"Hahaha!"

Li Xiaoshuang and the other man both burst out laughing.

Chen Che’s face darkened. ’This is a classic case of eliminating the correct answer first.’

But since Li Xiaoshuang was smoothing things over, he didn’t have to keep forcing an explanation.

"I’m sure you’ve heard. Two more Fifth Layer students passed the fifth trial today."

Li Xiaoshuang smiled and said,

"Your combat score is very high, but your Realm is your weak point. While you’re studying Martial Techniques and Alchemy, don’t forget your daily Cultivation! Every time your Realm breaks through, your combat score will see a huge boost. Remember, don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish!"

"Understood!"

Chen Che nodded.

He knew, of course, that Li Xiaoshuang was still worried he was secretly trying to expand his meridians or figuring out ways to condense his Divine Sense ahead of schedule.

Seeing that Chen Che had taken his words to heart, Li Xiaoshuang continued,

"Just proceed step-by-step. Aim to reach the Sixth or Seventh Layer of Qi Refining by the end of your second year, and the Eighth Layer in your third year! With your scores, you’ll be able to choose from the absolute best of the Yiben Daoist Schools!"

"Don’t disappoint Teacher Li!"

Yan Jun chimed in, not forgetting to pat Chen Che on the shoulder.

It seemed to be a professional habit for every teacher to seize any opportunity to lecture a student. What started as advice from Li Xiaoshuang turned into a two-front assault from both homeroom teachers. It was a full half-hour before they finally finished.

"You can go back now!"

"Goodbye, teachers!"

Leaving the office, all of them couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.

By now, there were few people left on campus.

As the setting sun cast its light over the school grounds, the distinct sounds of roaring and a desk being slammed could be heard. It was clearly a student who had done poorly on an exam being chewed out by a teacher. The piercing reprimand made the three of them picture a roaring lion.

"Master Chen, what videos do you usually watch to learn combat?"

Back in the classroom, Chen Che packed his bag, glanced at the time, and was about to leave when Huang Zhongfei called out to him. "Can you send me the links?"

Beside them, Ye Youwei also turned her head to look.

"..."

Chen Che froze for a moment. He thought back to the short videos he usually scrolled through and casually threw out two names. "Immortal Sect Entrance Exam Combat Highlights, and Perfect Score Entrance Exam Combat."

Hearing this, the two of them quickly opened All-Encompassing Search.

Instantly, countless video compilations appeared on their phones.

"Is watching these useful?" Ye Youwei asked in a low voice.

Chen Che thought for a moment and answered honestly, "Not very. It’s more important to practice regularly. Otherwise, when you’re in a real situation, your body won’t be able to keep up with the movements."

Ye Youwei saved the two most popular compilations. "Thanks!"

"No problem. I have something to do today, so I’m heading out."

Chen Che waved goodbye. His mind was on the side hall; he needed to hurry to the locksmith shop.

While on his way, he opened his phone, logged into his personal database, and saw that Li Xiaoshuang had indeed sent the analysis video.

The first four trials were basically skipped over.

The first four matches were quick, crushing victories with few details to analyze. But for the fifth trial, the commentary became much more extensive.

It covered small tips on the timing of his attacks, the angle of his sword strikes, and his combat responses. Beyond that, Wei Wu also pointed out that his True Martial Seventeen Scattering Hands lacked power and that his Qi and Blood needed to be further strengthened.

There was also a comment from Li Xiaoshuang: "Martial Techniques and combat fundamentals are solid. Cultivation Realm is the weak point."

Of course,

for a normal student with a Middle Grade Spirit Root, reaching the Qi Refining Fourth Layer at the start of their second year was already considered excellent.

However, Li Xiaoshuang had reached this conclusion by comparing him to the group of students with Upper Spirit Roots and Earth Spirit Roots.

’Looks like I should hold off on expanding my meridians for now.’

"Huh?"

Just then, he noticed something else in his personal database. Besides the video of his own exam, there were also videos of Ye Youwei, Huang Zhongfei, and the top students from other classes fighting in the fifth trial. Each video came with a teacher’s commentary.

Evidently, his video would likely be available to the top students in other classes as well.

"The school’s benefits are pretty great!"

Chen Che exclaimed with genuine feeling.

Back in Yunzhou, sectarian prejudice was extremely severe. To get similar guidance, you had to call the other person ’Master’!

He would pass on his skills, you would learn his abilities, and in return, you were expected to care for him in his old age and see to his funeral.

"Master Wu, is your daughter not minding the shop?"

Stepping into the locksmith shop, Chen Che saw that Wu Neng was already sitting there waiting, but he didn’t see the little girl who was usually hunched over the counter doing her homework.

"She went out shopping with her classmates."

Wu Neng was reading a book at his workbench. Seeing Chen Che enter, he casually set the book down, pulled up a stool, and turned to brew some tea. Chen Che glanced at the book Wu Neng had left on the table—holy crap, the Tier Three Array Manual.

A Golden Core Level book.

"Live and learn. This is my line of work, so of course I have to keep studying."

Wu Neng noticed Chen Che’s gaze and explained casually. He sat down in front of Chen Che, lit a cigarette, and said while exhaling a cloud of smoke, "That Array Lock you sent me before... I studied it for a whole week and finally found the last few nodes."

"Then I discovered that these nodes actually contained some Tier Three Array Patterns. Did you know—"

"Hold on!"

Chen Che knew the man’s shtick.

Wu Neng would always go on about how difficult and troublesome the job was, to the point of once making Chen Che mistakenly think he couldn’t do it. So Chen Che had learned to just cut straight to the point. "Just tell me. How much to break the lock?"

"Twenty-four thousand!"

"Twenty-two thousand!"

"Deal!"

Since this was their third time working together, Wu Neng didn’t beat around the bush and immediately took out three Array Discs.

Then, he opened his computer, set the video playback speed to 0.1x, and began explaining the method for breaking the Array to Chen Che frame by frame.

Of course, if Chen Che had any questions, the man would answer them with great patience, showing a remarkable degree of professionalism.

"By the way, Master Wu, this is another brute-force method. It won’t cause an explosion inside the room, will it?"

After finishing the explanation and repeating the process to ensure nothing was missed, Chen Che suddenly thought of a key question.

He was extremely curious about the mentality of owners who would lock a door from the inside while they were still at home, so a few days ago, he had casually asked about it on the Six Continents Free Communication Forum.

The netizen ’Road Rage Driver’, who had previously flamed him for needing a locksmith to break an Array, showed up again and flamed him with a reply:

"Why lock the door?"

"You don’t even get that? Think about it. Why would you lock a safe even when you’re home?"

Although the guy had an explosive temper, every word he said cut straight to the heart of the matter. This made Chen Che take the contents of the side hall very seriously.

Wu Neng gave Chen Che a deep look.

Just as Chen Che thought the man was about to pull out a disclaimer, Wu Neng slowly shook his head. "Don’t worry. Only the Array Disc will be destroyed."

...

「Yunzhou, Cave Mansion.」

Chen Che stood nervously before the side hall’s door.

Following Wu Neng’s instructions, he placed two Array Discs to the left and right of the side hall. After injecting True Essence, the originally calm Array immediately began to ripple violently.

According to Wu Neng’s explanation, this was like connecting two high-power devices to a running machine, causing its power supply to be divided. If the power consumption of these two external devices became large enough, it would overwhelm the entire Array—

The equivalent of a power overload!

Chen Che continuously injected True Essence into the two Array Discs. The ripples in the Array grew larger and larger, but there was still no sign of it breaking.

At this moment, he took out the third Array Disc.

A stream of True Essence flowed into it.

BANG!

A muffled shattering sound came from within the side hall.

The sealing Array suddenly trembled, as if it were being forcibly ripped apart by two hands.

Then, to Chen Che’s delighted surprise, the watery curtain of the Array flickered once before collapsing into a cascade of water.

It was open!