Chapter 198

In the Inter-Hall Grand Competition secret realm of the Great Chen National Dao Academy, the middle and high-level officials of the National Dao Academy had all arrived.

Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao sat in the main seat, with Left Libationer Meng Yanhui, Right Libationer Song Bing, and Supervisor Chen Liao sitting on the left and right, while the four major Academicians and twelve Vice Academicians all sat on the opposite side below.

Because this time, these sixteen Academicians were the subjects of the assessment.

Although it was said that the students were competing, the real subjects of the assessment were them.

It could be considered an assessment of the work of these sixteen Academicians over the past half year.

The style of the National Dao Academy was also simple and direct; including the four major Academicians, the ranking of all Academicians was based on the rankings of the Inter-Hall Grand Competition in the spring.

Sitting in the first seat was the major Academician Fang Shinan, who was chatting with several other major Academicians with a smile on his face, his posture relaxed and leisurely.

As a teacher, this was probably his proudest moment.

The first four places were naturally occupied by the four major Academicians; Kou Jing ranked second, the major Academician Gao Xuan, who came from the imperial family, ranked third, and the major Academician Pan Hong ranked fourth, considered the last of the four major Academicians.

Among the twelve Vice Academicians, the most dazzling was naturally the head of the twelve Vice Academicians, Song Ziye.

Counting it up, Song Ziye had ranked fifth for two consecutive sessions, ranking first among the Vice Academicians.

Song Ziye had vaguely become a popular candidate for the next major Academician of the National Dao Academy.

If a position for a major Academician became vacant and Song Ziye's cultivation broke through to the sixth tier, then the possibility of Song Ziye being promoted to major Academician would be extremely high.

Ranking sixth was the Vice Academician Tang Hui, and other Vice Academicians sat according to their rankings.

At this very moment, seeing Liu Zhou Qingzhu, who had arrived late, the major Academician Fang Shinan suddenly said sternly, "Vice Academician Liu, being late for an important meeting is not the way of a teacher."

This could be considered a reprimand!

Whether in terms of qualifications, age, cultivation, or position ranking, the major Academician Fang had the qualifications to reprimand Liu Zhou Qingzhu.

But in any case, in terms of status, the two were colleagues, and speaking directly to Liu Zhou Qingzhu like this in public was a bit like stepping on someone.

As soon as the major Academician Fang spoke, in an instant, the gazes of all the middle and high-level officials of the National Dao Academy present were focused on Liu Zhou Qingzhu.

Yet Liu Zhou Qingzhu acted as if she hadn't heard, ignoring him, and sat there listlessly.

The Vice Academician Shen Wei, who sat right next to Liu Zhou Qingzhu, even nudged Liu Zhou Qingzhu with his elbow, "Major Academician Fang is talking about you."

At this very instant, Liu Zhou Qingzhu sat up abruptly, the listless air vanished, and she flicked a point of starlight from her fingertip, directly illuminating the timing water clock hanging high in the secret realm until it was extremely bright. "Major Academician Fang, there are still dozens of breaths left before the meeting time.

Is your eyesight bad?

I heard that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion has newly made a type of reading glasses, specially used for those with failing eyesight; would you like me to send Major Academician Fang a pair?"

This retort directly made everyone present spirited.

One by one, their hearts for gossip surged, and they all looked at the major Academician Fang with great joy.

The major Academician Fang had this one bad point: he loved to rely on his age to sell his age. In the National Dao Academy, more than sixty percent of the Vice Academicians, instructors, and drillmasters had been criticized by him to their faces.

In most cases, most people swallowed their anger.

If you are a bit cowardly, things will go smoothly in the future; after all, others are stronger than you in terms of strength, status, achievements, and age.

But what was unexpected was that Liu Zhou Qingzhu actually retorted.

And retorted so satisfyingly!

The major Academician Fang was also stunned by the retort!

Are you saying he was deliberately targeting Liu Zhou Qingzhu?

Actually, he wasn't.

He just saw that Liu Zhou Qingzhu arrived late and habitually criticized her; as the head of the four major Academicians, isn't it normal to criticize and point out the juniors?

But he didn't expect to be retorted.

This was the first time he had been retorted by a junior in public.

The major Academician Fang wanted to flare up, but he had no contingency plan; he just said it off the cuff, but was directly scolded by Liu Zhou Qingzhu for having failing eyesight, and it just so happened that there were really dozens of breaths left before the time; for a moment, he didn't know how to reply.

His face sank, his eyes shone with essence, and he quickly pondered how to deal with this junior, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, who had no respect for her elders.

But in the eyes of others, it was the major Academician Fang who had been rendered speechless by Liu Zhou Qingzhu!

Who told him that there was really a little time left?

And just when everyone was watching the show, the rotating major Academician Kou Jing suddenly chuckled, "I really didn't pay attention to the time, but since everyone has arrived, Grand Master, let's begin."

"Hmm."

As the Grand Master nodded lightly, the head drillmaster Yu Da instantly shouted.

"The autumn Inter-Hall Grand Competition begins, disciples of each academy, enter the arena!"

As the head drillmaster, Yu Da immediately notified the disciples waiting at each academy to enter the secret realm; almost simultaneously, at least over two thousand disciples surged into the Inter-Hall Grand Competition secret realm at the same time.

The moment these disciples began to surge into the secret realm, the head drillmaster Yu Da bowed again, "I ask the Grand Master to seal the National Dao Academy."

Upon hearing this, the Grand Master nodded lightly, his fingers flicked lightly, and the Nine-Sound Bell instantly flew out from between his fingers and disappeared.

The next instant, outside the secret realm, the Nine-Sound Bell instantly hung high above the National Dao Academy, rotating slowly, and the sixth bell vibrated slightly, casting out a boundless light shield, vaguely covering the entire National Dao Academy.

The entire Great Chen National Dao Academy was instantly sealed inside and out.

At the same instant, the head drillmaster Yu Da began to announce the next procedure.

The major Academician Fang was directly rendered speechless.

He also had quick wit; in one or two breaths, he thought of words to retort Liu Zhou Qingzhu and reprimand her while being in the right, but the problem was, he had no chance.

Kou Jing's words directly made the Inter-Hall Grand Competition enter the procedure; thousands of disciples had come in, and if he spoke to retort Liu Zhou Qingzhu at this time, he would be losing face and being shameful.

At that time, it would truly be called relying on his age to sell his age.

Therefore, the major Academician Fang was helpless and could only swallow the retort he had just woven with extreme difficulty.

Staring coldly at Liu Zhou Qingzhu, he had completely remembered this junior.

When his gaze returned, it swept over Kou Jing, slightly cold.

This old friend and old rival had been jumping very fiercely recently when it came to events involving him!

And on this side, the head drillmaster Yu Da had already displayed the format and rules of this Inter-Hall Grand Competition directly to all disciples using a starlight screen.

Xu Jin had already seen it clearly and was also somewhat surprised.

Xu Jin originally thought that the Inter-Hall Grand Competition might be disciples from various academies fighting and killing, and finally determining the rankings of each academy based on the disciples' rankings; it should be a similar format.

He didn't expect that they were competing based on the average points of each academy.

The specific rules are as follows: disciples from all halls will enter the Star River Secret Realm to fight, and the time will last for one day and one night.

Killing different alien races with different cultivation levels will earn different points.

The point is here: Xu Jin originally thought it might be total points.

But the final ranking was based on average points.

That is, the total points of each academy divided by the number of disciples in the academy, to get the average points.

In the end, the rankings of each major academy are based on average points.

You don't say, after Xu Jin carefully considered it, he found that this method was still somewhat useful.

The most important use is to balance resources.

This ranking method makes the Academicians of each hall afraid to tilt most of their resources to two or three genius disciples, and also afraid to ignore the inner-hall disciples at the very bottom.

This is just like the rule of calculating average scores to rank classes in the school Xu Jin was in in his past life.

If the full score is 120, it is very difficult to improve an excellent student who scores over 100 by 10 points, but if you improve a poor student who only scores 20 or 30 by 20 or 30 points, it is easier than the former.

In this way, it forces the Academicians to teach the inner-hall disciples with heart and tilt cultivation resources to the inner-hall disciples, rather than just exhausting resources to cultivate two or three genius disciples to dominate first place.

In this way, the National Dao Academy can also develop in a balanced manner.

In this world, although great power belongs to oneself, the more backbone strength, the better.

As for the reason Senior Sister Yang Miaozhen sought him out, Xu Jin understood after seeing the point rules.

In the situation where the performance of inner-hall disciples is about the same, then the points obtained by the combat power of the fourth-tier Condense Star Realm are the key.

The cultivation levels of the alien races evolved in the Star River Secret Realm start from the second-tier Forge Star to the fourth-tier peak of the ninth layer of the Condense Star Realm.

Killing Forge Star Realm alien races earns the fewest points; killing Forge Star Realm alien races earns one point regardless of cultivation rank.

For third-tier Refine Star Realm alien races, from the first layer to the ninth layer, the points are two to ten points respectively.

For fourth-tier Condense Star Realm alien races, from the first layer to the ninth layer, the points obtained are eleven to nineteen points respectively. The point gap is not large.

But killing alien races of different grades has point multipliers.

Divided into ordinary alien races, elite alien races, and heaven-defying alien races, corresponding to mid-low grade Forge Star, high grade Forge Star, and supreme grade Forge Star respectively.

Killing any ordinary alien race of any cultivation level earns original points; killing elite alien races earns double points; killing heaven-defying alien races earns four times the original points.

Among all point sources, the points obtained from killing heaven-defying alien races are the highest.

Senior Sister Yang Miaozhen's intention in seeking Xu Jin out was roughly to let Xu Jin kill a few more heaven-defying alien races to make up for the embarrassing situation of the Liu Feiyan Hall lacking fourth-tier powerhouses.

For example, under the major Academician Fang, there are as many as six disciples who are only in the mid-fourth-tier Condense Star Realm!

Their average points alone can far exceed the Liu Feiyan Academy by a large margin.

It is also fortunate that it is average points; if it were cumulative points, it is estimated that the point difference between the Liu Feiyan Academy and the major Academician Fang's academy would be calculated in tenfold.

After reading the rules, Xu Jin frowned.

Xu Jin is not afraid of points; his strength is there.

But the problem now is that Xu Jin is afraid of exposing his strength.

The assassination incident caused by the four gold stars ended only a few days ago.

If Xu Jin makes a big splash in the Inter-Hall Grand Competition, will it gather the attention of other Star Halls to him again?

The assassination at that time might be even more intense than it is now!

This made Xu Jin hesitate.

Should he preserve his strength?

But preserving strength will make his teacher, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, lose face.

Or, perform just right?

But this degree is too difficult to grasp.

After thinking about it, Xu Jin glanced at the Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao sitting high up, and had an idea.

It's better to let the Grand Master have a headache, so he directly sent a starlight message to the Grand Master.

【Grand Master, in the Inter-Hall Grand Competition, should I go all out, or preserve my strength to avoid attracting attention?】

【It is best to preserve your strength. The assassination incident caused by the four gold stars has not ended yet. If you perform too well, it will re-attract attention and bring danger.】

Grand Master Cheng now replies to Xu Jin's information in seconds.

【Grand Master, but I want my teacher to be a little happier and don't want her to lose face; she is really good to me.】

Seeing this starlight message from Xu Jin, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao immediately sat up straight, a look of gratification on his face.

What is a teacher afraid of?

What do they like?

They are not afraid of students not respecting teachers and the Dao, nor are they afraid of students being ungrateful.

Teaching disciples is the teacher's duty, and they don't seek anything.

Generation after generation.

But teachers are also human.

Therefore, what teachers like most are disciples who respect teachers and the Dao and value gratitude and affection.

Students like Xu Jin who can take the teacher's honor and face into consideration are the favorites of teachers!

Inadvertently, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao also brought himself into the identity of Xu Jin's teacher.

Such behavior must be supported!

Such thoughts must be satisfied.

【How about this: perform as much as you can, and I will keep an eye on things for you from the outside. If the Liu Feiyan Academy's average point ranking is about right, I will send you a message to stop. Besides that, you can look for other fellow disciples; if you can find them, helping fellow disciples improve their points is also a way to avoid this phenomenon.】

Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao's reply made Xu Jin happy.

Being able to have the Grand Master of the Great Chen National Dao Academy personally rack his brains to help him cheat, Xu Jin can be considered one of a kind.

However, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao gave him a good idea.

He cannot expose himself, but he can improve the points of other fellow disciples.

But the problem is, according to the introduction, the Star River Secret Realm is quite vast, and within a day, the possibility of fellow disciples from the same hall meeting by chance is extremely small.

Xu Jin even thought of using the Red Scale Heart Armor.

But wouldn't that be a bit too much?

Just as Xu Jin was pondering, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao sent another starlight message, 【I will pay attention to your points; if you perform with spare capacity, I will inform you of the location of your fellow disciples.】

Seeing this starlight message, Xu Jin was overjoyed.

Having the Grand Master help cheat is simply too satisfying.

The next instant, he heard the head drillmaster Yu Da say, "Grand Master, there are 3,463 participating disciples who meet the requirements, and they have all arrived. I ask the Grand Master to open the Star River Secret Realm passage."

Among the authorities of the main building of the Great Chen Star-Plucking Tower, the Grand Master's is the heaviest, so many passages require the Grand Master to open them.

The next instant, he saw Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao flick his hand lightly, and a vortex star gate instantly appeared.

"Enter the secret realm!"

Following the head drillmaster Yu Da's order, over three thousand disciples instantly turned into streams of light and rushed into the vortex star gate.

Xu Jin also rushed in.

The moment he rushed in, light flowed before his eyes, and starlight prompts appeared before Xu Jin.

Entering the Star River Secret Realm to fight, each person is supplied with two Four-Mystery Returning Star Pills, and each person can choose two third-tier star weapons.

Besides that, everything else is no different from actual combat!

Xu Jin chose the third-tier star boots and third-tier arm shield without hesitation; he was already used to using these two.

The next instant, Xu Jin landed in the Star River Secret Realm.

It was a plain area.

After landing, Xu Jin's Mingji Star Pattern turned, and he quickly sprinted toward the high ground in the distance.

According to the common knowledge learned before, in the star domain, the denser the star power, the larger the powerful alien races that survive.

The Star River Secret Realm should be the same.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Xu Jin encountered the first alien race.

It was a third-tier, third-layer Refine Star Realm alien race.

But when he saw this alien race, Xu Jin did not attack, but let this alien race rush toward him, shouting and screaming.

Xu Jin even let this third-tier, third-layer Refine Star Realm alien race attack him, only defending and not attacking.

During this period, this alien race kept shouting.

Five breaths later, Xu Jin saw one alien race after another rushing toward him from the distant plain.

Xu Jin thought to himself, that's enough.

Flicking his fingers lightly, he killed this third-tier, third-layer Refine Star Realm alien race, and at the same instant, a sonic boom sounded.

Xu Jin rushed out quickly, flicking his ten fingers continuously, and in the blink of an eye, the twenty-plus alien races that had been called over were killed by Xu Jin with a flick of his fingers.

Xu Jin looked up.

【Xu Jin; 121 points, 463rd place】

This first wave of points is okay.

Xu Jin catalyzed the Mingji Star Pattern to sense, and continued to rush toward the distance.

He must make his points high enough for the Grand Master to help him cheat.

Otherwise, it would be a bit shameful.

And in the Inter-Hall Grand Competition secret realm, as the disciples left, the middle and high-level officials began to pay attention to the changes in the disciples' point rankings and chatted.

The major Academician Fang, who had been retorted earlier and was holding back a breath of evil, spoke again.

(End of chapter)