Chapter 97: End of the Examination (1)
Outside the examination building. Both Su Yu and Wu Lan walked out with sad expressions. The students waiting outside were stunned. What was up with these two? Did both of them fail the test?
That wasn't right. These two had lasted until the very end. Some of these students remembered how these two had already walked very far ahead when they were eliminated from the test. Why did they look so sad?
Did Wu Lan place first? But why did she have such an expression? Did Su Yu place first? That didn't seem to be the case either. He was listless and pale with disappointment plastered all over his face. He looked like someone who had just lost hundreds of millions of dollars, not someone who had placed first in the examination.
All the students were confused. Zhou Tianqi, who was also waiting for the results, was confused as well. What was going on with those two? He had performed decently in the examination. After the three tests, he had obtained 470 marks in total. As for bonus marks from additional merit points, he didn't have any.
There were a lot of geniuses in the capital. Only those at the Mental Tempering Stage like Wu Lan would be able to get additional merit points. Zhou Tianqi was not at that level yet. And if he was actually at the Mental Tempering Stage, he wouldn't have taken the examination in Nanyuan.
With his score, he could get a middle-middle evaluation. Although he couldn't get a high-tier evaluation, a middle-tier evaluation was still pretty good. In fact, if he was lucky, he could have gotten a middle-high evaluation.
Generally, only those with complete Divine Characters could get a high-tier evaluation. His Divine Character was incomplete, so he was clearly not at that level yet.
Zhou Tianqi looked at the two in suspicion. He was the last student to leave before those two. When he left, the two were already very far ahead. But at that time, Su Yu was still behind Wu Lan. Logically, Wu Lan would be the one to place first.
But what was up with Wu Lan's expression? The crowd were getting uncomfortably curious, but they didn't know who to ask. Wu Lan had a bad temper while they didn't know Su Yu well. Very few of the students waiting outside were locals. Even Liu Yue was actually not that close to Su Yu, so it would be quite awkward for her to approach him and ask the question.
As the two ignored the crowd and continued walking away, one of the students couldn't hold back anymore and asked, "Su Yu, how did you do?"
That student did not dare to ask Wu Lan as she looked incredibly sad. From her expression, she looked like she would go crazy against anyone daring to talk to her. That was a terrifying prospect. In comparison, Su Yu looked much easier to approach.
"Not bad." Su Yu gave a short reply.
"Not bad?" That person was speechless. Su Yu was someone who was already a high-tier student even without the third test. And he said that his result was only "not bad"?
Su Yu did not say much. It wasn't like he would get more merit points if he talked to these students. In that case, why bother?
Someone else answered on his behalf. Wu Lan had finally recovered from her stupor. Looking at Su Yu, her face was filled with grief and indignation as she yelled, "Su Yu! I might have lost this time, but I will win next time! I'm returning to the capital. I'll be waiting for you at the academy!"
"..."
She then stomped away. She basically looked like someone who was stomping off in anger after being bullied. Su Yu told himself that he needed to get used to this. This idiot seemed to enjoy saying these words like someone with an eighth-grade syndrome. He only needed to get used to her.
On the other hand, all the other students were stunned. Su Yu won? That made zero sense! Previously, Wu Lan was still leading in total score. How did Su Yu surpass her? What happened after they left?
Zhou Tianqi's expression changed. Wu Lan was at the Mental Tempering Stage. She also had a complete Divine Character. But even someone like her had been defeated by Su Yu. What did that mean?
A completed Divine Character that was also extremely powerful. At the very least, it must be more powerful than Wu Lan's. Otherwise, Su Yu wouldn't have been able to win.
"Is this really the performance of someone with 20 percent willpower?"
Zhou Tianqi was having a hard time processing this. Someone with Su Yu's background could be considered a super genius even with only an incomplete Divine Character. How did he complete a Divine Character that was even more powerful than Wu Lan's?
And when he recalled Su Yu's threat earlier. His head started aching. He had a little bit of background, but his background was nothing before the academy. He had provoked a high-tier genius, or to be precise, a high-high genius before even joining the academy.
Wu Lan was most definitely a high-high student. Since Su Yu had won against Wu Lan, there was no doubt that he was a high-high student as well. How was he going to survive the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy after provoking a genius like this?
"Will he join the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy?"
Zhou Tianqi couldn't answer that question. But he had decided that if Su Yu was really joining the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, he would be joining the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy instead. He would not stay in the same academy as this fellow.
In truth, he felt somewhat aggrieved. He hadn't even done anything much. He had only spoken a few words of praise toward Su Yu. He was even speaking the truth! He had merely chosen the wrong venue to say those words.
But Su Yu seemed like someone who would hold his grudge for a very long time. Zhou Tianqi cursed inwardly. How unlucky. What should he do now that he had attracted the hostility of so many people?
Bureau Head Sun, Su Yu, Wu Lan, the students who were in his group earlier, and even some people in his family. The more Zhou Tianqi thought about it, the more gloomy he felt. The entire thing felt incredibly unfair.
...
"Su Yu placed first?"
It was then that the students finally reacted to Wu Lan's words. All of them were in disbelief. Su Yu had won against Wu Lan, a genius from the capital? A miracle had appeared in Nanyuan! Su Yu was not in the mood to care about what these people think. He was very tired and he only wanted to go back and get a good sleep.
...
At the same time.
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
"Su Yu placed first? High-high evaluation?"
Bai Feng was dumbfounded when he received the news. What was going on?
He had been paying close attention to Su Yu.
A single Divine Character and a 20 percent full willpower. Someone like him wouldn't get more than 150 marks from the third test. If he could get 100 marks from his merit points, 200 marks from his language test, and probably 250 marks from his cultivation test, he would only get around 700 marks in total. The remaining 100 marks weren't so easy to obtain.
"How?"
Seated on his couch, Bai Feng sank into thought. He was not surprised that Su Yu could distinguish himself in the examination. In fact, his opinion on Su Yu would have dropped if Su Yu hadn't been able to stand out during the examination.
But now, Su Yu had exceeded his expectations, earning 100 more marks than he had expected. That was a complete surprise for him. Did he get extra marks from the cultivation test? He did place first in the war academy exam. It was either the cultivation test or the third test.
"But the third test is related to Divine Character and willpower..." Bai Feng's mouth twitched. "He couldn't have formed another Divine Character, right?"
He recalled how Su Yu had formed his first Divine Character from the first willpower text he saw. If he could do it once, could he do it twice?
"Did martial uncle show him another willpower text?"
Bai Feng was rather confident that his guess was correct. And the more he thought, the more troubled he felt. When he left Nanyuan, he had thought that Su Yu would focus on nourishing the single Divine Character he had formed. But now, it was very likely that Su Yu had already formed his second Divine Character. Was that good? Not necessarily.
"With too many Divine Characters, you might not be able to nurture them all. The burden might be too much for you to bear..."
Bai Feng frowned. Sure, he was pleasantly surprised to hear that Su Yu had formed two Divine Characters. But that might not be good for Su Yu.
"Martial Uncle is being too rash!"
If Liu Wenyan knew that Bai Feng was laying the blame on him, he would probably be complaining about injustice. He had given Su Yu a martial technique in the form of a willpower text, but he had not done so with the intention of letting this fellow form another Divine Character. This kid was the one who was too terrifying. He had actually formed a new Divine Character right after reading the willpower text. Liu Wenyan definitely couldn't be blamed here.
"But even with two Divine Characters to grow, that kid's willpower is still growing. That means two Divine Characters are still within his limit..."
.
Bai Feng was relieved. But his face sank again. High-high evaluation. Things would get troublesome! If he guessed correctly, Su Yu's information would have appeared before many researchers by now.
He took his communicator out and dialed a number. When he connected, he hurriedly said, "Spread news that Su Yu has only obtained a high-high evaluation due to my heartfelt efforts. Tell everyone that I gave dozens of willpower texts to him. Anyone trying to steal this student from me will have to compensate me for my expenses."
"..."
The other party sank into a short silence before saying, "Bai Feng, will anyone believe you?"
"I don't care. Just spread it." Bai Feng gloomily said, "I'm very surprised that the kid has managed to get a high-high evaluation as well. I did not expect him to reach the ninth-stage Source Opening Realm so fast. Neither have I expected him to get a high-high evaluation. The last time I saw him, even a high-tier evaluation was far from his reach. I was expecting a middle-high evaluation. That will be much less flashy than a high-tier evaluation. But now, my plan to grow a genius in secret is ruined."
He was feeling very gloomy.
"Did you instigate Teacher to leave because of this Su Yu?"
The person on the line asked suspiciously.
"Nonsense!" Bai Feng denied. "At that time, Su Yu was still an ordinary student. Why would I instigate Teacher to leave because of him? Stop wasting time. Go spread the news."
"You!" The other person helplessly said, "Su Yu has the right to choose whether he wants to follow you. Furthermore, it's not like you lack high-high students. If you want one, you can easily get one. What's the rush?"
Regular assistant researchers naturally didn't have the ability to do so. But Bai Feng was a genius assistant researcher. Things were different for him. He was a seventh-stage Skysoar cultivator in his twenties. In fact, his status was similar to an older intermediate researcher in the academy. The academy placed even more importance on him than some regular Cloudbreach cultivators.