In the plaza in front of the main hall, there were more than two thousand seats.
Each seat consisted of a cushion and a table equipped with ink and a brush.
The examinees were sitting upright. Some of them were trying to cram last-minute, while others were resting with their eyes closed.
Surrounding the plaza were rows of seats upon which spectators were seated. They were all pill-makers who wanted to observe the test.
They whispered to each other and discussed animatedly. Their gazes would occasionally sweep to a certain young man dressed in white seated in the middle of the plaza.
“Is that Tang Ritian? I heard that he’s incredible. His astounding affinity has shocked the entire academy!”
“What an incredible individual to participate in the certification test at such a young age! The prodigies from Wood Cauldron Mountain and Medicine King Valley can’t compare to him.”
Everyone sounded surprised.
Tang Hao sat upright with his eyes closed, deep in thought.
He was thinking about what he was told earlier. The dean had told him that affinity was quite a mysterious thing. It was something like one’s natural compatibility with a pill cauldron.
Affinity was especially important for ancient and spiritual cauldrons. A person with high affinity would yield better results when using them.
“Is my affinity that high?”
Tang Hao was feeling suspicious. While he dug for treasure earlier, he had tried holding several cauldrons in his hands. However, none of their souls flew toward him. Later, the souls flew to him whenever he picked up a cauldron.
“This is really strange!”
After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly thought of the small cauldron he found at the bottom of the river.
“Could it be that?”
After thinking about it for a while, he remembered Grandpa Wei’s legend about a supreme treasure hidden somewhere in the Cauldron Tomb.
“Impossible! The small cauldron can’t be used. How can it be a supreme treasure? I haven’t seen a supreme treasure that shabby.”
Tang Hao could not help but laugh.
“Never mind!”
He could not be bothered to think about the problem anymore.
He opened his eyes, looked around, and saw that Su Zhengyu was seated not far away and glaring at him fiercely.
“Hey, my grandson!” Tang Hao said with a grin.
Su Zhengyu was so angry that his facial muscles were twitching. “So what if you have a high affinity, you brat? What’s so great about it? The written test this time will test your true abilities. It’ll be a shame if you’re eliminated!”
After he finished speaking, he grunted angrily and turned away.
A moment later, a group of academy disciples walked out from the main hall. Each of them held a tray filled with scrolls with both hands.
“The third stage of the test is a written examination! You have four hours to complete it. Cheating is strictly forbidden, and anyone caught cheating will be immediately disqualified. Assistants, please distribute the examination papers.”
Grandmaster Yun Cang announced loudly.
The disciples stepped into the plaza and distributed the examination papers one by one.
The candidates instantly unfurled the scrolls once they received their copy. Some frowned, some looked annoyed, and some looked happy.
Tang Hao opened his scroll and browsed through it. He did not have any expression on his face.
The written exam was too easy for him.
Once the examination began, he raised his brush and began to write.
The plaza was extremely quiet. The candidates were all writing at full speed. When they encountered some difficult questions, they would scratch their heads and fall into deep thought.
Tang Hao finished answering all the questions after an hour. He put down his brush, let the ink dry for a while, then rolled up the scroll and stretched.
“Don’t tell me he finished answering all the questions? It’s only been an hour. Isn’t that a little too fast?”
Seeing that, everyone was shocked.
It was astonishing to finish all the questions in an hour.
“Look, the kid from Wood Cauldron Mountain is done with his exam too!”
“The kid from Medicine King Valley is done too!”
There was a commotion in the plaza.
The middle-aged men who were answering the questions raised their heads and looked around. They all secretly cursed at those young freaks. They were still trying hard to answer the questions, but those young freaks were all done.
“I want to hand in my papers!”
Su Zhengyu checked once and was the first to raise his hand.
He had a confident look on his face. He was sure that his score could crush that kid.
The young man from Medicine King Valley also raised his hand, followed by the young woman from Wood Cauldron Mountain.
Tang Hao also raised his hand.
“They’re not supposed to hand in their papers so early!” Grandmaster Yun Cang looked at the dean and said hesitantly.
“It’s fine! Let them hand it in. I want to see who among them will be the first place in this stage,” the dean stroked his long beard and said with a smile.
“I’m guessing it’s that brat from Medicine King Valley. His mentor is Grandmaster Pei, who has achieved a lot in the field of herbology.”
“It’s hard to say. If we’re comparing mentors, the grandmaster from Wood Cauldron Mountain is pretty good too. I think that Tang Ritian would have a slim chance of winning. He’s a little too young!”
The group of grandmaster pill makers discussed among themselves.
They did not think highly of Tang Hao. After all, Tang Hao was too young compared to the other prodigies, and he did not have a renowned mentor to guide him. That was why they thought that he was definitely weaker in the field of herbology.
The dean received the completed papers. He stood up and said, “I’ll grade the papers personally! The first one shall be the kid from Wood Cauldron Mountain. He’s the first one to hand in his papers.”
He opened the scroll, picked up a brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began to grade the papers.
“Not bad! It seems that the younger generation has been taught well!” He nodded and said with a smile.
A moment later, he put down the brush and announced, “I have finished grading the paper. Su Zhengyu from Wood Cauldron Mountain has a score of 982!”
Everyone exclaimed in surprise when they heard that.
Not many people could achieve a score of 950. Anyone that scored 980 and above would most likely take first place.
Su Zhengyu looked at Tang Hao smugly.
Tang Hao rolled his eyes at him.
Following that, the dean began to grade the second scroll.
“Mu Yi from Medicine King Valley has a score of 981.”
The crowd exclaimed. “What a pity, He’s only one point short!”
“Mu Feifei from Wood Cauldron Mountain has a score of 979 points.”
“First place! Haha! I’m the first!” Su Zhengyu stood up and shouted excitedly.
He felt extremely elated.
“That kid is quite capable.” The dean smiled and nodded. After that, he took the last scroll and started to grade it.
“He got that one correct… this one is correct too. Not bad, not bad! Hm? He got this one correct too…”
He did not think too much of it at first. However, as he continued to grade the answers, he began to realize that something was amiss. The candidate had not made a single mistake. The dean could not even find a single flaw in the essay questions.
“This is incredibly uncanny!”
The dean became more and more agitated as he continued to grade the scroll. He kept on lifting his head and looked toward the center of the plaza.
All the spectators fell silent when they noticed that. Their eyes fell on the scroll in the dean’s hands.
When the dean finished grading it, the spectators held their breaths as they waited for the results to be announced.