Night Lingxiao gazed at the person who had effortlessly intercepted his red packet talisman.

The newcomer was a man of slender build, appearing almost frail.

But beyond his thinness, the most captivating feature was his eyes, as radiant as the stars themselves, swirling with countless points of brilliant light.

Standing beside him, Zhang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. “It’s a Divine Relic!”

Divine Relics. He remembered the first time he’d seen one, it was on the Branch Director of the Songyang City Immortal Rhyme Division, a Foundation Establishment powerhouse. He’d heard Zhao Tianxing say that embedding a Divine Relic required at least 100 points of spiritual power.

Zhang Yu had never seen any of the high school students he’d encountered with a Divine Relic.

Just then, Night Lingxiao asked, “Yun Jing, why is my red packet talisman ineffective against you?”

The man before him, abnormally thin with Divine Relics implanted in his eyes, was named Yun Jing.

As the top student of Immortal Cloud High, the strongest high school in Immortal Capital City, a favored prodigy living in the first layer of Kunxu, Yun Jing had already swept through Immortal Cloud High, even all the high schools in Immortal Capital City, leaving no opponents.

“The strongest high school student in the first layer of Kunxu.”

That was his self-perception.

No.

That was the objective assessment given to Yun Jing by the Kunxu first layer headquarters of Purple Cloud Pharmaceuticals after conducting tests on him.

Hearing Night Lingxiao’s question, Yun Jing smiled faintly and said, “Because I’ve been imprinted with an anti-fraud talisman.”

“Your red packet talisman crashing into me is like a moth flying into a flame, utterly useless.”

He stretched out his arms, laughing loudly, “Which means I am now immune to such talismans.”

At that moment, everyone felt as though Yun Jing’s wave of the hand had summoned a surging river of divine force, protecting him from all kinds of disturbances, traps, and deceptions.

Night Lingxiao nodded slightly. “It seems the red packet talisman has too many limitations. Only the affection talisman is truly unstoppable.”

Yun Jing shook his head. “Affection talismans are unstoppable against the gods, but they’re useless against people.”

Night Lingxiao shook his head but remained silent.

But in his heart, he thought, “Affection talismans can work on people. I once saw someone use it that way.”

Seeing that scene, Night Lingxiao vaguely sensed that it might contain a great secret.

This secret filled him with curiosity while also filling him with a hint of shock, making him want to research talismans even more.

But Night Lingxiao had no intention of sharing such important and valuable information with Yun Jing and the others for free.

Currently, high school students from Immortal Capital City, like Night Lingxiao and Yun Jing, stood together, making up 90% of the number.

While examinees like Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Yu Xinghan, from other cities, stood in small groups at a distance, far fewer in number than the Immortal Capital City natives.

Zhang Yu sighed, “The Immortal Capital City youngsters really have it good. Did they monopolize the Foundation Establishment exams in previous years?”

Yu Xinghan nodded slightly. “I heard that the best high schools here can invite executives from various companies to lecture them, the teachers for Daoist arts are gods, and each student has a personal Yellow Turban Warrior to spar with…”

Zhang Yu was shocked. The disparity in immortal cultivation educational resources was simply too great.

Bai Zhenzhen, standing beside him, was filled with envy. The Immortal Capital City youths were simply more powerful than those from Songyang.

Just then, the metal gate before them shuddered, and lines of text appeared on the side screen.

Zhang Yu looked over and saw that they were the rules for the upcoming test.

In short, the metal gate required the simultaneous fulfillment of three requirements: physical strength, spiritual power, and martial prowess, to open.

In terms of physical strength, one had to have the power to push open the metal gate.

In terms of martial prowess and spiritual power, one had to strike nine different positions on the metal gate with nine different palm techniques in a certain sequence within three seconds.

Only then could the metal gate be pushed open, allowing one to enter and complete the heart-dao test.

That is to say, as long as one could push open the metal gate and pass the heart-dao test within, one would have truly completed the registration and be qualified to participate in the Foundation Establishment Exam.

Zhang Yu thought, “The specific details of these nine palm techniques, as well as the sequence, are like a set of passwords. Only by answering correctly can the door be opened.”

“According to what it says on the wall, this password will change after each opening…”

As Zhang Yu was still looking at how the nine palm techniques were condensed, he noticed that the writing on the wall changed, the sequence and content of the nine palm techniques all changed.

At the same time, a time of 0.64 seconds appeared above the metal gate.

With a loud creak, the metal gate was violently pushed open by Yun Jing, revealing a bottomless darkness.

Yun Jing casually stepped out, and as the metal gate closed again, he vanished into the darkness in an instant.

After Yun Jing left, Night Lingxiao’s figure flashed like lightning. Zhang Yu didn’t even see all his movements clearly. Nine loud sounds rang out in succession, sounding like a single collision.

The time of 0.65 seconds appeared above the metal gate.

In the next moment, Night Lingxiao was already standing in front of the door, easily pushing open the metal gate.

Zhang Yu thought, “Less than a second, and he’s already completed the nine palm strikes? And it might not even be their full strength.”

Watching Yun Jing and Night Lingxiao open the metal gate one after another, Zhang Yu felt an unprecedented pressure.

“These two should be high school sophomores, about to be juniors?”

“They’ve cultivated for one year longer than me, and they’re already this much stronger?”

“Is this the level of the strongest high school students in the first layer of Kunxu?”

Zhang Yu clearly realized that he was far inferior to these two at the moment.

And if he wanted to pass the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam, he would need to catch up to their level in the future.

Standing beside him, Bai Zhenzhen also took a deep breath, feeling the spiritual roots in her body stirring.

“They’re so strong.” Bai Zhenzhen thought, “Can I really pass the Foundation Establishment Exam this year?”

Although she had been cheering herself up and cultivating with all her might.

But now that she had truly arrived in Immortal Capital City, whether it was the giant floating city, the prices at the train station, or the performance of these Immortal Capital City youths before her… it was like a punch after punch, slowly pressing down on Bai Zhenzhen’s straight back, making her gradually feel the difference between herself and the people here.

To the point where a hint of escapism couldn’t help but rise in Bai Zhenzhen’s heart: “It doesn’t matter if I lose this year, there’s still a chance next year, right?”

But in the next moment, she immediately suppressed this distraction, thinking, “No matter what, I must try my best.”

Although Yu Xinghan, standing beside her, also felt pressure, it was not as strong as the pressure felt by Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

He thought, “This time, I’m just here to get a feel for the atmosphere of the Foundation Establishment Exam in advance, and take the opportunity to get my expenses reimbursed. My real opportunity is next year.”

In the time that followed, the candidates went up one by one, opening the doors one after another.

Zhang Yu wasn’t in a hurry, instead staying in place to observe these guys who might become his opponents.

“Most of them should be sophomores. Except for those two at the beginning who solved it in under a second, the rest mostly solved it in under two seconds.”

“The rest who are weaker than me… must be freshmen, mostly opening the metal gate in two to four seconds.”

Those who took more than three seconds to open the door failed to meet the test requirements and were sent away by a sudden hole appearing under their feet, obviously eliminated.

Seeing that no one was going up for the time being, Zhang Yu walked up, striking the metal gate with palm after palm while looking at the nine palm techniques recorded on the wall next to him.

Relying on his superior spiritual power control and physical control, he circled the metal gate like a whirlwind, spending 2.3 seconds to imprint the nine palm techniques on the nine different positions on the metal gate.

Then, he stood in front of the metal gate, and with a hard push from both hands, he pushed the metal gate open completely, stepping into the darkness.

From the darkness, there seemed to be the roars of countless beasts and monsters.

In the next moment, as a burst of firelight lit up, hundreds and thousands of monsters charged forward.

Zombies, fox demons, ghosts… they all charged together, as if to tear Zhang Yu into pieces.

However, when Zhang Yu gathered his courage and fought with the monsters, he found that they were vulnerable. Soon, he had cut his way through, pushing open the exit door at the end of the passage, and found himself back in the toilet stall at the train station.

“The final heart-dao test is courage.”

Zhang Yu opened his phone, logged into the registration website, confirmed that he had successfully registered and passed the test, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Only, in a daze, he felt like he had overlooked something.

But as soon as he tried to think about it, he had already forgotten it.

Zhang Yu shook his head, and as soon as he walked out of the toilet door, he was knocked unconscious by a palm strike.

At the same time.

In the office where Zhang Yu had just registered.

The middle-aged woman who helped Zhang Yu register sat behind her desk, with the figures of four other people appearing on the four screens next to her.

The middle-aged woman was named Deng Bingding.

Although as a Quadrant Wandering God, she was a sixth-rank deity, a significant figure compared to the ninth-rank Recording Angel.

But Deng Bingding never felt particularly proud of it.

Everyone thinks it’s good to be a god, that divine authority is great, but what if you really become a god?

Deng Bingding had been to the Celestial Court. She knew how high the steps there were, how far she was from the various great gods, how insignificant her authority was in this Kunxu, and that she was just a useful tool in the eyes of the immortals.

Just like at this moment, because of a sudden order from her superiors, she could only slow down the work she was originally doing, devote a lot of energy to participate in the temporary overtime of the Foundation Establishment Exam, maintain order in the examination room, and protect student information from leaking.

She glanced at the other four figures on the screens, the four minor gods who had been sent to assist her.

Deng Bingding said, “This reform of the Foundation Establishment Exam is a verbal order from a Celestial Immortal and an approval from a Divine Lord. I will have to trouble everyone to keep a close eye on things.”

“Not at all, we will all listen to your instructions, Lord Deng…”

Amidst a burst of pleasantries, Deng Bingding had already received affection talismans from the four minor gods.

Lower-rank gods issuing affection talismans to higher-rank gods to increase goodwill was originally the behavior of individual gods, but now it had unknowingly spread widely throughout the Kunxu divine realm.

Deng Bingding was quite disdainful of this, and even deeply disgusted by such formalities.

She looked at the amounts sent by the four minor gods, and her brow furrowed. “Everyone else sent over ten thousand, but you gave me five thousand? What does that mean?”

Deng Bingding immediately remembered the minor god with the smallest amount of affection talismans.

“Huang Zichou.”

“You’ve turned a good affection talisman directly into an ill-will talisman. What a talent. No wonder you’re still a ninth-rank god.”

Deng Bingding sighed inwardly. That’s why she hated these formalities. Before superiors and subordinates could even cooperate on work, they were already at odds. How could they properly handle matters for the great gods?

She still missed the days when she could talk about numbers face-to-face and transfer money without anyone checking.

She pinched a Daoist incantation, and as streams of divine power surged, a series of screens appeared before her, showing the encounters of each student after entering the metal gate.

Deng Bingding said indifferently, “As you four know, life has always been difficult with so many mouths in the Eight Departments.”

“The reason for suddenly adding this registration test this year is, on one hand, to use those physical, spiritual, and martial arts screenings to filter out some freshmen to save on the exam budget.”

“On the other hand, and this is the focus from above, is to leave behind the truly useful talents through the heart-dao test and sweep away those who become weaklings after climbing up…”