Chapter 54

In the center of the pillar of light, Jiang Feng was seated, just as he was during his noon cultivation, with every pore of his body wide open, completely merging with the descending Ming Force, becoming one with it.

Deep within his body, the Tian Ji Magic Cube had fully emerged, absorbing the Ming Force while rapidly spinning. Countless numbers appeared on its surface, then disappeared. Each cube rotated swiftly around its central axis.

Below the Tian Ji Magic Cube, the Tian Xin Seed was connected to the first Yuan Branch. Now, all the acupoints on the Yuan Branch were fully opened, forming a circle from head to tail, with the Ming Force continuously circulating within this circle.

If an omniscient observer were to watch, they would notice that the Ming Force in Jiang Feng's Yuan Branch was thicker, more viscous, and darker in color compared to that of ordinary people!

The Yuan Branch was also connected to Jiang Feng's bloodline. Each time the Ming Force completed a cycle, the golden thread of his bloodline would expand slightly. The impurities in the surrounding bloodline were continuously purified and assimilated.

The moon slowly moved across the sky, gradually tilting eastward. As dawn approached, all the light in the world disappeared, plunging everything into the deepest darkness.

At this moment, all living beings were in a state of dormancy. Not only the Ming Force from the moon, but the faint Ming Force that permeated the entire space, had completely vanished. The world was at its darkest.

Suddenly, a burst of light appeared on the pear blossom stream. Jiang Feng had become the only source of light. Above his head, a glowing fourth-stage magic cube was rapidly spinning, then with a bang, it scattered into countless particles, merging into his body.

In the darkness, Jiang Feng opened his eyes and stood up. He shouted and threw a punch!

The flowing stream in front of him suddenly stopped, then split in the middle, with the upper half collapsing forward.

Countless water droplets splashed into the air, and Jiang Feng threw another punch.

At that moment, a faint white light appeared in the east, breaking the darkness. It was clear to see that all the water droplets in the air had been split in half!

...

...

The next morning, Hua Su left the martial arts hall. In the afternoon, he returned and immediately stopped Jiang Feng and Ping Luan Shan's cultivation, calling them over.

Jiang Feng saw his expression and knew something was wrong.

Since their first day here, Hua Su had always had a sour face, and they had almost gotten used to it.

But today, his expression was even more gloomy, clearly indicating that something bad was about to happen!

He sat in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest, and after a long silence, he raised his head and said, "This year's major exam might be a bit troublesome!"

The number of passing slots for the annual major exam was limited, but the number of participants was roughly the same, so the final pass rate remained constant.

In general, the Heaven Exam and Earth Exam focused on meeting the standards, while the Human Exam adjusted the number of participants.

However, this year, the number of participants in the county exam had sharply increased, up by fifty percent compared to last year. With more participants but no increase in the number of passing slots, the format of the county exam had been adjusted.

Starting this year, the three exams—Heaven, Earth, and Human—would be comprehensively evaluated and scored. The final total score would be the sum of the three scores.

The county office would rank the total scores and select the top candidates within the quota.

Linxixian had thirty passing slots, so Jiang Feng and Ping Luan Shan's total scores had to be within the top thirty to pass the county exam and obtain the martial cultivation qualification.

Among these thirty, only ten would qualify for the next level of the exam. In other words, they had to be in the top ten to continue to the prefectural exam.

"Top ten..." Jiang Feng thought for a moment and asked, "How many people are participating in the exam in Linxixian?"

Hua Su replied, "This ratio was carefully calculated by the Mingxin Academy. Linxixian is in a remote area, with only 103 participants, so the number of slots is relatively small."

With 103 participants, the martial cultivation qualification was roughly one in three, and to continue to the prefectural exam, it was one in ten!

He raised his head and asked, "Wouldn't it be a bit unfair to judge by scores?"

Ping Luan Shan also thought of this and his expression became serious.

The incident in Hezhong County ultimately happened because the Fuliu disciples wanted to cheat. If the Tianzhao preliminary exam could be cheated, what about the formal major exam?

The Human Exam was straightforward, with clear winners and losers. But scoring... was not as reliable.

Hua Su said, "You're quite thorough. Yes, this point has been raised. Therefore, this year's three major exams will each involve a sacrifice to heaven, invoking the power of heaven as protection!"

...

...

At this time, hundreds of miles away in Lu Ming Town, the Jiang family was welcoming a piece of good news.

The eldest son of the clan leader, Jiang Tengqing, Jiang Huaiming, and some of the Jiang family's outstanding talents, who had been taken out for cultivation by the teacher Li Ming sent by Fuliu Jun, had finally returned to the Jiang family before the county exam.

Jiang's wife was overjoyed and cried, pulling Jiang Huaiming and saying, "You've lost weight, you've lost weight!"

Jiang Tengqing looked at him with satisfaction and said, "You've lost weight, but you look more spirited!"

He turned to Li Ming and bowed respectfully, "Thank you, Teacher Li, for teaching my son!"

Li Ming was a lean middle-aged man with a slightly hooked nose and a somewhat stern appearance.

He said indifferently, "I was just following my master's orders... But what about my two disciples?!"

He had a disciple's life token, which worked similarly to part of the Black Stone Spectrum. When a disciple died, he received a notification. However, he was thousands of miles away at the time and couldn't arrive in time.

Soon after, he received another notification directly from his master. It was casually mentioned that the matter was temporarily put aside and he shouldn't pursue it.

Li Ming's two disciples had grown up with him, almost like his own sons. They died suddenly and he wasn't allowed to investigate?

But the master's order was an order. Li Ming, though seething with anger, could only wait until he returned to question the Jiang family.

Jiang Tengqing shook his head and sighed, "I failed to take good care of the two masters... I haven't fully understood what happened."

He found a letter and handed it to Li Ming. Li Ming quickly read it and asked in surprise, "The Zhou family?! Was it the Zhou family who did this?!"

Jiang Tengqing nodded silently, "Teacher Li's two disciples, along with eight of our Jiang family's young talents, were completely wiped out. The Zhou family sent the heads directly to the main family, which then forwarded them to us with severe reprimands..."

"Reprimands?" Li Ming snorted and glanced at Jiang Tengqing, saying nothing.

To have the heads of their people sent over and still reprimand the branch family, the so-called noble families were no better than that!

Jiang Huaiming, who had been listening for a while, was shocked and asked, "Who were the eight young talents?"

Jiang Tengqing said sorrowfully, "Ming, your younger brother Huai Xiao is also among them..."

Jiang Huaiming was shocked and then furious. After reading the content of the letter, he slammed the table, "Just for mistakenly entering the manor, they were so ruthless! The Zhou family is too arrogant!"

Jiang's wife, with tears in her eyes, said, "Ming, now only you are left in our family..."

Jiang Huaiming helped his mother up and said through gritted teeth, "Mother, rest assured, I will definitely pass the major exam and bring glory to our family!"

Fuliu Jun did not want it known that he had a "deal" with the Jiang family, and Li Ming had been secretly sent. Therefore, even though his two disciples died, he could only consider it a waste of life.

Li Ming, who only knew part of the story, could only obey his master's orders.

He swept his sleeve and left. Jiang Tengqing pulled Jiang Huaiming to sit down and said solemnly, "Why did you return at this time?"

Jiang Huaiming said, "Teacher Li's idea is that although we have high-level Tianzhao orders, it's best to take the exams level by level to gradually adapt to the exam atmosphere."

Jiang Tengqing was slightly worried, "That makes sense. But I just heard that this year's major exam will involve a sacrifice to heaven, invoking the power of heaven... In that case, Fuliu Jun won't be able to interfere and help..."

Jiang Huaiming said proudly, "Father, please rest assured, I am not the same as before!"

Jiang Tengqing thought of another matter, "When the main family sent someone, they also asked about something else... Do you remember Jiang Feng?"

Jiang Huaiming was taken aback, "Jiang Feng from the Southern Jiang? Wasn't he with Jiang Chen? After Jiang Chen left, Jiang Feng... seemed to have disappeared?"

Jiang Tengqing nodded heavily, "That's right. This boy was placed here by the main family. For the past ten years, the main family hasn't asked about him, so why are they suddenly bringing it up now?"

Jiang Huaiming pondered, "Father, do you think the main family might be trying to make trouble?"

Jiang Tengqing nodded, "I am indeed a bit worried."

Jiang Huaiming thought for a while and suddenly laughed, "Father, don't worry. A boy with mixed bloodline who hasn't even fused with the Mingxin Seed, what use is he? Even if he has some background, it won't make up for his lack of talent! Whether he's dead or missing, we just need to claim we don't know. Hmph, raising him to this age is already a good enough response to the main family's trust!"

Jiang Tengqing tapped his fingers on the table twice, making up his mind, "No, we still need to be cautious! You don't need to worry about this matter, focus on the major exam, and leave the rest to me!"

__________________

Thank you to fatfox911 and zhesha for your daily support, and to fatfox911 for the extra tip! We're about to enter the county exam plot!

Previous page AD starts

Previous page AD ends