Chapter 41:Annual Examination (3)

Chapter 41 – Annual Examination (3)

"WHAT!?"

Exclamations, shouts, and screams erupted as the crowd was flabbergasted by Jia Shan's announcement.

Having almost a perfect score was shocking enough, but the most mind-blowing part was that this young master had risked his life and practiced the most dangerous technique that everybody knew, Qi Dissolving Technique.

Qi Dissolving Technique was a common technique that everybody could stumble upon accidentally or learn from their seniors. However, very few managed to survive after dissolving their second strand of Qi.

Spiritual Qi consisted of three elements, Yin, Yang, and Life.

Yin represented women, cold, darkness, moon, soft, and negative energy.

Vice versa, Yang was the symbol of hot, light, hardness, men, day, and positive energy.

And lastly, Life Qi, aka the origin, the ultimate, the null, or the void, was the type of Qi energy without a class as it contained both Yin and Yang energy.

When someone practiced the Qi Dissolving Technique, they would suffer from a backlash from the Qi energy that they had disintegrated into particles.

Yin Qi would freeze and destroy the cultivator's innards and blood cells. Yang Qi would cook the cultivator from the inside, and Life Qi would devour a portion of the practitioner's blood and innards as a price for using this art.

Regardless of the type of Qi, not many cultivators tried it more than twice in their lifetime. The first time was usually safe, but the second time onward was like walking on a tightrope. One mistake usually resulted in death.

Xu Xiuying and elders from both sects also recommended their disciples to use this technique no more than once a day. However, after they used it for the second time, 99% of the disciples usually stopped using this technique for good as they always suffered critical internal injuries.

Yet, Miaomiao was an embodiment of a madman. Even Jia Shan was amazed at how this young man had survived after tampering his blood vessels and blood cells to this extend.

As for the ordinary crowd, they were at a loss for words. If what Jia Shan said was true, this son of Xu Xiuying was a supreme genius that could only appear once in a thousand years.

While the spectators were in an uproar, Jia Shan used this chance to probe Miaomiao, "Child, how many Qi strands have you dissolved? How often did you use that technique?"

Miaomiao almost lied that he only used it once a day. But upon looking into the glowing eyes of Jia Shan, Miaomiao's body trembled in fear. It was as if he was looking into Hell, and Satan was staring back at him.

In reality, Miaomiao dissolved 49 strands of Yang Qi every night. These 49 Qi transformed into particles to filter out impurity and improve his meridians, increasing his circulation speed and efficiency.

Still, Miaomiao decided to hide the truth to protect himself.

"Five."

"Five strands?"

"Yes. I dissolve about 5 strands a day."

"…"

The crowd sucked their cold breath. It would be fine if it was one or two a day, but five strands a day was crazy.

"Crazy bastard."

"He's a genius after all…"

"A rare constitution… So that's what a genius can do."

"But, the rumor said he's a wastrel…"

"Fool! This is how elite clans hide their information! This is a misinformation tactic that many warlords in the past used it in wars to trick their enemies. Xu Xiuying must have intentionally leaked the rumor to fool everybody!"

"I see. She wants to hide her precious son from her enemies. What a brilliant tactic. She had us fooled."

Random speculation and gossips went on, but they were far from the truth. Still, nobody dared to look down on Miaomiao anymore.

Jia Shan didn't pursue or try to find fault in Miaomiao's words even though he detected Miaomiao's lie. He knew that this kind of constitution belonged to a level 10 3rd stage cultivator who had opened all 108 meridians. If a 1st stage cultivator were to have this, his future potential would be limitless.

Having a promising cultivator as their ally was better than having them as his enemy. Jia Shan nodded at Miaomiao and Xu Xiuying, gesturing that he wouldn't pursue the matter. He took over the host's duties, so the annual examination event could continue.

"Now, you've seen the spiritual roots of our outer disciples. Those who wish to enter our sects can get up on this stage and stand on these arrays. Your result will be shown in the hologram monitors. Also, there will be special rewards given to top rankers of all tests."

The crowd cheered when they heard that there would be rewards for top rankers. Many noble clans got their hopes up as they encouraged their children.

Just by hearing that rewards were waiting for them, everybody ignored Miaomiao's ability. They were distracted and forgot about his score temporarily.

…

While Jia Shan was taking control over the commotion, Jian Meng chased all disciples away, so they could resume the trial.

All disciples also used this chance to return to their respective seats, but Miaomiao turned to Nie Ping and shouted, "Where's my 100 refined spirit stones?"

Nie Ping pretended that he didn't hear Miaomiao's voice. He walked away and refused to pay the stones as he didn't have them.

"DON'T FORGET OUR BET, FRIEND! YOU OWE ME 100 REFINED SPIRIT STONES! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT. THERE IS A THING CALLED "DEBT SLAVE", RIGHT? BE SURE TO PAY ME WITHIN A MONTH, OR I'LL VIST YOUR PARENTS TO MAKE THEM MY SLAVES!"

Although the crowd didn't pay attention to Miaomiao and the other disciples anymore, Nie Ping could still hear everything. Upon hearing the blackmail threat, Nie Ping was furious.

"YOU'RE DEAD!!"

Nie Ping summoned his magic sword from his spatial ring, planning to kill Miaomiao.

However, Wei Feng seized Nie Ping's arm and pulled the latter to their VIP seat.

"Young master Wei, let me go!"

"Idiot!" Wei Feng slapped Nie Ping's face and scold him, "Xu Xiuying and Silver Phoenix's elders are there. If you attack him, you'll be killed instantly! Do you want to start a war between our sects!?"

Nie Ping was taken aback. He regretted that he provoked Miaomiao and Wei Feng at the same time.

"I-I'm sorry. B-But he has threatened to enslave my parents."

"I know how you feel. This is not the time."

"Not the time? Ah!" Nie Ping realized something.

Wei Feng patted Nie Ping's shoulder and whispered, "If this year's tests are the same as last year, there is still THAT!"

"Right. I can fight him in THAT."

…

After blackmailing Nie Ping, Miaomiao and other girls ignored them and returned to their seats. He didn't pursue the betting issue for now, but he planned to extort him in the future.

"Do you know that ordinary outer disciples averagely have only a few dozen raw spirit stones at best?"

Qi Hong snickered as she found Miaomiao's previous action mischievous.

"Meh, if I didn't do that much, they would have thought I was some kind of a pushover. You know, I have to kill a chicken to scare some monkeys. I have a reputation to uphold."

"This is the first time that I hear you have a reputation. I'm shocked."

"…"

"Haha! Just kidding. Don't be sulky. Do you want me to give you a handjob again?"

"Stop that. I'm tired of having sex all day. Let me rest for once."

"Oh, that's new coming from you. I thought you got horny all day."

"… One of these days, I'll ravish you senseless."

"I'll be waiting, Hehehe!"

Qi Hong kept teasing Miaomiao in public. They weren't afraid that someone might scold them for their flirty behavior since they were the VIPs.

Xu Xiuying, Jia Shan, Luo Cheng, Jian Meng, and other elders didn't pay attention to them as they focused on monitoring the event. Moreover, the crowd stopped looking at their seats and focused on over a thousand disciple candidates, who had climbed the stage and waited for their turns to take the examination.

For hours, over ten thousand young men and women took turns standing on the evaluation platforms. More than half of them couldn't reach the minimum score. They went back to their families with their head down, crying as if it was the end of the world.

As for the succeeded candidates, they returned to their families and waited for the next test.

Miaomiao kept watching the trial takers walking up the stage and walking down one by one. It was interesting at first, but it got dull after several hours. He got bored.

With nothing to do, he turned to his flirty elder, "Senior Qi, how long do we have to wait here?"

"Usually, the tests last a week. There are only 4 tests, but the first one always takes an entire day to complete."

"A-A week?"

"Yeah. We'll camp here for a week to show courtesy to Jia Shan."

"…"

"Patient is also one of the hidden trials. Impatient ones always lose their cool during the waiting period and fail the next trials easily."

Miaomiao didn't care about the hidden test, but he was concerned about what he would do in the next 7 days. The process took too long.

"Then, what do you do to kill times?"

"For me, I scan through all candidates. Even if someone were to fail, we still scout them if they have the right mindset or potential. See that little girl in the middle of the pack? She's only 12 or so, but she has scored 50 points. We take notes of their age and their current score into consideration. Your mother has already noticed her, and she will dispatch one of our HR teams to recruit the girl and her family soon."

"Oh! So, there's more to this than meets the eye."

"Correct. The trial isn't everything. Well, it's my job to scout and record all these results, though. Excuse me, young master, I have to pay attention. I won't be talking to you for a while."

"…"

Qi Hong stopped talking to Miaomiao, continuing to gaze at the people on the stage.

Seeing that Qi Hong was busy, Miaomiao stopped pestering her. He turned toward his mindless toy, Jiang Lan.

'Since I'm free, I might as well increase my essence and prepare for the next test.'

Miaomiao grabbed Jiang Lan's hand and brought her to the sect's private restroom.

.

.

.

Miaomiao's action didn't escape a young blacksmith's eyes. He had been looking at Miaomiao ever since he got here.

When Miaomiao left with Jiang Lan, it was already the blacksmith's turn to take the exam.

"Next!"

Jian Meng called the new batch of test-takers to stand on the arrays.

Xie Tian walked onto one of the arrays. Yet, he kept staring toward the Xu Clan's VIP stand, looking for his ex-girlfriend and her husband.

*WHOOM*

Semi-transparent holograms showed the result of 20 examinees, who stood on the arrays.

"WHAT!?"

"WOW!"

"HOLY SHIT!!"

The crowd was thrown into an uproar when they saw the result.