As time went on, the rain grew heavier.

Meanwhile, the survival circle gradually shrank, and students charged up the mountain in wave after wave.

Of the three Fifth Middle School students who had been guarding the path, only one remained. During the most dangerous assault, even Xiao Yang couldn’t stop them, and it was Chen Che who ultimately had to step in and fend them off.

Now, the mountaintop was quiet again.

Across the entire exam grounds, only a little over thirty people were left, and there was less than half an hour to go.

But seeing that charging the mountain was hopeless, the remaining students weighed their own strengths against each other and had no choice but to target others, hoping to fight for the last four qualifying spots.

The sounds of fighting and cursing periodically drifted up from the base of the mountain.

Carried on the whistling wind, one could even hear the suppressed sobs of one or two female students, seemingly unable to bear the tense atmosphere of real combat.

How brutal!

On the mountaintop, a sense of melancholy washed over everyone.

Having lived their whole lives in an era of peace, they found it difficult to suddenly face the cruelty of the Cultivation Realm.

But Chen Che’s expression was serene.

No matter how cruel it seemed, this was just an exam. Even if they died, they would be revived outside the exam grounds.

A real battlefield offered no such second chances.

Besides him, Zong Yudao, who had just been making up the numbers, also looked completely unbothered. He had been randomly teleported to the mountaintop from the very beginning. Like Lin Yi, he felt he couldn’t beat anyone, so he had been hiding in the toilets behind the mountain the whole time, only sneaking out after he saw Chen Che take control of the summit.

Seeing that no more students were charging up the mountain, Chen Che simply sat down cross-legged.

’The students from Earth Element Star and I are all products of the same educational system. There isn’t a huge gap in what we’ve learned!’

’Under these circumstances, a High Realm has absolute suppressive power over a Low Realm. That was certainly the case in this city-level tournament...’

’But once I get to the provincial tournament, or the Immortal Sect Grand Competition, and I run into students with higher Cultivation than me, or those from wealthy families, my advantage in Qi and Blood and Divine Sense might not hold up...’ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Chen Che mentally reviewed the battle, weighing the pros and cons.

However, despite these thoughts, he wasn’t particularly worried.

He had Yunzhou backing him.

That meant he had access to a virtually endless supply of resources.

’From now on, I not only need to maintain my Realm, but I also have to improve the strength of my Divine Sense and my Qi and Blood...’

’Now that my Divine Sense is unlocked, maybe I can find some time to widen my meridians?’

Chen Che mused to himself.

After all,

he only had a Middle Spirit Root. If his Cultivation speed was no slower than those Celestial Spirit Root students from privileged backgrounds, it would be simply too outrageous.

A few moments later, the countdown hadn’t reached zero yet, but only ten people remained on the exam grounds.

"It’s over!"

At that moment, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

...

In a flash of brilliant light, the few people remaining on the exam grounds were all teleported out.

From a distance, Chen Che saw a crowd of reporters surrounding Li Xiaoshuang, who was talking animatedly:

"I’ve always been strict with my students, constantly urging them to cultivate diligently! Take Chen Che, for example. He only has a Middle Spirit Root. Without my guidance, he never would have become so outstanding. It’s all thanks to me..."

"Chen Che!"

Seeing Chen Che walk out of the exam grounds, the enthusiastic Li Xiaoshuang suddenly darted over, wanting to pull him into the interview:

"The city reporters are here for an interview. Come with me and say a few words."

Then Chen Che watched as the reporters, who had been held in place by Li Xiaoshuang’s True Essence, scattered on the spot. By the time he looked back, not a single one was left.

"They run so fast. Oh well, this is just the city tournament. There’ll be more interview opportunities at the provincial tournament!"

Li Xiaoshuang’s expression fell, but he immediately perked up again, full of spirit.

The combat event was the only competition where the results could be known immediately after it ended. Although it wasn’t official yet, their qualification was already a sure thing.

"Should we head back to school now that the competition is over?"

Chen Che glanced around.

Since the eliminated students had left long ago, there weren’t many people outside the exam grounds anymore, just a few scattered parents and teachers.

"What’s the point of going back to school? Today’s meal is on me, I’m paying out of my own pocket."

Li Xiaoshuang had already discussed it with Yan Jun earlier. They planned to go have a few drinks:

"To celebrate you all qualifying!"

During the meal, Yan Jun actually stood up to toast him. "Chen Che, thank you for this."

Chen Che’s simple favor had secured a qualifying spot for Class Three as well.

For him, the prize money was secondary; the main thing was that his prospects for a performance evaluation bonus were now looking good.

"Teacher Yan, you’re too kind!"

"You did great on this exam, really made me proud!"

Li Xiaoshuang, who now understood what had happened inside the exam grounds, patted Chen Che’s shoulder. He then turned to Lin Yi and nodded. "You were pretty lucky too. You followed Chen Che early on and managed to snag a qualifying spot..."

"Teacher Li, what about me?" Zong Yudao saw his chance and quickly asked.

"You?"

Li Xiaoshuang paused for a moment, then sighed with sincere admiration.

"A person of great fortune!"

The person ranked last in the entire grade managed to qualify. If that’s not a person of great fortune, what is?

「The next day.」

From a distance, Chen Che looked up and saw a huge banner hanging outside the school gate:

[Warm congratulations to our students Chen Che, Lin Yi, Zong Yudao, and Su Peng for qualifying in the combat competition.]

On the Crystal Stone screen below, a line of text was scrolling repeatedly.

He had just arrived at his classroom and hadn’t even had time to enjoy his classmates’ compliments before Ding Dawei called him over. After a few words of encouragement, of course, the conversation turned to the Alchemy competition. The main point was simply to get Chen Che to focus, because the Alchemy competition was tomorrow.

This made him feel a bit of regret.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have signed up for so many competitions. He didn’t even have time to rest.

When the third day arrived, Chen Che, Ye Youwei, and Huang Zhongfei went off to participate in the Alchemy competition.

Compared to the combat event, the city-level Alchemy competition was rather dull and uninspired.

When the exam began, the proctor handed out an exam paper and ten Jade Bottles, each labeled with a corresponding Spirit Rune. The students’ task was to perform Alchemy according to the requirements on the paper: either a certain student had been poisoned, and they had to refine an Antitoxic Pill for them;

or, someone was practicing a certain Cultivation Technique and needed supporting Pills;

or, someone had found an incorrect Pill Formula, and they had to correctly refine the Pill.

The exam tested not only the students’ Alchemy skills but also their breadth of knowledge and reasoning abilities.

Chen Che took one look at the exam paper and started scratching his head in frustration.

Most of the other students were in the same boat.

Of course, there were also students who were a complete mess.

From time to time, the smell of something burning would drift through the air. This was someone who had failed to control the heat properly.

Occasionally, sporadic explosions could be heard from other exam rooms. Clearly, someone’s Pill Furnace had exploded.

Whenever a furnace exploded, the students in the exam room would look up, startled, and exchange glances before focusing all their attention back on the Pill Furnaces in front of them.

After refining each batch of Pills, they would select a few of the best-quality ones, place them in the Jade Bottle, and then wait until the end of the exam for the proctor to collect everything. That was the whole process.

Because the Pills still had to go through an appraisal process, the results of the Alchemy competition wouldn’t be out for at least another half a month.

After participating in two competitions back-to-back, Chen Che was also a bit exhausted. After the exam was over for the day, he made a trip to Yunzhou.

As the war situation stabilized, the number of Cultivators stopped increasing. Combined with the disciples of Jinyun Valley patrolling back and forth, the Market had actually calmed down.

At the same time, business had also slowed down a bit. He sat in the shop and taught Zhao Deyou for a while before heading back to his Cave Mansion, carrying the Profound Ink Turtle that Ding Fei had bought.

The moment he stepped inside, he froze on the spot.

Wandering around the Cave Mansion was a featherless Little Demon Beast. It was impossible to tell what kind of bird it was, but it looked like a baby chick, waddling from side to side on its tiny claws. When the Little Demon Beast saw Chen Che, it got very excited, chirping "CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!" as it pounced forward and scurried around his feet.

A thought struck Chen Che:

’Could it be that the egg hatched?’