Chapter 123: The Beginning

"Who on earth wrote these exam questions? They're so difficult! There are so many I've never even heard of; I’ve just been guessing my way through."

Outside the examination hall, the disciples who had finished their papers looked distressed as they recalled the questions:

"You're telling me! I didn't even finish the last question. I’m pretty sure I’m doomed this time."

"What? You actually reached the last question? I didn't even have time to read it..."

"Whoever set these questions, if I find out who it was, I’m going to drag them out and beat them up!"

"Um... I believe it was the Elder who is proctoring us who wrote them himself. He's inside right now; you can go in and beat him up if you want."

"Ahem, we are all cultured people here. Let's not resort to violence..."

A moment later, someone looked toward the examination hall and asked, "Logic dictates that everyone should be out by now. Why haven't they started grading the papers yet?"

"I think there was still one person left when I came out."

Someone in the crowd exclaimed, "It must be that kid who made Elder Yu so furious earlier."

"Why is he still inside? Didn't Elder Yu say that no matter how he performs, he is not to be admitted into the Azure Dragon Academy?"

"Heh, maybe he’s still trying to struggle against the inevitable."

"Struggle? I saw him sleeping inside the whole time. That brat is clearly just wasting our time."

"Damn it, when he comes out, we’ll definitely teach him a lesson..."

Inside the examination hall!

The female disciple sat by the entrance, keeping a close eye on Li Jiansan.

"Let's see how you manage to finish all these questions in a quarter of an hour."

"You bastard, if you can't finish this paper within the time limit, I’m going to make you regret it!"

"Purple Demon Eyes, activate." Li Jiansan whispered to himself.

Using the Purple Demon Eyes, Li Jiansan took a quick glance, and a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. The Purple Demon Eyes could see through all flaws; right now, Li Jiansan was essentially a living answer key, capable of conjuring solutions effortlessly. To him, this exam paper held no difficulty at all.

"This is too simple."

Hearing Li Jiansan's words, the female disciple clearly thought he was bluffing. She wanted nothing more than to throw a shoe at him.

*Simple? If it's so simple, then do it! Stop talking big here...*

Do it? For Li Jiansan, it was indeed that simple!

*Read ten thousand books, and your pen will flow like a god's!*

That described Li Jiansan perfectly. He began to write furiously, his speed astonishing.

"Swish, swish..."

The tip of Li Jiansan's brush danced rapidly across the paper, producing a rhythmic, pleasing sound. His pace was so fast that others couldn't even keep up with the speed at which he turned the pages. While everyone else sat in deep thought, carefully weighing every word, Li Jiansan simply wrote as he saw the questions, as if he were copying from an answer key.

The female disciple watched his lightning-fast speed, a flash of anger rising on her pretty face, her chest heaving with indignation. However, she calmed down a moment later.

"Hmph, scribbling nonsense in a quarter of an hour—even if you finish, what of it? You'll still end up with a zero. You don't even look at the questions; how accurate could your answers possibly be?"

It wasn't that she was biased; it was just that she had never seen or even heard of anyone answering so quickly without even reading the questions. Surely, no one would believe he was taking the exam seriously.

"Once the papers are graded, he’s bound to fail. What’s the point of this?"

Li Jiansan was completely unaware of her thoughts and continued to focus on the paper. He tossed his brush into the air, let it spin a few times, and caught it again.

"Done!"

In less than a quarter of an hour, Li Jiansan had finished every question and even had time to spare to review his work.

"May I ask when the next exam begins?"

Li Jiansan walked up to the female disciple and set down his paper.

*You pretentious guy, you still have the nerve to ask about the next round?*

"You still want to take the next exam?" she asked coldly.

Li Jiansan found her question strange but answered anyway, "Yes."

"You do know that you have to pass this exam to proceed to the next one, don't you?"

"I know," Li Jiansan replied.

"Then do you think you can pass?"

"Why wouldn't I pass?" Li Jiansan remained calm.

At this, the young attendant was truly furious. "In such a short time, it's impossible to even read the paper, let alone finish it, and yet you say you can pass?"

"Let me tell you, even if you were focused and giving it your all, passing would be impossible. Don't forget, you need an accuracy rate of over eighty percent. To think you could pass by scribbling nonsense like that—it’s laughable."

She mocked him relentlessly. Since ordinary candidates had to think carefully before putting pen to paper, she was certain Li Jiansan would fail the written test. Li Jiansan didn't bother arguing and walked straight out of the hall.

"The questions were quite easy," Li Jiansan said nonchalantly as he stepped outside.

The waiting candidates were stunned. They had just experienced the test themselves and knew exactly how difficult it was. Hearing Li Jiansan call it "simple" sounded like a blatant lie.

"Haha, let’s see who gets a slap in the face when the results come out."

Many began to mock him. As for teaching him a lesson, no one dared to bring it up. After all, this ruthless guy had killed Xu Lin on the spot; they could talk behind his back, but they wouldn't dare move against him.

Usually, after the written exam, the proctors would grade the papers immediately, and results would be posted within half an hour. Inside the hall, the white-bearded Elder continued his review.

As he graded, a look of disappointment crossed his face. "A mistake on the last question. What a pity; Su Mingcheng missed a perfect score by one point."

"Su Mingcheng almost got a perfect score? Who is that kid?" The female disciple was surprised. Her teacher had written these questions himself, and it was said that to make the candidates suffer as he once did, the difficulty was set to 'hellish.' Just passing was an incredible feat, but for this Su Mingcheng to nearly get a perfect score was extraordinary.

"He must be first place then..." she remarked.

"Haha, that's not necessarily true," the white-bearded Elder said, stroking his beard with a faint smile. "I haven't graded the paper of that kid who was sleeping yet."

"Teacher, are you really wasting your time on his paper?"

The old man spoke with a tone of guidance: "Even if he scribbled nonsense, we cannot grade carelessly. Besides, I don't believe he was just scribbling."

The young attendant nodded, though he still didn't believe Li Jiansan could pass. When the Elder finally looked at Li Jiansan's paper, he was startled. "This..."

His hands trembled as he turned the pages, and he stood there, stunned.

"Teacher, I told you, he was just messing around! Don't let his paper bother you. See, you've been shocked by it, haven't you?"

But the white-bearded Elder replied in a daze, "Every answer is correct, and the logic is incredibly rigorous!"

The old man, Lu Jiannan, knew exactly how difficult the paper was. That Li Jiansan could achieve a perfect score under such conditions was simply inconceivable.

"You mean... he really finished the entire paper in a quarter of an hour and got everything correct?" The female disciple was dumbfounded.

Lu Jiannan nodded. "It seems a new genius has emerged."

A short while later, Lu Jiannan stepped out to announce the results.

"Ji Xiaoning, Xu Feng, Xie Yougu... these individuals have passed the written exam."

The old man paused, then continued, "Now, the top three."

"Third place, Liu Ming, ninety points!"

He scanned the crowd and added, "Second place, Su Mingcheng, ninety-nine points!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

"What? Ninety-nine is only second place?"

"Then the first place must be a perfect score! Who on earth got it?"

"My god, a perfect score! What kind of monster is this?"

Lu Jiannan scanned the crowd and locked his gaze on Li Jiansan.

"First place in the written exam: Li Jiansan, perfect score!"