Chapter 194: Good Students Should Take Meds

Chapter 194: Good Students Should Take Their Medicine

As Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao exchanged a long gaze, the figures of the five divine examiners—Deng Bingding, Huang Zichou, and the others—materialized one by one.

Gazing at the five examinees before her, Deng Bingding said flatly, "The rules for advancing in the physical track of the second round of the Foundation Establishment Exam are simple."

"In the upcoming exam, the top two candidates will advance to the next round, competing for the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate in the final round three months from now, in January of next year."

"The candidate in third place will receive a recommendation bonus, adding points when applying for the Foundation Establishment Certificate in future university exams."

"The fourth-place candidate will earn bonus points for the college entrance exam..."

Upon hearing these words, the students present instantly perked up.

Especially after hearing about the Foundation Establishment bonus and the college entrance exam bonus, even students like Yu Xinghan, who had no hope of winning, suddenly ignited with fighting spirit.

But just then, Zhang Yu raised his hand and asked, "Examiner, besides the chance to compete for the Foundation Establishment Certificate, do the first and second places get no other rewards?"

Deng Bingding smiled at him and said, "The opportunity to vie for the Foundation Establishment Certificate... isn't that enough?"

"If you think it's not enough, that's fine. After you participate in the final round next January, whether you obtain the Foundation Establishment Certificate or not, you'll receive a very generous reward."

"Alright." Deng Bingding continued, "Now let me explain the specific exam items."

"Today's exam is divided into two halves."

"The key to the first half is taking medicine..."

...

While Zhang Yu, Ye Lingxiao, and Yu Xinghan listened to the introduction of the exam items,

In another examination hall, Bai Zhenzhen opened her eyes and found that Zhang Yu was nowhere around.

She swept her gaze around and realized she was standing in an underground plaza, with four other examinees besides herself.

Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself, "The second round of the Foundation Establishment Exam begins, and we're split into different tracks."

"So it seems that Yu Zi and I were assigned to different exam halls as soon as we entered."

Her eyes fell on the number 11 badge on Yun Jing's chest, and she mused, "This guy was the second-place finisher in the last round, right? One of the top-tier heirs of the Immortal Capital."

Feeling the restless, surging, unceasing thunderous mana within her—so wild she couldn't calm it even if she tried—Bai Zhenzhen thought, "He's the biggest obstacle I'll face if I want to snatch the Foundation Establishment Certificate."

Meanwhile, Yun Jing, under Bai Zhenzhen's gaze, suddenly felt a faint prickling sensation in the air, as if brushed by static electricity.

He turned to glance at Bai Zhenzhen and thought, "That number 56 from the last round? Seems like an outsider who came with number 55 (Zhang Yu), right?"

Yun Jing still remembered that in the first round of the Foundation Establishment Exam, those two had hidden their strength in the first two stages, only to snatch third and fourth place in the final stage, showcasing formidable learning abilities.

But Yun Jing remained confident, solely because his family's investment in him over the past two months had far exceeded anything before.

With abundant financial support, he had made rapid progress, undergoing qualitative transformations time and again.

"Only with investment like the Yun family's could I continue to achieve such qualitative leaps, even though my Dao heart, mana, and physique had already reached the peak of Qi Refining."

"And if I can obtain the Foundation Establishment Certificate, I might have a chance to reverse the family's current decline, making the resources poured into me not wasted."

"So I must not lose."

What Yun Jing felt grateful for was that Ye Lingxiao wasn't in his group.

After all, as a fellow Immortal Capital native, he knew that Ye Lingxiao, the inheritor of the perfect bloodline, was also in a rapid advancement phase during high school—who knew what level his strength had reached now?

Not having to compete head-on with Ye Lingxiao made his chances of obtaining the Foundation Establishment Certificate almost certain.

At the same time, a flash of light appeared ahead, and the figures of the five examiners—Deng Bingding, Huang Zichou, and the others—materialized once more.

The five divine beings had manifested divine avatars across four examination halls, simultaneously overseeing exams on four different tracks.

For Deng Bingding, it was like controlling four bodies, four fields of vision, and focusing on four things at once...

But she was long accustomed to such things. Ever since becoming a divine being, she had juggled overtime work with meetings, meetings with gift-giving, gift-giving with overtime work—multitasking or even centi-tasking was basic routine.

Deng Bingding announced, "The content of this round of martial arts exam is simple: a practical combat assessment."

"Next, you five will take turns in one-on-one arena battles. After everyone has fought one round, each match will be scored based on win, loss, or draw."

"The top two candidates in total score will advance to the next round, competing for the Foundation Establishment Certificate in the final round three months from now, in January of next year."

"Third place... Foundation Establishment bonus..."

"Fourth place... college entrance exam bonus..."

Bai Zhenzhen understood: "So it's just fighting everyone once."

She stretched her limbs, and with a flicker of electric light, she began warming up.

... As Bai Zhenzhen started her warm-up,

In another sports examination hall, Deng Bingding was still explaining the content of that track.

"As everyone knows, taking medicine is the key to physical cultivation."

"Those who cannot endure the hardship of taking medicine cannot walk the path of immortality."

"For a long time, a cultivator's tolerance for medicine and their ability to absorb it have been crucial indicators of how far they can go on the path of immortality."

"In the first half of the exam, you will have one hour to administer as much medicine to yourselves as possible."

"You may choose which medicines to take."

"Of course, during this process, you are not allowed to use your spiritual roots or activate your spiritual bones..."

As she spoke, a massive light screen appeared, listing rows of medicines, each with a score next to it.

"A total of 23 types of medicine are provided on site."

"These medicines have different functions. We have ranked them from highest to lowest burden on the body and assigned different points accordingly."

"In general, the greater the burden on the body, the higher the points."

"The lighter the burden, the lower the points."

"After the one-hour medicine-taking session ends, the total points from the medicines you have taken will be your score for the first half of the exam."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu felt a pang of worry, wondering if taking the medicine would cost money.

"If this damn exam charges for medicine... then I'll have to borrow money from someone."

"And these medicines..." Zhang Yu looked at the names on the list and thought, "I've never taken most of them. I have no idea what they do."

In particular, the three medicines with the highest points were ones he had never even heard of, completely outside his knowledge.

Fortunately, Deng Bingding's next words answered Zhang Yu's doubts.

She said, "All medicines in this exam are provided free of charge, so you don't need to worry about costs."

"Also, I know you might not be familiar with every one of these 23 medicines."

"So next, a medicine evaluation video will be played to explain the effects of each one..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu's eyes lit up: "Free? That means an all-you-can-take medicine buffet? These divine beings finally did something right."

Huang Zichou, listening to Deng Bingding, thought to himself, "In the end, those pharmaceutical companies succeeded. They pushed for replacing exams with medicine, using how much medicine one takes to measure a student's strength and potential... and in the end, it all gets reimbursed by the Divine Ministry? The Divine Ministry foots the bill?"

"In the end, doesn't the Heavenly Court lose out? Doesn't the entire Kunxu suffer?"

"And they didn't even give me a single cent."

"Those bastards in the company really don't treat a Ninth-Rank God like a god."

But then he thought that this policy of substituting medicine for exams didn't stop at one level—it stretched all the way up through more than ten tiers of examinations.

To pull off such a deal while the Heavenly Court was cutting expenses... Huang Zichou knew the depths were unfathomable, and the interests involved made his heart and liver tremble. For now, he could only grumble to himself.

At the same time, the light screen displaying the medicine list flickered slightly, and a video began to play.

A man in the video said, "Hello everyone, today I'm going to review twenty common medicines used in daily cultivation..."

Zhang Yu, watching the video, was momentarily stunned and thought to himself, "This is an influencer's medicine review video, isn't it?"

He had seen many such videos in his original body's memory—medicine reviews, technique reviews, dietary supplement reviews, and unboxing videos of various training equipment, tonics, and spiritual roots.

Though the current Zhang Yu hadn't watched many, he still had some understanding, especially since his memory retained the original body's experiences.

He had a deep impression of the influencer in this video, because besides all kinds of unboxing videos, the guy had also done a popular series on opening coffins, which the original Zhang Yu had watched several times.

It started with a video of him visiting a family cemetery, showing the state of corpse cultivation at different ages—10 years, 30 years, 100 years, 300 years, and so on.

After that video went viral, he struck while the iron was hot, filming the ancestral tombs of many local wealthy families, showcasing parks, underground palaces, buildings, and mountain ranges within those tombs...

It was those videos that made the original Zhang Yu truly feel the gap between himself and the rich for the first time.

They also made him realize that some people's ancestral tombs could be bigger than his school, and that even lying in a coffin, the rich saw their wealth grow faster each day than he could earn by slaving away as a poor wretch.

The memory flashed through his mind, and now Zhang Yu continued watching the medicine introduction in the video.

He had to admit that the influencer's explanation of the medicines was indeed very detailed and professional, yet he could make it simple and straightforward, letting the audience understand each medicine's effects, strengths, and weaknesses in a plain and clear way.

Thanks to 'Book Friend 20200606092109568' for the ten-thousand reward.

(End of this chapter)