Chapter 326 - 325: The North District’s Overall Scores Explode

"Mu Xianling of the North District. Twenty Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals and one Level 5 Demon Beast Crystal. The Level 5 Demon Beast Crystal is Lower Grade. Total score: twenty-nine. Pass."

...

As they heard a succession of North District candidates announced with scores of over twenty Demon Beast Crystals, everyone from the West Mansion looked as if they had seen a ghost.

’How is this possible!’

’How could so many candidates from the North District get scores of over twenty Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals?’

’Shouldn’t only five or six people from the North District have barely passed the exam? How are their scores not just a narrow pass, but outstanding?’

’That’s five in a row now. All five with scores over twenty. This is terrifying.’

’What kind of insane luck did the North District have?’

It wasn’t just the others who were in disbelief. Even Elder Lu, the one in charge of the North District, was staring wide-eyed with a look of utter astonishment.

He had braced himself beforehand, knowing the North District’s results would be good. But he had never expected them to be *this* good. Five candidates had been tallied, and all five had scores over twenty!

Of course, aside from those in shock, there were others who were just full of sour grapes.

"This is impossible! They cheated! The North District candidates must have cheated."

"They’re all nobodies, completely unknown candidates. They have no reputation, and their strength is nothing special. How could they get so many Demon Beast Crystals? This is obviously not right!"

"This is too weird. The seeded candidates from the East District are far stronger than these North District candidates in terms of overall ability, yet none of them obtained as many Demon Beast Crystals."

"These North District candidates... did nearly every one of them get a Level 5 Demon Beast Crystal? How is that possible? With their level of strength, how could they kill a Level 5 Demon Beast? They must have cheated!"

"I don’t get how the North District candidates achieved such great results, but there’s definitely something fishy going on!"

"The entire district’s candidates can’t have all gotten scores this good, can they? It’s normal for one or two geniuses to emerge, but for so many to stand out at once is definitely not."

"..."

Of course, all their doubts were useless. After all, this was the West Mansion. If it were that easy to cheat, could it still be called the West Mansion?

Gong Liansheng merely glanced at the Demon Beast Crystals submitted by the North District candidates before declaring the results valid. There was no suspicion of cheating; the crystals were indeed obtained by the North District candidates from within the Little Extreme Sacred Land.

With Gong Liansheng’s confirmation, no matter how much the crowd doubted, they had to admit that these North District candidates had truly achieved such impressive results.

A wave of commotion passed through the crowd.

Once again, the people of the West Mansion were in an uproar.

They all had the same feeling: the North District was finally making a name for itself!

Regardless of the remaining candidates’ results, these few alone had already elevated the North District’s overall standing to a whole new level.

Moreover, Tang Piaomiao’s score was thirty-five, Bai Ye’s was thirty-three, Tang Shu’s was thirty-one, and Mu Xianling’s was twenty-nine. Although they hadn’t taken first place, the North District had claimed the second, third, fourth, AND fifth spots!!

Four of the top ten spots belonged to candidates from the North District!

With four from the North District rising to the top, that meant four candidates from other districts had been pushed out.

And most of those who were pushed out were from the East District. How could the candidates from the East District possibly stand for that?

There were whispers of slander, curses, and angry glares. The East District had always looked down on the North District, and now, their displeasure had intensified.

"Hmph. I bet only these five candidates of yours managed to get such good scores. The rest of them must have done miserably."

Yane Bohou, the one in charge of the East District, stepped forward and said stubbornly.

His expression was absolutely foul. Just moments ago, he had been mocking the North District and praising his own East District. In the blink of an eye, he had been utterly humiliated. It would have been a miracle if he didn’t look furious.

"Is that so?"

Elder Lu Qiming just smiled faintly, not deigning to argue.

However, Lu Qiming didn’t need to. In the very next moment, the facts delivered another brutal blow to Yane Bohou, one that felt like it could swell his face.

"Tao Yuanju of the North District: Thirteen Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals. Pass."

"Yuh Xiwei of the North District: Fourteen Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals. Pass."

"Shu Yuan of the North District: Eleven Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals. Pass."

"Cheng Wei of the North District: Seven Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals. Fail."

"Li Zhiming of the North District: Thirteen Level 4 Demon Beast Crystals. Pass."

The West Mansion expert tallying the results continued to announce the scores for the North District. To everyone’s surprise, basically all of the following candidates passed! They all had over ten Demon Beast Crystals, with only an occasional failure!

Seeing that so many others from the North District, aside from Bai Ye and the first five, had also obtained more than ten Demon Beast Crystals, Yane Bohou’s face turned green with rage, his expression growing fouler by the second.

Every time the name of a North District candidate was announced, Yane Bohou’s body would flinch.

He was trembling in pure shock!

"Nearly everyone from the North District actually passed!"

This sight made the crowd from the West Mansion stare wide-eyed once more.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The tallying of the North District’s results continued!

The results that followed were much the same. While the remaining North District candidates weren’t as exceptional as the first five, nearly all of them met the baseline requirement for the House Entrance Examination! They had obtained ten Demon Beast Crystals!

Under the stunned gazes of everyone from the West Mansion, the results for all the North District candidates, except for Tang Yi, were announced. Although the final total hadn’t been calculated, a rough estimate placed their collective score at over seven hundred Demon Beast Crystals. The number of people who had completed the mission and passed the House Entrance Examination was at least fifty!

Of course, this was a conservative estimate. The exact results would only be known once the person in charge announced the final tally. The actual number could only be higher, not lower!

’Over fifty people qualifying for the mansion! That’s even more than the East District!’

HISS!

Seeing the North District’s impressive overall results, everyone wore an expression of disbelief. The same thought occurred to all of them: ’This year, the North District is truly going to rise. The quality of their candidates is astonishingly high!’

The candidates from the East District had originally held their heads high, looking down on the other three districts as if from a mountaintop. They never imagined that the North District, which consistently ranked last every year, would suddenly be qualified to compete with them. The North District’s performance made them grow incredibly solemn. After all, this concerned the selections for the Eight Palaces and the distribution of resources. Better results meant more choices and, naturally, a larger share of resources.

"’Looks like I still have a chance of winning the bet on the districts after all.’"

Seeing how well the North District had performed, an unconcealable joy appeared on Murong Liu’s face. He had originally thought his bet on the North District was a lost cause. But then came the unexpected turnaround. Every candidate’s score was impressive, and a huge number of them had passed the House Entrance Examination. Suddenly, he saw a glimmer of hope for winning.

"Sigh... I’m always so indecisive. When I saw you follow Old Fang and bet on the North District, I hesitated. In the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to trust them and bet on the South District instead. And now I’ve lost," Pan Borong said with regret. "If I’d known, I would’ve just followed your lead and bet on the North District too."