Immortal of the Ages

Chapter 420: Civil And Martial Learning!

The contrast was striking. Ordinary people couldn't withstand such confrontation, yet Yun Xiao was as composed as if he had everything under control, his demeanor light and breezy.

Despite this, the tens of thousands present could still sense the intense rivalry in the air between him and the Pathseeker Society.

"To stand alone against over a hundred descendants of the Three True Immortals from the Pathseeker Society, regardless of the outcome, just this courage alone is worthy of our admiration."

Many regular disciples voiced this sentiment. They too had the eligibility to sign up. But everyone had assumed it was predetermined, so no one bothered to make a futile effort.

"Only a fool or a freak would take on such a challenge under these circumstances."

What exactly was Yun Xiao? The answer would be revealed today.

"The written exam begins, take your seats." The woman in the red robes wasted no words, her efficiency as sharp as thunder.

BUZZ! The crowd tensed up.

Hundreds of young individuals ascended a high platform for an open-air examination.

The members of the Pathseeker Society occasionally glanced at Yun Xiao with cold, murderous looks.

"Aim for the top 32, you brute," Can Nian expressed mockingly as he sat down beside Yun Xiao.

"A barbarian trying to study literature and philosophy is nothing but a monkey in fancy clothes." A burly bearded youth sitting next to Can Nian clicked his tongue with disdain.

As they spoke, Yun Xiao had already started going over the written exam. It consisted of five pages, each with a question.

「1. Discuss the historical merits and demerits of the Martial Emperor Clan.」

"Great question!" Yun Xiao was amused. "For this question, not showing enough disdain for the Martial Emperor's lineage won't score high. Of course, after a rational judgment, one must also stand on the moral high ground and lament for the world."

How to thoroughly tarnish a hero? The Mystic Zenith Temple had the answer. Their smear campaign was comprehensive, even making its way into the indoctrinating questions of promotion exams.

Dare to answer that the Martial Emperor's lineage captured the Blood Devil's Ark and achieved unparalleled greatness? You likely wouldn't make it out of the exam room alive.

After hundreds of years like this, even a saint would be riddled with holes.

At this moment, Yun Xiao transformed into the moral judge of the Primordial Ruins, starting from the cause and clues of that great war, unraveling the truth without directly denigrating, yet emphasizing the suffering of the common people over and over again in his words. He didn't curse the Martial Emperor's lineage, but he stripped them of their backbone.

"Lian Xi couldn't answer this question. I'm hypocritical enough, I can." Yun Xiao started writing, his pen moving fluidly, and 10,000 words flowed out, each sentence logical and well-founded.

"To understand the human heart and past events is to cultivate the Heavenly Dao?" Yun Xiao murmured to himself, immersed in this mundane world, having witnessed many absurdities. "Let the so-called history be written by future generations, who see nothing, and are led by the nose before their pens even touch the paper."

Yun Xiao laughed with a hint of helplessness. However, this did not affect his speed. Once, he would have answered, "Kill them all! No explanation needed!", for every question, but today, his discussion for each problem started at 10,000 words.

These questions were very interesting.

「2. Some say the Three Immortals are True Immortals, what do you think?」

How to answer this question? It was full of traps. The written exam papers would be public, amounting to a public examination of loyalty and spirituality.

For this reason, as Yun Xiao held his pen in both hands, answering two questions at once with great speed, many people panicked.

"Lian Xi, he's not writing nonsense, is he?"

"Please don't write anything bad about the Three Immortals, that would be serious…"

Many sneaked over, nervously speaking to Lian Xi.

"It's fine, I tutored him last night. He's quite enlightened now," Lian Xi said. Though she said so, her heart was also pounding. What should be done in such a situation? She could imagine it now.

Some say the Three Immortals are True Immortals. What do you think? Yun Xiao's response—Kill them all! No explanation needed!

Just thinking about it gave Lian Xi a headache. As she nursed her throbbing head, the chilling proclamation of the woman in the red robes startled her.

"The written exam is over, hand in your papers."

As these words were spoken, Yun Xiao penned the last character. Others had finished writing earlier but hesitated to hand in their papers prematurely.

The burly bearded youth glanced over at Yun Xiao and chuckled. "Wrote that much? Surely you weren't just repeating your own name?"

Yun Xiao gave him a look and simply said, "Idiot."

"You… Vulgar! A brute of lower worlds!" The burly bearded youth picked up his own paper, noting the elegant and neat handwriting that starkly contrasted with his rugged appearance.

Soon, all the papers were collected.

The Temple Head, two Sacred Sages, and seven Crowns publicly graded the papers, discarding the highest and lowest scores to average the rest.

"Hey…" Lian Xi, hardly daring to breathe, clutched Yun Xiao's arm and asked, "You didn't write, "Kill them all! No explanation needed!", again, did you?"

"Don't worry, today I'm a paragon of virtue, enlightenment off the charts," Yun Xiao cheerfully replied.

Lian Xi, feeling anxious, gripped his hand, showing her skepticism.

The grading was random, and supposedly, the names were hidden, so the examiners didn't know who answered each question until the final scores were tallied.

The entire process took about an hour.

"Seems like the answers were not too bad?" Yun Dahe glanced at Feng Qingcong.

"On my end, I didn't see anything outrageous. A few papers even received very good marks. I wonder which disciple it was," Feng Qingcong said.

"Let's reveal the names and calculate the scores," the Temple Head suggested.

"Alright." The two were actually hoping Yun Xiao would advance to the combat round.

The two Sacred Sages, along with the seven Crowns, piled up the papers of the same individual to add and calculate the scores.

It didn't take long before Yun Dahe suddenly exclaimed in shock, "I must be seeing ghosts!"

"What?" The other Crowns gathered around.

"This person's average score across the five questions reached 48 points, with three questions receiving full marks from everyone..." Yun Dahe said, stupefied.

"With a max score of 50, getting 48 points, this level of enlightenment is indeed rare in history..." Feng Qingcong said, then looked at Yun Dahe with some confusion. He didn't understand why high scores would be shocking.

"Which genius?" one of the Crowns said with a smile as he took the papers from Yun Dahe's hands.

"Heaven... Yun Xiao???" The Crown stood as if struck by lightning. His shock and stupor immediately spread to the tens of thousands present, each mirroring his expression.

"He got 48 points?"

Instantly, everyone's eyes widened in disbelief.

Lian Xi was also dumbfounded.

"You couldn't possibly be in league with them, could you?" In her understanding, only a direct descendant of the Three Immortals could possess such supreme enlightenment.

"Blind your eyes, seal your minds, paint your hearts black, and anyone can be a descendant of the Three Immortals," Yun Xiao said with profound meaning.

Everyone was shocked. Only he, himself, was not surprised in the least. Murder and arson he could do, standing on the victor's side to wield his pen with authority and maneuver through history, he was also capable. This is what it meant to be a true all-around genius.

When all scores were published, Yun Xiao was first with 48 points, the second place, Qin Ziyue, had 45 points, and Tian Zhixiu was third with 44 points, trailing Yun Xiao by four points.

"Let's see the papers!" The burly bearded youth, dazed all this while, quickly went to examine the posted exams. The scoring was reasoned and fair, showcasing the fairness of the process.

The burly bearded youth found Yun Xiao's paper and stepped forward to take a look. After reading it, he looked bewildered and muttered, "Damn it."

He scored only 29 points, putting him precisely in 32nd place!

In his area of expertise, he was defeated by an outsider, and he couldn't help but ask Can Nian, "Could this guy be someone's illegitimate child?"

Can Nian gave him a cold glance, "Huyan Qing, don't mind it. Him entering the combat round is a good thing."

"True." The burly bearded youth, Huyan Qing, nodded deeply.

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Above the Mystic Zenith Temple, amidst the clouds, a white lotus platform hovered gently, invisible to all. On the platform, a woman with white hair sat cross-legged. The breeze blew, her white hair fluttering.

"Shen Cang, since you've come, why not show yourself?" she suddenly said.

From the clouds beside the lotus platform, an elder in grey robes slowly emerged. He floated in the air like a dull yellow leaf.

"What do you think?" Dean Yu asked the grey-robed elder.

"Quite ruthless, this essay. If the ancestors of my clan read it, they would crawl out of their graves to weep," the grey-robed elder said with a mix of laughter and tears.

"The key is he's on our side," Dean Yu said cheerfully.

"A talent," the grey-robed elder remarked, then frowned slightly, "But are you sure he really stands with us?"

"Let's see," Dean Yu pursed her lips, a slight smile forming, "It's quite interesting to watch now."

"A guy who wrote, ‘Kill them all. No explanation needed!’, upon entering the Primordial Academy for just two days, has become a messenger of justice. Even the King of Hell would have to kneel before him to atone for his sins," the grey-robed elder joked.

"Do you mean his heart has changed?" Dean Yu asked.

"What do you think?" the grey-robed elder countered.

Dean Yu raised an eyebrow, slowly saying, "The martial competition will tell."

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"The martial competition begins!" the red-robed woman declared!

The rules of the martial competition were simple—32 contestants, one-on-one battles, to ultimately decide the champion of the martial competition.

The champion would receive 50 points.

Second place would score 45 points.

The top four earned 40 points.

The top eight received 30 points.

The top sixteen got 20 points.

The top thirty-two were awarded 10 points.

The highest scorer in both the written exam and the martial competition would become a Crown.

"Based on the written exam rankings, Yun Xiao only surpassed Tian Zhixiu by four points. If Tian Zhixiu wins the martial competition and scores 50 points, he could still become a Crown."

"That's stating the obvious. The position of Crown is pre-determined by the Mystic Zenith Temple; what's the use of an outsider like Yun Xiao entering?"

"He has already shed the Mr. Zero label in the written exam, which is a win for him. The martial competition is not his main focus."

As the disciples buzzed with discussion, the martial competition commenced without delay.

"The first battle, the top scorer of the written exam versus the thirty-second place."

BUZZ! The gaze of tens of thousands fell upon Yun Xiao and the burly bearded youth, Huyan Qing, as they entered the arena.

"Begin!"

The crowd held its breath.

"Huyan Qing is at the Perfect Saint Wheel Realm, one stage higher than Huyan Pin."

Under the illumination of the Primordial Ruins’ sun, the two combatants were enveloped in a golden light.

"It's not easy, you've gone from a barbaric brute to an enlightened paragon of virtue?" Huyan Qing sneered as he summoned his Sword Soul.

BUZZ! Yun Xiao didn't waste his words. He immediately raised his hand, and his Flying Sword struck out.

"The sword disappeared?" Huyan Qing was startled.

PUFF! An azure sword tip pierced through the back of his skull, emerging from his mouth.

It appeared as though an azure Flying Sword had grown out of it.

WHOOSH! The Flying Sword pulled back, carrying blood, tonsils, tongue, and teeth with it, returning to Yun Xiao's hand.

Yun Xiao sheathed his sword and walked off the field.

"Sorry, I'm still a brute."

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