Chapter 240: 239: Delving into the Star Core

As soon as he entered the atmosphere of the gaseous giant, he ran into an acquaintance; Wang Wu felt rather helpless, but at this point it didn't matter.

Wang Wu, though exceptionally powerful, could be considered the strongest among this batch of examinees, barring any unforeseen events.

While aboard the flying vessel, he made a brief observation: on this massive airship, the examinee cohort included quite a few individuals whose strength was not far below his.

They all possessed the power to completely destroy this gaseous giant, so the place posed no survival pressure for them.

With such power, ordinary cloud beasts naturally posed no problem for them; their strength was enough to

For the Qiong Lan Sect, elites are needed, but a large number of ordinary disciples are equally indispensable.

Disciples of varying levels each have their own uses; they can all contribute value to the sect and are highly valuable assets.

Therefore, the assessment on this gaseous giant had an extremely low passing standard.

Of course, this is a very low bar in Wang Wu's view, because you don't need to defeat the cloud beasts; you only need to stay here for a while, descend to a certain depth, and obtain the passing token from the transit station.

The cloud beasts here are mostly artificially released, since the exam occurs once every hundred years, and a single exam essentially wipes out all the cloud beasts on the planet.

After all, there are too many examinees, and the number of cloud beasts is insufficient to be killed.

Among all the cloud beasts there is also a "Mother Beast"; of course, this Mother Beast is not like an ant queen or a bee queen—it is not a breeding machine, but an immensely powerful giant beast.

It is almost fused with the solar system of this massive gaseous giant, possessing the most terrifying and overwhelming destructive power; only top‑tier strongmen whose strength reaches Wang Wu's level can kill it.

Um, that's not inaccurate; Wang Wu truly is the top master of his own Tian Yuan Civilization, the highest‑level strongman.

Although that doesn't count here, because even among the examinees, there are quite a few whose strength is close to Wang Wu's.

Indeed, being close to Wang Wu means they might also wield destructive power at Wang Wu's level, which is terrifying.

As for whether anyone is stronger than him, Wang Wu doesn't know when considering only the examinees and not the examiners.

But this Pei Wuji—yes, the woman right beside him.

When he arrived here, Wang Wu realized something.

That the woman didn't seem weak; at least she wasn't as weak as his first impression suggested.

In theory, Wang Wu's assessment of a person's strength is usually very precise; that's a hallmark of Earth martial arts—reading people accurately, and lies mean nothing to the strong.

But just as the world's number‑one assassin sometimes misjudges and gets beaten up by a hard target, Wang Wu can also misread at times.

He can also be deceived; although his misjudgments are few, the times he's been fooled are many.

And he's often tricked.

For example, the so‑called "cheat device" Luo Lan gave him; after arriving here and wandering around for a while, Wang Wu realized that this thing wasn't really a cheat device, but rather something like…

"Damn, it's messed up!"

At the same time, elsewhere, Luo Lan stared at the object in Wang Wu's hand, her expression instantly flushing red.

Because this thing… this object… it is, it is…

In short, after staring at the object for a while, Wang Wu's expression went from puzzled, to blank, then he turned his head.

"Hey, Miss Pei Wuji, you were peeking at me just now, weren't you?"

"Um, this, this…"

Pei Wuji turned her head a bit unnaturally, "No, not really?"

Wang Wu said nothing, just kept staring at the woman. After a while, he finally turned back.

"Whatever, but back to it—Miss Pei, would you consider forming a team?"

"Of course, certainly!"

When those words left his mouth, Pei Wuji, who had been slightly flushed because of the thing in Wang Wu's hand, instantly forgot it and nodded excitedly.

Although she is a minor star scholar—no, a cultivator—who has spent almost all her life diligently training, she has hardly any time for romantic affairs.

But just as over eighty percent of Earth boys unlock the "Deer‑Guan" skill during puberty, here this woman can, when chatting with other women, brag about how many harem members she has.

Rewarding oneself in that way is, of course, self‑taught.

Of course it's self‑taught; does such a thing even need a teacher? Obviously not.

Anyway, when Wang Wu first unlocked this skill, no one taught him; he mastered it on his own instantly and quickly became proficient.

But since arriving here, he apparently hasn't done such a thing even once, um, before meeting those human women.

After all, some of their shoes… digressing.

There's no need to mention that.

"I want to find a cloud‑beast egg and get that thing from inside the Star Core."

After deciding to team up, Wang Wu naturally explained his plan to her; the plan made Pei Wuji pause, then she said:

"Cloud‑beast egg?"

"Brother Wang, you want to obtain that double‑armor rating?"

"Of course," Wang Wu nodded, "If we get the double armor, our status after entry will be higher, we'll receive more resources, and the salary will be higher too, right?"

"Yes," Pei Wuji said, "But those cloud‑beast eggs, I heard they're all pre‑arranged."

"Pre‑arranged?" Wang Wu was startled, "What does that mean?"

"You know, these sect elections claim to select talent, allowing us low‑born youths to enter top‑level great sects for cultivation, providing a fair advancement path for all cultivators worldwide."

"However, likewise, many high‑born cultivators choose to join here, and with their substantial family wealth they hold great advantages in such assessments, such as examiner bias."

"And they can obtain the internal star map just by looking, plus the treasure artifacts their families pre‑place in the exam hall."

Those words didn't surprise Wang Wu much, since such matters exist in any world, ancient or modern, but he was still a bit curious:

"Then why don't they just have their family's offspring directly admitted into those great sects? Why bother with this extra step?" Wang Wu asked, but he regretted it as soon as he asked, because he already had the answer.

"Um, no need to explain to me, I think I can understand."

So, cutting off Pei Wuji, Wang Wu nodded at her.

Yes, he quickly grasped the reason; it was simple, just two characters:

"Rules."

One still has to follow the rules when doing things; the overt rules still need to be observed.

It's like the emperor's new clothes: everyone knows he's actually not wearing anything, yet everyone knows he's wearing the most splendid garments in the world.

When Wang Wu suggested he wanted to get that Cloud Beast Egg, Pei Wuji had no objection; after telling Wang Wu that the egg was likely already earmarked by someone, Wang Wu still insisted on retrieving it, and they said nothing more.

Thus, the two quickly began descending into the deeper layers of the planet's atmosphere; along the way they saw many examinees, and here examinees are allowed to fight each other.

However, under normal circumstances examinees do not attack another examinee who is in roaming mode, because it brings no benefit. They only launch ambushes when someone attacks a cloud beast, and that is permitted by the sect.

Because of the Great Array's presence, most battles here are kept within limits and do not result in cultivators' deaths.

Even when attacked by a cloud beast, at the critical moment the cultivator's magical instrument—actually the Exam Admission Ticket—activates and carries them away from this place.

There is of course a death rate here, but what Luo Lan said earlier was not an exaggeration.

Because all premises assume no abnormal circumstances arise.

Naturally, the casualty rate for this exam's examinees will not be high, since Qiong Lan Sect is here to recruit, not to stage gladiatorial matches; they will do their best to ensure every examinee's safety.

It's just that accidents inevitably happen in the world; nothing is a hundred percent certain.

"Which sect are you from again?"

During the descent, Pei Wuji was consistently straightforward, even not speaking to Wang Wu, which made Wang Wu feel a bit uneasy. So he took the initiative to start a conversation.

One can only say some people are despicable: when others initiate conversation with them they act very cold, yet when the other stops speaking, they become displeased.

"Luo, Luo Ting Sect."

Pei Wuji's heart trembled at Wang Wu's words, and they stammered in reply.

Although her strength is great, her performance doesn't quite match it.

Think about it: a fragment‑star‑level powerhouse capable of easily destroying a planet becomes so flustered and stammering just because a handsome man initiated conversation, showing no composure at all.

This is plainly abnormal, because in typical fantasy settings, a big‑wig of this caliber should be utterly detached and unflappable—like a mountain collapsing before them, or rather, a galaxy overturning before them without a change of expression.

Not someone indistinguishable from an ordinary woman, or rather, just an ordinary woman.

One can only say that universes differ, and transcendent beings from different worlds are naturally completely unlike each other.

It's like Yin Shenli could never withstand Wang Wu grabbing her in one arm and spouting a bunch of nonsense at her; even a ruthless person of Yin Shenli's caliber couldn't endure that, let alone this one.

(End of Chapter)