Chapter 0090 – Rules Of The Preliminary Tournament
“Is he that son of a bitch?” Ning Cheng looked at that white robed man who had cupped his fists towards the applause from the crowd, and suddenly did not feel quite well in his heart. It was not much of a big deal that this person looked much better than him, but what he was bitter about was that he was already at the peak of the True Condensation 6th Level, just a step away from the Late Stages of the True Condensation Realm.
“It looks like he really has some good qualifications when compared to me, moreover he already is at the peak of True Condensation 6th Level.” Although in his heart he was a bit unhappy with this guy called Shui Yu, Ning Cheng still admired the speed with which he cultivated.
When Ji Luo Fei heard Ning Cheng’s words, she said with a disapproving tone in her voice, “He is much older than you, I heard that he is already 30 years old. Moreover, he also has a Pure Dual Line Main Spiritual Root, in addition to that he is also considered a genius within the Shui Clan and even the Hua Continent, as a result almost all the cultivation resources were piled up onto him since the beginning, in my opinion, he is just simply not as good as you.”
“Let’s first find a place to settle down for a bit, lest you are found out by the people from the Shui Clan or your paternal aunt.” Ning Cheng said as he did not want to continue wandering on the streets anymore.
Ji Luo Fei also clearly did not want to walk on these streets, if not for accompanying Ning Cheng here, she did not want to even come to the Mo Ze City.
……
Searching for a rest stop, Ning Cheng came to know that what Ji Luo Fei said was really not wrong, as the two people ended up looking for nearly 2 hours, and even when the sky turned dark, did they not find a place to rest.
“Luo Fei, since we cannot find a place to stay here, then let’s go out of the city to stay.” Ning Cheng finally said with some frustration in his voice.
Ji Luo Fei was just going to agree, when she heard a surprised voice say, “Ning Cheng? How in the world are you here? Were you not chased out of the Cang Le City by Gu Fei……”
“Hou Chuan?” Ning Cheng immediately knew who the person was, it was Hou Chuan, one of the 10 students selected from the Cang Qin 2 Star Academy. At the gate of the Cang Qin 2 Star Academy, when Gu Fei had challenged him, Hou Chuan had also come out and said something in his favour. At this time on the side of Hou Chuan was standing a girl with a good appearance, it was evident that she had also come together with Hou Chuan.
After having been recognised by Hou Chuan, Ning Cheng quickly came to understand, that Huo Chuan was now a student of the Falling Star Academy, and since Falling Star Academy was in situated in the Mo Ze City, it was normal for them to run into Huo Chuan or other students from the Academy.
Hou Chuan did not finish his words, but from the expressions of the two, Ning Cheng immediately knew what he meant, since he was chased out of the Cang Le City, so how could he appear in the Hua Continent’s Mo Ze City which was so far away from the Ping Continent? It stood for reason that he should have been the one who had killed Gu Fei.
“I did not think that I would be able to meet Brother Hou like this, initially when I was forced out of the Cang Le City by Gu Fei, the two of us ended up fighting with each other, I was just lucky enough and killed Gu Fei in the fight.” Ning Cheng casually explained it superficially, even if he encountered others, he would still give the same kind of off-handed explanation to them.
Hou Chuan obviously did not believe Ning Cheng’s explanation, he knew that Gu Fei was also followed by Gu Yuming, so for Ning Cheng to be able to fight with Gu Fei was really odd. But he did not continue to enquire, looking at Ji Luo Fei who was standing beside Ning Cheng, he immediately understood that Ning Cheng should have come here to seek out Ji Luo Fei.
At this time, his view about Ning Cheng had completely changed, some things that could not have been completed at all, were actually completed by Ning Cheng. Not to mention that that he not only escaped from the Gu Brothers, but even reached the Hua Continent from the Ping Continent, that itself was not a simple matter. Even if he came to the Hua Continent, trying to look for Ji Luo Fei in the Falling Star Academy, that was in itself an extremely hard task. But all these things were actually done by Ning Cheng, not only he was the one who did it, but he even did it perfectly.
Just as before, when he looked at Ning Cheng’s cultivation, there did not seem to be any change, as a result he was not clear on what he saw. He only recently successfully advanced to the Qi Gathering 7th Level, so he did not believe that Ning Cheng’s cultivation was actually higher than him.
“Brother Ning, are you looking for a place to stay?” Now that Hou Chuan’s opinion of Ning Cheng completely changed, even the tone of his voice conveyed that he wanted to make friends with him.
“That’s right, but at the moment we cannot find any place for us to live in this Mo Ze City.” Ning Cheng said with some regret in his voice.
Hou Chuan looked at Ji Luo Fei, and spoke with some doubt, “Junior Apprentice Sister Ji Luo Fei is already a student of the Falling Star Academy, as long as Junior Apprentice Sister just shows her identity, you can easily find any kind of accommodation to rest in.”
Ning Cheng said hastily, “Luo Fei is not a student of the Falling Star Academy at the moment, moreover we came to Mo Ze City without informing anyone, so I request Brother Hou to not say anything about the matter that Luo Fei came to the Mo Ze City.”
Hou Chuan nodded, even if Ning Cheng had not asked, he would not have told anybody about it, he simply was not a person who liked to gossip about people.
“I’ll help you look.” This kind of simple favour, Hou Chuan had already planned to carry out.
Hou Chuan along with Ning Cheng and Ji Luo Fei arrived at a nearby rest stop, this rest stop was the same rest stop that Ning Cheng and Ji Luo Fei had just came from. However, this time when Hou Chuan showed his Academy’s Identity, it easily helped Ning Cheng and Ji Luo Fei to book a room.
Seeing that Ning Cheng and Ji Luo Fei had only asked for a single room, Hou Chuan did not speak anymore. After saying a few words with Ning Cheng, he left the rest stop along with woman on his side.
The reason why Ning Cheng and Ji Luo Fei chose to live together in the same room, was not because they were nervous, but because both of them just did not want to cause too much trouble to Hou Chuan, besides the main reason was to basically take mutual care of each other.
“I forgot to ask Hou Chuan about Meng Yu Jing.” With Hou Chuan already gone, Ning Cheng suddenly patted his head, this kind of thing he should have asked first. For him to go find Meng Yu Jing by himself, he knew that he would have to face many difficulties.
Ji Luo Fei just shook her head and said, “Hou Chuan has never seen Meng Yu Jing, for him to help you, is just too difficult.”
“If that is the case, then I will have to find a different approach. Now that the Mo Ze Grand Plaza is currently hosting a mass recruitment of students, then I will go to the Clear Sky Academy tomorrow to have a look, while you stay here inside and cultivate.”
Ning Cheng thought that although Ji Luo Fei only spent a little time in Mo Ze City before, but he knew that there were definitely many people in this city who knew her. It would be much better for her to stay here in the room rather than roaming outside.
Ning Cheng’s thinking was relatively simple, he and Ji Luo Fei wanted to go to an Intermediate Class Continent, so it was necessary for them to join a 5 Star Academy. Enjoying the cool air under the shade of a big tree, these words were not without reason.
Moreover, the Clear Sky Academy was the best choice at the moment, Ning Cheng believed that he had the ability to be selected for the Clear Sky Academy and would not have to face much problem. As for Ji Luo Fei, he would use the Clear Sky Command Medallion for her that he had got from Kou Hong.
……
The second day, early in the morning, Ning Cheng arrived at the Mo Ze Grand Plaza.
The Hua Continent had too many Academies, Sects and Clans, and all of them had opened their stalls in the Mo Ze City in the hopes of selecting disciples, Ning Cheng guessed that these Sects who could set up these temporary stalls in the Mo Ze Grand Plaza were definitely not small entities.
When Ning Cheng saw the Mo Ze Grand Plaza, he actually did not expect it to be this huge. Ning Cheng made an initial estimate, that this Grand Plaza actually had an area of dozens of square kilometres at the very least.
Gathered on the plaza were numerous stalls of the Academies and several big and small Clans and Sects, and were packed with innumerable disciples who came here for taking part in the selection exam of these Academies.
Nevertheless, that markings of the five 5 Star Academies were very clear, and Ning Cheng in just a single glance was able to make out the stall for the Clear Sky Academy.
Ning Cheng did not immediately go to the selection area of the Clear Sky Academy, but rather just followed the crowd from the Mo Ze City who had just come in to read the selection exam rules, these selection exam rules were carved onto a huge stone stele at the entrance of the plaza.
After reading the words on the huge stone and asking around, Ning Cheng came to understand that his previous thinking was wrong. This Hua Continent had so many Academies, Sects and Clans and all of them had gathered here in this extremely large Mo Ze Grand Plaza, it was basically not a selection of disciples, rather it might be more accurate to say that it was a preliminary elimination round. Only the people with the most outstanding performance in this preliminary round, would be eligible to participate in the actual selection of disciples, and would continue on to take part in the second round.
The rules for this first round were very clear, moreover the first round was a written exam. All the cultivators who wanted to get into the second round must pass through the written test of this preliminary round, only after passing through the written test would they be eligible to participate in the second round.
There were two ways to obtain the qualifications and get through the written exam. The first one was, if one had a Pure Main Spiritual Root, or a Dual Main Spiritual Root, then with it they could directly enter any Academy that he/she desires. The second way, was for the rest of the cultivators with other kinds of Spiritual Roots, only after passing the written exam would they be able to gain the qualifications to participate in the true selection of disciples for the 5 Star Academies.
Third, a person can only give the written test a total of five times, moreover each time there can only be 5000 people that can participate. This written exam would be held once every month, for 5 continuous months.
Ning Cheng sighed darkly in his heart, there were many cultivators who had come to Mo Ze City, but the total amount of people who could participate in the first round that was the written test was only 25,000. In other words, over 90% of the people here, would be ineligible to participate in the first round.
But Ning Cheng knew that this was very fair, at least the ones participating would have a lot of chances. With so many stalls here to try, maybe they would be able to find a stall where they would be able to get a quota to enter the first round of qualifications. Moreover, this preliminary round would go on for about 6 months, so everyone would have a lot of time to prepare.
“If I could not gain the qualifications to enter the written round, then wouldn’t it mean that then there would be no opportunity to participate in the first round itself?” Someone immediately called out in surprise, as that person apparently though that this rule was wrong.
“Each of the Sects and Clans have a set amount of quota that are eligible to participate in the First Round of the written exam, although for the low levelled Academies and the rest, the examination quota given to them is smaller than that that given to the 5 Star Academies. So if you have the ability, how would it not be possible for you to get in? But then again if you do not have the ability, then what are you doing here?” Someone next to him immediately refuted the person who had just spoken.
“You all know that the quotas are already limited, so if someone secretly works behind the scenes, and have already reserved the quotas for someone else, why would they even wait for us?” The person who thought that the rule was wrong, still disagreed.
But that person who had refuted him before just continued to ignore him, and did not pay any attention to him, while he talked to the others besides him, “Are you stupid, you know that a Lower Level Academy can send their students to a 5 Star Academy, don’t you know just how big that kind of reward is? Or is it that you really do not have any idea about it. But that is still not the main point, if any of these Academies manage to get a good score during the written round, that Academy would instantly become famous, and more and more people would come rushing towards them, whether it was an Academy or a Sect or a Clan all of them are obviously doing this for promotion. In that case, even if there were some people who dare to operate such shenanigans in secret, they would only do so if they really are tired of living. The higher the ability you have, then even in the Lower Level Academies, you would be much more popular.”
“I know that last month was the fourth First Round, and there was student from a 2 Star Academy who had scored 76 points in this Preliminary Round, and as a result was selected to go to the Clear Sky Academy. Even if that student was able to advance just to a 3 Star Academy, he would have gained a substantial amount of resources.”
“Just what is this written test about?” Someone asked.
“Who knows what the test is about? If it was known previously, would they still hold the written test? I only know that the contents of the 5 preliminary exams will always be different.”
……
Ning Cheng came to understand, that if your qualifications were good, then you can directly go the 5 Star Academies, and participate in the preliminary written examination round on behalf of the 5 Star Academies. Even if your qualifications were not good, then you can still go look at the other Lower Level Academies, and then take the preliminary exam as a representative of the Lower Level Academies.