Chapter 14: The Examination

"Our nation's renowned hematologist, Professor Qian Yanjiao, Deputy Dean of the Department of Alchemy at Jiangzhou University and leading scholar at the Institute of Bloodline Research, was assassinated in her home yesterday by the Crescent Cult. Professor Qian Yanjiao devoted her life to the study of divine blood, pioneering the method of blood dissociation, which laid the theoretical foundation for the secret art of blood evasion. Her passing is a tremendous loss to our scientific community, and we mourn deeply. The Crescent Cult's audacious crime—murdering a top professor in broad daylight—only strengthens our resolve to eradicate these cults."

Chen Meng listened to the news, gazing at the woman's memorial photo.

It was the very woman he had seen that Saturday.

His father, Chen Jianghe, spoke angrily, "These cultists are lawless! They dare to kill in the city of Jiangzhou. The country must flush out all these rats hiding in the shadows."

Chen Meng was silent. He knew the Crescent Cult was merely a scapegoat. The real murderer was Hong Qing, a major general of Hua Nation.

Another news segment followed.

"Recently, rumors have spread online claiming that bathing in the blood of one's kin with divine bodies can elevate one's divine rank. The National Divine Body Research Center has categorically denied these claims, stating they are baseless. Every individual's bloodline and gene sequence are unique; absorbing kin's blood will only result in rejection, causing ruptured blood vessels and death."

Chen Meng smiled as he watched. He understood this was the official stance: kin's blood must not be touched! Absolutely not!

...

Chen Meng pondered for a moment and sent a message to Mo Xiaoyi: "Senior, I saw the news. I didn’t expect that woman to be your Deputy Dean at the Department of Alchemy. No wonder you guessed her identity back then. This incident must have had a huge impact on your university. Honestly, I still can’t figure out why the Deputy Dean acted as she did."

After breakfast, Chen Meng received Mo Xiaoyi’s reply: "There are likely three reasons. First, her research hit a bottleneck. In desperation, she may have sought extreme solutions to achieve results. Second, there was indeed cult involvement; one of her research assistants was arrested, and I’m almost certain he was a cult infiltrator. Third, she might have believed this would benefit the nation, but fearing the authorities wouldn’t approve, she took matters into her own hands and spread her dangerous theory."

Chen Meng fell silent. Whatever her reasons, Deputy Dean Qian Yanjiao paid with her life.

He didn’t reply to Mo Xiaoyi, and after some thought, deleted their chat records.

...

On his way to school, Chen Meng noticed Ma Yiqun seemed distracted.

Chen Meng was still annoyed; Ma had tricked his family into giving him ten thousand, while he only got five thousand. That meant he’d lost fifty knowledge points.

Wait!

A realization struck Chen Meng: Ma Yiqun had seen the online rumors about bathing in kin's blood to elevate one's divine body, and Mo Xiaoyi had mentioned that such elixirs were indeed being sold online for just ten thousand. Ma had probably scammed his family for ten thousand to buy one of those elixirs! Later, the price dropped to five thousand, and with the elixirs thoroughly investigated, his hopes were dashed.

"This guy’s heart is big. If it were me, with a not-so-wealthy family, spending ten thousand on a divine body elixir would be much preferable to shelling out hundreds of thousands," Chen Meng murmured, understanding Ma Yiqun’s thinking.

But if that was the case, did Ma Yiqun still have five thousand on hand?

Chen Meng’s eyes lit up. If only he could borrow that five thousand—he had to figure out a way.

When they arrived at school, Chen Meng, as usual, asked Tang Wenjing what she wanted for lunch, then returned to his seat and casually flipped through books on cultural studies, paying no mind that the morning class was on artifact forging. The artifact forging instructor, well aware of Chen Meng’s situation, didn’t bother with him anymore, having completely given up hope.

In the afternoon, Chen Meng took a brief nap and prepared to continue reading. At that moment, the rune teacher, Yang Shu, stepped onto the podium, scanning the students below.

"We’ll have a quick assessment, just like a mock exam. The papers were prepared by myself and several other teachers—they’re quite substantial. Class leader, please distribute the papers. The exam will last two and a half hours, same as the mock test. Once you finish, you may go home."

A pop quiz?

Everyone drew a sharp breath—it was certainly abrupt.

But according to tradition, the last three months were always filled with endless practice papers. Such tests weren’t unusual. Even during revision, students often set aside time to tackle real past exam papers and review their mistakes, sometimes copying them into their own error books to revisit before the final exam.

Class leader Ni Hu was well accustomed to the process, sorting papers by column and letting the front row pass them to the back.

Chen Meng sat in the second-to-last row. By the time he received his paper, the front row had already written their names, some even beginning the first question.

"Another exam. Runes are just too hard," Ma Yiqun muttered—echoing the sentiment of nearly every student. Of all subjects, runes were the most difficult; few scored above one hundred and thirty in the mock exams.

Chen Meng had reviewed his own past papers and consistently scored around sixty, a very stable performance.

Ma Yiqun was slightly better, scoring just above eighty.

Runes were indeed challenging.

"Out of 862 pages of runes, I’ve mastered 801. It’s time to put my learning to the test," Chen Meng murmured to himself. This was a good opportunity to gauge his true level. "Yiqun, watch my performance this time."

"What did you say?" Ma Yiqun thought he misheard.

Chen Meng smiled mysteriously, wrote his name on the paper, and began answering questions.

The rune formulas on the paper felt intimately familiar; sometimes, he needed only a glance to recall the relevant sections from his books. As long as the content wasn’t beyond the syllabus, he could usually locate the source and deduce the correct answer.

Ma Yiqun watched Chen Meng answer wholeheartedly, feeling as if he were dreaming; he remembered that Chen Meng usually nudged him to let him copy answers at this point.

The rune teacher paced the classroom. Chen Meng had always been a student of interest during exams, but this time, he never glanced at anyone else’s paper.

Time ticked by. After one hour and forty minutes, Chen Meng set down his pen.

He’d done all he could; the remaining questions were beyond him, likely found in the last sixty-one pages he hadn’t studied.

He checked his answers once, confirmed their accuracy, then raised his hand. "Teacher, may I hand in my paper?"

The students paused in surprise, and when they looked back to see it was Chen Meng, understanding dawned.

If you don’t know the answers, it’s better to hand in your paper and go home early.

Everyone thought they understood Chen Meng’s intentions, including Tang Wenjing.

"Chen Meng, wait for me. Let me finish the remaining questions I know, and we’ll leave together," Ma Yiqun whispered.

Before Chen Meng could reply, the rune teacher spoke: "Yes, just place your paper on the desk and you may go."

Chen Meng nodded, packed his things, glanced at Ma Yiqun, and gestured towards his paper. Ma Yiqun didn’t seem to get it, thinking Chen Meng was encouraging him to stop working.

"Let’s go," Chen Meng said quietly, leaving the classroom with casual flair—it had been so long since he’d left school this early.