Chapter 144: Strongest Level (Thanks to 'Jiu & Mi & Donkey & Dian &

Ye Lingxiao looked at the man who had taken his Red Packet Talisman without a scratch.

The newcomer was a slender man who appeared surprisingly frail.

Apart from his frailty, the most striking feature about him was a pair of eyes as brilliant as stars, as if countless dazzling lights were churning within them.

Zhang Yu, watching from the side, felt a sudden stir in his heart: “Is that… a Dharma Remnant?”

Dharma Remnant—he still remembered the first time he had seen such a thing, on a Foundation Establishment powerhouse like the director of the Songyang City Immortal Charm Branch. Back then, he had heard that implanting a Dharma Remnant required at least 100 points of Mana.

Among the high school students he had encountered before, Zhang Yu had never seen anyone with a Dharma Remnant installed.

Just then, Ye Lingxiao asked, “Yun Jing, why is my Red Packet Talisman ineffective against you?”

The man before them, unnaturally thin, with Dharma Remnants implanted in his eyes, was named Yun Jing.

As the top second-year student of ‘Xianyun High School,’ the strongest high school in Xiandu City, and a favored son living on Layer One and a Half of Kunxu, Yun Jing had long since defeated all challengers at Xianyun High and even across the entire Xiandu high school scene.

“The strongest high school student on Layer One of Kunxu.”

Was that his own self-perception?

No.

That was the objective assessment given by the Layer One Headquarters of Ziyun Pharmaceuticals after testing Yun Jing.

Hearing Ye Lingxiao’s question now, Yun Jing smiled faintly and said, “Because I have been given an Anti-Fraud Talisman.”

“Your Red Packet Talisman hitting me is like a moth flying into a flame—utterly useless.”

Spreading his hands wide, he laughed heartily: “In other words, I am now immune to talismans of this kind.”

At that moment, everyone felt as if Yun Jing had waved his hand, and divine power like a great river had swept in to shield him from all harassment, traps, and fraud…

Ye Lingxiao nodded slightly: “It’s still the Red Packet Talisman that has too many limitations. Only the Affection Talisman is truly unstoppable.”

Yun Jing shook his head: “The Affection Talisman is unstoppable only against righteous gods; it’s useless against humans.”

Ye Lingxiao shook his head but said nothing.

Yet in his heart, he thought to himself: “The Affection Talisman can work on humans. I once saw someone use it that way.”

And after witnessing that scene, Ye Lingxiao had faintly sensed that it might conceal a great secret.

This secret left him intensely curious while also giving him a slight shock, spurring him even more to study talismans.

But in Ye Lingxiao’s view, such an important and valuable piece of information was not something he intended to give away for free to people like Yun Jing.

At the scene now, the high school students of Xiandu, like Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing, were almost all gathered together, making up ninety percent of the crowd.

Students from other cities, like Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Yu Xinghan, stood scattered in small groups at a distance, vastly outnumbered by the Xiandu natives.

Zhang Yu sighed: “The Xiandu folks sure have it easy. Don’t tell me they’ve been monopolizing the Foundation Establishment exams all these years?”

Yu Xinghan nodded slightly: “I hear the best high school here can invite corporate executives to give lectures, hire righteous gods to teach Dao techniques, and assign each student a personal Yellow Turban Warrior for sparring…”

Zhang Yu was stunned by the disparity—the gap in immortal-cultivation educational resources was just outrageous.

Bai Zhenzhen, listening nearby, was filled with envy. The Xiandu folks were indeed way better off than those from Songyang.

Just then, the metal gate before them shook with a loud bang, and lines of text appeared on a light screen beside it.

Zhang Yu looked over and saw that it contained the next test’s rules.

Simply put, the metal gate required meeting three conditions simultaneously: physical strength, mana, and martial arts—before it could be opened.

Physically, one needed enough strength to push the metal gate.

For martial arts and mana, one had to strike the metal gate in a specific sequence: within three seconds, using nine different palm forces on nine different positions.

Only then could the gate be pushed open to enter and complete the Dao Heart Test.

In other words, as long as one pushed open the metal gate and passed the Dao Heart Test inside, the registration would be considered successful, granting eligibility to take the Foundation Establishment Exam.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: “The exact content of those nine palm forces and the striking order are like a password—only by inputting the correct one can you open the door.”

“According to what’s written on the wall, the password changes every time the door is opened…”

Just as Zhang Yu was still studying how to condense those nine palm forces, the text on the wall shifted, and the order and content of the nine palm forces changed.

At the same time, a time of 0.64 seconds was displayed above the metal door.

A loud creak was heard, and the metal door was suddenly pushed open by Yun Jing, revealing an abyss of darkness.

Yun Jing, completely indifferent, stepped forward, and as the metal door closed again, he vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

Right after Yun Jing left, Ye Lingxiao's figure flashed like lightning. Zhang Yu couldn't even see all his movements clearly. A series of nine loud sounds merged together, sounding like a single collision.

A time of 0.65 seconds was displayed above the metal door.

The next instant, Ye Lingxiao was already in front of the door, easily pushing it open.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "In less than a second, they actually completed the strikes of nine different palm forces? And it might not even be their full power."

Watching Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao push open the metal door one after another, Zhang Yu felt an unprecedented pressure in his heart.

"These two are probably sophomores... students about to become seniors, right?"

"They've only trained for one more year than me, yet they're already this much stronger?"

"Is this the strongest level of high school students in Kunxu's first layer?"

Zhang Yu clearly realized one thing: at this moment, he was... far inferior to these two.

And if he wanted to pass the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam, he would need to catch up to these two's level in the future.

Bai Zhenzhen, standing beside him, also took a deep breath, feeling her spiritual root stirring restlessly within.

"They're all so strong," Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself. "Can I really pass the Foundation Establishment Certificate this year?" Although she had been encouraging herself and training with all her might.

But now that she had truly arrived in Xiandu—whether it was the huge floating city, the prices in the train station, or the performance of these Xiandu guys before her—it all felt like punch after punch, slowly pressing down on Bai Zhenzhen's straight back, making her gradually feel the gap between herself and the people here.

So much so that Bai Zhenzhen couldn't help but feel a trace of escapism: "It doesn't matter if I lose this year; there's still next year, right?"

But the next moment, she immediately suppressed that distracting thought and told herself: "No matter what, I'll give it my all."

Although Yu Xinghan, who was beside them, also felt pressure, it wasn't as strong as what Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen felt.

He thought to himself: "This time I'll just come to experience the atmosphere of the Foundation Establishment Exam in advance, and take the opportunity to get my expenses reimbursed. My real chance is next year."

In the following time, the contestants went up one by one and pushed open the door one after another.

Zhang Yu wasn't in a hurry; instead, he stayed put and observed these guys who might become his opponents.

"Most of them should be sophomores. Except for those two at the beginning who finished in under a second, the rest mostly finished within 2 seconds."

"The rest who are weaker than me... must be freshmen. They basically pushed open the metal door within 2 to 4 seconds."

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Among them, contestants who took more than 3 seconds to push open the door failed to meet the test requirements and were directly sent away by a hole that suddenly appeared beneath their feet, clearly all eliminated.

Seeing that no one else was going up for the moment, Zhang Yu stepped forward, and while looking at the nine types of palm forces recorded on the wall beside him, he struck the metal door palm after palm.

Relying on his superb control of mana and body, he was like a whirlwind, circling around in front of the metal door. In 2.3 seconds, he struck the nine different positions on the metal door with the nine types of palm forces.

Then he stopped in front of the metal door, and with a powerful push of both hands, he fully opened the metal door and stepped into that expanse of darkness.

……

From within the darkness, the sounds of countless beasts and monsters roaring could be heard.

The next moment, with a flash of firelight, hundreds and thousands of monsters charged forward.

Zombies, fox spirits, ghosts, and monsters... all rushed together as if to tear Zhang Yu to pieces.

But after Zhang Yu mustered his courage and fought the monsters, he found them to be fragile. Soon he had charged in and out three times, killed his way through, and pushed open the exit door at the end of the passage, only to find himself back in the toilet stall of the train station.

"So the final heart of the Dao test was courage?"

Zhang Yu opened his phone, logged into the registration website, and confirmed that he had successfully registered and passed the test. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

However, in his dazed state, he felt as if he had overlooked something.

But just as he was about to think it through, he already forgot about it.

Zhang Yu shook his head. As soon as he stepped out of the toilet door, he was knocked unconscious by a palm strike.

……

At the same time.

Back in the office where Zhang Yu had just registered.

The middle-aged woman who helped Zhang Yu register sat upright behind her desk, and beside her, four light screens each displayed the figure of another person.

The middle-aged woman's name was Deng Bingding.

Although as a Four Wandering God, she was already a sixth-rank deity, a major figure compared to a ninth-rank Merit Clerk minor god.

But in her heart, Deng Bingding never felt there was anything to be proud of.

Everyone thinks being a god is good, that divine power is great, but what of it when you actually become a god?

Deng Bingding had been to the Heavenly Court; she knew how high the steps there were, how far she was from the great gods of each department, how insignificant her authority was in this Kunxu, and even more clearly understood that in the eyes of the immortals, she was merely a convenient tool.

Just like at this very moment, due to a sudden order from her superiors, she could only set aside what she was originally doing and invest a great deal of energy and divine power into the temporary overtime for the Foundation Establishment exam, maintaining order in the exam venue and protecting student information from leaks.

She glanced at the four other figures in the light screens—these were the four minor gods sent to assist her this time.

Deng Bingding said, "This reform of the Foundation Establishment exam is an oral decree from the Upper Immortals, with approval from the Divine Lord. I must trouble you all to keep an extra eye on things."

"Not at all, not at all; we will follow your instructions, Lady Deng..."

Amid the exchange of pleasantries, Deng Bingding had already received goodwill talismans from the four minor gods.

Lower-ranking gods sending goodwill talismans to higher-ranking gods to boost goodwill was originally a practice of only a few individual deities, but it had now unknowingly spread throughout the entire divine realm of Kunxu.

Deng Bingding was rather disdainful of this, deeply detesting such tedious formalities in her heart.

She looked at the amounts sent by the four minor gods, frowned, and thought to herself, "Everyone else sent over ten thousand, but you only sent me five thousand? What does that mean?"

As for that minor god who had sent the smallest amount of goodwill talisman, Deng Bingding immediately remembered him.

"Huang Zichou."

"A perfectly good goodwill talisman, and you manage to turn it into a dislike talisman. What a talent—no wonder you're still a ninth-rank god."

Deng Bingding sighed inwardly. This was why she hated these cumbersome rituals—before the superior and subordinate had even cooperated on work, feelings had already soured. How could they properly serve the great gods like this?

She still missed the old days when she could haggle over the amount face to face and no one would check the transfer.

She formed a hand seal, and as pulses of divine power surged, a series of light screens appeared before her, showing exactly what each student encountered after stepping through the metal gate.

Deng Bingding said calmly, "As all four of you know, with so many mouths to feed throughout the Eight Departments, our days have never been easy."

"The sudden addition of this enrollment test this year serves two purposes. On one hand, through the screening of magical power, physical body, and martial arts, we can filter out some first-year high school students, saving a bit on the exam budget."

"On the other hand—and this is the higher-ups' main focus—through the Dao-heart test, we keep the truly useful talents and sweep away those who turn into weaklings the moment they climb up."