Chapter Nine: Retesting the Qualifications

When Fang Che woke up, he felt completely comfortable, as if soaking in a warm hot spring on a freezing cold day, every inch of his muscles singing with soothing warmth. It was an indescribable pleasure.

To his astonishment, his sea of consciousness had actually doubled in size! Even his cultivation level had leapt from the peak of the third stage of Martial Master directly to the mid-level of the fourth stage! A full level advancement!

What was going on? How did I improve again? Fang Che was speechless inside. This really messed up his pace.

He had deliberately held back his cultivation, stuck at the third stage of Martial Master without breaking through. After all, the breakthrough was imminent.

It wasn’t to hide his abilities or to play dumb. He planned to make a dramatic breakthrough during the upcoming disciples’ contest in the academy, in the heat of battle against a formidable opponent on the arena...

That would attract all eyes and create a sensation—like a legend: on a certain day, when facing defeat, suddenly breaking through and turning the tide, shaking the White Cloud Martial Academy with his might.

What kind of impact would that have?

Many would never forget such a moment in their lives.

This would help him secure better cultivation resources.

With such momentum spreading even beyond the academy, even if the senior officials knew he was a disciple of the One Heart Sect, they couldn’t deny him the best resources.

Why wouldn’t they give the best to such a prodigy? Was the White Cloud Martial Academy blind? Where was the fairness? The justice?

And since his sect affiliation could still be leveraged, the academy would never blatantly tell the outside world, “This guy is from the One Heart Sect”...

So, no matter what, he could get the benefits.

Fang Che’s reasoning was born out of helplessness: he knew he wasn’t a bad person, but they didn’t know that. On the contrary, they thought he was a villain!

So, of course, they would withhold his resources.

What if that caused a delay in his cultivation because he didn’t get what he deserved?

That was a problem he had to consider.

But now, his original plan had been unexpectedly disrupted—he had directly reached mid-level of the fourth stage.

Fang Che felt a bit uneasy.

It wasn’t that he was worried about missing his dramatic breakthrough; after all, with seven or eight days left before the big contest, he had plenty of time to push himself to the peak of the fourth stage again.

The biggest problem was that he didn’t think anyone in this cohort of candidates could surpass him now.

If his opponents didn’t press him hard, and he forced a breakthrough on stage, it would seem like a pure show-off.

And not a very successful one—more like a clumsy, forced pretense.

It would only make him a laughingstock.

Damn it.

Fang Che looked resentfully at the deputy mountain chief, Huang Yifan.

Then he noticed Huang Yifan was returning the look with equal resentment.

Huang Yifan was also speechless.

He had exerted too much force, causing damage to Fang Che’s soul, but judging from the test results, Fang Che was a genuinely good kid.

Righteous and upright, honest and kind-hearted, with a broad mind for the world.

Under Huang Yifan’s spirit pressure at the Sovereign level, not only a Martial Master but even an Emperor-level cultivator would be thoroughly suppressed!

How could it be otherwise?

Huang Yifan was even confident he could map out what Fang Che was thinking under the pressure!

Such a child was hard to come by even with a lantern in hand.

Yet he was the one Huang Yifan had suppressed to the point of soul damage and unconsciousness.

Huang Yifan almost cursed his old subordinate Chen Ruhai out loud.

But there was no way out—he had to clean up the mess he made.

So he burned more than half of the spiritual power in the lowest-grade soul pill he had and gave it to Fang Che.

The problem was, even the lowest-grade soul pill was at the King level; after burning so much, the power was still too intense.

So he had to use his own spiritual energy to help Fang Che’s soul recover.

Thus, Fang Che’s sea of consciousness expanded by double.

Seeing that the boy’s orifices were bleeding and his meridians were damaged, Huang Yifan used spiritual energy to repair him.

But Huang Yifan’s Sovereign-level strength was simply too great, and Fang Che’s body was too resilient—some of the spiritual energy was automatically digested by his body.

After tidying things up, Fang Che directly advanced one cultivation level—from third-stage Martial Master to mid-level fourth stage.

Huang Yifan was baffled by the result.

He thought, the soul pill was powerful, and with my personal guidance, the expansion of the sea of consciousness was somewhat reasonable.

But I only helped smooth the meridians and heal the wounds—how did he break through?

This is absurd!

Does this mean that as a deputy mountain chief, I personally helped cheat before the student competition?

Huang Yifan was very troubled.

Seeing Fang Che awaken, Huang Yifan spoke first: “You’re awake?”

Fang Che blinked in confusion. He had already opened his eyes—was he awake or not?

“Awake.”

“You passed the assessment.”

Huang Yifan said.

“Thank you, Mountain Chief.”

“You’re welcome.”

Huang Yifan seemed distracted, wondering what to do next.

“Do you remember much about the assessment?”

“Not really, it’s a bit fuzzy,” Fang Che said, his expression still showing traces of fear. “Did the students say anything inappropriate?”

Huang Yifan relaxed. That was how it should be.

Smiling, he said, “Nothing inappropriate. Even if they did, you wouldn’t have passed.”

“White Cloud Martial Academy really is the continent’s top institution; their assessment methods are truly profound.”

Fang Che was sincerely impressed. He was indeed a little dazed and couldn’t recall what he said, but apparently, he had passed.

“Indeed.”

Huang Yifan coughed, thinking that it was only natural for the assessment to be profound.

Only Fang Che himself needed such a test; for others, the deputy mountain chief wouldn’t need to test personally.

Suddenly, Huang Yifan remembered something.

“There’s one more thing—we need to test your aptitude.”

He coughed again, “Fortunately, I’m here, so I won’t bother anyone else.”

He then opened the soundproof barrier.

Loudly he called out, “Supervisor, Donkey Caller Tian, come start the aptitude test.”

The supervisor entered with a dark face, angrily saying, “I’m Lü Jiaoshan! Not Donkey Caller Tian, Deputy Mountain Chief Huang, can you stop using that nickname in front of students? I’m the supervisor! How can I save face?”

“Alright, Caller Tian, begin.”

Huang Yifan replied.

Lü Jiaoshan’s face looked like the bottom of a pot.

He was furious but dared not speak up.

This old bastard had been parachuted in as a guardian.

He rarely participated in academy management but was an extraordinary martial artist, responsible for regulating martial cultivation.

He was undoubtedly the academy’s top expert and its treasured guardian.

He had no interest in political intrigue but possessed immense strength.

As long as he wasn’t targeted, he didn’t care. But if he discovered anyone plotting against him, it wouldn’t just be a minor beating.

Last time, even though he hadn’t provoked him, he was still beaten and forced to drink.

He was angry but dared not rebut.

Lü Jiaoshan took out a small purple jade tower, which looked much more advanced than the one Fang Yuan had brought before.

“Have you been tested before?”

“Yes, my master said I’m at the upper A rank.”

“Hmm, most fake Fish-Dragon Towers outside are inferior, but ours at White Cloud Martial Academy have twelve layers and are more precise and intuitive.”

Lü Jiaoshan didn’t care much. Upper A was common in White Cloud Martial Academy.

“Input your spiritual energy.”

He added, “Put in as much as you can.”

“Understood.”

Fang Che activated his spiritual energy and poured it into the purple jade Fish-Dragon Tower, feeling the flow smoother than with Sun Yuan’s.

At the start, the first seven layers of the tower lit up instantly.

A radiant purple light filled the room like a dream.

“Directly upper A?”

Lü Jiaoshan’s eyes brightened.

The purple light quickly spread upwards, and almost simultaneously, the eighth and ninth layers lit up.

“Upper A, and not even the limit.”

Huang Yifan stepped closer, intrigued.

The tenth layer then burst into a brilliant purple glow.

“Heaven-level aptitude.”

The purple light dimmed, seemingly unable to continue.

But Lü Jiaoshan and Huang Yifan were not disappointed.

Heaven-level aptitude was considered legendary by many.

Though the White Cloud Martial Academy had Heaven-level disciples, they were rare.

Already, this was a super genius.

Both exhaled in relief.

But just as they relaxed, suddenly the eleventh layer lit up!

Then the twelfth layer instantly followed!

From the top of the tower, a dense purple aura surged forth, shooting straight at Huang Yifan’s face as he bent over to observe!

It bathed his face in a ghostly purple glow.

But Huang Yifan’s mouth hung wide open, his eyeballs nearly popping out—his expression was as ghastly as a demon.

Opposite him, Lü Jiaoshan was no better.

Mouth agape, eyes wide, veins bulging at his temples.

Both looked dazed, as if in a trance.

Their eyes filled with disbelief.

The purple light continued to spread.

They exchanged glances, their throats dry.

Huang Yifan stammered, “Is the Fish-Dragon Tower broken?”

Lü Jiaoshan snatched the tower from Fang Che’s hand, about to input energy to test it.

But he stopped and handed it back to Huang Yifan.

“Probably not broken. You try.”

Huang Yifan, stunned, grabbed it and was about to input energy, then suddenly reacted, slapping Lü Jiaoshan back five steps and cursing loudly, “You schemers who have been at the academy for years, your minds are filthy! Damn it, you fooled me!”

Lü Jiaoshan looked embarrassed.

“Just a test, no harm done.”

“Then why don’t you try?” Huang Yifan nearly lost his mind.

Lü Jiaoshan rolled his eyes.

Try? How could he?

Purple aura bursting out of the Fish-Dragon Tower—how many times has that happened in tens of thousands of years?

What aptitude did they possess? How could they compare to such a prodigy?

If he tried, wouldn’t he just embarrass himself?

And in front of a freshly enrolled martial student who was only a Martial Master!

Wouldn’t that ruin his face?

“Go find someone! You heartless bastard!” Huang Yifan roared.

Lü Jiaoshan dashed away like lightning.

Then Huang Yifan followed.

Only Fang Che remained alone.

The two elders went to another room to test someone else.

After a while, they both returned.

Their expressions were as if they had seen a ghost.

“Your master said you were upper A?” Huang Yifan asked in a strange tone.

…

[This chapter has been reviewed and I just can’t understand it. Also, everyone, show some love for the characters.]