At the mountaintop exit of the Imperial Cultivation Academy's first entrance examination, Link had just stepped out of the magic circle when he waved his hand, sending the zombie beneath him back to the realm of the undead. After doing all this, he let out a heavy sigh of relief, a look of overwhelming joy spreading across his face.
"Ah, finally, I've secured one of the top three positions!"
"You're first?"
Suddenly, a cold voice interrupted him.
Link turned to see the chief examiner, Gabriel, looking at him with a meaningful expression.
"That's right."
Link nodded, a hint of impatience in his voice as he said, "Chief Examiner, I'm the first. Shouldn't you announce my ranking now?"
"Ranking?"
Gabriel scoffed, then disdainfully retorted, "Your name is Link, right? I remember you, but how could you possibly be the first to emerge from the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array,' surpassing even the 'Three Radiant Stars'?"
"What do you mean by that?" Link frowned at his words.
Gabriel, however, was too lazy to explain. He simply said, "As for your ranking, we'll have to wait until all the participants have emerged before we can clarify. With your kind of trash talent, I suspect you must have used some cheating methods to pass through the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array!'"
At this point, Gabriel added ominously, "If that's the case, according to the rules of our Imperial Cultivation Academy, not only will your ranking be invalidated, but you'll also be disqualified from the competition and thrown out of the academy!"
"You!"
Link felt a surge of anger rising to his head at Gabriel's words! This man was clearly twisting the truth without asking for any reason, blatantly trying to make things difficult for him!
"Then tell me, what do you mean by cheating? Am I supposed to have flown up here with wings from the foot of the mountain?" Link gritted his teeth and asked again in a low voice.
"Hmph! Perhaps you didn't even go through the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array' at all, but rather climbed up the mountainside. Such things have happened in previous years!" Gabriel said, tilting his head back and not even glancing at Link.
Link was infuriated; he had never encountered such shamelessness before!
In this examination, although the small mountain covered by the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array' wasn't very high, its terrain was extremely treacherous. Aside from the winding mountain road, there was simply no place to set foot elsewhere! Moreover, his true identity was that of a necromancer, not a warrior—how could he possibly have the stamina to climb up?
"Since you say that, how can I prove that I didn't cheat?" Link forced down the violent urge for revenge and asked coldly.
Even though he was itching to summon his undead army right then and there to drown this shameless old man, he knew very well that it wasn't the time to completely tear his face off with Gabriel! His plan had yet to unfold, and he hadn't obtained the dragon's corpse, so he absolutely couldn't be expelled from the Imperial Cultivation Academy!
"Very simple!"
At this moment, Gabriel, hearing Link's question, rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, saying, "Once the other participants come up, I will question them one by one. As long as ten of them acknowledge that they saw you in the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array,' I will recognize your first place ranking!"
"Alright, it's a deal!"
Link felt a wave of relief wash over him upon hearing Gabriel's surprisingly simple condition.
When he passed through the 'Thunderstorm Magic Array,' he had definitely been seen by more than ten people, including those who tried to hinder his progress—there were probably thousands!
Link was confident that as long as a hundred of those people could pass the examination, and ten were willing to testify for him, he could successfully clear his name and thwart Gabriel's scheme!
But since Gabriel proposed such a requirement, could he possibly have no preparations?
"Kid, you're still a bit naive!"
Seeing Link agree, a knowing smile crept onto Gabriel's face.
Just then, a commotion erupted again at the exit of the Thunderstorm Magic Array behind them!
In the next moment, "Son of the Dragon," Roy, was the first to burst out of the magic array, arriving at the mountaintop!
"Destruction Hurricane," Occam, followed closely behind, just in time to catch the last spot in the top three!
Then, another figure stumbled out, and it was none other than "Golden War Lion," Leo!
At this moment, Leo looked somewhat disheveled, with a skeletal arm hanging from his shoulder, having been completely kicked out of the top three positions!
"Link! I want you dead!!!"
As soon as he stepped out of the magic array, Leo immediately spotted Link, and in a fit of rage, he raised his cross heavy sword without a second thought!