"The third round will be to test your reaction speed. Your reflexes, in other words. It's different from the second round where it's more of running speed and stamina. For the third round, you guys are required to use your reflexes to evade hits."
Yan Jin led us to a contained facility in the stadium, where a single withered tree stood, its branches stooped. Despite the desiccated bark, I could see dark hollows that made up its eyes and mouth. I recognized it as a Mystic ranked Tree Revenant.
The other students recognized it as well, and they began murmuring amongst themselves in panic.
"A Mystic ranked Tree Revenant?! How do they expect us to pass this exam?"
"Isn't this unfair?"
"There's no way we can fight against a Tree Revenant!"
"I knew it! There's some sort of corruption going on!"
"Silence!" Yan Jin barked. Everyone complied and he continued sternly. "You are not required to defeat the Tree Revenant! Like I said, this third round is to test your reflexes! You're only required to evade hits! Besides, the Tree Revenant has been pruned and chemically sedated, so its attack power has been drastically reduced. You won't die if you get hit, but it will still hurt a lot."
He raised a finger.
"Depending on the individual, you get a certain number of tries. For most of you, if you get hit five times, you fail. So try to evade as many hits as possible, and don't panic even if the Tree Revenant lands a blow. That said, if you're in too much pain to evade the next blow, then we'll save you. That means automatic disqualification, though."
The examinees exchanged glances, but no one said anything.
"Any questions?" When Yan Jin saw that no one had any questions, he nodded. "Then we shall begin right away. When I call your name, come forward. Xia Ke!"
"The rest of you, please remain in this area," Shi said, gesturing to a demarcated area. "Those who pass, you may come into the blue box. Ge and I will take note of who passes."
While Xia Ke stepped forward nervously, studying the inactive Tree Revenant, Yan Jin returned to the technical area.
"You know what to do when it comes to student Song Jun Wen's turn," he said.
"No, I don't," Shi replied, confused. "Do you have something against him, Teacher Yan?"
"Yeah!" Ge was outraged. "This student is clearly talented! He has passed the first two rounds with flying colors! Normally, someone of his ability will be put directly in the elite curriculum! We should do our best to recruit him!"
"I already told you, it doesn't matter if he has great foundations," Yan Jin snapped. "Recruitment to Divine Path University must be very strict. Otherwise, how would we maintain our high standards?"
"But your standards don't apply to the other students?" Shi pointed out, confused.
"S…shut up!" Yan Jin snapped. "I'm in charge here!"
He snuck a worried peek at the people in the stands, where Shao Ye and his cronies waited in the shadows. He could feel the weight of the wad of bills in his pockets, and the promise to the young master of the Shao family to make the target fail the exam. However, things weren't going as planned. He didn't mind giving the money back to Shao Ye, but whatever tricks he could still pull were getting more and more obvious.
He was taking a huge risk. If the university board ever found out he had accepted a bribe and was deliberately trying to fail a student, his career was over. Never mind his job as a university instructor, he would have to pay an enormous fine and be sentenced to a year or two in prison.
"Um, teachers, so what do I do? The Tree Revenant isn't moving." Xia Ke was waving his hand. Yan Jin sighed and nodded to Shi, who stepped forward.
"Oh, that's right. Because it's being sedated, it won't attack. However, if we do this…" He reached to a nearby shelf and took out a spirit stone. "We can rejuvenate the Tree Revenant with a bit of qi and bring it back to life."
He tossed the spirit stone at the Tree Revenant, and one of the branches suddenly lashed out to seize it. There was a glow, and the spirit stone and its qi was absorbed before the spirit beast suddenly sprang to life.
"Whoa!"
Xia Ke jumped away when a huge branch slammed down on his location. Yan Jin smirked and clapped his hands.
"Be careful! The exam has begun! Do your best to evade!"
A few minutes later, Xia Ke retreated, panting. He winced from a couple of bruises and staggered, but somehow he managed to endure until the end of the test.
"Two hits, below the pass limit of five. Xia Ke, pass."
"Yes!"
Despite his visible pain, Xia Ke cheered and limped to the blue section. Yan Jin didn't pay attention to him, glancing at us.
"Next! Liu He!"
"Yes, sir!"
The tests continued, and while several people were inevitably eliminated, knocked out by the powerful blows of the Tree Revenant or unable to evade more than five blows, the majority managed to pass. I watched as more people either streamed into the blue box or trudged solemnly out of the facility, with a good number of the failed students wheeled away to the infirmary on gurneys, and the number of examinees in the waiting area dwindled further.
Inevitably, it was my turn. Having studied the previous examinees and their encounter against the Tree Revenant, I wondered how Yan Jin was going to sabotage me this time. It was going to be amusing. I had half a mind to lodge a complaint with the higherups, but quite frankly, even with the evidence captured on camera, I doubted they would take my side over an employee. Also, I would be giving a bad impression. It would look like I was just searching for an excuse for my own failure and blaming other people instead of self-reflecting on what I could do better. Even if I somehow enrolled in Divine Path University, I doubted snitching would ingratiate me with the people there.
Mostly, though, I wanted to beat him at his own game. If I overcame whatever unreasonable difficulties he threw at me, even he couldn't say anything if I got enrolled through the hard way. It would also make me look like the bigger person.
"Song Jun Wen!"
"Yes, sir." I stepped up onto the stage, noting Yan Jin whispering to Shi, who merely looked bemused. The main supervisor turned to me.
"In light of your impressive displays so far, we'll have to raise the standard for your test. If you get hit even once, you fail."
"What the hell is this?!"
"That's unfair!"
"Isn't this clearly corruption?! Are you being bribed to deliberately fail that student?!"
Yan Jin's announcement drew outraged responses from the examinees still in the facility. He ignored them, looking at me coldly.
"I trust you have no complaints? Just don't get hit. I'm sure someone as talented as you will be able to manage that."
He was clearly taunting me or trying to get a rise out of me. I didn't take the bait, simply nodding and taking a deep breath.
"I'll do my best, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to meet your expectations."
"Oh? Then you should forfeit."
The moron mistook my humility for submission, and I tried not to roll my eyes. Instead, I shook my head and remained polite.
"I will do my best. After all, I won't know until I try. Please proceed with the exam, sir."
While I said that, I could hear incensed howls from beyond the fourth dimension. Edgelords were screaming at me from behind a screen, smashing their keyboards and gnashing their teeth over how much of a "pushover" I was. They were demanding that I beat up the main supervisor and crush his face into the dirt, never mind that such an action was a crime and I would be locked up in jail for it. Seriously, what was that going to achieve? A momentary satisfaction, in exchange for a life on the run, a ruined reputation, and the likelihood of never getting into any university again because of my violent conduct and prison record?
This was a modern, urban society. You couldn't just do whatever you wanted. Even someone who accepted bribes would be punished once he was exposed, and I promise you, Yan Jin will suffer the consequences for his crime.
Yan Jin scowled, unaware of the demise that awaited him in future. "Let's begin."
Shi took a spirit stone and tossed it at the Tree Revenant, sparking it back to life. It reared up and slammed its branches down on me, but I effortlessly dodged it. The next blow came from below and I jumped up, sailing above the whip-like branch. Landing on the ground, I ducked under a thrust from a sharp branch, then weaved through the flailing tendrils that lashed out in a net-like maneuver.
"Still can't hit him at all?" Yan Jin gnashed his teeth. Shi shrugged.
"You were the one who said he'll fail if he gets hit even once. Of course he will do his best not to get hit."
"Why is the Tree Revenant so slow!?"
"Is it?" Ge blinked in bewilderment. "It seems to be moving at the same speed to me."
"Ugh!" Yan Jin went over to the shelf and grabbed a handful of spirit stones.
"Teacher Yan? What are you doing?" Ge demanded. "Stop this! You can't…!"
She was too late. Yan Jin hurled the spirit stones at the Tree Revenant. It paused in its assault to snatch the spirit stones out of the air and absorbed them. In a flash, it began thrashing about more violently than before, its branches snaking out at incredible speed.
"Yes!" Yan Jin grinned and chuckled to himself. "The more qi absorbed from a greater number of spirit stones, the stronger it becomes! Now there's no way he'll avoid getting hit!"
Ghostly lights surged into life in the Tree Revenant's eyes and several leaves began sprouting from the withered branches. With a howl, it lurched forward and rampaged, its branches growing and splitting apart to attack me in a swarm. I practically danced about, avoiding the snaking branches that pierced, stabbed, slammed or hammered in my direction. Closing my eyes, I relied more on my qi sense than sight to evade.
Flowing River Clear Sword.
Even though I didn't have a sword on hand, the principle was the same. Be a rock in the flowing river, read the currents of the enemy, and go with the flow. Not against. A tide of attacks washing over me, and I slipped into their flow, moving in tandem with the lashing branches and splinters.
Not a single one reached me. I darted away from a stab, jumped over a swipe, and danced in tune to some phantom beat the Tree Revenant swayed to. Minutes passed, and the ghostly attacks decreased in intensity. The Tree Revenant was running out of qi, the sedatives constantly pumped into its body once again taking effect. Withdrawing its branches, it returned to a dormant state once more while I landed gracefully a few meters away without even a single scratch or bruise.
"Hmm, not bad. I'll have to think about grabbing a few Tree Revenants for summoning, and for my dungeon."
If this was what a drastically weakened Tree Revenant was capable of, then I wanted a few at full power. They would definitely serve as excellent sentries alongside my Guardian Golems. I would have to find their habitat later and ask the system for spirit contracts.
Speaking of which, the system had been really quiet over the last year and a half, only appearing to notify me of dungeon matters. It hadn't given me a new mission in so long. I had been busily consolidating my cultivation realm and improving my strength, so it didn't matter, but now that I thought about it, it was pretty strange.
"Student Song Jun Wen has much faster reaction speed than even most students currently enrolled in our university!" Ge was jabbing at the records, her brow furrowed. "He has passed all three rounds with flying colors! Why are you still denying him enrollment? We should snatch him up before the other universities do!"
"We'll see how well he does in the combat exam, and then we'll talk about recruiting him then," Yan Jin said, though a vein was bulging in his temple. He hadn't expected me to get this far, and he knew it would be suspicious if he continued blocking me. "Let's just complete all five rounds as a matter of formality and see how he does. Then we'll talk about recruitment afterward."
"Fine. But if you still make things difficult, I'll submit a report to the higherups straight. You've been behaving suspiciously, Teacher Yan."
"N…no need for that. Just wait, okay? Be paitent!"
While the supervisors argued, Shi turned to the next student waiting in line. Suppressing a sigh, he forced a smile and waved him in.
"Next! Let's get this round completed so that we can move on!"