Chapter 127: Angry Zuo Zizhi, Five Yangs in the Sky

"Only two hundred people?"

Everyone felt the immense difficulty of entering the Four Great Academies. One must realize there were over ten thousand people in the reserves! Yet, only two hundred could gain entry? That was one in fifty! And these reserves had already been screened by nine garrisons.

"It's incredibly difficult, but difficulty means that once we pass, we'll gain even more resources."

"Out of five hundred, only two hundred will remain. This fourth round will eliminate sixty percent."

"I wonder what the content of this fourth round will be."

Many people felt uncertain at this point. Achieving good results in earlier rounds didn't guarantee success in later ones, because the test content was different.

"We'll have to take it one step at a time," Zhao Xing thought to himself. "Han Bing dropped to over eighty in the third round; it seems his lightning techniques are a bit weak."

Army Agricultural Officers were required to be well-rounded to adapt to various combat environments. Being strong in one area wasn't true strength; being comprehensively strong was.

After dropping off the two hundred-plus eliminated participants, the flying ship continued its journey to the next location. At this moment, the deck was quiet. Everyone stayed put, seizing the time to recover their vital energy.

The Agricultural Supervision Department's academy entrance test provided no elixirs or recovery items, nor were participants allowed to bring their own. They had to rely solely on their own 'Gathering Essense' ability to absorb the vital energy of heaven and earth. Zhao Xing was at a disadvantage in terms of his Gathering Essense rank, so he had no time for idle chat and seized every moment to recover.

Buzz.

After the flying ship passed through a cloud layer, the light suddenly became brighter, even a little dazzling. Zhao Xing couldn't help but shield his eyes with his hand before opening them.

"Damn, five suns in the sky?!"

"Where have we flown to?"

"Different areas of the Ten Sun Cavern-Heaven show different weather conditions. Five suns in the sky... could this be the environment for the fourth round of the test?"

"Even through the flying ship's magic array, I feel somewhat hot. If we really had to go outside, what would it be like?"

"This trip to the Ten Sun Cavern-Heaven is truly an eye-opening experience!"

The flying ship slowly stopped in mid-air but did not descend. At the same time, several wisps of cloud energy surrounded the flying ship, appearing somewhat strange. Zhao Xing vaguely guessed that the fourth round of the assessment would be held in the air.

"Five suns in the sky, and it's almost noon. One sun is at the center, and four are in the four cardinal directions. Although they haven't completely reached their peak positions, the heat is almost at its highest point."

"Wind, lightning, and clouds have all been tested. Surely they're not going to make it rain under these five suns now, are they?"

Zhao Xing guessed it, and others vaguely did too. Immediately afterward, smaller 'flowing cloud flying boats' were released from the main flying ship, hovering beside it.

"As expected, they don't plan to land. The assessment location is in the air."

Zhao Xing stood by the ship's edge, looking down. The current height above the ground was about one thousand meters. The ground was very dry, completely barren land, with even sparse grass. Moreover, there seemed to be some black dots on the ground. Zhao Xing activated his Clear Sight ability to inspect them, then thoughtfully withdrew his gaze. He then looked at the surrounding environment.

In the air where the flying ship hovered, clouds appeared faintly, but with the emergence of the five suns, these cloud energies continuously rose and evaporated. However, some patches of cloud energy evaporated very slowly, seemingly indicating something.

The ship had been stopped for a while, but Zuo Zizhi was slow to come out and announce the rules. A flash of inspiration struck Zhao Xing. He tentatively stretched his hand out of the ship's railing and found no barrier blocking it. So he no longer hesitated, quickly leaped out of the flying ship, and rode the wind upwards.

"Huh? What's he jumping out for?" Zhuo Li looked at Zhao Xing's actions with confusion. "Didn't the magic barrier stop him?"

"It's Zhao Xing, he jumped out of the flying ship."

"Huh? The magic barrier is open?"

"They haven't said the test has started yet, have they?"

"But they also didn't say we couldn't leave the ship... Damn, I get it!"

Many people immediately followed suit, leaping out of the flying ship. Shi Yong, Zhuang Ziqing, Feng Qiu, Guan Junyang, Hua Zhilin, Han Bing... also began to act.

Zuo Zizhi and Lu Bang, who had been lingering in the cabin, looked at the scene outside and immediately smiled.

"They've caught on."

"Hmph, at least these guys aren't too stupid."

Lu Bang pointed outside and said, "This Zhao Xing's mind is really sharp. He was the first to react. His grasp of opportunity truly qualifies him as an Army Agricultural Officer."

Not only did Lu Bang praise him, but the four responsible individuals from the Heaven's Weather Academy on the upper floor also quietly watched below.

"Zhao Xing's reaction was quick. He was the first to guess the content of the fourth round."

"Indeed, this young man is quite astute. After realizing the flying ship had stopped for too long, he immediately took out his pearl to collect the cloud energy in the air."

"Hmph, there are still over a hundred people hesitating on the deck. How foolish!"

There were those who performed well, and those who performed poorly. At this moment, there were still a little over a hundred people on the deck who hadn't flown out, merely quietly watching the chaotic flying outside. They wanted to wait and see if doing so would be prohibited by the people on the ship, and what the consequences would be.

"Facing a new and harsh environment, they actually remained indifferent."

"With five suns in the sky, cloud energy rising, and water extremely scarce, collecting rainwater should be an Army Agricultural Officer's first reaction!"

"From the beginning, we prohibited bringing other supply elixirs and treasures, but we didn't prohibit bringing the pearl. Many people still didn't notice this detail."

The four responsible individuals from the Heaven's Weather Academy were extremely displeased with those who remained on the deck.

On the floor below, Zuo Zizhi looked at the people on the deck. Zuo Zizhi, who was usually more tolerant, had his face turn grim. He opened the door and came out onto the balcony. With a stern face, he questioned the people below.

"Among those remaining on the deck, please raise your hand if you have not brought your pearl."

Zuo Zizhi's tone was as cold as an interrogation. Eighteen people below immediately panicked. They tremblingly raised their hands.

Zuo Zizhi coldly snorted, "The eighteen of you are directly eliminated!"

"Sir, we thought we didn't need to bring it, that the assessment would provide it."

"Yes, sir, please give us a chance. We just forgot."

Among the eighteen, many pleaded or argued. Zuo Zizhi severely reprimanded, "Nonsense! How dare you say that? Before entering the Ten Sun Cavern-Heaven, everyone was issued a standard set of equipment."

"A Golden Straw Raincoat, a Hundred-Flower Bamboo Hat, Cloud-Stepping Boots—these are all top-grade third-tier treasures. And the pearl is a low-grade fourth-tier item!"

"Every treasure can be freely replenished if damaged!"

"I'd like to ask you, why do other treasures cost money, but only these four pieces of equipment can be freely replenished?!"

"For this test, all other treasures are prohibited. Why are these four not prohibited?"

"Because these four pieces of equipment are how you make a living!"

"For Army Agricultural Officers, a fourth-tier pearl is even more essential for everyone's livelihood! Perhaps just a little more water could allow an army to wait for rescue, or a single rain could turn the tide of battle... The importance of the pearl is paramount among the four!"

"If you've forgotten to bring your essential tools, what kind of Agricultural Officer are you?"

"And you have the audacity to question why? Huh? What audacity?!"

It was clear that Zuo Zizhi was truly enraged. The series of questions made the eighteen people utterly mortified, and they all lowered their heads. As for the others on the deck, they too felt somewhat apprehensive. Although they had brought the item, they hadn't immediately gone out to act. Judging by Zuo Zizhi's attitude, their performance this time had likely fallen short.

Sure enough, Zuo Zizhi swept his gaze over the remaining people on the deck and continued, "This test is about making rain!"

"The flying ship is stopped in the hottest area where the five suns are directly overhead, but a few patches of cloud energy have been fixed around it by the Heaven's Weather Academy."

"The flying ship deliberately stopped for a longer time to give you time to observe and to prepare for collecting rainwater."

"But I see that none of you needed it. You are all truly geniuses, with enough confidence to make it rain even in extreme environments. Excellent, truly excellent!"

The sarcasm in Zuo Zizhi's tone was completely undisguised. Those who had reacted by then quickly pulled out their pearls and flew out. As one followed, others did too. Before long, everyone had flown off the deck, leaving only the eighteen who hadn't brought their pearls, standing dumbfounded.

Among these eighteen, there was even one who had ranked higher in the previous round, at fifteenth place. But now he was mercilessly eliminated as well. This lesson would likely stay with him for a lifetime.

Outside the flying ship, Zhao Xing held his pearl, absorbing the cloud energy outside the ship to his heart's content. Because he was the first to react, his fourth-tier pearl quickly became half full. After that, the speed slowed down, as many people came out, scrambling to collect. With only a few specially reserved patches of cloud energy, it naturally couldn't withstand so many people scrambling for it. The air quickly became completely dry.

Zhao Xing also flew back onto the flying ship. He had just heard Zuo Zizhi's reprimand. As for why Zhao Xing was the first to react, it was purely due to his many years of experience from his previous life. He deeply agreed with Zuo Zizhi's statement that the pearl had a significant impact on warfare.

"Mount Qi hasn't had rain for nine months, yet today it pours... Heaven does not aid Liu, but aids you all," a voice seemed to cough.

"Chancellor! Chancellor..."

Zhao Xing visualized a scene in his mind.

"Your reaction was too quick," Han Bing said, standing beside Zhao Xing. "You truly live up to being someone Chen Sinong values."

"Huh? You know?" Zhao Xing hadn't mentioned his relationship with Chen Shijie to Han Bing.

"You received a letter and extra resources; I did too. We're in the same batch," Han Bing said. "It's just that the one who selected me was Huang Chengzhi, another Ninth-Tier Agricultural Officer from the Divine Might Army."

"Oh, I see." Zhao Xing nodded.

An hour and a half later, Zuo Zizhi instructed everyone to return to the flying ship's deck. He then announced the full content of the assessment.

"Everyone, board the flowing cloud flying boats and proceed to the area illuminated by these five suns to conjure clouds and bring rain, for at least one quarter of an hour."

"The duration, amount of rain, and area covered will be the basic scoring points."

"On the ground, there are two types of mechanical puppets, black and white, with completely identical strengths."

"Contestants can choose to support either the black or white side. Once inside the designated area, the black and white mechanical puppets will immediately engage in combat!"

"For the rain techniques you cultivate, any benefit to your side's strength or weakening of the enemy's strength will be scored based on the number of puppets affected by the boost or weakening."

"The top two hundred scorers will pass; the rest will be eliminated."

After Zuo Zizhi finished speaking, the people on the flying ship couldn't help but gasp. If the first three rounds were merely difficult, then this fourth round was outright abnormal! With five suns in the sky, making it rain in such an extreme environment was already very difficult. And they also had to test the contestants' control, to buff or debuff the puppet army below?

"So those black dots were mechanical puppets," someone realized. "But we're a thousand meters above the ground. Even 'Clear Sight' magic can only barely make out blurry human figures. How are we supposed to precisely target individuals for buffs or damage?"

"Blurry is enough. They're black and white; it's still easy to distinguish them," someone said.

"You say it simply, but 'Clear Sight' is a common spell. Even at the ninth rank, it only grants a thousand meters of vision, and then your sight will be obstructed by rain. Can you guarantee you won't get dizzy?"

"Don't overthink it. First, just make it rain. My pearl only collected one percent just now. Even with extreme control, I don't know if I can make it rain for a full quarter of an hour."

"In an environment with five suns in the sky, can this rain even reach the ground?"

"Difficult, difficult, difficult! Both cloud techniques and rain techniques must be controlled to the extreme, without any spillage."

No matter how much everyone complained about the difficulty, the test began. In groups of twenty, twenty-five flowing cloud flying boats began to fly to various locations. Each person took turns. After one finished making rain, they immediately moved to another location. Everyone's starting conditions were identical.

Zhao Xing's group was less than twenty people, because eighteen had been directly eliminated earlier. So there were only nineteen people on this boat. Zhuo Li, Jiang He, Jiang Hai, and Hua Zhilin also happened to be assigned to this group. And one other person Zhao Xing recognized.

"First, Zhenhai Army, He Yu," the judge read out the first name.

"Here!" The young man whose name was called immediately tensed up.

"Begin," the judge said calmly.

"Yes."

He Yu, with a heavy heart, stepped onto the bow. He had barely passed the previous round. This round should have been his strong suit, but he was half a beat slow in collecting rainwater and hadn't gathered much. So he had no confidence at all.

Buzz.

As soon as he got nervous, his mindset became imbalanced, and even his 'Cloud Conjuring' technique became deformed. As soon as He Yu performed his 'Cloud Conjuring', the cloud layer rapidly shrank under the illumination of the five suns. Before the next step, the cloud layer collapsed. He Yu simply failed to perform.

"Pfft," Hua Zhilin covered his mouth and chuckled.

"?" Zhao Xing looked at the neutral-gendered person beside him in surprise. He wasn't surprised by He Yu's mistake, but what was with this person's delicate chuckle? And covering their mouth?!

"How amusing. He was so impatient he couldn't even control his cloud technique. You all shouldn't make such a mistake later," Hua Zhilin said, raising an eyebrow when he saw everyone looking.

"...Holy crap!" A thousand horses galloped through Zhao Xing's mind. Especially that raised eyebrow, it gave him goosebumps, and he instinctively retreated behind the others. Zhuo Li, Jiang He, and Jiang Hai, who were nearby, also frowned because Zhao Xing retreated behind them. Even the judge couldn't help but glance at Hua Zhilin.

"The rest of you, no shouting!"

Hua Zhilin pursed his lips and said nothing more. This action sent a chill down Zhao Xing's spine. He only managed to remain still by relying on his strong psychological fortitude.

"Make it rain!" He Yu roared. His cloud layer trembled, and a pearl within the cloud rotated, finally squeezing out rainwater. However, due to the extremely harsh environment and He Yu's excessive nervousness, this attempt also failed, and he didn't even get a basic score.

"Three failures, you're eliminated. Return," the judge said calmly.

"Yes." He Yu shook his head and returned to the ship. He had already failed twice just trying to conjure clouds, and with this third failure, he wouldn't get a fourth chance. In the end, he fell before the fourth round.

The flowing cloud flying boat flew a significant distance forward.

"Next, Jiang Hai."

Jiang Hai, hearing his name called, took a deep breath and jumped onto the bow. His cloud layer was a 'sword-soldier cloud technique', which was relatively strong in terms of stability. After the cloud technique was cast, it remained relatively stable. Although it still trembled slightly under the five suns' illumination, it ultimately rained steadily for a while. Zhao Xing noticed that the raindrops Jiang Hai produced were also sword-shaped. Jiang Hai supported the black side, but by his expression, he didn't seem very satisfied with his results.

The judge quickly announced the results: "Sword Cloud Rain, sustained for two quarters of an hour, rain volume forty-five; supporting the black side, killed one thousand nine enemies, self-damaged eight hundred twenty-three."

"Final score, 276."

Jiang Hai sighed softly. In such an environment, conjuring clouds and bringing rain was already his limit. As for the enemy and allied forces below, he truly found them difficult to control. The final result was indeed killing a thousand enemies and self-damaging eight hundred.

As for conjuring clouds and bringing rain, it counted as basic points, with duration and rain volume as multipliers. The sword rain's enemy elimination bonus was an extra scoring item: if positive, it was added; if negative, it was subtracted. So Jiang Hai's final score was: basic points 90, bonus points 186, totaling 276.

"If you're not confident, don't go for bonus points," someone thought to themselves. "If you kill eight hundred enemies but self-damage a thousand, even your basic points would be completely deducted."

"Next, Yu Zhou." The judge piloted the flying boat to the next location, then called another name.

"Lightning Cloud Rain, sustained for two quarters of an hour, rain volume thirty-six; supporting the white side, killed five hundred forty-six enemies, self-damaged five hundred forty-one. Total score, 77."

"Sigh."

"Next, Jiang Tao, total score, 155."

"Next, Jiang He... total score, 263."

"Next, Liu Ping... total score, 0!"

"Next, Zhuo Li... total score, 425."

Time passed. Some unlucky individuals, who had clearly earned basic points, insisted on trying their luck for bonus points, only to find their enemy kills were fewer than their self-inflicted damage, losing even their basic points. However, another high score soon emerged from this group. Zhuo Li's performance broke Jiang Hai's record, earning a score of 425.

Under everyone's envious gazes, Zhuo Li proudly stepped off the bow, glancing at Zhao Xing with a hint of challenge in his eyes, as if asking: "Divine Might Army fellow, what score can you get?"

Zhao Xing felt Zhuo Li's gaze and smiled dismissively. This person's head must have been kicked by a donkey. His performance in the cloud technique round was already evident, and he was the first to collect rainwater. Could he possibly lose to you?

Soon, the flowing cloud flying boat moved to the next location. The judge also called his name.

"Next, Zhao Xing."