Chapter 79: All-School First Place

Chen Mobai, 345 points.

After a long wait, Chen Xinglan, who rarely came home, finally checked the score and burst out laughing.

"Son, with this score, you'll definitely get into one of the Ten Great Academies," he exclaimed. "Ancestors bless us! I'll go back to our hometown tomorrow to offer incense to you."

Tang Pancui was almost in tears of joy. Neither the old Chen family nor her own Tang family ancestors had ever gained admission to the Ten Great Academies. Chen Mobai's score was truly bringing glory to his ancestors. Back in her hometown, she could hold her head high with pride.

"It's a pity," Chen Mobai mused, "if only I had 5 more points." Actually, he had initially estimated his score to be around 330 points, but the last major question on the formation paper was exactly what he knew, which gave him an extra 15 points. However, people are never satisfied. After securing admission to the Ten Great Academies, he began to aim higher, wondering if the Four Great Daoist Colleges would also expand enrollment this year and lower their score thresholds.

"Enough, enough!" Chen Xinglan said, holding the printed score report and happily pacing back and forth. "Son, do you have any plans for which academy you'd like to attend?"

"Chunyang Academy or Taiyuan Academy, perhaps," Chen Mobai replied. "Neither of them requires specific spirit root aptitudes, and they both have the inheritance of the Primordial Spirit Grand Law."

"That's a great ambition! You truly are my son," Chen Xinglan said, happily patting Chen Mobai's shoulder.

"However," he added, "these two academies have the highest number of applicants every year, so the admission scores might be higher."

That evening, after learning about Chen Mobai's high score of 345, his aunt and uncle's family also came over to celebrate and stayed for dinner. Unfortunately, Chen Baolan was unable to come because she was at a critical stage of an excavation project in another region; she could only send her congratulations via video call.

"Don't worry," Chen Xinglan reassured everyone, "my son's score is already close to that of the Four Great Daoist Colleges. Even if Taiyuan Academy and Chunyang Academy have higher admission cutoffs, he's sure to be accepted." Chen Xinglan had also checked the past admission scores for these two academies, which were generally above 340. With expanded enrollment this year, Chen Mobai's score virtually guaranteed his admission.

"Brother, you're amazing!" Wang Xinying's face was full of admiration. Even the usually composed Chen Mobai couldn't help but feel joy under his sister's admiring gaze.

That night, he didn't use the "Nourishing Thought Forging Spirit Art" to dissipate the various emotions rising from his heart. Surrounded by his parents' proud faces, his aunt and uncle's praise, and his sister's hopeful gaze, Chen Mobai experienced a feeling he'd never known before, a profound sense of "great satisfaction."

When he woke up the next day, he found that his spiritual consciousness had increased by almost half. The sprout he had been visualizing, which had just begun to germinate, now had another shoot, gradually becoming as robust as the phoenix tree sapling he cultivated in his water mansion. Based on the description in the "Nourishing Thought Forging Spirit Art," he tested himself and felt his spiritual consciousness was nearing the level of the eighth stage of Qi Cultivation. When the visualized sprout produced its first flower, it would signify spiritual consciousness at the peak of Qi Cultivation. When the flower bore fruit, it would mean his spiritual consciousness had broken through the Qi Cultivation stage.

After washing up, he sent a message to Qing Nv, arranging to meet in the afternoon, and then went to school.

As soon as he walked into the classroom, he noticed something was off. Why was everyone in the class staring at him? The boys looked admiring, while the girls all looked disgusted. Could it be that the fallout from the Qing Nv incident hadn't settled yet? That shouldn't be, he had explained it so clearly.

"Old Chen, how have I treated you usually?" As soon as he sat down, Lu Hongsheng rushed to the water dispenser to pour him a cup of water, then looked at him with great admiration.

"Just say what's on your mind?" Chen Mobai took the water and drank, knowing his deskmate could never keep a secret.

"How do you manage to juggle two relationships?!"

"Pfft!" Chen Mobai couldn't hold it in; the water he had just drunk spurted out completely. Seeing that the back of Yu Shu, the beautiful girl in front, was about to get soaked, the results of his spell practice in Yunmeng Marsh became apparent: he instantly performed a Water Control spell with one hand, drawing the water droplets back into the cup.

"That was brilliant," students at nearby desks exclaimed, widening their eyes and applauding.

"What's going on? Who is slandering my reputation?!" Chen Mobai's face turned red with anger as he retorted to Lu Hongsheng.

"Didn't you leave the farewell dinner early that day?" Lu Hongsheng explained. "And Yan Bingxuan left with you. We didn't realize anything at first. But then Gong Xiangyu, as he was leading his class downstairs, casually mentioned to Qing Nv that he saw you and Yan Bingxuan leave together upstairs. Wasn't that just stirring up trouble? You should have seen the expressions on everyone's faces in our class and their class then – it was priceless! But don't worry, your true girlfriend with the Heavenly Spirit Root seemed fine; she wasn't suicidal or anything, just frowning. She hasn't bothered you these past two days, has she?"

After listening, Chen Mobai became even angrier. "Nonsense! I already said that Qing Nv and I are just friends, and my relationship with Yan Bingxuan is even purer, just a friendship between classmates. How could you possibly think I'm juggling two relationships?" At this point, even the "Nourishing Thought Forging Spirit Art" couldn't suppress the wildly fluctuating emotions in Chen Mobai's heart.

"I understand," Lu Hongsheng said, completely missing the point, "but I still want to ask you for advice on how to develop such a 'pure friendship' with classmates." Chen Mobai clenched his fists, and it was a while before he finally regained his composure.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Chen Mobai asked.

"I tried to confirm it with you," Lu Hongsheng replied, "but I couldn't reach you by phone these past few days."

That's right, for the past twenty days, Chen Mobai had been training in Yunmeng Marsh, where Lu Hongsheng's phone signal indeed couldn't reach.

"Sigh," Chen Mobai mumbled to himself, "I wonder if Yan Bingxuan knows about this. I'll apologize to her later." As he mumbled, the two beautiful girls in the front row also turned around, scrutinizing him, who was usually quite handsome, with gazes usually reserved for scumbags.

"I heard that the class monitor called Yan Bingxuan that night after finding out about this," Pu Jiangxue said. Chen Mobai immediately looked at her.

"Yan Bingxuan said: 'It seems this reputation still has an impact.'"

After hearing this, Chen Mobai put a hand to his forehead. If he had known this, he would have just stayed at the milk tea shop across the street, open and above board.

"Old Chen..." Many boys in the class gathered around. Chen Mobai, usually unnoticed, instantly became a master in everyone's eyes.

Song Zheng sat in his seat, his gaze also on Chen Mobai, but in his eyes, there was only the miraculous "Water Control spell" he had just performed. Others only saw how beautiful the move was, but he saw more profound things. "Very powerful!"

Knock, knock, knock! Just then, the class teacher knocked on the door, and the boys who had gathered around Chen Mobai returned to their seats.

After Chai Deyun walked in, his gaze also fell on Chen Mobai. Just as Chen Mobai thought he was about to address the rumors, the teacher instead smiled with relief and applauded.

"Chen Mobai, congratulations! Your college entrance exam score is 345, the highest in the entire school!"