Fang Fang couldn't progress beyond the Qi Acceptance stage, even though he had reached the pinnacle of the Qi Master realm in his past life. The situation was similar to having a Dao-degree in Puppet Engineering in the current world and suddenly forgetting how to unscrew a simple bolt.
In the present day, everyone was chasing Dao-degrees as if they were hot chicks. The hottest in town was Puppet Engineering, which did much more than creating human-sized figurines.
One of the reasons, facing the group of teenagers assembled for the Harmony Aptitude Evaluation was a humanoid doll seated in the center of the stage.
Only the upper body of the puppet was visible to the teenagers, with the lower half concealed by a table. On it, there was a box full of thin needles and a hazy crystal ball. If someone picked up the table and flung it away, the teenagers would see a long male torso placed on a chair.
A few months ago, when the listless Henry first saw the puppet from behind, he couldn't help but turn to his fellow guard and ask why it only had a torso. The answer, rather surprising, was, "It's a modern innovation so the disorderly guards won't try to sodomize it."
The puppet's appearance was rather lifelike and mysterious because of its mysterious purple hooded robe adorned with golden symbols. When the teenagers first looked upon this figure in the middle of solemnly standing guards, all of them couldn't help but inhale sharply in surprise.
Beside the stage were stairs leading to the upper floor with obsequiously wide steps that had clear gaps between them, indicating that they were floating in the air, a product of advanced Embernit engineering like the puppet.
"This too exciting," Wichai Lee said, his hand around Fang Fang's shoulder as if they had been buddies since childhood. "Hall so big, all villagers of my clan fit inside. Imagine the city."
"Just tell me all you know about old cultivation," Fang Fang said, trying to lift Wichai's arm, which was as thick as a python that could gobble up a whole 14-year-old boy.
"Why I tell you for free?" Wichai said with a sheepish grin. Yesterday, a hooded trader with a painted face had scammed him out of a huge amount of money in the name of 'hot information sale'. "But I give free tip, yesterday I went to secret market, they sell Embernit that make you strong."
"I will be strong if I get past Qi Acceptance," Fang Fang declared.
"Too difficult. Just go and buy strong Embernit if you want to see marvelous city. You weak and today, you fail. Try again after one week."
'Ridiculous! How can I, a Grand Scholar, fail this exam made for teenagers?' Fang Fang thought to himself but a distant memory made him close his eyes.
He clenched his fist with the same frustrated willingness he had in his past life, an overworked and underpaid lower disciple staring at the gate of the upper sect. He had been an average cultivator, an underachiever by many standards for 250 years.
'This time things will be different.'
However, on opening his eyes back into reality, he saw most of the teenagers were taller than him, their arms much thicker, and their jaws sharper. Even the teenagers shorter than him were big around their stomachs and could toss him into the far end wall with a tummy bump.
It was a given, since all of them were beast humans. The girl nearest to him had buttocks bigger than his body rolled up like an armadillo's. What type of beast human was she? He wasn't sure, but she looked so damn intimidating compared to his thin, 160-centimeter-tall body.
When Fang Fang's gaze shifted from her butt to her face, she was staring right back at him and in fact, most teenagers were. They had withdrawn a few steps away, creating an empty space in the crowd leaving Fang Fang and Wichai in the middle.
However, a group within the crowd remained aloof, seemingly indifferent to Fang Fang and Wichai Lee. They wore matching tracksuits and hoodies that covered their ears. All four boys and the lone girl among them had a birthmark right in the middle of their temples, resembling a vertical black grease line that divided their foreheads in two.
The tallest person among them was a boy bearing a deep red scar on his cheek. He appeared to be the leader of this wild pack and naturally had sized up Fang Fang and Wichia Lee with the corner of his eyes.
"Ao, you want to enter the city after coming this far, don't you?" The leader of the pack said in a moderated voice. His words seemed to be directed at Wichai Lee. "Stay vigilant or they will ban you from the exam."
The leader fell silent when he noticed his companions were all fixated on him.
'The current me, too, traveled from far away, and faced many challenges to get here.' Fang Fang grumbled to himself. 'The rat-human called me a genius. He was a Mafia and I beat him along with a Level 2 cultivator. Who can accomplish such a feat except the Grand Scholar himself?'
He also thought of the abilities that helped him defeat the Mafias. However, this brought attention to the elephant in the room: he was Embernit-less and had no advancement in old cultivation, save an empty aperture that was empty except for frustration and defeat.
As he observed the surrounding people, most of the space was occupied by heads taller than him. However, his gaze suddenly tore through a gap in the crowd, fixating on the far end of the room. There stood a familiar figure, a tall girl dressed in a red mini robe.
A quick recollection of last evening made Fang Fang remember seeing the girl and her three-starred hat, which suggested her high position in the border police. Her Embernit was most likely strong.
Their eyes locked from a distance of 50 meters, giving him a strong inkling that she was specifically looking at him. He saw her nod her head, a little tilt, a signal.
A commanding man's voice resonated throughout the hall, instantly drawing the attention of every teenager present.
"I will now provide the instructions."
The man stood on the right side of the puppet. Despite his short and somewhat frail stature, his voice carried an authority that compelled everyone to straighten their backs. The rest of the guards knew he ate a Vocal Drop Embernit, which was responsible for projecting his voice through the various large red ribbon-shaped curtains adorning the walls of the grand hall.
The Vocal Drop worked on the principle of passing messages through a different dimension, although not a high dimension like Henry and Hellene's High Diary Embernit.
However, Fang Fang and the others believed that the voice was a product of the man's cultivation power, so they listened attentively.
"The exam is simple; there will be five tests. After passing each test, you will advance one floor upwards. Upon clearing all exams, you will have the opportunity to see our city of Second Harmony from the top of the gate."
The man paused for a few seconds as all the teenagers took a deep breath.
"The top three qualifiers will be rewarded by Embernits." After saying this, his voice trailed off slowly for the next line. "The rest of the information is in the brochures we provided earlier."
Fang Fang looked around for the so-called brochures. Another word added to his vocabulary. He didn't receive one, but the people around him took out colorful pieces of paper from their pockets. Even Wichia Lee took out a crumpled piece of paper turned into a ball.
"I can't read," Wichia Lee said as he tried to uncrumple the ball of paper into a straight sheet.
"What do you mean you cannot read?" Fang Fang extended his hand to take Wichia Lee's paper, but the latter's wide hands tore it in several places.
The leader with the scar on his face looked up from his brochure. He opened his mouth as if to say something, paused for a few seconds, and then spoke.
"There's something that isn't mentioned in the brochure. The order in which they test our abilities is potential, emotion, strength, perseverance, and intelligence."
Fang Fang's eyes lit up as he realized the importance of the hint.
'I definitely have potential as a 14-year-old. My emotions are stable, I preserved 500 years in my past life and the experience also makes me intelligent. But strength… without an Embernit it will be difficult.' He pondered.
"Hehe," Wichai Lee pointed at the leader and shook his index finger. This bit was included in the information he bought yesterday.. "I know, the exam easy for me. I got good training while I travel here."
"You're coming from beyond the Eastern Frontier too?" The leader asked, his face not showing surprise, but instead, a smile.
"I come from far than you can imagine. It will be easy number one for me."
"No!" Fang Fang interrupted. The reward was going to be an Embernit, and judging from the size of the gate and the elaborate preparations for the exam, it wouldn't be just any Embernit; it would likely be a powerful one. "I will be number 1!" He declared.
His loud voice turned the heads of everyone in the hall. Suddenly, he felt an ominous gaze, and he turned to look in its direction. Through the crowd, he saw the tall Wen Chyou.
"Such arrogance." Wen Chyou said with a little smile on her face. "You've got guts to disrupt such an important exam."
Her lips moved to say more words as the smile on her face increased, but the loud sound of the man on the stage drowned her voice.
"As per the rules, you've used the bumpkin lifeline. Don't act like one, you are going to enter the biggest city in the West. We will not tolerate unruly behavior anymore," the guard on stage declared.
The guard seemed pleased with how he handled the situation when Fang Fang didn't speak any further. However, soon after he noticed Wen Chyou glaring at him like an angry cat.
Fortunately, she didn't say anything more, at least for now.
Fang Fang's mood turned heavy as he looked towards Wen Chyou. He knew this girl was here to make things difficult for him, but he wasn't going to back down.