Gu Yan was stunned when he heard Yu Qing Qian’s question.
“Mm, it’s true that I’m not from your continent, but it’s not good for you to know too much right now.”
Gu Yan paused, then emphasised: “Your current task is to cultivate well and find the two other small pagodas to refine. Only when you successfully refine the three pagodas or reach a certain level of cultivation base will you be qualified to know and participate in many things.”
“I understand.” Yu Qing Qian nodded.
Gu Yan just liked Yu Qing Qian’s temperament and said with a smile: “There will be that whatever independent competition starting tomorrow, aren’t you going to prepare?”
Yu Qing Qian said nonchalantly: “No need, I’m confident.”
Putting away the wooden boxes on the table, Yu Qing Qian sat cross-legged and entered cultivation mode.
Early the next morning, the students from the five Royal Academies gathered together, including the old students who had followed.
There was an additional arena on Shui Wu Island, on which stood the Headmasters of the five Academies and the two Elders from the Holy Academy and Imperial Academy respectively.
The independent competition was still hosted by the two Elders. Elder Gu took a step forward and said: “We are not going to separate the three competitions for the old and new students this time, just going to compete together.
“The first competition is the Forging Competition. There’s no need to go through rounds of screening, old students and freshmen will come on stage together and show your highest level of skills to forge a defensive magic tool. We’ll choose the highest grade of magic tool as the top three.
“We’ve prepared materials and the refining furnace, you can choose yourself.”
After hearing what he said, the students present were all very surprised, especially the freshmen who were participating in the competition. They all revealed astonished expressions—this was mixing the freshmen and old students to compete together!
Then weren’t there no advantages for the freshmen. It was obvious that among those who would win the top three, the old students had an absolute advantage.
“Don’t be surprised, this is originally a competition for the old students to begin with. Letting the freshmen participate in the competition together is mainly for us to observe your abilities. Participation is more important than the results. You have to grasp onto this opportunity well.” Elder Qi of the Imperial Academy said coldly.
“Yes!” The freshmen below responded in unison.
After he finished speaking, the freshmen and old students participating in the Forging Competition from the five Academies all went onto the stage respectively. After each selected the materials and the refining furnace, they began refining on their own.
Yu Qing Qian had never tried forging. It was mainly because she wasn’t interested in it, plus Sick Beauty had a high talent for forging, so she had even less urge to learn.
“Master, who do you think has the best forging skills among them?” Yu Qing Qian didn’t quite understand forging, so, in her boredom, asked Gu Yan, who had already released his heart energy to watch the fun.
Gu Yan scanned the people who were concentrating on forging on the stage and said: “That friend of yours, Huo Li Ruo, has the highest talent among them, and the best forging skills. The magic weapon he forges should be able to be ranked in the top three.”
“Master, do you know how to forge tools?” Yu Qing Qian asked with a smile.
“‘Never eaten a pig, but you think I haven’t seen a pig run’?” Gu Yan said smugly, “What’s more, even though I’m not a master at forging, but I can still make some Master-level magic tools casually.”
“Master, you’re indeed very amazing.” Yu Qing Qian flattered with a smile.
A big smile appeared on Gu Yan’s unparalleled, handsome face, “Of course, just look at who your Master is.”
“…” Yu Qing Qian held her forehead—the more she praised this guy, the more smug he became.
When she first met Gu Yan, she actually had the illusion that a man as handsome as him should be very reserved.
But although Master was a bit of a show-off, his judgement was indeed very strong.
The final result of the Forging Competition was Huo Li Ruo breaking through and winning first place in a high-profile state that shocked the audience. His forging skills reached an advanced level, and won the recognition of the Imperial Academy’s Elder, who granted him a spot under special exception.
Of course, Yu Qing Qian had already guessed that Huo Li Ruo would be admitted to the Imperial Academy under special exception and winning the champion of the Forging Competition was just a better opportunity to announce it.
Random Note: Hello from China~!!! I have been in China for more around 6 days now~~ It’s been so much fun hehehe. Anyways, if anyone sees any errors in the translations or things missing from the navigation menu, that’s because I did everything in a rush before coming and scheduled it so it updates daily automatically. PMIW will have to wait until I return from China (in 2 weeks I’d say), and there won’t be any multiple updates anytime soon either. I only brought my laptop out to write this note for today’s scheduled chapter, I’ve been having too much fun hahahaha! I bought some really pretty hanfu-style skirts too (a bit on the expensive side, but cheaper than if I bought it overseas tbf), now I just really want some nice, stylish, thick winter cloaks/capes if I can find any… and anything else that catches my eye with a hint of Chinese aesthetics in it… Still looking!