Chapter 622: The Celestial Spirit Valley Quiz

Luo Tian arrived at Chuyang Tower to find an unusual number of students and Mentors there today.

The reason was simple: just today, the leadership of the Wuji Saint Institute had formally announced that the Chuyang Grand Competition would be held in three months!

Instantly, a tense atmosphere descended upon the ten branch institutes and their respective Chuyang Towers as everyone began preparing for the Chuyang Grand Competition.

Luo Tian arrived at his classroom.

By now, all eleven of his students had arrived.

“What’s with you all?”

Luo Tian felt something was off the moment he walked in. All his students were staring intently at him.

“Teacher Luo, when can I begin the intense training with you?”

Chen Yuan stared at Luo Tian, his eyes filled with longing.

He had discovered something astonishing the moment he arrived today.

Zi Qing’s Cultivation had broken through!

Zi Qing was something of a minor celebrity among the Chuyang Tower students. For nearly three years, her Cultivation hadn’t advanced an inch.

But after becoming Luo Tian’s student, her Cultivation had broken through in just one short month!

It was nothing short of a miracle!

All the students unanimously agreed: Teacher Luo had the ability to work miracles!

“If you want to do that intense training with me, we can talk after you make it into the top two hundred of the Chuyang Grand Competition,” Luo Tian stated.

Chen Yuan instantly fell silent.

All students, new and old, from the ten branch institutes participated in the Chuyang Grand Competition.

Chen Yuan’s Cultivation was only at the Earth Element Realm Sixth Layer, which was hardly enough to be competitive.

In the remaining three months, he could at best hope to reach the Peak of the Earth Element Realm Sixth Layer. Breaking into the top two hundred was simply impossible.

“Next, I will give each of you individual pointers. You can demonstrate a Martial Skill for my guidance, or you can ask about any problems you’ve encountered in your Cultivation,” Luo Tian said calmly.

“Zi Qing.”

Luo Tian called out.

Zi Qing was a new student, so Luo Tian didn’t know much about her.

Moreover, Luo Tian was counting on Zi Qing to achieve a good ranking in the Chuyang Grand Competition.

“Yes!”

Zi Qing’s face lit up with joy. Her expression grew serious as she walked to the center of the classroom and began to demonstrate a Palm Technique.

The Palm Technique was not a high Tier, having just reached the Celestial Level, but Zi Qing demonstrated it with a powerful, fluid momentum. It was clearly the result of countless hours of practice!

‘Great Success with a Palm Technique!’

Luo Tian made his assessment.

For someone as young as Zi Qing to have this level of achievement showed that her Martial Arts Talent was outstanding.

In fact, Zi Qing’s Palm Technique had only reached the Great Success stage a few days prior.

This was all thanks to a new set of memories that had suddenly appeared in her mind, allowing her to grasp the very essence of Martial Skills and progress at a rapid pace.

Many of the students present were stunned by Zi Qing’s performance.

Luo Xiaoting had previously wondered why Luo Tian would accept Zi Qing as a student. Now, she felt no resentment, but rather a surge of competitiveness and pressure!

‘I have to be better than Zi Qing!’

Guan Hongfei was feeling much the same way.

“There are no major issues with your Palm Technique, so I don’t need to give you any pointers. I suggest you go and exchange your credits for a more powerful Palm Martial Skill.”

Luo Tian didn’t offer any guidance on her Martial Skill.

During the years her Cultivation was stagnant, Zi Qing had never slacked off on her Martial Skill training. As a result, she was extremely proficient, with very few minor flaws.

This difficult period had made her incredibly diligent.

Combined with the memories left by the Martial King’s Residual Soul, Zi Qing didn’t actually need much guidance.

…

The guidance session ended quickly.

Everyone benefited greatly, with the exception of Zi Qing and Mu Qingqing.

The reason was that Luo Tian hadn’t given either of them any guidance.

As for Mu Qingqing, Luo Tian believed her talent lay in the field of medicine. While he would freely answer her questions at other times, he didn’t provide guidance during this session, which was dedicated specifically to Martial Arts.

“Teacher Luo, could I ask you for a favor?”

Deng Xiaoqian suddenly spoke up.

“Go on.”

“Recently, the ‘Celestial Spirit Valley’ started a competition for entry slots. Only Mentors can participate, and the first-place winner can send any three of their students to cultivate in the Celestial Spirit Valley for ten days.”

Deng Xiaoqian explained hurriedly.

The Celestial Spirit Valley was a special training ground for Chuyang Tower students.

Normally, entering to cultivate there required an enormous amount of Academic Credits and Spiritual Essence Coins. Even a wealthy family background was no help, as Academic Credits were very difficult to earn.

With the Chuyang Grand Competition fast approaching, the Saint Institute was holding this event to encourage competition among Mentors and their students.

‘The Celestial Spirit Valley, for ten days?’

Luo Tian had also heard of the Celestial Spirit Valley.

It was the best training ground for Chuyang Tower students. For someone with average aptitude, a single day of Cultivation inside was equivalent to five or six days outside. For someone with good aptitude, it was equivalent to ten days.

‘If I could get my students into the Celestial Spirit Valley for ten days, their improvement would be immense!’

‘Besides, if my students don’t get in, another Mentor’s students will, giving them an opportunity to pull ahead.’

“Let’s go!”

Luo Tian made his decision and acted immediately.

Just as they left the classroom, Luo Tian saw Hu Chao emerge with his eight students.

“Are you also headed to the Celestial Spirit Valley, Master Luo?”

Hu Chao asked with a smile.

“That’s right. Let’s go together.”

The two groups set off together.

Hu Chao glanced at Luo Tian’s group and was surprised to see he had eleven students—three more than him.

He remembered that when he first met Luo Tian, Luo Tian didn’t have a single student, whereas he already had four.

Hu Chao had always considered himself superior to Luo Tian.

But now, Luo Tian somehow had more students than he did!

Furthermore, he and Luo Tian had been the only two new Mentors to join the Celestial Blade Institute at the time.

Over the past few months, Luo Tian’s string of accomplishments had earned him considerable fame, completely overshadowing Hu Chao.

Hu Chao was deeply resentful about this.

‘Now, my chance has come!’

‘I won’t lose to you in this Mentor competition for the Celestial Spirit Valley.’

Hu Chao thought to himself.

…

The Celestial Spirit Valley was located in an inner region of the Wuji Saint Institute.

The entrance to the lush, green Celestial Spirit Valley was heavily guarded. By the time Luo Tian, Hu Chao, and their groups arrived, many other Mentors and students were already gathered there.

Making his way through the crowd, Luo Tian saw a familiar Middle Level Tutor standing at the entrance to the Celestial Spirit Valley.

‘Ye Shuiyun?’

Luo Tian recognized the Middle Level Tutor.

Ye Shuiyun saw Luo Tian as well and gave him a slight nod. “The competition for the Celestial Spirit Valley slots will begin in one hour!”

“The winner may send three of their students into the Celestial Spirit Valley to train for ten days.”

“The next competition for Celestial Spirit Valley slots will be held at this same time in ten days.”

「Time slowly passed.」

More and more Mentors and students arrived.

The more people there were, the fiercer the competition was bound to be!

“Instructor Liu Lu is here!”

“And Mentor Peng Yuweng! To think you would come as well…”

Elite Junior Tutors and extremely senior ones arrived one after another.

Some of the newer Mentors couldn’t help but feel a little dejected.

With so many powerful Mentors competing, their hopes of winning were slim.

“The competition for the Celestial Spirit Valley slots begins now.”

“The challenge will not be a simple contest of martial strength, and the test is different every time!”

“For today’s challenge, all Mentors present will simultaneously face ten difficult problems. The winner will be determined by the number of correct answers and the speed of their submission.”

Ye Shuiyun announced the rules and the nature of this particular challenge.

HUM!

The Array enveloping the Celestial Spirit Valley suddenly pulsed, coalescing into a rectangular, glowing green screen.

“Mentors participating in the challenge, please take out your Identity Token to register here. Shortly, you will transmit your answers directly into your Identity Token. The Array will receive them and tabulate the rankings…”

Almost all the Mentors chose to register, and Luo Tian did as well.

‘It’s worth a shot,’ he thought. ‘There’s no harm in failing.’

Once registration was complete, the rectangular green screen flickered, and lines of text materialized.

The first question was related to the history of the Broken Ring.

The second question was about a certain rare Spiritual Ore.

The third question was about Martial Skills.

…

There were ten questions in total, covering a wide range of subjects, and all of them were extremely difficult.

Most of the students present would be lucky to answer even one question correctly.

“I can’t believe this challenge is a test of accumulated knowledge and experience!”

A young Mentor sighed and gave up on the spot.

“Knowledge and experience are certainly important for a Mentor. Unfortunately, I can only answer five of these.”

“Any of you who know an answer, feel free to tell me.”

The area descended into chaos, with some Mentors even asking their students for help.

Even Instructor Liu Lu, an Elite Junior Tutor, wore a grim expression, knowing his own chances were slim.

“You may have your students help you, but you cannot ask for help from any outsiders, or your score will be invalidated.”

Ye Shuiyun clarified the rules, her gaze sweeping over the crowd.

Even she could only answer eight of the ten questions correctly.

Ye Shuiyun saw Peng Yuweng, the senior Mentor from the War Martial Institute, say with a smile, “Heh, interesting questions.”

With that, he transmitted a message into his Identity Token.

Clearly, he had already submitted his answers and looked completely confident in them.

HUM!

On the other side of the glowing green screen, Peng Yuweng’s name appeared, followed by the names of other Mentors.

The order of the rankings was in constant flux.

“With that old fellow Peng Yuweng here, I’ll need some luck if I want to win.”

The sallow-faced old woman from the Celestial Blade Institute glanced at Peng Yuweng before focusing completely on answering the questions.

“This is way too hard!”

“These ten questions cover so many different fields, there’s even one about pharmacology…”

Many of the Mentors looked troubled, finding the questions daunting.

Hu Chao’s brow was tightly furrowed. He could only figure out the answers to four of the questions.

‘As expected, it’s too difficult for a new Mentor to win. Still… I’m definitely better than him!’

Hu Chao glanced at Luo Tian.

‘Luo Tian is so young, and on top of that, he’s from the Broken Ring. How much knowledge and experience could he possibly have?’

The first question, for instance, was about the history of the Pale Ring.

On the glowing green screen, the names of the top three senior Mentors kept shifting places.

Then, at a certain moment, Peng Yuweng’s name pulled far ahead of the other two, securing his dominant position at the top!

“Master Peng is in first place, as expected!”

“I guess we’ll have to pin our hopes on the second round in ten days’ time.”

The Mentors murmured among themselves.

Peng Yuweng’s students, meanwhile, were all smiling. This was the benefit of choosing an outstanding teacher.

Hu Chao glanced at the glowing green screen.

His name was currently ranked in the fifties.

Luo Tian’s name hadn’t appeared at all. ‘Did he not get a single question right?’

‘Just as I thought. This kind of challenge is too difficult for someone like Luo Tian.’

Instructor Liu Lu was thinking along the same lines. ‘Luo Tian has had nothing but smooth sailing since he joined the institute. Could it be that he can’t even answer a single one of these questions?’

Ye Shuiyun also looked toward Luo Tian.

‘Luo Tian’s written exam score was very high. Logically, he should be able to answer at least two or three of these ten questions.’

Luo Tian’s students, who had been staring at him expectantly, gradually began to look disappointed.

‘It seems our teacher has no hope in this round of the competition.’

But just then, Luo Tian took out his Identity Token, looking as if he was about to submit his answers.