Chapter 185

"The annual practical combat college entrance examination has ended."

Jiang Ding opened his eyes and saw a vast white space; the sword he slashed while burning everything was still vivid in his mind, but at this time, his whole body was intact, as if it were an illusion.

"Results are out; do you want to view them?"

"View."

Jiang Ding clicked on the grade column.

"Approved the establishment of the Frontline Military Committee +10,

Killed intercepting cultivators to help comrades land +5 points,

Guided the killing of Foundation Establishment cultivators +2 points,

Served as the commander of the Eastern Group Army's special reconnaissance brigade and completed its functions +60 points..."

"... Opposed the expansion of calling for artillery bombardment to slaughter friendly comrades +10 points..."

"... Approved the impeachment of the incompetent theater supreme commander +5 points..."

"... Final battle, flying sword guided Jin Dan combat power, Profound Martial Heaven Palace candidate Daoist precise coordinates +30 points..."

"Total score 147, ranked second (full score 150)"

"Not bad."

Jiang Ding sighed lightly.

Still too weak.

If he had Foundation Establishment cultivation, he wouldn't have been so powerless in front of that candidate Daoist; so many comrades fought to the death to help, and nearly one hundred thousand artillery pieces kept aiming and bombarding to open the way, yet he could only leave a mark on the opponent's finger.

"The top one hundred in the practical combat exam can receive a college entrance exam souvenir; do you want to receive it?"

The array spirit prompted.

"Oh?"

Jiang Ding was surprised; he hadn't heard of this before, or was it something only the top one hundred knew about?

"Receive."

A gray, hazy spike appeared in front of him, its spiritual light extremely dim, having completely turned into a dead object.

"Fusion Magnetic Crystal Core magic artifact embryo!"

Jiang Ding's expression changed.

"It is expected that this item will be mailed to your address in three months; please pay attention to receiving it."

He thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why something from a virtual simulation exam would appear in reality.

Jiang Ding stopped thinking; his brain was dizzy, and he entered dreamland shortly after.

Bronze Minor Realm.

Western Desert.

Amidst the nuclear explosion radiation, the thirty-six towering pillars were collapsing and crashing; the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for tens of thousands of miles set off giant waves like a tsunami, sweeping across the sky and the earth, and the pattern of the entire world changed because of it.

Under the giant pillars,

Machine puppets covering the mountains and plains flashed with silver light, their bodies engraved with rune patterns, losing all agility and spirit in an instant, their movements uniform and orderly, with no differences anymore.

"Array Spirit fellow Daoist has good means..."

A phantom of an old Daoist in green robes with a refined appearance sighed, holding a bronze-skinned youth who had fallen into a coma in one hand, and disappeared into the thirty-six towering pillars that had collapsed to nothing.

No one answered his words.

A voice vaguely came from the void.

"... Machine puppet troop test number 157 completed; test results sent to major colleges and universities..."

"Examinee Xu Jianian's results are as follows."

"Approved the establishment of the Frontline Military Committee +10, killed intercepting cultivators to help comrades land +5 points, served as a member of the Frontline Committee, temporary general of the Eastern Group Army, and completed its functions, +75 points..."

"... Proposed a plan to expand the call for artillery bombardment to slaughter friendly comrades and the vote passed -30 points..."

"... Served as temporary general of the Eastern Group Army but failed to complete functions, was dismissed, and attempted to attack comrades during the period -90 points..."

"... Commanded the Eastern Group Army's First Division to perish together with the Foundation Establishment troops +10 points..."

"Total score 27, ranked 【missing】. (Full score 150)"

"This is impossible!"

"Central Array Spirit Computer, are you grading examiners all blind?!"

Xu Jianian was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he cursed angrily: "I am at the peak of Qi Condensation cultivation, a Tier 2 war strategist; do you think a score of 27 is possible?"

"I want to appeal!"

"There is fraud in the college entrance exam! If I don't get a satisfactory answer, I will immediately inform my father and my grandfather truthfully; you think about the consequences yourselves!"

Xu Realm.

A fat old man with a square face and big ears, a broad forehead, and who seemed to be smiling at all times, looked at the screen in front of him and frowned.

"Father, Seventh Brother might not be very accustomed to getting along with those Immortal Sect commoners..."

Two Jin Dan cultivators whose faces vaguely resembled his somewhat said tremblingly.

The fat old man remained silent.

After a long time, he sighed.

"People in the Immortal Sect call it the inevitability of family decay."

"In the Profound Martial Heaven Palace and other Immortal Sects, the same Soul Transformation families call our Xu clan upstarts and disdain to associate with us."

"Even though the Xu clan occupies a minor realm and has already been here for two thousand years."

"How do they cultivate their descendants?"

"This..."

The two Jin Dan cultivators looked at each other, unable to answer.

"Professor Liu Zhiyuan, you once graduated from the School of Social Sciences at Qingfeng University and went to the Profound Martial Heaven Palace and the Taiyin Sword Sect for many years of training; do you have anything to teach me?"

True Person Tianfang had expected this, beckoned, and a refined middle-aged cultivator standing in the distance trotted over.

"Master, two young masters!"

Liu Zhiyuan was at the Jin Dan realm, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a silk blue Daoist robe, full of scholarly aura; he first respectfully saluted the three of them before saying.

"The Soul Transformation families of the Profound Martial Heaven Palace occupy half of the Heaven Palace; they seem numerous, but in fact, after many years of accumulation, many Soul Transformation families fall from their status as soon as the family head dies, and they must give up a large amount of benefits and rely on the order inertia within the Profound Martial Heaven Palace to survive."

"This is the vast majority of cases; they flourish if they produce Soul Transformation cultivators, and fall if they don't; the law of the jungle proceeds under certain rules."

"What about the few families that can produce Soul Transformation cultivators generation after generation?"

True Person Tianfang's brows furrowed even deeper.

The Xu clan did not have a major force to rely on to be passed down.

Once the family ancestor's lifespan is exhausted, it is very possible that the entire family will die out, because the Xu clan did almost the same thing back then.

The Immortal Sect cannot be relied upon, and the same goes for the Nine Great Immortal Sects.

"This often happens after the direct descendants of the Soul Transformation ancestor have all died; they no longer have special feelings for all their descendants and can choose the best from billions of family bloodlines."

"If they can cultivate one or two prodigies and gain some luck, they can pass on to a second generation of Soul Transformation, or even a third."

"Third generation?"

"Yes, Master."

Liu Zhiyuan said respectfully: "Producing Soul Transformation cultivators for three consecutive generations, the family will be worry-free for thirty thousand years; this is already great luck, and it is very rare in the hundreds of thousands of years of history of the Profound Martial Heaven Palace."

"To pass on for longer, one must rely on a certain organization, a certain Immortal Dao belief."

"Belief, organization..."

True Person Tianfang sighed.

Father personally gave up this path back then.

But there is nothing to regret; his promotion to Nascent Soul consumed at least thirty times the resources of others; if it weren't for back then, occupying the resources of a realm, he would already be a skeleton now.

"Forget it!"

"Father's lifespan is still very long; he was a famous Immortal Sect prodigy back then; even if Jianian and I die for thousands of years, he will still be in his prime, and maybe he will have hope for Void Refinement in the future; let him consider this kind of thing; why think so much?"

"Yes, Father, Grandfather will naturally have considerations."

The two Jin Dan cultivators of the Xu clan beamed with joy.

(End of chapter)