Chapter 239

Chapter 239: An Incredible Opportunity!

Yang Jia glanced at the young man and said nothing.

　　The young man continued, “I have to say, that battle was truly spectacular, especially that final sword strike from Ye Tianming — it got my blood pumping!”

　　Yang Jia still said nothing.

　　The young man suddenly looked over at Yang Jia, “Hey man, who do you like more, Yang Jia or Ye Tianming?”

　　Yang Jia glanced at him, “You’re only at the Great Tribulation realm right now?”

　　The young man nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I……”

　　Yang Jia cut him off directly, “Do you know why you’re only at the Great Tribulation realm at twenty years old?”

　　The young man looked puzzled.

　　Yang Jia stared at him and said very seriously, “You worry about too many things that aren’t your business.”

　　The young man’s expression froze.

　　Yang Jia waited until the next morning before it was finally his turn. He stepped before an elderly man, who handed him a token. He took it and walked toward the hall to the side.

　　The young man behind him suddenly waved, “Hey man, good luck, you’ve got this.”

　　Yang Jia glanced at him and said nothing. He walked into the hall, where there was a formation array. The moment he entered, a puppet appeared before him.

　　An Immortal realm puppet!

　　Combat!

　　This assessment trial had three stages in total, and the first was combat — designed to test whether the challenger’s cultivation level was genuine.

　　With the exception of certain special individuals, the minimum requirement to join Guanxuan Academy was the Immortal realm. The reason for this rule was that ordinary people who came to Guanxuan Academy simply could not keep up with the high-quality education of the Immortal Treasure Pavilion. Therefore, those entering Guanxuan Academy had to have a certain foundation — naturally, those with extraordinary innate talent were exempt.

　　At that moment, the puppet before Yang Jia suddenly vanished from where it stood.

　　Yang Jia slowly closed both eyes.

　　His cultivation had not yet reached the Immortal realm — he was only at the Ten Thousand Laws realm — but for him, that was more than enough.

　　Because his combat instincts were still very much intact. Not just the Immortal realm, even a few realms beyond that would pose no problem.

　　As Yang Jia opened his eyes, he suddenly shifted to the side, dodging the puppet’s powerful strike by a hair’s breadth. At the same time, he snapped his left leg up and swept it hard into the puppet’s temple.

　　Bang!

　　A dull thud rang out, and the puppet shattered instantly.

　　”Pass!”

　　A voice suddenly echoed through the hall.

　　Not far away, the second door opened, and the moment it did, a blast of cold wind rushed straight at him.

　　Beyond the second door was a snow path, where howling blizzards raged and the cold cut to the bone.

　　The second stage tested the challenger’s willpower.

　　Yang Jia stepped onto the snow path, his expression blank, walking step by step toward its end.

　　This level of difficulty was naturally no problem for him. He walked the entire way without stopping once, and though illusions appeared along the path from time to time, none of them affected him in the slightest.

　　To him, this was child’s play.

　　Soon he reached the end of the snow path, and just as he was about to step off it, a thousand-zhang snow cascade suddenly fell from the sky and crashed down on him with tremendous force — yet his expression didn’t change at all, and he let the cascade swallow him whole.

　　Rumble, rumble!

　　A series of thunderous booms rolled across the snow path.

　　A moment later, everything began to dissipate, and Yang Jia stood in the middle of the arena.

　　A voice suddenly rang out, “Pass.”

　　As the voice faded, the third door appeared not far ahead of Yang Jia.

　　Yang Jia walked in. The third stage tested one’s character and disposition, and this time, Yang Jia cleared it at the fastest speed yet.

　　These kinds of academy assessments were naturally simple for him.

　　After clearing the third stage, an elderly man appeared before him. The elder looked at him and smiled, “Congratulations, you have passed all three stages.”

　　Yang Jia gave a slight nod, “Mm.”

　　The elder seemed to want to say something but held back.

　　Yang Jia frowned, “What is it?”

　　The elder smiled, “Come with me.”

　　With that, the elder led him into a small hall and smiled, “Congratulations, there is now an extraordinary opportunity waiting for you.”

　　Yang Jia was a little puzzled.

　　The elder said, “It’s like this — have you heard of the Zheng family?”

　　Yang Jia shook his head.

　　The elder smiled, “The Zheng family is a third-tier noble clan, and you’ve never heard of them…… that simply won’t do.”

　　Yang Jia looked at the elder, “What are you trying to say?”

　　The elder said, “Let me lay it out plainly. The moment you cleared the first stage so quickly, the Zheng family had already taken notice of you. They want your spot.”

　　Yang Jia’s expression immediately darkened.

　　The elder looked at Yang Jia and sighed inwardly.

　　Under normal circumstances, the Zheng family wouldn’t care about a single spot belonging to the young man before him — but this young man had cleared all three stages in succession, and what’s more, he had broken the previous records in all three. Breaking a record came with a hidden reward: guaranteed entry into the academy’s inner court. And someone who broke all three records was guaranteed entry into the main academy itself.

　　That guaranteed entry was exactly what the Zheng family had their eyes on.

　　Yang Jia shook his head, “This goes against the rules.”

　　The elder smiled, “Indeed it does, but the Zheng family has offered you an excellent deal. They are willing to give you twenty ‘Creation Pills’ and one volume of a heaven-tier cultivation technique. On top of that, they guarantee that when the next enrollment comes around, they will find a way to secure you a spot.”

　　Yang Jia stared at the elder, “This goes against the rules.”

　　The conditions the Zheng family offered were tempting, but he could not accept them.

　　Why?

　　Because he was the lord of the Guanxuan Domain. He would not allow and could not accept something like this happening.

　　Absolutely not!

　　Seeing Yang Jia refuse so decisively, the elder was clearly a little surprised. He thought for a moment, then said, “Young man, the wise adapt to circumstances. You need to understand — if you don’t accept this goodwill, it will turn into ill will.”

　　Yang Jia said, “As an assessment official, when you encounter something like this, you should report it — not help them do their dirty work.”

　　The elder shook his head, “You’re too young.”

　　Yang Jia’s brow furrowed.

　　The elder said earnestly, “You’re still young, with a long future ahead of you. There’s no need to butt heads with them at this point.”

　　Yang Jia stared at the elder, “Can the Zheng family really do whatever they want here?”

　　The elder let out a quiet sigh. It was clear this young man had never been beaten down by the world.

　　The elder nodded, “Very well, then I’ll say no more.”

　　With that, he took out a token, handed it to Yang Jia, and turned to leave.

　　Yang Jia frowned. Without overthinking it, he left the arena — and the moment he stepped outside, a middle-aged man appeared before him.

　　The middle-aged man looked at Yang Jia and smiled slightly, “You must be Ye Jia?”

　　Yang Jia stared at the middle-aged man, “You’re from the Zheng family.”

　　The middle-aged man nodded, “That’s right. I imagine you already know why I’m here.”

　　Yang Jia thought for a moment. Considering his current situation, he decided not to push back directly, “I have already passed the assessment. The academy has a record of it. You……”

　　The middle-aged man smiled, “Who said you’ve already passed?”

　　Yang Jia’s brow furrowed.

　　The middle-aged man smiled, “Young man, your results haven’t been finalized yet. So technically, you’re not yet a true student of Guanxuan Academy. And whether this assessment ultimately passes or not — that’s not for you to decide. It’s for us to decide. Do you understand?”

　　This was a direct confrontation.

　　Yang Jia’s expression darkened, “This is illegal.”

　　The middle-aged man smiled, “The law? Young man, you’re too young — you don’t understand, and I can appreciate that. After all, you come from a bottom-tier noble clan, so your awareness and social intelligence are naturally at that level……. No matter, I can teach you this once, but only once.”

　　With that, he looked Yang Jia up and down and continued, “The law? Young man, you need to understand — in this world, there are many, many people who exist outside the ‘law.’ In fact, you could say the ‘law’ exists to serve them. Take you, for instance — we have a hundred ways to deal with you, and none of them would even be illegal. Do you believe that?”

　　Yang Jia stared at the middle-aged man, “The Zheng family is only a third-tier clan.”

　　The middle-aged man shook his head with a smile, “Only a third-tier clan — what a bold thing to say. A third-tier clan? Do you have any idea what a third-tier clan means? Let me tell you — a third-tier clan can crush you as easily as crushing an ant. No, not just crush you — you also have parents and family, don’t you?”

　　Yang Jia’s expression went completely cold.

　　Just then, the assessment official from before walked over again. He looked at Yang Jia, “Your assessment result has been voided……”

　　Yang Jia’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean?”

　　The assessment official said calmly, “It doesn’t comply with the rules.”

　　Yang Jia demanded, “Which rules does it not comply with?”

　　Before the assessment official could respond, the middle-aged man cut in, “We think it doesn’t comply — it’s that simple.”

　　Yang Jia looked at the middle-aged man, who smiled, “Of course, we can also make what doesn’t comply suddenly comply. It’s all up to us.”

　　Yang Jia’s expression turned darker than it had ever been. He had known that the lower levels of society would have their share of darkness, but he had never imagined it could be this dark.

　　Once these people had even a little power, they would abuse it, lord it over others, and treat those beneath them as less than human.

　　In the past, he had known this kind of thing existed below, but he had considered it a normal phenomenon — where there is light, there is shadow. Yet he had never stopped to think: if this kind of thing became widespread, how were ordinary people supposed to survive?

　　In this moment, he suddenly felt it: the hardship.

　　The hardship of those at the bottom.

　　For people at the bottom to rise above their station was incredibly, unbearably difficult — and a big part of why it was so difficult was that this world was saturated with darkness, saturated with injustice.

　　Was the academy really this dark?

　　After a brief silence, Yang Jia turned and walked to the side.

　　The middle-aged man’s brow furrowed, and then his expression suddenly shifted drastically, “Stop him!”

　　But it was already too late.

　　Yang Jia had already stepped onto the legendary “Guanxuan Path.”

　　The Guanxuan Path!

　　Throughout all of history, only two people had ever made it through.

　　The first was Mu Guanchen. The second was Ye Tianming.

　　The moment Yang Jia set foot on the Guanxuan Path, a powerful aura surged from within it and enveloped him completely.

　　The Guanxuan Path had opened.