Chapter 3: Sky-Swallowing Toad

Translator: Henyee  Editor: JulesNyeIt was the cultivation year 4396. VR (virtual reality technology) was now highly developed, and was put to use in all major high schools. At the same time, VR equipment was indispensable for conducting exams in ordinary Foundation Establishment high schools. VR equipment with built-in spirit energy sensors perfectly transmitted all kinds of data on the users’ spirit energy to the system and reflected it back into the virtual environment.Of course, the equipment would be even more advanced in a key city high school. The technology was a fusion of holograms and cultivation talismans which could warp time and space in an instant, switch between scenes smoothly, and simulate a real environment as well as feelings of pain.But Wang Ling was indifferent to all of this.No matter how advanced the simulation technology was, it was still only simulating the cultivation environment at the Foundation Establishment stage.Wang Ling wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of pain, even if he stood still for a demon king to punch him in the chest.This was because he had already long attained a Sage Body.That year, he had just turned nine years old.For Wang Ling, what he needed to pay the most attention to was how to pull back his aura precisely. Otherwise, his highly intense magnetic energy field would interfere with the virtual glasses due to the huge gap in realms, and could result in the system crashing.To prepare for the placement test, he had been assiduously practicing holding back his aura at home in the last few days, and had already destroyed hundreds of virtual glasses.At that moment, Lotus Sun had already put on the glasses, and everyone else could clearly see what was happening to her on a screen on the side.She was up against a virtual demon, a gigantic toad.This toad was modeled on one of the beasts in the demon rampage six years ago, a demon king called “sky-swallowing toad”!That year, the person who had defeated this demon king was a graduate of No. 60 High School — the legendary Odd Zhuo!In the thousands of years since No. 60 High School had been established, Odd Zhuo was perhaps the most formidable talent the school had ever nurtured. While he came from an impoverished background, he had shown brilliant talent. When he was very young, the headmaster of No. 60 High School had taken one look at him before taking him in as his disciple, thus granting him direct entry into the school. The year Odd Zhuo graduated, he had only been eighteen years old, but was already an unparalleled master at the late Golden Core stage.After that, Odd Zhuo joined the General Administration of 100 Cultivation Schools as Deputy Director, becoming the youngest director in its history.But at the time, he had only been well-known in a small region. It was his dazzling performance during the “demon rampage” six years ago that truly made him a great name.At that time, Odd Zhuo had released a burst of qi from one finger, which shot thousands of li ¹ through the air to kill the sky-swallowing toad as it emerged from the Gate Between Worlds to besiege the city.In one stroke, Odd Zhuo became known to the world after this battle!From then on, No. 60 High School would use the “sky-swallowing toad” directly in their assessments. On one hand, it was in honor of Odd Zhuo; on the other hand, it called for all students to look to him as a role model.As a result, the toad could be found in almost every school exam, so No. 60 High School alumni jokingly called it the “devil toad.”“After the system update, I heard that the sky-swallowing toad assessment was also upgraded.”“That’s right. When Odd Zhuo killed the sky-swallowing toad, he also gained possession of its primordial spirit. Unfortunately, the school’s equipment back then didn’t have the capability to transmit its spirit into the system.“Now that the system has been updated, we uploaded the sky-swallowing toad’s spirit into the system’s data core for a perfect simulation.”One of the examiners gazed at the colossal cyan creature on the virtual battlefield, and frowned deeply in spite of himself. “I’m afraid that even for Lotus Sun, this might still be difficult to handle.”Although the school had set up the sky-swallowing toad assessment by level of difficulty, the system’s core was still based on data from the the sky-swallowing toad’s spirit in order to simulate an actual environment, so the test was harder compared with last year.At present, this sky-swallowing toad was still at the middle Foundation Establishment stage. The test result would be far from satisfactory if Lotus Sun failed to discover its weak point at the very start in order to deal it critical damage.Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Lotus Sun, while Wang Ling gave a big yawn as he looked at the screen.Apart from being at the Foundation Establishment stage at the very least, dealing with this sky-swallowing toad and causing sufficient damage also required real aptitude.Wang Ling’s current abilities of perception far outclassed that of scientific instruments. His eyes were like a portable radiation machine; with just one look, he could determine the meridian levels of every single person in the room.Two hundred and fifty-six meridians needed to be opened up to fully realize the Foundation Establishment stage, and seventy percent of Lotus Sun’s meridians were already open. Even if she was unlucky and unable to deal critical damage, her grade wouldn’t be too terrible.With everyone watching her, Lotus Sun stared at the gigantic demon and took a deep breath. She then made a tight fist and bolted forward bravely. With an explosive cracking sound, she struck directly at the sky-swallowing toad’s abdomen!This was the exact spot where Odd Zhuo had landed the killing blow back then.“Boom!”After that one hit, there were still several wisps of smoke wafting out of Lotus Sun’s fist.This was the best proof of the powerful friction that had been generated between her fist and the air, showing that she had used all her strength in that one blow.Before long, a huge “S” appeared in the virtual void.“Classmate Lotus Sun’s one blow actually got an S grade!”Someone cried out in surprise.Seeing this, the three examiners couldn’t stop blushing with shame.It appeared that they had been worried about Lotus Sun for nothing.She had actually obtained an S grade straightaway?But as the future successor of the Huaguo Water Curtain Group, her dazzling performance was truly to be expected!After the system upgrade, according to the existing general data, only one percent of past examinees had obtained an S grade, five percent an A grade, and ten percent a B grade, while the rest of the examinees had obtained even proportions of C, D and F grades. The number of examinees who had obtained the higher SS grade, or even SSS grade, was so small that the data was negligible.After recording Lotus Sun’s grade, the examiners looked at the roll book and called out the next name. “Second candidate, Wang Ling. Please come forward to take the test.”Bored stiff, Wang Ling raised his head. He hadn’t expected that it would be his turn so soon.Directly ignoring Lotus Sun’s small smile at him as she left the dais, Wang Ling carefully put on the virtual glasses. He had pulled his spirit energy as far back as it could go, to avoid destroying the machine the instant he put the glasses on.Fortunately, after crushing hundreds of glasses in the last few days, his experience this time round could be considered a pass for Wang Ling.But as it turned out, the biggest problem was still to come.He stared at the enormous cyan toad in front him.To be honest, this was a little unexpected for Wang Ling.Because in the demon rampage six years ago, the sky-swallowing toad which legendary Odd Zhuo had killed with his sky-parting ability…Actually, back then, it was Wang Ling who had killed it, on his way to the shops.That year, he was ten years old…