Chapter 144 – What Did You Do in Your Past Life (2/2)

The little girl wanted to help Chen Chang Sheng wipe away his perspiration, but found none present, therefore, she felt an even greater sense of pride and elation, thinking to herself that her esteemed teacher really wasn’t a regular person, as she had thought some months ago.

She really wanted to know how Chen Chang Sheng had defeated his opponent, therefore, she asked: Chen Chang Sheng gave a brief description of what happened, without going into too much detail.

Xuan Yuan Po passed the two superb grade crystals towards Chen Chang Sheng, whom shook his head, indicating that he won’t use them; he hadn’t expended much True Essence in the previous match and had no need to replenish himself.

The examinees’ stares remained on Chen Chang Sheng.

Not long ago, he was still a beginner in cultivation who was unable to complete his Purification, today he had easily won against the principal of Heavenly Academy’s personal disciple.

Logically speaking, they should be displaying a greater sense of shock, but from the Ivy League gathering to the update of the proclamation, to His Eminence’s subsequent declaration; Chen Chang Sheng had already been ushered to some lofty position.

Though no one had any proof, they felt that he had to be hiding some sort of power; therefore, they already had some sort of preparation or perhaps anticipation, thus, even though they were currently shocked, it wasn’t to the point of losing control.

They were more concerned about his real level and the method he had used to defeat that Heavenly Academy student in such a short amount of time; those young cultivators with keen eyes, such as Gou Han Shi, had already recognised that the umbrella was a powerful item.

Up to this point, Chen Chang Sheng was thankful that today’s first round was held behind closed doors and that the loser was escorted out of the Education Palace, without being able to inform their fellow students any details of the battling, keeping the winner’s methods unknown; this greatly benefited towards keeping his secret and methods safe.

The Grand Examination continued, the 62nd examinee helplessly chose Su Mo Yu as their opponent, while the next examinee chose Tang Thirty-Six, these two matches proceeded without any mishaps and both, Su Mo Yu and Tang Thirty-Six obtained victory.

Outside of the tower, the examinees could faintly hear the second losing examinee angrily wailing a few cries of it being unfair; they had clearly performed fairly well in the Martial Trial and placed in the upper half, but had been matched against young geniuses such as Su Mo Yu and Tang Thirty-Six, this was indeed hard to deem as to being “fair”, yet all that could be said was that those two examinee’s were unlucky.

The first round had finally reached its final moments, the last examinee looked towards the presiding Li Palace clergyman and said: “Her Highness’ name will not be counted within the final results, how will this be handled?”

That examinee had a downcast look upon their face, eliciting sympathy from anyone that saw it.

The Li Palace clergyman replied with an expressionless face: “That isn’t something any of you need to concern yourselves with”

That examinee felt helpless, turning around towards Luo Luo, gesturing a formal greeting and saying: “A challenge, Your Highness.”

Sounds of clapping could be heard from the crowd, in this type of situation, facing against someone such as Luo Luo, that examinee didn’t give up or concede defeat, this was indeed something worth applauding.

Sadly, whether if it was worthy of applause or sympathy, it couldn’t affect the final outcome.

Within the Tower of Purging Dust, a deafening sound exploded, akin to some mountain being toppled.

In the next moment, Luo Luo walked out from the tower, walked before Chen Chang Sheng, her small face full of delight and said: “Sir, I also used only a single punch.”

She wasn’t gloating – Second upon the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, amongst the younger generation of cultivators, this was already a pinnacle; defeating an ordinary examinee wasn’t something worth gloating over. The reason for her delight was because she had used the same method as Chen Chang Sheng to finish the duel.

Xuan Yuan Po, Chen Chang Sheng and Luo Luo had all used but a single punch to finish their respective matches; the examinees outside of the tower had heard three separate sounds: Thunder; a Dragon Howl; a toppling mountain.

Tang Thirty-Six didn’t use his fist, he had directly used the most powerful move from the Three Forms of Wen Shui, at that time, the examinees outside of the tower had heard the sound of his blade leaking out and thought it was the surging sound of a flooding river.

“Is that really necessary?” Guan Fei Bai said, as he looked at the three youths and the single girl by the woodlands, his brow twitching.

If he and his other three fellow disciples from Li Shan Sword Sect had needed to participate in this round of duelling, they would naturally perform similarly to the group from Orthodox Academy, perhaps ending their matches even quicker, causing an even bigger scene; however, like he had said, did they really need to create such a large scene?

No matter how it was for observers or how they thought, the four students from Orthodox Academy had all passed the first round of the Duelling Stage; the 64 examinees that were to enter the second round had all been selected.

Some of the examinees were very confident of their results in the Academic Exam, their total outcome should be enough for them to place within the top 43; with their aim of entering the Three Grades in the Grand examination complete, they naturally relaxed, their faces revealing a happy smile.

Some of the examinees knew that their results in the Academic Exam would be mediocre; they became ever more nervous and quiet. They even worried that if they wanted to enter the Three Grades, they might need to achieve better results in the Duelling Stage, at least requiring another victory in order to have any hope. Yet, the duelling was akin to cultivation, the further you go, the stronger your opponents become, wanting to advance another step became increasingly difficult.

There was a short break after the first round had completed, examinees sat in various places outside of the tower, eating some of the provisions they had brought with them, some of the examinees made use of the time to meditate and replenish their True Essence.

Lady Official Li brought several handmaidens with her to the Tower of Purging Dust, spreading out a tablecloth and laying out several dishes of fine food; they were all staying here with Luo Luo in the Education Palace and it was perhaps due to this, that none of the clergy attempted to stop them.

Was this the Grand Examination or was it a picnic? Seeing this scene by the woodlands, the examinees felt the provisions within their mouths become increasingly bland, feelings of envy abounded, especially upon see Her Highness half kneel by Chen Chang Sheng’s side, using her ebony chopsticks to feed him roast meat; the envy naturally began escalating into feelings of resentment.

Guan Fei Bai looked towards that direction, melancholy saying: “That Chen Chang Sheng must have saved humanity in his past life.”

Gou Han Shi laughed and said: “Then the first thing he saved must have been White Emperor City.”