Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Hao Ren returned to his room, opened a transparent energy sphere with his identity token, and sat in it.
The messy examination area suddenly became silent.
The inspectors who wore silver silk robes stepped on their dharma treasures and entered the written examination area.
The structure made up of thousands of black-roofed rooms seemed like an enormous black Bagua map, surrounding the Dragon God Shrine at the center according to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
These rooms that were used only once a year were the outer city of the Dragon God Shrine.
The black Dragon God Shrine and the nearby white arenas in four directions were surrounded by these tens of thousands of rooms, and the Dragon God Shrine could be considered as the inner city.
For this written examination in the middle of the night, the Dragon God Shrine sent hundreds of inspectors to supervise their respective areas.
Hao Ren knew if Zhao Kuo were to take part in the general examinations, he would come to this written examination tonight. But with the scale of the written exam at the Dragon God Shrine, finding Zhao Kuo was harder than reaching the heavens.
The hundreds of inspectors dashed through the alleyways between rooms, swiftly checking the situation in each room.
An inspector walked passed the path in front of Hao Ren.
He saw Hao Ren’s silver dragon embroideries on the shoulders, and his indifferent face got a little warm as he nodded slightly.
Hao Ren nodded back in response.
From such a simple gesture, Hao Ren knew that in the examination process, the official inspectors would favor assisting inspector. That was why when the cultivators at the East Ocean University knew that they could get the position of assisting inspector from Hao Ren, they desperately challenged him!
As for the two cultivators in the rooms beside Hao Ren’s, when they saw the official inspector nodding at Hao Ren, they were envious and jealous.
However, what could they do? They weren’t assisting inspectors!
The quota for assisting inspectors was limited. Basically, they were sponsored by official inspectors, and each official inspector could at most have one assisting inspector.
Assisting inspectors were usually very strong and had a high chance of passing the examinations at the Dragon God Shrine. Otherwise, the official inspector wouldn’t take such a burden!
That inspector flew away, and Hao Ren’s row of rooms fell into silence once again.
Time slipped by.
Although thousands were waiting for the examination to start, it was silent.
“Hu…” A burst of noise came.
Hao Ren looked up and saw Qin Shaoyang on his golden weaving shuttle, flying toward Hao Ren’s room.
The strong aura almost lifted a few tiles off the rooms!
Boom!
Qin Shaoyang suddenly stopped and hovered in front of Hao Ren’s room.
He was wearing a silver silk robe, but it had a bright four-clawed golden dragon embroidery on the shoulder!
The four-clawed golden dragon represented the status of Qin Shaoyang, a level 4 inspector!
Behind Qin Shaoyang, two accompanying inspectors had three-clawed golden dragons embroidery on their shoulders.
“A level 4 inspector with two level 3 inspectors came here only to see the cultivator in ‘Ren Yin 246’. Who is this assisting inspector!”
When the two cultivators who were sitting in the rooms beside Hao Ren’s saw this, they were so shocked that they couldn’t utter a sound from their throats.
They took part in a few general examinations and were quite familiar with the written exam. However, they had never seen and heard of anything like this!
Usually, the written examination area was patrolled by level 1 and level 2 inspectors. Level 3 inspectors were not required, not to mention level 4!
“Do you like this environment? Does it fit you?”
Hao Ren raised his head and looked at Qin Shaoyang as he snorted lightly and didn’t speak.
Qin Shaoyang was standing on his golden weaving shuttle, meaning that his natal dharma treasure had been returned to him. That was because Su Han, a level 3 inspector, didn’t want to fight with him in the Dragon God Shrine, so she returned his dharma treasure.
“Perhaps you don’t know yet, but I’m one of the four main examiners this year and is responsible for the east area.” Qin Shaoyang hovered in mid-air, staring at Hao Ren. “You happen to be in my area.”
The two cultivators who were in the two rooms to the left and right of Hao Ren’s listened as their ears turned hot.
“With the special care of a level 4 inspector who is one of the four main examiners, it seems like this cultivator is absolutely going to be an official inspector!” they thought.
If they had known earlier, they would not have cared about their faces and fawned over the assisting inspector Hao Ren!
“You arranged this deliberately, didn’t you?” Hao Ren asked.
“Yes, so what?” Qin Shaoyang sneered, staring at Hao Ren.
This time, he was chosen to be the main examiners responsible for the east area. As one of the four highest examiners, he had six level 4 inspectors as his aid. This made him immeasurably prestigious!
This meant that during the examinations period, Qin Shaoyang would be one of the four most powerful inspectors. Even Su Han couldn’t go against him during this time period as it would influence the main examiner’s decision.
“Since there are too few metal-elemental dragons, you are probably chosen because they want to balance everything out,” Hao Ren scoffed.
Qin Shaoyang was only at Kun-level, and there were more than a few level 4 inspectors in the Dragon God Shrine. Therefore, it did seem like Qin Shaoyang was chosen for other reasons other than pure strength.
Hao Ren pointed out the reality, and it made Qin Shaoyang burn with rage.
There weren’t many metal-elemental dragons, but they were far more powerful compared with other dragon cultivators. There were quite a few young metal-elemental dragon cultivators who reached Kun-level and even Qian-level, but their pride was way beyond the four ocean dragon clans. Therefore, metal-elemental dragons were never interested in taking part in the general examinations in the Dragon God Shrine.
Hao Ren’s words undoubtedly touched a sensitive nerve within Qin Shaoyang.
Qin Shaoyang seemed powerful, but he was barely in the mid-lower tier in the entire metal-elemental dragon clan. Becoming an inspector in the Dragon God Shrine was not something that a metal-elemental dragon should be proud of.
“Sir, please calm down!”
Seeing Qin Shaoyang’s twisted facial expression, the two level 3 inspectors hurriedly advised.
Qin Shaoyang was one of the four main examiners this year in the Dragon God Shrine. If he attacked a cultivator who was taking part in the exams, the consequences would be dire.
“You have guts. Su Han indeed taught you.” Qin Shaoyang gritted his teeth. “I’ll see how you do in tomorrow’s combat exams.”
The reason why the written exam was held at night was for the quietness.
If Qin Shaoyang couldn’t hold back and attack Hao Ren, resulting in loud noises, that would attract lots of attention.
By then, the scene would get ugly.
Hao Ren knew clearly that since he was assigned to Qin Shaoyang’s area, the latter would try everything to deal with him in various ways. Therefore, the result of angering Qin Shaoyang was the same as not angering him, so Hao Ren didn’t hold back at all!
At this moment, the two cultivators beside Hao Ren were so surprised that they didn’t even dare to raise their heads.
They were regretting not befriending Hao Ren a moment ago, and now they were afraid that Qin Shaoyang might vent his rage on them, thinking that they were together with Hao Ren!
“It turns out that the level 4 inspector is not this assisting inspector’s superior, but his enemy!!!” they thought.
It was common for grudges to occur between inspectors due to some conflicts. But a tiny assisting inspector dared to challenge the authority of a level 4 inspector? That was very hard to believe!
The two cultivators beside Hao Ren were scared and worried that Qin Shaoyang’s fiery glance would land upon them.
“Sir, the written exam is about to begin in half an hour officially,” a level 3 inspector reminded Qin Shaoyang.
“Tell the proctor of this area to keep an eye on him for me. If there is any kind of fraudulent behavior, kill him instantly!” Qin Shaoyang’s face turned green as he said ruthlessly.
“Understood!” The two level 3 inspectors hastily cupped their hands together.
In fact, they complained in their hearts. Before they came here with Qin Shaoyang, they were asked by Su Han to take good care of the cultivator in ‘Ren Yin 246’ room.
Everybody in Dragon God Shrine knew that Su Han had the highest chance of reaching the Heavenly Dragon Realm among the inspectors. Even though she fell from a level 4 inspector to a level 3 inspector, nobody dared to look down on her!
However, Qin Shaoyang had the support of the metal-elemental dragon clan, so he was also a hot potato.
Qin Shaoyang and Su Han’s attitudes differed on the treatment of this assisting inspector; one wanted to suppress him while the other wanted to pull him up.
“Humph!” Qin Shaoyang stepped on his golden weaving shuttle and flew away.
The two inspectors looked at each other, quietly exchanged a few words before flying toward the Dragon God Shrine as well.
“‘Ren Yin 246’, the person in there is Su Han’s assisting inspector. Judging from Su Han’s attitude, she cares a lot about her assistant. This cultivator is a sensitive character!” they thought.
Dong… Dong… Dong… The bell sounded.
It was 11 at night!
The inspectors on standby immediately dashed through the alleyways and threw the test papers into the rooms.
Hao Ren picked up this long exam paper, saw the dense questions, and panicked a little.
All of them were short answer questions!
The time limit for the written exam was only two hours!
Hao Ren picked up his ink brush, infused it with nature essence, and dripped the words onto the paper like raindrops!
If it weren’t for the vague memory of painting with Su Han together, Hao Ren wouldn’t even know how to use an ink brush!
Swoosh! All the rooms emanated writing noises.
The written exam was not difficult, but it would eliminate a batch of cultivators!
This anxiety was not inferior to the feeling that Hao Ren had when he was taking his university entrance exam!
The inspector who received the order of keeping an eye on Hao Ren really sat in the path outside Hao Ren’s room and stared at Hao Ren!
It was commonly known that the most unpleasant thing when writing exam papers was being stared at… Right now, Hao Ren felt like rushing out and beating him…
“Dong… Dong… Dong… Time’s up!”
Hao Ren held the ink brush in his hand; he still had one more paragraph to finish.
The inspector sitting in front of Hao Ren stood up quickly and collected the papers!
“The combat exams would start five in the morning!”
An inspector announced loudly.
There were only four hours for the participants the rest before the combat exams began!
All the exam papers would be marked in two hours, and those who couldn’t pass would be directly kicked out!
For the vast majority of cultivators who were confident in passing the written exam, this time was for them to replenish their energy and stretch!
“Writing all night long followed by many battles. The examinations at the Dragon God Shrine is awfully tough…” Hao Ren thought as he went to the front of the room and was about to stretch.
Suddenly he saw a set of familiar boxing techniques being practiced in the alleyway in front of him.
The East Ocean Dragon Palace’s fundamental boxing techniques!!