Chapter 84: Dragon Sword Intent, the First Person in Luocheng History [5000 Words Chapter]
AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
"It seems we've underestimated Student Lu's talent. Although he only saw the White-Faced Spider perform its leg technique for the first time,"
"He not only quickly learned it, but he was also able to combine the leg technique with his own Sword Intent."
"Such Comprehension Ability, it's no exaggeration to call him a heaven-sent genius!"
"Teacher Chen, for a student with so much potential, why did your First High School assign him to the Human Dao Class at the time?"
Hearing the questions from teachers of other Schools, Chen Fugui replied with a smile, "This matter is quite coincidental. Although our First High School also considers students' Comprehension Ability when assigning classes,"
"Perhaps it was because Student Lu hadn't awakened his potential at that time, or for some other reason, he didn't display the astonishing Comprehension Ability he has now."
"And because of the Black Lotus Rebellion ten years ago, his Foundation was significantly affected, causing his Spiritual Root Aptitude to barely reach Low Grade, which is why he was assigned to the Human Dao Class."
"But I saw in his file that he has now reached the level of a Top Grade Spiritual Root. What happened to him later?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Fugui immediately brought up the matter of the Purple Radiance Divine Art.
Hearing that Lu Chen was able to Cultivate the Purple Radiance Divine Art to Major Achievement in just a few months,
They all showed envious expressions.
After all, Cultivation Technique sometimes really depends on the individual.
Perfect Cultivation Technique compatibility—this was not a random excuse Lu Chen made up back then.
It was something that had genuinely happened within the Immortal Alliance.
And such incidents were not uncommon.
Now, through Chen Fugui's words, not only the teachers from other Schools, but also the Dao Academy investigators around them had a fairly complete understanding of Lu Chen's situation.
And this scene was actually deliberately orchestrated by Chen Fugui.
Because he wanted the investigators and the Dao Academies behind them to know just how immense Lu Chen's potential was.
This way, when these investigators wanted to recruit Lu Chen into their Dao Academies, they would have to pay a hefty price.
After all, while the Four Great Dao Institutes are colossal entities standing at the pinnacle of the entire Immortal Alliance,
Facing a monster like Lu Chen, it was no longer a question of whether the Dao Academy was willing to accept Lu Chen.
It was about which Dao Academy Lu Chen wanted to enter.
The choice was in Lu Chen's hands.
Although Chen Fugui hadn't yet discussed his future aspirations with Lu Chen,
As the son of Luo City's richest man, Chen Fugui, having been immersed in such an environment since childhood, understood some operational tactics well.
He understood how to maximize Lu Chen's benefits from the various Dao Academies.
It's worth noting that among the investigators present, only two were from the Four Great Dao Institutes; the other two Dao Academies hadn't sent anyone.
But after his grand speech just now, there would surely be teachers present who would relay this information to the other two Dao Academies.
And only by involving all Four Great Dao Institutes could Lu Chen have more choices and obtain better benefits.
As for whether Chen Fugui himself could gain any benefits from this, to be honest, he didn't care at all.
In fact, for Lu Chen to have better choices, he could even sacrifice his own interests.
After all, for him, it was just a matter of spending some money.
And money matters, can they even be considered matters?
Chen Fugui lacked nothing but money!
So Chen Fugui genuinely and unreservedly hoped for Lu Chen's better future.
After all, you can buy all kinds of precious things with money, but you cannot buy the title of a great Cultivator's mentor.
And it was these things that money couldn't buy that Chen Fugui desired most.
Therefore, although the exam was not yet over, Chen Fugui already had an idea in mind.
That was, after this exam, he would give Lu Chen a substantial sponsorship in his personal capacity.
As for whether this sponsorship would yield sufficient returns, Chen Fugui wasn't particularly concerned.
After all, money can't buy happiness!
Is the money spent on Lu Chen considered money, but the money he spends on chasing girls isn't?
With the same money, if he invested it in a student like Lu Chen, who was guaranteed admission to the Four Great Dao Institutes, his father would only praise him for growing up.
But if he spent it on girls, his father would only tell him to pay attention to hygiene.
Is there even a choice to consider?
The tenth day inside the Three Schools Joint Exam.
Although ten days had passed in the examination venue, only one day had passed in reality.
Yet, in these ten days, most of the original 800-plus examinees had been eliminated, leaving only a sparse forty-plus people in the examination venue.
In fact, based on previous years' exam situations,
While a considerable number of people would also be eliminated by the tenth day of the Joint Exam, it would absolutely not be like this time, where almost ninety percent of the students were eliminated.
And the reason it turned out this way was ultimately due to Lu Chen, Mu Xiaoye, and Shen Feiyang.
Because these three had each killed at least one Foundation Establishment Stage Fiend,
The remaining Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends in the Yu Mountain City ruins had uncharacteristically allied.
It's important to know that the term 'Nine Nether' has never referred to a single race, but rather a place name.
Similar to 'Nine Provinces.'
And within the Nine Provinces, there are so many School forces, and it's naturally the same among the Nine Nether Fiends.
It's just that the Nine Nether Fiends that appeared in Yu Mountain City all belonged to a Nine Nether tribe called 'Black Rock.'
That's why they were able to cooperate in the short term.
But even if they belonged to the same tribe, there was still competition among them.
So, facing situations where other Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends suffered setbacks,
As long as it didn't endanger the entire Black Rock tribe, the other Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends wouldn't just not care, they would actually gloat.
But this time, it was different for Lu Chen and his group.
In just three days, Lu Chen, Mu Xiaoye, and Shen Feiyang collectively killed four Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends.
For the other Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends, this was undoubtedly a very dangerous signal.
It made them suspect whether the Immortal Alliance had secretly sent experts into the Yu Mountain City ruins without their knowledge.
And under such a life-and-death crisis, the minor conflicts among the Fiends undoubtedly seemed insignificant.
So, the remaining six Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends uncharacteristically chose to act collectively in the following period.
They first sent out all their subordinates to conduct a carpet search.
Then, once they discovered the presence of one or several examinees,
They would immediately command all the surrounding Fiends to go and launch a shameless siege.
Facing such human-wave tactics, the examinees, who were only in the Qi Training Stage, naturally found it difficult to cope.
Leading to a large number of students being quickly eliminated.
However, everything has its pros and cons. When the Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends focused their attention on the main city area,
For those examinees who chose to flee Yu Mountain City to extend their exam time as much as possible and secure their exam scores, it was undoubtedly good news.
Among the forty-plus students still alive in the examination venue, over twenty survived because of this.
And the person who organized this escape team was Liu Daozhao, the top student from Third High School.
As for the other twenty-one students who remained in the main city area, twelve of them were scattered throughout the main city area, carefully avoiding the patrolling Fiends.
And nine people had gathered together.
Lu Chen, Mu Xiaoye, and Shen Feiyang were among these nine.
Inside the presidential suite of a hotel in the City West District.
"Third High School's dead fish-eye, are you… not listening carefully to what we're saying? Student Lu's words just now were very clear."
"To get a high score in this 'Alien Invasion' exam, the best way is definitely to kill as many aliens as possible, or to disrupt the aliens' original plan."
"And these two things can be done together, so why are you against it?"
Mu Xiaoye suppressed her inner anger, her face grim as she looked at Shen Feiyang, who was sitting on the sofa.
If Lu Chen hadn't been right there, causing her to maintain her image as the girl-next-door in Lu Chen's eyes,
She would have long since used her iron fist to properly educate this ignorant fellow.
You don't agree with Student Lu's plan, who do you think you are?
Between reasoning and blindly supporting Lu Chen, Mu Xiaoye had always been a staunch Lu Chen supporter.
And facing the strong Mu Xiaoye, Shen Feiyang, who had seen some of her strength before, understood.
Unless he fully exposed his trump card,
Otherwise, he had no chance of winning against a monster like Mu Xiaoye.
Thinking of this, Shen Feiyang sighed helplessly.
Then he turned to look at Lu Chen, who was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, and said, "Student Lu, I still think we should follow my plan."
"Six Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends, and one of them is a special Foundation Establishment Stage Fiend with Royal Bloodline."
"Even if the three of us combine our strength, we absolutely won't be their match."
"Instead of using that almost suicidal method to attack their base, it's better to lure them out as much as possible and then defeat them one by one."
"After all, as you've seen, because of our previous actions, these Fiends are now on guard and will absolutely not come out casually without full assurance."
"And when they do come out, it will be at least two Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends acting together."
"If we follow your plan, where Mu Xiaoye and I intentionally cause a disturbance and show enough weakness for the Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends to believe they can easily defeat us, thereby luring out four of them."
"Setting aside whether Mu Xiaoye and I can survive in that seemingly endless army of Fiends until the moment four Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends emerge from their nest."
"Do you truly have absolute confidence that you alone can defeat the Royal Fiend guarding the Fiend stronghold?"
Looking at the serious Shen Feiyang, Lu Chen was silent for a moment before replying, "...Fifty percent."
Hearing this, Shen Feiyang spread his hands helplessly and said, "You also said it's only fifty percent. While this success rate isn't low, it's not high either."
"But if we adopt my plan, we can at least take down one to two Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends before we are eliminated."
"One plan has a fifty percent chance of returning empty-handed, and a fifty percent chance of returning with a full harvest."
"The other, while the harvest is modest, guarantees a hundred percent return."
"Any intelligent person should know which to choose, right?"
"After all, you and Student Mu can't possibly be unaware of the saying, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'"
"I still say the same thing: I don't agree with your risky plan, because it's completely unnecessary."
"Given that we've already secured high scores, we absolutely don't need to risk getting even higher scores, because it's impossible for anyone's score to surpass ours three now."
"Your plan... the returns are too low."
"Anyway, the mock exam scores don't count towards the college entrance exam, so why are you pushing so hard? Wouldn't it be better if we just waited for the exam to end safely?"
Facing Shen Feiyang's questions, Lu Chen didn't know how to refute him for a moment.
After all, if it weren't for the fact that he could gain experience points by slaying Fiends in this exam.
Then he wouldn't have chosen to actively attack the Fiends' lair after reaching his current situation.
The reason was just as Shen Feiyang said: the cost-effectiveness was too low, and it was unnecessary.
But if you add the additional conditions of gaining experience points and other rewards from slaying Fiends.
Then the Fiend stronghold held too great an attraction for Lu Chen.
After all, even an ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage Fiend could bring him a large amount of experience and Soul Crystal fragments.
Lu Chen dared not imagine what astonishing rewards the Golden Devouring Ant-Man, as a Nine Nether Royal Fiend, would give him.
Perhaps, in addition to experience points and Soul Crystal fragments, he could also obtain special Metal-attribute Divine Abilities or spells from it.
And this was the fundamental reason Lu Chen was insistent on attacking the Fiend lair.
Mu Xiaoye and Shen Feiyang attacking the Fiend lair would only make their already high scores even higher.
Aside from looking good, it had no real practical use.
But for Lu Chen, he could gain tangible benefits.
But could he tell Shen Feiyang these things?
Naturally, he couldn't.
So at this moment, he could only try to persuade him in other ways.
After all, without his help, he and Mu Xiaoye alone would absolutely not be able to kill the Golden Devouring Ant-Man, who was protected by a large number of ordinary Fiends and multiple Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends.
Someone had to help him lure away the ordinary Fiends and Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends around the Golden Devouring Ant-Man.
This would reduce the external pressure during his fight with the Golden Devouring Ant-Man.
And just as Lu Chen was thinking about how to persuade Shen Feiyang.
The other party sighed, then suddenly changed the subject: "Forget it, forget it. We'll do as you say."
Hearing this, Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye were both stunned, seemingly not understanding why he had suddenly changed his mind.
Perhaps guessing their thoughts, Shen Feiyang said weakly, "Although using Student Lu's plan doesn't benefit me much, it doesn't harm me much either."
"And since Student Lu, you are so insistent on attacking the Fiend stronghold, there must be your own considerations."
"While I don't know what you're thinking, doing you a favor... isn't a loss for me."
At this point, Shen Feiyang stood up and walked out of the presidential suite, waving his hand as he did so.
"Student Lu, remember you owe me a favor. I'll find an opportunity for you to repay it later."
As his words fell, Shen Feiyang, following Lu Chen's request, hurried to a certain place in City West District.
He was going to intentionally show himself there and then attract as much Fiend attention as possible.
This would continue until he lured out two Foundation Establishment Stage Fiends from their lair, reducing the pressure on Lu Chen after he entered the Fiend lair.
Seeing Shen Feiyang already depart, Mu Xiaoye also knew it was time for her to act.
She deliberately puffed out her chest, then elegantly stood up.
She tried her best to display her feminine charm.
But unfortunately, Lu Chen's thoughts were not on this at the moment.
Or rather, he noticed it, but because he was too familiar with Mu Xiaoye, he somewhat overlooked the fact that she had quietly grown up.
Looking at Lu Chen, who was still sitting by the French window, Mu Xiaoye said in a gentle tone, "Then, Little Lu, I should go too. Don't worry, I will do my best to complete your arrangements. You can rest assured."
Lu Chen nodded, then looked seriously at Mu Xiaoye and said, "Thank you."
Hearing this, Mu Xiaoye's eyes curved into crescent moons.
The two small fangs peeking from the corner of her mouth made her look utterly devoid of the domineering and wild aura she usually displayed in front of outsiders, instead exuding an indescribable playfulness and cuteness.
Then, she didn't know what she thought of, and deliberately lowered her head, leaning close to Lu Chen, whispering, "You owe me a favor too, got it?"
Because of the close proximity, their noses almost touched.
Before Lu Chen could react, Mu Xiaoye hurriedly turned and ran out.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he noticed Mu Xiaoye's ears... seemed to be red.
Looking at Mu Xiaoye's back, Lu Chen thought uncertainly to himself.
Was that girl doing it on purpose, or was it an accident?
Speaking of which, without realizing it, that girl has grown up...
Outside the suite, six examinees saw Mu Xiaoye emerge from the suite and quickly followed her.
These individuals were none other than the eight examinees Mu Xiaoye encountered when she slew the Foundation Establishment Stage Fiend.
Although she had told them not to follow her, they somehow still did.
After some back and forth, Mu Xiaoye eventually took them in as her little followers.
And after these few days, even with Mu Xiaoye's protection, only six of the original eight people remained.
"Big Sister, have you three finished talking?"
Mu Xiaoye nodded, then clenched her fists in front of her chest, forcefully cracking her knuckles, making a popping sound.
"Let's go, come with me and cause a big ruckus!"
"Alright!"
Listening to the receding footsteps outside the door, Lu Chen sat for a moment before standing up.
He stood in front of the presidential suite's French window, looking far into the distance at a large black tree.
And that was where the Fiends first settled after descending upon Yu Mountain City.
It was also their stronghold.
"Defeat a Foundation Establishment Stage Fifth Level Royal Fiend, huh..."
Thinking about what he was about to do, Lu Chen's eyes gradually deepened.
If it were ten days ago, without using Outer Path Sword.
He would have virtually no chance of defeating a Foundation Establishment Stage Fifth Level Royal Fiend.
But times were different now.
Now, he... had the capital to contend with that Royal Fiend.
Actually, there was one thing Shen Feiyang misunderstood just now.
When he said he had a fifty percent chance of defeating that Royal Fiend.
He was referring to the scenario where Mu Xiaoye and Shen Feiyang failed to lure away enough Fiends from around the Royal Fiend.
If everything went smoothly, he actually had at least a ninety percent chance.
This was not Lu Chen's arrogance, but rather absolute confidence in his own strength.
"To comprehend Sword Intent at the Qi Training Stage, I should be the fastest person in Luo City's history... to comprehend Sword Intent, right?"
[Dragon Transformation Sword Intent: Attained Dao (Cannot be upgraded)]
[Effect: ...]
PS: Fifth day of working 10,000 characters completed...
Transitional chapter, setting the stage.
The mock exam is the last relatively stable development phase in the realistic part; the plot after this will be more intense...
Asking for monthly votes as usual!