Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
A false accusation!
Tang Jie instantly realized what was going on.
This was a problem!
As You Shaofeng called out, a proctor student was walking toward Tang Jie, looking at the piece of paper that had landed on his table.
Tang Jie knew that he could explain that someone of his caliber had no need to cheat, but he immediately realized that noise-making was not permitted on the testing ground. If he wanted to explain, he would have to leave the testing ground, but that would mean that wouldn’t be able to keep taking the test. While he would save himself from losing points, he would lose this chance to take the test.
It was a minor problem to lose out on the opportunity to take the first exam, but a huge problem to lose his chance at entering the ninth floor of Heaven One Pavilion.
In a flash, Tang Jie made up his mind.
He suddenly grabbed the paper.
Opened it.
Pushed it up to his nose, and blew hard!
This movement immediately made the proctor freeze.
You Shaofeng also froze.
Tang Jie casually threw the paper to the ground and continued answering questions as if the one You Shaofeng had shouted about wasn’t him.
The student looked at the ball of paper on the ground and then looked at Tang Jie’s answer sheet. In the end, he simply glared at Tang Jie and said, “You’re ruthless!”
He turned and left.
Tang Jie raised his head and looked at You Shaofeng.
Their eyes met, and it seemed like sparks exploded between them.
You Shaofeng grunted and turned back to his test, but Tang Jie was still inwardly fuming.
He didn’t know if You Shaofeng had come up with this idea on the spot, had planned this out, or was being instigated by someone else, but since he had tried to pin him with a false charge, Tang Jie couldn’t be blamed for striking back.
Since he liked hurting others, he should have understood that he could be harmed in return.
With this idea in mind, Tang Jie decided to take things slowly, returning to his test.
Once he had answered the majority of the questions, he lightly coughed in Wei Tianchong’s direction.
Wei Tianchong was frantically scratching his cheeks as he stared at the test. When he heard Tang Jie cough, he immediately turned around and saw Tang Jie gesturing at him.
This was the signal that he had agreed on with Tang Jie when he was trying to cheat, but Tang Jie had rejected it, so he hadn’t expected Tang Jie to now make the signal. He nodded his head in delight.
Seeing that Wei Tianchong understood, Tang Jie lowered his head and pretended to pick up his shoes. Meanwhile, he silently circulated his energy and sent out an Energy Needle.
The attack flew along the ground with great speed and struck You Shaofeng’s sole.
You Shaofeng felt a sudden pain at his feet and instinctively jumped up and began to shout. Crash! His table flipped over, and the chaos drew the attention of countless students.
Several proctors immediately rushed toward You Shaofeng.
The testing ground was in an uproar.
With everyone distracted, Tang Jie grasped a test paper, poured spiritual energy into it, and sent it flying toward Wei Tianchong.
At the same time, Wei Tianchong used the Spirit Guidance spell to send his test paper to Tang Jie’s table.
The two test papers crossed paths and landed at the same time, and in a flash, the trade was done.
The two exchanged glances, and Wei Tianchong chuckled, much more assured now.
There were three pages in all to the test, and they had chosen to exchange the page that was worth the most points—a little more than four hundred. The remaining two pages were left for Wei Tianchong to answer, and even if he answered them mindlessly, he was capable of at least getting to five hundred points.
For Wei Tianchong, passing would be great, and he wasn’t hoping for a higher score. Thus, he happily began to answer questions, and with his renewed vigor, his mind began to work a lot faster, and he managed to get many questions he previously didn’t understand.
Tang Jie glanced at You Shaofeng and saw several students leading him away. You Shaofeng still wanted to shout, but a Spirit Master casually sealed his voice so that he could be quietly carried out of the testing ground.
As they walked past Tang Jie, the mute You Shaofeng stared at Tang Jie with eyes oozing resentment.
He knew without thinking that this had been Tang Jie’s work.
A Spirit Master inspected the ground where You Shaofeng had been sitting and seemingly sensed something, letting out a chuckle.
He walked over to Tang Jie and whispered, “All other methods are permitted on the testing ground, but attacking another is taboo. Do not do this again.”
Tang Jie affirmed, “Yes, but how did the esteemed teacher find out? Or did you guess?”
The teacher was taken aback. “What’s the difference if I found out or guessed?”
“If it was found out, then I was being rash, and this is an error that should be corrected. If you guessed, then it means that this student did not do anything wrong.”
The teacher froze for a moment, and then he laughed. “Good kid, rather interesting. It’s no wonder the headmaster has taken so much interest in you.”
He didn’t answer Tang Jie’s question, simply patted him on the shoulder and walked away.
Without anyone else disturbing him, Tang Jie could finally work on his test in peace.
Six hours went by quickly.
Finally, a gong rang, announcing the end of the exam. Though they were reluctant and unwilling, whether they were done or not, the students had to immediately put down their tests and leave the testing ground.
As they were exiting, someone shouted, “Haha, I succeeded! I’ll definitely be able to pass!”
Turning in the direction of the voice, Tang Jie saw Wei Tianchong waving his arms around and shouting like a basketball player who had just made a slam dunk.
Tang Jie was scared out of his wits, and immediately grabbed him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m celebrating!” Wei Tianchong hugged Tang Jie and said, “Who said that the Spirit Guidance spell was useless? Without the Spirit Guidance spell, how could I have exchanged test papers with you? Hahahaha!”
Wei Tianchong placed his hands on his hips and heartily laughed, unaware of his surroundings.
Everyone instantly looked at Wei Tianchong, the place becoming eerily silent.
Sensing all these eyes on him, Wei Tianchong shivered.
He fearfully asked Tang Jie, “Why are they all looking at me? Wasn’t it said that you were fine as long as you didn’t get caught during the test, and after the test, you could say whatever you want?”
Tang Jie was sweating hard. “Of course there’s no problem with that by the rules, but do you need to be so brash about it? Don’t forget that quite a few people got caught trying to cheat or failed to cheat. What do you want them to think of you?”
Wei Tianchong saw that everyone was still staring at him with all kinds of emotions in their eyes, including envy and resentment. He immediately lost his courage and fled into the crowd.
Once they were outside, the eerily quiet atmosphere immediately turned noisy. There were many mournful and emotional sighs as the students began to talk with each other.
Someone asked another how the test went.
“How did it go? Any hope of passing?”
A shake of the head.
“What about you?”
A sigh.
Someone asked if they managed to cheat or not.
“How did you do?”
“I luckily succeeded. What about you?”
“Ah, all for naught!”
“Count yourself lucky that you weren’t caught.”
Others tried to check answers with each other.
“What was the answer to question twenty?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Does anyone know what the Calamity of Primordial Fog is?”
“The domains of the cosmos are divided into positive and negative realms. The Primordial Fog Domain is a negative realm and is crawling with countless fiends and demons. Eighteen hundred years ago, the demons of Primordial Fog invaded the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, with our Rosecloud Domain being one of the targets. The various sects all worked together to fight back, and it was then that my Basking Moon Sect rose to prominence. It was brought up in the very first class.”
“God, I even remember memorizing that. How could I forget it while taking the exam?”
“Who are the Four Absolutions of Near Antiquity?”
“The Ice Mountain Fairy, the Wonderhand Immortal Sovereign, the Wuwang Celestial Sovereign, and the Decacosmos Venerable.”
“Shit, I wrote Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, and Black Tortoise.”
“Could you use your brain a little? Those are the Four Sacred Beasts of High Antiquity!”
“What is the teaching principle of the Basking Moon Sect?”
“Preserve the ancient ways, conduct oneself with ceremony, govern the world with laws, and seek guidance from the Origin Heart. It’s written on the walls! These are free points! You could have turned your head and found the answer, no?”
“You think I had the guts to turn my head…”
Wei Tianchong excitedly said, “I got them all right!”
Everyone looked at him with disdain.
Wei Tianchong awkwardly smiled and then ran away.
Tang Jie found this very laughable. He saw Shi Meng walking over.
Tang Jie asked, “How did you do?”
Shi Meng was rather downcast. “I had best prepare myself to take classes again.”
“Don’t lose heart. Everything will get better.” Tang Jie patted him on the shoulder.
Someone softly giggled.
Turning his head, Tang Jie spotted Liu Hongyan, Ping Jingyue, Shu Mingyang, and Cai Junyang walking over.
Liu Hongyan seemed very happy, allowing Tang Jie to make a good guess. With a smile, he said, “It looks like you passed.”
Liu Hongyan rolled her eyes. “Someone wasn’t willing to help, so I naturally had to ask someone else.”
She looked resentfully at Shu Mingyang.
Shu Mingyang awkwardly lowered his head.
He claimed that he wanted to improve the world for the good of all, and he disdained things like cheating, but Liu Hongyan’s constant pestering finally made him concede, though his heart was filled with shame.
Tang Jie said with a smile, “Brother Shu, you had better thank me for this opportunity to see a beauty display her skills.”
His words dispelled the embarrassment Shu Mingyang felt while also pushing away Liu Hongyan’s complaints.
Ping Jingyue chuckled. “You’re a good talker, but it seems like not everyone is confident about passing…”
Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Cai Junyang.
Cai Junyang dryly coughed, pretending not to see. It was clear that he wasn’t sure he could pass.
Of the four, he was the least confident, which made him rather sullen.
Tang Jie asked, “How do you think Qi Shaoming and An Rumeng did?”
This question drew everyone’s interest, and they wondered how the two geniuses of their class had done.
Liu Hongyan said, “I saw them just a few moments ago, and they seemed rather confident.”
Everyone sighed, and the naked envy they all showed caused all of them to burst out in laughter.
They chatted for a while, and at some point, someone suggested, “Since the exam is over, why don’t we go out for a day and have some fun? We’ve been in the academy for half a year and still haven’t been to Wanquan City.”
“Yeah! Yeah!” Everyone immediately agreed to the suggestion.
They were still young, and they had had just about enough after cultivating and studying for half a year.
Tang Jie was rather hesitant. After all, leaving the school meant leaving the school’s protection.
Cai Junyang grabbed his arm and said, “You’re always the most hesitant one. It’s not like another day of practice is going to let you catch up to Qi Shaoming, nor will a missed day let the others catch up to you. You’ve got plenty more days at this school!”
Seeing how passionate he was, Tang Jie could only agree. “Alright, but since we’re going out, we might as well bring along more people. Why not make it all the members of the Freedom Society?”
Ping Jingyue was rather frustrated by this. “Too many people will make it difficult to manage.”
Tang Jie smiled. “You’re the club president, so you can’t always concern yourself with our little circle. You have to look after the other club members too.”
Ping Jingyue glared at him. “I guess that makes sense. Since we’ve all agreed, the entire club will be going to Wanquan City tomorrow.”
At this moment, Wei Tianchong eagerly ran over and shouted, “Where are you guys going? I want to go too!”
Tang Jie was rendered speechless. He turned to the others and saw that they were smiling.
Ping Jingyue said, “Then let’s bring him along.”
“Isn’t that a little inappropriate?” Tang Jie said. “After all, this is a club activity.”
“Then we’ll just have him join the club,” Liu Hongyan replied.