Inside the office.

Shortly after Deng Bingding recorded Yun Jing’s valuation.

A minor deity beside her said, “Lord Deng, Ye Lingxiao is proving troublesome.”

Deng Bingding glanced over and saw that Ye Lingxiao in the illusion was unmoved by almost any temptation.

Whether it was superior cultivation conditions or the success or failure of his family… it seemed nothing could stop him from obtaining his Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate for high school.

If Deng Bingding were to evaluate, it would be that he was sufficiently selfish, sufficiently ambitious, and possessed the spirit to constantly climb the path of immortality.

But Deng Bingding also believed that as long as the price kept rising, he would eventually agree.

After all, everyone had a price.

But what Ye Lingxiao requested was beyond Deng Bingding’s expectations.

In the illusion, Ye Lingxiao said, “You are so incredibly powerful, do you know how to use the Charm Talisman on a person?”

Deng Bingding frowned, “How could Ye Lingxiao know about such things?”

The minor deity beside her said, “Lord Deng, what should we do now?”

“The mysteries of using Charm Talismans on people are of great importance and cannot be easily revealed.”

“Although it’s just an illusion, we could easily deceive him.”

“But the Foundation Establishment Exam’s illusion retains all memories and records.”

“In this case… If the valuation is too low, wouldn’t that be deliberately giving the student a low score? But if the valuation is too high, wouldn’t that let Ye Lingxiao know there’s a big secret involved?”

“This is truly… difficult to handle.”

Deng Bingding felt a wave of trouble, and she realized something.

“This person can propose such a request amidst so many temptations in the illusion… which means he subconsciously already knows the value of this secret is high, and even realizes what it represents.”

“Hmph, this Ye Lingxiao’s curiosity is too strong, and his appetite is too big.”

“But selfishness, recklessness, and insatiable greed, are they not the seeds of an immortal cultivator?”

A thought flashed through her mind, Deng Bingding decided to take a different approach and asked, “Where did he hear about this? Is it just hearsay, or did he actually witness it?”

The minor deity said, “He said he saw it with his own eyes, used by a high school student named Zhang Pianpian. I’ve already looked at that student’s information. She’s very talented, but doesn’t seem like someone who would know this trick. Could she be deceiving Ye Lingxiao?”

Deng Bingding closed her eyes, and countless scenes of the Spirit Realm appeared before her.

Arriving at a row of enormous bookshelves, she randomly opened Zhang Pianpian’s data, and her divine power quickly scanned it, her life story appearing before her.

This was the first-level archive of the Department of All People, theoretically containing information on everyone in the first level.

Deng Bingding quickly flipped through Zhang Pianpian’s information with her divine power, but felt strange.

“This Zhang Pianpian is indeed talented, and even became the deputy leader of the Sungyang City Patrol Team, perhaps a little too talented.”

“Sungyang City again…” Deng Bingding frowned, “Why are the students from Sungyang City so strange?”

Just as she was thinking, the Sixth-Rank Wandering Deity suddenly noticed something was wrong.

“Zhang Pianpian’s file… Someone has tampered with it!”

Thinking that someone had tampered with the archive, Deng Bingding was shocked. When she tried to uncover the truth hidden beneath her file, an unprecedented sense of crisis stopped her.

“Not my business, I don’t want to know anything.” After thinking about it, she immediately retreated, and then reported Ye Lingxiao’s situation, but she didn’t mention Zhang Pianpian’s information problem at all, acting as if she didn’t know.

What surprised her even more was the swiftness of the response from above.

“A decree directly from the Department of All People?” Deng Bingding’s heart skipped a beat, secretly thinking that Zhang Pianpian was indeed problematic, and probably involved some plan or layout from above.

The instruction from the Department of All People was to directly suppress Ye Lingxiao’s valuation to 5.5 billion.

Deng Bingding felt a sense of emotion watching this scene.

Many Kunxu people, especially some poor people… believed that the rules of the Ten Great Sects, the rules of the Eight Divine Departments… were immutable laws, that no one dared violate.

But Deng Bingding knew clearly… sometimes it wasn’t the case.

For example, the Foundation Establishment Exam wasn’t completely free of people daring to have malicious intentions.

It was just that those who dared to have malicious intentions, whether people or gods, had all been sent to the Spirit Realm to enjoy themselves, and gradually no one dared to have such thoughts.

But even the high school Foundation Establishment Exam, in which no one in Kunxu 1st Layer dared to mess around, if the bigwigs above wanted to take action, like suppressing Ye Lingxiao’s valuation right now, then they would just do it.

“People all have a price, and the rules of Kunxu also have a price.”

“As long as you can pay the price, many things can be done.”

“It’s just that for some people, the price is their entire clan. For some, it may only require a decree…”

Deng Bingding cleared the distracting thoughts from her mind, firmly suppressed this matter in the depths of her heart, and never thought about it again.

She turned her attention to the last person currently undergoing the Dao Heart Test—Zhang Yu.

Or rather, at this moment in the office, whether it was her, the Wandering Deity, or the other four petty officials, all were focused on Zhang Yu’s illusion.

Deng Bingding wondered, “This Zhang Yu has actually lasted until now.”

Huang Zichou was a little nervous, but also excited, and said, “Lord Deng, Zhang Yu’s illusion is about to collapse if this continues.”

“What did you say?” With a strong curiosity, Deng Bingding swept her divine power and checked the records of his illusion.

Inside the illusion.

Unknowingly, more and more things had piled up in front of Zhang Yu.

Heavenly Spiritual Roots, Law Bodies, citizen status in a Immortal Capital…

All kinds of valuable items were delivered to Zhang Yu, but he still refused to give up the Foundation Establishment Exam.

Even when they offered him shares in a company, Zhang Yu’s face was tempted, but he still gritted his teeth and didn’t refuse the Foundation Establishment Exam.

Because as soon as he had that thought, the chill in his heart would follow.

“Can’t this idiotic ritual accept conditions and let me take the exam next year?”

“No, although this ritual is idiotic, it shouldn’t be like this. What’s the problem?”

In the illusion’s constant testing and increasing the price, Zhang Yu’s consciousness gradually felt something was wrong.

“Wait… this is worth over a hundred million now, isn’t it?”

“Are you giving too much?”

“Is giving up the Foundation Establishment Exam really worth this price?”

As Zhang Yu began to think about these things, everything in front of him seemed to become more and more strange, giving him the feeling of being in a dream.

Inside the office.

Deng Bingding frowned, “Why is it opening up to such a high price? What are you doing?”

She already suspected that Huang Zichou was randomly raising the price.

Huang Zichou said, “Lord Deng, you can look at the records! I really didn’t randomly raise the price. The illusion is operating according to the rules, increasing it little by little. I’ve really tried everything, but he just refuses to give up.”

Deng Bingding frowned and repeatedly looked through the records, finding that Zhang Yu was indeed impervious to persuasion.

Deng Bingding knew that although illusions could make students subconsciously ignore many strange things within them, this ignoring wasn’t limitless.

As students continued to refuse, with the price given becoming higher and higher, the entire illusion would become more and more illogical, making the test taker feel more and more awkward.

When this sense of awkwardness reached its limit, it also meant the collapse of the illusion.

People like Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing were wealthy and strong, being likely winners of the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate. Under the illusion’s influence, the price had risen all the way up, and the two were able to subconsciously ignore the awkwardness.

But Zhang Yu’s level was far from being a winning candidate, and he was poor to begin with, so as the price soared, he would be more likely to feel something was wrong.

Watching this scene, Deng Bingding suddenly had a thought she hadn’t had before, “The poor actually have an advantage in this test. That is, once they persevere, they are more likely than the rich… to see through the illusion and break through the limit!”

Shaking her head, she temporarily put aside the extra thoughts in her heart, and asked, “Didn’t you ask him what he wants?”

Huang Zichou quickly said, “I asked! Please look further!”

Inside the illusion.

Zhang Yu felt that everything in front of him was more and more like a dream.

How could anyone offer so much money for him to give up the Foundation Establishment Exam?

Especially the reaction of the ritual made him feel that everything was very wrong.

“Could it be that I’m now…”

At this moment, the other party’s question interrupted his thoughts.

After hearing it, Zhang Yu asked curiously, “What do I want?”

Thinking that under the compulsion of the ritual he carried, what he wanted most was to remove the ritual’s power and give himself true freedom.

But he didn’t dare to speak about matters related to the Evil God at all. Even if he felt like he was dreaming at this moment, he didn’t dare to say it.

So what he could say was only another goal, which was to enter the Ten Great Sects and join a sect to complete this path of desire.

Combining it with the condition of giving up the Foundation Establishment Exam now…

Zhang Yu slightly organized his words in his heart, and felt that the request he was about to make would be one that the other party would never agree to.

But the feeling of dreaming made him suddenly smile, and he said somewhat presumptuously, “I want to climb the path of immortality, all the way up.”

“So if you want me to give up, then unless you can give me a better opportunity.”

“An opportunity that is better than passing the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate on the first try, better than entering university, better than having a better treatment after entering the Ten Great Sects, a higher chance of joining a sect… then I will give up the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.”

“Oh, and this matter must include Bai Zhenzhen.”

Inside the office.

“Everyone has a price.”

This was something Deng Bingding had confirmed countless times.

But this time, hearing Zhang Yu’s asking price, even if it was an extremely high price due to the illusion, Deng Bingding was still shocked.

“This guy… Does he know what he’s asking for?”

“A poor wretch from Kunxu 1st Layer is actually asking for such an outrageous price?”

“This is a treatment even better than passing the Foundation Establishment Certificate for high school that can be encountered in the 1st Layer?”

“Don’t even mention the 1st Layer, even the billionaires of the 2nd Layer or even the 3rd Layer may not be able to grab the opportunity he wants.”

“And it has to include another person…”

Looking at Zhang Yu in the illusion, Deng Bingding didn’t know whether to say that his ambition to climb the path of immortality was inflated enough, or that he had released his greedy side under the influence of the illusion.

Huang Zichou said, “Lord Deng, what do we do? He himself knows that this kind of asking price is impossible, right? He doesn’t plan to give up the Foundation Establishment Exam at all.”

Deng Bingding said, “Continuing to test him is meaningless. The temptation to him has already exceeded the limit of temptations he might face.”

“If the illusion really fulfilled this unreasonable request, Zhang Yu would probably completely wake up from it, and the illusion would collapse.”

“Or rather…” Deng Bingding said lightly, “He may already be about to wake up.”

“End this Dao Heart Test.”

Huang Zichou said, “Then what about Zhang Yu’s results?”

“What else can we do?” Deng Bingding sighed, “At least this illusion can’t test his limit.”

After saying that, she recorded, “Zhang Yu, valuation unknown, Dao Heart Test failed to test his limit.”