Chapter 102 - 64 Humiliation and Disgrace

Those who were newly admitted as disciples to the Immortal Institute were all of outstanding talent. Although Wu Fan seemed quite ordinary compared to Wang Qi, among those who couldn't enter the top ten Immortal Institutes and could only listen to lectures at the Immortal Alliance Branch, Wu Fan was considered excellent. Several months had passed since the school term had begun, and more than half of the disciples had already achieved Heavenly Communication, with most of the others close to reaching it. As the cultivation of the Immortal Institute Disciples improved, food and water were no longer indispensable, so this written test lasted from morning to afternoon. Moreover, because an illusion technique blocked the five senses, there was no need to worry about cheating or whispering in the "exam hall." For this reason, the Immortal Institute did not enforce a uniform time for handing in papers but allowed the illusion to dissipate once the student had finished the problems. Those who completed the test quickly were able to leave the area enveloped in white light by noon. Wu Fan finished the test and walked out of the area covered by the copper mirror. At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and the heat was slowly fading. Seeing small groups of spectators around the practice field, Wu Fan gave a wry smile. It was nearly the end of the time limit for the test, and the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm began counting down before him. Seeing the nearly burnt-out incense in the illusion, Wu Fan dared not delay and had to give up on the last question he could not understand, signaling that he had completed the test. He heard footsteps behind him. Thinking that someone had finished at the same time as him, Wu Fan felt that it was quite a coincidence. He turned around to greet the person, only to find it was Yang Jun, a new disciple who lived close to him. Wang Qi adhered to the principle of "being too outstanding to have friends," only pulling in those he deemed worthy when necessary. Wu Fan, on the other hand, was well-acquainted with his neighbors. Seeing Yang Jun coming over, he took the initiative to greet him, "Brother Yang Jun." Yang Jun had been dreamily staring at the sky, but at Wu Fan's call, he immediately came back to reality, "Ah, Wu Fan." Noticing Yang Jun's pale complexion, Wu Fan asked, "How did your test go?" Yang Jun shook his head, not wanting to answer. Wu Fan could only respond, "It's just a monthly exam, no worries. In fact, I didn't do very well either, but thanks to Wang Qi's pointers beforehand, otherwise I'd have performed even worse." Yang Jun smiled somewhat grimly, "Yes..." Wu Fan had grown accustomed to his expression. He had heard from other friends that Yang Jun was a pitiful person. He was originally the son of a fisherman from the West Sea Coast. A few years ago, his fishing village was struck by a disaster when a group of Spirit Awakening Stage Sea Demons attacked his village. Apart from Yang Jun and a few others, not a single soul survived the large village. Fortunately, the Immortal Alliance Guardian came in time for the Demon Extermination, saving Yang Jun. The Immortal Alliance and the Water Clan had an agreement that aquatic demon clans could not come within three thousand miles of the coastline. Even the Dragon King couldn't control the Spirit Awakening Stage Demon Beasts, whose Spirit Wisdom was only equivalent to that of very young children or even lower among the Human Clan, making this an unfortunate disaster. However, the West Sea Guardian discovered that this was not an isolated incident, and there seemed to be higher-order Demon Clans behind it, harboring hate towards the Human Clan. The situation in the West Sea was tense, and a war between the Immortal Alliance and the Demon Clan could break out at any time. Originally, Yang Jun, who was found to have exceptional talents, was sent to the Longde Branch of the Immortal Institute at West Sea. But after learning that the disaster in his village was caused by the Demon Clan, he repeatedly escaped from the Immortal Institute to seek revenge on the Demon Clan. Out of helplessness, Longde Immortal Institute transferred him to Xinyue. Ever since arriving at Xinyue, Yang Jun had been somewhat depressed. Wu Fan noticed that Yang Jun kept looking up, and couldn't help but follow his gaze. Then, he heard Yang Jun say, "This mirror, it is truly extraordinary." "That it is, calculators are very powerful," Wu Fan replied, though he did not quite understand these things, having only heard about them from Wang Qi. Just then, the brilliance of the Treasure Mirror faded. Wu Fan turned back for a look, and the sight nearly made him cry out in surprise. On the vast practice field, only a few people were standing, and among them was a pale-faced Wang Qi! How could this be? This was against the Heavenly Dao! Wang Qi, failing the test? Seeing the white light disappear, Wang Qi walked out of the practice field. Wu Fan hurried over and asked, "Wang Qi, did your exam go... not so smoothly?" Wang Qi shook his head, saying nothing. Wu Fan followed closely, and Yang Jun also came over. Seeing that Wang Qi remained silent, Wu Fan felt uneasy. Was the written test really that hard? Or was this guy insisting on perfection, wanting to conquer even the last few difficult questions? As Wu Fan was lost in thought, a newly admitted disciple dressed in fancy attire approached them, "Hey, isn't that Genius Wang? What's wrong, you don't look too good?" The person was none other than Du Bin. Ever since Wang Qi had cut off his Flying Sword, he had held a grudge against Wang Qi. Usually, Wang Qi would ignore Du Bin. But this time, he glared at him, "Hey, I'm asking you, who was the first to turn in their test?" "Ah?" Everyone present didn't know how to react. Seeing that he wasn't getting an answer, Wang Qi stopped looking at Du Bin and stormed off. Du Bin, furious, yelled, "You bastard! You..." "Heh, you good-for-nothing can't talk or fight, think about what you can do to me before you open your mouth." Wang Qi walked away without looking back, grabbing any newly admitted disciples he recognized and asking if they knew who was the first to turn in their test. Wu Fan hurriedly followed and asked why. Wang Qi exclaimed angrily, "I can't believe I wasn't the first to submit! I can't accept it!" It turned out that during the course of the exam, Wang Qi had come upon both good and bad news. The good news was that he could actually utilize the power of mathematics in the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm. The Illusion Realm did not isolate Mana. Cultivators inside could still freely control their Magic Artifacts, and a calculator was even more closely related to the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror, making it more convenient to use. Normally, the illusion realms set for tests isolate calculators, but mathematics was considered too primitive to be regarded as such! Wang Qi could even imagine the Immortal Institute Treasure Mirror yelling at it, "You're also a calculator?" This was indeed cheating. But Wang Qi thought this wasn't the same as copying from a book; it only reduced his calculating workload, so he wasn't very opposed to this practice. An exam is to test what you have learned; using the Mathematical Ring merely lessened his workload. Didn't people use calculators during the college entrance exams years ago? The bad news was, Wang Qi wasn't familiar with Shenzhou operators. Mathematics held a very high status in the Immortal Dao but wasn't widely circulated among mortals. Wang Qi had hardly been exposed to mathematics before he came to the Immortal Institute, and he was more familiar with Earth's Arabic numerals and operation symbols. This caused his answering speed to be extremely slow. Despite the help of a calculator, which calculated fast and error-free, he couldn't believe he wasn't the first to submit! What a great embarrassment! ———————————————————————————————— Four hundred recommendations per week! This is unimaginable since I started writing! Thank you to all my readers!