Astral Pet Store (WN)

"Damn it!"

Among the Rain Clan's candidates, Mo Feng became gloomy after seeing Su Ping's performance. Nine and a half nails was already a great result.

If Su Ping couldn't pass the test, then at least ninety percent of the test-takers present wouldn't!

Still, if Su Ping passed the test, the Heaven Path Institute would realize the human being's potential and invest a tremendous amount of resources on him; such an outcome was bad news for him and the Rain Clan!

Joanna stepped up to take the test while Mo Feng pondered.

Soon, the black ball turned golden. Then, the first black nail, the second, the third… They glittered one after the other. Ten of them turned on soon after, but that wasn't the end of it. The eleventh and twelfth black nails had also turned golden!

All of the black nails had been illuminated!

Everybody fell silent at the moment. So far, she was the only candidate who had managed to illuminate all of the black nails!

Someone noticed that Joanna was from the Original Ladies Clan.

It was said that her clan had a strange relationship with the ancient Titan Gods.

The Titan Gods was a high-ranked clan with a long history. However, it declined due to an incident and disappeared overnight. Nobody knew where they had gone. Since then, their vassal forces had been subdued by the other clans.

Still, the Original Ladies weren't subdued for some reason. Still, they didn't have much potential, and could only manage to stand as a middle-ranked clan with their bloodline.

The middle-aged man responsible for registering results was surprised. He looked at Joanna and sensed something. However, considering such an outstanding result, he turned and looked at the three old men. He knew what to do after seeing the surprise and appreciation on their faces.

"Very good. You may leave," said the middle-aged man with a smile.

Joanna was slightly dazed by the result. She didn't expect that her divine quality would be as high. She knew about the uses of the golden stone, but she had never tested her divine quality. After all, it couldn't really improve her combat ability.

In any case, the result showed that she would surely be admitted by the Heaven Path Institute.

Unless…

Joanna looked at the three old men, finding that they were staring at her too with gentle smiles.

She then felt relieved, and was no longer anxious when she returned to Su Ping's side. She was thrilled, to think she would be admitted by the Heaven Path Institute… It would be a breeze for an expert of the institute to pull the Demigod Burial over to the Archean Divinity.

"Do you have such a high divine quality?"

Su Ping was indeed astonished, and so was Tang Ruyan. She had broken the record thus far!

Nobody had paid any attention to them earlier, but then they realized that countless people were gazing at Joanna after she broke the record.

"Did you cheat?" said Su Ping telepathically.

Joanna glanced back at him and said, "Who would dare to cheat here? Do you think I'm as cunning as you?"

"You aren't any better than me when it comes to that." Su Ping looked weird. He had known Joanna for a long time; never did he see her as a benevolent person. Didn't her divine quality suggest that she was a saint?

Or rather, was divine quality unrelated to one's kindness?

Su Ping felt baffled by this; still, he was quite happy with their results. Even Tang Ruyan—the one with the worst performance—had illuminated seven black nails, which gave her a good chance to be admitted.

"We're now the center of attention," Su Ping said in a low voice.

Joanna said indifferently, "Not 'we', but me."

"…"

Su Ping didn't know what to say.

The measurements continued; time passed and all of them were done. Some illuminated ten black nails while others illuminated eleven, but none had managed to illuminate all twelve like Joanna did.

Once the tests were over, the middle-aged man closed the book he held and the brush made of divine power disappeared. He looked at the three old men and gestured at them.

The harsh old man on the right side said in a cold and solemn tone, "We've examined your divine quality. Now, I will announce the admission standard."

Everybody pricked their ears after hearing that.

"Those who have illuminated seven or more nails will be admitted. The rest of you should work on cultivating your personalities. Feel free to come again," said the old man coldly.

The whole crowd in the field whispered. The ones who had met the standard felt relieved, while the ones who had illuminated six divine nails were regretful. As for those who had illuminated one or two nails, they knew they couldn't be admitted, and were moaning in sorrow.

"I didn't know the threshold was seven black nails. There was no need for me to illuminate nine nails."

"Seven nails is enough to be admitted? Why not ten?"

"Why ten? Because you illuminated ten nails?"

Some cheered, and some were upset.

Mo Feng had an utterly gloomy look. He knew his outlook was not good, given his result, but now he had lost his final hope. He looked at the princess of the Rain Clan next to him, who was the only person from his clan who would be admitted.

His eyes were rather weird; he seemed as dangerous as a viper.

The others glanced at the princess too.

"Those who failed the test, you have two options," said the gentle-looking old man who was standing at the center, "Firstly, you may leave the Heaven Path Institute and continue polishing yourselves. Secondly, you may join the Heart Mirror Academy of the Heaven Path Institute and cultivate your divine quality there. You may still join the Heaven Path Institute when you reach the standard."

"The Heart Mirror Academy?"

"I heard that it's a place for you to meditate. All that is taught there is a bunch of useless moral lessons."

The people in the crowd whispered.

"Now, please stand on the left side if you wish to leave." The old man raised his hand and pointed at his left side. A bubble immediately popped up; those willing to quit would be sent away.

Many shook their heads and gave up after he said that. They would rather train pm their own, instead of wasting time in the Heart Mirror Academy.

After all, studying in the Heaven Path Institute wasn't the only way to become strong.

Divine quality wasn't completely essential when someone wanted to become strong.

Many experts had no divine quality, yet they were still able to become unparalleled geniuses that shocked other gods.

Su Ping and the others who had passed the test were waiting quietly for their own arrangements.

At this moment, Tang Ruyan suddenly said, "That guy is still here."

Su Ping looked ahead. He saw that Mo Feng, the young prince of the Rain Clan, was still standing there; the losers by his side didn't move, either.

Besides them, many princes and princesses of other clans stood unmoving. They appeared to be willing to stay.

Looks like the Heart Mirror Academy isn't simple. Or rather, the Heaven Path Institute is very significant to them, Su Ping thought.

The competition among nobles was very cruel, and the Heaven Path Institute was an important step for them to become strong. So, they had to go there, even if they had to take a detour.

Soon after, most people chose to leave; only a third of the people stayed.

Those who stayed were taken away by the other old man.

The ones who passed, including Su Ping, were officially proclaimed students by the gentle-looking old man.

"I hope that your goal in the Heaven Path Institute is to reach the peak. Let me ask you, what's the highest point in the Realm of Gods?" The gentle-looking old man dropped his smile, and became solemn.

In the crowd, a bold prince shouted loudly, "The Ancestral Gods!"

The old man glanced at the prince and nodded. "Exactly, the Ancestral Gods! I hope that all of you aim to become Ancestral Gods!"

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, finding the situation surreal. It had been years since the last Ancestral God had emerged. Every Ancestral God was a world-shaking powerhouse who would always change the balance of the world.

"Cultivation is a high mountain.

"This mountain is full of thorns and difficulties. You need to overcome your laziness, lust, vanity and other weaknesses, and melt into the mountain like a rock. That is the only way you can keep on climbing!

"This is not a demand; it is but my personal hope. I hope that all of you aim to be the best. Such a pursuit will prevent you from being distracted by temptations. Rest and errors won't be tolerated on the path to supremacy. So, you must be harder on yourselves!" said the old man as he addressed the crowd.

Everyone looked solemn; there was hot blood boiling in their hearts.

Cultivation was more strenuous and painful than most things in the world. Therefore, one could not persist without a strong mind.

"You're new students. I do not know you well yet. There are three academies in the Heaven Path Institute, namely the Fighting Heavens Academy, the Mending Heavens Academy, and the Unifying Heavens Academy. Each academy has its own, unique style. You'll learn about the details later."

The old man faded away once he finished saying that.

The middle-aged man who was responsible for the records opened his mouth a minute after the old man left. "You are new disciples of this institute. I'll take you to the Allocation Mountain first, where teachers will answer all of your questions. I hope that you follow our rules. Those who violate them shall be severely punished."

He waved his hand after saying that, and everybody was translocated to a place underneath a sky of purple flames; it seemed to be the middle-aged man's world.

The fiery sky disappeared soon after. They were no longer in the square, but at the top of a huge mountain.

Is this the expertise of an Ascendant? What a smooth use of the power of his world, Su Ping thought.

He had just realized that he was contained in a small world, along with everybody else. All of them could have been killed if that guy had a nefarious agenda. After all, he was the master of all laws and order in his small world. They would suffer major setbacks even if they were at his level.

…

They arrived at the Allocation Mountain.

Experts with powerful auras and robes of the institute quickly dashed over. They were introduced as the Heaven Path Institute's mentors.

Su Ping was already familiar with the Ascendant aura. He found that all of the mentors were Ascendants; they seemed to be even more terrifying than the ones he had seen in the Federation.

Are these mentors as strong as Heavenly Lords? Su Ping wondered.

Soon, the mentors recited the rules of the Heaven Path Institute.

They also introduced the three academies.

As the name implied, the Fighting Heavens Academy was focused on fighting. The disciples of this academy would often need to carry out dangerous battle missions. They would need to defend the institute in the event of an attack.

The Mending Heavens Institute, on the other hand, taught the skills of defense and assistance.

As for the Unifying Heavens Academy, it taught miscellaneous skills, including some ancient, lost techniques from various categories.

Su Ping and Joanna had different opinions in regards to the choice of academy. Joanna chose the Fighting Heavens Academy. She seemed to have long admired the institute because of its sub-academy.

As for Su Ping, he chose the Unifying Heavens Academy. He was curious about the unseen stuff.

After a long time of consideration, Tang Ruyan also chose the Fighting Heavens Academy. She was the aggressive type.

"Unfortunately, you can't stay here for too long," Su Ping was slightly regretful that they didn't choose the same academy as he did. They could only stay for a limited amount of time with the employee privilege. They could no longer be resurrected if he randomly took them there again later.

They would truly die if they were killed.

Su Ping would not dare test his luck. After all, it was the Archean Divinity, and there were countless experts; they could be caught in a dangerous situation at any time.

"I'll ask the experts of my academy and see if they can move my world here," said Joanna.