Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 317 - 196: Making a fool of myself this time!

Chapter 317: Chapter 196: Making a fool of myself this time!

Mu Qingyan appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, with the baby fat on her face not yet fully dissipated. Her frowning, deep in thought, couldn’t help but seem a bit amusing.

Yet the thoughts in her heart were enough to send shivers down one’s spine:

"Right now... the Great Freedom Demon Sect has just emerged, which means... there are still nearly a thousand years?"

"A thousand years later, spiritual energy will return to oblivion."

She raised her eyes to look at the roof.

"Stars will fall, and the grand secret realms of all major Dongtian will present themselves to the world."

"The Demon Ancestor walks the earth, ancient divine spirits resurrect, and the Immortal Sect will also see Ancient Immortals descend to the mortal realm."

"The ferocity of this coming catastrophe far surpasses any before!"

It seemed as if she recalled some scene, as her face even showed a hint of fear.

Mu Qingyan took a deep breath to calm the palpitations of her heart and stood up to look out the window.

The scenery outside was somewhat monotonous.

They were staying on Seeking Immortality Island, surrounded by thick white fog.

There had not been time to plant flowers or grass on the island; there were only newly built courtyards with little to offer in the way of views.

To her, this place felt more like a cage.

"This Jiushan Sect... seems to be an uncertainty."

"Of that Zheng Fa, I actually haven’t heard."

At this thought, she couldn’t help but frown:

"With this uncertainty, I wonder how much of what I know still holds true..."

"I cannot stay here! It’s not to mention that I am only at the stage of Qi Cultivation; even in my past life, I died under the Divinity Transformation Tribulation, completely unable to resist that Zheng Fa..."

"What’s more, although I lack no inheritances, I am short on resources, and the Jiushan Realm is too barren!"

Outside the door, two voices could be heard:

"Qing Yan! Qing Yan!"

Mu Qingyan looked up to see it was a female disciple of the Qingmu Sect who had journeyed here with her.

There weren’t enough rooms in the Jiushan Realm’s dwellings to accommodate everyone who had just arrived, concerned they might feel uneasy.

Zheng Fa simply had them several people stay together in one courtyard for mutual support.

This female disciple was her neighbor.

Both hailing from the Qingmu Sect and both being female disciples, they naturally grew acquainted.

Mu Qingyan’s contemplative look in her eyes faded as she answered cheerfully, "Sister, what brings you here?"

The female disciple came gracefully and took her hand affectionately, saying, "I just heard, Jiushan Sect is going to hold some sort of exam!"

"An exam?"

"Yes, some kind of baseline test!" The female disciple’s face was full of worry, "Our old ancestor told me to stay well in the Jiushan Realm... What if I fail the exam, will they send me away?"

Mu Qingyan’s eyebrows raised.

Isn’t this like delivering a pillow to one who is dozing off?

She was just thinking of leaving the Jiushan Realm!

...

The baseline test for the disciples of the Hundred Immortals Alliance took place on the fifth day.

Following her Sister into the examination room, Mu Qingyan glanced around out of the corner of her eye, seeing that the setup of the examination room was something she had never encountered before in her past life, let alone this one, which made her heart even more puzzled.

Suddenly, she felt as if someone was watching her.

Looking up, she was surprised to find that it was the Jiushan Sect Leader, Zheng Fa!

Zheng Fa was identifying individuals, and Mu Qingyan was one he was paying particular attention to.

The girl shyly smiled at him, seemingly a bit embarrassed by his gaze, and slowly lowered her head.

Zheng Fa wasn’t constantly watching Mu Qingyan.

There were a few individuals among this group of disciples who caught his eye.

Mu Qingyan possessed the Alchemy Dao inheritance.

There was also a disciple who seemed to have some talent in Artifact Refining.

There were other disciples with various other skills - objectively speaking, the batch of disciples sent by the Hundred Immortals Alliance were not highly cultivated, but they were indeed considerate.

Even if these people’s skills were relatively basic, they were like Master Qian from Qianhe Sect.

They all filled the gaps in the respective fields of the Jiushan Realm!

If they truly had some skill, Zheng Fa even wanted them to teach classes to the Jiushan disciples.

...

Mu Qingyan sat at her desk, figuring things out in her mind.

She had already made up her mind to hide her abilities!

She really didn’t want to stay in the Jiushan Realm.

One reason was certainly that it was not conducive to her future cultivation.

On the other hand, she truly could not fathom Zheng Fa and vaguely feared that he might disrupt her future development path.

"No matter how difficult the Jiushan Realm’s exam is... it shouldn’t be able to stump me..."

"In the future, many sects will perish, and with secret techniques scattered everywhere, I’ve also gathered quite a few."

With this thought, pride swelled in her heart.

Mu Qingyan couldn’t help but lift her head and glanced around.

All the disciples from the Hundred Immortals Alliance were very nervous, and she understood why - it was clear to everyone that the Hundred Immortals Alliance was bound to fight the Great Freedom Demon Sect to the bitter end.

The disciples who came to the Jiushan Realm were actually quite fortunate.

Naturally, they wanted to stay.

Unlike myself—I may be knowledgeable as if loaded on five carts, chest full of canyons.

But this time, I shall conceal my strength!

This baseline test only has one subject:

Math.

But the difficulty is not small—or rather, the range of difficulties is extremely vast.

It begins at the level of an illiterate child in the Jiushan Realm today.

Towards the end, even Zhang struggles with it.

This is because Zheng Fa does not understand the disciples of the Hundred Immortals Alliance and wants to see what level they’re really at.

On the other hand.

Cough, the first exam upon admission should be a bit harder...

Otherwise, I fear some newcomers will become arrogantly complacent...

...

Mu Qingyan has no idea what Zheng Fa is thinking.

But staring at the problem before her, her gaze turns a bit dazed.

I!

Understand the grand trends of a thousand years!

A transmigrated being of Nascent Soul prowess!

But am I seriously about to turn in a blank paper?

She’s not completely unable to do it; she actually solves some of the problems quite quickly at first, even looking down on them.

She even considers deliberately leaving a few questions blank, to avoid standing out too much.

How come after I flipped the page, I can’t even understand the questions anymore?

She slowly puts down her pen, falling into thought—this, there’s no need to feign incompetence, right?

Just show my clumsiness as it is!

...

Watching Mu Qingyan leaving the exam room, Zheng Fa always feels there is a sense of shatteredness about this young girl—like she has been severely struck down.

In fact, this is true for the other examinees too.

However, this girl seems to have an extraordinarily proud heart, more so than others.

He walks over to Mu Qingyan’s desk and looks at her test paper.

After a while, he nods slowly.

Not bad.

A bit worse than the younger sister, but one can see from the answers a meticulous mind, just lacking in foundation.

Material with potential!

...

"The results are posted!"

Mu Qingyan, who was cultivating, hears a senior sister from the same courtyard calling:

"Qing Yan, let’s go check out the results together!"

Mu Qingyan steps out of her room, following her senior sister toward University Island.

Her mindset has adjusted by now.

Although the process was a bit unexpected, the outcome isn’t much different—after all, as long as I can leave the Jiushan Realm, it’s good enough!

As for the exam.

Is that thing important?

Merely a moment of glory or shame!

Indeed, upon reaching the entrance of University Island, she sees a posted ranking.

After looking at it, she surprisingly finds herself not doing too bad—if among dozens of people, she ranks just below average.

But the score was pitifully low.

"What should we do?" The senior sister next to her doesn’t fare much better, pinching Mu Qingyan’s sleeve, her face showing distress, "With such low scores, are we going to get kicked out?"

Mu Qingyan can’t help but wish it to be so.

Then she sees a Jiushan disciple coming out with a list.

He first calls out the names of those who scored well, instructing them to follow another senior brother.

And he leads Mu Qingyan and the others, whose exam performance was less ideal, in another direction.

"Senior brother... are we..." a disciple from the Hundred Immortals Alliance asks, "going to return to the Hundred Immortals Alliance?"

"You want to return to the Hundred Immortals Alliance?"

"No, no, no... I was just..."

"Oh, don’t worry!" the Jiushan Sect senior brother says with a smile, "Exam results are just for class division reference. Our Jiushan Realm’s principle has always been not fearing whether you are not capable, but fearing whether you won’t learn."

"Ah?"

"Class division?"

"Right, you’re relatively lacking in fundamentals, and now you’re heading to the foundational class."

So saying, he pushes open the door to a classroom.

Zheng Fa stands in the room, smiling at them: "You’re here?"

"Zheng..."

Mu Qingyan’s eyes widen, looking at the benevolent-faced Zheng Fa, her mind filled with only one thought—

This variability, indeed, is my nemesis!