Chapter 79: Be More Sincere (2)
Before long, everyone put the incident behind them. It was no big deal. They merely had a couple of proctors that didn't get along with each other. People like Su Yu who were done with the test followed Old Xie to the next venue.
Wu Lan, who had not spoken a single word to Su Yu before, suddenly stopped walking. She waited until Su Yu was near before asking, "Are you trying to enter a war academy?"
"I'll decide after the exam."
Su Yu was confused. He didn't know this person, so he had no idea why she was talking to him. However, he remembered that she was one of those who were sizing him up outside the building earlier. Since this person was a willpower cultivator, she was probably here due to Bai Feng.
"If you don't intend to enter a war academy, there is no need to grab the spotlight here." Wu Lan solemnly advised, "The war academies and the cultural research academy have never got along well. It is completely unnecessary for you to perform so well in a war academy exam. If the cultural research academy found out what you did here..."
Su Yu blanked out slightly before smiling, "Will they actually create trouble for me just because of this?"
"You never know."
Su Yu laughed even harder, "Is the cultural research academy really so petty? They can't even accept a student doing well in an exam? If that's really the case, only a fool would enter the academy.
"If they're really that petty, there is no point joining such an academy. And if that's really the case, I'll definitely join a war academy instead.
"Is this real or is this your conjecture? If it's real, I'll advise you to not join the cultural research academy as well. Is an academy like this worth joining? We haven't even entered and someone has already turned hostile on us just because we’re performing too well in this exam? Has the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy fallen so low? That is completely different from the academy I imagined. It is rotten to the core. In my opinion, you should give up on joining it as well."
Wu Lan was momentarily speechless. After a while, she said, "No, that's not the case. I was trying to say that there is already a record of your profile in the academy. Because of that, some people there have developed an unfavorable opinion of you. In that case—"
"Are you one of them?"
"N-no!" Wu Lan's face turned cold and said, "I'm only here to take a look at Assistant Bai Feng's personal student. I am completely uninterested in being a personal student of that person."
Su Yu did not press on. He merely smiled and asked, "So were you telling the truth? If I perform well here, I'll offend some people in the academy?"
"I don't know. That was a guess, but it was an educated guess. With a good performance, some teachers will suggest that you join a war academy. For example, after getting a high-tier evaluation here, you will be offered to join a war academy. You will find the number of options available for you dropping."
"Why?"
"Proper talent distribution. With you out of the way, a slot for the cultural research academy will be opened. A lot of people are aware that Assistant Bai Feng has accepted you as a student. If you can't even get into the academy, he will be reduced to a joke.
"If you refuse the suggestion and insist on joining a cultural research academy, you will look like someone who doesn't even know yourself well. As an outstanding physical cultivator, why are you insisting on entering a cultural research academy? You will only reduce the opinion of all academies toward yourself."
"What if I can get an excellent result in the cultural research exam as well?"
Wu Lan looked at him with an odd expression, "Do you think that it's so easy to obtain a high-tier evaluation in the cultural research exam? I'll be frank. The war exam's high-tier evaluation is much easier to get. Here, luck will play a big role as well. But that is different for the cultural research exam. There, you can only rely on your ability."
"I think I'm quite capable." Su Yu did not bother trying to act humble. He seriously said, "I think I can do even better in an exam where luck plays no role."
"..."
Wu Lan felt tired talking to Su Yu. She decided to ignore him and walk away.
...
Shortly after, they arrived at the archery room.
Old Xie was still with them. In fact, he was already done with his part of the examination. The subsequent tests had nothing to do with him. However, he continued following them.
He said, "For this test, your strength and mental resilience will be challenged. The targets will be placed at three spots: 50 meters away, 100 meters away, and 300 meters away. The targets are all stationary. You will get 5 marks for hitting the center of the 50-meter target, 15 marks for hitting the center of the 100-meter target, and 30 marks for hitting the center of the 300-meter target. If you have been practicing your basics well, you can get at least 20 marks. Only the final 30 marks will pose some difficulty for you.
"You will get three attempts for each target. Even if you can't hit the center, you will still receive some marks for hitting the target. Your best out of three scores will be chosen as the result.
"In short, you get nine arrows. You need to hit the center at least three times to get full marks."
Old Xie looked at Su Yu and smiled, "Su Yu, do you get a lot of archery training here in Nanyuan?"
"Not really. We only practice once per week. Also, we only practice with 100-meter targets."
Su Yu was telling the truth. At Nanyuan, no archery training for a distance of 300 meters had ever been provided. That was pointless as third-stage Source Opening cultivators did not have enough arm strength to shoot that far.
Old Xie suddenly coughed, looking like he was holding back a laugh. Su Yu was confident the old man almost laughed. This shameless old man must be happy thinking that he no longer needed to reward Su Yu with the 10 merit points he promised.
Suddenly, someone called Su Yu. Not far away, Chen Hao was shouting in excitement, "Yu, you're here as well? Why are you so slow? I thought you'd finished earlier..."
Chen Hao ran over in excitement and said, "Why are you slower than me? Did you waste too much time on the hearing part?"
Su Yu thought for a bit and answered, "No. I was able to complete that test quickly. I think I got full marks for that. I also went to the test for the sixth and seventh-stage Source Opening Realm. I got 80 marks here. I then went to the riding test. I think I got 50 marks there. I must have taken two more tests than you, so I now have 130 more marks than you. That's only if you got the same marks as me in all the previous tests..."
Chen Hao slowed down as his face turned sullen. Su Yu had taken a few more tests than him? Just a moment ago, he had been feeling very excited to learn that he was actually faster than Su Yu. After all, he had been here for quite a while.
But it turned out that Su Yu's extra marks were probably already higher than his total marks. That was so unfair!
Su Yu smiled, "Have you done the archery test?"
"Nope." He gloomily said, "I just arrived not long ago."
"How did you do in your previous tests?"
"I think I'm going to pass the three basic compulsory tests?" Chen Hao was unsure. "Third-stage Source Opening cultivators need to do the smelling and tasting test, right? I think I got everything right there. You know me. I'm a foodie. I can determine what's in the liquid easily. As for the hearing test for fourth and fifth-stage Source Opening cultivators, I think I wrote the correct things down?"
Chen Hao added unconfidently, "I think so. Even the proctor praised me!"
"Really?" Su Yu found that hard to believe.
"Yes! The proctor said that even if there were any mistakes, he wouldn't be able to see them. Doesn't that mean that there were no mistakes?"
Su Yu thought for a bit and finally understood what the proctor meant. Wait, did Chen Hao take that as a praise?
The proctor was probably trying to say that Chen Hao's writing was too ugly. Even if there were wrong answers, the proctor wouldn't be able to see them since the writing was unreadable.
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. He nodded and said, "That's good to hear. So you haven't done the riding test? After doing the archery test, go do the riding test. They have a couple of big horses there. Don't be afraid and just ride one of them. If the horse refuses to listen, just start imagining yourself roasting and eating it. Even horses will bully cowards. Just don't show any fear."
"Alright."
Chen Hao had not seen the cloudrush horses yet so he was still nonchalant about it. He wasn't afraid of a big horse. He was a much more active student than Su Yu so he had been riding the horses in the school frequently.
While the two spoke, a proctor shouted, "You, come here. It's your turn. Are you skipping this test?"
Chen Hao hurriedly ran over. Meanwhile, Su Yu's group was still waiting in line.
Chen Hao had practiced archery for a much longer time than Su Yu. He did not like reading and would spend a lot of his time in the archery room. With a bow and arrow in hand, he unhesitatingly drew the bowstring and unleashed the arrow.
The arrow whistled through the air and struck the center of the 50-meter target. With his good eyesight, Su Yu was able to see the target clearly.
When Chen Hao was using a bow, he no longer looked like a silly and honest kid. Instead, he looked incomparably serious. Once again, he drew the bowstring and unleashed another whistling arrow. A hundred meters away, his arrow struck the center of the target.
Even Old Xie nodded and praised, "Slightly weak cultivation, but strong foundation."
As someone who had yet to open his eye acupoints, the target 300 meters away posed quite a challenge to Chen Hao. He drew his bowstrings and took aim. Even after a while, his arrow remained unreleased. Before long, he was sweating all over.
He was running out of stamina. However, he was still trying to determine the general direction of the center and study the wind movement. Although he was only a fifth-stage Source Opening cultivator, he had a good physical build. He was able to keep the bowstring drawn for a short time while still keeping his grip stable.
Su Yu could see the beads of sweat on Chen Hao's forehead. He started feeling nervous, worried that Chen Hao would tire himself too much here and affect his subsequent tests. Abruptly, the arrow whistled out and struck the distant target.
"Slight deviation from the center. Minus 10 marks."
Old Xie muttered to himself. Meanwhile, Su Yu was relieved. Chen Hao did pretty well. He had gotten 40 marks in the archery test. That was much better than Su Yu had imagined. Chen Hao was not vexed. Rather, he looked rather excited. When he looked at Su Yu again, he had a wide smile on his face. He had not expected himself to hit the final target. Thus, the 20 extra marks were basically free marks for him.