Fan Li chuckled and said, “Oh, so she’s from our Spirit Gathering Sect. I’ll have to keep a closer eye on her this time, lest she gets snatched away by the other Hall Masters.”
The moment he finished speaking, another Scroll-Grading Elder raised his hand.
That Elder was grading the papers for the Outer Disciple examination. Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for anyone to solve the final question. Yet, he spoke with great excitement, “I also have a candidate here who solved it!”
Fan Li raised his eyebrow slightly. “Oh? How many points did they get?”
“A per… perfect score.”
Fan Li froze instantly. “You mean she answered the entire final big question correctly and got thirty points?!”
The Elder nodded, then shook his head. “Not only that, but her entire exam paper scored full marks.”
Hearing this, Fan Li’s eyes flashed with sudden brilliance. He practically rushed over in a state of sheer impatience, reaching out to snatch the exam paper right from the Elder’s hands.
“Let me see!” His eyes swept rapidly across the paper. In the next instant, his hearty, boisterous laughter erupted inside the secret room. “Hahaha! Someone actually answered it correctly! Outstanding!”
He fiercely flicked his sleeve, pacing back and forth with excitement, his face completely filled with irrepressible delight. “Good! Excellent! That little demon king of mine only scored twenty-nine points on this question back then! Yet this Lin Lumi managed to secure a perfect score of thirty! I’m going back right now to tell him about this and thoroughly humble his arrogance!”
With that, Fan Li flicked his sleeves and walked out.
As soon as the Hall Master left, the previously tense atmosphere instantly relaxed. A few Elders exchanged glances and immediately gathered around the Elder from the Spirit Gathering Sect, whispering in inquiry.
“Who exactly is this ‘little demon king’ Hall Master Fan spoke of?”
“You actually don’t know? It’s Mu Heng, of course.”
“Mu Heng?” One Elder raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I’ve met him a few times. That child is exceptionally handsome, humble and polite to others, and his cultivation is top-tier. In my eyes, he is clearly a steady, quiet, and promising young talent. How did he become a ‘little demon king’?”
The other chuckled and sighed. “It’s said to be because that fellow has such a beautiful face that he attracts confessions from many girls. However, his way of rejecting people is simple and brutal, sparing absolutely no one’s feelings. But to be honest, I think Mu Heng is a really good kid. He works steadily and has accomplished many achievements. It’s just Hall Master Fan who doesn’t appreciate him properly and keeps calling him a little demon king day in and day out.”
“So that’s how it is.” Everyone nodded thoughtfully. “But I feel Mu Heng’s approach is correct. If you don’t like someone, you should reject them. It’s much better than those men who lead female disciples on.”
“Exactly! We had a male disciple in our sect before who used his decent looks to date eight women at once. When he was finally found out, he turned the entire sect upside down. If you ask me, Mu Heng is doing the right thing! This Fan Li only has two inner disciples, and both of them are so outstanding. It really makes me envious to death.”
“Those who catch the eye of that fastidious fellow are basically all geniuses.”
The crowd fell silent for a moment, and they all looked toward Lin Lumi’s exam paper in unison.
The next day was the day the results of the written exam were posted.
The bulletin board was crowded with students who had come to check their scores.
Hua Tian pulled Lin Lumi along, standing on her tiptoes to search for her name.
Upon seeing that she had scored sixty-eight points, Hua Tian let out a sigh of relief.
“Good thing I was smart. Seeing how difficult that final question was, I gave it up directly and went back to check my previous answers. Passing is enough! Lumi, what is your score?”
Lin Lumi’s expression remained indifferent. “My score should be very easy to find.”
Hua Tian smiled. “It seems you scored very high this time as well. Let me look for it!”
She figured that since Lin Lumi had always been consistent, her score would certainly not be low. Naturally, she began searching from the very top of the list. As a result, her eyes immediately caught that familiar name.
Ranked first on the list, there was a shocking perfect score written next to it.
She gasped.
This maniac. It was one thing for her to take first place every single time back at the academy, but even after coming to the Eastern Ridge Lingshu, she was still first?! And a perfect score! She actually solved the final question too?!
Hua Tian’s throat tightened, and she was about to scream out loud, but before the words could escape her mouth, Lin Lumi quickly reached out and covered her mouth.
“It was as expected,” Lin Lumi said calmly, as though the name on the board had nothing to do with her. “No need to be so surprised. Keep a low profile.”
Hua Tian struggled twice, making muffled noises, her eyes wide and round.
How could this be considered “as expected”?!
Just as Lin Lumi was pulling Hua Tian away to leave, several voices suddenly rang out sharply.
“Who is Lin Lumi? Who is this top scorer? That final question was so difficult, yet they actually solved it?!”
“Yeah! That question was completely beyond the syllabus. How did this person do it? That’s incredible!”
Hearing this, Lin Lumi wanted to quicken her pace and leave to avoid the trouble that came with fame. Unexpectedly, after taking only two steps, someone else chimed in nearby, their voice laced with a touch of schadenfreude: “I know this woman. She and I used to be in the same academy. Her grades are decent, but her character is extremely terrible. You all might not know, but in the past, she…”
Before the words could be finished, whispers erupted all around, like dust kicked up by the wind, swirling higher and higher.
Lin Lumi clenched her fists. She had tolerated it in the past, but now that she had arrived at the Eastern Ridge Lingshu, she could not let her reputation be ruined.
She swiftly turned around and discovered that the rumor-monger was none other than He Changhua, whom she had rejected in the past.
Seeing that the crowd believed him, He Changhua spoke with increasing boldness, a smug, condescending look plastered across his face.
Lin Lumi did not listen to another word. She stepped forward steadily. “Have you said enough? If you’ve said enough, it should be my turn, right?”
The crowd froze, and the wave of clamor subsided slightly at her words.
They had not expected that the woman He Changhua painted as so despicable would actually be so beautiful.
In the crowd, a young woman was the first to speak up: “He Changhua, did you misunderstand her? She doesn’t look like the kind of person you described.”
He Changhua’s face darkened, provoked by the sudden contradiction.
He had completely excluded the possibility of Lin Lumi actively showing up at this critical juncture. After all, she had never cared about these rumors in the past, so why would she suddenly stand up to confront him today?
However, now that the words were out, there was no taking them back.
Besides, she was merely an unloved young miss from a Marquis’s manor. Who told her to reject his feelings back then?
Even if her reputation was slandered now, she deserved it!
He immediately straightened his back. “Did I say anything wrong? There is indeed a problem with your character. You are arrogant, overbearing, morally corrupt, and you shamelessly pestered the Prime Minister’s son! If they don’t believe me, they can ask any of the students from our old academy to see if what I said is true!”
His words were filled with provocative accusations, like throwing a spark into a pile of dry firewood.
“I am a student from that academy!” Hua Tian could no longer bear it and immediately stepped forward. “Lumi is not that kind of person! Back then, it was clearly all of you spreading rumors. Lumi was just too kind-hearted to argue with you. What, now that you’ve come to the Eastern Ridge Lingshu and seen her take first place again, you feel jealous? If you’re jealous, swallow it! Who told you to be unable to take first place yourself!”