The Immortal Sect college entrance exam uses a "3+X" format.
The "3" consists of Realm, Combat, and Electives, with each section worth 300 points, totaling 900. The "X" covers academics, worth 600 points. All together, the exam is out of 1,500 points.
And the cutoff score for the Four Great Daoist Schools is 1,450 points.
This meant you had to score nearly perfectly in every section to have a chance at the Four Great Daoist Schools...
At this moment, more than half the students were still taking their exam in the Void Illusion Realm.
"Ying Fuzhen is so fierce. She's pinning down the second gate's illusion with just her Turtle Fist, not even letting it fight back."
"Qi Fengzhu has already reached the third gate."
"So has Lin Yi..."
"Holy shit, Huang Zhongfei actually passed the third gate already! That's incredible, he's a whole level ahead of everyone else! Ye Youwei too... and what about Chen Che? He passed the third gate too! Those three are just amazing!"
While everyone was shocked, it also felt expected.
After all, their scores were among the very best in the entire grade.
"Quiet!"
Hearing the chattering and laughter behind him, Li Xiaoshuang grew irritated and snapped sharply.
Only then did the crowd fall silent and turn their attention to the jade screen.
"The first three gates are basically free points. Three years of high school should make them easy to handle. The middle three gates are the advanced questions, designed to separate the diligent students from the rest!" Li Xiaoshuang said, sitting on a bench with a look of disappointment.
"Watch how the others are handling their combat exam, and reflect on why your own scores are so low!"
...
「Void Illusion Realm.」
The students stared at their opponents, their expressions grim. Even an illusion of the Same Tier was not that easy to deal with.
Chen Che, however, seemed relatively relaxed.
'The opponent for the fourth gate is a humanoid Cultivator, one who also uses Talismans?'
It was a humanoid figure in a black robe and a white mask. Several Talismans floated around its body, emitting the aura of the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
WHOOSH!
The instant the illusion appeared, it had already raised a hand and waved.
One of the Talismans flared with brilliant light, and four Ice Cones materialized out of thin air, shooting forward like bolts from a Crossbow.
"Break!"
With a twist of his right hand, Chen Che instantly slashed out four streaks of sword light.
KRAK!
The Ice Cones shattered on impact.
The next moment, Chen Che followed his sword, rapidly closing the distance.
The humanoid illusion had a high AI, but its physical constitution was relatively weak. This was especially true for a Talisman Cultivator, who tended to be weaker in close-quarters combat due to their reliance on Talismans. Activating a Talisman required True Essence and took time. Once an opponent got close, they lost their greatest advantage.
Seeing Chen Che approach, the illusion retreated rapidly while simultaneously activating a Talisman.
A flash of light appeared, and an inky-cyan glow scattered downward, forming a suit of cyan Wood Armor that enveloped its entire body. But Chen Che's strike was heavy and powerful, and that Wood Armor shattered on the spot.
"Slash!"
As the blade passed, the illusion was instantly split in two.
...
"He passed!"
A cheer erupted from the crowd.
At almost the exact same time, Ye Youwei and Huang Zhongfei also used the same strategy to pass the fourth gate.
"Not bad!"
Li Xiaoshuang nodded in satisfaction, then turned to analyze the fight for the spectating students:
"There are two ways to deal with a Talisman Master. The first is to wear them down until their Talismans are depleted. The second is to close the distance quickly. The former is safer, but wastes stamina. The latter requires sharp situational judgment. The reactions of these three students were textbook examples..."
"After school, you all can download the exam videos of these three from the official website and study them carefully."
"Teacher Li, who of the three do you think can pass the fifth gate?" a student asked.
"It's hard to say!"
Li Xiaoshuang pondered for a moment before offering his analysis:
"However, I think Huang Zhongfei has the best chance. He's also at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, which gives him an advantage. Ye Youwei is next, but her situational judgment is weaker. Chen Che's chances are the lowest; after all, his Cultivation is the weakest of the three."
...
As Li Xiaoshuang was giving his analysis, the three students entered the fifth gate.
Before them appeared an illusion over eight feet tall, dressed in a black robe and holding a Long Spear. The moment it appeared, an aura of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer swept out, flattening the surrounding grass.
'Such a powerful aura...'
Ye Youwei froze for a second.
However, the illusion instantly caught her momentary lapse.
The illusion took a step forward and thrust its Long Spear violently. The weapon let out a piercing shriek as it tore through the air, and countless blades of grass were swept up, resembling a Flood Dragon emerging from the sea!
Ye Youwei was, after all, a Cultivator at the Late-stage Fourth Layer. Her expression hardened as she spun her sword into a defensive block.
But when its first strike failed, the illusion immediately thrust again, and again, its attacks relentless. The spear's tip glinted like a star as its assault swept over her like a raging tempest. After just one misstep, Ye Youwei was immediately forced onto the back foot, unable to do anything but defend!
"The fifth gate is terrifying!"
"Is this the power of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer?"
Many students clicked their tongues in awe.
"Losing focus during an exam... that's a major error in judgment! Her Cultivation is weaker than her opponent's, and now she's lost the initiative." Li Xiaoshuang saw the problem at a glance. "It's over. She's not going to pass the fifth gate!"
Sure enough, as the saying goes, a long defense is bound to fail!
Although Ye Youwei desperately held on, hoping to counterattack when her opponent's assault tired, she had unfortunately underestimated just how terrifying it was.
In the span of a single breath, the illusion thrust twenty-one times. With the twenty-second strike, it brutally smashed through her defense. Her Sword Momentum spent, Ye Youwei had no time to block and could only shoot backward in retreat.
But in the next instant, a spear thrust as fast as lightning pierced straight through her chest.
VMMMM~
With a tremor of light, the "dead" Ye Youwei was ejected from the Void Illusion Realm.
BEEP!
Her score appeared on the corresponding jade screen: 131 points.
120 points were for passing the first four gates.
The other 11 points were for survival time and combat performance in the fifth gate.
"Take a rest. There are still two students who haven't finished," Li Xiaoshuang said with a slight nod.
...
Meanwhile, Huang Zhongfei's battle was not yet over.
His private tutor had told him: the best defense is a good offense. When facing an illusion stronger than yourself, the only correct choice is to attack proactively to extend your survival time!
Therefore, the moment the illusion appeared, he chose to strike first. In an instant, a sky full of sword shadows swept forward.
The illusion, with its high-level AI, simply took a step back to evade the attack.
'It dodged?'
Without hesitation, Huang Zhongfei gave chase. With a turn of his blade, he formed a sky-spanning net of sword light and attacked the illusion once more.
However, the illusion held its spear with both hands and, while retreating, tapped out with the tip, precisely intercepting his assault.
'His fighting style must have been taught by a private tutor...'
Li Xiaoshuang frowned.
It wasn't that there was a problem with what the tutor taught. On the contrary, he would have his own students do the same thing. When facing an unbeatable opponent, the longer you survive, the higher your score. In the college entrance exam, every extra point could put you ahead of a thousand other people.
But this method of frenzied attacking was also a huge burden on the body. Once his True Essence was depleted, it would be the opponent's turn to counterattack.
Sure enough.
SHINK!
The very instant Huang Zhongfei's assault slowed, the illusion launched its counterattack. With a sudden thrust, the spearhead shot forward like an arrow loosed from its string. In a flash, it blasted Huang Zhongfei's longsword aside and pierced straight through his body.
THUMP!
In front of one of the gates to the Void Illusion Realm, a brilliant light flared, and Huang Zhongfei was ejected.
At the same time, the Illusion Realm calculated his score:
145 points.
'What a pity...'
Huang Zhongfei muttered to himself. For a moment, he thought he had a chance of winning, never expecting the gap in strength to be so obvious.
Compared to his score last semester, however, he was quite satisfied. It was a full twenty-point improvement.
'Still, I should at least be first in the class for the combat exam...'
"Huh?"
Huang Zhongfei thought to himself as his gaze swept across the area.
His eyesight was naturally sharp. Among the nearly one hundred students from the Void Illusion Realm, one figure seemed to be missing. Moreover, all the students who had finished their exams early were now looking past him, their heads tilted up.
"No way!"
Huang Zhongfei froze for a moment. He suddenly remembered something and whipped his head around to look:
"He's still not done?"