Chapter 123: Foundation Establishment Qualification

Facing the nervous and puzzled gazes of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Pianpian instead began by talking about another matter.

"Probably a few decades ago, the planned enrollment numbers for the university Foundation Establishment qualification certificate began to shrink."

"Do you know why the numbers were reduced?"

Zhang Pianpian didn't expect the two to be able to answer, and continued on her own: "Because the total number of people who achieve Foundation Establishment each year is capped."

"And reducing the number of Foundation Establishment slots at universities is done to redistribute some of the Foundation Establishment qualification certificates to high school students."

Huh?

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were shocked. College students giving Foundation Establishment certificates to high school students like them?

Do we deserve that?

As if guessing what they were thinking, Zhang Pianpian continued: "Not high school students like us."

Zhang Pianpian pointed upward and said: "It's those high school students up there."

Amid their surprised looks, Zhang Pianpian further explained: "What do you think of those people on the second level of Kunxu and above—like those staying on the fifth, tenth, or even twentieth level of Kunxu..."

"Those Golden Core True Persons, Nascent Soul grandmasters, and even higher—super-rich like Spirit Transformation and Void Refining cultivators, whose immortal wealth is astronomical... Do their children, descendants, and disciples have to take the college entrance exam and enter the Top Ten like us?"

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were momentarily stunned. Instinctively, they felt that high school students up there probably didn’t have to obediently take the college entrance exam like they did.

But how exactly did those high school students step onto the path of immortality? Besides the Genius Class, how did they attend high school and university? The two couldn’t imagine.

Zhang Pianpian continued to explain: "Those upper-level super-rich people’s descendants or disciples still have to abide by Kunxu’s rules and step onto the path of immortality during high school."

"What I just said about redistributing Foundation Establishment certificates to high school students—that’s for this kind of high school student. That’s how a special exam came about, a Foundation Establishment certificate exam that high school students can sign up for."

Bai Zhenzhen asked: "Can we also take this kind of exam? That wouldn’t mean... we have to compete with upper-level high school students, would it?"

Zhang Pianpian shook her head. After thinking for a moment, she looked toward the slums on the far outskirts across the river and said: "In Songyang City, the rich in the city center join hands to suppress the geniuses emerging from the poor, and in schools they find ways to restrict the poor, ensuring the rich maintain their own advantages."

"But at the same time, it’s also these rich people who give food to the poor in the far outskirts, distribute daily necessities, provide jobs that cultivators don’t want to do, help the poor in the far outskirts survive, and even give them opportunities to attend school in the city center."

"For the same poor people, the attitudes of the rich in the city center toward different poor people are completely different."

"The same applies to Kunxu. For those immortals at the pinnacle of the Ten Great Sects, the super-rich inside and outside the sects who want to become immortals, as well as their children and disciples, are the ones to be restricted and suppressed."

"And the people at the lower levels of Kunxu might be like the poor district in the far outskirts—the ones to be supported, to continuously produce poor geniuses."

Listening to Zhang Pianpian’s words, the Evil God, disguised as a prayer bead, sneered coldly and said in Zhang Yu’s mind: "Heh, the immortals... they want more and more people who want to go to university but can’t, who want to join a company but can’t, who want to enter a sect but can’t, who want to become immortals but can’t—only by making such people increase can competition grow fiercer."

"Only by making the competition among the lower people more intense, making them drain themselves, drain their whole families, give up everything—can the profits of the Ten Great Sects keep rising, enough for those gods on high, those immortals looking down on Kunxu, to continue comfortably lounging on the clouds."

The Evil God’s tone revealed an extreme envy, as if she wished she could also lie at the peak of Kunxu and enjoy the endless contributions of billions of living beings.

But suddenly, her mind stirred, and she realized something: "Wait, the hell… does that mean… could it be that some Evil God King did this to me? Afraid I’d keep advancing and become a new Evil God King?"

Zhang Yu naturally had no way of knowing the Evil God’s inner thoughts. He only listened to what she said in his mind, a thoughtful gleam flashing in his eyes.

Before, in his mind, all rich people richer than him—whether the rich of Songyang City, the rich of Kunxu’s second layer, or the rich of Kunxu’s third layer—were all just rich people, like symbols, and he couldn’t be bothered to distinguish between them.

But now Zhang Yu truly realized the vast differences among the rich.

Especially across the different levels of Kunxu, the rich one level above him, two levels above, three levels above—each had a different attitude toward him.

And the rich at each level would have completely different attitudes toward those below or above them by different numbers of levels.

Thus, various forms of suppression, competition, co-opting, support, exploitation... incredibly complex relationships ran through Kunxu like a tangled mess.

At the same time, Zhang Pianpian continued speaking.

She said: "In short, the high school student Foundation Establishment certificate exam was eventually set by the Heavenly Court."

"Besides the quotas for high school students up above, in order to specially select and promote geniuses from each level, a certain number of Foundation Establishment certificate quotas were also given to high school students at each lower level, with competition among high school students at each level."

"But the lower the level, the fewer the quotas."

Listening to Zhang Pianpian’s words, Zhang Yu seemed to foresee countless bloody storms surrounding this ‘high school student Foundation Establishment certificate exam.’

He wondered just how much maneuvering and conflict had taken place above Kunxu to finally settle on this exam, which existed at every level.

Zhang Pianpian continued: "However… although this exam, under the insistence of the Heavenly Court, was also arranged for Kunxu’s first level…"

"But just as the rich in the city center support the poor in the far outskirts and give them opportunities to interview at high schools, the rich within those same high schools then suppress the poor students who come in."

"Although the Heavenly Court arranged a Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam for high school students in Kunxu Layer 1, over the years it has long been gradually monopolized by the top powers of Kunxu Layer 1."

"On one hand, people have used various methods to jointly conceal the information, year after year making this exam gradually unmentioned in Kunxu Layer 1, with fewer and fewer people knowing about it." "It could be said... this is a hidden path for the vast majority of high school students in Kunxu Layer 1."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. If Zhang Pianpian hadn't told him today, he might never have known about this exam in his entire life.

He understood in his heart that this was another information gap, an important means that Zhang Pianpian had always emphasized when competing in Kunxu.

Just like when he took the divine position outsourcing exam, ordinary high school students knew nothing about it.

The same went for this Foundation Establishment Certificate exam—ordinary high school students, let alone taking the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam, might not even know such an exam or the existence of the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate itself.

He even suspected that many teachers probably didn't know about this high school student Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam.

Someone like Lei Jun, who had once introduced him to the college Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam, probably didn't know about the high school student version.

Zhang Pianpian continued: "On the other hand, the remaining high school students who can participate in this exam are also the strongest, most talented, wealthiest... and even those high school students who delusionally want to obtain the Foundation Establishment Certificate before college."

"And Kunxu Layer 1 only has four slots per year. Excluding Daoist arts—which are not considered a selection criterion—these four slots are for the best high school students in the four different directions: Dao heart, magical power, physical education, and martial arts."

"To obtain this certificate basically means you must become one of the four strongest high school students in Kunxu Layer 1. This difficulty itself is actually another form of monopoly by the top powers of Kunxu Layer 1."

Seeing the serious expressions on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's faces, Zhang Pianpian said calmly: "As I told you earlier, if you want to climb up in Kunxu, exams and certificates are indispensable."

After a quick look each/p>

"For example, taking the exam for the Top Ten Elite Universities—even though you can find various different upward paths within the rules... every path ultimately cannot do without exams."

"If you choose not to take the Genius Class but instead go for the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate, that will only be another, even harder exam."

Just from Zhang Pianpian's brief description, Bai Zhenzhen could already feel the difficulty of this exam. But since entering the Genius Class seemed hopeless, as long as she could get into the Top Ten, no matter how hard or fierce the competition, she was willing to try.

In comparison, what worried her more was the monopoly of the top powers in Kunxu Layer 1 over this exam.

So Bai Zhenzhen asked: "If I take this exam, will there be danger? Like the rich people in Songyang City joining forces to block poor students from taking the Top Ten exam?"

Zhang Pianpian said: "Based on the intelligence I obtained from the Patrol Department, the high school Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam is after all an exam set by the Heavenly Court. Its own standards are not low, and the rules are very strict, precisely to select talents from each layer beyond the normal criteria."

"It includes various measures to prevent cheating and to prevent higher-layer students from descending to compete for slots."

"To prevent cheating, all students must participate anonymously, hiding their identities, and the exam is personally administered by the Eight Division Orthodox Gods."

"The top powers of Kunxu Layer 1 might be able to blind the public outside the exam and conceal the exam information."

"They might be able to raise the level of their own high school students, making this exam harder."

"But they absolutely cannot cheat in this exam set by the Heavenly Court, nor dare to penetrate the protection of the Eight Division Orthodox Gods to see through the identities of the contestants."

"In other words, as long as you successfully register, you don't have to worry about your identity being leaked."

Bai Zhenzhen then asked the second question she cared about: "If I pass the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam, can I enter the Top Ten?"

Zhang Pianpian told the truth: "As long as you obtain the Foundation Establishment Certificate, you only need a college entrance exam score of 600 or above to enter any of the Top Ten Elite Universities without an interview."

"That is, as long as you get the Foundation Establishment Certificate, you will not need to reveal your true strength and goals for the rest of high school. You can silently take the college entrance exam without provoking the joint suppression of the rich, and then enter the Top Ten."

"This way, the situation where the rich of Songyang City would join forces to suppress you will not occur."

Zhang Pianpian said: "But you must understand, this process is by no means simple."

She thought for a moment and then continued: "It's now mid-April, and the next round of the Kunxu Layer 1 Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam... registration starts around mid-June, shortly after I leave."

"Then the first round of the exam is in August, the second round in early October, and the final round at the beginning of next January—around the time you are halfway through your sophomore year of high school."

"This means... after I leave, you will have to attend school while completing the exam."

"During this process, you will have to face all kinds of threats on your own, without my protection."

"Of course, as long as you don't reveal your intention to take the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam or your goal of getting into the Top Ten, there won't be joint suppression from the powerful families in Songyang City."

"But people like Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling will definitely target you after I'm gone."

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen nodded silently. Compared to the joint suppression of powerful families, they believed that as long as they supported and looked out for each other, they could overcome the threats from Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling alone.

In contrast, the difficulty of the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam itself might actually be the hardest part of the entire affair.

Zhang Pianpian looked at Zhang Yu and said: "Are you sure now that you want to give up the Genius Class and take the harder Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam?"

Just before Zhang Yu could answer, the evil god had already interjected in his mind: "Agree to her."

"You can take this Foundation Establishment qualification certificate!"