Chapter 361: Chapter 359: Give Me Some Face (Part 1)
"Niruo." Le Yin took out a rope to tie up his red hair, and waved to Niruo as if greeting a friend: "Afternoon... good!"
At the moment the last word was spoken, his soft and boneless right hand suddenly pulled, Le Yin bent down, his figure like an enigmatic wraith, shifted over ten meters on flat ground, the light and shadows twisted and hid all traces, leaving the students who were secretly observing the two teachers dizzy and confused—it wasn’t that Qin Le Yin was rushing towards Niruo, but rather that the world on Niruo’s side was being pulled over by Qin Le Yin!
Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Streams·Ghost Step!
Niruo suddenly jumped into a strange dance step, his right foot crossed and stretched backward, his whole person spinning backward like a graceful dancer, while he gripped the hilt of the Sakura Tooth Long Sword, retreating with the sword, drawing and spinning the blade between a retreat and a turn, carving out a crescent moon explosion, clearly a backward evasion counterattack, yet the sword momentum pushed forward relentlessly, the blade light hanging like a galaxy, slashing out Thunder Sakura Dragon!
Sakura Dragon Sword Dance·Wave Return!
The Desolate Bite blood light collided with the Sakura Dragon light explosion, instantly like a torpedo exploding in the sea, or like a firecracker sinking into a cesspool, the surrounding light and shadow stirred up ripples, turning ambiguous like a filter added.
"First pull out the nails, then remove the sword sheath." Le Yin’s fingers, like iron clamps, bit onto the Sakura Tooth Long Sword, the blade’s edge just millimeters from his palm, yet unable to cross the final distance: "Split up."
"This isn’t what we agreed on." Niruo said in a low voice.
"First, exposing our alliance too early will only attract others to unite against us." Le Yin pressed down his long sword: "Second, I’m not interested in solving your troubles. I blame my youthful naivety at the time for agreeing to cooperate with you, only to realize later that you are the biggest trouble."
Niruo’s expression didn’t change: "You’re also just laughing at others when you’re no better. Sure, I’m the top enemy of other sword sheaths, but if I withdraw—"
"Then withdraw first if you want, otherwise, prove to me that you have the strength to stay in this game." Le Yin laughed: "You want to use me, show your spirit first."
"Fine!" Niruo shouted, and the two instantly disengaged and separated to either side, "Qin Le Yin, you’ll eventually be persuaded and bow to me!"
"We’ll see." Le Yin clapped his hands, his smile bright as he casually looked around, secretly relieved.
Alright, settled the first tyrant goblin.
What he told Niruo just now was not false, but the most important reason he didn’t mention—if he cooperates with Niruo now, it would be like admitting defeat, letting all the ignorant goblins realize they’ve been played, making not only Niruo, the traitorous partner, targeted, but Le Yin as well.
Luckily, Niruo himself is not clean, Le Yin could easily deflect with a few reasons, drawing him a cake of ’only the strong are worthy to use me Qin Le Yin’, naturally leading him to find trouble with others.
Moreover, before splitting up, Le Yin clashed with Niruo, making other goblins think it wasn’t a trick between them, reinforcing his status as the ’only ally’.
Once Niruo left, Le Yin glanced at the grove near the Nightmare teaching building, going in to start ’pulling nails’.
Cunning in exams isn’t limited to one method, the ’library mode’ chosen by Le Yin’s side, albeit yielding the greatest return and highest potential to seize the Eye of Omniscience first place, other students have their own cunning techniques.
In the Imperial Academy, they are newcomers, with masters of cheating who’ve honed the craft for years. The ’library mode’ is strong but complicated, needing multiple assistants, like a five-man ranking lineup, while the academy has more dual queuing experts and even professional proxies, choosing modes like ’real proxy mode’ or ’studio mode’.
The operation is simple: each of the four department teaching buildings has tall trees nearby, offering multiple vantage points to observe the examination rooms. If outside proxy students achieve sufficient proficiency in ’Flower Combat Technique’, they can directly read and browse the exam papers in the room in bright weather.
The Eye of Omniscience exam is all multiple choice, each having only four options, making a perfect score difficult, yet achieving most questions correctly is easy with collaboration between two academy students: if both the proxy and testing students can perform ’Flower Combat Technique’, they can communicate with eye signals, using codes, akin to two people solving problems together.
What’s more, proxy students typically have taken the Eye of Omniscience exam once or twice, and are broadly knowledgeable, qualifying them for this proxy work. The Eye of Omniscience’s questions are unpredictable, but still the product of Cha Huan, meaning experienced candidates have likely figured out some tricks to guessing right.
’Studio mode’ is even more fearsome, with experienced, skilled candidates proxying outside, uncertain questions can quickly be checked in the library, able to generate a perfect score in minutes.
Compared to the disruptive ’Radiant Celestial Maiden’, these veteran studios are indeed the fiercest competitors for the Eye of Omniscience. Naturally, they won’t yield for Radiant Celestial Maiden, as they are vying for the glory of the four departments!
Indeed, each academic year at the Imperial Academy is divided into two semesters, the first being calm and development-focused, fostering relationships, while the second is time for four department students to compete fiercely, with the Eye of Omniscience as the opening match of the four-department championship!
The Eye of Omniscience has only one seat, yet the academy has four department heads!
Whichever department wins the Eye of Omniscience ensures future head recognition with its advantage, while the other three department heads in the same year lack this credential. In public debates, claiming ’your head doesn’t have the Eye of Omniscience’ can stifle opposition.
Besides face value, stakes include practical benefits—year-end comprehensive department evaluations integrate these extracurricular outcomes, with academic rank rewards—first department earns 5 credits, second earns 2, third 1, and fourth none!
Beyond credits, invisible penalties exist: students must perform academy labor, with past victorious first departments exempt, labor increases progressively for second, third, and fourth departments.
These are trivial considered labor, but Cha Huan’s subtle discrimination against the fourth department is infamous—seen in public debates, where first department insult fourth, Cha Huan looks the other way, but reverse it, and the fourth’s post won’t survive until the cock’s crow!
The majority of students are passionate youths, how could biased admin actions be tolerated?
Of course, they can, as that represents Cha Huan, the ’Tyrant’.
Yet this bolsters fourth department’s competitive spirit, rendering each cohort patient and diligent, ready to strike back in full force after a year!
Cha Huan has managed the Imperial Academy for over a decade, with departments even retaining first position, yet none consecutively ranked fourth, showcasing his skills.
Departmental victories influence pride, credits, and time management, making yielding to the Radiant Celestial Maiden unthinkable.
However, Le Yin surmises some Sword Masters have linked themselves with academy glory, convincing a few deception studios to aid them, like Ming Shuangli, pursuing next year’s Nightmare department head. Niruo’s departure direction likely leads to their deceptive team, Niruo wouldn’t stray far from his sly squad.
Sword sheaths care not for the four-department championship, their aim is to ’pull out’ the ’nails’ who proxy outside!
To ensure novices compete, other golden, diamond-tiered master-grade experts must first be disconnected!