Chapter 79: The Ancestral Dragon

Li Zhangsheng's pen moved like a dragon or snake; his answering speed was extremely fast, forming a complete polarization with the other examinees. Many examinees were deep in thought, struggling with their insufficient accumulation of Spirit Beast knowledge, which caused them quite a bit of distress.

After about a quarter of an hour, Li Zhangsheng finished the multiple-choice questions and began to solve the fill-in-the-blank questions.

Compared to the multiple-choice questions, the difficulty of the fill-in-the-blank questions had risen by a notch, especially for examinees with insufficient mastery of knowledge, because if one could not answer, one simply could not answer, unlike multiple-choice questions where one could still gamble on probability.

Li Zhangsheng was not without worry; even though he was very confident and had mastered a vast amount of Spirit Beast knowledge, there would inevitably be gaps, especially regarding some obscure questions.

Question 1: What are the characteristics possessed by a Phoenix?

"Damn it, they're trying to trap people on the very first question!" Seeing the first question, Li Zhangsheng grumbled to himself, but his movements were not slow, because he had read the data on all Divine Beasts and naturally had some understanding of the Phoenix.

Without hesitation, Li Zhangsheng wrote down Rebirth from Fire, Heavenly Auspiciousness, and Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix.

That's right, the Phoenix possesses three characteristics!

Including Divine Beasts, Spirit Beasts naturally possessing two characteristics are rare, let alone three. Among them, the Phoenix is one of them, and also the most well-known existence.

Furthermore, all three of the Phoenix's characteristics are very practical, which is also one of the reasons it can be ranked as a Top-tier Divine Beast.

Without a doubt, this was a trap question; presumably, quite a few examinees would only fill in one or two characteristics.

Question 2: The Ancestral Dragon had nine sons, each different; which one is shaped like a lion, likes smoke, and enjoys sitting?

Legend has it that the Ancestral Dragon was born from heaven and earth and was the first dragon in the world, possessing immense power. The nine sons it sired were likewise no simple characters; aside from their appearance, they were not a whit inferior to top-tier Dragon Clan members like the Azure Dragon, Green Dragon, or Responding Dragon.

Unlike ordinary Dragon Clan members, the Ancestral Dragon Nine Sons all differ in appearance, preferences, and personality, making them very easy to confuse, which is also the hardest part of this question.

"Suanni!" After thinking for a moment, Li Zhangsheng wrote down the answer. He had done some research on the Ancestral Dragon Nine Sons, which had to do with his curiosity: how did the Ancestral Dragon give birth to these nine completely different offspring?

After finishing the answer, Li Zhangsheng looked at the third question. Unlike the previous two, the third question was a black-and-white picture. What was drawn on it seemed to be an eye, but unlike an ordinary eye, this eye had two pupils, giving one the feeling of an ancient sage born with double pupils.

However, this was an exam paper testing Spirit Beast knowledge and had no connection to ancient sages. If one were to write the name of some ancient sage, there would absolutely be no hope of getting it right.

"One eye with two pupils! There are several types of Spirit Beasts born with double pupils. Judging from the appearance of the eyeball, this should be the eye of a bird-type Spirit Beast." As soon as he thought of bird-type Spirit Beasts, a name immediately surfaced in Li Zhangsheng's mind, and that was—the Chongming Bird!

The Chongming Bird is a divine bird; its shape is very similar to a chicken, and both eyes have two pupils, so people call it the Chongming Bird, also known as the Double-Pupil Bird. It is also the only bird-type Spirit Beast that possesses double pupils.

However, when he saw the next question, Li Zhangsheng's brows finally furrowed. This was another black-and-white picture, but unlike the eye in the previous image, this time it was a furry tail.

Unlike an ordinary tail, this tail had nine tumor-like bumps distributed on it, looking a bit like nine eyes, but the end of the tail was completely bald, as if someone had shaved it.

Staring at this picture, Li Zhangsheng rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.

Without a doubt, this was a difficult question; after all, there are simply too many types of Spirit Beasts, and most Spirit Beasts possess tails.

It would be fine if there were colors, but the problem was that these pictures had no color differentiation, so the difficulty of screening increased geometrically.

Trying to find the answer from over a thousand Spirit Beasts was, for most examinees, not an ordinary level of difficulty.

However, such tail characteristics were quite distinct, and there were not many Spirit Beasts that possessed such a tail; as long as one had seen it once, one would often have a deep impression.

"Wind Civet? Nine-Eyed Marten? Rattlesnake Cat?" Li Zhangsheng's thoughts jumped, and within just a few breaths, he thought of three types of Spirit Beasts.

"I can only use the process of elimination. The Wind Civet's tail is not bald, and the Rattlesnake Cat's tail is not thick enough. Judging from the appearance, this should be the Nine-Eyed Marten!" Li Zhangsheng did not write down the answer immediately, but re-thought it over, and after confirming there were no omissions, he wrote down the name of the Nine-Eyed Marten.

The Nine-Eyed Marten does not mean it has nine eyes, but that its tail not only resembles eyes but also possesses the characteristic of being able to Seek Profit and Avoid Harm.

The most speechless part is that even among Exotic Beasts, the Nine-Eyed Marten is a quite obscure existence, especially since it only lives in a fixed, desolate area, and very few people can see its figure.

As for whether the answer was the Nine-Eyed Marten, even Li Zhangsheng did not have absolute certainty, but he was seventy or eighty percent sure; after all, in his knowledge, there was no existence more similar than the Nine-Eyed Marten.

The subsequent fill-in-the-blank questions were, one could say, exactly the same as the previous ones. Many only showed the characteristics of a certain part of a certain Spirit Beast, yet there were several types of Spirit Beasts with similar characteristics, which also led to many examinees having different answers.

In this situation, Li Zhangsheng's answering speed was much slower than before, and he became increasingly cautious. His observation was meticulous, not letting go of even the slightest detail, avoiding mistakes as much as possible.

It took about half an hour for Li Zhangsheng to finish the test paper.

After carefully checking it once, Li Zhangsheng put down the test paper. He had no intention of handing it in early, even though handing it in early would not affect the evaluation.

Li Zhangsheng began to close his eyes and rest, but he never stopped thinking, putting his mind entirely on the few questions he was not fully certain about. By checking for gaps and making up for them, he actually found one error and couldn't wait to complete the change.

Time passed slowly, and when the sand in the upper part of the hourglass ran out, the chief examiner announced that the Verification Exam had ended.

Under the supervision and inspection of the chief examiner, several Instructors collected the test papers and graded them for each other.

After the Verification Exam ended, the examinees could only wait for the assessment results. Their expressions were varied—either excited, worried, or anxious—like a great melting pot of the world, all sorts of things.

"Zhangsheng, are you confident?" At this time, the other three of the Li Clan Four Heroes surrounded Li Zhangsheng. Their expressions were not heavy, clearly full of confidence in the results of the Verification Exam.

Li Zhangsheng did not show false modesty and spoke the truth: "Confidence, well, naturally I have it!"

Among the four people present, Li Runfeng was the most active and asked: "I knew it. By the way, for that tail with nine bumps and a bald end, what answer did you write?"

"Rattlesnake Cat!" Li Jingyi.

"Wind Civet!" Li Tianyu.

"Nine-Eyed Marten!" Li Zhangsheng.

"Haha, great minds think alike! Zhangsheng, I also wrote Nine-Eyed Marten!" Hearing Li Zhangsheng's answer, Li Runfeng revealed a smile and gained a bit more confidence.

The other two had their expressions change slightly, faintly feeling that something was wrong.

Just as they were chatting, not long after, several Instructors finished grading the papers and the chief examiner began to tally the scores.

The atmosphere at the scene began to grow heavy. Everyone sat upright, no one had any thoughts of chatting anymore, waiting for the final result of the Verification Exam.

(End of chapter)