Chapter 202: Chapter 188: The Treatment for a Student with Guaranteed Admission

"He won?"

"Chen Che won!"

Outside the examination grounds, everyone’s expression changed in unison.

Their eyes widened in disbelief as they stared at the young man standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He was the only one left on the entire Stone Peak. Hua Feng was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of the other examinees. If this wasn’t victory, what was?

After a brief silence, a deafening roar of cheers erupted.

"How is that possible?"

Qiu Beixuan stumbled back several steps, but the trace of regret and disappointment in his heart vanished completely. At the same time, he convinced himself, ’Even Hua Feng lost to him. It’s no disgrace for me to be defeated by him!’

Li Xiaoshuang stood in the crowd.

His eyes suddenly welled up with tears. ’This is my student! I actually taught such an outstanding student!’

To reward himself, he decided he would get foot massages for three straight days in the Capital City!

...

In this modern information age, the news of the battle had barely concluded before it spread like lightning throughout the Immortal Sects.

"Hm?"

Yan Jun, who was substituting for a class, glanced at a message on his phone.

He froze on the spot at the podium.

Then, his lips trembled and his face flushed red.

’Teacher Yan is about to have a cultivation deviation...’

Just as this thought surfaced in Huang Zhongfei’s mind, Yan Jun took a deep breath, held up his phone, and read aloud, "Chen Che has defeated Hua Feng, second on the Celestial Ranking, and eliminated all other examinees to become the first student to qualify in this year’s Immortal Sect competition!"

"Holy shit, Old Chen is awesome!"

The classroom fell silent for a moment. Lin Yi, after a brief pause, tossed his book high into the air.

"Old Chen is awesome!"

Qi Fengzhu followed suit, throwing his book as well.

"Awesome!"

Cheers erupted, echoing throughout the campus.

Six Continents was just a small place. A student getting into one of the Four Greats in any given year was enough to cause a stir on the streets and in the neighborhoods.

Let alone a student who had now passed the final Immortal Sect competition!

...

’This... should count as my win, right?’

He scanned his surroundings with his Divine Sense.

There was no one else left on the stone platform. Not just Hua Feng, but the other examinees had also been caught up in their battle, and now not a single one remained.

’My guaranteed admission is secure! The Tier Four Technique is secure too!’

Chen Che sat down cross-legged. Since no one was left to challenge him, he had definitely qualified. He glanced at the other nine stone platforms. To be honest, even with his qualification secured, he had still wanted to fight Ye Zhihan.

’What a pity...’

He had heard that in the early years of Zhurong Daoist School’s founding, they also used discourse on the Dao as an examination topic.

But because there were fewer examinees back then, everyone competed in a single arena until only one person was left standing. As the number of examinees grew, however, it was changed to the current format.

Although,

the number of students with guaranteed admission had increased, the clash between the strongest of the current generation was gone.

"Ninth examination area, Chen Che, has qualified!"

At the same time, Li Tingyu’s voice echoed from mid-air, "The examination is over. Will the student please leave the field..."

The moment her voice fell,

Chen Che’s vision blurred, and he was forcibly ejected from the Heaven-Filling Map.

He glanced back at the Heaven-Filling Map in the sky.

The competition had already resumed.

The students in the other examination areas seemed to have been infected by the atmosphere of the fierce battle between Chen Che and Hua Feng. Their fights grew more intense, even taking on a ruthless edge.

After all,

if Chen Che could defeat a stronger opponent, they wanted to try as well, to fight for that sliver of a chance.

But reality was cruel.

When you were outmatched by your opponent in every way, how could you possibly win against the odds?

"Chen Che."

He ran into Hua Feng on the path. He was standing there, seemingly waiting for him.

"Congratulations on qualifying..."

Hua Feng walked up and shook his hand. "I never expected to meet an opponent like you. You’re very strong!"

Chen Che exchanged some pleasantries with him. "...You’re very powerful too. I had to use almost all my strength in that fight."

Of course,

’using almost all his strength’ did not include his Sword Pill.

Some of the examinees from the Ninth Stone Peak had already left, while others remained where they were, a mix of joy and sorrow on their faces. Seeing Chen Che only made their hearts turn sour.

However,

once they walked out of the Daoist School, that trace of sourness immediately turned into envy.

"Student Chen Che, as the first examinee to qualify in the Immortal Sect competition, could you please give us a victory speech! You’ve now defeated Hua Feng, the second-ranked on the Celestial Ranking, and many are putting you on par with Ye Zhihan. What are your thoughts on this?"

He had just stepped out of the Daoist School when a reporter rushed forward, nearly shoving a microphone into his mouth.

But before the reporter could finish, they were pushed aside as countless others swarmed in, microphones in hand:

"Student Chen Che, please give us your assessment of Hua Feng..."

"Student Chen Che..."

Nearly a hundred people swarmed around him with a WHOOSH, making quite a commotion. They had the air of not letting him leave until he said something. As for the other students, they were completely ignored.

Li Xiaoshuang was off to the side, nodding and signaling for him to say a few words.

"AHEM!"

Chen Che took a handful of microphones and cleared his throat.

"I’d like to thank the Immortal Sect, Zhurong Daoist School, and my alma mater, Six Continents First Middle School. They are the ones who nurtured me and gave me this opportunity to prove myself in the Immortal Sect competition. Of course, I also want to thank my homeroom teacher, Li Xiaoshuang..."

To sum it up, he thanked everyone, stating that without them, he wouldn’t be where he was today.

’This kid really knows what he’s doing!’

A smug grin spread across Old Li’s face; he hadn’t taught Chen Che to say any of that.

’With words like these, it won’t be long before I become the dean of students.’

PHEW!

Chen Che was exhilarated. He spoke eloquently for a full ten minutes before finally stopping.

He had just handed back the microphones,

when a cry came from behind him.

He glanced back and saw a scene from the examination grounds displayed on a painted scroll: Ye Zhihan stood on the arena platform, one man and one sword, with no one else in sight.

"Third examination area, Ye Zhihan, has qualified!"

"The examination is over. Will the student please leave the field..."

...

With three and a half days left in the competition, Huo Zhentang became the third student to qualify.

However,

the other examinees didn’t possess the same terrifying dominance as those three. The closer it got to the end, the more deadlocked the battles became.

Every student who made it this far seemed incredibly strong, and in truth, they were already the elite of their respective provinces and cities. Ding Dawei also arrived the day before the end, because Chen Che still had to participate in the alchemy competition.

It wasn’t uncommon for students like him to participate in two different competitions.

For example, Hua Feng:

had already qualified back in the Array competition at the end of September. So even though he was eliminated by Chen Che in this contest, his guaranteed admission to Rushou Daoist School was still secure.

Zong Yudao, on the other hand, was eliminated on the final day.

He cried his heart out. He and one other examinee were the only ones left in the entire examination area. And that other examinee was mutually wounded from a fight with a previous Foundation Establishment cultivator, with less than thirty percent of their strength remaining. But in the end, he still couldn’t beat them and was kicked off the stone platform instead...

’No matter how good your luck is, it’s still just one part of your strength. If he’d been at the Seventh or Eighth Layer, he might have actually advanced.’

Chen Che mumbled to himself, then patted the other’s shoulder and consoled him:

"With your Realm, managing to ’survive’ your way to second place is an unprecedented achievement!"

Zong Yudao sniffled, sucking his snot back up.

"Really?"

"Truer than a pearl!"

...

During the alchemy competition, Chen Che ran into quite a few familiar faces.

Qiu Beixuan was one of them.

When the two shook hands, Qiu Beixuan’s teacher remarked from the side, "Student Chen Che has astonished everyone with his success. Qiu Beixuan, you should learn from his strengths."

It wasn’t that he was being snobbish.

Competitions were all about strength. If Chen Che had only managed to defeat Qiu Beixuan after a grueling struggle, the latter would certainly not have accepted the loss. But since he defeated Hua Feng under the watchful eyes of the public, he had naturally earned their wholehearted respect.

The alchemy competition lasted for seven days.

The final major question was even a Tier Three Elixir. Chen Che studied it for a full two days but still couldn’t figure it out. Yet, four people in the examination hall managed to refine it.

"You already did great! You solved nine out of the ten major questions, which is better than most!"

After the competition, Ding Dawei was still full of praise.

Six Continents was just a small city. It was already a great feat for Chen Che to have made it out of the practical combat competition. Let alone making it to the finals, how could he hope for too much?

"I didn’t manage to refine the Tier Three Elixir..."

Chen Che shook his head, feeling genuinely regretful.

However, he had never encountered a pill of this level before; the highest he had ever refined was the Tier Two High Grade Dragon Fish Pill. It was simply too difficult to create something from nothing without any prior experience.

"You only started learning alchemy in high school! Which of those other examinees hasn’t been trained since childhood? Some of their families were major alchemy clans even before the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall!"

Ding Dawei was very satisfied, yet his voice also carried a hint of expectation:

"At your level, refining a Tier Three Elixir is just a matter of time. Besides, the quality of your first nine pills was excellent. You have at least a ninety percent chance of qualifying!"

...

Chen Che had arrived on a commercial airplane.

On the way back, he rode a Golden Core Realm Clear Wind Immortal Crane, with Foundation Establishment-level flying beasts clearing the path ahead. When they reached Six Continents, the Clear Wind Immortal Crane even unfurled a banner that read, "Celebrating Our School’s Chen Che on His Guaranteed Admission to the Four Great Daoist Schools," and circled once over the entire city.

There was even a flock of ten thousand birds flying in formation.

’How many foot massages could you get with all this funding?’

Old Li’s eyes turned red with envy.

When they finally landed at the school, not only was the principal there to welcome him personally, but so were leaders from the Immortal Sect’s education bureau. That evening, he was invited to a feast at the Six Continents Hotel.

Chen Che found it strange.

’One student with guaranteed admission isn’t worth such a grand reception, is it?’

"What do you know?"

Li Xiaoshuang patted his prize student on the shoulder. "To them, this is a political achievement. Besides, students with guaranteed admission to the Daoist Schools are basically the future pillars of the Immortal Sects. If you take a position in the Immortal Sects after graduation, you might even be their superior."

"When will my acceptance letter arrive?"

What Chen Che cared about most was that Tier Four Technique.

"What’s the rush? It won’t be until next June or July at the earliest. Besides, you can’t go to school even if you get the letter... Never mind, Xiaozhao is calling me for a foot massage. You, you can’t come. You’re still a student, you’re not allowed!"

Old Li shook his head emphatically.

After speaking, he and the principal drunkenly stepped onto a Flying Sword and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The streets and alleys were even more bustling.

People he knew and people he didn’t all came up to greet him.

Wu Neng had changed his sign again, this time to: [Master Wu’s Locksmith: Strongly recommended by Chen Che, student with guaranteed admission to the Four Great Daoist Schools].

Everywhere he looked along the way, he saw signs like ’Chen Che’s Favorite Bun Shop’ and ’The Second-hand Pill Furnace Store Chen Che Frequents’... Seeing his name all over the entire street, Chen Che couldn’t help but feel that something was off.

’Have I become a celebrity?’

The property management company was even more extravagant, waiving his property fees for the next fifty years. He heard from the property manager that the housing prices in their residential complex had risen by twenty percent.

...

After declining numerous media invitations and resting at home for a few days, he finally returned to Yunzhou.

While he had been competing, the Market had held an auction. He was a little curious about the results, but he hadn’t expected that upon his return to Jinyun Valley, Rong Zhongxuan would bring him some bad news.