The situation in the hall was as sloppy as a bowl of porridge.
All of the students were fighting and dodging as best as they could, but the sheer number of bats soon wore them down. They were riddled with bloody scars from the bats' claws and teeth, and the crystal tiles on their chests glowed with red light each time they were struck.
Only a few stronger students had the presence of mind to join forces, and they suffered only minor losses.
While everyone was busy fighting the bats, no one noticed that there were three twinkling silhouettes off to the side, casually dodging the bats as they chatted about the others.
"Haha, look at that guy, his face was almost torn off."
"Damn, that was unlucky. His face was savaged. Probably a bad case of psychological trauma in the future?"
"Pity."
"..."
The three watched on with sympathy, and also a little regret that they had forgotten to bring snacks. Munching on melon seeds, Li Luo suddenly shot Yu Lang a look, frowning. "Can you not come so close? It's gross, you know?"
He was holding Li Luo's hand tightly, and also constantly edging closer. The sour stink of sweat was repulsive.
Yu Lang jabbered, "You're a bad guy. What if you throw me away? Of course I have to hold on tightly."
Li Luo was speechless. If not for Yu Lang hiding information about him, he would really have kicked him out...
"Brother Luo, is this not a perfect performance? I feel like this deserves nothing less than full marks." Zhao Kuo's smile could not be any more smug.
Li Luo nodded. They had avoided all the bat attacks. In terms of points, no one could beat them.
The three relaxed and watched. After about half an hour, the bats seemed to follow some invisible command and turned away, flocking back to the two yawning black holes in the ceiling.
Evidently, the first test was over.
Many bleeding and battered students slumped to the floor.
From above, a crystalline light beamed through, passing through each student.
They saw numbers begin to appear on their crystal tiles.
"Oh? I have a foundation score. 46 points!"
"I've got 50 here."
"Damn, just 20 for me!"
"..."
A mixture of celebration and sadness rang out through the hall.
In the midst of these medley of emotions were a completely devastated Li Luo, Zhao Kuo, and Yu Lang.
Their crystal tiles showed a score of 0.
"How is that possible?!" Zhao Kuo's jaw dropped.
"We perfectly evaded the four-winged bats!" Yu Lang shouted angrily, feeling cheated.
Li Luo pondered it for a moment. "Could it be that the Water Shadow Art was too good, and even blocked the light? So we were overlooked?"
Zhao Kuo froze. Could it be? Was the Water Shadow Art really that strong?
"It seems like that searching light didn't land on us at all." Yu Lang agreed after recalling the moment.
The three looked at each other, still dispirited.
Who would have thought that this would be the outcome... They had been eagerly awaiting their full-mark distinction, but they had hidden so well that now they were left with zeros.
That was too much!
"I won't accept it! I'm going to complain! This is their mistake!" Yu Lang burst out.
Li Luo screwed his face up thoughtfully. "If we leave now, we'll be forfeiting the exam entirely. Forget it. Zero be it. In any case, the foundational score is just for skirmishing. And there's one more round, right?"
Yu Lang calmed down a little at this, subsiding to an angry mutter under his breath.
Li Luo dispelled the Water Shadow Art, and the three appeared. Many turned to them at the flash of light, and there were expressions of shock all around to see the three zeros.
Even the worst besides them had a few pitiful points. That was as bad as it got. No one else had gotten zero.
What had these three done?
Sniggers of laughter soon rang out across the hall.
The three of them took it stoically. They were done here, so they moved briskly towards the wooden door that had just opened up at the other end of the hall.
Damn, they had been laughing hard a few moments ago, and now the tables had been turned on them. Fate was one fickle mistress.
...
As the trio turned to the next stage, there was a commotion at the foot of Whitespirit Mountain as well.
Because on the huge crystal wall, numbers were jumping, and names appeared one after another. All eyes were on it, and exclamations and gasps could be heard periodically.
The numbers jumped on for a while, and then finally stopped. Those at the top had a full score of 100.
That was the maximum score of this trial.
Unsurprisingly, Lu Qing'er, Shi Huang, and a few others were all ranked at the top.
The many pairs of eyes continued scanning the list downwards. Suddenly, someone gasped. At the bottom were three strange scores...
Even the worst among the students had 1 point, a participation point. 0 meant that they had never even been seen.
Therefore, these three zeros immediately sent the spectators into an uproar.
Especially when they saw the three names.
Southwind Academy, Li Luo.
Wasn't that the Young Lord of House Luolan? He had quite the reputation within the Tianshu Province. How had he fallen down to zero?
What was going on?
"Hey, the zero wouldn't be the Young Lord, would it?" Cai Wei's cherry lips parted in surprise upon seeing the glaring score.
Yan Lingqing frowned. "Who else in Southwind Academy is called Li Luo besides him?"
"How could it be zero?" Cai Wei did not know whether to laugh or cry. What was happening?
Yan Lingqing shrugged. "How would I know?"
"But it doesn't matter. These two rounds are just for foundational points. The real decider is the elimination match later on."
Irritated, Yan Lingqing said, "This Young Lord sure knows how to make others worry."
...
Within the central pavilion.
The old dean, Governor Shi, and Mentor Anlie were also caught off guard by the three zeros.
Governor Shi smiled. "Old Dean, your Southwind students are truly something special."
The old teacher frowned as he looked at the three names. He felt the beginning of a headache. What on earth were those three pinheads doing? They were an embarrassment.
Irritated, he ignored the governor's taunts. This was just the first round. It did not matter that much.
However, he hoped that the three hooligans would cut it out in the next pat. Or did they think he was too old to beat some sense into them?