Chapter Ninety-Three: Shock

Time passed in a flash.

Ye Mo knew very well the enormous disadvantage he faced at Azure Cloud Immortal Academy. As an ordinary cultivator with no powerful patron, no family backing, and no financial support, he had to rely on himself for everything, struggling desperately against the sons of noble houses for every scrap of opportunity.

Under normal circumstances, for a humble cultivator like him to become a city lord of the Immortal City Alliance was pure fantasy.

Even the thousand spirit stones needed for the registration fee had come at tremendous risk: he had secretly dug up several thousand catties of black iron ore from the mine of the Eastern Coast Immortal Village, carried it out with the ancient painting treasure, sold it, and exchanged it for spirit stones.

Otherwise, with his background as a wandering commoner cultivator, it would have taken at least decades of starvation and deprivation just to earn that amount. By the time he did, he would already be old.

A city lord?

Not even worth dreaming about.

Ye Mo understood clearly that, compared with those scions of great clans, he had almost no advantage at all beyond the mysterious ancient painting treasure.

He could only seize every moment to learn as much as he could within the academy, and with that slim and pitiful chance, surpass the other city lord candidates and take a place among the top ten in the academy’s graduation assessment.

Every day before dawn, Ye Mo rose early and went to the academy’s library pavilion to read. Aside from manuals of cultivation and various schematics, most other books could be read for free.

A true city lord had too much to learn, almost beyond measure.

After nightfall each day, when the Azure Cloud Academy fell silent and most of the mansions and towers had long since gone dark, a dim oil lamp still burned in Ye Mo’s room as he read through the night.

“I’ll work harder than they do. I refuse to believe I can’t overtake them. Of the hundred-plus students in this class, as long as I outrank more than ninety of them, I can earn the qualifications of an official city lord.”

Ye Mo thought to himself.

Among the city lord students at Azure Cloud Academy, only a very few were like Ye Mo, grasping at every moment to study, afraid there would never be enough time.

Most of the others, after attending the required city lord classes, would leave the academy and only return in the second half of the month.

There were even some exceptionally strong city lord students who disdained studying at Azure Cloud Academy at all, having private tutors hired by their families.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the middle of the month arrived.

For the second required lesson of the city lord students, Kuang Zhen arrived at the Stone Hall a quarter of an hour early.

The noisy city lord students inside the hall immediately fell silent, rising to bow as disciples to Kuang Zhen before taking their seats again.

“The topic I left you after the last class, City Lords and Resources, hand in your analytical essays now. Those with outstanding analysis may have their ranking raised on this academy’s city lord potential list. How many places you rise will depend on your ability.”

Kuang Zhen sat cross-legged on a cushion and spoke lightly.

At his words, the students in the hall were instantly overjoyed.

Rankings on the city lord potential list were crucial for attracting the allegiance and following of the other support students. In particular, the top ten rankings were fiercely contested.

Background and wealth were mostly fixed and could not be changed. If one could improve one’s personal ranking through an outstanding essay, it would undoubtedly be of great benefit.

Kuang Zhen added, “Do not think of scribbling something careless and trying to get by. Poor essays will be directly demoted on the list. And a reminder: do not submit anything written by someone else. This old man can tell. Such students will be disqualified from the graduation assessment.”

This severe punishment startled a small number of students who were just about to rise. After weighing the consequences again, they sat back down.

Once those who felt their own essays were too poor to keep their ranking from dropping, those who had someone else write for them, and those who had already given up competing for city lord, were set aside, fewer than half the students ultimately submitted essays.

All the students recorded their analysis on jade slips and handed them to Kuang Zhen. This was a common way for cultivators to preserve written text.

Ye Mo’s cultivation was low, and inscribing all his thoughts onto a jade slip cost him tremendous effort, taking a full day.

After submitting it, Ye Mo waited somewhat anxiously for the results.

He was second from the bottom on the academy’s city lord potential list, essentially at the very end. If he could improve even a little, his situation would be somewhat better.

Looking around at the other students, Ye Mo found that many seemed hopeful, eager to improve their place on the city lord potential ranking.

Ye Mo could not help but smile wryly, and his mood gradually settled.

Kuang Zhen reviewed the jade slips with astonishing speed. Most of the time, a sweep of his spiritual sense was enough to finish one. Clearly, he was not satisfied with the analytical essays inside; he could not even be bothered to glance at them twice.

Still, Kuang Zhen was used to it. The majority of city lord students were mediocre; one could not expect these children of noble and powerful families, who spent their days eating, drinking, and carousing in taverns, to devote much thought to such tedious essays.

As long as the writing was somewhat reasonable and not too outrageous, it counted as passable.

Only a few jade slips had truly been prepared with care, containing flowing analyses of the close connection between immortal cities and resources, and the importance of abundant spiritual materials to the development of an immortal city.

Kuang Zhen paused over these slips for a while and considered them, feeling they were not bad.

“Hm?”

Kuang Zhen’s spiritual sense swept over one jade slip, and he suddenly froze.

An odd expression appeared on his face. His gaze moved across the students below, and he remained silent in thought for quite a long while before setting it aside.

More than forty jade slips had been reviewed in less than a moment.

Afterward, Kuang Zhen sat upon the lecture platform in the great hall with his eyes closed, resting.

Ye Mo suddenly understood that this was him waiting for the class to begin.

That short quarter of an hour had become excruciatingly long. At last, the resonant tolling of a bronze bell sounded.

“All one hundred students are present this time. Very good. I had thought many would be absent from today’s lesson.”

Kuang Zhen opened his eyes, swept his gaze around, and said, “Since the potential ranking has been announced, many have already chosen to give up. This old man is disappointed. The most important quality for a city lord-level cultivator is a steadfast heart and unyielding spirit. Unfortunately, many here lack that quality and are unfit to become city lords. Those who are still persisting, I hope you can continue to persist.”

Kuang Zhen’s gaze settled on everyone in turn.

Every student he looked at felt immense pressure and broke into a cold sweat. Even the top ten students from the foremost noble houses were no exception.

With Kuang Zhen’s unfathomable cultivation, even the slightest outward release of his aura caused them to feel enormous pressure.

“First, let us speak of the more than forty jade slips that were just submitted. There is one thing that gratifies me: these forty-one analytical essays were basically all at a passing level. None were outright failing.

“Above passing, there are three levels: good, excellent, and outstanding.

“A passing essay will not have its ranking lowered proactively. A good one may raise you by up to two places. An excellent one may raise you by up to five. An outstanding one may raise you by up to ten.

“Now let me state my evaluation: thirty passing, seven good, three excellent, and one outstanding. I will comment on them one by one.”

Kuang Zhen’s voice rang through the entire hall.

The students were all stirred.

Seven good, three excellent, and one outstanding. These eleven were undoubtedly the best-written among all the city lord students.

All the students were looking around, guessing who had received the top eleven evaluations.

Only a few of the top noble heirs remained calm and self-assured; they were certain that they must be among the best eleven.

Kuang Zhen slowly commented on each jade slip, beginning with the passing ones, saying only two or three sentences about their strengths and weaknesses. The top eleven that interested the students most would be revealed only at the end.

“This old man really knows how to keep people in suspense!”

Many students cursed inwardly, though their faces remained solemn, as if they were listening with full concentration.

Each time Kuang Zhen finished evaluating one, a student’s face would darken with disappointment. Once a name was called, it meant the best eleven had nothing to do with them.

After reviewing the thirty passing and seven good essays, only the three excellent and the one outstanding remained unspoken of.

“Liu Jiejun, Bai Xijun, and Ren Haiping—none of them have been called yet. They must be among the remaining four! But who is the last one?”

“Who knows? All the somewhat famous students have already been mentioned.”

“It was too chaotic when we submitted the jade slips earlier. I forgot to keep track of who handed one in and who didn’t!”

Inside the hall, some students counted on their fingers and whispered to those beside them.

Many were murmuring in low voices.

“Ren Haiping, excellent! Resources Decide Victory is an analysis of how resources affect the development of immortal cities, and it has real depth. The details are a little rough, though.”

“Bai Xijun, excellent! His How to Use Thirty of the Most Common Spiritual Resources to Rapidly Develop an Immortal City is a bit narrower in scope, but it wins by being meticulous and nuanced. It has a style of its own and shows genuine hard work and study.”

“Liu Jiejun, excellent! This analytical essay, Using an Immortal City as a Stronghold to Control Surrounding Resources, was written quite well. It has force, ambition, and boldness—a born city lord candidate! Truly worthy of the Liu family; you have not brought shame to your father!”

Kuang Zhen stroked his beard and laughed.

“I’m only excellent, not outstanding! There’s actually someone in this academy who’s even better than me?”

Liu Jiejun, the richly dressed youth, turned livid. His face became terribly ugly as he clenched his fists. As the rightful heir of the Liu family, there was actually someone more outstanding than him.

The students in the hall were also shocked and curious. The three excellent essays belonged to Ren Haiping, Bai Xijun, and Liu Jiejun, who were exactly the top three on the city lord student potential list.

Then who was the outstanding one?

“That concludes today’s commentary! We will now begin today’s lesson.”

Yet Kuang Zhen did not continue.

“Wait! Teacher Kuang, whose outstanding essay was it? What did it say? I’m not convinced. Could you lend it to me so I can see who has the ability to surpass me?”

Liu Jiejun abruptly stood up and looked fearlessly toward Kuang Zhen on the lecture platform.

“This academy has a rule: all analytical essays rated outstanding are, upon discovery, immediately sealed and placed into important strategic reserves to provide guidance for the development of the Immortal City Alliance. Only the City Lord of Azure Cloud Immortal City, and a few other important core city lords, may inspect them. Such essays may not be casually circulated, lest demon cultivator spies learn of them and decipher the secrets of our Immortal City Alliance.”

Kuang Zhen glanced at Liu Jiejun and said coolly, “Your father is qualified to read it. As for you, you may speak again in another hundred or two hundred years.”

“Fine! Then the essay cannot be shared outside. But the academy’s city lord potential list will change, and I’ll still be able to know who wrote it!”

Liu Jiejun’s face went white. He swayed once, ground his teeth, and sank back into his seat.