The examinee's expression changed. He had thought he was the only one following Zhou Hong, but unexpectedly, there were four others.
Without a doubt, those four were stronger than him, and he hadn't noticed, but Zhou Hong had. Thinking of this, he instantly felt a chill.
As expected, in the next moment, four more people leaped out from the surroundings. Without a doubt, these four were also examinees, and their strength was even greater, at least at the late stage of Heart Movement.
"You're called Zhou Hong, right?" one of the examinees chuckled and walked towards Zhou Hong.
"That's right, I'm Zhou Hong. You five were secretly following me, what's your intention? Be direct."
"Classmate Zhou Hong, don't misunderstand. I just want to ask how you managed to hunt 400 demonic beasts with your late-stage Heart Movement cultivation. That's all."
"Yes, we just want to know the answer." The others chimed in at the same time.
"What if I don't say?"
"Then I'm sorry. Actually, even if you don't say it, we all know. You have a profound-grade high-level magical artifact, don't you?" one of them sneered.
"So what? Are you planning to snatch it?" Zhou Hong smirked.
"Zhou Hong, if you know what's good for you and confess, we might spare your life."
"Hahaha, just the few of you dare to rob and kill. Since you know I have a profound-grade high-level magical artifact, aren't you afraid that you might not be my match?"
The few of them snorted disdainfully.
"We dare to follow you secretly, so we naturally have the confidence to deal with you. You, a cultivator at the early stage of Heart Movement, are not worthy of a profound-grade high-level magical artifact."
Zhou Hong was too lazy to argue with them. He instantly took out his Puppet Magical Artifact. The Puppet Magical Artifact exuded an aura of late Nascent Soul stage.
"What is this?" Their faces changed.
"This is the magical artifact I possess. It's called the Puppet Magical Artifact," Zhou Hong said with a cold smile.
"Why does it have the aura of a cultivation stage?"
"You are indeed ignorant. It can also advance continuously like a human. It now possesses the strength of a late Nascent Soul stage. You wanted to snatch it, come on, defeat my Puppet Magical Artifact first."
The few of them exchanged glances and then said in unison, "Run."
However, before they could run even a meter, their bodies were almost simultaneously severed in two.
In front of the Puppet Magical Artifact, they were as weak as insects. The Puppet Magical Artifact barely moved, only sweeping its aura, and directly cut them into two pieces. This was the power of the Nascent Soul stage.
"Just you few dare to plot against me? You're courting death." Zhou Hong snorted, put away the Puppet Magical Artifact, and left the scene.
However, as Zhou Hong left, he casually took their storage bags.
Since they could all possess storage bags, their backgrounds must be significant. He wondered which continent they were from.
Soon, Zhou Hong returned to the Golden Dragon Grand Restaurant.
"Zhou Hong, where did you go? Why are you only arriving now?" everyone asked anxiously.
"Nothing much. Have the food and drinks been ordered?"
"Of course. If you didn't come back soon, the dishes would have gotten cold."
"Hahaha, then let's drink to our heart's content today and celebrate all of us successfully getting into Taigu Academy." Zhou Hong laughed heartily.
"Zhou Hong, today, all of us must toast you. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get into Taigu Academy. We will never forget this kindness."
"Yes, Zhou Hong, I'll toast you."
Jiang Caiyue and the others raised their wine glasses, expressing their immense gratitude to Zhou Hong.
And so, Zhou Hong and his companions drank themselves into a stupor at the restaurant, not ending until midnight.
The next morning, Zhou Hong and the others arrived at the foot of Taigu Academy's mountain as usual, early. Today was the day to announce the admission results. Although they already knew they would be admitted, no one could truly relax until they saw the published list.
Indeed, when they arrived at the foot of Taigu Academy, several red announcement boards had already been posted.
"Zhou Hong, 3009th place, Year 1 Class 30."
Soon, Zhou Hong found his name. His ranking was 3009, and his class was Year 1 Class 30.
The reason Zhou Hong's ranking was 3009 was because the academy calculated it by adding the rankings from the two assessments and dividing by two.
"Gu Dao Chen, 4060th place, Year 1 Class 40."
"Jiang Cai Yue, 4061st place, Year 1 Class 40."
"Lu Yi Long, 4063rd place, Year 1 Class 40."
"Shui Yang Mei, 4065th place, Year 1 Class 40."
Everyone quickly found their names, unable to control their excitement. Moreover, they were all in the same class.
"Let's go, we can go up now and find our respective classes to report," Zhou Hong said with a smile.
"Mhm."
Following the long flight of stairs, they arrived at the entrance of Taigu Academy at the mountaintop. At the entrance, there were 50 instructors, each with a table set up. These 50 instructors were the homeroom teachers for the 50 new student classes.
Zhou Hong found the table for Class 30 and quickly walked over.
When Zhou Hong saw the instructor behind the table, he couldn't help but be stunned, because this instructor was a woman, and she was very young and beautiful, appearing to be not much older than Zhou Hong.
Zhou Hong was puzzled. Why was his class's homeroom teacher so young and beautiful? Of course, there were other young instructors in other classes, but none as beautiful as her.
"What's your name?" the young and beautiful female instructor asked Zhou Hong.
"Reporting to the instructor, my name is Zhou Hong."
When the beautiful female instructor heard Zhou Hong say his name was Zhou Hong, she was also slightly surprised.
"You are the top student in my class, Zhou Hong."
"Instructor, you know me?"
"Of course. Your strength reached the early stage of Heart Movement. Originally, you could have entered at least one of the top five classes. However, to help your friends, you lowered your ranking during the elimination round, which led to your final overall ranking being in the 3000s, and thus you ended up in my class. Should I consider it my luck, or your misfortune?"
"Hehehe, it's my luck." Zhou Hong grinned happily. To be able to enter the class of such a beautiful instructor, wasn't this luck?
Among the 50 new student classes, no instructor was as beautiful as her. Zhou Hong was sure he would be in a good mood and improve rapidly in such a class.
The beautiful instructor glared at Zhou Hong and said, somewhat exasperatedly, "Don't be rude. Alright, registration is complete." The beautiful instructor handed Zhou Hong a card with his various information registered on it.
"Thank you, instructor. By the way, may I ask what your name is?" Zhou Hong quickly asked.
"Of course. My name is Lu Qian Qian, and I am at the middle stage of Nascent Soul."
Zhou Hong was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected his class instructor to only be at the middle stage of Nascent Soul.