Chapter 21 - Cultivator Confidentiality
The next day, there was school.
Lu Yuan woke up early, opening his eyes at the break of dawn.
He glanced at the system. Compared to before he slept, it had increased by 2 points, now at 110 units.
It seemed that insufficient sleep also affected the natural recovery of True Essence, Lu Yuan thought. He recalled the experience Jia Xuanxuan had shared with him—everyone’s True Essence value would fluctuate constantly.
It seemed that these so-called fluctuations were just the dynamic balance between natural recovery and consumption. He would take some time to review the materials Jia Xuanxuan had given him. If there was a way to speed up the recovery of True Essence, that would be ideal.
Merit Points were harder to obtain, so using them for one-time recovery was too extravagant. Of course, increasing the upper limit of True Essence was still very worthwhile.
After staring at the ceiling for a few seconds, Lu Yuan got up. Xiaobing was still sleeping soundly, her hair stuck to her mouth. She had been completely exhausted yesterday.
Moving quietly, Lu Yuan slipped out, got dressed, and began making breakfast. However, when he opened the fridge to look for ingredients, he was disappointed.
He hadn’t gone to the market for several days, and the fridge was nearly empty, with only a few eggs left.
It was a bit late to go to the market now. Lu Yuan regretted not checking the fridge before going to bed last night. For a cook, that was a serious mistake.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to make do today—he would prepare a simple egg drop soup.
Lu Yuan boiled water, beat the remaining eggs, and poured them into the boiling water, sprinkling in some chopped scallions. After tasting it, he found the eggs weren’t very fresh and lacked flavor, so he added a bit of dark soy sauce.
The egg soup turned into a faint brown color.
While cooking, Lu Yuan also took time to wash up. By the time he brought the steaming bowl of egg soup to the table, Xiaobing finally woke up.
“The fridge is empty, so just make do with breakfast. I’ll buy some groceries later and cook something good for you.”
Lu Yuan still felt a bit guilty.
After brushing her teeth, Xiaobing took a bite and immediately said:
“Brother, you’re way too modest. You call this ‘making do’?”
“When did you learn to cook?” she asked, puzzled. “You used to only know how to make noodles.”
“Enlightenment through dreams,” Lu Yuan answered seriously.
The siblings chatted while eating, finishing breakfast happily. Afterward, Xiaobing was about to grab her schoolbag when Lu Yuan stopped her.
“Don’t bring your bag today. Let’s go to school, ask for leave, and then head out.”
“What’s going on?”
Lu Yuan showed her his mobile banking app. The astronomical number—1.57 million—dazzled Xiaobing.
“Jia Xuanxuan’s dad really gave that much money?” she still found it surreal.
“Does he want you to marry into their family and cook breakfast for them every day?
I’m telling you, you absolutely can’t become a live-in son-in-law—you’ll get bullied.
At banquets, there’ll be tables for one million, tables for ten million—you won’t even have a place to sit!”
Lu Yuan burst into laughter. After laughing, he explained the day’s plan.
Now that they had the money, they needed to take the high-speed rail to Jiangzhou First Hospital and bring this life-saving money to their mother. The train ride would take less than an hour. If they took a bus, it would wander around the suburbs for a long time, taking more than two hours.
Lu Yuan hadn’t called their parents in advance—he wanted to give them a surprise.
Besides, he missed his mother terribly. Counting his previous life, he hadn’t seen her for over twenty years. He wished he could fly there immediately.
The siblings left home together and walked toward school.
The closer they got to the school, the more students there were on the road. Some were walking, others riding bicycles, forming small groups.
Lu Yuan noticed many students glancing at Xiaobing and whispering among themselves.
“Look, that’s the Dragon Boat girl.”
“She’s really from our school.”
“Is that her boyfriend next to her? Dating so young!”
“That’s her brother, from Senior Class 2.”
It seemed his sister had truly become an internet celebrity.
Lu Yuan turned to look at her. Xiaobing walked with her head lowered, her face flushed. Clearly, she wasn’t used to being in the spotlight—everyone’s gaze only made her embarrassed.
They parted at the stairwell, since the offices for first-year and third-year teachers were in different areas.
Lu Yuan walked to his homeroom teacher’s office and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Wu Jishan was sitting in a chair grading homework. As a Chinese teacher, he had to teach several classes.
When he saw Lu Yuan enter, Wu Jishan took off his glasses and simply looked at him without speaking.
“Teacher Wu, this is my application form.” Lu Yuan handed over the completed form. “I’ve decided to apply to a cultivator university.”
“Good! That’s the spirit!”
Old Wu immediately became energized. Ningcheng No.1 High School’s teaching quality was fairly average—students with better conditions usually didn’t come here.
So far, only five application forms had been submitted in his class, which disappointed him. Whether they could pass or not was another matter, but young people shouldn’t lack the courage to even try. Of course, the expensive application fee was also an important factor.
“Lu Yuan, your grades are good. I believe passing the written exam won’t be difficult for you.”
Wu Jishan asked Lu Yuan to sit down, planning to give him some detailed advice.
“Your current issue is whether you can meet the threshold for registration in the True Essence test. Have you measured your True Essence?”
“I fluctuate around 112 units.”
Lu Yuan didn’t dare say more, since he hadn’t actually gone to a hospital to test it. What if the hospital didn’t recognize the system’s readings?
“112 units gives you a strong chance!”
Wu Jishan beamed with delight.
Last year, the entire school had only one student admitted to a cultivator university—the worst record in its history. The principal had been furious.
This year, Jia Xuanxuan was guaranteed to get in. If Lu Yuan also succeeded, then Class 2 would produce two cultivators.
That would let Old Wu retire in peace.
“Last year’s registration threshold was only 112. This year it might even drop by one or two points. Maintain your condition, and you’ll be fine!”
“Oh, right. Have you considered which cultivator university you want? Although you only fill in your preferences after the results come out, you should already have a target in mind.”
“I want to aim for the Big Four.”
“The Big Four…”
Old Wu’s hand trembled slightly.
Young people should have ambition—but being too reckless wasn’t good either.
Lu Yuan didn’t know, but Wu Jishan, with years of experience in education, understood well.
Students who could get into the Big Four had been preparing for it since very early on. Like Jia Xuanxuan—she had already been targeting the Big Four since middle school.
Moreover, most candidates for the Big Four had strong family backgrounds. Either their parents were cultivators, or they were wealthy merchants. Only such people had access to information and resources that ordinary people couldn’t reach. The Cultivator Association explicitly prohibited students from learning cultivation methods before testing, but loopholes always existed. For example, children of cultivators would naturally pick things up from a young age—who could say anything about that?
As for Lu Yuan’s family background, Wu Jishan didn’t know the details, but judging from his daily life, he came from an ordinary family.
Where did his confidence come from?
However, Old Wu didn’t say this out loud. He wouldn’t discourage a young person’s confidence. Besides, choices were made after results were released—if Lu Yuan’s results weren’t good, he wouldn’t apply to the Big Four anyway.
So Wu Jishan only gave a tactful reminder:
“Getting into the Big Four is very difficult. Besides the written exam and the True Essence test, there’s also an additional exam.”
“An additional exam? What does it test?”
This was the second time Lu Yuan had heard of this—Jia Xuanxuan had mentioned it before.
“The content of the additional exam falls under cultivator confidentiality. I don’t know,” Wu Jishan said regretfully.
“All candidates qualified to take the additional exam are already confirmed to be admitted as cultivator students.
There are confidentiality agreements, so outsiders have no way of knowing.
This is an internal secret of the cultivator community—and there are many such secrets.”
Lu Yuan nodded. During this period, he had already discovered that much information couldn’t be found online—it all fell under the so-called cultivator confidentiality principle.
Perhaps they even had their own internal network.
“Also, Teacher Wu, I’d like to take a day off today,” Lu Yuan said.
Candidates for cultivator universities often had various preparations before exams, such as frequent pre-tests at hospitals. Wu Jishan didn’t think much of it and readily approved the leave.
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