, and the Mountain and Sea College selected promising sword cultivators...

Chen Mobai set his first choice as the Pure Yang College, his second choice as the Taiyuan College, and his third choice as the local Chixia Academy.

As for the four major Dao Colleges, after reviewing the past exam papers, he had little confidence.

Seeing that he still had some time, Chen Mobai started browsing the flagship stores on the Immortal Gate website.

He had his eye on a second-stage lower-grade "Mystic Yang Purple Fire Talisman." The official flagship store of the Pure Yang College would list one hundred of these at 6:45 PM tonight.

Priced at 68,000 merit points.

The timing was a bit awkward, as Chen Mobai was usually already in the Water Mansion by then, but he understood.

To ensure that every cultivator had a chance, the Immortal Gate, limited by the resources of the Earthly Star, did not have a fixed schedule for releasing items like elixirs, talismans, and magical artifacts.

In other words, out of 1,440 minutes in a day, any of the flagship stores could list valuable items at any minute.

While constantly monitoring would increase the chances of getting good items, the most popular elixirs for Qi Cultivators, such as the Three Treasures for Foundation Establishment, were only listed three times a month. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators could not stay up all month to wait for items to be listed.

This was the greatest fairness the Immortal Gate could achieve given the limited resources.

Chen Mobai set an alarm to remind himself to purchase the "Mystic Yang Purple Fire Talisman" from the Pure Yang College tonight.

After leaving school, he decided not to cultivate today.

The college entrance exam was the day after tomorrow, and even if he did cultivate, his mind would not be at peace.

He called Qingnü and invited her to have dinner together that evening.

He had promised her before that he would treat her to grilled fish.

After returning home, Chen Mobai went to the Water Mansion and caught two descendants of the Azure Blood Carp. He did not kill them but took them directly to the enthusiastic owner of the grilled fish restaurant.

Qingnü praised the fish endlessly, saying she had never tasted such delicious fish in her life.