Wang Yuanwu hesitated for a moment, considering that Chen Mobai was a key force in his team and had helped him a lot recently. Given his age and realm, it was not impossible for him to join the Shenmu Sect as a true disciple. It would be good to make friends with him.

Thus, Chen Mobai returned the spirit stones he had received from Wang Yuanwu over the past ten days and received the “Red Flame Triple Sword Talisman” that Wang Yuanwu had treasured.

“Brother Chen, come back soon.”

Qi Rui, who was watching from the side, said with a chuckle.

Shi Pengyi, on the other hand, clasped his fists at him. Although he didn’t say anything, his meaning was the same.

Back in the wooden house he had rented, Chen Mobai’s one-month lease had already expired. However, due to the island defense battle, the Shenmu Sect had extended the lease for another month for every loose cultivator who had responded to the call.

Opening the cover of the hole under the bed, Chen Mobai crawled in.

Amidst a flash of silver light, he returned to his long-missed home.

After tidying up his clothes, Chen Mobai pushed open the door and headed towards the school.

As he walked, he looked at the messages that kept popping up on his phone after connecting to the signal of the Earth Yuan Star.

There were messages from his mother, Tang Pancui, and from Qing Nv.

There was also one from Song Zheng. He had attended two training courses organized by the school but felt that they didn’t help him much. Since he hadn’t seen Chen Mobai at either of them, he asked if there were any external training courses that were good for actual combat.

After seeing the message, Chen Mobai replied, saying that the external training courses were not as good as those organized by the principal.

Scrolling to the end, he even saw a message from Yan Bingxuan.

She asked him where he had gotten the fish they had eaten last time, as she wanted to buy a couple online.

Chen Mobai could only tell her that the fish were raised in the cold spring in the mountains of his mother’s hometown and couldn’t be bought online. He promised to bring her a couple more the next time he had the chance.

After calling his mother, Tang Pancui, to reassure her, Chen Mobai arrived at the school.

Classroom 203.

When Chen Mobai walked in, half of the students were already there.

“Over here.”

Class president Mo Simin seemed to have forgotten about the previous incident and waved at him cheerfully.

Song Zheng was sitting in the row in front of her. Seeing Chen Mobai coming over, he lifted his eyelids slightly and nodded in greeting.

“Has Yan Bingxuan not come?”

Chen Mobai asked casually after sitting down.

“She’s already been guaranteed admission, so it doesn’t matter whether she participates in the combat competition or not. She said she’d rather spend the time cultivating and improving her ice spiritual root attribute points.”

Mo Simin imitated Yan Bingxuan’s indifferent tone of voice, doing a spot-on impression.

“That makes sense.”

Chen Mobai nodded, thinking that Yan Bingxuan’s words made a lot of sense.

If it weren’t for the fact that this entrance exam was related to his future in the Immortal Gate, Chen Mobai would rather stay in the Tianhe Realm and continue to hone his skills.

His recent battles with the demonic beasts had solidified his spiritual power, which had been somewhat inflated due to the consumption of Qi Refining Spirit Water. He even felt that as long as his spiritual power was refined enough, he could easily break through the bottleneck of the eighth level of Qi Refining.

“Yo, long time no see, everyone.”

At this moment, a spirited and energetic young man walked in. It was Xu Yuan.

He had apparently been training somewhere during this time. He had completely changed his previous lazy demeanor and now seemed like a drawn sword, full of fighting spirit and sharpness.

“Eh, you’ve broken through to the eighth level of Qi Refining.”

A glint of spiritual light flashed in Shi Jingjing’s eyes. She had seen Xu Yuan’s true realm.

“Indeed, I was sent to the army for training with Yuanqing. After enduring unimaginable torment, I have completely transformed!”

Xu Yuan stood at the door, his whole person radiating a fighting spirit that he had never shown before.

On the other hand, Shi Yuanqing was still quiet, but the childishness on his face had completely disappeared. He stood still as a mountain, giving off an indescribable sense of solidity.

“It seems that you should be able to make it to the final round of the combat competition this time.”

Shi Jingjing looked at Shi Yuanqing again. Her face, which had already lacked confidence in her own combat abilities, fell even further. She turned her head and buried it in Cao Yaling’s chest, her face pouting and full of dejection.

“If those four at the ninth level of Qi Refining all go to participate in the entrance exams of the Four Great Dao Institutes, I feel that I can top the competition here at the Ten Great Academic Palaces.”

Xu Yuan’s words made Chen Mobai, who had been looking down at his phone and chatting with Qing Nv, couldn’t help but look up at him.

After confirming that this guy couldn’t possibly beat him, Chen Mobai lowered his head again and continued chatting with Qing Nv.

【Has the match schedule come out yet?】

This was sent by Qing Nv.

She had been busy refining first-grade top-quality Qi Refining Spirit Water for him between the alchemy room and her rented apartment.

Since she had already been guaranteed admission to the Sentence Mang Dao Institute, she hadn’t paid any attention to the entrance exam of this Dao Institute Academy.

【It hasn’t reached our hands yet, but it might have been sent to the school. After all, they said the match schedule would be out today when we filled out our preferences.】

Chen Mobai replied.

……

Dan Zhu Academy.

“There are 47 people for the Dao Institute’s entrance exam, and 233 for the Academic Palace’s.”After the Red-robed Taoist Master finished reviewing the match arrangement chart, he looked up at the representatives of the Taoist academies in the conference room, all of whom had already arrived.

“The number of participants is a bit awkward. Should we eliminate one, or add one? That way, we can have pairs for the matches.”

The representative from the Mending the Sky Academy suggested, which was met with silent opposition from the crowd.

“Whether we eliminate one or add one, there will be dissatisfaction. We need to maintain basic fairness and justice. I think we should stick to the current number. The extra person, who has the highest score, can have a bye and directly enter the next round.”

Bian Yiqing from the Dancing Weapon Academy spoke up. His mature and steady words won the approval of most of the academy representatives.

“But then we have another problem.”

Shang Qing from the Sentence Mace Academy checked this year’s scores from Danxia City and pointed at the two people with the highest scores, Gong Xiangyu and Yan Feng, who happened to have the same score.

So, who should get the bye?

For a moment, the conference room fell silent again.

“Lan Haitian, you should also say something.”

Among the four major academies, only Lan Haitian had not yet spoken.

The representatives of the ten major academies usually followed the lead of the four major academies in such situations.

As soon as the Red-robed Taoist Master’s words fell, all eyes turned to Lan Haitian.

“Why don’t we mix the people from the four major academies and the ten major academies together for the competition?”

However, Lan Haitian’s words were hard for some to accept.

“Wouldn’t that be unfair to the 47 people who barely made the cut to enter the academy? They worked so hard to earn this qualification.”

“The more people there are in the competition, the more rounds there will be, and the easier it will be to see the true level of skill.”