Stages Six and Seven of the Kaiyuan Realm involved opening the eye apertures.
Local students from Nanyuan who had opened their eye apertures were virtually nonexistent. At least, Su Yu had not seen any yet. The students following Old Xie out of Testing Hall 5 were almost entirely from the Great Xia Prefecture, with Su Yu as the sole exception.
At this moment, Su Yu was surrounded by students from the prefecture capital.
He was curious, and spotting the student who had swapped test booklets with him earlier, he asked in a low voice, "Are Kaiyuan Stages Six and Seven really not enough to guarantee admission in the Great Xia Prefecture?"
Wasn't that a bit exaggerated?
Even in the Great Xia Prefecture, the chances of admission at Stage Six or Seven ought to be quite high, shouldn't they?
The boy he addressed glanced ahead at Old Xie. Seeing that the examiner had not looked back, he whispered, "Stages Six and Seven aren't top-tier in the Great Xia Prefecture, though they're still considered mid-tier. The admission odds aren't small, but cultivation realm isn't everything."
The boy lowered his voice further to explain, "Apart from the basic cultivation assessment, there are advanced assessments coming up. You know about those, right?"
"Yeah. Riding and archery are mandatory tests every year."
Su Yu nodded, though his confusion remained. "What does that have to do with whether you take the test in Nanyuan?"
"It has everything to do with it!"
The boy sighed in resignation. "Riding and archery grant bonus points. But in the Great Xia Prefecture, there are far too many experts. If we test there, we'll definitely end up at the bottom of the pack and get no bonus points at all. Usually, only top rankers earn extra points.
"Back in the Great Xia Prefecture, those students at Kaiyuan Stages Eight and Nine take all the spots, leaving us with zero hope.
"Coming to Nanyuan... Nanyuan may be small, but if you perform a bit better here, earning bonus points is much easier."
Su Yu gave a slight nod, then asked, "Two hundred points practically guarantees admission. Once you score higher, aside from first place, the gap between the other rankings shouldn't matter that much, right?"
"You really don't know how this works!"
The boy shook his head. "Since you're keeping up, you must be above Kaiyuan Stage Five. You need to understand that while two hundred points gets you into a War Academy, there are distinct tiers once you're inside. The academies divide students into nine ranks!
"Low-low, mid-low, high-low... all the way to the very best, top-high!"
The boy gritted his teeth. "Low-tier students receive the worst treatment in the academy. They don't get dedicated instructors. Once inside, life is genuinely hard for them—they're basically just enrolled in name. You have to reach at least mid-tier to gain access to better resources.
"Anyone below three hundred points is considered low-tier!
"That's why you have to score over three hundred points to truly get your foot in the door at a War Academy."
The boy cast a sympathetic glance at Su Yu. "For the War Academies, aside from the academic subjects and cultivation assessments, the practical assessments matter most. They award massive bonus points—roughly equivalent to the bonus points from the Civilization Academies' divine character evaluations.
"That's why we came to Nanyuan. We wanted to test better and rank higher so we could snag some bonus points. In the Great Xia Prefecture, people like us have virtually no shot at extra points."
Su Yu understood. He gave a slight nod, glanced toward the girl walking ahead, and whispered, "Stages Six and Seven face fierce competition, but what about Stage Eight? Cultivators at Stage Eight and above should be considered geniuses. Why did she come here too?"
He could sense yuanqi gathering around the girl, which meant she had reached at least Kaiyuan Stage Eight.
"Stage Eight?"
The boy had no intention of applying to a Civilization Academy and was not particularly familiar with Wu Lan. Following Su Yu's gaze, he hesitated. "Not sure. Maybe she wants to take first place in Nanyuan? Kaiyuan Stage Eight is considered genius-level even in the Great Xia Prefecture. Or maybe she only has high cultivation while being terrible at everything else, so she came to Nanyuan just to play it safe."
Su Yu dropped the subject. By then, the group had arrived at another testing venue.
...
Old Xie looked at the students following behind him and said calmly, "The assessment for Stages Six and Seven carries a total of eighty points. The basic test is simple: quick eyes and fast hands! Shortly, a machine in this room will fire one hundred spheres—eighty red and twenty white.
"Catching a red sphere earns you one point. Catching a white sphere deducts one point. You need to catch them as quickly as possible. If you can't distinguish them in time, catching all of them will still get you sixty points, preventing you from missing out on a large number of red spheres."
Before them stood five small testing chambers.
With only about ten students present, the test would wrap up in two rounds.
Old Xie added, "The firing period is short—two minutes in total, with one sphere launched roughly every second! Let me remind you again: manage your physical stamina and energy wisely. Sometimes knowing when to give up is harder than persevering! If you drain too much energy here, I worry you won't last through the subsequent assessments."
Su Yu and the others remained silent. This assessment was well within standard parameters.
There were several standard test formats for Kaiyuan Stages Six and Seven. This particular method had been used before, and intermediate academies would normally conduct relevant training.
Of course, that applied to the Great Xia Prefecture.
Nanyuan had only ever mentioned it in passing without conducting practical drills. It was not that Nanyuan took it lightly, but rather that the city almost never produced students at Stage Six or Seven in any given year.
"You five, get inside. Don't waste time!"
Old Xie barked softly, pointing at five students, while nearby proctors prepared to monitor and tally the scores.
Su Yu was not among them, but he watched intently.
Prior to this, he had received almost no training of this sort. Because his breakthroughs had come so rapidly, he simply had not had the time.
The five students, visibly tense, entered quickly.
The moment they stepped inside, a machine in each room began launching spheres at high speed.
*Thwack!*
Right on the first shot, a student failed to catch the sphere and took a direct hit to the head.
Old Xie frowned slightly and called out, "If you can't keep up with the rhythm, you'll get hurt! Judge for yourselves whether to withdraw..."
Before he finished speaking, the second sphere was launched—swift and carrying considerable impact.
Apart from the student who had just been struck and was flustered, the others caught theirs with relative ease.
However, in such a short window, one had to catch rapidly fired spheres while differentiating red from white. With the launching speed so fast, discerning the colors proved difficult; often, the mind recognized the color, but the body involuntarily reached out and snatched a white sphere anyway.
The fired spheres did not travel in straight lines either; some curved, forcing the students to scramble across the cramped rooms.
In less than a minute, three of the five students were panting heavily, gasping for breath.
One had bruises blooming across his face, having been struck repeatedly.
Su Yu had been silently keeping tally for that student and couldn't help but sigh. *Thirty-two red spheres caught, eight white spheres caught—twenty-four points.*
He couldn't tell whether that student was at Stage Five or Six, but regardless, scoring even thirty points would be tough for him.
Now Su Yu understood why many students who reached the requisite cultivation realms still failed to earn full marks.
With these thoughts in mind, he turned to the girl in another room. She was impressive!
In one minute, roughly fifty spheres had been fired. She had caught forty-two red spheres—every single red sphere launched so far—and had not touched a single white one. That meant she currently held a perfect score.
*Something's off...*
Su Yu could appreciate the difficulty involved. The mind had to keep pace with the body; both physical reflexes and mental awareness had to be formidable.
She possessed solid strength, yet she seemed remarkably at ease, often predicting the colors before the spheres arrived. That was a display of willpower.
*Her willpower is very strong!*
Su Yu furrowed his brow slightly. This meant she might not be testing solely for a War Academy; she was likely also an applicant for a Civilization Academy.
As for catching the spheres, Su Yu was confident as well.
His willpower was by no means weak. An interval of a second or so was fairly generous; he could swiftly distinguish red from white and was confident in catching them all. Even so, it seemed the competition for first place among the War Academy applicants was going to be intense.
And this was merely Testing Hall 5; there were four other testing halls below.
While he pondered, the two minutes elapsed.
Partway through, one student had surrendered and stopped testing entirely.
Old Xie paid it no mind. As they exited, he promptly read out, "Eighty points, sixty-five points, sixty points, thirty-two points, twenty-four points!"
Those were the results of the first five examinees.
The scores from this round were as straightforward as could be!
The student who scored twenty-four points looked crestfallen. He was at Kaiyuan Stage Six, which meant thirty points was the passing baseline, yet he had thrown away six points for nothing.
While he was despondent, the others were not much happier. Kaiyuan Stage Seven offered a total of eighty points, and aside from that girl who had swept the board, none of them had secured full marks.
"Next group!"
Old Xie looked toward Su Yu and the remaining students, who hurried into the rooms.
The next instant, the machines resumed launching spheres.
...
Inside the room.
Though Su Yu had never trained for this, having watched for a while, he had grasped the general knack.
Releasing a sliver of willpower, he fixed his gaze on the machine's muzzle. The moment a sphere emerged, he sensed both its color and trajectory.
*Thwack!*
The sphere struck his palm. Su Yu gripped it and tossed it aside—it was red.
A faint glow emanated from his eyes; with his eye apertures open, his vision was exceptionally clear.
*Using willpower is basically cheating... Well, it's part of my own capability, but let's see how I do without it...*
Su Yu withdrew his willpower and relied solely on his open eye apertures to catch the spheres.
Fortunately, even without willpower, catching them proved relatively simple.
Quick eyes and fast hands. Su Yu's hands were anything but slow; he had practiced his fundamentals for years. After rigorously cultivating the Thunder Yuan Saber, the apertures in his hands had been tempered, making the catches fairly effortless.
Outside, Old Xie gave a slight nod, a smile touching his lips.
He had sensed Su Yu using willpower.
It was technically cheating, but since developing willpower was an achievement of the boy's own making, Old Xie hadn't intervened.
Yet by the second sphere, Su Yu had ceased using willpower, which Old Xie also noticed. Excellent. He liked students like this.
You had every right to use your abilities, but that didn't stop him from looking down on it!
Take that girl Wu Lan earlier. Old Xie hadn't been particularly pleased with her. She had scored full marks, but relying on willpower during a War Academy assessment—did that even count as testing one's martial realm?
Was having strong willpower something to be proud of here?
If you were so capable, go take the Civilization Academy exams. The War Academies cared about whether your physical cultivation met the mark, not your willpower.
Two minutes later, Su Yu emerged, breathing hard.
Old Xie beamed. "Not bad! Eighty points, full marks! You looked a bit disheveled, but you took all the points for Kaiyuan Stages Six and Seven! Your cultivation advanced rapidly, yet you still managed full marks—your fundamentals are rock solid. Looks like those five years weren't wasted!"
Old Xie was all smiles, a stark contrast to his attitude toward Wu Lan when she had achieved full marks.
Nearby, Wu Lan's expression turned sour.
She had also scored full marks, yet Old Xie had barely acknowledged her, simply reading out her score before moving on.
Proud by nature, Wu Lan couldn't hold back and spoke up softly, "Instructor, eighty points is merely a baseline requirement in the Great Xia Prefecture..."
Old Xie replied impassively, "Right, but this isn't the Great Xia Prefecture. More importantly, relying purely on cultivation realm, some people can't even get eighty points!"
With that, Old Xie muttered under his breath, "Little girl, you're not even applying to a War Academy, yet you insist on wasting exam resources!"
Wu Lan was left speechless.
Old Xie knew what was what. Su Yu might still be persuaded to choose a War Academy, but this girl never would; barring any surprises, she was bound for a Civilization Academy.
Since they weren't walking the same path, he couldn't be bothered to recruit her.
Her elder sister was a genius assistant instructor at the Great Xia Civilization Academy—it was right there in her file—but Old Xie felt no need to flatter her. The little girl had plenty of arrogance, but she ought to mind who she directed it toward.
Old Xie was an expert in the Tengkong Realm; he certainly didn't fear her family.
Naturally, it was just an exam, and there was no point making enemies, but neither did he need to fawn over anyone. He only needed to do his job as an examiner.
Would Wu Qi dare cause trouble for him over such a trivial matter?
Did she think the Longwu Guards were pushovers?
Old Xie couldn't care less!
Beside them, Su Yu felt everyone's eyes on him and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This Old Xie was truly pragmatic!
Trying to recruit him for Longwu Academy by praising him in front of everyone—wasn't that just drawing hostility toward him?
Of course, Su Yu didn't mind.
Scoring well and earning praise from an instructor was a reflection of capability; he had no reason to care what others thought.
Old Xie checked the time and continued, "That concludes the basic assessments for the first seven stages of Kaiyuan. Combined with the one hundred points from the academic exam, that's two hundred and seventy points in total. Stages Eight and Nine offer another hundred points. Riding and archery offer one hundred points, and practical combat offers one hundred points, bringing the total to five hundred and seventy points. Factor in three or more merit points, and the maximum score exceeds six hundred points."
Old Xie looked at Su Yu and chuckled. "Su Yu, only a score of six hundred or higher earns a high-tier rating in a War Academy! That's why high-tier students are exceedingly rare even in the War Academies. You've only just reached Kaiyuan Stage Eight. Even with a decent number of merit points, you might not have what it takes to reach high-tier!"
Two hundred points was passing. Below three hundred was low-tier. Three hundred to six hundred was mid-tier. Only above six hundred was high-tier.
Su Yu calculated the numbers and felt a bit disheartened. Putting it that way, he really might not reach high-tier.
He hadn't scored full marks on the academic exam. Even if he managed eighty points, and took full marks on the other subjects, he currently only stood at two hundred and fifty points.
Of course, outside of the All-Races languages, he had accumulated ten merit points, which translated to a hundred bonus points, bringing his total to three hundred and fifty.
*Unless I get full marks for Kaiyuan Stage Eight, full marks for riding and archery, and full marks for practical combat—sweeping all two hundred and fifty remaining points—I won't hit six hundred to barely scrape by.*
Su Yu ran through the math. Only by earning perfect scores in every single remaining assessment could he qualify for high-tier.
Even then, he would only be at the very bottom of the high tier: low-high.
Curious, Su Yu couldn't help asking, "Instructor, what score is needed for top-high?"
"We'll talk as we walk. We're heading to the next venue for the remaining tests! Students from all five testing halls will gather to take them together!"
As Old Xie walked, he answered, "You're in Nanyuan, so you know too little. Your teachers probably thought there was no point telling you, fearing it would discourage you. In past years, the best Nanyuan ever produced was mid-tier, so there was no need to dwell on it.
"Top-high... You can work it out yourself: eight hundred points or more!"
Su Yu frowned. "Even with Kaiyuan Stage Nine and full marks on academics, you couldn't reach eight hundred, could you?"
"That's right. Which is why top-high students are all in the Qianjun Realm!"
"..."
Su Yu was left speechless.
Old Xie chuckled. "It's just Qianjun; you'll get there soon enough. Those top-high fellows haven't merely reached the Qianjun Realm—they also have a high number of merit points, so their cumulative scores far outstrip yours.
"Don't worry too much about it. Some of them are genuine monsters, while others are fake prodigies!" Old Xie spoke bluntly. "Some of them chug yuanqi liquid like plain water, wasting resources. Even if someone like that earns a top-high rating, it's meaningless. The academy will treat them however they see fit; nobody wants to waste time on someone who can't be helped up.
"Once you reach the academy, certain experts would rather take in a Kaiyuan Stage Seven student from a small city than a Qianjun student backed by a great clan. Aside from slightly better stipends, there are no real perks, and stipends mean nothing to clan scions anyway. So those fake prodigies don't fare all that well either!"
Old Xie's words were blunt to a fault.
Had he spoken like this during an exam in the Great Xia Prefecture, he would likely have faced immense backlash.
Behind them, Wu Lan felt uncomfortable and said in a heavy voice, "Instructor, those from great clans aren't all like that..."
Old Xie dismissed her objection. "I never said all of them were! I'm just giving regular students some confidence. Take the Civilization Academies, for instance. Some people master divine characters in advance and receive hundreds of bonus points in one go. Is that fair?
"People from small cities don't even know what divine characters are, while some kids start studying willpower texts at age seven or eight. How can they compete?
"Naturally, that's the fruit of their parents' hard work, and I won't deny their contributions. For my own children, I'd want to give them the best as well. But... acting superior when comparing yourself to a genius from a small city at the starting line... that's just childish and pathetic!"
Old Xie said calmly, "What can anyone prove at this stage? Come back in five years, or ten years, and take another look! That's when things become fair. If someone from an ordinary background accomplishes nothing after more than a decade, then they truly are ordinary and not a genius.
"With different starting points, what glory is there in boasting over an early lead? Thinking you're better just because your father is strong or your mother is formidable... only the weak, cowards, and incompetents think like that! A true genius doesn't compare themselves to those weaker; they strive for the highest peaks!"
Old Xie added meaningfully, "Take Wu Qi from the Civilization Academy. The person she measures herself against isn't Liu Hong, but Xia Yuwen of the Xia family! The broader your mind, the higher your vision, and the farther you will go in the future!
"If you must compete, compete with people like that! Su Yu, if you wanted to prove yourself, would you go compare yourself to Chen Hao?"
Old Xie smiled. "Of course, you're all still young and might not grasp what I'm saying, but that's fine—you'll understand later on! The Higher Academy Examination is merely the opening competition. Parental advantages show here, but once you reach Tengkong, Lingyun, Shanhai... what good is having an Invincible father?
"More resources? Guidance from experts? Once it's time to carve out your own path, resources aren't key, and guidance isn't key. If you genuinely have talent, you won't lack those things anyway. What truly matters is yourself!"
Old Xie's speech plunged the group into silence.
Wu Lan remained quiet for a while before whispering, "Thank you for your guidance, Instructor!"
"I didn't guide you!"
Old Xie refused to take credit and shrugged indifferently. "It's not my place to guide you anyway. I just wanted to remind you not to lose sight of your original heart or let messy nonsense sway you. Cultivating willpower means that if you can't even withstand some idle gossip and let your mental state collapse, you might as well stop cultivating; you'll never reach Tengkong in your lifetime!
"If Liu Wenyan had been like that, could he have held out until age seventy to reach Tengkong? He would have killed himself decades ago!"
By then, the group had arrived at another massive testing grounds. Old Xie offered one last parting thought: "Be it Civilization or War, all of it is an effort for the human race. Healthy competition and sensible comparisons are necessary, but don't let yourself be consumed by jealousy and resentment. In five years, if you reach Tengkong while the other person hasn't, looking back on them then, they'll seem entirely unremarkable—and your past envy will look like a joke!
"And the reverse holds true as well!"
Old Xie trailed off as he came to a stop. Meanwhile, Su Yu and the others were no longer listening, their eyes wide with shock as they stared at the massive testing arena before them!
Ahead of them stood ten enormous beasts!
Yes, beasts! To see live beasts in Nanyuan... how was that possible?
"What are you staring at? They're just Cloud-Galloper Horses, the lowest-grade beasts there are! Riding means commanding beasts, not your family's donkeys! For the assessment, mount up, ride one lap around the grounds, and you'll get full marks!
"It's dead simple. I stopped riding these things decades ago."
Old Xie wore a swaggering look. What kind of garbage beast was this? Who even rode them anymore!
"By the way, if you fall off or fail to finish the lap, points will be deducted. If you've never seen or ridden one before, don't panic—just grip the mane tightly. Steering is simple; it's the exact same curriculum as riding regular horses in academy classes."
Su Yu was utterly speechless. The academy did offer such classes, but they involved actual horses, not beasts like this!
Intermediate academies taught skills like riding and archery, but students in small cities rarely had the opportunity to use them.
Learning was one thing, but as for proficiency, Su Yu lacked confidence—especially now that the mount had been swapped for this mountain of flesh!
"One lap is fifty points. Be quick; there's a long line of candidates waiting behind you. First come, first served, with a three-minute limit. Exceeding the time counts as a failure. There are ten arenas like this, meaning only around two thousand candidates will take the test here. Time is running out, and anyone who misses their turn gets a zero, so move fast."
Ten arenas were plenty. Right now, many students were still wrestling with identifying liquids, while another batch was struggling through the listening test.
Allocating time wisely had been emphasized repeatedly; those who couldn't prioritize deserved to fail.
Su Yu and the others dared not delay. Already, students were mounting up in the arena. The next instant, a candidate was flung off the back of a massive Cloud-Galloper Horse. A proctor caught him and casually set him down. "Five points! Next!"
Three minutes? They were cycling through examinees every thirty seconds!
Su Yu wanted to wait a moment, but Old Xie pointed right at him. "Su Yu, you're up! Always strive to be first—how can you win if you don't take the lead? I have high hopes for you. Go show them a high-tier score this time; small towns produce geniuses too!"
At that moment, numerous proctors across the arena turned to look in their direction. High-tier?
Nanyuan producing a high-tier student?
Did Old Xie have too much to drink last night?
Chapter 50