Chapter 18

Although he had his doubts, since Guo Youdao had spoken to this extent, Baliyan could not really find any more faults. After all, they were running an academy, and they had status and position; they could not act like the ruffians in the refugee streets.

The chief examiner returned to the first-year examination hall with the decision of the two deans. At Zhaofeng Academy, the major exam was over, and Lu Ping ultimately scored a perfect 100 points. What about Xiageng Academy? They were finally given a solution, but they had to travel a long distance to Bipolar Academy to take the major exam, which was not a particularly joyful thing. The first-year students of Xiageng Academy all looked gloomy, packing their bags and getting ready to leave. They secretly shot Lu Ping a few resentful glances, but he was already gone.

Upon learning that the major exam was over and that he had passed, Lu Ping immediately left. He circled around the examination area and finally arrived at the third-year major exam venue.

"Over here!" Su Tang saw him from afar and waved.

Lu Ping waved back, indicating that he had seen. However, the exam rules stipulated that candidates taking the major exam were not allowed to interact with the outside, and non-candidates or non-proctors were not allowed to enter the exam area at will. Lu Ping could only stand outside the exam area and watch. Thus, the two of them had a loud conversation from a distance.

"What's going on over there?" Su Tang shouted.

"The tower collapsed," Lu Ping shouted back.

"Are you okay?" Su Tang asked.

"I'm fine," Lu Ping replied.

"That's good," Su Tang shouted.

The volume of their conversation was such that almost everyone in the venue who had reached the Mingzhi Soul realm could hear it. The people from Xiageng Academy were furious! Building a Soul Tower was no easy task, and it collapsing like this was not just a matter of heartache for Baliyan. But now, the tone of Su Tang and Lu Ping's conversation was full of "the tower doesn't matter, as long as you're safe," which made them feel extremely uncomfortable. As if the tower wasn't their property!

"How much longer do you need?" It was now Lu Ping's turn to shout.

"Still early, it's quite slow. Why don't you go back first?"

"No problem, I'll wait for you," Lu Ping shouted.

"Alright, wait for me," Su Tang shouted.

"You two! That's enough!" One of the proctors finally couldn't stand it. Candidates were not allowed to interact with the outside, and this interaction should have included conversation. If there was no substantial impact, it was usually overlooked. But these two just wouldn't stop.

The two immediately shut up, and Su Tang waved vigorously to Lu Ping, signaling him to relax. Lu Ping nodded and found a place to sit outside the exam area.

"He'll be fine," Mulin said, pushing Xifan to his side. Xifan was trying to put aside his past emotions and establish a new connection with Lu Ping.

"Of course," Lu Ping said.

"Having reached the Sixth Heaven of the Liuzhong Soul realm in the third year is very impressive," Xifan said.

"What about you in the third year?" Mulin asked. Clearly, he had grown up outside the academy and was not very familiar with the academy's training progress.

"Third Heaven of the Jingzhi Soul," Xifan said, referring to his most prominent Soul Power, as everyone usually specialized in one type of Soul Power, with others as auxiliary.

Zhaofeng Academy's teaching and training were based on this arrangement. In the first year, students were made to perceive and get used to the existence of Soul Power. In the second year, they began to break through realms, finding the Soul Power they perceived and cultivated most smoothly and skillfully. Then, in the third year, students had clear branches, and courses began to have choices, with the cultivation of Soul Power also becoming more focused. Finally, in the fourth year, they mostly practiced Soul Power in practice, further improving their main Soul Power and other auxiliary Soul Powers.

"On average, what realm do third-year students reach?" Mulin asked.

"Third or Fourth Heaven," Xifan replied.

"So you're a bit behind?" Mulin spoke bluntly.

"Because Zhaofeng Academy doesn't have an excellent Jingzhi Soul mentor," Lu Ping said at this point.

"Oh, so you're basically self-taught?" Mulin said.

"Teacher Zhuye gave me a lot of help," Xifan said.

"Helping you wash clothes?" Mulin asked.

Xifan was taken aback and even blushed.

"Really? You guessed right? How could you guess that? I was just talking nonsense!" Mulin was surprised. He had indeed just said it offhandedly, believing in Lu Ping's judgment because Lu Ping was strong. When Xifan said a teacher had helped him, he immediately thought it was just a polite remark and casually followed up. He didn't expect his casual comment to be right. This Teacher Zhuye, feeling that she couldn't teach Xifan much in Jingzhi Soul, often came to help Xifan with daily chores, hoping he could spend more time on perception and trials. Washing clothes was indeed one of those chores, and despite Xifan's repeated refusals, he eventually had to accept it. Now, Mulin's nonsense had hit the mark.

"So, basically self-taught, but now you've reached the Sixth Heaven, impressive," Mulin praised, bringing the topic back to Xifan.

"Maybe," Xifan neither humbly declined nor accepted, just gave a vague response.

The three then silently watched the third-year major exam. The method was the same as the first year, also a twelve-story tower, with the same scoring system based on the number of floors climbed. However, the time given for each floor was longer, and each student spent more time, with a significantly higher failure rate compared to the first year.

Zhaofeng Academy started first, and out of the fourteen who had finished, four had not reached the seventh floor. Among them was even a Fifth Heaven of the Qizhi Soul, which was considered excellent in the third year, but he was teleported out at the fifth floor. This showed that in the third-year exam, on-site performance became even more important.

The queue moved slowly, and since Su Tang had entered the academy a few days late with Lu Ping, his number was naturally at the end. At this point, sorted by number, he was the last.

The situation inside the tower was invisible from the outside, so the major exam was essentially just a waiting game, waiting for each student to bring their final result.

The pace of the first-year exam was fast, but for the third year, it became very long. Mulin found it boring after a while, started to feel drowsy, first sat on the ground, then lay down, and eventually fell asleep.

The major exam continued.

The pace of the second-year exam was faster than the third year. Zhaofeng Academy finished first, with the best performance reaching the eleventh floor, equal to the best performance of the first-year students.

This result made the second-year students of Zhaofeng Academy very cautious and low-key. Unlike the first-year students, they had reached the Soul realm and had the ability to perceive their opponents, though not very accurately. But generally, they wouldn't feel superior just because of the eleventh-floor result. A vague comparison showed that Xiageng Academy seemed to be stronger.

Sure enough, when Xiageng Academy started the major exam, the fourth student reached the eleventh floor, matching Zhaofeng Academy's best result. Then, the seventh student broke through to the twelfth floor, surpassing Zhaofeng Academy. After that, eleventh and twelfth-floor results kept appearing. Although no one could break through the twelfth floor to reach the top and score a perfect 100, they had already outshone Zhaofeng Academy. In the past, Zhaofeng Academy's advantage came from extremely excellent students breaking through to the twelfth floor and reaching the top. This time, no matter how many eleventh and twelfth-floor results Xiageng Academy had, they would still appear inferior.

But this time, it didn't happen... The second-year major exam became a torment for Zhaofeng Academy, helping Xiageng Academy shake off the gloom from the first-year major exam.

The situation for the third year was not optimistic either. Many students broke through to the eleventh floor, but without any higher breakthroughs, they would still be overwhelmed by the numbers from Xiageng Academy. However, the third-year students were not so quick to lose heart because they had someone they were counting on.

Su Tang.

In the third year, with a Sixth Heaven of the Lizhi Soul, this far exceeded the level of his peers and should be able to break through to the top of the tower, outshining Xiageng Academy.

All the third-year students who had finished the exam looked at Su Tang with hopeful eyes.

"It's my turn!" Su Tang finally shouted back to Lu Ping when it was his turn.

"Hey!" The proctor immediately interrupted, prohibiting the two from chatting again.

Su Tang stuck out his tongue, waved to Lu Ping, and walked towards the Soul Tower. The tower door was also tested by fingerprint, and Su Tang opened it effortlessly. Then, first floor, second floor, third floor...

The speed of climbing floors was clearly much faster than others, and the Zhaofeng students became increasingly hopeful. The students from Xiageng Academy initially didn't take it seriously, but when Su Tang broke through to the twelfth floor with great efficiency, their expressions changed.

This... seems like he's going to break through to the top. Does Xiageng Academy have anyone who can match him?

"Relax, I'm here," a student surrounded by others, dressed differently and clearly of high status, said confidently, as if sensing everyone's worries.

"Qizhi Ming... Sixth Heaven," Xifan perceived the student's realm. But while perceiving the student's realm, his Sixth Heaven of Jingzhi Soul suddenly sensed something unusual, as if a Soul Power was continuously guiding this side, connected to the twelfth floor of the Soul Tower.

"Something seems off," Xifan blurted out.

"Huh? What?" Mulin rolled over and looked at Xifan, quickly having another doubt.

"Where's Lu Ping?" Mulin asked.

(Second update, a bit late, sorry!)

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