There was a lot of time before the registration of the Province Test. Thus, many boys and girls were chatting while waiting on white-jade square before Mist College, which was quite bustling.
These handsome boys and beautiful girls were mostly clad in the brocade clothes, most of whom even had brought servants with them.
Self-evidently, they were either rich or noble.
Of course, some from poor families dressed ordinarily. But, the number of them was relatively small.
Most of the teenagers who had been able to reach the Human-gang Realm and pass the State Test were financially-solid aristocratic families.
For those practitioners from poor families, however talented they were, it was predestined that they couldn’t make any big achievement in cultivation without sufficient cultivation resources.
This was reality.
Decades of years ago, a highly-respected practitioner at the Tao Insight Realm in Green-deer School of the empire once sighed, “It’s hard for a practitioner from a poor family to stand out”, which caused a great stir at the time.
Many people criticized that he was exaggerated. However, only those who indeed knew the situation in the empire understood what he said was right.
The empire became more and more powerful, but the majority of resources used for cultivation were almost monopolized by the upper class of the empire!
Under such circumstances, if those from poor families wanted to change their fate, there was only a slim chance of success, maybe one out of ten thousand.
This was the cruel reality pinpointed by the words- “It’s hard for a practitioner from a poor family to stand out”.
Fortunately, the big shots in the upper class of the empire apparently noticed this, too. A whole set of assessment system thereby was established to select the real talents in the empire in a fair and equitable way. Thus, there were County Test, State Test, Province Test, and Nation Test.
As long as those poor practitioners performed well in the assessments of any level, they would be rewarded by the empire. If they were conscripted into the army, they would get more preferential treatments.
In a word, the talent-selecting system of the empire featuring rounds of selection was relatively the most equitable one. For those from poor families, this was their only chance to change their fate.
Lin Xun couldn’t understand this point thoroughly. But the moment he walked onto the white-jade square, he could clearly feel kind of “hostility”.
“Look, here comes another yokel.”
“Haha, look what he is dressed in. With no spiritual weapon, dressed in ordinary cloth, he should have the guts to sign up for the Province Test? So ridiculous.”
“Don’t jeer at him. If you hurt his impressionable dignity, we’ll lose our demeanor.”
“Hehe, yokels will always be yokels. He’s too naive with wishful thinking of climbing up the social ladder rapidly through the Province Test. He may not know that those poor practitioners participating in the Province Test almost all ended up with failure. Can you guess what happened to them then?”
“What happened to them?”
“It’s simple. They were roped in by the strong forces and great aristocratic families to be either lackeys or attendants around us. They thereby seem superb, but they’ll work themselves to the bone for the aristocratic families behind us! Without us, they are like featherless phoenixes, even inferior to the chickens. Hahaha.”
All kinds of laughter and discussions rose one after another. Many teenagers even boldly fixed their eyes on Lin Xun, as if they saw an ugly duckling abruptly intrude into a group of swans.
Lin Xun stood transfixed upon noticing this scene. It never occurred to him that he should become a laughingstock out of no reason.
This was absolutely an unexpected disaster!
He couldn’t help looking around, noticing that those who laughed at her were those well-dressed arrogant boys and girls.
They were in their teens at most, but they were unscrupulous in speaking and showed an air of superiority.
“Are they the noble juniors cultivated by the aristocratic families and strong forces? Are they the practitioners who are about to sign up for the Province Test?”
Lin Xun felt confused. Instead of being angry, he found it ridiculous.
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The boys and girls before him were like a bunch of puerile babies compared with the trainees in the Bloodthirsty Camp. They looked down upon everyone and judged people by their appearances.
Lin Xun didn’t know that such a situation was actually quite common. In the eyes of the noble juniors from great aristocratic families, the poor juniors from the low class were the same as humble servants and not worth mentioning.
The most frightening thing was that this “hostile” attitude wasn’t a single example but was ubiquitous in each region of the empire.
Confronted with such provocation and contempt, the poor juniors often smothered their fury and had to tolerate the grievance no matter how big it was.
That was because they knew that to offend such a playboy means to offend the influential aristocratic family behind him and that they couldn’t bear the consequences.
“A bunch of idiots,” murmured Lin Xun in his heart while shaking his head.
He found a quiet place and sat down with his eyes closed for rest.
He couldn’t beat back, for it was a bunch of people, not a person who made fun of him.
Should he teach them a lesson one by one?
But after having gone through this, Lin Xun completely understood that even though he entered Ziyao Empire, he had never come to know what this world really looked like!
Both Feiyun Village and Donglin Town were too remote; Bloodthirsty Camp was too isolated. Only when he came to Mist City, he started to see the world’s true colors!
Lin Xun, of course, knew these juniors couldn’t represent the whole empire. They were just an epitome of the secular society.
In other words, they were a group of carefree youngsters who hadn’t gone through real fights and grown up under the shelter of their aristocratic families. Conceit and arrogance were their common failings.
Compared with them, Shi Yu, Ning Meng, Bai Lingshi, Zhao Yin, Zhangsun Hen, etc. were more like real decent descendants from upper class. They had mature and strong minds, broad outlook, extraordinary power and shrewdness.
Such juniors from the upper class couldn’t be more dreadful!
Lin Xun considered it a good thing that such a bunch of boys and girls attended the Province Test. At least, they wouldn’t pose a big threat to him.
Lin Xun soon found that there were also some powerful practitioners on white-jade square and some of them revealed so strong spiritual power that even he didn’t dare to overlook.
Suddenly, an uproar rose among the crowd.
“Geeze, even the lady from Wen Clan is here.”
“Who is it?”
“Who else it could be? That talented girl rarely found in one thousand years, from Wen Clan of Mist City, Wen Mingxiu!”
“Oh, it’s her. Hasn’t she been sent to a mysterious place for cultivation last year?”
“Yes. I heard that she came back half a year ago. But I didn’t expect she would show up on the first day of the registration for the Province Test.”
“It becomes funnier. According to the intelligence I’ve got, more than ten first-class people will sign up for the Province Test, including Wen Mingxiu!”
Discussions rose one after another, making Lin Xun feel a little surprised. Wen Mingxiu? Could it be her?
As he raised his eyes, he saw a carriage drawn by four whiter deer pull over slowly. Instantly, a well-dressed comely girl looking arrogant got out.
It was that Wen Mingxiu who was always against him in the Bloodthirsty Camp and got defeated by him then.
Lin Xun couldn’t help smiling weirdly upon seeing her. Even she was taken as the talented girl of Mist City?
If she was a talented girl, what was Bai Lingshi then?
He felt really odd!
A trainee who had been sifted out in the quarterly assessment in the Bloodthirsty Camp was unexpectedly idolized by many boys and girls in Mist City. Such a change indeed made Lin Xun somewhat speechless.
Wen Mingxiu was indeed powerful, but during the one-year training in the Bloodthirsty Camp, he had met the most outstanding young people of the empire. Consequentially, the level where he stood at now was head and shoulders above that of the secular society.
Wen Mingxiu’s arrival promptly animated the whole scene. Many boys and girls scattered in the square were surrounding her, including some juniors from noble families.
The way they looked at Wen Mingxiu was full of jealousy and admiration.
Soon, she was surrounded by a lot of people as if she were the bright moon surrounded by twinkling stars, which made her more outstanding.
Wen Mingxiu had apparently been used to this for a long time. With a faint smile on her face, she seemed calm, arrogant and graceful, but deep down, she had run out her patience.
Maybe those boys and girls surrounding Wen Mingxiu were some famous figures. But after Wen Minxiu saw everything in the Bloodthirsty Camp, she really thought they were only nobodies. She also knew that many practitioners who were as powerful as or more powerful than her would take part in the test.
Pitifully, she hadn’t found one all the way along.
It was quite normal, though, since it was the first day for registration of the Province Test. The really powerful ones wouldn’t show up at one swoop.
Eh!
Suddenly, Wen Mingxiu caught sight of a familiar figure in the distance. She felt shocked and stopped walking subconsciously.
Why was he here!?
A strong sense of humiliation and hatred rose from the bottom of her heart instantly as she recalled what had happened in the Bloodthirsty Camp, and the reserved smile on her face became cold accordingly.
She had already taken center stage. Thus, the moment she suddenly stopped walking and looked at the other side, it immediately attracted people’s attention.
“Lady Mingxiu, have you seen familiar friend?” someone couldn’t help asking.
Out of curiosity, the others all looked at the place where Wen Mingxiu looked at just now, but they found nobody worth their attention.
Having drawn back her sight, Wen Mingxiu thought for a while, and an idea hit her mind. She said with a smile, “Well, I’ve never expected I’d see an old friend here.”
Speaking of which, she landed her sight on Lin Xun in the distance after a random glance.
Those people around her instantly observed the tiny action of her and then fixed their eyes on Lin Xun spontaneously.
However, many of them stood transfixed upon seeing a strange teenager in plain clothes. Old friend? Since when Wen Mingxiu had such kind of friend?
One practitioner seemed to recognize Lin Xun and shouted with a doubtful look, “No way. Is he the yokel just now?”
Hearing the words, many people vaguely recalled that the teenager in the distance seemingly had been jeered at by them just now.
They became more stunned because of this, though.
How could he be an old friend of Lady Wen Mingxiu, a shining pearl in Mist City, the talented girl of Wen Clan?
Click to read chapter 202 - Being Thrown Out upon a Palm and more on Flying Lines ahead!