Chapter 416: Tower Defense?

Among the three judges, only the middle one was formed from clouds and mist, with two streaks of lightning flickering in the position of its head like eyes.

Director Gao knew that this was one of the vice-principals of Ten Thousand Laws University, Perching Cloud True Lord, who oversaw teaching and talent cultivation.

For many years, Perching Cloud True Lord had been advocating for the cultivation of the immortal path by minors, believing that the best future for Kunxu’s young people was the cemetery. He had long proposed that those under eighteen should be allowed to cultivate the immortal path and contribute to society.

And this mass of human-shaped cloud and mist before his eyes… was merely an avatar of that person.

On the left side was a ten-meter-tall being with fangs, a nose like a dragon’s, and the bloodline of an elephant yao—a yao descendant.

Director Gao knew that this was Heaven Elephant True Lord from the Celestial Yao University, a senior expert in the field of earth and wood, who wielded considerable influence in academia.

At the same time, Heaven Elephant True Lord was a major authority in the field of raw piles. He had once, in order to meet a deadline, spurred the birth of three thousand yao fetuses in a single day. He had repeatedly protested to various sectors of society about the inequality between humans and yao, arguing that every human should have the right to be produced through batch farming and industrialization.

Whether it was Heaven Elephant True Lord or Perching Cloud True Lord, Director Gao had heard their names as seniors hundreds of years ago.

But every time he met them again, he had to admit that these two had really changed a lot.

They were always able to keep up with the times, constantly evolving their thinking, and staying at the forefront of trends—truly worthy of being seniors who could become vice-principals and technical masters.

Among the three judges, on the right side was a fifth-rank orthodox god shimmering with divine light, named Gengchen Yi.

This orthodox god was also an old acquaintance of Director Gao, having been responsible for many affairs of Ten Thousand Laws University City over the years. The last crackdown on the Double Rest Heresy had been led by this person.

This time, Gengchen Yi was in charge of overseeing the orthodox gods assisting in maintaining order during the military certification exam.

As Gengchen Yi moved, his divine power rippled repeatedly in the spirit realm, already spreading out across the entire competition venue.

His will swept back and forth, and then he slowly said, "Is everyone ready?"

In an instant, responses from the various orthodox gods came back.

Deng Bingding, who had once supervised Zhang Yu’s foundation-building exam on the first level and later ascended to the second level, was also among them.

Deng Bingding replied in the spirit realm network, "The exam venue is ready. All eight contestants have also arrived."

While answering, Deng Bingding also casually checked Zhang Yu’s location and thought to herself, "Zhang Yu is only a junior, right? Why is he taking the military certification exam?"

Gengchen Yi looked at Perching Cloud True Lord beside him and smiled, "Principal, all the examinees have arrived. Shall we begin?"

Thunder rumbled repeatedly within Perching Cloud True Lord’s body, and the overlapping thunder sounds formed a heavy male voice.

"Then let us begin."

…

The eight examinees were watching the flying boat in the sky, and the next moment they felt a flash before their eyes as Deng Bingding’s projection materialized in front of them.

Seeing Deng Bingding appear before him, Zhang Yu’s eyes showed a hint of surprise.

Then he heard her begin to explain the schedule and rules.

"It’s divided into two rounds?" Zhang Yu thought to himself. "Eight contestants, each following a different set of directions, heading to eight different locations ten kilometers away."

"The three who arrive last… are directly eliminated?"

Hearing this elimination rule from Deng Bingding’s mouth, several of the students present narrowed their eyes.

And as the countdown projection appeared in the air, the students each made their preparations.

Ping Han stood on top of his treasure chest.

Su Yanyang activated his dharma corpse, floating entirely in midair.

Behind Xiao Yunji, the dharma corpse deformed in a series of transformations, spurting streams of gang qi, while the mana inside his body rapidly circulated.

3!

2!

1!

Bang!

Like multiple thunderclaps exploding, as the countdown ended, the figures of the eight examinees vanished simultaneously, shooting off like streaks of black lightning in eight different directions.

Watching the students disappear, Deng Bingding thought to herself, "The money on the second level still isn’t enough to spend."

"This military certification exam costs so much—no wonder they need to eliminate three first, to keep the budget from running out."

Looking in the direction where Zhang Yu had disappeared, Deng Bingding thought to herself: "I wonder how far Zhang Yu can hold out."

……

At this very moment, the entire examination ground—all eight students—were already under the surveillance of the True Gods.

On the flying boat, before the three judges and the many guests, scenes from the examination ground had already begun to appear.

Qiyun Zhenjun said flatly: "Although it's only a distance of ten kilometers, quite a few traps have been laid along the way to slow down the examinees."

Tianxiang Zhenjun nodded beside him and said: "The first round counts as a basic test. It tests the examinees' fundamentals and also examines their ability to adapt."

"The bottom three naturally have no need to obtain the military certificate."

As a thought stirred in Tianxiang Zhenjun's mind, the image of Su Yanyang appeared before his eyes. At this moment, Su Yanyang's arms and legs were all composed of streaks of crystals, with arcs of electricity flashing within, emitting a pulse of heart-stopping fluctuation—this was his strongest dharma-bone suit, the Earthly Demon God.

As for why he hadn't changed into his previous speed-type dharma-bone suit, it was because he had been entangled in lawsuits for the past year and his financial situation was poor; he had already sold that suit before the exam.

Now, under the enhancement of the Earthly Demon God, Su Yanyang floated in midair and flew forward at high speed in a way that defied gravity.

The next moment, a heavy pressure fell upon him, as if an invisible mountain had pressed down on his body, dragging him toward the ground.

Su Yanyang's expression changed. His ocular dharma-bones swept across the surroundings, quickly identifying the eye of the formation below. His palm seals shifted, stirring up a great amount of sand and mud to destroy the formation.

Tianxiang Zhenjun commented casually: "This Su Yanyang's reaction is not bad."

Next, he switched to Xiao Yunji's perspective and saw the girl had transformed into a giant over ten meters tall, manifesting three heads and six arms as she charged about, smashing all kinds of formations and traps to pieces.

Seeing this, Tianxiang Zhenjun laughed heartily and said: "This Xiao Yunji is quite ferocious—she actually uses a transformation-type dharma-bone suit? Admirable Dao-heart."

Just then, Qiyun Zhenjun beside him said: "Tianxiang, take a look at this Ping Han."

Tianxiang Zhenjun switched to Ping Han's perspective and saw Ping Han standing tall atop a man-high metal box, flying swiftly toward the target location.

At the same time, several dharma artifacts circled tightly around him; whether it was thunder-fire gushing forth or sword qi rushing at his face, all were completely blocked by the artifacts.

From the artifacts, streaks of fire dragons shot out from time to time, incinerating any formations that hindered Ping Han's progress into scorched earth.

From beginning to end, Ping Han kept his arms crossed over his chest, letting his dharma artifacts do their work, and had already blocked every attack, speeding toward the target location faster than any of the other eight.

Watching this, Tianxiang Zhenjun's trunk swayed, and his gaze swept over the price chart of Agarwood Fluid Coin on Ping Han's body. He laughed: "Got rich speculating in Agarwood Fluid Coins? A lad with immortal destiny."

Qiyun Zhenjun beside him nodded: "Coming to the military certificate exam before going bankrupt—that really does show immortal destiny."

As cultivators who had walked from ancient times to the modern era, they understood that the definition of immortal destiny changed with the times.

In ancient times, receiving teachings from an immortal and awakening to the Dao in a single moment was immortal destiny; falling off a cliff and finding a hidden treasure was immortal destiny; mistakenly consuming a heaven-and-earth treasure and advancing a thousand miles in cultivation in a single day was also immortal destiny.

Since ancient times, the world had never lacked cases where a single stroke of immortal destiny surpassed the efforts of decades or even centuries of hard work by others.

Only in modern times, immortals cannot pass down teachings illegally; hidden treasures everywhere have long been dug up; and heaven-and-earth treasures in the ground are no longer ownerless.

But immortal destiny has not disappeared—it has merely taken another form.

Winning the lottery is immortal destiny; profiting from stock trading is immortal destiny; gambling can be immortal destiny; profiting from cryptocurrency speculation can also be immortal destiny.

In short, getting rich overnight is immortal destiny.

In Qiyun Zhenjun's eyes, this Ping Han before him was a lad who had struck immortal destiny.

Especially after getting rich overnight, being able to seize the opportunity to take the military certificate exam made his immortal destiny even deeper.

As Qiyun Zhenjun's gaze flickered, the prices of the dharma-bone suits and dharma artifacts on everyone present were all calculated in an instant.

Ping Han first, Xiao Yunqi second.

Tianxiang Zhenjun beside him said: "Looking at net worth, comprehensive score, and cultivation, this Ping Han really might get the military certificate."

"Principal Qiyun, your Ten Thousand Dharmas School seems to be about to produce another military certificate."

Qiyun Zhenjun said flatly: "It's just immortal destiny. Whether he can ultimately seize it depends on himself."

Meanwhile, on another side, Director Gao was watching Zhang Yu's perspective.

In the scene, Zhang Yu was clad in golden armor, with a golden-threaded jade disk appearing behind his head. He stomped step by step on the ground, each step producing bursts of explosive sounds.

Relying on the empowerment of the Supreme Yin Fluid Golden Pill and his protective true qi, he almost never paused along the way. No matter what attacks came at him, he always steadily charged out from the clouds of dust.

The golden-threaded jade disk behind his head occasionally released streaks of deep-cold rays, temporarily freezing some formations.

Director Gao could see that although Zhang Yu's speed wasn't the fastest, he was as steady as Ping Han, maintaining almost no variation in speed from start to finish as he reached the target location, placing fourth.

Then Director Gao looked at Ping Han, who had arrived first, and sighed inwardly: "Alas, if Ping Han truly manages to obtain the military certificate this time, I'll need to have a serious talk with him."

"If he can cash out all his Qiongjiang coins, temporarily give up coin speculation, and diligently cultivate the Tiankunlun Mountain-Shifting Divine Power, then he would still be another proud prodigy of our Civil Engineering Department."

Just as Director Gao was lost in thought, the three contestants who arrived last were eliminated.

And Zhang Yu also caught the attention of Heavenly Elephant True Lord.

The latter curled his trunk and said, "A junior taking the military certificate exam? Principal Qiyun, your school's Civil Engineering Department is truly teeming with talent."

Qiyun True Lord was also somewhat surprised and was flipping through Zhang Yu's records.

Meanwhile, the second round of the military certificate exam had already begun.

Zhang Yu looked at the lines of text appearing before him and thought to himself: "Establish a defensive line, protect the array eye, and withstand the next hour's assault?"

Zhang Yu looked at the various blueprints provided before him and thought: "Blazing Platform, Soul-Condensing Tower, Demon-Sealing Pavilion... They want me to build defensive towers? Playing tower defense?"