Mid-term Exam, Part 15

Driving a cat-car doesn’t require exquisite techniques; it only requires being skilled at petting cats.

Those human hands, extremely agile, with thick calluses, gentle yet strong, could quietly write or wield a sword dynamically.

When these hands landed on a warm, soft cat head, it became a complete indulgence.

Warm fingertips gently stroked and groomed along the direction of the fur growth.

Rounded fingertips could playfully tap the clever hairs at the tips of the ears, and curved knuckles could coax out the stubborn hairs inside the ears that refused to be outdone.

And when those hands skillfully lifted the scruff of the neck, no matter how fierce the feline, those narrowed, warning eyes would instantly become round, once again clear and adorable.

In short, Su Qing was very good at petting cats.

She knew how to make a cat purr, and she knew all their comfort zones and untouchable forbidden areas.

Before she transmigrated, she loved cats very much.

Her year-end phone review was filled with cats from all over the internet—cute ones, ugly ones, sneaky ones, fat ones, smart ones, or clumsy ones—she could appreciate any cat.

Unfortunately, she could barely take care of herself, let alone adopt another life.

After transmigrating, she slowly gained some footing, but her life was always a mix of opportunities and dangers.

Moreover, her roommate was a bit allergic to animal fur, so she never fully committed to adopting a cat.

Thus, the Sword School’s only cat, the Orange King, became the sole object of Su Qing’s covetousness over the years.

She often played mind games with the Orange King, and because the cook lady and Su Qing had repeatedly warned the Orange King to lose weight, it was common for Su Qing to sneakily pet the Orange King a few times without offering any bribes.

She understood the Orange King so well that, at this very moment, this lawless cat seemed unexpectedly docile in her hands.

It was still meowing and dashing around, of course, but Su Qing was just very good at suddenly touching its ears or scratching its chin at certain moments, making it comfortably pause for a bit.

Combined with the Binding Immortal Rope, this cat-car, though not completely obedient, was at least half controllable.

“Awoooo meow meow~ Vile human, I don’t feel comfortable at all, stroke a bit more to the left, and my chin too!”

But if Su Qing were to say, expecting a cat to be gentle and obedient was unrealistic; it was that elusive, sometimes clingy, sometimes aloof attitude that was most charming.

This feeling of intertwined ice and fire—the divine creator who invented cats was simply a celestial being.

While Su Qing was lost in ecstasy—ahem, controlling the cat-car—Tian Ning and Tang Yueling weren’t idle, or rather, none of the first-year students were idle.

Having eliminated eleven Golden Core cultivators, Tian Ning’s strength had long since left everyone else far behind.

Moreover, she possessed a rare mutated spiritual root: the ice spiritual root.

An ice spiritual root was extremely troublesome because it not only had incredibly terrifying offensive power but also excelled at freezing and binding all things together, making it incredibly difficult to deal with.

It was said that in ancient times, a powerful cultivator with an ice spiritual root mastered the five elemental forces to an unparalleled degree, capable of freezing all moisture in the air into ice, and even breaking through the spiritual energy defenses on the body’s surface to freeze the enemy’s blood into ice shards, piercing their internal organs.

Tian Ning might not necessarily be unable to achieve this, but it would expend too much vitality for too little return, making it not worth it. She preferred simpler, more direct methods.

She said coldly, “I need you to cooperate with me.”

Before her words fell, she once again charged into the ranks of the second and third-year students, a person and a sword, engaging in a deadly entanglement.

Her style remained lethal in every move, but this time, she chose to expand the battlefield, drawing half of the present individuals into the fray with her single body.

Her cold face showed no change in expression, but it was precisely this calm and collected demeanor, as if nothing could disturb or deter her, that infuriated people.

Half of the third-year students, annihilated in a group, instantly erupted in rage.

“Boy, boy, I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice! How dare you be so arrogant?!”

“Eaten more salt than rice?” Tian Ning, who was usually silent, pondered for a rare moment, then flatly declared, “Seniors, you are old.”
Wasn’t that the truth?

The third-year students were all centenarians.

Su Qing almost burst out laughing.

She naturally understood Tian Ning was maliciously making harsh remarks to provoke the third-year students.

However, she was truly unskilled at it, which made her tone so plain and pure that it seemed even more infuriatingly unrepentant.

“You think us centenarians would fall for a provocation?” The third-year students indeed shrieked in anger.

They certainly would.

As experienced examinees, they naturally knew that their eliminated fellow disciples were all watching from outside, as were the teachers, sect leaders, and grandmasters.

Being trampled underfoot by a mere first-year, and a child from the Qi family at that, would they ever make progress again?

There was no choice; even if it was a provocation, they accepted it.

They had to fight!

At this rate, Tian Ning couldn’t hold out for too long, but holding out for a little while was enough.

Tian Ning didn’t name anyone specifically, but Pei Jingzhi, who had solved the soul beast problem in the poisonous fog of Yinlan City’s Inner Subsidiary with her, knew she was referring to him. The drawback of being smart was the inability to feign ignorance.

A look of helplessness flashed in Pei Jingzhi’s eyes.

He couldn’t understand why he, a dignified Array School student, would end up being manipulated by Body School disciples.

He knew that the tradition of previous years was for Body School disciples to be the playthings of Array School disciples.

Other years weren’t like this, so why was it that in his year, Array School disciples were beaten down by Body School disciples?

Pei Jingzhi decided that after the exam, he would definitely seek guidance from the senior disciples in the higher years, to learn how to surprise the enemy, catch them off guard, and turn defeat into victory.

No one cared about these calculations in his heart.

After all, no matter how much he grumbled internally, he still had to do the work, otherwise, in the next second, he would have his head chopped off by this cold-faced Guanyin, the eldest daughter of the Qi family.

Pei Jingzhi flung out an array disk from his storage bag.

The array disk emitted a faint black light, like a massive dark cloud slowly rising towards the cafeteria ceiling.

The Tier 2 top-grade array disk [Cloud Weaving and Rain Dispensing].

Although this array disk had very little destructive power, it was an indispensable large-scale array disk for irrigating spiritual fields.

Its sales consistently ranked within the top ten for years, making it very popular.

The other two Array School students, Zheng Qi and Ji Tianxuan, subtly perceived Pei Jingzhi’s intention and couldn’t help but frown.

“What are you doing? Although they are first-year students, they are still from the Body School…”

The accumulated grievances between the Body School and Array School had a long history and couldn’t be changed overnight.

Now, Pei Jingzhi proactively helping them, even if understandable within the same year, would be difficult to explain upon returning to the mountain.

One had to remember that those Array School seniors loved to calculate, and each was as shrewd as a needle.

Therefore, not causing trouble was already a rare act of mercy.

Helping them? How could that be possible?

Pei Jingzhi thought, ‘That’s because you haven’t been on missions with them. Once you do, you’ll know what it feels like to die by the hands of Body School cultivators.’

‘Besides, you’ve been in the Sword School for so long, how have you not been influenced by the Sect Leader’s unique skills at all? Don’t you know what the Sect Leader is best at? Isn’t it colluding with tigers?’

And the step before colluding with tigers was to act as an accomplice to a tiger. Only by becoming a vengeful ghost could one infiltrate the enemy’s ranks.

Pei Jingzhi showed no expression on his face, still maintaining an air of detached ease. He said gently, “Don’t worry, we’re not the only ones making a move.”

Indeed, as he said, Lin Ziyue also reacted, raising his hand and releasing several rain talismans.

The others from various sects also made their move.

Lin Qiuhan from the Body School and You Zhaomu from the Pill School, both possessing water spiritual roots, understood the intention and began to cast rain spells.

But the second and third-year students were all experienced individuals; how could they not discern this intention? Each immediately unleashed killing moves, striking at the array disk in the sky.

At this point, it was Su Qing’s turn. With the great fox Lihuo in her left hand, the Golden Core puppet Fang Buwei in her right, and driving the ultimate BOSS cat-car beneath her, it didn’t take long for her to send these people sprawling, unable to fend for themselves.

Although she hadn’t cultivated to Tian Ning’s formidable level, she had many tricks up her sleeve.

As for the attacks she missed, Tang Yueling completely absorbed them. Her magical artifacts were countless; it was as if she had thoroughly swept through the Artifact School.

Some from the Pill School and Artifact School even went so far as to use their companion spirit fires, attempting to stop the inevitable rain with flames.

Tang Yueling’s Tier 4 Earth Fire, Thirty-Three Million, soared out, devouring all other spirit fires completely, advancing to Thirty-Four Million.

Su Qing was surprised that Tang Yueling had brought her Tier 4 Earth Fire. She couldn’t help but be astonished for a moment. It seemed this Earth Fire had completely integrated into Tang Yueling’s body, just like the immortal bone in her own body, becoming an inseparable existence.

However, a Tier 4 Earth Fire possessed sentience. To subdue it and make it obediently refined and used for oneself should be very difficult for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

She either had some extraordinary encounter or possessed an unknown talent.

Thinking along these lines, that Earth Fire had initially clung to Tang Yueling, forcing her to buy it for ten million. Looking at it this way, it was somewhat a matter of constitution.

The same went for the Crimson Rust Sword earlier.

However, swordsmanship emphasized destiny.

The Crimson Rust Sword was inherently domineering; perhaps it just loved Tang Yueling’s temperament. It was hard to say.

Given this, perhaps there was another explanation for Tang Yueling’s inexplicable disappearance in the Dragon Boat Secret Realm and her equally inexplicable appearance inside the fish’s belly?

Su Qing’s thoughts wandered quite a bit for a moment, but the immediate priority was the exam. She would discuss the rest with Tang

Yueling later.

Perhaps she, too, was aware of her own anomalies.

But based on Su Qing’s understanding of Tang Yueling, she probably hadn’t realized.

Tang Yueling had an extremely high sense of self-worth.

Whether it was the Crimson Rust Sword or the Tier 4 Earth Fire, their willingness to come to her was undoubtedly because she was worthy.

She probably thought there were plenty of people around her, so what was there to be surprised about?

She probably hadn’t fully realized her own specialness.

The rain began to fall.

First, a single raindrop fell, hitting the ground and splashing a tiny water flower.

Then, the second, the third… The raindrops grew denser and denser, quickly changing from a drizzle to a downpour.

The rain poured down, spreading across the ground.

Rainwater used for irrigating spiritual fields naturally contained spiritual energy.

At this moment, falling upon a group of people whose spiritual energy was depleted, it was like a heaven-sent sweet dew.

However, it wasn’t just sweet dew that arrived, but also crisis.