Chapter 19 – Rather Than Improving Yourself, Better to Drag Others Down

As Lu Chen dealt with the Swiftwind Weasel, the points on his wristwatch increased from ‘0’ to ‘8’.

While checking the point change, Lu Chen also glanced at the current rankings.

Unsurprisingly, within the hour he had spent slacking off playing games, many students had already broken through the ’10’ point threshold.

A few exceptional students had even accumulated over ’20’ points.

Considering this was only the first hour of the exam, achieving double-digit points in such short time demonstrated that Luocheng High School indeed housed numerous skilled individuals.

But what did that matter to someone like him who just wanted to scrape by?

He never intended to rank in the top ten anyway – a decent score would suffice.

“About time to get moving…”

After an hour of gaming, it was time for action.

Besides requiring at least 30 points, the first phase also mandated reaching the core area of Five Springs Mountain within the allotted time.

According to the map on his wristwatch, even with unimpeded travel, ordinary students would need three days to reach the depths of Five Springs Mountain.

Factoring in combat encounters along the way would undoubtedly extend this duration.

Lu Chen suspected the exam wouldn’t be that straightforward.

After all, thirty points posed little challenge for most students.

Moreover, students were prohibited from attacking each other.

He deduced there must be additional difficulties in this first phase.

Otherwise, the teachers wouldn’t have allocated ten days for the assessment.

No matter how you looked at it, the timeframe seemed excessively generous.

Raising his head to observe the approaching dark clouds on the horizon, Lu Chen seemed to comprehend something.

“Better pick up the pace… the road ahead won’t be easy…”

With this thought, Lu Chen immediately quickened his steps.

Despite hurrying, he never ceased his phone gaming.

He appeared thoroughly addicted to gaming, seemingly beyond redemption.

However, times had changed – the external teachers had developed considerable tolerance toward Lu Chen nowadays.

So what if he played games?

Given Lu’s demonstrated capabilities, he could play games during the simulated exam – heck, he could even game during the college entrance exams!

Fifth day of simulated exam – Stormy weather.

Unlike the clear skies on the first assessment day.

The Five Springs Mountain Realm was suddenly drenched in torrential rain.

This downpour not only turned the ground muddy, slowing the students’ progress.

But the noisy rainfall also masked the Demons’ movements, increasing the difficulty of detecting them.

Additionally, rainy conditions greatly drained the examinees’ stamina, making them hesitant to engage unknown Demons recklessly.

These circumstances significantly heightened the exam’s difficulty.

Forcing many students to rest at night and travel only during daytime.

In a cave half a day’s journey from Five Springs Mountain’s center, Lu Chen warmed himself by a fire while playing on his phone.

His leisurely demeanor suggested he was vacationing rather than taking an exam.

While five days might seem brief to others.

For Lu Chen, these five days had been sufficient to accomplish many things.After all, there was a full tenfold difference between the time in the game and reality.

During this period, Lu Chen managed to clarify the two issues he was most concerned about in the game.

The first was the timeline gap between the Azure Cloud Sect and the Ancient Cultivator Tomb instance.

The current young generation of disciples in the Azure Cloud Sect belonged to the sixty-fifth generation.

This was only five generations—roughly five hundred years—apart from Ye Chenglin, who was a True Disciple of the seventieth generation.

However, considering that the great upheaval in the Azure Cloud Sect might have occurred even before Ye Chenglin’s time, the actual time Lu Chen had to prepare could be even shorter.

This undoubtedly made Lu Chen more anxious about his situation in the game and intensified his urgency to improve his strength.

After all, he had no intention of perishing alongside the Azure Cloud Sect.

The second issue Lu Chen clarified in the game was how to become an Outer Sect Disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect.

To advance to an Outer Sect Disciple, one not only needed to reach the fourth layer of the Qi Condensation Stage but also pass the Sect’s assessment.

The content of this assessment was not fixed and depended on which peak one wished to join.

The Azure Cloud Sect consisted of five peaks:

• Dan Yang Peak, representing Alchemy,

• Ten Thousand Talisman Peak, representing Talismans,

• Hidden Sword Peak, representing Sword Cultivators,

• Kangding Peak, representing Body Cultivators,

• and Azure Cloud Peak, representing Dao Cultivators.

Lu Chen ultimately chose Dan Yang Peak.

His reason for this choice was simple: he wanted to become an Alchemist.

For most people, becoming an Alchemist was no easy feat, as it required sufficient talent in alchemy.

While the path of alchemy did consider a cultivator’s overall Aptitude, it placed greater emphasis on their innate talent for alchemy.

This talent was reflected both in one’s Comprehension Ability and in whether the cultivator possessed a special ‘Mystic Flame.’

Setting aside the elusive nature of Comprehension Ability, Lu Chen already held a significant advantage in terms of the Mystic Flame.

As his Purple Haze Nourishing Art reached the breakthrough realm, his original Purple Haze Divine Light had transformed into the Purple Dawn Divine Fire—a genuine Mystic Flame.

With the Purple Dawn Divine Fire, Lu Chen found it much easier to process and refine medicinal ingredients compared to ordinary cultivators.

Learning alchemy became twice as effective with half the effort.

Moreover, he had the advantage of ‘Experience Points,’ which he could use to further shorten the learning process for alchemy.

While others had to repeatedly attempt and invest substantial resources to slightly improve their alchemy skills, Lu Chen only needed to successfully refine one elixir to reach the ‘Entry-Level.’

The rest of the process could be simplified using Experience Points.

This allowed him to rapidly advance his alchemy skills while saving a great deal on costs.

Once he officially became an Alchemist, he would enjoy continuous benefits both in the game and in reality.

In reality, he could not only achieve self-sufficiency in elixirs but also sell any surplus, achieving a degree of financial freedom.

The same applied in the game.

Additionally, cultivators from other peaks often had to undertake dangerous training missions outside the Sect.

But Alchemists from Dan Yang Peak were different.

After all, no Sect Leader would be foolish enough to send their Alchemists out on missions.

They were the treasures of the Sect! If they ever had to leave, they would require protection from many fellow cultivators.

What did this mean?

It meant security!Lu Chen needed this sense of security, both in the game and in reality.

“As long as I can peacefully gain experience points, I can grow stronger. There’s no need for me to venture out and take risks.”

“Once I become an Alchemist, my in-game character will undoubtedly become a protected asset of the Sect. In the short term, it will be difficult for anyone to harm me.”

“In reality, I can also benefit from this by exchanging Elixirs for cultivation resources, further accelerating my cultivation speed.”

“No matter how you look at it, becoming an Alchemist is the best choice for me.”

“But this Alchemy… why is it so difficult!”

Lu Chen stared at his in-game character failing yet another Alchemy attempt, his blood pressure skyrocketing with frustration. He nearly couldn’t resist smashing his phone on the ground to vent his anger.

Unlike other techniques that only require a basic understanding to get started, the difficulty of acquiring the Alchemy skill was truly Hell-level.

Because it actually required Lu Chen to successfully refine an Elixir first.

But for someone who had never refined an Elixir before, this was undoubtedly as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Five days in reality, fifty days in the game.

Lu Chen had attempted it a full fifty times, yet not a single attempt succeeded.

A one hundred percent failure rate!

Not only did this waste a significant amount of his cultivation time, but it also nearly depleted the Spirit Stones he had painstakingly accumulated.

After all, the herbs for refining Elixirs required him to spend his own money!

It had to be said, Alchemy was far too expensive.

“Just wait, I refuse to believe I can’t refine a single batch of qualified ‘Qi Gathering Pills’.””As long as I complete the introduction, subsequent cultivation will become simpler.””

Just as Lu Chen was preparing to attempt Alchemy again, he suddenly looked up toward a certain direction outside the Cave.

Before long, two men and one woman, drenched and disheveled by the heavy rain, emerged from the forest and unceremoniously barged into his Cave.

As soon as the female student entered the Cave, she said in a coquettish voice, “Luckily there’s a Cave here to take shelter from the rain, otherwise we’d really be stuck outside all night.”

“Classmate, you don’t mind us barging in suddenly, do you?”

Looking at the female student who insisted on wearing light makeup even during the exam, along with the two other examinees beside her, Lu Chen calmly replied, “Suit yourselves.”

Seeing that Lu Chen didn’t object, the three immediately exchanged glances.

Strangely enough, after entering the Cave, they subtly positioned themselves near the entrance.

Blocking Lu Chen’s escape route.

Their subtle maneuver was completely noticed by Lu Chen, prompting him to put away his phone.

While it was true that examinees couldn’t attack each other during the first phase of the exam, that didn’t mean they could only cooperate.

After all, every student eliminated early meant everyone else’s ranking would improve.

Rather than working hard to improve oneself, it was easier to drag others down.

If others’ results worsened, wouldn’t everyone else’s results… naturally improve?

(End of Chapter)