Karisto’s deep gaze lingered on Su Fu in the projection, ‘So this was the Chinese freshman?’
He recalled the message he’d just received: Tai Xuanzi was still away on mission and hadn’t returned.
In other words… a perfect opportunity.
***
Meanwhile, inside the Ling Mountain instance.
Su Fu rode atop her wind-fire wheels in midair, looking down at the battered Achilles and the others below, her brow furrowing.
‘Something was off, very off.’
“Why hasn’t Achilles used his Manifestation yet?”
She’d originally wanted her dear classmates to test Achilles’ strength for her, but so far, he’d only used artifacts and divine skills, stubbornly refusing to summon a Manifestation.
‘Why? With such a powerful ability, why not use it?’
‘Wasn’t he said to be Zeus’s favorite? Even during his entrance exam, Zeus showed up in person—so how had he fallen to such a state now, yet still didn’t call on Zeus?’
The more Su Fu thought, the stranger it seemed.
By rights, after being beaten like this, Achilles should have revealed his true power.
She was even prepared to face a divine will, but he kept holding back, just getting passively pummeled.
It was as if he were enduring deliberately, purposefully avoiding something.
What was going on?
Before she could figure it out, three hours passed.
The Yellow Browed Monster in the Golden Cymbal turned into a pool of blood—dead.
Almost simultaneously, the Exam System’s voice sounded in everyone’s ears: [“Current anomaly clearing progress: 100%”]
[“This exam has ended.”]
[“Assessment space will soon close…”]
[“Your results will be synced to your personal terminal after the assessment space closes.”]
[“3…2…1…”]
Everything before Su Fu’s eyes began to twist and distort, the ground beneath her vanished, the sky above collapsed, and all the ruins turned to nothing.
A wave of dizziness, swirling colors, and then everything reformed.
She was back in the familiar Shen Yan Space, with a backdrop of endless stars.
[“Connecting to Shen Yan DI…”]
[“Connection to Destined One module successful”]
[“Group chat “Second Star Ring—Tianqiong Path” is now online”]
[“Current freshman rankings have been updated”]
[“Congratulations, your Destiny Value has increased”]
“Huh? Does that mean my ranking went up again?”
Su Fu hurriedly opened it: [Tianqiong Path Academy—Freshman Destined One Rankings, Class of 4051]
[1. Su Fu—China Pantheon—Destiny Value: 98.9]
[2. Achilles—Greek Pantheon—Destiny Value: 97.8]
[3. Bodhi Yue—Indian Pantheon—Destiny Value: 95.2]
[4. Freya—Norse Pantheon—Destiny Value: 93.7]
[8. Merlin—Greek Pantheon—Destiny Value: 86.5]
“Whoa! Not just an increase—I shot straight to first place.”
“This Merlin… dropped quite a bit, what happened? He was fourth before, now he’s down to eighth?”
Su Fu felt a surge of pride at the “Chinese Pantheon” tag after her name—she hadn’t disgraced China.
She guessed that this spike in Destiny Value was probably due to the divine skill granted by the Great Sage.
Once [Manifestation of Heaven and Earth] appeared, her Saint’s Manifestation was nearly maxed out—perhaps in the eyes of Shen Yan, the Great Sage was now her iron-clad backer, guaranteed.
So her Destiny Value skyrocketed so quickly.
No one in the group chat spoke.
But in reality, every examinee in every group was staring at the rankings in shock:
“My god… who said Su Fu was just B+rank and had no Manifestation? Those two monstrous Manifestations—are those what you call ‘no Manifestation’?”
“Shen Yan really did bug out—not by ranking her too high, but too low before! That kind of strength and you put Su Fu at eighth?!”
“Is she even human? Dual Manifestations? And one of them’s a Creator God?”
Still, some refused to accept it.
“Su Fu just got lucky this time—the ability she had just happened to counter the instance, so she won. If it comes down to real strength, she might not actually be number one.”
“Her luck was just too good, being able to perfectly counter the Golden Cymbal, and that Golden Cymbal just happened to counter us—she really snagged a bargain.”
“By the way, what’s with Achilles? He didn’t even summon his Manifestation in the end. If he’d fought Su Fu head-on, who knows who’d have won?”
“Wait… could Su Fu have something on him?”
“Could be… what a sneaky rascal! Playing dirty!”
Su Fu, of course, knew nothing of these jealous comments.
She was blissfully checking her personal star chart interface.
[Identity: Kunlun Academy/Tianqiong Path—Su Fu]
[Citizen Level: A+] (up by 0.5)]
[Divine Power Level: A]
[Credits: 165]
[Mastered Skills: 21 (1 new)]
[Mastered Divine Abilities: 3 (1 new)]
[Summoned Deities: 17]
[Divine Artifact Bestowed: 1]
“This time, I unlocked the White Dragon Horse’s divine skill. As for the other Journey to the West Four Saints, apart from the Great Sage’s Seventy-Two Transformations reaching the Perfected level, the rest have all reached Proficiency.”
“A huge haul!”
Moreover, the Divine Ability [Faxiang Tiandi] bestowed by the Great Sage directly elevated her Great Sage Divine Aspect to the third phase—Manifestation phase.
In other words, she was just one step away from reaching Complete Perfection.
She couldn’t help but exclaim, “As expected of the Great Sage, so generous!”
Either he doesn’t act, or when he does, it’s astonishing.
“Hmm… wait a second, why does it feel like something’s missing?” Su Fu rubbed her chin and suddenly remembered, “Oh, those resources!”
“No big deal, I’ll just meet up with George and the others outside.”
She thought to herself, ‘how could you take a test and not profit handsomely from it?’
Though she didn’t have money for now, it didn’t stop Su Fu from opening the Special Shop and browsing through it.
Looking at those pricey, god-tier items, she believed that sooner or later, she would be able to buy whatever she wanted.
Just as she was about to exit the interface, she suddenly noticed a conspicuous red dot on the Reputation System.
“Hm? What’s changed now?”
Curious, she clicked it and found that the previously “in-review” title “Peach and Plum Spring Breeze” had changed.
Originally, it said: [Under Review in Ministry of Education Official Galactic Education History Volume 42 List]
Now it became: [Tianqiong Path·Under Review]
“Hiss—so there’s still something about Tianqiong Path here?”
Su Fu opened the historical process and discovered the approval flow was unexpectedly complicated: [Preliminary review, Kunlun review, and finally Sky Academy review…]
But judging from the progress bar, this was the final step; in other words, if all went well, it could be approved soon?
If successful, she would be entered into the records of educational history and be remembered among the list of the most outstanding examinees of the millennium.
She felt this was somewhat like… a compendium of historic top scholars.
But speaking of that name—
Galactic Education History.
‘Galaxy?’ Su Fu’s thoughts stirred.
She quickly searched the star web and soon got her answer: “So this name is to commemorate the original name of this Star Sea… the Milky Way.”
She suddenly felt something wondrous, the same name, traveling through time from ancient to present, connecting everything so closely together.
It’s said the current department is located where the Milky Way Galaxy once was.
Humanity set out from the Milky Way, entered this vast universe, and that ancient term has been carried on till now, symbolizing the beginning of the entire Star Sea.
It also bears witness to the splendor and transformation of human civilization.
She muttered to herself, “Didn’t expect these people writing history to be so romantic. I just wonder if this ‘Galaxy’ is the same as the one in my memories?”
Just then, the grade report came out:
[Sky Path 4051 Freshman Joint Exam Final Score Sheet]
[Examinee: Su Fu]
[Divine Pantheon: Chinese Pantheon]
[Academy: Kunlun Academy/Tianqiong Path Academy]
[Rank: 1]
[Congratulations on passing your first university exam!]
[The Star Sea is vast and boundless, full of the unknown and miracles. May you forge ahead on this challenging road as a “Trailblazer” from this moment on, with wisdom everlasting.]
[Kind Reminder: Rewards have been distributed, and the freshman training plan has been released. Please check in time.]
Seeing the rewards, Su Fu was delighted—it was worth it to take the test.
But now wasn’t the time to be looking at these; Chief Examiner and the others were still waiting for them on the plaza.
With this in mind, Su Fu exited Shen Yan Space at once.
The scene before her shifted in an instant, and she returned to the Jianxia Mountains.
There were already quite a few examinees out on the plaza—everywhere she looked, there were people.
They gathered in small groups, some looking exhausted, some with worried brows, others whispering to each other but just then, Su Fu noticed something amiss.
Atop the high platform, besides the Chief Examiner, there was actually a group of others standing.
That group was dressed in luxurious clothes, exuding extraordinary bearing, and some bore clear divine pantheon traits.
The main thing was—their expressions were not good.
Su Fu’s heart skipped a beat, “This… are those people from the Seven Great Clans?’
No way, could it really be as Master said—’when you beat the kids, the elders come’?
She was innocent!
It wasn’t her fault; it was Achilles and the others who plotted against her first.
It’s just that they failed to beat her and got beaten in return—isn’t that reasonable?
And apart from these people, there was another person.
That one wore a pure black uniform, expressionless, staring down from the platform—or more accurately, staring at her.
A chill crept down her spine and Su Fu shivered.
That person hadn’t released divine power or made any threatening gestures, but just standing there, he exuded an invisible pressure.
‘Who is that?’ Alarm bells went off in Su Fu’s mind.
And he was standing even half a step ahead of Chief Examiner Murray, as if he were controlling the scene.
Could his position outrank the Chief Examiner?
She wondered, ‘No way? Is it because Achilles targeted her?’
Su Fu found herself looking down on these clans.
Could they really be so sore at losing?
If so, why bother holding exams—just give their family’s genius the first place!
Just then, Achilles and the others finally appeared.
They were the most severely injured, needing the longest divine reconstruction time, and were thus the last group of examinees to exit Shen Yan Space.
Merlin had barely stepped out when those on the high platform instantly changed expressions, simultaneously leaping down to rush toward him.
The moment those people reached Merlin, they wasted no words, activating a pillar of light that enveloped them all.
The next second, the light vanished and so did they.
Su Fu was stunned, ‘What—the need to run off that quickly?’
It was as if some monster was chasing them—without even a perfunctory explanation, they vanished with a “whoosh”!
“No way?” Su Fu muttered.
“Grievances have been settled, scores have been paid—why the rush?”
Looking up at the others, she saw quite a few examinees confused by their actions.
Su Fu couldn’t understand it, but she felt that something was wrong.
“……”
‘Just what were those Merlin Family people so afraid of? Those prophets were always mysterious…’
“Wait… could they have foreseen something?”
Just then, the expressionless man in black on the high platform suddenly spoke, “New students, I am Central Inspectorate Officer Karisto.”
As soon as Su Fu heard this, she realized things were bad—this person was actually from the Central Star System Inspectorate?!
The last inspector she’d seen was Teacher Zhou Nanyuan, who had full oversight over all district-level high schools in his jurisdiction.
She had specifically learned about this system later—the Inspectorate had strict ranking: Central at the top, marked with S, representing the highest level, and inspectors were S-3 level.
This Karisto was a Central Inspectorate officer, meaning he was at the very top.
In other words, in the entire Second Stellar Ring, he could do as he pleased.
A higher official could crush a person with just their rank.
At that moment, Karisto spoke, “Due to the appearance of Ministry of Education-prohibited violations in this exam, after discussion and coordination… The results of this exam will be temporarily withheld.”
He paused and looked at the crowd: “However, all students who participated in the exam must sign a non-disclosure agreement.”
No sooner had he spoken than everyone’s personal terminals chimed with notifications.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.