Chapter 165: Call of the Joker

Just then, Dai Xingzhi heard Ye Lingxiao beside him say, "In the last Heart Dao test, your valuation was actually 'Unknown'?"

Dai Xingzhi was slightly taken aback, then followed the direction of the speaker's gaze to find Zhang Yu behind him—the number on his body was exactly 55.

Hearing Ye Lingxiao's question, Zhang Yu remained silent for a moment, unsure how to explain.

Dai Xingzhi beside him said, "An unknown valuation—could it be that you never gave up until the very end, even bursting the illusion... so they gave you an unknown valuation?"

Zhang Yu said helplessly, "Mm... something like that."

Upon hearing this, Ye Lingxiao's gaze sharpened, and a hint of seriousness crept into his eyes as he looked at Zhang Yu.

Ye Lingxiao thought to himself, "This man actually managed to burst the illusion?"

"How strong is his will? How wealthy is he? Could he be even richer than Yun Jing, even richer than me?"

On the other side, Dai Xingzhi's mind was also racing: "Who is he? Is he the descendant of some company director? Or the heir of some local noble clan?"

At the same time, more and more people noticed the number 55 on Zhang Yu and realized that this out-of-town student was the top scorer from the last Heart Dao test.

And because of the special nature of this Heart Dao test, they understood that this number one must be of considerable wealth, possessing astonishing riches.

And since wealth is the most direct reflection of immortal potential, the wealthy number 55 was bound to be powerful as well, definitely a strong contender for the Foundation Establishment qualification.

Ye Lingxiao looked at Zhang Yu and thought to himself, "From the way he picked up those red packet talismans and what he said, I originally thought he was poor."

"Who would've thought he was hiding his depth... Could it be that only someone rich enough would dare to pick up red packets off the ground?"

"He even seemed concerned about what a poor person should do if they picked up a red packet talisman... Is he the kind of sheltered rich kid?"

While lost in thought, Ye Lingxiao turned around, his eyes growing more serious as he looked at Zhang Yu. "I look forward to competing with you later."

At that moment, the mysterious and unfathomably wealthy Zhang Yu had become one of Ye Lingxiao's main future rivals in his eyes.

Dai Xingzhi and the other students, watching the two facing each other, felt as if they were seeing two behemoths exhaling billions of wealth smashing fiercely together.

Bai Zhenzhen witnessed this scene, and as she looked at Zhang Yu, her heart clenched in worry: "Yu Zi! You're putting on such a big act now; once the real competition starts and you're exposed, you'll become the kind of clown Old Zhao talks about!"

Bai Zhenzhen was confident that she and Zhang Yu had improved a lot over the past two months and were definitely at the third-year level.

But she also knew that even with such improvement, she and Zhang Yu still lagged behind the top immortal scions.

For the first round of the exam, Bai Zhenzhen only hoped to pass.

As for catching up to or even surpassing the top immortal scions, that should be the goal for the second and third rounds in the coming months.

Zhang Yu was well aware of this too, but once his number was hung as first in the Heart Dao test, he knew he couldn't explain.

He couldn't exactly say it was because of the ritual that he held out until the end in the illusion.

Nor could he say he was actually a pauper, still figuring out how to pay next month's loan interest.

So, facing Ye Lingxiao's intense gaze and feeling the curious, probing, or hostile looks from all the contestants, Zhang Yu felt as if he were being targeted by a pack of wolves—but he had to tough it out.

"Damn it, shouldn't it be that under the disdain or even indifference of the immortal scions, I gradually catch up to them and eventually seize the Foundation Establishment certificate? Why are they all staring at me from the start?"

"I said rankings like this shouldn't exist! Why expose the contestants' privacy like this!"

Thinking about how he was about to compete directly with these people, Zhang Yu felt that Zhao's so-called clown seat was beckoning to him.

"Is there any way to avoid being too embarrassed later?"

"Forget it, if I have to lose face, there's no helping it. Who says I'm not strong enough yet."

Not far away, Yu Xinghan had just arrived and saw this astonishing scene.

"That Zhang Yu kid..." Yu Xinghan looked at Zhang Yu, both curious and amazed. "How did he do it?"

Thinking about how the other had managed to hold out for an unknown valuation in that illusion despite being poor, he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

He even felt a urge to ask Zhang Yu directly, but he knew the other would never answer him about that secret.

Moments later, as all the contestants arrived one by one, Deng Bingding, as the chief examiner, began announcing the exam process.

In short, following the reform spirit of the Foundation Establishment exam, in addition to the Heart Dao, this round would test the students' mana, physical fitness, and martial arts in sequence.

As for why the Heart Dao wasn't being tested, it was said that after the previous round of Heart Dao tests, all those who failed had already been eliminated, so there was no need for another test.

Of course, the young spirit Huang Zichou standing nearby knew that the reason was that the higher-ups wanted to save the budget.

After all, compared to the other three subjects, the Dao Heart test involves the spirit realm environment, and whether it’s money spent or resources consumed, it requires the most.

Finally, Deng Bingding said, “…This round of exams will keep only the top twenty contestants by total score; all contestants after twentieth place will be eliminated. To encourage the students, each of the top twenty contestants will be rewarded with one Expert-level technique…”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up slightly: “One Expert-level technique per person? That generous?”

Zhang Yu still remembered that the bonus Deng Bingding had approved for him last time was actually an interest-free loan.

But then he reconsidered and thought to himself: “Behind the Eight Righteous Gods are the Heavenly Court and the Ten Great Sects.”

“For us, an Expert-level technique costs tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.”

“But for them, it might just be a matter of permissions.” “After all, they just need to approve our usage rights and then send us the technique’s contents…”

…

Soon the magical power exam officially began.

All the students on site lined up in the hall according to their numbers.

Then several examiners distributed a set of testing equipment and a box of spiritual roots to everyone present.

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself: “This magical power exam tests control, burst, and recovery of magical power.”

He picked up a detection patch and thought: “I need to output as much magical power into it as possible within 30 minutes.”

“The faster and more magical power I output within 30 minutes, the higher the score.”

“This requires both burst power and precise control of magical power, as well as the ability to breathe in spiritual energy to recover magical power while outputting.”

Dai Xingzhi knew that this ability to sustain a long burst of magical power, according to the high school syllabus, should be a celestial cultivation course taught in the third year of high school.

But since this was the high school foundation establishment exam, it naturally wouldn’t be bound by a mere syllabus.

No errors, no typos, no content issues at all!

Dai Xingzhi also opened the small box containing the external spiritual root.

Inside, a ring was continuously emitting wisps of spiritual energy, like a living thing breathing in and out.

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself: “External spiritual root, Boundless Sea of Qi.”

“Is this a mid-range brand external spiritual root?”

Dai Xingzhi recalled what the examiner had just said and knew that using a uniform spiritual root like this was one of the reforms in this foundation establishment exam.

Dai Xingzhi disagreed with this. Wealth was itself one of the aspects of celestial cultivation potential; it was only right that rich people had more advantages, so why use a uniform spiritual root?

Just then, Deng Bingding reminded them: “Before putting on the external spiritual root, everyone remember to turn off your own internal spiritual root, or the consequences will be your own.”

Dai Xingzhi was about to put on the external spiritual root, Boundless Sea of Qi, when he suddenly heard a male voice.

“How do you use this external spiritual root?”

Dai Xingzhi turned to look and found that the speaker was actually No. 55.

“They’re actually issuing a uniform spiritual root?” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “But this external spiritual root doesn’t even come with instructions; how the hell am I supposed to know how to use it.”

“And if I ask like this, those rich young masters around me will probably guess that I’m not actually that wealthy, right?”

“I might as well lay the groundwork for myself…”

Bai Zhenzhen, on the other side, heard this and thought to herself: “Well done, Yu Zi. If you ask that, then I don’t have to.”

“And you’ve started setting the stage for yourself, gradually revealing that you’re not actually that rich. That way, even if your results aren’t as good as everyone expects, at least you won’t lose as much face.”

Dai Xingzhi, upon hearing these words, thought to himself: “He’s never even used the Boundless Sea of Qi?”

Remembering that the other party’s Dao Heart test valuation was unknown, Dai Xingzhi thought: “Is it because the Boundless Sea of Qi is too low-end for him?”

“Damn! For me, this is already the spiritual root I use for normal cultivation, but this guy doesn’t even deign to use it? What kind of spiritual root does he usually use?”

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself: “Damn rich bastard! Good thing this exam uses a uniform spiritual root!”

On the other side, the strongest high school student, Yun Jing, his eyes flickering, looked at Zhang Yu and thought to himself: “This outsider… is he showing off here? Saying he’s never used the Boundless Sea of Qi?”

Yun Jing gave a cold snort in his heart and also spoke up: “I don’t usually use this kind of spiritual root either. Could the examiner please teach us?”

“So this spiritual root isn’t commonly used even by rich people?” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “Tch, troublesome… why do I feel even more eyes on me now?”

According to the method introduced by the examiners, he injected spiritual power, pulled the ring larger, and slipped it onto his hand. Zhang Yu immediately felt the external spiritual root pulsing in sync with his own breathing, as if it had become part of his body, and spiritual energy from all around surged toward him in a swarm.

Next, he put on the testing equipment and gripped the detection patch tightly.

With the countdown of 3, 2, 1, all the contestants present channeled their spiritual power into the detection patch simultaneously.

Boom!

A tremendous sound seemed to resonate through the air as everyone’s spiritual power was set in motion.

At the same time, on the light screen at the front of the hall, the spiritual power output data for each individual lit up.

It was a row of bar graphs. Beneath each bar was a contestant’s number, and above the bar was the spiritual power figure.

As everyone frantically output their spiritual power, every bar kept growing and was sorted by the amount of spiritual power output.

But because two bars were growing so ferociously, not only did they suddenly leap to first and second place, but their exaggerated growth made it seem as though the other contestants’ bars were shrinking.

The contestants represented by these two bars were No. 11, Yun Jing, and No. 23, Ye Lingxiao.

The two contestants’ spiritual power figures skyrocketed, and their bars, like two giant dragons, tangled back and forth between first and second place, chasing each other relentlessly.

At the same time, Dai Xingzhi looked at the bar for No. 55: "Huh? Why is it ranked so far back?"