I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 58

“Beast Arts Master qualification exam certificate… none?”

“Ahahaha, perhaps it’s because the Wuling family has been isolated from the world for too long, so they’ve never formally taken the qualification exam before.” The girl leading the way laughed dryly and tried to smooth things over for them.

“Then there’s no choice. No matter what, rules are rules. Those who haven’t obtained a qualification certificate have to be tested last.”

“But—”

“It’s fine. Last it is.” Ruan Yuemin grabbed her shoulder. “We can wait.”

Everyone took their completed registration forms and moved to the very end of the line.

Fortunately, they had arrived early, so the queue was not too long. Two hours later, after all the candidates with qualification certificates who had already reported in finished their tests, it was finally their turn.

The preliminary exam was only to test soul power indicators. It was similar to the Soul Pearl test newborns took at birth. Although the possibility of a person’s soul power changing in their lifetime was not high, occasionally candidates with falsified information were still found. It was an essential verification step.

“Little goddess, you go first.” Yan Yu was pushed to the front.

She hesitantly opened the door. Inside, only two proctors sat there. On the low table between them was a transparent test ball, the same model as the one she had seen at Lin Hegui’s place.

“Put your hand on it. Remove it after five seconds.” The proctor was clearly already tired. Her voice had no fluctuation, and she merely issued the order mechanically.

“All right.” Yan Yu nodded and gently covered it with her hand.

That familiar feeling struck again. The mist inside the test ball sensed her and began spinning at high speed. The color of the mist in the sphere gradually deepened. When the five-second countdown ended, it finally succeeded in advancing to black at the last moment.

“Doesn’t the information say her Soul Pearl test was white?” The proctor on the left looked puzzled as she flipped Yan Yu’s information form back and forth. “It is yours, though.”

What could Yan Yu say? She herself did not know the reason either, so she could only smile awkwardly and remain silent. After all, all of this was—

“Try again.” The one on the right pointed at Yan Yu.

“Mm.”

Yan Yu obediently did as told. The result proved that the test ball was not the problem. Her soul power level really was black.

“Right, I remember now.” The proctor on the left clapped her hands. “Isn’t this Senior Lin’s disciple? During the mobilization meeting a few days ago, she was secretly showing off quite a bit.”

Lin Hegui had never explicitly said Yan Yu’s name, but adding together the two traits of “Healing Arts department” and “Wuling family,” who else could it be but Yan Yu?

“What meridians did she open? She rose straight from white to black? As expected, Teacher Lin’s eye for people isn’t bad.”

The two of them immediately looked at Yan Yu with a somewhat kindly gaze. Yan Yu’s soul power was this high, and she had the guarantee of being Lin Hegui’s disciple. The possibility of her successfully enrolling in the end was very high.

If she truly enrolled, she would be the first Healing Arts department student in their academy in ten years. Of course they had to treasure her properly like a precious offering!

“Little Yu, don’t be nervous for the exams after this. Just perform at your normal level. You can definitely do it!”

L-Little Yu?

“Thank you, Teachers. I’ll do my best.”

Yan Yu politely bowed and walked out under their overly enthusiastic gazes.

But the two proctors still did not know that their “surprises” had only just begun.

Five seconds after Xueji went in, an explosion suddenly rang out from the room.

“The test ball exploded!”

The test balls Yuling used were not cheap goods. They were highly sensitive, and the upper limit of soul power they could endure was extremely high. Yet Xueji’s soul power had forcefully burst it apart.

“That ball wasn’t cheap…” Although they had been teachers for more than ten years, this was also the first time they had seen such a situation. Feeling heartache, they cleaned up the fragments and wrote the character “exploded” on Xueji’s information sheet before politely inviting this ancestor out.

After Xueji came out, it was Teng Jingjie’s turn. But she had not been inside for long either before that familiar, piercing explosion sounded again.

“Ah!” The proctor’s voice sounded like she was about to cry. “My test ball…”

Yan Yu really could not bear to keep watching. She turned to discuss it with Yin Beiqing. “Should you all restrain yourselves a little?”

“What’s the problem?” Yin Beiqing brushed aside the long hair on her shoulder, her expression not very concerned. “If we don’t blow up a few of their test balls, how will we attract the spirit-hunting teams’ attention?”

Xueji was one spot ahead of Yin Beiqing. When she came out, her bangs had clearly been lifted, and she was using her hand to fix them.

“Done.”

To ensure that the matter of Yin Beiqing’s dual Beast Souls was not exposed here, she had used soul-bewitching arts on the proctors. Fortunately, the people assigned to be proctors were either students from the exorcist teams or teachers outside the main departments. Their soul power was not high and they were easy to control.

“Mm.” Only then did Yin Beiqing step inside.

Thus, at noon that day, amid the proctors’ sighs, these ancestors held information sheets one after another marked with “exploded” and “smoothly” finished the preliminary exam.

Only then did the girl leading them proudly nudge the teacher who had arranged the preliminary exam order earlier with her elbow. “See? I told you. How could members of the Wuling family fail to pass the qualification exam?”

“You’re close with them?”

“Uh… a little?”

“Perfect. Those test balls that broke just now will be charged to your account.”

…

On the evening of the preliminary exam, the first batch of candidates began the spiritual arts exam. Because spiritual arts matches decided victory and defeat relatively quickly, the exam was expected to end within two days.

Because Yan Yu and the others ranked near the top in the soul power test, their order was suddenly pulled from the very bottom to the very front. They would begin their assessment that night.

After a simple dinner, the group returned to the examination grounds again.

Because there were many people, Yuling had set up a total of fifty examination venues, covering an entire mountain. The main venue was on the field of Yuling’s Nanting Branch Academy, and there were also spectator stands nearby that could hold a hundred people.

Those assigned to the main venue were all seeded contestants who ranked high in the soul power test. The spectators who came after hearing the news had long since packed the area so tightly that not even water could get through.

“Hey, hey, I heard this year’s candidates blew up several test balls. Does anyone know more inside information?”

“Me!” A short person raised her hand. “I was right behind them and saw it with my own eyes! The proctors’ faces were black, but they were crying and laughing at the same time. Don’t even mention how hilarious it was.”

“Hahahaha, I heard that later, the storeroom teacher who came to deliver test balls stopped leaving altogether and just stood at the door with a whole box of balls, replacing one whenever one exploded.”

“That impressive? Then they must have been arranged for tonight.”

“Look, look, look! They’re entering. The people who blew up the test balls should be among them, right?”

Someone, however, looked in the other direction. “Over there. The spirit-hunting team is here too.”

Having heard early on that this year’s new students included many seeded contestants, how could the spirit-hunting team let go of such a good opportunity to recruit talent?

A group dressed in red-and-white uniforms quietly took their seats. The one sitting in the middle had a tall figure and a head of red hair, making her especially eye-catching.

“Lord Lingqi! She’s alive, she’s alive!”

“Hurry and pinch me. Am I hallucinating?”

Although the members of Yuling’s spirit-hunting team were all students, they could still squeeze into the top five on the officially released rankings. Among them, Lingqi, who had become a leader exorcist at a young age, drew particular attention.

She had long since earned enough credits. Usually, most of her time was spent outside on missions with the spirit-hunting team, and she only occasionally appeared in specialized classes. But as long as it was a class she attended, it would absolutely be full that day, without a single person asking for leave. Even the teacher would arrive ten minutes earlier than usual.

“What’s there to worship? At most, she’s only A-rank.” Yin Beiqing crossed her arms, uncomfortable with the noise around her.

“Shh.” Yan Yu hurriedly made a silencing gesture at her. “It won’t be good if people hear you.”

Looking down on Lingqi in front of Yuling students was practically more suicidal than dissing a fanatical star-chaser’s idol to their face.

“What, have you taken a liking to this A-rank too?” Yin Beiqing lowered her brows. “Don’t forget, you are Lang… mine.”

No matter what, blurting out Langdie Valley’s name outside was still inappropriate. She changed her wording midway.

Yan Yu followed her words and said, “Mm-hm, you’re the best.”

This praise was somewhat perfunctory, but Yin Beiqing listened very happily. She nodded, and her expression improved a lot.

Today’s chief proctor was the head of Yuling’s spiritual arts department. She had just passed her seven-hundredth birthday. Her hair was half white, but her complexion was excellent. Her shoulder-length hair was meticulously arranged and coiled up. She took a score sheet and lowered her head to write the date and session on it.

“Hurry and start. Don’t drag this out too long,” she urged.

Yuling’s exams ran twenty-four hours a day. There was a break every five hours, and each break lasted half an hour. Within a five-hour stretch, barring accidents, it was enough to finish two rounds.

After the preliminary exam, candidates would receive their examination venue and time order. Some unlucky ones were assigned to dawn or late night, and could only adjust their schedules in advance to prepare. After all, this was an entrance exam that happened only once a year.

Compared to them, the proctors were all big shots of A-rank and above. Even if they did not eat, drink, or sleep, they would not feel particularly exhausted. However, watching a group of little rookies fight back and forth was also a considerable form of mental harm to them.

Since the chief proctor had urged them, how would the staff dare move slowly? She picked up the lottery box and passed it to the candidates one by one.

Yan Yu did not know whether to call her luck good or bad, because her turn was actually first.

“If the protagonist halo really exists, I truly hope it won’t be used on this kind of thing,” she muttered quietly.

“I’m in the first group.” A crisp voice came from behind. “Is my opponent here?”

Sooner or later, she had to die. Better to be straightforward about it.

Yan Yu decisively raised her right hand and turned around. “Me.”

“Xiao Tan, Xiao Tan, hurry and see who it is.” Xueji poked Miutan’s arm madly from the side.

Miutan was skilled at probing all sorts of information and gossip. Before coming, she had not only gone through all relevant information about Yuling Academy’s personnel, but had even dug up and recorded the candidates’ ancestors for eighteen generations.

She gave an “oh” and turned her head back. After seeing Yan Yu’s opponent’s face clearly, she moved her lips and said softly, “This one might really be hard to fight.”

The woman had a petite figure and wore a light-colored forehead band. A large translucent jade stone was embedded in the middle of the band, and its edges were inlaid with golden feather-shaped patterns. At a glance, it was clearly very expensive.

Things like forehead bands were not common in the Jin Kingdom. At first, no one liked wearing them because this kind of small and delicate item did not match the bold and straightforward style of Jin Kingdom people. Ordinary styles were still fine, but some styles added jade stones and pearls. Not only did wearing them on the head feel uncomfortable, when fighting, they also shifted around and got in the way.

On the contrary, certain nobles were especially fond of this kind of accessory. In their words, only crude people needed to fight and kill all day to prove themselves with ability. They were destined from birth to be different from ordinary people. They only needed to remain elegant and dignified to receive a hundred times more respect than ordinary people. Therefore, the higher a noble’s status, the more complex and elaborate they made their forehead band.

This trend continued until later, when a certain empress ascended the throne and made it an accessory exclusively for the imperial clan. After that, civilians were no longer allowed to privately make or wear them.

Therefore, the girl before them wearing a forehead band had to have an extraordinary identity.

“Jin Kingdom’s little princess, Yang Qian,” Miutan directly stated her identity, which matched Yan Yu’s guess almost exactly.

As mentioned earlier, Yang Pei had two daughters. Eldest Princess Yang Jing had extraordinary soul power but suffered from a strange illness that prevented her from practicing physical arts. Little Princess Yang Qian was exactly the opposite. Her soul power was very ordinary, but her talent in physical arts was extremely high.

It was also because she was too “lopsided” that Yang Qian’s spiritual arts attacks were rarely stationary-output moves. They mainly relied on combined beast form, then layering physical arts to make the spiritual arts deal greater damage.

Although this method was somewhat unfair to pure spiritual arts candidates, it was allowed by the rules. This was because the fusion degree, tacit understanding, and duration of combined beast form would also be factored into the spiritual arts score. It was only that when the final score was calculated, a portion of the points would be deducted proportionally according to the damage added by physical arts as compensation.

“Ah!” Yang Qian excitedly covered her mouth, looking as if she wanted to cheer but felt too embarrassed to make a sound. She ran to Yan Yu’s side in small steps and mysteriously leaned closer to her.

“I know you.” She was a little shorter, and the almond-shaped eyes looking at Yan Yu shone with excited light. “You’re the legendary goddess sister. Thanks to you, my sister’s illness was cured.”

“How do you know—” No, that was not important right now.

The important thing was, in the original book, didn’t the little princess attend the neighboring Weiying Imperial Academy? How had she ended up at Yuling’s exam venue?

“Did you perhaps go to the wrong exam venue?”

Author’s Note:

Little Princess: I didn’t go to the wrong place. I want to attend the same academy as Goddess Sister!

2021.09.16 revision: Fixed the dual Beast Soul bug that was overlooked during the Soul Pearl test.