Chapter Eighteen: Beneath a Man's Knees Lies True Gold! Genuine Gold!

“What… what? This wretched guy is going to die!”

Beside him, Wu Feng screamed in shock, her face full of disbelief as she stared at Ning Wuque. She never expected that the one who usually trained so diligently was actually suffering from a terminal illness that could kill him at any moment.

This…

Although she wasn’t particularly fond of Ning Wuque, she certainly didn’t want this companion—who listened to her complaints and tolerated her teasing—to just disappear.

Wu Feng wasn’t heartless; she was just a bit thoughtless, still a child after all.

Ignoring Wu Feng’s panicked cries, Ning Wuque silently met Ning Tian’s gaze. In their eyes, they both saw each other’s attitudes and thoughts.

Ning Tian did not want Ning Wuque to die so soon.

Ning Wuque did not want to get entangled with Ning Tian too deeply, as it would benefit neither of them.

“I’ve officially developed the first stage of this soul skill. When the quarterly assessment comes, I’ll show it to you.”

“What?” Ning Tian couldn’t understand what Ning Wuque meant by “showing it to her.” What was he trying to express?

Ning Wuque, not fond of playing the mysterious type, immediately clarified:

“This soul skill is very dangerous. You will directly experience its power and... the toll it takes on me. If, by then, you still want to accompany a walking corpse like me... suit yourself.”

With that, Ning Wuque closed his eyes and quietly awaited their departure.

Ning Tian smiled softly. She had forgotten the beginning and the middle, only hearing Ning Wuque’s last words: “If you still want to be with a walking corpse like me, suit yourself!”

“All right!” she nodded firmly, having resolved in her heart to continue being friends with Ning Wuque no matter what. Slowly, she extended her hand, revealing a golden card that shimmered in the warm sunlight.

“I promise this: if your soul skill truly impresses me, this card contains all my saved New Year’s and pocket money—ten million gold soul coins in total. I want to buy your life! No matter the cost, you have to work for me until you grow old and die. Got it?”

“...” Ning Wuque remained silent, his expression unmoved by money.

In truth, his heart was ready to kneel before Ning Tian—there’s gold beneath a man’s knees, and this gold was worth exactly ten million!

He was just playing it cool and vain; otherwise, he would have said, “It’s a deal!”

However, upon hearing the latter part of Ning Tian’s words, Ning Wuque’s heart was indeed stirred.

The other meaning behind her words was:

“I will do everything in my power to keep you alive!”

“Honestly, you moved me almost to tears.”

Only after Ning Tian and Wu Feng’s footsteps faded did Ning Wuque slowly lower his head, murmuring to himself before returning to his cultivation state.

Just as Ning Wuque resumed his training, as he had suspected from the beginning, a figure who had witnessed everything silently slipped away.

He was a recorder sent by Ning Tian’s father, tasked with relaying every detail truthfully to Ning Fengxiao, including the moment Ning Wuque put on a show and Ning Tian saw through it.

...

Time is like a weary courtesan, changing faces every so often; in the blink of an eye, a whole month had passed.

The quarterly assessment at the Jiubao Liuli Sect’s Junior Soul Master Academy commenced as scheduled.

That day, Ning Wuque did not skip class but quietly waited in the classroom for the teacher to lead them to the competition venue.

Unlike Shrek Academy, the purpose of the quarterly assessment here was to sort students by ability, so the format was one-on-one elimination matches. For support-type soul masters, they could form teams or be matched with a partner for two-on-two battles.

Initially, the bottom half of the grade challenged upward based on simulated rankings—for example, the 59th placed fought the 58th, with the winner advancing.

The top half of the rankings passed directly, then in the second round, the weakest among the advancing players fought the top half, continuing until all advancing players had fought. The top-ranked ones still passed without fighting.

This format ensured that some with decent martial souls but lacking effort would be weeded out, while those eager to climb the ranks were given a chance, simultaneously motivating both groups—a triple win!

By the third round, the elimination matches were determined by random draw, with opponents chosen entirely at random until the final winner was decided.

Besides ranking, there were performance points awarded by the teachers who came to watch.

For example, if you faced someone five soul power levels above you and had no chance to win, as long as you performed well, your future prospects would still be bright.

Upon learning this, Ning Wuque found the Jiubao Liuli Sect surprisingly humane, quite unlike the “cutthroat” style of Douluo Continent.

Look at the new student assessment at Shrek Academy—that was true strength versus strength! The bottom scorers were expelled immediately!

Big families really are different.

“All right, time’s up, let’s go.”

Soon, led by their class teacher, Ning Wuque followed the main group, walking at the very back, anticipating his grand entrance on the stage.

He had spent a full hour crafting a script just to put on a spectacular show in front of everyone!

He was already bursting with excitement!

However, Ning Wuque was somewhat disappointed to learn that his grandfather, Zhang Can, had already informed the sect about his first-stage thousand-year soul skill—capable of taking down thousand-year-old soul beasts—and that he was assigned directly to the “Genius Group,” which advanced without preliminary fights.

His name didn’t appear in the first two matches.

Thus, he had to sit in the spectator seats and watch the other students within his grade fight each other.

They were mostly kids with only one soul ring or not even one, making their battles quite dull. Often, a sneak attack or trick was enough to abruptly end the match.

Time passed quickly amid these skirmishes.

By noon, the entire grade’s weaker group had finished, since there were only 123 students in total—it didn’t take long.

In the afternoon, the competition moved to the third round—the random elimination matches—and the first match called was Ning Wuque’s!

“Third round elimination, first match: Ning Wuque versus Yu Xiaoxiao.”

“Finally, my turn to perform. No, I must hold back, can’t smile!”

Suppressing the grin on his face, Ning Wuque rose slightly and stepped down from the stands toward the competition platform made of jade.

He glanced up, noting that the event was attended not only by sect elders but all the sect disciples who had not yet graduated, accompanied by their parents or teachers.

He even spotted Zhang Can, who sat in the elders’ section far away, watching him with a smile.

“Although I don’t know how a weirdo like you got assigned to our group... are you ready to face your defeat?”

As soon as he stepped onto the stage, the green-haired little girl opposite him couldn’t resist taunting and provoking him before the battle even began.