Chapter 30: THE EXAMINATION (4)

Hu Biyan stopped at the entrance and gave Li Yan a reassuring look. "Do your best. I will wait for you here."

Li Yan nodded before following the disciple inside. He had already done everything he could to prepare, and there was no reason to let himself become nervous now.

The examination hall was enormous, with thousands of desks arranged in neat rows beneath a high ceiling. Three thousand examinees filled the room, but their conversations gradually faded as everyone settled into their assigned seats.

Li Yan found his desk and sat down.

A few examinees recognized him from the previous day’s assessment and began whispering among themselves.

"Isn’t that the yellow spirit-root examinee?"

"He barely qualified yesterday. I wonder if he can pass this stage."

Someone glanced at Li Yan’s plain robes before quietly laughing. "If he cannot, it would not be surprising. A yellow spirit root does not give him much of an advantage."

Li Yan heard them clearly, but he had no reason to respond. Their contempt only confirmed that the concealment treasure was doing its job.

Let them think I’m ordinary. He did not care either way.

The doors closed once the last examinee had taken his seat.

Elder Shen entered shortly afterward, accompanied by several disciples carrying the examination papers. He stepped onto the platform and waited until the hall had become completely silent before speaking.

"I am Elder Shen, and I will oversee today’s written examination. Nearly seven thousand people participated in yesterday’s Spirit Root Assessment, but only three thousand of you met the minimum requirement and earned the right to continue."

The disciples began placing examination papers on every desk.

"Passing the first stage does not make you disciples of the Nine Jade Sect. Today’s examination will determine whether your knowledge is sufficient to proceed."

Elder Shen glanced across the hall to make sure everyone was listening before continuing.

"You will answer three hundred questions covering cultivation theory, spiritual herbs, formations, spiritual beasts, alchemy, geography, sect history, and other foundational subjects. You have four hours to complete the examination."

His expression became stern when he reached the final warning.

"No communication between examinees will be permitted, and no outside materials may be used. Anyone caught cheating will be disqualified immediately."

He raised his hand after the final disciple finished distributing the papers.

"You may begin."

The hall became silent as the examinees turned over their papers.

Li Yan read the first question and immediately knew the answer. The second was just as familiar, while the third concerned a spiritual herb that Hu Biyan had specifically made him memorize the previous night.

His brush began moving across the page.

Uncle Yan really did teach me everything.

The hours of studying had been worth it. Xiaoxiao had also helped him review the subjects he struggled with, and between the two of them, very little on the examination seemed unfamiliar.

Around him, however, the atmosphere was considerably more tense.

Some examinees had already begun frowning at their papers, while others repeatedly turned between different questions because they could not decide where to begin.

The young man seated beside Li Yan seemed especially troubled, rubbing his forehead whenever he faced another difficult question.

Li Yan continued writing without paying much attention to them.

He answered the questions he knew first and returned to the difficult ones afterward. By the time he reached the final page, he was confident about roughly two hundred and eighty questions, while the remaining twenty had required him to reason through the information he remembered.

After finishing the last answer, Li Yan carefully reviewed the entire paper twice. He found two places where he had nearly misunderstood the questions and corrected them before deciding there was nothing else worth changing.

He raised his hand.

An invigilator approached and collected his paper, but the man’s eyes widened slightly when he checked the time.

"You have finished already?"

Li Yan nodded. "Yes."

The invigilator glanced at the examination paper and then at the clock again. Since Li Yan had submitted before anyone else, the man seemed surprised by how little time he had used.

He carried the paper toward the collection table, intending to place it with the other completed examinations, but he stopped after reading the first few answers.

His brows slowly drew together as he turned another page.

Li Yan watched the man’s expression change and began wondering what had caught his attention.

The invigilator returned with the paper in his hand and stopped beside Li Yan’s desk.

"Young man, where did you get these answers?"

Li Yan stared at him in confusion. "I answered them myself."

"That was not what I asked." The invigilator tapped the paper against his palm, his suspicion becoming more obvious. "You completed three hundred questions in less than half the allotted time."

"I knew most of them."

The man’s eyes narrowed. "You knew most of them?"

Li Yan nodded. "I studied before coming here."

The invigilator looked at him as though the answer had only made the situation more suspicious. "You have a yellow spirit root. How could you know this much?"

Li Yan’s expression changed when he understood what the man was implying.

"My spirit root has nothing to do with how much I study."

Several examinees nearby turned toward them after hearing his answer.

The invigilator’s face tightened. "Watch your tone."

Li Yan immediately stopped arguing. He had no intention of making the situation worse, even though the man had already decided his results were suspicious.

The invigilator turned toward the platform and raised the examination paper. "Elder, this examinee submitted his paper unusually early, and his answers are almost entirely correct. I suspect he may have obtained the examination material beforehand."

Elder Shen’s attention shifted toward the invigilator as soon as he heard the accusation. When he noticed the examination paper in the man’s hand, he extended his palm.

"Bring it here."

The invigilator immediately carried the paper to the platform and handed it to Elder Shen.

Elder Shen glanced at the name written at the top.

His eyes paused.

Li Yan.

He recognized the name because he had personally overseen the assessment the previous day. The boy had produced a yellow spirit root and possessed only first-level Martial Qi, so Elder Shen had not expected anything particularly remarkable from him.

Yet the answers on the paper were far from ordinary.

Elder Shen read through the first page, then continued to the second when he found no obvious flaw. By the time he reached the final page, his expression had become increasingly serious.

He lifted his eyes toward Li Yan.

"Come here."

Li Yan stood when the elder called for him, then walked toward the platform as the surrounding examinees began whispering.

"That is the yellow spirit-root boy."

"Did he really cheat?"

"He must have. How else could he finish so quickly?"