Volume 2: Jade Promise Chapter 34: Final Assessment Begins
After a night of rest and recuperation, Tang Zheng and his companions went straight to the square where the assessment draw was to be held the next day after breakfast.
At this time, the square was already full of candidates waiting for the drawing ceremony to begin and to participate in the last autumn selection examination of the academy.
The arrival of Tang Zheng and others attracted the attention of many candidates.
With full marks in two subjects in a row, as long as Tang Zheng does not fail in the last subject, he will have secured a place in the autumn selection of Yisuli Academy.
The other people in Tangjiabao also achieved good results in the first two assessments, which made many people envious and jealous.
Unfortunately, the conspiracy and tragic ending of Long Chuidi and others have been spread in the past two days. After learning from the previous experience, no one dares to have any evil thoughts anymore.
The arrival of Tang Zheng and others only caused a small ripple among the candidates. Soon, most of them focused their attention on the upcoming final and most important practical test.
They were whispering to each other, talking in a lively manner, some forming alliances, some testing the waters.
"Master, should we also find a few reliable people to form an alliance?" Tang Xiaotang asked.
"You can go talk to someone, it's better than nothing. But don't hold your hopes too high. Our scores in the first two rounds were too high, and we will be the target of public criticism. Moreover, this is a temporary alliance, we are not familiar with each other, and lack basic trust." Tang Zheng replied.
Xiaotang and the others nodded, but still went out to chat with other warriors. Only Meng Fenghua stood there with Xiao Lingling without moving. She knew very well that with such a little burden, other warriors would be unlikely to be willing to form an alliance with her, so it would be better for her to stay where she was and save some energy.
Tang Zheng opened his folding fan, smiled, stood there, and looked around leisurely.
"Fuck, look at that Tang guy, he looks so cocky, like he thinks he can get into the academy just because he did well in the first two subjects."
"Hey, he's just a teacher, what kind of fighting ability can he have? No matter how good his poetry is, if he can't fight, he's nothing. Wait until we enter the examination room and beat him up every time we see him!"
A few candidates who were standing closer to him seemed very unhappy when they saw Tang Zheng's expression, and they discussed secretly in a low voice.
However, they didn't know that although Tang Zheng seemed to be doing nothing, he was actually eavesdropping on everyone's conversation with his ears wide open and collecting information. He had heard their words clearly and gave them a malicious smile, which made the two people who had just been talking nonsense feel cold all over. They quickly squeezed through the crowd and kept a distance of several body lengths from Tang Zheng.
"Brother, what's your number? Let's give each other a hand when we meet in the examination room!"
"Okay, okay, 820! What about you?"
"What a coincidence, I'm 2009. We two brothers must work together..."
Listening to the candidates testing and chatting with each other, Tang Zheng felt a little amused. He had heard several candidates mention numbers like 820, 566, and 2009.
This shows that some of these candidates must be lying...
Before the assessment even started, people were already on guard against each other and intrigues were brewing.
Tang Zheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart, where is the most basic trust between people? !
However, before he could continue listening, a loud thunder suddenly sounded in the sky.
It was a summer morning, and it was the rainy season in Feishi City. Thunder roared, and the sky was covered with dark clouds. Heavy rain poured down without any warning.
Fortunately, the square was crowded with candidates, all of them were warriors and all of them were physically strong. Except for some girls who were more concerned about their image, the others basically did not react much and continued to chatter in the rain.
The sound of the rain made it much more difficult for Tang Zheng to continue eavesdropping on others. He could only hear the words of the few candidates who were closest to him.
Among these people, there happened to be a girl who , seeing the sudden change in the weather, had a whimsical idea that the practical assessment might be postponed.
I don’t know if the other two candidates who were chatting with her were trying to agree with the girl or if they really thought the same way, but they didn’t refute at all and kept saying yes.
Tang Zheng was speechless after hearing this. If the assessment was postponed just because it rained a little, what kind of actual training would that be?
When I graduate and go out into the world in the future, if it happens to be raining, snowing or foggy, will the enemies make an agreement and stop fighting for the time being, waiting for the weather to improve before fighting again for another 500 years?
Just as several candidates nearby were becoming more and more excited about the idea of postponing the exam, Leng Buchen, followed by a team of three examiners, Ouyang Luoluo and Li Xiaoren, arrived quietly in the heavy rain.
However, unlike the examinees in the square who were soaked like drowned rats, the three examiners were all flowing with star power. Even a drop of rain that was about to fall on their bodies would be bounced away by the star power, leaving them completely dry and looking calm and relaxed.
This is the difference in strength. For warriors below the peak of three stars, no matter the total amount of star power in the fate palace or the control over the star power, they are not enough to transmit the star power to the surface of the body and make such use of it without raising the stars to enter the combat state.
"It's true that it's easier to show off when you're at a higher level..." Tang Zheng looked at his failed look of being soaked all over and waving a fan, and then looked at the cool appearance of the three examiners, and suddenly he felt full of motivation to practice.
Leng Buchen walked directly to the front of the square and announced without further ado: "Begin the draw!"
Although the sound of rain had not stopped, Leng Buchen's words were still clearly heard by every candidate. The candidates around Tang Zheng who were still expecting the postponement of the test and who had been preparing for several days, had their voices strangled in their throats.
The draw is about to begin, why postpone it?
There was a slight uproar among the candidates present. It seemed that there were more than one or two people who wanted to postpone the exam because of the rain.
This is really exciting. Actual combat in the rainforest is definitely more exciting and challenging.
Almost all the candidates present fell silent, with a slightly solemn expression on their faces, and some even looked a little flustered.
Most of the candidates who come to take the exam are just greenhouse flowers. Their star power and combat skills are all cultivated at home.
Unless one has a special background, who would be so bored as to deliberately go out in such bad weather to practice and fight? This kind of heavy rain weather has a significant negative impact on the battles of most warriors, except for a very small number of people with astrological talents and some star-drawing methods.
However, several people from Tangjiabao and those who came from big sects like Jiang Wuyan looked calm and did not react at all.
After Leng Buchen announced the start of the lottery, several deacons behind him took out water trays engraved with strange patterns and began to call out the candidates' numbers one by one.
The candidate whose number was called walked up to the deacon, held the water tray, and used his star power.
Whenever someone held the water tray and used star power, the liquid on the tray would quickly light up and flow, forming a conspicuous number. Then the academy assistants nearby would write down the warrior's name and number.
The number that appears is the winning number.
Having the nameplate of the candidate with this number means three points to the warrior who draws the lot.
At this time, the rain suddenly stopped again.
In the square where lots were drawn, candidates came forward, stepped back, came forward, stepped back... in an orderly manner. Everyone saw the lot they had drawn and silently memorized it in their hearts, then looked around, trying to find and remember their own target first.
The square suddenly became very quiet. It felt like the moment when the bell rang in the college entrance examination and everyone was waiting for the examiner to hand out the papers. It was filled with a quiet and tense atmosphere.
Before long, everyone had drawn their lots and everyone had their own goal.
The deacon in charge of drawing lots and the resident assistant of the academy stepped out from the crowd and repeated the rules of the final examination to everyone, and then asked everyone to prepare their groups for the first examination.
Different groups will enter the examination hall - the forest behind the academy - in batches.
Moreover, once entering the forest, everyone must wear their nameplate on their chest for everyone to see, and no one is allowed to hide it.
Originally, there were ten people in each group, but because of Long Chuidi, thirteen people were eliminated in the third test and did not participate in the test. All the others did not give up halfway and all persisted to the last test.
After the deacon finished explaining the precautions for the assessment, everyone turned their eyes to Leng Buchen.
As long as he gives the order.
This final assessment will completely kick off.
"Okay, let's start." Leng Buchen nodded to the examiners beside him.
"First group, follow me!" A deacon stood in front of all the candidates and said loudly. Then, without waiting for the candidates behind him to be ready, he turned around, used his star power, and strode forward.
The examiner was so quick that many of the candidates in the first group were unable to react for a moment. By the time they woke up, the deacon had already walked a long way away.
"Anyone who fails to follow me into the forest will be eliminated directly!" said the deacon as he strode forward without looking back.
The candidates belonging to the first group then all became excited and chased after him frantically as if they had just woken up from a dream.
No one expected that the examiner would give everyone a warning before even entering the forest.
Everyone stared nervously in the direction of Group 1 and discovered that despite their desperate efforts, two people still failed to catch up with the examiner and were blocked outside the forest leading to the final examination venue.
Before they had time to sigh, the examiner from the fifth group suddenly came up, shouted something and started the conversation.
The candidates in the second group, who were originally very nervous, did not expect that their group would be skipped directly, while the candidates in the fifth group, who were relatively relaxed, were called out in advance.
There was another round of ghostly howling and frantic pursuit... the fifth group also disappeared into the mountains and forests.
But this time, fortunately, with the experience of the first group, only one person from the fifth group was eliminated at the entrance of the examination room.
However, while the candidates were cursing in their hearts, everyone began to get nervous. No one knew whether their next group would be called in advance.
"Master, Master, what numbers did you draw?" As the fourth group was about to set off, Tang Xiaotang asked in a low voice to Tang Zheng and others.
