Sovereign of the Three Realms

The exams of the comprehensive area were an assorted collection, but they all had to do with martial dao.

It was as Tang Hong had said; this exam was basically a free ride, nor was it that difficult.

The exams that Jiang Chen selected weren’t too challenging, having to do with formations and refining weapons. He was well-versed in this exams of area and obtained the 25 points.

Tang Hong had likewise not met with any problems.

The two of them met in the lobby, and Tang Hong grinned. “Let’s go to the pills area?”

“Sure, why not?” Jiang Chen laughed heartily.

Tang Hong had more confidence in the area of strength of heart and pills. But comparatively speaking, he had the most confidence in the area of pills.

Those who’d come to the area of pills were mostly Precious Tree Sect disciples.

They didn’t run into that disappointing fellow Iron Dazhi this time, however.

“I’m requesting a level one mission.” Tang Hong said.

“I’m requesting a level two mission.” Jiang Chen felt that a level one mission wouldn’t have any difficulty to it and decided to go straight for level two.

The examiner wasn’t the one from yesterday, so he was a bit surprised to see someone directly set their sights on the second level.

Ordinarily speaking, most candidates were quite cautious when applying for advanced stage missions. They usually started off at level one and slowly added on.

There were those who challenged level two right away, but only those who were at the peak level of existence in their sects had enough gall to do that.

Those fellows would also have great confidence in level two missions.

However, the rules dictated nothing of a candidate’s limits in selecting the difficulty of their first mission. So, although the examiner was a bit taken aback, he nodded his head after checking Jiang Chen’s token and noting that he did indeed have the qualification to request a level two mission. He handed over a mission token to Jiang Chen.

“Examination room 32, level two mission. Come back to reclaim your participant token after you’re finished.”

Jiang Chen accepted his mission token and waved his hands at Tang Hong. “Good luck, brother.”

Tang Hong’s eyes were greatly widened as he murmured, “What a hardcore guy, going for a level two mission from the get-go. He’s my boss alright!”

Tang Hong flung the mission token in his hands upwards and walked towards his examination room as well.

Jiang Chen arrived at the room number 32 and handed over his token to the examiner.

“Go on in, the mission’s inside. You can read the mission content yourself. Completing it in the allotted time means you pass. If not, you fail.”

Jiang Chen nodded and walked inside.

The level two mission was a bit uncommon.

There was a partial pill recipe inside, with many of the ingredients already listed but several key ones missing. Candidates had to make use of the other ingredients to extrapolate which ones were missing.

This mission wasn’t simple.

This was different from refining pills. That was done from complete pill recipes.

This was to investigate and fill in the gaps, completing the partial recipe. One had to say, the difficulty of this mission was quite high. If one hadn’t spent a significant amount of effort researching recipes, it would be very difficult for them to complete it.

But for Jiang Chen, he only needed to somewhat think through this level of recipe to easily come up with the right answer.

Although he didn’t know this recipe and had never seen it before, the theories of pill recipes were broadly applicable. Mastering one meant mastering a hundred. For low-level recipes, they were merely an extension of the fundamental principles.

Jiang Chen understood the general gist after a momentary glance.

This recipe was missing three ingredients. There wasn’t only one correct answer, as any one of them could be replaced by identical derivatives.

Jiang Chen restored the recipe in detail and appended it with some explanations.

It wasn’t that he enjoyed elaborating on his answers, but he was simply afraid the examiners would be far too mediocre to even understand the theory behind his answers if he didn’t explain himself. It would be quite depressing if he was judged as having only completed half of his mission because of their incomprehension.

He’d spent only fifteen minutes in the entire process.

When he verified that there were no errors, Jiang Chen walked out of the room. The examiner started to his feet, “You cannot walk around while the mission is underway. Go back inside.”

Jiang Chen smiled ruefully, “Can I not walk around even after having completed the mission?”

“Eh? Completed?” The examiner blinked. How was this possible? Four hours were allocated for a level two mission.

How long had passed? He’d already completed it?

This fellow had probably given up directly after he saw how difficult the mission was? The examiner walked in with a belly full of suspicion.

However, he was quickly stunned by Jiang Chen’s examination scroll.

The answer on the scroll was quite complete, the annotated explanations thorough and detailed. It offered complete understanding in one glance and imparted new inspiration.

Those who could be an examiner in the pill area naturally had deep backgrounds in pills. When he saw how the recipe had been completed, he could tell that it was clear from one cursory glance.

“You… you really compiled this?” The examiner realized that he’d asked a dumb question, regretting it immediately after he said it. Openly questioning a candidate wasn’t something that an examiner should do.

“Is there anyone else here?” Jiang Chen’s brow knit together.

The examiner hastened to explain, “I have no other purpose. I was just too surprised. Your speed in finishing it is simply too fast and the amount of time you spent so short.”

Jiang Chen could see that the examiner didn’t have any malicious intent and nodded wordlessly.

The examiner looked meaningfully at Jiang Chen, but the questions in his heart remained unanswered. He drew a mark on the mission token to indicate that it had been completed.

“Take the token and go back to the front to retrieve your candidate token. There are 20 points awarded for a level two mission. Congratulations.”

The examiner was quite gracious as he smiled faintly at Jiang Chen, offering his congratulations.

Jiang Chen nodded, took the mission token, and left.

The examiner watched Jiang Chen’s back and reached out a hand to slap himself lightly. “Me and my fat mouth. I better have not offended him. But this fellow is truly odd. Completing a level two mission in fifteen minutes is unheard of. Can it be that he’s seen the recipe before? Is that why he could complete the mission so easily and so effortlessly?”

This explanation seemed to be the most reasonable.

The first examiner smiled a small, knowing smile when he saw Jiang Chen return. Returning so quickly? It looks like the mission was a wash. Young men are really hotheaded eh! He’s gotten a big head after coming here from the mundane world. But this is a good thing. With this time’s lesson, he’ll understand that a level two mission isn’t that easy to do.

It wasn’t that this examiner was delighting in the misfortunes of others, but he felt that the young man didn’t have his feet on the ground.

However, if he’d been here yesterday and seen Jiang Chen and Tang Hong’s competition, he likely wouldn’t be thinking this way.

“I’ve completed the mission and have come to return the mission token.” Why would Jiang Chen care about what this examiner was thinking? He walked up and handed the mission token over.

“Completed?”

The examiner had wanted to take Jiang Chen and take this cocky young man down a peg, when he suddenly heard that Jiang Chen had completed the mission.

“Mm, please look it over.” Jiang Chen nodded. He’d long since grown used to all sorts of disdain and suspicion from his path in the mundane world to the sky quadrant. He didn’t care that another one had been added to these ranks.

The examiner had all sorts of questions in his mind as he accepted the mission token. His heart pounded after glancing at it. It really was complete!

A mission token was only complete if an examiner personally carved his marks into it.

No one was able to forge these marks.

“Not bad, not bad. Twenty points for a level two mission. They’ve already been added, take a look.” Although the examiner was shocked, he still calmed down in the end.

Jiang Chen smiled and accepted his token, leaving after nodding at the examiner.

Time was precious. Jiang Chen couldn’t afford to waste any at the moment.

He had to make use of every minute in the sky quadrant and not squander any.

Compared to the sect disciples, his start had simply been too late. He really would be left behind if he didn’t try his best.

Another day passed.

Jiang Chen once again came to the pill area. The examiner was a new face. There were many examiners in this area, and it was normal that someone different was on duty every day.

Jiang Chen handed over his token and said, “I’d like to apply for a level three mission.”

“Level three?” The examiner had just gotten to work early in the morning, and his hand trembled slightly at these words. He looked at Jiang Chen with a sideways glance, “Are you sure?”

Jiang Chen nodded very certainly, “I’m sure.”

The examiner still hadn’t regained his senses. He looked at Jiang Chen up and down before taking his candidate token. The examiner smiled superciliously, “You’re that secular genius? I’ve heard that you made quite a fuss in the earth quadrant.”

“Does this have anything to do with the sky quadrant exams?” Jiang Chen caught a whiff of something else going on. This examiner was different from the previous ones. There was the faintest traces of belligerence in his words, and he seemed to bear Jiang Chen no small amount of malice.

The previous examiners had been surprised – and had even lost their composure – but they did not bear any ill will. It had been a pure emotional reaction on their front.

But this one held traces of mockery and even suppression in his timbre.

“That there is not, but it’s not necessarily a good thing for a young man to be too cocky. Do you know what a level three mission entails?”

Jiang Chen’s eyebrow arched. Are you quite done already?

He didn’t want to waste time and spittle on blathering with this guy.

Jiang Chen said irritably, “Follow the rules if there’s something inappropriate about me requesting a level three mission. If not, please also follow the rules. My time is precious and I don’t want to waste it in verbal sparring.”

The examiner blinked. This fellow is damn cocky. I’m an examiner, and even those sect geniuses are humble and docile in front of me. Who dares show their temper?

However, the rules were the rules. He didn’t dare actually break them. He well remembered the example made of Master Shuiyue.

This examiner was affiliated to the Purple Sun Sect and had said so much because he disliked Jiang Chen, wanting to annoy him a bit.

However, it was obvious he’d failed and had incurred chagrin for himself instead. When he saw candidates continue to walk into the area, he didn’t dare vent his spleen lest he become subject to a protest.