Chapter 55: The Third Exam

The next day.

Compared to the quiet after the first exam’s results, the stone wall of the Celestial Master Hall was now packed with people, all eager to see the new rankings.

The old man and Old Zhou squeezed and pushed for ages but still couldn’t get close. Unlike the first exam, though, Yun Jiao’s ranking this time was impossible to miss.

Her name shone right at the very top — two massive golden characters, so bright you could spot them from across the street. The font and color were completely different from everyone else’s, and the size was three times bigger, taking up almost a tenth of the entire ranking wall.

“Girl! Look, look! You’re up there! At the top!”

The old man spotted it at once and let out an excited shout. Thinking back to her strength, he felt this was only natural. Ah, so the first exam must have been the Hall’s mistake after all.

Yun Jiao felt a wave of relief — finally, something normal. She turned to ask the old man,

“What about you?”

“Haven’t found mine yet.”

His face fell.

“Too many people — can’t get close.”

The reason this second list drew so many was simple: while many passed the second exam, only the top 100 earned the right to enter the third and final test. Only those could become officially certified Celestial Masters of One Coin rank or higher. Those below 100 would remain just One-Coin Celestial Masters.

In other words, the third exam was where competition got fierce.

Perhaps because Yun Jiao’s name was so huge, everyone else’s looked smaller than before. The old man tiptoed but still couldn’t see clearly.

Just as he grew anxious, a cheerful voice called from the side:

“Immortal Yun, Immortal Bai, Immortal Zhou! You’re here too!”

The three turned and saw a man in a white Taoist robe. Handsome, unfamiliar — but his face was lit with surprise and delight as he looked at them.

The old man blinked, about to speak, but Old Zhou reacted first, eyes widening.

“You… could you be… Young Master Shao?!”

“Daoist Zhou — no, Daoist friend Zhou now. Long time no see! I didn’t expect you all to come for the upper exam as well.”

Then the young man turned to the others, finally bowing solemnly to Yun Jiao.

“Daoist Yun!”

“You’re… Shao Xian?”

Yun Jiao finally recognized him — wasn’t this the cheap son of Lord Shao? He looked completely different from the sickly boy she remembered: full of vitality and confidence now.

“Daoist Yun still remembers me?”

Shao Xian’s face brightened even more. He explained seriously,

“After receiving your letter that day, I decided to join the cultivation world. I eventually made it to the Celestial Master Hall and was fortunate enough to be accepted as a disciple under an elder of the Tang Clan.”

“The Tang Clan? One of the Six Noble Families?”

Old Zhou was shocked. That was a top-tier cultivation family, notoriously strict and rarely taking outsiders.

“Exactly!”

Shao Xian nodded.

Old Zhou’s eyes lit with admiration.

“To be taken as a disciple by a Tang elder — your talent must be impressive.”

Shao Xian scratched his head with a shy smile.

“Daoist Zhou flatters me. Compared to talent, I still can’t match Daoist Yun.”

He turned to Yun Jiao with gratitude.

“If not for your guidance that day, I’d never have had this chance.”

Guidance?

Yun Jiao blinked and exchanged a look with the old man. Both suddenly remembered that letter… and felt a pang of regret.

They had only politely hinted that he needed to pay some tuition fees — and he ended up changing careers entirely!

“Oh, right!”

Shao Xian suddenly remembered.

“You’re here to see the second exam rankings, yes? Too crowded here. Each Tang disciple gets a copied list — would you like to take a look?”

He pulled out a neatly copied sheet.

The three’s eyes lit up. As expected of a big family disciple — perks everywhere. They thanked him and eagerly took the paper.

To their relief, both the old man and Old Zhou had made the top 100. The old man ranked 79th, Old Zhou barely squeezed in at 98th. Both exhaled in relief.

Worth noting: Shao Xian was ranked 5th. After only a few months of cultivation, to reach that level was astonishing — truly a man blessed with generations of good fortune.

The old man glanced sideways at Yun Jiao — no spiritual meridian, less than a year of training, and already bending the heavens — and immediately felt his envy vanish. Compared to her, every genius is trash.

“Have the three of you chosen teammates yet?”

Shao Xian asked when they’d finished scanning the list.

“Teammates?”

The three blinked.

“What team?”

“What? You haven’t checked the third exam rules?”

Shao Xian looked surprised, then explained.

The third exam tested practical field ability. It wouldn’t take place in the Hall but in real commissioned missions that the Hall had vetted as exam sites. Every 50 candidates shared one location. The time limit was three days, and performance would be scored.

Candidates could form teams freely — cooperation didn’t hurt individual scores. But fighting among candidates was strictly forbidden; violators would be expelled immediately. Teams of about five were common to improve efficiency.

“Then let’s team up,”

Yun Jiao said firmly, determined not to repeat her first-exam mistakes. This time she would stick to every rule.

Shao Xian’s face lit with joy. Half his anxiety about the test vanished instantly.

“Excellent! Let’s go register, the exam begins in about half an hour.”

They all nodded and headed for the exam entrance. At the checkpoint, they gave their names and received new exam name tags. Soon after, an examiner gathered everyone on a platform.

Two massive teleportation arrays were etched on the ground. The examiner handed each person a Teleport Talisman and announced:

“This talisman will return you directly to the Celestial Master Hall in an emergency. But using it counts as forfeiting — your score becomes invalid.”

He gave a few more important instructions and rules before finally declaring the exam open.

The third-exam candidates stepped into the arrays. With a flash of white light, their figures vanished one by one.

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Celestial Master Hall — Main Hall

Elder Jiao Heng watched Yun Jiao disappear into the teleportation light and couldn’t hold back.

“Hall Master… are we really just letting Daoist Yun enter the test grounds? Isn’t this… a waste of her time? Wouldn’t it be better to keep her here and exchange array knowledge?”

“Daoist Yun insisted on completing the test. Respecting her choice is also respecting our Hall’s reputation,”

Xu Qingfeng said calmly, unconcerned.

“But with her ability…”

Elder Jiao trailed off. She rewrote an array and killed the Mirage Demon; how is this even fair?

“Won’t it feel like she’s bullying the other candidates? Won’t people resent it?”

“It’s fine.”

Xu stroked his beard, completely unworried.

“If anyone questions it, we’ll say she’s a special proctor sent by the Hall.”

Elder Jiao thought about it and nodded. With her skills, supervising students would be entirely reasonable. He said no more.

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Meanwhile, inside the exam site, Yun Jiao glanced down at her name tag.

It had changed color — from white to purple.

“…”

Weird. Why is mine the only one that changed color?

(End of Chapter)