Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Main Focus on a Comeback
 

Most students from the Alchemy and Spiritual Planting Institute recognized the head of the Spiritual Planting Department.

All the students from the Spiritual Planting Department knew that there was a plot of land in the Spirit Plant Garden that was exclusively for the department head’s experiments.

However, in fact, only a very few senior members of Lotus University, including the head of the Spiritual Planting Department, knew that the true owner of the Lotus University’s Spirit Plant Garden was not some department head but another grass.

The Foxtail Grass that pulled itself out of the ground was named Yusheng.

During the day, he was the least noticeable plant in the Spirit Plant Garden.

But at night, he was the most dazzling “lad” in the entire Spirit Plant Garden.

Because only he could be considered a “lad” in the whole Spirit Plant Garden; the others were all just plants.

After Yusheng left the soil, he quickly transformed into human form.

He became a cultivator, a human of short stature, thin build, and with an appearance that seemed old.

Despite Yusheng’s unimpressive appearance, the aura of his cultivation level was extremely robust and solid, indicating he was a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator.

In the natural world, for a plant to transform into a monster and take on a form, it first requires a long period of time, gradually accumulating spiritual energy before it can awaken its spiritual intellect and embark on the path of cultivation.

This process usually takes nearly a thousand years. Thus, many plants with short lifespans never have the chance to cultivate and become monsters.

Clearly, Foxtail Grass cannot live for a thousand years.

Therefore, Yusheng did not originate from the natural world, nor was he the protagonist of a novel who changed his fate through his own efforts.

The cultivation of Yusheng was purely accidental.

Within the forbidden lands of Tongtian Sect, there was an ancient elm tree that had lived for an unknown number of years, and Yusheng was fortunate enough to become a grass under that elm tree.

Then, whether it was intentional or accidental,

a dewdrop full of spirituality fell onto Yusheng’s head.

Having been enlightened by this, Yusheng then awakened his spiritual intelligence and, thanks to the protection of the elm tree and the resources of the forbidden lands, was able to cultivate to Nascent Soul without any pressure.

But Tongtian Sect would not allow a Nascent Soul monster to roam freely within their sect.

Thus, they gave Yusheng a position, making him a monster with official duties, legal and legitimate.

Yusheng was initially quite happy, as having a position meant he could roam legally.

But what he never expected was that with a position, he would actually have to work!

Luckily for him, his duties were the ultimate in idleness—guarding the Lotus University Spirit Plant Garden.

These days, peace abounded, and the students of Lotus University were very well-behaved, so Yusheng had absolutely nothing to do.

Having been there for over a hundred years, the owners of the glasshouses had changed several times, and he did not know how much longer he would have to stay.

Fortunately, no one in the Capital paid much attention to him, and even those who knew of his existence were few and far between. As long as he didn’t cause trouble, and colluded with the owners of the glasshouses, he could easily go out and play for a few years without any problems.

Yusheng walked around the Spirit Plant Garden, hands tucked into his sleeves and neck retracted, ambling about like a little old man.

He saw the Spirit Plant Garden every day. He had grown bored of every plant in there; it really wasn’t much fun.

However, today, Yusheng found an intriguing toy.

It seemed that some student had left behind a Talisman in the Spirit Plant Garden.

And it was a Talisman that Yusheng had never seen before!

Not only had he never seen it before, but he had never ever seen it before!

This was getting interesting.

The two unseen Talismans were placed on a stick, facing a “Seeking Sun Grass”, doing something that seemed rather purposeful.

Yusheng took the Talismans from the stick, one in each hand, and examined them carefully.

“A first-order Control Talisman? No, that’s wrong, it’s not a simple Control Talisman. It looks like a Control Talisman from the puppeteer’s cultivation system. But this Talisman doesn’t seem to control puppets… Strange… How can I, a Nascent Soul, not understand a first-order Talisman? Has Talisman technology really developed to this extent?”

Yusheng was shocked.

First-order Talismans were toys for those in the Qi Training phase.

He was, after all, at the Nascent Soul level!

Not understanding a toy for Qi Training was somewhat embarrassing, wasn’t it?

“I really don’t believe this! A small Talisman, and I can’t make sense of it!?”

Yusheng did not sleep all night.

In the morning, Jiang Cheng and Yue Linger hurried to the Spirit Plant Garden to collect the Talismans.

Their job was not complete after the collection; they still needed to organize the data recorded from the different Talismans.

“Yue, pay attention to where our Talismans were previously placed. If they were blown away by the wind, we need to collect samples again,” Jiang Cheng cautioned.

“Sure.”

Yue Linger hummed a tune as she went over to the Seeking Sun Grass, happily putting the Translation Talisman and Autonomy Talisman meant for the grass into her bosom.

What she did not notice was that a Foxtail Grass had grown on the side of the road beneath her feet.

The freshman assessment at Qinghe Xuanran University was completely different from Lotus Cloud University.

Qingxuan University only had four rounds.

They respectively tested “survival,” “talent,” “comprehension,” and “willpower.”

Today was the last round of assessments for the first batch of freshmen at Qingxuan University.

Willpower assessment!

The willpower assessment at Qingxuan University was called “Chaotic Heart Mountain.”

Chaotic Heart Mountain had twenty levels of steps.

Each level was imbued with an illusion art.

The moment one stepped onto the steps, they would fall into an illusion realm; whether they could see through the illusion to climb to the top or be trapped by the illusion and end their assessment depended entirely on the willpower level of each candidate.

Above the assessment grounds of Chaotic Heart Mountain, five cultivators were floating.

Among them, four were at the Core Formation stage and one at the Nascent Soul stage.

All of them were female cultivators from the Taixu Sect.

Below them, in the assessment fields, more than two-thirds of the candidates were female.

The vast majority of them would apply for the Taixu Sect after graduation.

However, as one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, the Taixu Sect would only pick the best of the best from Qingxuan University.

“Chaotic Heart Mountain will start soon; tell me, who are you looking forward to?” the Nascent Soul female cultivator said.

“If we’re going by the scores of the previous three rounds, naturally it would be ‘Tianji Third’.”

“Indeed, she scored full marks in the previous three rounds, and for this round at Chaotic Heart Mountain, she must also be aiming for a full score.”

“On the contrary, I think ‘Tianji Third’ is somewhat better. Her average score is 90, and her character is not self-satisfied.”

The last Core Formation stage cultivator said, “I fancy ‘Tianxuan Eleven.’ Her average score in the previous three rounds was 80, which may not be the best, but she has a fighting spirit in her.”

The Nascent Soul female cultivator smiled, “I feel the same way as you do.”

The Chaotic Heart Mountain assessment officially began.

The first batch of one hundred freshmen from Qingxuan University started ascending the steps of Chaotic Heart Mountain one after another.

Some walked quickly, others slowly, but the vast majority were stopped short at the mountainside.

There were but a few cultivators above the mountainside.

A female cultivator dressed in a bright red robe was leading everyone. She was graceful and exceptionally beautiful, a rare beauty indeed.

Her chest bore the mark “Tianji Third,” which was the “full marks in three rounds” spoken of by the Core Formation cultivators.

But at this moment, facing the illusion realm of Chaotic Heart Mountain, even she could barely move a step.

Cultivation level could be boosted by resources and talent, techniques could be learned from master teachers, but willpower was something that only came from within.

Tianji Third took difficult steps towards the peak of Chaotic Heart Mountain.

If she could complete five more steps, she would undoubtedly be the top student of her class at Qingxuan University.

Ordinary people might not be so competitive, but she was a princess of Great Liang, bearing the dignity of the royal family. She couldn’t lose!

Tianji Third struggled to lift her foot, but before she could set it down, a female cultivator who had been behind her suddenly passed her by.

This female cultivator walked quickly and steadily, as if no illusion could cause her the slightest trouble.

“How is that possible? How did she do it?”

Tianji Third looked up, watching the back of the female cultivator, staring dumbfounded as she completed all the steps and reached the peak of Chaotic Heart Mountain, earning a full score in the final round of assessments at Qingxuan University.

And her badge read “Tianxuan Eleven.”

The favorite candidate of the Nascent Soul female cultivator.

“Could you tell me your name?” Tianji Third asked, looking up.

The female cultivator at the top of the mountain turned around, presenting her stunningly beautiful face unreservedly to Tianji Third’s eyes.

Her expression was indifferent, and her tone was cold, apparently not considering anything such as “full marks in three rounds” to be significant.

“Lin Yao,” she said simply.