The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 762: Celebrating with a Bottle of Rice Wine

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

There was no apparatus for testing yuanqi in this apartment; but the two should be aware of the condition.

Jing Jiu was concerned that Zong Lizi might misjudge her condition due to her plentiful yuanqi; but he shot a glance her way nevertheless.

She was still wearing the blue dress with two hanging straps and the stretch pants, exposing her curved body.

After Jing Jiu ascertained that she had succeeded, he pulled back his gaze and said, “Congratulations!”

Yet, he said it with no emotional feel to it, and no sincerity could be sensed in his tone. However, Zong Lizi knew that he was such kind of a person and that it was quite an honor when he was willing to speak to her. She jumped up twice joyfully before she exclaimed, “How could I pass the fifth level test? The final test is only a few days away; can I break through the state again in such a short time?”

It was indeed a difficult task to break through the states, from the fourth level to the sixth level, in such a short time. It was understandable that she didn’t have enough confidence in herself.

Jing Jiu didn’t say anything.

He had helped her by opening a passage for a meridian and instilling some yuanqi into her body. As a result, she passed the fifth level, but she still doubted whether she would pass the sixth level...

Zong Lizi calmed down.

She sat on the chair and stared at the big yellow cat in the photo on the cabinet, remaining silent for a long time.

In fact, she had seen a sliver of hope.

“The other girls are aloof and desolate because they are good-looking and have self-confidence; but I’m the opposite and have a low self-esteem.”

Having said this, Zong Lizi suddenly started crying. She tried to wipe off the tears with her hand, but in vain.

She looked wretched and pitiful as her silvery hair soaked with tears and sweat stuck to her face.

It was true that she had a low self-esteem. It was because her mother had died a long time ago, and her father died a dishonorable death, and because she didn’t even know where Little Yellow One had died. She was very poor and sick; and she might die at any moment.

A happy family had lived in the apartment. Later, it became a stressed one. Now, it was a desolate apartment even though Jing Jiu was added to its midst.

Her silvery hair didn’t grow because of her illness; she dyed it this way. The roots of her hair showed a dark color now.

She did this because she needed to show her distinctiveness in order to conceal her weakness and helplessness. Her cold temperament was for the same purpose.

Still, she was merely a sixteen years old girl; and she had already reached a breakdown point. She cried out to vent her weariness after she passed the fifth level.

Sitting on the couch, Jing Jiu watched the girl with silvery hair cry quietly. He neither spoke nor comforted her.

The mortals had a short lifetime. In a sense, as long as they were fully aware of it, they were actually living their daily life on the verge of death.

This girl was sick, and she was aware that she had a shorter lifetime than others; so her feeling of helplessness was supposed to be stronger than others.

To live such a life was indeed grueling.

“Rest assured. You’ll become an exchange student and attend the university above; and you’ll have enough credits to obtain the gene modification,” Jing Jiu thought to himself.

Maybe, all this was unnecessary.

He got up and opened a bottle of clean beer, and handed it to her.

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The testing day arrived. Jing Jiu left the comfortable couch at last and followed Zong Lizi to the institute.

He had gone to the library occasionally to collect the data in the past few days and checked on the application process of the gaming company, the Twirling Rain Company. He spent most of his time staying in the apartment, digesting the knowledge in his brain; it would take some time to complete.

Zong Lizi felt surprised to see him follow her to the institute; but she blushed when she figured out the reason. She pulled the hoodie of the tracksuits over her head.

Jing Jiu reached out his hand to pull the hoodie back down. “It’ll work if you’re fast enough,” said Jing Jiu while staring into her eyes.

The test took place in the gymnasium rather than in the grassy ground with a large crowd. It had nothing to do with the explosion of the testing apparatus; it was because the level-testing was an all-around evaluation, which had more contents than the strength and value of yuanqi.

The first test was the aspect of bodily control. In addition to the ten poses Zong Lizi had often practiced in the apartment, it tested mostly the ability of the students carrying out the activities in a low-weight environment.

A low-weight environment was set up in the gymnasium. The students participating in the test entered it one at a time, and carried out the activities at the guidance of the test supervisors.

The activities seemed simple, and the environment appeared not complicated; but in such a low-weight environment, only those students with steady yuanqi could complete them.

The New Era Institute was located in the deep part of the mantle of the planet, close to the center of it; and it was a place of low-weight environment to begin with. The students had been practicing the skill whenever they walked on the ground of the institute. As such, they had all performed well. The test supervisors from above had seen this often enough as to not feel specially impressed. They were merely recording the results mechanically, not showing any astonished emotion.

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There were many students were participating in the level-testing; and many other students for various reasons didn’t participate in it, but watched on the side in the gymnasium.

The spectators watched their classmates climb the cliff, ride the bikes at a slow pace; the surprised screams and cheers burst out from time to time.

Leaning against a small door of the gymnasium, Jing Jiu watched the test quietly, his face covered by the hoodie.

The tightly bound silvery hair swayed slowly in the low-weight environment, looking like the slow motion in the movies.

In such an environment, anything that could affect the balance would pose a danger.

The braid was not the same as a tail of the animals; its swaying direction couldn’t be effectively controlled.

The scene reminded Jing Jiu of Zhao Layue; he thought that the short hair had its advantage after all.

He came back to his senses as sudden cries and sporadic applauds broke out in the gymnasium.

Zong Lizi had passed the last trial that was also the most difficult one. She jumped off from the rope and hugged a female classmate excitedly.

Jing Jiu remembered the female classmate of hers had a surname of Lu and that she was good at lying.

Zong Lizi was aware that that girl was dishonest, but she was hugging her tightly at the moment, her face full of joy.

Jing Jiu figured that all the children turned out to be good at telling lies.

There were seven or eight classmates surrounding Zong Lizi, congratulating her. However, the crowd was not in a congratulating mood. Some of them stared at her with a shocked expression; some didn’t bother concealing their resentment and rage. “If her father hadn’t committed suicide, she wouldn’t have had the qualification to attend our institute,” someone said in a mocking tone. “Do you guys know that she has been living in the underground neighborhood the entire time? The low value of the weight is well known down there; so it’s expected that she is good at these activities.”

...

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The second was the yuanqi test, a popular one liked by the students hostile to Zong Lizi.

The police came and investigated the incident when the testing apparatus exploded at the New Era Institute the other day; but they hadn’t found any clues leading to a human sabotage, and they had no choice but to consider it the result of the equipment wearing out.

The testing apparatus was quite expensive. The application for a new one wouldn’t be approved during the first round; and it would take a long time to obtain the approval from the government. As the New Era Institute was troubled about it, a gaming company suddenly showed up and sponsored a brand-new and more advanced apparatus for testing yuanqi. The institute was naturally very pleased to get such a sponsor. In addition to the apparatus itself, the institute was pleased that this powerful and rich gaming company would definitely provide them with further sponsorship in the future.

The testing apparatus sponsored by this gaming company was indeed advanced; it could test several students at a time. As a result, the process went at a fast pace, resembling a certain internal project of the company.

It didn’t take long before Zong Lizi’s turn was up. She walked to the front of the testing apparatus under numerous contemptuous, mocking, sympathetic and nervous gazes, and reached her hand into it.

Then, she closed her eyes.

It seemed that she was not affected by the discussions of the crowd and the mocking gazes in the least.

Whoosh!!!

The silvery hair billowed.

The surprised cries went up.

...

...

Unexpectedly, Zong Lizi had reached the sixth level of the Fire-Observing State.

It was believed that only seven of the students participating in today’s test would pass the sixth level; and those students were well-known and outstanding ones.

She had lived in the underground neighborhood, had no money to hire a personal teacher; and it was impossible for her to have any access to the resources of Cultivation. How could she have improved from the fourth level to the sixth level in such a short time?

The gazes staring at her had more of shock and disbelief and less of mockery and contempt.

Zong Lizi made her way to the arena for the final test after taking a deep breath.

It was not true that the discussions and gazes had no effect on her.

When she had no hope, she could simply hide under the silvery hair expressionlessly and pretend that she didn’t care about anything.

She felt nervous when she sensed a sliver of hope.

The last test was real combat, with which she had no experience.

Her breathing calmed down after she walked into the combat field that was shielded by a transparent material; her heart raced. She halted her steps reflexively and turned around to look at the crowd.

She didn’t see the face among the crowd.

It was expected. He had been always hiding his face under the hoodie and in the shadow, giving others no chance to see his face. She could only see it when she was in the apartment.

Thinking of this, Zong Lizi felt proud and satisfied, the corners of her lips curling up to flash a smile.

Like what she had said, she was indeed pretty. Many male students were mesmerized by her beauty when her silvery hair billowed and her smile flashed.

The girl by the name of Lu Shuiqian changed her expression slightly; but she let loose a smile soon after and waved her hand at Zong Lizi.

Zong Lizi ignored her this time as she kept searching the crowd. And yet, she didn’t even see anyone with a hoodie on.

As she felt somewhat disappointed, she suddenly saw a figure by a small door in the distance.

It was too faraway to see the person clearly, to say nothing of that person’s face or the hoodie. All she could see was the white tracksuits.

Yet, she knew it was him.

He stood in the distance, propping against a door, in the midst of the cheers in the gymnasium.

He was indeed lazy.

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