“Net Bottle Sweet Dew can not only restore divine power quickly but also provide an endless water source.”
Most importantly… Guanyin was always known for her compassion and mercy, saving those in pain.
For sincere mortal requests, she often manifested and guided them.
Among all the gods, Guanyin might be the easiest to answer mortal prayers.
That meant even in a D-grade dungeon, she had a very high chance of summoning Guanyin.
“With Guanyin’s compassionate heart, maybe… she really will respond to me.”
“Shen Yan AI, search for dungeons related to the Southern Sea.”
The luminous screen flipped rapidly, showing a series of dungeon names:
[“Southern Sea Reef: Demon Obstruction”]
[“Cihang Ferry: Goldfish Rampage”]
[“Putuoshan: Bear Demon Disaster”]
“Cihang Ferry… Goldfish?” Seeing this dungeon, Su Fu immediately recalled a story from “Journey to the West”.
It was said that when the master and disciples passed through Tongtian River’s Chen Family Village, they learned that every year a pair of boys and girls had to be sacrificed to the Linggan Great King.
This Linggan Great King was actually the goldfish raised in Guanyin Bodhisattva’s lotus pond.
Its name “Linggan” was derived from Guanyin’s full title, Guangda Linggan Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, taking the ‘Linggan’ characters.
In the end, Guanyin subdued the Linggan Great King with her purple bamboo basket.
If this goldfish was truly the Linggan Great King, then the most suitable deity to appear would definitely be Guanyin Bodhisattva.
“Shen Yan AI, I want to reserve [Cihang Ferry: Goldfish Rampage].”
[“Reservation request received. Please start the exam on time.”]
“No problem.”
If she guessed correctly, Guanyin Bodhisattva would most likely appear.
If she could obtain Guanyin’s Net Bottle divine skill, that would be a huge boost, solving two key problems at once.
She pressed her palms together, silently praying, “Guanyin Bodhisattva, please help me…”
After sincerely praying for a while, Su Fu continued scanning the dungeon page.
She still had time to select another dungeon.
This time, she preferred divine skills that could control the environment.
So far, she was strong in mountain, ocean, and volcano environments, but exam terrains weren’t limited to these.
At the very least, she had seen desert, plains, sky… and even the Eternal Glacier of the Giant Kingdom.
“Sky environments… maybe wind-based divine skills?”
The Wind Lord controlled the winds from all directions, skilled in wind manipulation.
As a natural element, wind could perfectly synergize with her existing water and fire skills.
Cold wind would aid fire, wind would help water flow—the combo would gain a powerful new member.
“As for earth environments—whether mountain or plain—the foundation of all terrain lies in the earth itself.”
“The most suitable god would obviously be Houtu Niangniang, the Earth Goddess, who governs mountains, rivers, and land—all under her authority.”
“If I could obtain Houtu Niangniang’s divine skill, even barren plains could be completely transformed. Changing the earth’s veins would create a whole new world. In the late stages of the divine skill, manipulating terrain at will wouldn’t be impossible.”
“There’s also a Chinese myth related to mountains—’Yu Gong Moves Mountains’.”
“That’s another conceptual divine skill. No mountains on the plains? Then just move one here.”
“That’s real terrain modification, unrestricted by the existing environment. Hmm… imagine during a fight, a massive mountain suddenly appearing overhead?”
Su Fu felt the opponent’s mindset would definitely collapse instantly.
“Makes sense,” she mused.
“Why do I have to adapt to the environment? I can just change the environment myself.”
And speaking of gods who could drastically change environments, one came to mind.
That was the Drought Demon, who could turn a hundred miles into scorched earth as soon as she appeared.
That power was terrifying—just by showing up, the whole area would suffer extreme drought.
“That’s true environment control…” she whispered.
“Directly changing the climate to create the perfect battlefield.”
However, she currently didn’t have a devastating skill for drought terrain, so she put that idea aside for now.
But the thought process was there.
For example, for icy plains, the best choice would be the God of the North, Xuanming, who ruled the cold winter.
Legend said Xuanming’s wrath could freeze thousands of miles and bring endless snowfall, but his joy could also bring early retreat of winter.
That was also a form of environmental transformation to some degree.
The more Su Fu thought, the harder it was to choose.
Helpless, she said, “Alright, with so many gods, I just can’t pick.”
But what a sweet dilemma it was.
More importantly, she didn’t know what the exam environment would be like.
Without the ability to predict the terrain, she couldn’t prepare specifically.
If she spent time acquiring a skill for a particular environment, and the exam turned out to be something else entirely…
Wouldn’t that be a complete waste of precious preparation time?
Also, there was another huge variable in this exam—the noble heirs from the Second Star Ring.
What kind of abilities did they have?
More importantly, might they wield some divine artifacts or skills she had never heard of?
“If I get countered because of the unknown, that would be ridiculous.”
Su Fu had to consider this carefully.
The gap between star rings was enormous.
The education and resources these elites had since childhood were beyond her imagination.
Who knew what trump cards they might hold?
She kept scrolling through more dungeons.
[“Heavenly Jade Star: Star Spirit Mutation”]
[“Ziwei Star Pavilion: Evil Flood Dragon Trouble”]
[…]
Su Fu’s eyes lit up, “There are star-related dungeons?”
The Twenty-Eight Mansions?
She suddenly grew curious about the divine skills of star deities.
Would they be perception-based?
Actually, it was quite possible—they might have all-around, all-weather sensing, which counted as a form of environmental control.
Scrolling further, she reached maps from the “Classic of Mountains and Seas”:
[“Xishan Secret Realm: Demon Calamity”]
‘Xishan?’
She thought of Baize, the celestial beast of auspice, said to speak and understand all things, know spirits, and foresee the future.
If she could summon Baize, she was quite curious what divine skills the god would grant her.
Besides Baize, there was Qilin, embodying five virtues and mastering fire.
White Tiger ruled over slaughter; its roar could change the colors of heaven and earth.
Kunpeng’s wings could stir up storms reaching ninety thousand miles.
And the ferocious Taotie devoured heaven and earth…
Su Fu sighed, the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” was truly a treasure trove.
When she got to university, she definitely had to clear this series.
Divine skills were secondary—”ahem”—the important part was there were furry creatures.
Thinking of Kunlun, Su Fu suddenly realized, “Right, Dean Tai Xuanzi must know about the Second Star Ring candidates’ situations.”
She could go ask Dean Tai Xuanzi.
***
Although going to ask the dean for advice seemed a bit like making a mountain out of a molehill, there was no other way.
The information gap was her weakness, and she couldn’t afford to lose face in the college entrance exam.
“Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.”
She decisively decided, “It’s better than suffering losses on the spot.”
Just as she was about to start a call, the light on her neural interface suddenly lit up, indicating an incoming communication.
She glanced at the screen and saw it was none other than
“Dean Tai Xuanzi?”
Su Fu quickly answered.
No wonder it was her teacher—she was thinking along the same lines.
Tai Xuanzi’s figure soon appeared on the screen, clad in a black robe, a jade hairpin holding up her hair, her dragon horns on the forehead still elegant and gentle.
“Hello, Dean!” Su Fu greeted her beautiful mentor proactively.
Ah, today was definitely another good day.
Tai Xuanzi nodded slightly upon hearing that.
Seeing the softness in Su Fu’s eyes and brows, her usual cold sharpness seemed to have melted away somewhat.
“Su Fu, you did well on this exam.”
Tai Xuanzi started with praise, and Su Fu was stunned.
‘Wait a minute…’
The dean specifically called just to compliment her?
How to put it… she couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Thank you, Dean.” She recalled her last message and added, “By the way, during my last audience with the gods, I passed on your words to Nuwa.”
“Ahem,” Tai Xuanzi coughed lightly, “I know. Also… I’ve prepared a reward for you.”
She tilted her head slightly, her dragon eyes glancing downward briefly.
“But don’t get complacent. The Third Arm college entrance exam is even harder. You still need to prepare well.”
“Reward? I have a reward?” Su Fu’s eyes lit up.
She liked that.
Seeing her excited expression, Tai Xuanzi cleared her throat. “That’s right, but this time the reward was chosen by Teacher Zhuge.”
“See if you like it. If not, you can ask him to prepare something else.”
Just as she finished, a helpless sigh came from the other end of the call.
“Dean, you’re really putting me in a tough spot.”
The screen quickly showed a figure with long hair.
The man’s appearance was handsome but not flashy, with delicate features, and a small feather hairpin on his forehead.
Su Fu thought to herself: ‘This must be the Teacher Zhuge the dean mentioned.’
He was also looking at Su Fu with a gentle smile, like a spring breeze brushing past.
“Congratulations, Su Fu. Your performance this time was truly excellent.”
“Your reward is a B-Class Kunlun Ruins Secret Realm Instance.”
“You can use it once you arrive at Kunlun.”
‘B-Class Instance?’Wait, Su Fu realized—what really caught her attention was that it was a Kunlun Ruins Instance.
She guessed the reason and asked, “Teacher Zhuge, is the Kunlun Ruins an instance affiliated with the Kunlun Celestial Palace?”
Zhuge Yan nodded, “Exactly. The Kunlun Celestial Palace is vast, which is why a series of instances have emerged from it.”
“This is considered a special benefit instance of ours in Kunlun. You’ll understand once you get here.”
Benefit instance?
Su Fu got excited and she thought, ‘If Teacher Zhuge called it a “benefit” instance, it had to be a precious resource, a generous gift. This must be something great.’
She knew that instances always centered around ruins, and ruins often contained residual divine power.
According to her previous experience, this benefit instance probably…
Had abundant leftover divine power from the ruins?
Perfect, perfect! This was a jackpot.
Maybe it could boost all her C-rank Divine Skills up a tier.
Thinking of this, she sincerely thanked them both: “Thank you so much, Teacher Zhuge and Dean Tai Xuanzi.”
“I will definitely prepare well when the time comes.”
She was eager to make the most of this opportunity!
Thinking about entering Kunlun soon, she suddenly remembered a question and asked, “By the way, Dean, Teacher Zhuge, I want to ask… after entering Kunlun, what profession should I choose? Any recommendations?”
Although she already had her own ideas, Su Fu felt she should still seek advice from both teachers in case there were factors she hadn’t considered.
Upon hearing the question, Tai Xuanzi’s expression showed some confusion.
She slightly turned her head and looked at Zhuge Yan.
Zhuge Yan could tell what she was thinking just from her expression:
What profession? Isn’t it enough to just be able to fight?
He helplessly massaged his forehead, cleared his throat, and took over the conversation.
“I’ll explain. Su Fu, since you’ve already received Nuwa’s blessing, you don’t need to worry too much about whether you choose an attack-type or support-type profession.”
“Conventional profession classifications are just to help students better find their positioning. But you—just choose Nuwa as your main deity.”
“I think that’s probably what you had in mind already, right?”
“In the Chinese Pantheon, Nuwa holds a very high status. There are no issues with incompatibility between gods. You can freely cultivate other gods as well.”
At this, Tai Xuanzi finally understood what profession meant.
She blinked her dragon eyes and said, “Oh, you mean that! What’s the point of dividing? Whatever you want, you naturally cultivate everything.”