Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Jiang Cheng Already Has a Path to Certain Death

Translator: 549690339

Wuyue Residence.

The apartment today wasn’t much different from usual.

Liu Qing stayed on her domain—a balcony not far from Jiang Cheng, quietly basking in the sun, while Jiang Cheng sat alone at the living room table, organizing his books.

After days of reading, summarizing, categorizing, and researching “Dialogue with College Students” magazine, Jiang Cheng finally understood the underlying logic of the Lotus Cloud University freshman practical exams.

Although the questions for the Lotus Cloud University freshman practical exams change every year, the underlying logic has always been the same, unwavering.

The underlying logic for the freshman practical exams is based on the school’s hopeful expectations for its students.

The school hopes to recruit freshmen who excel in all five areas: morals, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills.

After careful comparison by Jiang Cheng, all five rounds of practical exam questions from Lotus Cloud University, without exception, relate to “morals, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills.”

The only difference is the order in which they’re tested.

Sometimes “morals” come first, sometimes “physical fitness,” and so on.

“Morals” refers to the quality of one’s character.

“Intelligence” to one’s level of intellect.

“Physical fitness” to the strength of one’s body.

“Aesthetics” to one’s level of artistic appreciation.

“Labor skills” to one’s hands-on ability.

All are straightforward and honest desires.

Attempting to solve practical exam questions purely based on their face value clearly falls short.

Only by reasoning from the fundamental logic upward can you answer accurately and efficiently.

Jiang Cheng still remembered one year during the college entrance examination, the reading comprehension was about a fish with a “slightly sinister glint in its eyes.”

When this question was released, it created a sensation online, and even the original author didn’t know why the fish’s eyes were glittering.

But if you used Jiang Cheng’s “fundamental logic analysis method” to decode it, it would be easy to interpret.

As for the original author, they’re a layperson after all, what would they know about reading comprehension?

Why do fish eyes glitter?

You would glitter too if you were encouraged by an Animal Encouragement Talisman!

This glitter clearly represented the will of a fish that struggled, inherent and unique to its heart of perseverance!

Answer: The author connects the preceding and following content. At the end of the article, he uses anthropomorphism vividly and vividly writes that even after the fish’s death, its struggling will continues to shine indefatigably. Using anthropomorphism, he praises the protagonist’s tenacious and unyielding spirit in the face of life’s hardships. It highlights the core of the article, deepens the main theme of the whole text, and echoes the description of the environment at the beginning…

As long as you use Jiang Cheng’s “fundamental logic analysis method” to solve it, a so-called perfect score is merely the limit of the marks, not the limit of the answerer’s strength.

After deducing the underlying logic in Lotus Cloud University’s exam approach, Jiang Cheng also analyzed the examination rules for the Lotus Cloud University practical exams.

The practical exams at Lotus Cloud University, similar to Tianheng Sword Cultivation Academy’s practical exams, have fairly strict regulations concerning “Magical Treasures,” “Talismans,” “Elixirs,” and other external tools.

Both the number of items that exam candidates can bring and the kinds of items themselves, just like at the Sword Cultivation Academy, are explicitly regulated.

The good news is that although the regulations change from year to year, the overall changes are not significant.

Magical Treasures, Elixirs, Formations, and other items are not within Jiang Cheng’s capability, so he doesn’t plan on delving into them.

But Talismans are different.

Talismans are Jiang Cheng’s traditional strength, and he must rely on them to secure his exam points steadily!

However, there is a small problem.

The Lotus Cloud University practical exams consist of five questions over five rounds.

But according to Lotus Cloud University’s customary examination regulations in previous years, candidates can only bring three Talismans and one Magical Treasure.

That means Jiang Cheng must use three one-time Talismans and one Reusable Type Talisman to tackle five exams!

Essentially, for each exam, Jiang Cheng can only use 0.8 types of Talisman!

Even though there is a Reusable Type Talisman, the total number of Talismans Jiang Cheng can use isn’t small. However, due to the exam regulations, the types of Talismans he can use are severely limited.

How to handle five exams with four types of Talismans, three of which are single-use ordinary Talismans and only one is reusable, is now the primary challenge Jiang Cheng faces.

“Hoo.”

He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Jiang Cheng began brainstorming.

In the game, many game characters’ skills have several modes that can produce different effects, such as a first-stage Q, a second-stage Q, and a third-stage Q.

But upon closer analysis, one realizes that these multi-stage skills are essentially different manifestations of the same effect; they are still a single skill.

What Jiang Cheng wanted was to achieve two completely different effects on a single talisman.

It was similar to the difference between physical and chemical changes.

Physical change refers to a change in the form of a substance without altering its essence.

Chemical change refers to a fundamental transformation of the substance, which also changes its form.

Chemistry?

Chemistry.

Chemistry…

A spark of inspiration flashed through Jiang Cheng’s mind, and he suddenly comprehended a brand-new concept for talisman crafting!

He was willing to call it: Talisman Soul Fusion Skill!

If substances could undergo chemical reactions to create new substances,

then talismans should also be able to undergo “chemical changes” to produce new talismans!

Logical!

The principle was completely plausible!

Although the Talisman Soul Fusion Skill could increase the variety of talismans, it still had one fatal flaw—its “multi-merge” condition could only reduce the number of talismans from many to few.

Imagine this: Jiang Cheng used two talismans to create a “Fury Fire Lotus” talisman.

While its power was exceptional, Jiang Cheng, who had originally planned to use four talismans for five exams, had now spent two in just one exam. He needed to use the remaining two talismans to deal with the remaining four exams.

Clearly, this was not feasible.

Although it wasn’t usable in exams, the “Talisman Soul Fusion Skill” did have great potential for development. Jiang Cheng decided to record this valuable idea and planned to further develop this skill when he had more time.

He would keep it as his secret trump card.

However, even though the “Talisman Soul Fusion Skill” didn’t provide Jiang Cheng with direct help, it indirectly broadened his thinking!

If talismans could go from “many to one,” then couldn’t they also go from “one to many”?

After all, “nuclear power” has both fusion and fission technology paths.

So it would be logical if the Talisman Soul Fusion Skill had a younger sibling named “Multiple Talisman Cloning Skill,” right?

This thought led Jiang Cheng to consider railway switching.

On Earth, railway hubs consist of many intersecting tracks stacked together. Trains can switch tracks there, heading in a completely different direction from their original one.

So, could reusable talismans overlap like railways?

When a cultivator wanted to use one effect, they would activate the first setting.

To use another effect, they would switch to the second setting.

To use a third effect, they would activate the third setting.

Jiang Cheng thought this should be achievable.

The current problem was whether this kind of reusable talisman counted as one or three talismans.

According to the rules of Lotus Cloud University exams, students could only bring three talismans and one magical treasure. Bringing more was definitely a violation of the rules.

Oh!

Jiang Cheng clapped his hands together as understanding dawned on him.

No matter how many modes his reusable talisman could switch between, the reusable nature itself categorized it as a magical treasure, unrelated to the talisman category. Thus, regardless of how many effects it had, it would count as a magical treasure, not as talismans.

With this realization, a pleased smile spread across Jiang Cheng’s face.

Alright, the theoretical issues were all resolved.

Now he just needed to focus on developing talismans for the practical exams at Lotus University.

On the balcony, Liu Qing silently watched Jiang Cheng.

She had sensed the distinct, dangerous scent belonging to Jiang Cheng starting an hour ago.

Her only human friend seemed to be pondering some particularly worrying matters.

But no matter—she was very capable and would protect him well.