Chapter 84: Unreasonable (2)
Outside the examination building.
The moment Wu Lan walked out the door, a few students from the capital rushed over. One of them hurriedly asked, "Wu Lan, how's Su Yu in practical combat?"
"He did okay."
"He reached the ninth-stage?"
"He relied on source qi liquid. What's the big deal about that?" Wu Lan answered impatiently. Why were they bothering her with all these questions?
"So will he be taking the cultural research exam in the afternoon?"
"What do you think?" Wu Lan finally lost her temper, "If he's not taking the exam, is he going to have you take the exam for him? You guys will only get middle-low evaluations from the exam. Why are you asking about him? That's his business, not yours."
Her outburst caused their expressions to change. She couldn't be bothered to say more and walked away.
The moment she left, one of them complained, "She's only a high-tier student thanks to the backing of the Wu Family. What's the big deal?"
"That's right!"
"You can't say that. Both her and her elder sister stand out even among the other Wu Family youngsters..."
"..."
While they were conversing among themselves, Su Yu walked out with bruises on his face. They were relieved to see his appearance. From the looks of it, he must have performed badly in the examination. Then again, he was still worthy of respect for reaching the ninth-stage.
"I doubt he'll have the energy to take part in the next exam. Look, his arm is swelling. I wonder if he can even get through the language test for the next exam."
"If he gets a bad result in the cultural research exam, he might enter a war academy instead. In that case, would Assistant Bai accept a new student from Nanyuan?"
The more they spoke, the more excited they got. They were looking forward to see Su Yu get a bad result and for Bai Feng to accept a different student.
One of them softly said, "That's probably Wu Lan's plan as well. She will have a good result. Should we..."
"Don't worry. Wu Lan is insufferably arrogant. Just provoke her with some words. At that time, even if Assistant Bai accepts her, she will say no."
They all nodded in agreement. That was right. Wu Lan wasn't stupid, but she had a bad temper. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come this far to take the examination. With her ability, she would still be among the best even if she took the examination in the capital. They only needed to use words to trigger her bad temper and she would most likely refuse to become Bai Feng's student even if she was given the opportunity.
…
Su Yu ignored the group of guest students. He did notice them, but he really didn't care about them. After all, he did not even care about Wu Lan, so these people were even more inconsequential for him. He was too busy feeling happy with himself.
"Twenty merit points, three drops of source qi liquid, and the additional reward from the government. If I can place first at the cultural research exam as well, I can even get an original Great Strength cultivation method as a reward..."
He was in a great mood. It hadn't been too difficult for him to place first in the war academy examination. Of course, that was mostly due to how small Nanyuan was. He only cared about his rewards. Nothing else mattered.
"I wonder if the cultural research exam will be this troublesome as well..."
The previous examination had been rather annoying to take. He was worried that the next examination would be the same. Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating that the morning examination was officially over.
Some students left with sour faces while some left with wide smiles. At first, Su Yu didn't see Chen Hao anywhere. However, it didn't take him long to find that fellow. Or to be precise, Chen Hao was the one who was looking for him.
That fellow was standing on a tall stage while shouting, "Yu, I'm here. Are you still here? Come here! The exam is over!"
"..."
Su Yu's face twitched. He didn't want to go there. But that fellow was shouting over there. If he didn't show up, he had no idea how long Chen Hao would keep shouting. Before long, he dragged Chen Hao off the stage.
Chen Hao was completely unbothered by the fact that he was making a big scene. Grinning ear to ear, he said, "Yu, I did well in the exam. But you were wrong about one thing. Those horses you mentioned are not only big. They're super big."
"I nearly pissed myself when I saw them. Good thing I remembered your words and gave the big horse a punch. It immediately became obedient. Hehe...that worked wonderfully. But the proctor insisted on deducting 10 of my marks. He even warned me that if I hit the horse again, I'll be kicked out."
Su Yu hurriedly asked, "Did he really kick you out?"
"Nope." Chen Hao smiled, "I'm not stupid. Before hitting the horse, I asked for permission. The proctor said that if I'm not afraid of death, I can do it. So I did it..."
"You really did it?" Su Yu was speechless. This fellow was only at the fifth-stage. Was he not afraid that the horse would rage and stomp him to death?
"So you got 40 marks from that test?"
"Yeah."
"Not bad." Su Yu nodded, "How about the language test? Can you pass the three languages you know?"
"I think so?"
"Then you'll have 30 marks there. You also have 40 marks from archery, 30 marks from your bonus, and 40 marks from riding. How about your practical combat?"
Chen Hao's smile grew wider as he said, "That was too easy. We only need to run up to the dummy and hit it with our saber. You will receive a score based on the mark you left. The mark I left was quite deep. I got 20 marks there."
"I thought you could get 100 marks at the practical combat test? You only got 20?"
Chen Hao rolled his eyes. "Those marks are not for people like us. Only those at the eighth-stage and above can get them. People like us will appreciate every single mark we get. I'm happy with my 20 marks. That Zhou Chong fellow only got 10 marks there. He's a fifth-stage Source Opening cultivator as well. How useless."
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. It would seem like his buddy was really viewing Zhou Chong as a rival.
"Then you'll have 160 marks from all that. The tests for your first five stages have 90 marks to offer as well. You only need around 20 or 30 marks there and you'll have enough to join an academy."
"How can I get so little marks? I got all of them right!"
Chen Hao argued, "I can get at least 50 or 60 marks for the hearing test! As for the smell and taste test, that's like a freebie for me! I can get at least 80 marks from those tests!"
Su Yu felt like this fellow really needed to know himself better. Could he really get 50 marks from the hearing test? Su Yu suspected that Chen Hao wouldn't get more than 30 marks. Nevertheless, Su Yu was still confident that Chen Hao could get at least 200 marks from all the tests. But without more bonus marks, it would still be somewhat difficult for him to get into an academy.
Su Yu sighed inwardly. Chen Hao actually did quite well for himself. He had done decently for all the tests he had taken part in. If even someone like Chen Hao was barely getting 200 marks, others would have an even harder time here.
Each year, very few Nanyuan students could get more than 200 marks. It was no wonder that all those people from the capital looked down on them. Some of the guest students from the capital could even get more than 800 marks. The gap between them was too big.
Meanwhile, Chen Hao couldn't even get all of the 90 marks available for fifth-stage Source Opening cultivators. It was no wonder that in the past years, even fifth-stage Source Opening cultivators had failed their entrance examinations.
"We'll talk later. My arm is still hurting. I hope it won't affect me during my next exam..."
Chen Hao looked at Su Yu with pity, "I don't need to take the afternoon exam. My father told me to take the internal affairs exam tomorrow instead. But I really can't be bothered to do that. I've already passed this exam. Based on my calculation, I can get at least 240 marks for the war academy exam."
Su Yu's mouth twitched. Chen Hao was making his calculation on the assumption that he would get at least 80 marks in the tests for the first five stages of the Source Opening Realm. But he was too confident. He would definitely start crying if they gave him zero marks in the hearing test instead.
"By the way, how many marks did you get in the exam, Yu?"
"My marks aren't that high."
"Do you have at least 300 marks?"
"You're bad at math. I think you can hire a tutor to brush your math up."
Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to answer the question.
"So how many marks did you get?"
"Not a lot. Only about 600 marks. If I can split my marks up, I probably have enough to pass three entrance exams."
"..."
Chen Hao was regretting asking the question. How stupid was he to ask that question? He got 600 marks? Was he still a human? Was it even possible for a human to get that many marks? He must be lying! Chen Hao refused to believe him.
"Yu, even if you get 600 marks, it's pointless. You’re still going to join an academy like the rest of us. All those marks are wasted."
While walking with his head lowered, Su Yu said, "Yeah, they sure are wasted. I only got dozens of merit points and several drops of source qi liquid out of my extra marks. They also offered 100 merit points if I join their academy. I think I can push that to 200 merit points or more now. Yeah, all that is nothing."
Now, it was Chen Hao's turn to walk with his head lowered. He decided to ignore Su Yu for three days. He wouldn't say a single word to Su Yu during that time. This buddy of his kept shattering his confidence.
But merely two minutes later, Chen Hao completely forgot his vow and said, "Yu, I'm hungry. I'm not going to your place today. I'm going back to eat. Are you coming?"
"No."
"Why don't we eat out then? Can you buy me a meal after earning that much?"
"I don't have any money. I thought your family sold a house recently? You must have gotten even more pocket money. Buy me a meal or I'll tell your father that the examination is free this time. You scammed over 1,000 dollars from your father claiming that you need to pay for the examination."
Chen Hao protested, "I didn't! My father knew that! I already got my ass whooped for that! That money is my medical fees!"
Su Yu nodded. He had completely forgotten about that. "Then you'll buy a meal to celebrate your entry into a war academy."
"Fine..."
Chen Hao found that agreeable. He really deserved a celebration for his amazing performance in the examination. Su Yu merely sighed. He wondered if this honest fellow would end up getting all his money scammed after entering the academy. But he would probably be fine. This fellow would definitely not hold back and beat up anyone trying to scam him as long as he was strong enough to do it.
"Cultural research academy..."
Su Yu muttered. High-high evaluation? Wu Lan claimed that she could get a high-high evaluation. How about him? It would be too embarrassing if he did worse than her.
"Forget it. I'll take the exam first."
Su Yu stopped worrying about Wu Lan. Even if she really did better than him, he wasn't so narrow-minded that he would take it to heart. At most, he would have his revenge by scamming that woman a couple of times in the academy. That woman looked quite stupid. It should be quite easy for him to scam her.