GAMMT - Chapter 102
Chapter 102: A Firecracker?
Fu Chuan converted her newfound wealth into resources, including gene pool fluid and gene blood, which she then allocated to three projects.
1. Gene Tree Second Sequence Project: A total of 3,000 S2 Gene Keys on hand (over a thousand purchased with blue coins), insect-type Dragon Armor Sting King gene blood, and plant-type Dragon Scale Grass King gene blood (purchased for 10 million blue coins).
2. Thousand Birds Return to River Infinite Flow Perfection Project: 28 Lesser Heavenly Books + the Thousand Birds Return to River arcane book.
3. Green to Blue Blood: Gene pool preparation.
After completing Project 1, she would move on to Project 3, while simultaneously starting Project 2.
To be honest, it wasn't that she hadn't tried to comprehend the Thousand Birds Return to River during this time; rather, she had tried many times and found she couldn't understand it at all.
There was a bit of a talent gap. To put it bluntly, the book was of such a high level that it looked down on her aptitude in this area.
She estimated that only someone on Wei Mingtang's level could even touch the threshold of this kind of purple-tier arcane book.
Because of this, she could only spend her time comprehending the fusion of force fields. She had now reached a state where she could fuse the four fields in pairs, but she was still stuck one step away from fusing three fields together.
There was hope for field fusion; it was just a matter of time.
But the purple-tier Thousand Birds Return to River seemed hopelessly out of reach.
It was even worse than an orange-tier arcane stone.
Fu Chuan was both frustrated and helpless about this.
When initial talent was lacking, one could only rely on external forces.
The Lesser Heavenly Books probably wouldn't be enough either, but thankfully, she had the Order Stele Fragment. Perhaps it would be useful.
Fu Chuan's plan proceeded in an orderly fashion. Three hours later, she had burned through 1,843 S2 Gene Keys and lit up the eighth branch. Only the ninth remained. She still had plenty of S2s and used them without a second thought. She deliberately didn't aim for the nodes that would guarantee an upgrade; instead, she targeted nodes with a high probability of failure. Her goal was to saturate the gene tree with the energy from these S2s until its gene energy limit was maxed out across all the lit branches of the first and second sequences. Only then did she deliver the final, decisive push.
Buzz!
The ninth branch lit up.
The moment the second sequence was fully illuminated, she simultaneously integrated the two gene bloods into the gene tree.
In the alchemical gene school, the Dragon Scale Grass King gene blood and the Dragon Armor Sting King gene blood were considered symbiotic. The Dragon Armor Sting's most fundamental growth environment involved consuming Dragon Scale Grass to evolve. The first-generation Dragon Armor Stings were also symbiotic with Dragon Scale Grass.
Fu Chuan hadn't belonged to the alchemy school before, but after studying at East Guan for so long, she was putting her knowledge to use. Her understanding of alchemy was constantly expanding, and now she was just burning money to apply that knowledge to herself.
The Dragon Armor Sting exhaled a bloody mist while soaking in the molten golden liquid of the Dragon Scale Grass, quickly transforming into a mysterious gene blood that seeped into the gene tree's network... With this symbiotic dual gene blood, she wasn't after the Dragon Armor Sting itself, but its Dragon Armor talent.
Seven minutes later, Fu Chuan saw a layer of golden, dragon-scale patterns covering all eighteen branches of the first and second sequences. At the same time, she felt her constitution skyrocketing, and the increase was far greater than she had anticipated.
She glanced over and saw that her stats had indeed changed. Her armor rating had been enhanced across the board.
However, Fu Chuan wasn't in a hurry to fully manifest the second sequence. Instead, at this critical juncture, she made a direct push for Blue Blood!
As she began the push, the Order Stele Fragment embedded within the gene tree emitted a faint halo, nourishing the entire structure.
In her astonishment, Fu Chuan felt her soul being drawn into a deep, infinite, and wondrous void.
Countless lines of order sketched out and stabilized the entire universe.
She was but a tiny particle within it.
It really worked. The Order Stele Fragment influenced genes, and genes influenced talent!
The Order Stele Fragment was incredible!
Fu Chuan quickly used up all her Lesser Heavenly Books in one go, seizing this perfect opportunity and the state of terrifyingly profound enlightenment to comprehend the Thousand Birds Return to River, as well as the fusion of three force fields...
Eighteen hours later, the surface of the self-built gene pool in her residence rippled slightly.
In the first-floor courtyard, Fu Ye was holding her belly and watering the flowers... The delicate blossoms trembled under the stream of water. Her communicator rang, and she answered it.
It was her younger sister from home, her voice sweet as she asked her to go out shopping.
Not everyone could get into the four great academies. Even some children from the four great Orange Blood families failed, let alone the Fu Clan. However, they had mostly been accepted into the top ten academies in the province, most of which were in Beluke City.
Although they weren't as prestigious as the four great academies, these high schools still had trial towers and assessments. So, after their exams, these younger sisters were like wild horses let loose, and they loved to hang around the older brothers and sisters of their generation.
Fu Ye glanced back at the second-floor training room and politely declined in a low voice, explaining that she was pregnant and it wasn't convenient to walk around too much, as it would be troublesome.
"Oh, right, I forgot you were pregnant, Sister... I'll buy you clothes and food later and bring them to the academy. By the way, is there anything Brother-in-law likes? We were thinking of getting him a gift."
The Fu Clan now held a high opinion of this convenient brother-in-law. The younger siblings all thought he was great.
Fu Ye had probably noticed this, but she rarely brought him home, and her excuse was always valid—training, busy, didn't want to cause delays.
But as for a gift... Fu Ye herself didn't have to give one, as it was a cooperative relationship and she needed to maintain a proper distance between them. It was a matter of etiquette. But she couldn't say whether the younger generation should give one or not, and it wouldn't be appropriate to say she didn't know his preferences.
But it seemed she really didn't know what he liked.
She couldn't just say to give him money.
"He's not particular about these things. Just get whatever you think is best."
"Okay, okay, we'll definitely give Brother-in-law a surprise."
Elsewhere, in a shopping mall, several of the Fu Clan's beautiful and charming younger sisters were in a dilemma. Suddenly, one of them had a flash of inspiration.
"Ah, I know what Brother-in-law likes most."
The others asked curiously.
The girl blushed, stammered, and pointed to a store.
The others seemed to realize something and blushed as well, but they pushed and shoved each other, and then went in together.
How embarrassing, they weren't even eighteen yet.
But inside... there was so much sexy lingerie.
Ahhh!
So sexy.
"Hurry, hurry, let's just buy one piece and leave."
"I know, I know, don't push me."
"Sister likes pale silver and violet, right?"
"This one, this one, we need this size..."
"How do you know Sister's size?"
"We've bathed together. Sister has such a great figure, she can definitely pull this off."
"Brother-in-law will definitely li— Mmph."
The blushing little sister's mouth was covered by her third sister, but the fourth and fifth sisters were in a bind because they had picked out other styles.
Which one to choose?
"Why don't we... buy them all?"
"Actually, it doesn't have to be sexy. I think... Sister is already sexy enough on her own. These are just accessories. I think the more elegant... the more charming."
"Yes, yes, this one, this one, and that one. Wrap them all up for me."
"And this one..."
Was there any need to hesitate?
The sales assistant in the store smiled and was about to wrap their purchases, only to find that this group of obviously wealthy noble young ladies, who had been shy and blushing a minute ago, were still shy and blushing a minute later... but were now on a shopping high.
It was as if they had reached the pinnacle of their lives.
Fu Ye had no idea what her sisters were up to. She had just put down her communicator when she received another notification.
A family friend from another province had arrived.
Ripples spread across the pool's surface as tiny golden birds flew over the water, their movements tracing a profound and ancient totem.
Lines of order were sketched out.
Guided by these lines, Blue Blood flowed, eventually blooming into gorgeous orchids. Together with the miniature birds, they formed a totem resembling a beautiful embroidered tapestry of a thousand birds and demon orchids in a landscape.
Soon, a hand slowly emerged, resting on the edge of the pool. Xie Keli's body rose from the water. Water streamed down his skin, and his soft black hair clung to his cheeks. His eyes were still in their pupil technique state—the left a silver vortex, the right an azure orchid pattern.
Fu Chuan took a shallow breath. Through her left eye, she saw the flow of all mental power in the space. Through her right, she felt its intense, orchid-like desire for slaughter.
The attack pupil technique of the Xie Clan's Demon Orchid Pupil had awakened.
If she wished, she could now enter a Blue Blood combustion state, and with the protection of the dragon-scale patterns and her soul armor badge, she could fight that stingy, unlucky Junior Prelate. The infinite flow would make her unbeatable, and she could use the Probability God Slash from her palm's enlightened eye and shoot Demon Orchid beams from both eyes to kill her directly.
She could kill a Junior Prelate now.
At least, killing that one would be no problem. She was confident she wouldn't even be injured.
Her current approximate stats were as follows.
Level: 45
Mental Power: 1.92 million (the Mental Eye had a significant impact)
Strength: 1.85 million
Constitution: 2.20 million
Agility: 2.50 million
Demon Orchid Pupil: Insight, Invisibility, Stun, Attack.
Mental Eye: Mental world perspective and insight, Probability God Slash.
First Sequence Manifestation: Golden Sun Rakshasa Vine Tentacles.
Second Sequence Manifestation: Variant Wings.
Arcane Truth: Thousand Birds Return to River Infinite Flow progress 100%, three force fields already fused.
(Other previous details omitted to save space)
These Variant Wings...
Fu Chuan pondered for a moment. After activating the wings, she manifested the second sequence again. A pair of secondary wings, thin as a cicada's, grew from the inner side of the main wings, close to her back.
This was a characteristic of some insectoid wings.
Variant Wings: The sequence manifestation is in the secondary wings, which can autonomously switch between speed, defense, and attack modes. The first mode is speed, achieving a four-winged, four-times flight speed effect. The second mode is armor, greatly enhancing back armor defense. The third mode is attack, capable of attached close-quarters combat or detached ranged attacks. Specific operations depend on personal skill and energy supply (the ranged mode is extremely energy-intensive and is considered an ultimate move).
If she added pet fusion, Blue Blood combustion, and other states, her average stats would rise to 4 million. With this, she would finally no longer be at a disadvantage in terms of level, stats, and mental power.
This meant that in the areas where she was previously weakest, she had caught up to the level of the top five contenders from the four great academies.
In a head-on fight, it would all come down to gene talents, arcane truths, gene sequences, and pet support.
Fu Chuan was both pleased and terrified. She knew this body's gene talent. Even with ample resources and a successful breakthrough to Blue Blood, it should absolutely not have been enough to awaken the Demon Orchid Pupil's attack technique.
The Order Stele Fragment was improving her genes, or rather, it was repairing the flawed Demon Orchid genes of the Xie Clan.
"Over time, not only can it repair them into the most perfect Demon Orchid genes, but it might even cause a mutation."
"It all depends on whether the power of this fragment can surpass the upper limit of the Demon Orchid genes."
Was the upper limit of the Demon Orchid genes Orange Blood?
Apparently not. An ancestor had once broken through to Purple Blood.
So, she had finally turned this useless body into what could be considered a royal flush, at least within Beluke Province.
"Once I get the Fu Chuan body sorted out and then merge them... only then will I have the confidence to walk freely in this world."
Fu Chuan checked her watch.
It showed that it was now 9 AM on August 31st.
There were 13 hours left until the end of the assessment.
When Fu Chuan went out, she found that Fu Ye was not in the living room or the courtyard. She figured the woman was probably in her room.
She didn't think much of it, but as she passed the embroidery stand, she noticed that the embroidery piece had been replaced with a new one, not yet started.
But beside it was a pile of finished pieces. Fu Chuan casually picked one up to look at it.
Night, a dense forest, a stream—it looked like a tranquil and leisurely scene.
But as Fu Chuan looked at the empty color of the stream's water, her brow gradually furrowed.
The stream had not been stitched; it was empty.
Yet there was clearly spare thread on the side... red thread.
Fu Ye had not embroidered it, leaving the red thread unused.
Fu Chuan placed the embroidery on the table, half-leaning on her wrist, her fingers pressed against her lips, lost in thought for a moment.
Perhaps Fu Ye's mental block had never healed at all.
Fu Chuan pondered for a long time, then suddenly turned the embroidery in a different direction.
The picture changed.
She saw the inverted embroidered landscape transform into mangled, twisted corpses. The curves of the rocks, trees, and bushes became body parts, and these parts formed a twisted, resentful woman's face in an impressionistic style.
Her eyes were deep and dark. Inside them were blooming flowers, but inverted, they became tears of blood.
Fu Chuan turned her head and picked up the other embroidery pieces to look at them. They were all identical. All the pieces were exactly the same.
It wasn't to practice her embroidery skills, because from the very first piece, there had been no deviation in the stitches.
Perfect replicas.
But every replica repeated the flaw of the first piece.
Fu Chuan finally frowned. She turned to get some water and saw a pile of delivery boxes in the corner.
These were all the maternity products she had ordered.
Fu Ye never touched her things. She had the delivery person place them neatly in the corner, waiting for her to retrieve them herself.
But Fu Chuan's terrifying powers of observation could see some traces of pollen on the topmost box. The pollen had left faint fingerprints, and the prints were overlapping.
A hand stained with pollen had picked it up... picked it up, put it down, and picked it up again.
As if hesitating.
But in the end, it wasn't opened. It was put down.
That box contained small clothes for the baby. The information was recorded on the outside of the box.
Fu Chuan got her water, then took out her communicator and selected a number. But her finger hovered over it, and in the end... she didn't make the call. She just quietly finished the bottle of water, then put it down, went back to put all the embroidery pieces back exactly as they were, cleaned up her own traces, and then left the house.
At the Trial Tower, few people were like Fu Chuan, always waiting until the last minute to take their exams. After all, the assessments in the five trial towers were very time-consuming. Most students would complete them within the last five days, leaving the final day free to rest and relax.
So today, there were even fewer people, but it was far too empty.
Did something happen?
Fu Chuan was a little puzzled. When she entered the Arcane Tower, she saw the young lady at the desk. The two had become familiar, and the girl greeted her.
"Eating instant noodles again? Does East Guan pay you that badly?"
"No, I just don't like other food. Instant noodles suit my taste." The young lady's delicate face was full of smiles as she glanced at her. "Cutting it close again for the exam?"
"Yeah, I've been a bit busy. Is there something going on at the academy today? There are so few people."
"Most of them went to the shopping district to hang out. But some, like Zhao Ranxue, might still be taking their exams. Others went to the Golden Ling Mansion."
Fu Chuan was surprised. The Golden Ling Mansion? That was Beluke's number one official state house for receiving distinguished guests from other provinces.
With its fine cuisine and magnificent gardens, it was mostly used for official banquets by the nine most powerful provincial entities: the provincial government led by Beluke's number one leader, the four departments, and the four great academies. It was located to the east of the central shopping district of the four academies, directly opposite the Arcane Palace.
Although they were "opposite," the shopping district was so large that the east-west facing buildings were actually very far apart. The Arcane Palace was controlled by the Divine Temple and never interfered with the affairs of the Golden Ling Mansion, so the mansion had its own powerful armed forces.
"Someone from another province is here?"
"Probably. People from all four academies went. Our East Guan too. Aren't you going to finish your exam early and head over?"
"It has nothing to do with me."
Fu Chuan shook her head, paid the exam fee, and went in.
Although she had made a strong showing in the first stage of the assessment, she had missed the second stage. The academy naturally wouldn't summon her over with the treatment reserved for the top students of Class S.
This was only to be expected.
But she thought that Fu Ye had probably gone.
It was just a passing thought for Fu Chuan. She didn't dwell on it. After all, she always maintained a certain wariness towards this world and was unwilling to get too involved.
After entering the Arcane Tower, where she had previously been stuck on the fifth floor, unable to win no matter what, this time... Fu Chuan went in, raised her hand, and instantly killed the enemy monster with a dual-field fusion.
Fifth floor, passed. Comprehensive coefficient 13.0, +100,000 points.
Sixth floor, triple-field fusion, passed. Comprehensive coefficient 11.0, +150,000 points.
Seventh floor, infinite flow, passed. Comprehensive coefficient 9.0, +250,000 points.
Eighth floor.
This floor was clearly much stronger. Opposite her, a cold, dark knight mounted on a level 65 BOSS, a Flame Centaur, gave her a cruel smile.
"Ant, this place will be your grave."
Fu Chuan felt that the planning dogs at the Education Ministry who designed the Arcane Tower really knew how to provoke students. These BOSSes always said such humiliating things.
But she wasn't angry at all.
The BOSS had just raised his long spear when he saw the ant in front of him raise a hand. The infinite flow cycle began, and the thousand birds of the stream arrived.
Sharp birdsong filled the entire space.
But it couldn't kill him instantly. The infinite flow wasn't about one-shot kills, but sustained combat.
It sustained for...
"Damn you, you've actually mastered the infinite flow and field fusion arcane truths."
"You are a very powerful ant."
Three minutes later, with a thud.
He fell.
Eighth floor, passed. Comprehensive coefficient 7.0, +400,000 points.
Fu Chuan stood unharmed in the vortex of the infinite flow, but her expression was a little strange.
This planning dog was a bit of a jerk, still insulting people even then.
Could it be the same person who planned the academy's re-selection exam?
A heart like a honeycomb briquette, full of schemes, and a penchant for low-morality strategies.
Muttering to herself, Fu Chuan entered the ninth floor of the Arcane Tower.
At that moment, in a core area of the Education Ministry in the Imperial Capital, a curly-haired young man in slippers was drinking milk and playing a game. He was tapping his feet and humming a little tune when his nose suddenly tickled, and he let out several sneezes.
"Oh my, who's thinking of me? Is it another little sister who has a crush on me?"
His colleague next to him had a strange expression.
A crush, my ass. Because of the empire-wide education reforms, this dog was responsible for the assessment content in many regions. The damn high-difficulty bonus questions were all his design.
Those bonus questions had screwed over many middle school exam candidates, including the extremely noble princes and ladies of the Imperial Capital.
Their minds were broken.
So it was more likely that someone was sticking pins in a voodoo doll of him.
"The middle school exams were so long ago. It's probably the trial towers you recently upgraded that are getting you cursed."
"Impossible. They're not even hard."
The curly-haired young man was still shaking his leg, speaking nonchalantly.
On the ninth floor, the moment Fu Chuan entered, she saw a level 50 Orange Robe person, and her heart skipped a beat.
Level 50? It suddenly dropped to level 50?
Wasn't this a downgrade?
But this was an Orange Robe person, which meant they had the gene talents and abilities of an Orange Blood noble. Generally, those from great noble families had excellent arcane talent, so...
This planning dog.
What a dog!
The moment their eyes met, the Orange Robe person seemed to carry the pride and reserve of a great noble. Without any trash talk, they directly raised their staff. Behind them, the five elemental force fields—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—roared to life, all fused in threes.
Fu Chuan took a deep breath. Although her triple-field fusion could also be combined in any combination of three, her opponent had five fields.
Their fields were inherently stronger and more complex than hers, almost capable of suppressing them. And although the school her opponent followed wasn't the infinite flow, it was a flawless five-element complete flow. The elements complemented and sustained each other, amplifying their power and possessing terrifying burst damage potential.
Now, it was a contest of sustainability.
Boom! The force fields on both sides immediately clashed, and their killing intents locked onto each other. A halo of light also swirled in Fu Chuan's pupils.
She couldn't rely on pure arcane arts anymore. Her opponent was too strong.
While Fu Chuan was fighting for her life on the ninth floor, the people outside at East Guan Academy were in an uproar.
Xie Keli had gone to take the assessment. The news spread belatedly throughout the campus and then to the other four academies and the shopping district.
Many people were in milk tea shops, refreshing the scoreboards, waiting to see how many points Xie Keli could rack up this time.
"The first three stage assessments are based on the results of each three-month period. But the final annual ranking, the ranking of the four academies, is based on all four rounds of the entire year. He definitely won't make it onto the annual ranking, but in this third stage, he should have made great progress. He'll definitely break into East Guan's Class S."
"Not necessarily. I heard that this Xie Keli's gene inheritance from the Xie Clan isn't particularly high, and his arcane talent is far inferior to Wei Mingtang and the others. In the early stages, his growth curve might have been fast because he's a Xie Clan disciple with efficient resource use, but in the later stages, his progress will definitely be slower than people like Wei Mingtang, Shen Qixi, and Jiang Yousi."
"I don't think so. That's just sour grapes from people who can't reach his level. A brain is a good thing, and his is far better than theirs. And as for arcane truths, while talent is a factor, have you ever considered this: a person said to have insufficient gene talent and arcane talent has progressed this much in the year since returning from Planet X5. Has this growth curve really reached its limit? According to my research, this person follows the strategist school. Every step is part of a long-term plan, from elemental matching to arcane combinations to the development of gene talents. This person is far better planned than many disciples of great noble families. Poor innate conditions can be improved through long-term strategic resource allocation. As long as the long-term grand plan has not reached its sealed peak, the growth curve will only get stronger, until it reaches the upper limit he has planned."
This academic-type student clearly had his own opinion, and he casually drew a curve on a piece of scratch paper.
"By my calculations, his current growth curve is at the halfway point of this upward parabola. It hasn't peaked yet."
This person was a top student from North Gai Academy, Class A, and was best at calculations. His words carried weight, and the others fell silent for a moment.
The silence was broken by the subject of their discussion himself.
"Um, Senior, I think your curve might be right. Look at his points."
Everyone looked at the optical computer the person held up.
On East Guan's score screen, the locked-on person's score... had changed.
"Wait, didn't he just go in? It was 0 points, and now it's 100,000?"
"Alchemy again?"
"I don't know. Maybe only the people still at East Guan know. I'll ask my cousin, she's still there."
Before the cousin could reply, this group of North Gai students, who were leisurely drinking milk tea, eating pastries, and watching the rankings change, were so shocked they nearly choked on their tea.
Because the 100,000 points had another 150,000 added, jumping to 250,000 points.
In less than a minute.
They looked at each other.
"A second alchemy project? Wait, are East Guan's high-end alchemy projects something you can do by just boiling water?"
Boiling water in one minute?
Two minutes later, a girl with a bob haircut, chewing on a milk tea straw, asked weakly, "A third alchemy project? This time it must be pork rib soup, right? Five minutes in a pressure cooker."
God knows it took her half a day to clear a single floor of the Arcane Tower or Talent Tower, fighting over and over, studying all sorts of techniques, before finally passing.
She had to grind through it floor by floor like that every time.
She had never experienced the thrill of passing a floor in a minute or a few minutes.
"Another 250,000 added. He's at 500,000 points now, directly breaking into East Guan's top 30, ranked 29th."
In the first round, 500,000 points could get you into the top teens. In this round, it was only barely 29th. Clearly, with each round of assessment, the students of each academy would only get stronger and earn more and more points.
"I think this Xie Keli can rise to become a super dark horse of the four academies. His alchemy talent is clearly a royal flush, allowing him to use resource allocation to strengthen himself in all aspects. In a way, he has more long-term potential than talent-based powerhouses."
That was true. Talent would eventually be exhausted, but the skill of making money was a permanent craft.
As everyone was discussing, they suddenly fell silent again, because the message groups on their communicators had all exploded.
Because 500,000 had jumped to 900,000.
An increase of 400,000.
They stared at each other blankly, subconsciously thinking: What kind of alchemical point-farming strategy is this?
Golden Ling Mansion.
The hall was filled with the upper echelons of the four academies. The four deans and vice deans were present, but they were at another table, accompanied by the deans of the four academies from Dongke Province, exchanging pleasantries with an air of elegance and sophistication.
Among them, the youngest, the Dean of East Guan, was like a single flower amidst a sea of green. Not to say she was the only woman—there were two female deans from the eight academies in total. The other was old and stately, but her presence was formidable, and she held her own in conversation with the other deans.
In comparison, the youngest dean, Sang Jiu of East Guan, was rather taciturn. Her temperament was cool and gentle, and she didn't enjoy sharp-tongued exchanges, resembling a helpless granddaughter sitting on the sidelines while the old men and women bickered.
Of course, there was also a young grandson.
The Dean of Hualuo Academy, Liu Sanxiang, was now in his late thirties, but his cultivation was profound, and his features were youthful. At first glance, he looked to be in his early twenties. He was rather handsome, with the air of a big brother next door, but no one dared to underestimate his methods.
The appearance of a golden child attendant to a Bodhisattva, but with thunderous methods.
He occasionally made conversation with Sang Jiu, his smile radiant, easily bringing to mind the classic tale of a gentleman courting a fair lady. However, all eight deans knew that the two youngest deans, who appeared to be the quietest, actually had the most conflict. A young rise to power meant great potential, and certain resources and authority from the Education Ministry were limited slots.
It was one or the other.
So this meeting between the two provinces was actually the result of an offensive initiated by Liu Sanxiang.
The attack was aimed at the four academies of Beluke Province, primarily targeting the head of the four, the Dean of West Jin, to block West Jin Academy from receiving major resources and to snipe Sang Jiu's path of advancement.
Sang Jiu remained silent, simply because she disliked engaging in such duplicitous pleasantries with this person.
But she also knew he had come prepared.
The deans were all cunning old foxes.
At another table, the teachers from both sides were highly skilled schemers. They not only sparred with words but also toasted each other, trying to get the other side drunk and make a fool of themselves. The most aggressive were the main combat-faction teachers like Ye Suran, who offered toasts as if they were mugging someone.
Are you drinking or not? Are you drinking or not?
If you don't drink, I'll kill you!
They were just short of grabbing them by the throat.
But the atmosphere among the S-class students of the eight academies was not as tactful as that of the old folks above them.
According to the current point rankings of the four academies, Flosius was the strongest, followed by Modorola, Xie Fuyun, Yun Zhuzhu, Zhao Ranxue...
Except for Flosius, who had 3 million points, the others were all between one and two million.
But to be honest, Beluke Province was not a strong province, even ranking in the lower tier among the 36 provinces. Due to historical and geographical reasons, its total elemental energy was not strong. Although Dongke Province had a similar geography, it had the advantage of history. The Dongke Clan, the head of the great noble families passed down through generations, had guarded Dongke Province since the founding of the empire. With the title of Marquis Dongli and the fiefdom of Dongke Mountain, they not only maintained their family's legacy for generations, but more importantly, ten years ago, they produced a peerless beauty of extraordinary talent. She was admitted to the empire's number one university, later fell in love with a prince of the Imperial Clan, married into the Imperial Clan, and gave birth to an heir. It seemed the Imperial Clan gave her some treasure, and with the powerful foundation and resources of the Imperial Clan, the princess's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.
Five years ago, the princess underwent a gene blood exchange and was promoted to Purple Blood. The entire family benefited from this, successfully becoming a Purple Blood family.
With the protection of a prince from above and being a Purple Blood family themselves, Dongke Province's development was much more stable than Beluke's. Over time, the gap became apparent. At the very least, their four academies had five students with over 3 million points.
Beluke only had one.
However, the Dongke Clan alone accounted for three of those spots. The gap was right there.
The power of a Purple Blood family was evident.
But what was frustrating was that their rankings below that were filled with students with over two million and one million points.
Clearly, they were brimming with talent, far more abundant than Beluke.
The two sides sat opposite each other at a long table, swords drawn and bows bent. The momentum was clearly stronger on the other side.
At this moment, Flosius and the others, facing the aggressive geniuses from Dongke, were not intimidated. After all, it wasn't like they were going to fight; it was just a war of words.
"Carol Diel, what a pity you weren't here for the last assessment. Though it seems it wouldn't have made much difference if you were. I see you haven't improved much in this stage either."
"Hehe, what's the rush? People have many years to live. Why fuss over the ranking of one or two times? It's not like we're going to die tomorrow. I still hope you, Brother Chen Gou, can achieve a beastly undying state."
"Ah, so you have me in your heart, little sister. Then I'll go home tonight and have my grandfather catch a wild goose. I'll come to your house tomorrow with a betrothal gift. In any case, it's no loss for you to have a long-lived husband like me."
"No, I think... I'd rather marry the wild goose."
"..."
That Chen Gou was furious. The others on both sides wanted to laugh, but they were also simmering with anger.
But... Jian Qin, who was ranked fifth in Dongke Province, slowly added, "Why are you people from Beluke so tense? We're just asking. It's not like we plan to fight."
"There's nothing much to fight about, is there?"
This last sentence was light and airy, but it struck a nerve with the people from Beluke Province. People like Wuxu and Nangong Hupo all sneered, grinding their teeth and preparing to throw down.
But...
"Jiang Yousi, I hear you've cleared the ninth floor of the Arcane Tower."
The fourth-ranked Chen Gou, having been rebuffed by the thick-skinned Carol Diel, decided to try again with a different opponent. He looked at Jiang Yousi and smiled. "But even so, you still haven't broken three million?"
Jiang Yousi was scrolling through some information on his phone, mostly related to a certain medical hall's doctor or a certain flower shop. He was so engrossed that he didn't hear what was being said. It was only when Jack, who was next to him, poked his arm with a longsword that he came back to his senses. He glanced at the vicious little mouse, Jack.
It hadn't been long since he came over. Although this body had some foundation, he was not a genius on par with these people. He had started on the Class E path, and... his background was a disadvantage.
In his original world, he came from a top-tier background. Now, as if for retribution, his background had changed. It was like a tiger finding itself in a plain, deeply experiencing the bitterness of being a commoner. He had worked hard to gather resources during this time and had only just begun to rise, but...
He knew he wasn't a top-tier genius when it came to this game, at least not compared to that person.
And he couldn't talk about such things.
"No, I haven't. I'm not strong enough." His mindset was very calm. Being inferior wasn't an insult, at least he didn't think so, so his opponent wouldn't get the satisfaction they were looking for.
Sure enough, Chen Gou was frustrated.
What was wrong with these people from Beluke Province? They were either like dog-skin plaster or like old, withered wood. So boring.
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment. Shen Qixi's mind was full of arcane truths and knowledge, and she occasionally refreshed the point rankings... As the sole heir of the Li Family, she had suddenly received a lot of things. She was the youngest one here with the least amount of time, so she paid no attention to the provocations of others. Of course, she was currently at the bottom of the group from the four academies, so she didn't attract much attention.
The ones who truly drew attention were Jiang Yousi, Flosius, and... Wei Mingtang.
"Wei Mingtang, is that you?"
The young man seated at the head of the table looked at the girl in the black shirt who was sitting in an inconspicuous spot, head down, scrolling through her phone.
Over time, Shen Qixi had grown taller, and Yun Baobao hadn't grown at all, but Wei Mingtang was different.
She was already tall and slender, and as time passed, her cold and sharply defined features became just as described in the plays: "The girl made people feel cold, a cold that made you shiver from head to toe, as if you had walked into a bottomless night."
And then, you would follow the play's train of thought: And yet, a flower bloomed in that night, a flower of breathtaking beauty—resplendent but merciless, the pinnacle of aesthetics, its colors so rich and full they seemed to drip with blood. You saw it and thought it was light. Frantic and mesmerized, you chased after it, but before you could get close, you slipped and fell into a deep pit.
Climb out?
No, you were already dead, having died in a place both farthest from and closest to her.
The latter looked up. At her age, she was only two years older than the youngest, Shen Qixi. She looked at everyone staring at her, her finger still tapping on her communicator, with no intention of giving her full attention to their targeting and scrutiny. She offered only a terse reply.
"Yes." Dongke Hetu probably knew this person had a cold personality, as he had looked up information on her before coming.
"Ninth floor of the Arcane Tower, eighth floor of the Strategy Tower, a comprehensive score of 2.8 million, first in East Guan, Dean Sang's only student."
Dongke Hetu looked at Wei Mingtang without any hostility. Instead, he asked elegantly and politely, "I'm about to run a dungeon. It's a six-person party, and we're short one. Would you like to join?"
Damn it, this was poaching, absolute poaching!
The faces of Carol Diel and the others changed slightly. Even Flosius narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Wei Mingtang.
It seemed they were all waiting for her reaction.
She had just looked up out of politeness, but now her head was down again, like a net-addicted girl, completely lacking her usual mature and intellectual aura.
Now, she looked up again, but her brow was slightly furrowed. Only those who knew her best could tell she was a little impatient.
"Sorry, I have other arrangements."
Even her polite tone was identical to a certain someone's.
Dongke Hetu seemed genuinely interested in her. In fact, Dongke's number one academy had also analyzed the situation in Beluke and concluded that the most terrifying and noteworthy person was not Flosius or the Xie Keli who was trending every other day, but this Wei Mingtang.
"A dungeon plan?"
"Sort of."
"You have a team?"
"I invited someone, but I was rejected."
Wei Mingtang's words were like cold water on hot oil, and the situation immediately boiled over.
Even Shen Qixi couldn't help but look up.
Chen Gou had a sharp tongue and blurted out, "From your Beluke Province? Who's worthy?"
Since they had investigated beforehand, they certainly knew Wei Mingtang had great potential. Otherwise, their deans wouldn't have privately given them the mission to recruit her, or if they couldn't, to fight her, gauge her abilities, and then suppress her.
They had to ensure that Beluke Province would forever grovel beneath Dongke Province.
Why?
Because Dongke Province had a Purple Blood expert, and Beluke did not.
After his sharp-tongued remark, Dongke Jin, who had been silent from the beginning and was ranked second in Dongke Academy, also Dongke Hetu's twin sister, raised her eyes and asked, "Was it this Xie Keli who just earned 900,000 points in twenty-something minutes?"
"No."
She put down her water cup, took off her glasses, and rubbed the bridge of her nose, saying calmly, "It's 1.7 million now."
"Our investigation was inadequate. That's our mistake. However, it seems that even people from your academy don't know him well enough. That's not good. Based on the frequency and amount of points he's acquiring, he's either in the Arcane Tower or the Strategy Tower."
"If it's the Arcane Tower, he must have cleared from the fifth to the ninth floor in under half an hour."
"He's currently on the tenth floor."
Her tone was mild. Her features were not as heroic and handsome as her brother's, but they were very striking, and her gentle temperament gave her a certain androgynous appeal.
The words of the second-ranked student carried a lot of weight. Not only did the people from Beluke fall silent, but there was also a dead silence on the Dongke side. Then, Chen Gou stroked his chin and said, "To grind so hard, is this Xie guy an excavator? Or is he a secret weapon that you Beluke people deliberately hid? Tsk, tsk, how insidious, even having him deliberately miss the second stage assessment."
Who, who was insidious?
The people from Beluke felt wronged to death, their expressions turning ugly.
Because Xie Keli's score had now backstabbed its way to fourth place in East Guan Academy.
Next up was a hostile takeover.
The third-ranked Carol Diel's expression was not good. She couldn't help but ask Wei Mingtang, "You knew he was this strong all along?"
Wei Mingtang really wanted to say she didn't know, but after a moment of silence, she stood up.
"No, but I do know he has always been worthy."
"And I allow him to reject me."
"Apologies, I need to go buy something. Please excuse me."
Since she knew Dongke Academy was targeting her, it was better to go for a stroll to avoid certain troubles.
And she really did need to buy something.
With Wei Mingtang gone, the atmosphere became a bit strange, as if the gunpowder had been removed and the fireworks couldn't go off.
But soon, they received information.
Xie Keli had come out of the Arcane Tower, looking battered and covered in blood.
It wasn't surprising. The tenth floor had a level 65 Orange Robe person. Currently, only one person from both provinces had passed the tenth floor.
Dongke Hetu's fingers drummed on the table. He withdrew his gaze from the departing Wei Mingtang and finally said calmly, "Wait for his Strategy Tower results."
Actually, they didn't have to wait.
The point ranking they were watching was skyrocketing.
Fourth floor, 80,000.
Fifth floor, 150,000.
Sixth floor, 240,000.
Seventh floor, 450,000.
His score shot up from 1.7 million to 2.62 million, first surpassing Carol Diel, then Zhao Ranxue, and finally closing in on Wei Mingtang.
Eighth floor!
Could he pass it?
It was unknown what the people from Dongke were thinking, or what the people from the other academies were thinking, but the people from East Guan basically guessed that he could.
"This old schemer's strategy has always been stronger than his talent and strength. Now that his strength has been raised to this level, how could he not pass the eighth floor of the Strategy Control Tower?"
It sounded like an insult, but from the perspective of the people from Dongke, this was not good news.
For a new student who had been enrolled for only a few months to produce a Wei Mingtang was troublesome enough. Now there was a Xie Keli too?
The geniuses from Dongke Province couldn't help but start discussing among themselves, and they all subconsciously glanced at the three from the Dongke Clan.
Dongke Hetu steepled his fingers, lost in thought.
He didn't quite understand where the problem with Xie Keli lay.
His genes and talent were what they were. How did he achieve such a terrifying breakthrough?
Resources?
The Xie Clan wouldn't provide resources, he had checked. Then was it Xie Siyi?
Or perhaps... he thought of Wei Mingtang and the initial alchemy points mentioned in Xie Keli's file.
Ah, there must have been an alchemy transaction between the two of them, and Xie Keli's rise indeed relied on his alchemy talent.
This talent was probably far superior to his inherited Demon Orchid talent.
In that sense, Xie Keli was more worthy of being recruited than Wei Mingtang.
But it still depended on what level this person could break through to.
Eighteen seconds later, even the teachers' side was in an uproar.
Strategy Tower, eighth floor, passed.
Points +800,000.
Total score: 3.42 million!
He had directly surpassed Flosius, becoming first in the third stage assessment of the four great academies of Beluke!
The deans' table was still a picture of elegance, but Sang Jiu's eyes held a hint of confusion. Her fingers moved, sending a message to a certain someone saved as "Psychopath": Did you give your cheap nephew special treatment late at night every day?
The person on the other end, who was usually busy and ignored people, must have just been looking at their communicator, because they replied instantly: Who are you?
Sang Jiu: "..."
Perhaps realizing who it was, Xie Siyi quickly sent another message.
It's you, Dean. Do intellectuals speak so erotically?
What was erotic? What did she say?
Wait.
Late at night... special treatment?
Sang Jiu was quickly speechless, her cool temperament seeming to be tinged with a bit of depression. Just as she was about to recover.
At the teachers' table, BANG!
The loud noise startled all eight deans.
Sang Jiu's hand trembled, and she turned to look woodenly.
Ye Suran had opened a bottle with one hand and planted a foot on a chair. "Come on, who dares to chug a bottle with me?! That's my student! Hahaha!"
"Tell me, isn't he awesome!"
"Just you watch, in a few days he'll soar to the heavens, a fiery tree and silver flowers, crackling and popping."
He's already soaring like this, what more soaring is there? To what heaven? Is he a firecracker?
The people from both provinces fell silent.
But thankfully, the score finally stopped moving...
"He's done with both towers. He can't go any higher. The tenth Arcane and ninth Strategy floors... if he can pass those and get another few hundred thousand points, I'll eat this table."
This was said by Chen Dao from South Chen Academy.
Then Carol Diel added lightly, "It seems there are still three towers left. Anyway, I've already been surpassed. We'll see who else is getting anxious. But on our province's side, it seems none of us need to worry anymore."
Chen Dao: "..."
Others: "..."
Flosius smiled, looking at the team opposite them.
They were the ones who should be anxious, right?
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