Chapter 44: Susu

Five hours passed quickly.

Inside the cultivation chamber.

Jiang Jian opened his eyes; invisible energy surged around him.

The Shenque energy formed a self-sustaining cycle, extremely stable.

“Cultivation is not something achieved overnight.”

“It requires steady, persistent effort.”

Jiang Jian exhaled and stood up.

The chamber door was half-open.

The teaching assistant walked in, smiling: “Jiang Jian, your time is up.”

Jiang Jian nodded: “I know.”

Each department’s lead instructor carries several teaching assistants.

The status of teaching assistants is not low.

Because during cultivation classes, assistants often train alongside students.

Thus, the position of teaching assistant is very important.

It has even become indispensable.

Jiang Jian stepped out of the cultivation chamber.

Not far ahead, a glowing orb floated in midair.

“Please extend your hand and place it on the Spirit Array Tester.”

The assistant smiled, “Just a slight surge of spirit energy is enough.”

Jiang Jian stepped forward, extended his hand into the orb, and activated the Jing Ling Zhen Fa.

A thread of spirit energy drifted out.

Beneath the orb, a delicate mechanical spirit array was connected.

The instant the spirit energy appeared,

the mechanical spirit array activated immediately.

Light interwove.

A few seconds later,

a cold voice emanated from the mechanical spirit array.

“Cultivation Progress Test: Duration 5 hours.”

“Pre-test spirit energy cap: approximately 5% of Divine Bestowal Realm.”

“Post-test spirit energy cap: approximately 5% of Divine Bestowal Realm.”

“Estimating improvement score…”

“Estimation successful!”

“Score: 83.”

Upon hearing the test result, Jiang Jian’s expression remained calm.

The spirit energy cap rises slowly.

This is common knowledge.

This mechanical spirit array, capable of detecting minute increases in spirit energy cap through energy fluctuations, is already remarkably precise.

A few meters away,

Liu Tiezhu heard the voice and his eyes lit up.

He strode over and extended his hand.

“Jiang Jian, hello.”

Jiang Jian paused, then reached out and lightly shook his hand: “Hello.”

Liu Tiezhu spoke gently, with goodwill: “My test score is 79—slightly lower than yours.”

Jiang Jian said: “That gap is negligible, almost insignificant.”

“Besides, my innate talent is Shu.”

Shu, whether in cultivation speed or foundational strength,

is slightly superior to the other five Divine Bestowal types.

Liu Tiezhu lifted his wrist and activated his identity device: “I live in Fourfold Jiangcheng, a local student from Linjiang Province—I’m fairly familiar with this place.”

“Locking yourself away won’t yield results.”

“Jiang Jian, if you have cultivation questions, let’s exchange communications and share insights.”

Jiang Jian replied: “Alright.”

They exchanged identity device information.

The two stood aside, watching others’ score tests.

The other students had begun exiting the chambers one by one.

Suddenly,

Liu Tiezhu leaned closer, lowering his voice: “Shi Luohua’s score is low.”

Jiang Jian raised an eyebrow and turned his head.

Dozens of meters away,

a girl with a ponytail stood alone, still scrolling through her identity device.

She had not enabled privacy mode.

Faintly, the sound of a soap opera could be heard.

Liu Tiezhu’s expression was peculiar: “She spent five full hours—not cultivating, but watching dramas.”

Here,

he extended his hand toward the testing mechanical spirit array: “I came out early—I heard her score. I couldn’t believe it!”

Jiang Jian turned his gaze away and fell silent.

He did not ask what Shi Luohua’s score was.

Liu Tiezhu had no intention of telling him.

His expression, however, was deeply odd.

Soon,

Shi Xuan stepped out of the cultivation chamber, eyes gleaming with excitement, stopping before the testing array.

“Cultivation Progress Test: Duration 5 hours.”

“Pre-test spirit energy cap: approximately 1% of Divine Bestowal Realm.”

“Post-test spirit energy cap: approximately 1% of Divine Bestowal Realm.”

“Estimating improvement score…”

“Estimation successful!”

“Score: 75.”

Upon hearing the score,

Shi Xuan’s smile widened as he glanced around.

He strode toward Jiang Jian.

“Jiang Jian, I got 75!”

As Shi Xuan spoke, spirit energy leaked from his body.

Clearly,

his control over spirit energy was imprecise.

Jiang Jian nodded: “That’s already quite high.”

Liu Tiezhu also nodded in approval: “Your cultivation speed isn’t slow—you’ll likely rank in the top ten!”

“I hope so!”

Shi Xuan grinned, “I never expected that using Spirit Energy to Form a Gang would boost cultivation so fast!”

As he spoke,

fifty new students emerged from the chambers in sequence for testing.

On the massive aerial vessel,

“Just what is going on with the Shi family’s eldest daughter?”

Zhang Jian stood at the hatch, gazing down at the students and assistants below, speaking in a low tone.

Beside him, an assistant stepped forward and whispered: “From my observations, she seems to have her own cultivation plan.”

Zhang Jian snorted: “Arrogant due to her talent, stubborn in her ways—she’ll pay for it someday!”

“A Level 4 Divine Bestowal is indeed impressive.”

The assistant smiled: “But to you, my lord, it’s nothing.”

“You’ve trained far too many Level 4 talents.”

“Still,”

“this year’s new students are abysmal.”

“Out of 1,800, she’s the only one with a Level 4 talent.”

"It's only natural to become arrogant."

Speaking of which,

The teaching assistant smiled with a look of recollection. "I remember one year, when you first became head of the department."

"That cohort of freshmen had fewer than ten students who broke through to Level 4 talent."

"In the seventeen prefectures of Linjiang, prodigies gathered!"

"This young lady of the Shi family."

"If she had been in that cohort,"

The teaching assistant chuckled. "She wouldn’t even have been able to keep up with the tail end of the convoy!"

As they spoke,

The fifty freshmen had completed their tests!

Zhang Jian adjusted his expression, then leapt down directly.

Dust scattered in all directions.

The freshmen of the First Academy all turned to look.

Zhang Jian walked up to the test spirit array and said solemnly: "The tests are complete. Rankings will now begin!"

The mechanical spirit array surged with streams of light, revealing a luminous screen.

On the semi-transparent screen,

Fifty names gradually became clear, from top to bottom.

"Number One: Jiang Jian, 83 points."

"Number Two: Shan Ye, 82 points."

"Number Three: Liu Tiezhu, 79 points."

"Number Six: Mu Ying, 75 points."

"Number Seven: Shi Xuan, 75 points."

"Number Fifty: Luohua, 0 points."

The results were out.

Most of the freshmen wore expressions of disbelief, staring at the girl with the ponytail.

"Zero points!"

"How can someone with Level 4 talent have no score?"

"This is impossible!"

"She’s Level 4 talent!"

"The top freshman of this cohort!"

The freshmen whispered among themselves in small groups.

As for Jiang Jian, who had taken first place,

it drew little discussion.

Level 3 talent, Art.

It was already rare.

Jiang Jian had scored the same as Liu Tiezhu in the departmental assessment.

To these freshmen,

Jiang Jian was already universally recognized as an outsider prodigy from another continent.

Several seconds passed.

Many withdrew their gazes and turned to Zhang Jian.

Before the test,

Zhang Jian had said outright:

The five students at the bottom of the rankings would be expelled from the First Academy.

Thinking of this, the freshmen felt a sense of schadenfreude, their eyes fixed on Zhang Jian, waiting to see how he would handle it.

Shi Xuan, equally stunned, whispered: "Level 4 talent gets expelled? I don’t believe he has the guts!"

Liu Tiezhu’s eyes gleamed with amusement. "If Level 4 talent gets kicked out, our First Academy would become a joke."

Jiang Jian shook his head, saying nothing.

"Be quiet."

Zhang Jian pressed his hand downward and cleared his throat.

"This test is your first exposure,"

"to your secondary talent."

"When paired with your innate talent, cultivation is inevitably awkward."

"Therefore,"

Zhang Jian’s expression remained unreadable.

"This ranking will not use an elimination system."

As soon as he spoke,

the freshmen’s expressions shifted dramatically, and a chorus of boos erupted.

(End of Chapter)