Chapter 66: Past Exam Questions Collection

"I can't reveal the specifics, but it'll be in the next few days. The content of the entrance exam will be released shortly after the college entrance examination."

Chan Si was tight-lipped, so Chen Mobai had to suppress his curiosity and leave her office.

In the school's training room, Chen Mobai didn't waste any time. He practiced the "Spirit Nurturing and Deity Forging Art" for a while. When he felt his mind growing weary, he stopped and went online to check the entrance exams of various Daoist academies from previous years.

Last year's entrance exam involved representatives from the major Daoist academies setting up nine interconnected formations. The difficulty of these formations progressed from simple to complex, one linked to the next. The threshold for entering the Four Great Daoist Academies was to crack seven formations. However, among all the students in Danxia City, the top performer managed to crack only six formations, and that student ultimately ended up at the Stargazing Academy, one of the Ten Great Academies.

Chen Mobai frowned at the sight of this. He wasn't entirely ignorant of formations; thanks to his persistent inquiries to Chan Si over this period, he had gained a complete understanding of the second-tier Azure Water Formation in the Water Mansion. By analogy, he believed his proficiency in formations ranked among the top three in his class. So, with great confidence, he used 100 points to download the past ten years' entrance exam practice papers from the Immortal Sect exam database.

"Nine Interconnected Formations, Like a String of Pearls."

Chen Mobai secretly remarked that the title of this practice paper was quite fitting. He then took out his stationery from his backpack, ready to calculate the formations and begin solving the problems.

Half an hour later, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and dejectedly put down the paper and pen. He had barely managed to crack the first two formations. By the third formation, nearly half of the knowledge and array patterns it contained were beyond his scope, and also exceeded the content taught in the nine-year compulsory education textbooks. According to last year's results, cracking two formations would qualify one for enrollment in one of the Immortal Sect's 120 prefectures. In other words, Chen Mobai's current level was limited to this.

However, Chen Mobai certainly wouldn't admit this. He reasoned that the school taught too little about formations, and he typically had no interest in them, so he hadn't delved into expanding his knowledge in that area. Thus, he switched to a different set of practice papers from the year before last.

That year, the Four Great Daoist Academies administered their exams separately. The Ju Mang Daoist Academy tested knowledge of spirit herb cultivation, requiring students to elevate a spirit herb from first to second tier within a month. Chen Mobai wasn't very familiar with spirit cultivation, so he skipped this. The Wu Qi Daoist Academy, on the other hand, gave each eligible student a six-liang piece of refined iron, requiring them to forge it into a flying sword of at least second-tier quality. He skipped this as well. The Bu Tian Daoist Academy's entrance exam involved repairing a defective formation plate... "Formations again? Skip!"

With his last shred of hope, Chen Mobai looked at the Kunpeng Daoist Academy's entrance exam question: each student was to take a piece of bark from a second-tier Jade Phoenix Parasol tree, draw talismans on it, and collect thunder-fire essence. Once the talisman reached second-tier quality, they could be admitted. He blankly continued to skip, opening the practice papers from three years ago.

As it turned out, that year's exam was even more elaborate. It required teams of ten to work together to cultivate a spirit vein, raising a first-tier spirit vein to second-tier. This entire process would be video recorded. If successful, representatives from the academy would grade each team member on their leadership, cooperation, and skill during the process. Still, it was a complete failure; not a single student was admitted to the Four Great Daoist Academies.

Four years ago, five years ago... Chen Mobai finished reviewing the practice papers from the past ten years, his face utterly blank at the end. There hadn't been a single year's entrance exam that he knew how to tackle.

However, Chen Mobai himself hadn't harbored much hope of getting into the Four Great Daoist Academies. His goal had always been the Ten Great Academies. More precisely, the Pure Yang Academy and the Grand Primordial Academy. After all, the artificial prime spirit at the National Library had suggested that, based on his spiritual root talent, following the paths of the "Pure Yang Scroll" and the "Jade Purity Sutra" offered a slight chance of achieving a primordial spirit. He had to trust the nation.

Comforting himself in this way, Chen Mobai then looked at the practice papers for the Pure Yang Academy and the Grand Primordial Academy from years when the Ten Great Academies had separate entrance exams. Upon seeing these, he finally gained a little confidence. At least, unlike the Four Great Daoist Academies' entrance exams, which generally required a second-tier cultivation level to complete, the Ten Great Academies' requirements for their students were typically just a top-tier first-tier knowledge base. Only occasionally, when many students applied in a particular year, would the threshold be raised to second-tier.

After reviewing the ten years of practice papers, Chen Mobai also discovered some patterns. If the Four Great Daoist Academies and the Ten Great Academies conducted a combined entrance exam, it typically covered the four main disciplines: spells, alchemy, artifact forging, and formations. These were foundational, making it easy to differentiate students' talents. However, if they held separate exams, a wide variety of peculiar tests could appear.

For example, the Pure Yang Academy placed more emphasis on mental state, the Grand Primordial Academy valued lineage and strong divine consciousness, the Five Thunder Academy offered direct admission for those with thunder spiritual roots, the Nature Academy offered direct admission for those with unusual spiritual roots, and the Mountains and Seas Academy selected potential sword cultivators...

Chen Mobai set his first choice as the Pure Yang Academy, his second as the Grand Primordial Academy, and his third as the local Scarlet Cloud Academy. As for the Four Great Daoist Academies, after reviewing their past entrance exams, he genuinely had no confidence.

Checking the time, Chen Mobai still had a moment, so he started browsing the various flagship stores on the Immortal Sect Network again. He had his eye on a low-tier second-grade "Mystic Yang Purple Fire Talisman," of which one hundred would be stocked at the Pure Yang Academy's official flagship store at 6:45 PM tonight. The price was 68,000 Merit Points.

The timing was a bit awkward, as Chen Mobai would usually be in the Water Mansion by then, but he understood the reason. To ensure that every cultivator had a fair chance, and due to the limited resources of Terrestrial Star, the Immortal Sect released elixirs, talismans, magical artifacts, and similar items at unpredictable times.

This meant that during the 1440 minutes in a day, good items could be stocked in the various flagship stores at any given minute. While constantly monitoring would surely lead to acquiring good items, popular elixirs like the "Foundation Establishment Three Treasures," highly sought after by Qi Condensation cultivators, were only stocked three times a month. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't stare at a screen sleeplessly for an entire month, waiting for items to appear. This was the greatest fairness the Immortal Sect could achieve given its limited resources.

Chen Mobai set an alarm to remind himself to purchase the "Mystic Yang Purple Fire Talisman" from the Pure Yang Academy tonight. After leaving school, he decided not to cultivate today. The college entrance examination was in two days, and even cultivating wouldn't calm his mind.

He called Qing Nü, inviting her to dinner that evening. He had previously promised to treat her to grilled fish. After returning home, Chen Mobai made a trip to the Water Mansion and caught two descendants of the Azure Blood Carp. He didn't kill them but brought them directly to the enthusiastic owner of the grilled fish restaurant. After eating, Qing Nü praised the fish effusively. She said she had never eaten such delicious fish in her life.