ASER - Chapter 146
Chapter 146: Worthy?
The Dunhuang Grottoes actually contained far more than 4,500 Buddha statues, and naturally, not every zone would be allocated 300. A'Diao had researched information about the Dunhuang Grottoes before the exam began and discovered it housed over thirty thousand statues in total. The 300 statues mentioned in the rules likely referred to finding specific statues among the multitude that could release scrolls.
This required observation or sensing, and of course, luck played a part. Some lucky individuals might encounter a statue right upon entering, or a statue might directly release a scroll.
At this moment, after 998 people entered the opening, many quickened their pace and fled!
They were probably afraid of being taken down right at the entrance.
Anyway, as everyone dispersed, A'Diao felt some intense gazes, particularly from Zhang Shenghe of Donglin University, and some others from Donglin. They likely saw that the students from the Northern and Southern academies were too strong, and a group from Donglin had already been KO'd early on. Fearing a siege, they took flight immediately. However, someone in the sky, with a sharp tongue, remarked, "Chen Adiao, I hope you don't run into us next, or else..."
Then they flew away.
Meanwhile, the people from the Northern and Southern academies exchanged glances but didn't make a move. Since the university students had fled, fighting here would only lead to premature losses, benefiting the others. So, they couldn't fight here.
After a mutual cold snort, the people from the North and South also dispersed.
As Xiao Du flew off, he glanced back, a suspicion forming in his mind: Why did Song Ling and her group, who seemed to be on good terms with Chen Adiao—the ones Chen Adiao had given pastries to—flee even faster than the Donglin people? It was as if they had abandoned Chen Adiao at the first opportunity. Then, seeing this, the people from Danzhou Academy also seemed to follow suit and run.
He vaguely felt there was something more to it, but he couldn't figure it out at the moment.
Never mind, I'll look for questions first.
At this time, A'Diao watched as the dense crowd completely dispersed, showing no particular reaction. Her gaze swept over the ancient, loess-colored stone walls before her, covered with colorful patterns, images, and runes full of cultural charm, as well as many reliefs. These all originated from the earliest times, weathered by thousands of years, and had once teetered between disappearance, destruction, and preservation.
This was the passage of time.
A'Diao sighed faintly, then, riding her flight device, flew into the corridor, deliberately circling towards one side of the grottoes. In truth, she didn't need to fly, nor did she need to make such searching motions, but she had to. She knew that everything they were doing was definitely being monitored and broadcast.
As the twenty thousand examinees collectively surged into the passage, the audience saw a massive holographic screen appear suspended in the air outside the Dunhuang Grottoes, encompassing almost every visual angle within the entire cave system.
They saw that all 15 entrances were initially packed with people, but in one zone, someone launched an attack at the very first moment...
A Daoist technique bombardment.
A large number out of the thousand-plus people flew out; only a few were hit, but none died. They were just stunned and blinded. Amidst a torrent of curses, some attacked the caster, while others took the opportunity to flee.
The caster was quite arrogant. After turning invisible, others thought he had fled, but he cast a second spell, instantly immobilizing those who had attacked him. In this wave, a hundred people were controlled by him at the entrance.
"Quan Lie, you dog, don't let me catch you!"
"You can't catch me, can't catch me, can't catch me!"
This person made a face at the crowd, turned, and ran, incredibly fast. But the void of his shadow escape was suddenly struck by a terrifying whip of fire. With a loud bang, he was slammed to the ground. As he spat blood, he directly escaped into the earth, cursing loudly, "Fuck! Luo He, you just wait for me!"
He escaped quickly indeed. Meanwhile, high in the sky, a person whose name suggested water was, ironically, engulfed in raging flames that writhed like snakes around their entire body, looking exceptionally fierce.
This person's temperament was also fierce. "Messaging isn't forbidden. If you want to fight, contact me. You pick the place."
This time, Quan Lie didn't dare to run his mouth, because two other auras had locked onto him.
Fuck!
Run quickly.
Quan Lie was truly impressive; he managed to continuously escape underground, like Tu Xingsun, quickly breaking free from the lock-on. At the entrance, Baili Xianyun and Nangong Zhuolie glanced at Luo He high above. None of the three chose to fight, as they all knew the others were formidable combatants, and a fight would be endless. So...
The three transformed into streaks of light and flew into different grotto entrances.
Seeing this, the others also breathed a sigh of relief and quickly fled, leaving only those on the ground who were still blinded and immobilized, cursing and wailing.
This was Zone 11, the Rapeseed Flower Field area.
Taking one zone as a sample of all, basically half of the powerful prodigies in each zone unleashed their formidable strength, instantly KO'ing a group of people to seize a section of the Dunhuang Grottoes, causing others to scatter in terror.
Striking first to gain the upper hand—this was the tactic chosen by most prodigies. However, some had cold and low-key personalities, disliking such methods, and simply flew off on their own.
Encountering such prodigies, the examinees in the same zone felt as if smoke was rising from their ancestral graves—a sign of incredible luck.
"Comparatively, Zone 13 is actually the most harmonious."
"Er, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the 'salted fish' zone."
"I don't know why, but I always feel Zone 13 is a bit strange. It looks like there's a lot of internal discord, even worse than other zones. After all, the conflict between the northern and southern coastal regions there is unusually deep, yet, strangely, no fight has broken out."
"It's probably because there isn't a prodigy among the Tiger Skin Green Suburbs group who can suppress everyone else. People like Xiao Du and Lian Tingbi should belong to the second tier."
"That makes sense. It looks like it. The ones in other zones are truly awesome, so strong! That person ranked first is terrifying, immobilizing more than half the people in their entire zone. How miserable! A group immobilization technique, it must be high-level, otherwise it couldn't have held down several other well-known examinees."
These discussing spectators were all insiders, speaking with apparent knowledge and conviction.
Several principals were seated together. The reason they chose this spot was because the Chen family's private box was next door, and next to that was where the Xiao siblings were.
Intentional?
How could it be? A coincidence, it must be a coincidence.
Alright, to avoid seeing their own students perform terribly during the assessment, they chose to stay in the "high face-value" area to please their eyes. If they ever felt a heart attack coming on, they wouldn't need quick-acting heart medication; just turning their heads to look would suffice.
However... Chen Adiao's mother next door was exceptionally emotional.
As Jiang Zhou leaned on the balcony watching, he heard this great beauty, whose face was vibrant and captivating, and who normally exuded an aura of peaceful elegance, open her mouth and say...
"Where is my Diaodiao? Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys? Are they plotting something?"
"My Diaodiao is such a delicate person, how could they bear to harm her."
Xu Zhaoyin: "They haven't harmed her yet."
Xie Yuqing: "Does that mean they definitely will?"
Just like someone who's "movie-blind" watching a film—face-blind, plot-blind, yet insisting on asking questions. But occasionally, they stumbled upon the truth.
Chen Adiao would definitely be targeted.
But what was she doing now?
Those paying attention to A'Diao soon made a discovery. Chen Yang, who was clinging to the railing and watching only A'Diao, suddenly pointed and exclaimed excitedly, "Mother, Mother! There, there! Sister got one!"
By the time A'Diao flew near the painted wall corridor that led outside, she had already released all twenty thousand of her mental threads. After calculating the range of Zone 13, she knew she couldn't cover the entire area, so she compromised by covering a one-third sector, her threads densely spreading out from this section.
With such terrifying sensory abilities, when some Buddha statues spat out scrolls... A'Diao immediately saw their existence and their colors.
There was a red scroll further away from her, but the closest was a yellow scroll, just around a bend. Considering the distance, A'Diao decisively chose the yellow scroll, and her flight device accelerated...
Swoosh!
She was the first to reach the periphery of the Buddha statue. Just as she was about to see the scroll fully ejected and was preparing to sprout spiritual power wings to fly away, thwack!
A'Diao directly grabbed it. After opening it, the question was revealed before her eyes.
Simultaneously, the visual perspective focused on her zoomed in on the scroll's question.
The people in the audience naturally saw the question as well.
"Mother, what on earth is this?"
"You don't understand, do you? This is mathematics."
"Mother is so amazing."
Jiang Zhou was a bit embarrassed: Isn't this a physics problem? But it wouldn't be wrong to call it mathematics either.
Subsequently, Jiang Zhou and the others were stunned, because whenever they encountered mathematical text and calculation formulas, Xie Yuqing would call it a math problem.
It wasn't that she was pretending to understand when she didn't, or that she was illiterate, but because... these problems were genuinely difficult!!!
Even people from generally good universities were stumped when they saw the yellow-level question in A'Diao's hand.
This difficult?
They were still calculating.
A'Diao had already input the answer. Buzz. The scroll indicated it was correct and displayed a code. A'Diao matched it with her wristwatch and passed.
Points +10.
But below, a spy cipher totem was revealed. It looked like a pattern, but after deciphering, it yielded the following text: "Can be obtained from within space using the Spirit Siphon technique."
What did these words mean?
A'Diao pondered, her palm moving slightly. She locked onto the scroll's special aura, then activated the Spirit Siphon technique and aimed it at her storage ring, siphoning.
Swoosh!
The scroll inside the storage ring indeed passed through the storage ring's spatial barrier.
This meant that the storage ring only had the most basic containment function for it, without any security lock. Others could take the scroll away simply by using the Spirit Siphon technique on her storage ring.
"This is a latent rule optimized to address the ironclad rule against killing, and also to facilitate competition among examinees."
After figuring it out, A'Diao used her phone to send messages to the other few people, then tried to send a message to the outside world.
It failed.
Oh, this was to cut off cheating by seeking outside help for solutions. All methods were restricted to within the Dunhuang Grottoes.
After confirming these things, A'Diao began to look for other questions.
Simultaneously, because this was the first wave of questions, personnel in all 15 zones moved. At the same time, the previously blank score leaderboard also began to fluctuate.
With a whoosh, the top one hundred dominating the leaderboard all had... 100 points.
And if you looked at their affiliations, eight or nine out of ten were from the three Kyoto academies and the Three Famous Schools.
Even Jiang Zhou couldn't help but sigh. This was the difference in education. However, there were a few individuals who managed to break into the ranks.
"Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi is at 87th!"
"Qi Biyuan is at 75th!"
"Xu Ye is 99th!"
Actually, right now, the top hundred rankings weren't strictly ordered, because they all had 100 points and were listed in the order they achieved it.
But to obtain a purple scroll and answer it correctly in such a short time was truly formidable.
At this time, A'Diao was ranked somewhere in the three hundreds. However, no one knew she was in the three hundreds; they thought she was over ten thousand—because Rao Xueya was currently wearing her "skin."
But compared to the twenty thousand people, she was undoubtedly among those who benefited in the first wave. However, the leaderboard was fluctuating too quickly now, constantly changing, and coupled with the visual discrepancies caused by the roaming video feeds, basically no one could capture the latest information about the examinees at any given moment.
Soon, Chen Yang, who had been staring intently at A'Diao, could no longer find her and had to switch to watching Xu Ye.
But this first wave of questions hadn't ended yet.
A'Diao wasn't in a hurry to solve questions. Solving the yellow scroll earlier was just to understand its operational mode. Now that she understood, she directly phased into the wall, then turned invisible, and proceeded to use her mental threads to capture the movements of scrolls over a large area.
There were over 300 people distributed in the current sector. To avoid wasting time confronting them, unless it was a purple or gold-colored question, she ignored them, only secretly shuttling back and forth inside the grotto's stone walls at top speed... However, she consciously avoided surveillance because she didn't want to expose her spirit-attaching mental ability too early. This would bring unnecessary risks to Qu Jiangnan and herself.
If people saw that she could accurately find most of the scrolls now, it would basically confirm that she had the ability to project her mental power. She didn't know what others would think, but the Qu family would certainly think of nothing else and immediately associate it with Qu Jiangnan. Then Qu Jiangnan's situation would become even worse.
A'Diao had always been cautious and meticulous in her actions. Soon, the number of scrolls in her storage ring grew.
One, two, three.
After 5 minutes, relying on the super-weapon of her mental threads, she had accumulated 28 scrolls in her storage ring—red, blue, and yellow—but only one gold.
"Damn it, the only purple one was furthest from me, and that Qi Biyuan got it."
A'Diao was annoyed, but there was nothing she could do. She guessed that most of the purple 100-point scrolls in this wave had appeared in the other two-thirds sector of Zone 13.
Only one was on her side.
Anyway, after collecting this wave of scrolls, the frequency of Buddha statues spitting out scrolls decreased, with only a few appearing occasionally.
At this point, some people started to stop and solve questions, but A'Diao didn't. When she tossed these next scrolls into her storage ring, she knew this was also an implicit rule of the literary exam.
One could temporarily not solve questions and snatch scrolls first.
Very good. A'Diao's mind worked quickly, and she swiftly decided on a strategy.
Zone 13. If A'Diao controlled one-third of the sector, with the cultivators and scrolls within it under her command, then the other two-thirds sector had already descended into a bloodbath.
Xiao Du wondered why the people from Danzhou were all running so fast. In fact, they weren't just moving away from A'Diao; they were moving very far away, basically fleeing to the other end. It was also a coincidence that they happened to avoid the one-third sector A'Diao controlled, but this way, they also ran into other people.
Liu Qiushan, who had been extremely lucky and obtained blue and yellow scrolls consecutively, even smiled when Tian Zhongye appeared before him.
"The people from the South are really interesting. What kind of riffraff thinks they can snatch my scrolls?" Placing the scrolls into his storage ring, he smiled and struck out like lightning, thinking he could take down the opponent instantly. However, Tian Zhongye slapped a level-five defensive talisman on himself and then activated his body's Golden Gang Resistance.
Buzz!!
The defensive shield broke, the Golden Gang Resistance trembled, and his strong, burly body was forcefully sent flying... After landing and rolling, Tian Zhongye's aura trembled, and he spat out a shallow mouthful of blood.
A Forbidden Master at the lower stage of the Transcendent Realm was indeed not someone a B-rank like him could compare to. But fortunately, he focused on defense, a veritable "blood cow," and barely managed to block that attack.
Liu Qiushan was somewhat surprised. His eyes narrowed as he realized the opponent had come prepared; someone might be ambushing him!
With a cold snort, just as he was about to strike again... there was a fluctuation of aura above his head. Liu Qiushan quickly dodged, but two lightning chains wrapped around his hands and feet, immobilizing and paralyzing him!
"Indeed, there are accomplices! Get lost!" He released his spiritual power, repelling the lightning chains. They were indeed repelled, but he was paralyzed for a second. In that second, a giant ape weighing five hundred jin came crashing down from above.
Mount Tai crashing down!
Boom!!! Liu Qiushan's armor activated.
Resist, resist, resist!
The ape smashed Liu Qiushan entirely into the ground, but Liu Qiushan didn't even spit blood. He forcefully blasted away the ape's body and leaped out from the ground, half of his body emerging.
The moment he leaped out, Tian Zhongxiang, in the distance, held a bow and arrow... A second before Liu Qiushan leaped out, her fingers loosened.
This second was perfectly timed. Buzz. The arrow instantly pierced the air. When it struck Liu Qiushan's body, his armor provided a secondary defense, weakening its power somewhat. But this arrow wasn't a primary attack arrow; it was... a sticky entanglement net!
With a splat, Liu Qiushan was entirely stuck to the ground by the viscous and poisonous net.
Liu Qiushan was furious. Just as he was about to tear it apart, suddenly, beside his fingers... someone used the Spirit Siphon technique.
Swoosh!
The three scrolls in his storage ring were directly siphoned away. After taking the scrolls, the invisible Rao Xueya quickly escaped into the earth to flee, while on the other side, Cheng Zhang and Tian Zhongxiang launched a wave of ranged attacks and also fled.
As for Tian Zhongye... he had long since disappeared, who knows where.
Liu Qiushan didn't even know what had hit him. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted, "Southerners, I'm irreconcilably opposed to you!"
Three scrolls! Ah!
He rushed out, chasing them relentlessly.
After Liu Qiushan suffered a loss, the news spread among the Northern group. Realizing that some in the South were cooperating in small teams, the North passively united, basically grouping together. Even a few Forbidden Masters didn't dare to go out alone.
The Southerners were too cunning; they even used level-five talismans!
Where did they get those talismans? Weren't those things monopolized by the Kyoto region?!
"Heh, it seems everyone knows the rules now. Since the Southerners made the first move, don't blame us for being ruthless. Let's join forces and wipe them out!"
"Let's strike early! Snatch their scrolls first, including those from the universities. Anyway, everyone outside the Northern Five Prefectures academies, rob them all!"
"Rob!"
Others from the Southern Five Prefectures, caught off guard, suffered losses and immediately reacted by grouping together as well.
The originally harmonious and peaceful Zone 13 suddenly exploded. Some people quickly seized the time to solve questions, afraid of being robbed. Some who couldn't solve questions at the moment had to put away their scrolls and hide or find others to team up with.
Small groups formed one by one, and small groups turned into large groups... Factions were forming, and fighting was everywhere.
Xu Ye and her group had already engaged in several small-scale skirmishes with the Northerners. However, at their level, the difference in strength between them wasn't very large, making it difficult to get close and snatch existing scrolls. Most of the contention was over newly appearing scrolls.
There were wins and losses, but overall, the North had more people and more Forbidden Masters, slightly suppressing the people from the Southern Five Prefectures.
The second wave, third wave, fourth wave... After four consecutive waves of scrolls, someone discovered that two waves appeared every hour. Now, four hours had passed. Although the names on the leaderboard were still fluctuating, some gaps had already begun to appear.
"It's a bit scary. The overlap rate for the top fifty from the preliminary exam leaderboard is 70%, and the top twenty are still the same top twenty. Not a single name has changed, only their rankings."
"This means that among those who excelled in the preliminary exam period, their individual cultivation and combat power are also generally top-notch."
"That's right. Excluding a very few with special temperaments and combat talents, most people who could still score high when spiritual power was forbidden, that itself is proof of brains + methods. The literary exam incorporating elements of martial combat unintentionally amplified their advantages."
Everyone was discussing animatedly. Few paid any attention to someone named Chen Adiao. Even for people like Xiao Du, looking across all 15 zones, she wasn't a particularly hot topic.
Tiger Skin Green Suburbs had already been publicly acknowledged as a 'salted fish' zone, with no outstanding prodigies. The only ones who had generated some heat, "Upstairs" and "Downstairs," were now nowhere to be found.
Chen Yang and the others didn't know who "Upstairs" and "Downstairs" were. He stared intently and finally found the name Chen Adiao.
"Wow, Sister already has 40 points! She climbed from eighteen thousandth to fifteen thousandth place!"
"Really? That's great! My daughter is indeed the best!"
"But Second Sister has already climbed to the five hundreds."
"It's okay, your Sister Diaodiao will catch up!"
"Definitely!"
Mother and son wept with joy, filled with infinite hope.
A group of servants looked at each other in dismay.
Xu Zhaoyin chuckled, glanced at the leaderboard. According to her observation, when that Chen Adiao's name changed earlier, Chen Adiao herself had flashed across the screen but hadn't solved any questions.
So... the name and the person might not match.
But she still didn't plan to tell the mother and son about the peculiarity with Chen Adiao's name.
Lest they cry with joy again...
But where was the real A'Diao ranked? Had she changed her name?
Xu Zhaoyin glanced at Jiang Zhou next door, who looked perfectly composed. She raised an eyebrow slightly, scanned the names on the Zone 13 leaderboard, spent some time searching, and finally locked onto those few strange IDs.
"Auspicious and Prosperous" was ranked quite high, also in the six or seven hundreds. However, that most arrogant "Upstairs Downstairs" only had a meager 30 points.
Thinking about the strange attitude of the Danzhou Academy students towards A'Diao, and the way the Xiao Jin siblings had specifically come to watch A'Diao, could it be...
In another private box, Xiao Jin confirmed that A'Diao was already collecting scrolls. Moreover, this person's invisibility and concealment techniques were terrifyingly proficient. Apart from those specifically observing her, no one else noticed her movements. The few times she was seen, it was just her normally entering and exiting grottoes, searching for scrolls.
But at other times, she was as if she had vanished.
Mastered space?
She looked at Xiao Mieluo. "I didn't know you were so patient before."
Xiao Mieluo: "It's not like there's anything else to do."
Xiao Jin: "I thought you'd say you came for A'Du, since he's your biological younger brother."
Xiao Mieluo: "What are you trying to say?"
Grand Governor Xiao leaned on the railing, looking down at his younger sister. "I'm just curious. Don't make up stories about me like that."
Xiao Jin lowered her head and chuckled, her pale fingers brushing over her delicate chin as if kneading some fanciful thought.
"When two people meet, a man and a woman, if it's not collusion, there must be truth and falsehood. But since brother is so curious, it's clear there's some mystery hidden within this 'truth.' Ah, you glanced at her mother several times, could it be..."
When a person is intelligent to the extreme, it's actually quite terrifying.
Xiao Mieluo experienced the fear those prisoners felt, being controlled by his own sister's intellect. He flicked her forehead with his finger. "The stronger she is, the more beneficial it is for both of us. Don't overthink it."
Xiao Jin pressed her forehead, then suddenly paused. Five hours had passed; the 11th wave of scrolls had arrived.
This wave of scrolls was quite something. Seven or eight purple lights flashed simultaneously, mostly distributed in one sector.
Over there, it seemed to be the area where Chen Adiao had just been active.
Fuck, it finally erupted in my area.
Originally, A'Diao had wanted to move her mental threads, but she found that moving them would take some time to re-lock onto the Buddha statue positions. Moreover, Lian Tingbi and others were watching over there, and fighting them one by one would be troublesome. While there were fewer purple scrolls, the other two areas had more purple scrolls, and more people went there. This, in turn, led to more yellow scrolls being left behind here. Grabbing a few more yellow scrolls would compensate for the loss. So, after weighing the pros and cons, she decided to stay put in her original one-third sector.
As a result... it suddenly exploded?!
Holy crap! Wang Baochuan waited bitterly in the cold kiln for twenty years, Meng Jiangnu cried down the Great Wall, Dong Yong and the Weaver Girl met on the Magpie Bridge, Zhu Bajie married in Gao Village... Finally, there's something to look forward to!!!
She sensed it at the first moment, but after the excitement, a glint flashed in her eyes.
Oh-ho, since the purple scrolls have been delivered to my doorstep, should the plan be moved up?
It was the sixth hour anyway.
A'Diao snatched one of the purple scrolls. The audience watching Zone 13 also grew somewhat excited.
"So many purple scrolls!"
"Fuck! So many, nine of them, right!"
"That Chen Adiao has shit luck! One flew right in front of her."
"Look, she's running, but is she making a phone call?"
"Fuck, is her brain flooded?!"
A'Diao was indeed making a phone call, and she notified others, "Song Ling, come quickly! There are so many purple and yellow scrolls here, so many! I can't snatch them all by myself, come quickly!"
When she made this call, the audience with their god's-eye view immediately saw that among the people in other areas, three individuals made the same move. They all abruptly leaped onto their flight devices and rushed towards A'Diao's area at top speed.
Evidently, they had left surveillance eyes or sound-seeking techniques in that area and, upon receiving firsthand intelligence, immediately rushed over.
And these three people were Zhang Shenghe, Qi Biyuan, and Gao Zangjian.
Why run? Because someone was chasing them!
Zhang Shenghe, riding his flight device, pursued relentlessly. Seeing that Chen Adiao was the one who had taken the purple scroll, he was immediately overjoyed and, without a second word, rushed in pursuit.
How could this unremarkable little girl, Chen Adiao, not be afraid of him? She'd be scared to death!
Fleeing frantically.
But the place she fled to also happened to be where other purple scrolls were flying about. Good heavens, several purple scrolls suddenly flew into her area.
"Drop the scroll!" Zhang Shenghe's eyes turned red. Naturally ruthless, he had an attack prepared and locked onto A'Diao.
A'Diao acted incredibly cowardly and immediately threw the scroll out. "Here, take it! Don't kill me!!!"
At this very moment.
Qi Biyuan and Gao Zangjian arrived. Both struck swiftly, simultaneously grabbing for the scroll, and also conveniently used vortex or wind suction techniques to grab other purple scrolls.
"Get lost, they're all mine!"
The three instantly began to fight, but in less than three seconds, streams of afterimages flew in.
At least a hundred people arrived simultaneously, all from large and small groups, with more still rushing over. Seeing the sky full of flying purple scrolls, as well as many red and yellow ones, they madly attacked and fought for them without a second word.
In an instant, a crowd of people fought in the sky, a dazzling display of multicolored lights.
At this time, Xiao Du, Yin Canghe, and others also arrived. Xu Ye glanced at the terrified A'Diao who had landed on the ground, somewhat suspicious.
She could also be afraid?
Unbelievable.
Unless... She observed her surroundings and found not a trace of Song Ling and the others here.
That person, Song Ling, was very strong. Xu Ye could discern a thing or two from the way Song Ling regarded them, the geniuses from the South—Song Ling didn't see them as formidable rivals.
But Song Ling was also an absolutely staunch ally to Chen Adiao.
Such a good opportunity, and she wouldn't come? It wasn't like she couldn't compete.
Unless there was something fishy.
"What are you waiting for? Go!" Yin Canghe shouted, stepping on his coffin and flying up. Xiao Du hesitated for a moment, then also went up.
"Retreat!" Xu Ye decisively fell back, quickly flashing into space.
Huh? Yin Canghe and Xiao Du, after all, knew Xu Ye very well. Seeing her action, they hesitated for a moment and didn't rush to fly up. But at this very moment!
Two black shadows, one above and one below, erupted simultaneously.
Boom!
The airspace above and below was sealed.
One wind, one space.
Zhou Yi, and another black shadow, emerged. Everyone didn't even have time to see their figures clearly before both erupted with cultivation at the middle stage of the Transcendent Realm.
Wind and space linked in cooperation, the effect was explosive.
Those scrolls rolled away, while the geniuses, who had been imprisoned by space for a second, joined forces to break open the space after their astonishment.
"Who is it! Courting death!"
"Blast!"
Buzz... A large swath of control-breaking Daoist techniques pierced into the space, like myriad weapons tearing open a bubble film.
It was cracking, but Zhou Yi and the other space expert, having succeeded, made a swift retreat. After taking all the scrolls, they were about to flee, but suddenly...
"Oh, leaving already?"
"Did I agree?"
A faint voice, like willow catkins teasing the heart, or like a mermaid's evening song by the ear.
Then, they heard her say softly and gently, in an even lighter voice.
"Turn into pigs."
The fleeing Xu Ye barely sensed the terrifying, mysterious power behind her. It was locking on, pulling, controlling...
Swoosh!
In the instant she was about to be shackled and become the other's plaything, a bright red flashed between her brows, and her body instantly transformed into a scarlet rose, dissipating into the air.
Instantly unbound from all negative states.
Escape successful. But in that instant of escaping into the empty air, that rose turned back to look and saw her former classmates, past adversaries, those conspicuous and inconspicuous three hundred-odd people, all in an instant...
Bang bang bang!!!
Armor shed, transformed, pink, falling.
Upon landing, their flesh bounced, and bounced several times.
They were pigs, all chubby pigs! Then, armor and equipment rained down from the sky with a clatter.
Like a downpour that wasn't beautiful but was extremely... bizarre and perverse.
But as everyone landed as pigs, high in the sky, she alone stood on her flight device. Her delicate, but not exceptionally outstanding or striking, appearance faced the wind, her robes and sleeves fluttering noisily.
In one hand, a staff shone with a mysterious, cursed black light. Her other hand was open, slender fingers as if grasping power, nay, everything. But she used this hand to clutch the neck of a pig.
This pig, pinkish-white, its four trotters still squirming.
Holding a pig aloft in mid-air should have been comical, but she was smiling.
"Using me, Chen Adiao, as a shield for so long... The Ye clan of Danzhou is so noble, but am I, Chen Adiao, worthy?"
"Classmate Yena, by doing this, aren't you afraid of hurting my feelings?"
Her fingers tightened slightly, and the pink pig immediately coughed up blood from its throat. Severely injured, its resistance armor damaged, its original form was restored.
It was precisely the pale and delicate Jiang Yena.
Kill him?
No, she wanted to destroy his physical body, leaving him with no combat ability in this assessment!
This was Chen Adiao's ruthlessness!
Just as his flesh and bones were about to be crushed, Jiang Yena used all his strength to speak with difficulty, "Five billion! I have five billion! I beg you, spare me!!! I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose!"
Apologize, offer money. He was smart, very smart. He knew that any emotional appeal to this classmate would be a burden; only the most tangible benefits could move her.
Indeed, the next second, A'Diao smiled faintly, loosened her grip, and caressed his face. "Card?"
"Transfer, I'll transfer!"
Jiang Yena proactively recalled his storage ring, took out his phone and all his scrolls—even more than he had snatched before.
His attitude of admitting his mistake was sincere to the MAX, far more aware of the circumstances than Zhongchuan Mingxiu and others in the past.
And the outcome was... A'Diao, having received the scrolls and money, loosened her fingers.
Jiang Yena landed weakly. But at this moment, those who had been turned into pigs had already broken free from their pig state and leaped up in unison. Some wanted to counterattack, some wanted to flee, but their leaping buttocks were less than a meter off the ground.
"Did I let you get up?"
The staff swept from top to bottom—instant-cast group attack lightning technique.
A hundred bolts of lightning, each as thick as a thumb but with extraordinarily dense and potent lightning power, instantly bombarded them!
Crackle... The entire group knelt down again.
What middle-stage Transcendent Realm? The cultivation she was displaying now was upper-stage Transcendent Realm! Moreover, after turning them into pigs, she had disarmed them all. With instant-cast Daoist techniques plus group attacks, who could possibly contend?
Conducting electricity collectively like this, these geniuses from the Southern and Northern Five Prefectures were like a semiconductor circuit board.
Only Jiang Yena, who had paid, and Xiao Du, who had just recovered, were treated leniently. Both sat on the ground, pale-faced, watching the searing electric light before them.
At this moment, their fundamental understanding of the world was shattered.
Jiang Yena thought back to six months ago, when he entered Danzhou Academy shouldering the heavy burden of his family's revival and reached an agreement with Jiang Zhou. After all, his aptitude was indeed ranked first at that time, far surpassing everyone else, and Jiang Zhou had no objections.
But later... until now.
Only now did Jiang Yena understand where his vague unease during this period had come from.
Chen Adiao was that greatest calamity.
And after A'Diao struck these people down, she reached out and used a group Spirit Siphon secret technique.
Everyone's scrolls fell into her hands.
"One hundred million each to buy your freedom, or I'll break all four limbs."
"Pay up now."
"However, you two..."
A'Diao suddenly pointed her staff at two people.
"You can leave the exam hall early."
Lightning crackled, instantly shattering the hands and feet of Zhang Shenghe and Qi Biyuan, and she also took their storage rings.
"Chen Adiao, you're pushing things too far!!!" Seeing his hopes for the exam dashed, Zhang Shenghe roared in anger. But A'Diao ignored him, instead stepping on Qi Biyuan's head. Before the latter could speak, she said slowly, "Selling information about me to the outside, scheming and plotting for political gain, and even diverting suspicion onto Lian Tingbi and his group, attempting to gain benefits while also dividing others from the North—a two-birds-one-stone tactic. Was this high-end strategy fun?"
Too terrifying, truly too terrifying. Qi Biyuan was genuinely terrified and wanted to beg for mercy.
But A'Diao said, "You should be glad this is still an exam."
Crack!
She raised her hand and used lightning to blast the man's other leg.
All four limbs crippled.
"What kind of dog dares to scheme against me."
Xu Ye had already left that area. After several escapes, she reached a distant region. She leaned against a wall and let out a breath.
At that moment, Xu Ye suddenly thought back to her childhood. Her sickly and unlikable younger sister would sit in a wheelchair all day. In front of their father and mother, she would smile sweetly at Xu Ye, looking weak and pitiful, saying, "Thank you, Sister, I like it so much."
But in private, the pink pig doll that Xu Ye had painstakingly sewn herself was stuffed into a box by her sister and kicked into a small, dark, unseen attic.
Later, when she saw Xu Ye again, she didn't even bother to pretend anymore, only seeking out their brother and never glancing at her, this older sister.
Did she, Xu Ye, lack a younger sister?
What was so special about this A'Diao? Devilishly twisted, yandere, and loved to act—not cute at all.
She had disliked this person for many years. But many years later, she went to her maternal grandparents' place under her mother's orders. Not long after, she learned that A'Diao had been sent away. She hurried home, only to learn something from her mother.
A'Diao's illness had worsened. Cotton-like materials entering her mouth or nose would trigger asthma, which could easily be fatal.
She couldn't play with those dolls at all.
And the reason A'Diao showed favor to Chen Xun, and not her, Xu Ye, was probably because their father felt her life wouldn't be long, wanted to confine her to the backyard, not let her go out, nor let her study. At that time, only their grandmother and Chen Xun could help her.
But in the end, she still left, and not long after, news of her death arrived.
Meeting again, A'Diao was still A'Diao, but she no longer needed anyone.
Powerful, mysterious, scheming against people's hearts, and then... controlling everything.
Xu Ye let out a faint sigh, but then suddenly chuckled softly.
It was also good. At least she wouldn't be like when she was little, as if she would break with the slightest touch.
Outside the venue, the souls and bodies of the spectators were almost completely captivated. Even those who had been watching other zones were dumbfounded.
Jiang Zhou's face was pale, and the hand holding his tea was trembling slightly.
The Qingzhou Academy Principal and others beside him looked at him coldly, just as they had previously cursed Chen Ran, they now cursed Jiang Zhou: Fuck, this Old Dog Jiang, what kind of shit luck does he have? And he's blind too, mistaking fish eyes for pearls.
But Jiang Zhou felt extremely innocent: Fuck, what shield? Tuoba was clearly the shield! I used one shield to protect two pearls, alright? That's a truly awesome high-end tactic! But I didn't fucking know Chen Adiao wasn't a pearl, she's a thousand-year-old clam spirit! Hidden so damn well!! Qu Jiangnan, you've misled me, me, me, me!!
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