Tales Of Demons And Gods - The Rise Of Chen Long

Chapter 14 - CHAPTER 14: YEARLY EXAMS



A few days later was a family gathering! It was my 13th birthday.

Our first guest was from the branch family. We have a council of 6 elders. One of the elders is my Uncle Chen Fei, The other 5 elders are my dad\'s cousins which are the branch family members. The elders are all Black Gold Ranks, but my Uncle Fei has along with Uncle Yong was the strongest in the council which was 3-star black gold.

The family, thanks to grandfather were very loyal to the Snow wind family. No one is conceited or spoiled. I feel like I\'m in a commoner family were everybody gets along. Maybe because our grandpa was friends with Lord Ye Mo which used to be a commoner before he was married to the major family which was the snow wind family.

The next visitors was Lord Ye Mo and Granpa Chen Hong. They did a meet and greet.

Granpa Chen Hong, like Lord Ye Mo do not meddle with their family. They leave everything to their successors to deal with everything, so its kinda like retirement. They only focus on their cultivations. And like father, grandpa is a 5-star black gold rank.

The next guest was the rest if the Sniw Wind Family. Then the Wing Dragon Family, then the branch Heavenly Marks Family and so on...

To keep this short, almost all family came except the one from sacred family. They didn\'t like the fact we invited commoners and minor nobles. But the did send messengers to greet me a heppy bday and dropped of some gifts.

Nie Li and friends was there as well and we all hanged around. I introduced them to me cousins and Du Ze fell in love with one of my cousins but feel he is not worthy for him being a poor commoner. I wanted to help him out and his family, but he said that his pride would not allow it.

Later that day, almost all the guest went home except the Snow Wind Family and Wing Dragon Family.

I was hanging out with Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning\'er.

"So Ziyun! How is your stalker fiance doing these days? Hahaha!" - i sad to Ye Ziyun

"Please don\'t remind me! I will talk with father again to cancel the marriage. Those damn council elders is hard to crack!" she said. "How about you! when are you going to meet some girl to ma-! Ouch!" - Ziyun was pinched by Ning\'er.

Ye Ziyun was rubbing her sides where Ning\'er pinched. She then wide eyed shocked when i donned to her that me and Ning\'er was an item.

"When! Where! How?!" she said to the both of us. "Ning\'er! I thought we told everything! I\'m not talking to you anymore!" - Ye Ziyun

"Well, it isn\'t finalized! They want her to focus on cultivating first before she can get engaged again. Getting engage too soon will dishonor the sacred family since she just break off the engagement with them. So we are keeping it quiet for now. We can\'t have turmoil within the major families, it will risk the safety if Glory City." i said

Awhile later, it was night time and all guest have gone home. The servants was cleaning up and the gifts was stored within my ring to open later.

I was ordered to the secret training grounds in the basement if the main house for a family meeting. It was only my father Chen Zhenlong, my elder brother Chen Linjian and my uncle Chen Fei.

"Now that your all full from the feast, we will now do some sparring to burn the calories away." - Chen Zhenlong

So the spar will be Dad vs Uncle and me vs elder brother.

So the spar started, dad overwhelms uncle so the spar did not last long. While me and elder brother was going toe to toe on our beast form.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

We stopped due to the defensive array could not last anymore bombardment.

"This was supposed to be a light spar for me. I thought i was at an advantage being a 1-star black gold rank! Did you breakthrough gold rank little bro?" - Linjian

"Never heard of an abyss tiger having wings before, is it a mutated one?" - Linjian

"Hmmm~, you can say that i guess. I found it by chance. hehehe!" i said

My father walked towards me and said...

"Son! Those moves you did are not moves you can do just by training. Those moves are from people who went through life and death battles. There was no wasted movements." he continued. "Long! Tell me the truth! If my conclusion is right, you got an altercation with some bandits or people from the dark guild to experience a life and death battle. And the only place you can get that experience is eaither outside Glory city or in the slums of the black market. And I specifically remember you asking about the black market a few days ago, is that right?!" he commanded

"Crap!" i sigh "Sorry dad! You got me. But I do not regret it. It made me stronger! I also need to find the rest of the title deeds of the Wing Dragon family. She is my future wife after all!" i said. Then told a very lame lie "I did it for love!" (I was chocking myself in my mind for saying the lamest catchphrase)

"Hahaha! I guess the apple doesn\'t fall too far from the tree! Hahaha!" - Chen Fei

"Fei Don\'t! You promised~!!" - Zhenlong

"Why worry! We are all family here!"

"Hahaha! Nephews! Your father said those exact words to father a long time ago. I also remember elder brother Zhenlong got whooped up pretty good by father. But look, everything worked out for the better!" - Chen Fro

He sigh. "Long! I am going to let this go due to the fact it is your birthday today. But next time you want to go to the black market, I want your Uncle Fei here to accompany you since I can\'t stop you anyways! Same goes to you to Linjian! Dont think i have forgotten about your treasure exploration!"

Me and my brother nodded back. Then the sermon continued. Uncle Fei left when my father begin his sermon. Just like my brother, it was in one ear out the other. We just continue nodding until the sermon was over.

"Long! Remember to control your strength tomorrow. Make it so that it won\'t excite jealousy from other major families." - dad

I agreed and head to my room went to bed for the night.

The next day due to excitement, woke up too early. So I began to meditate and taken some spirit recovery pills to help fix my soul realm. I was so focused in my soul realm that i lost track of time.

I rushed to school and into the classroom. No one was there and then saw a notice on the blackboard stating the exams will be held at the auditorium behind the school building. So i raced towards the building.

The auditorium is an open air auditorium that is built like a coliseum with a stage in the middle. The grounds was filled with 1st years and 2nd year students while the seats was filled by upper grades and genius students. Today was the test for 1st and 2nd years while others are just here to watch for hidden talents within us.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As i entered the auditorium, the sounds of the test already began. I was so late. I went to find Shen Xiu to mark my attendance.

"No, I\'m here for your early retirement when Nie Li wins! Best of luck teach" i said

"Hmph! Keep dreaming kid!" she said and left heading to the other teachers.

I started to look for Nie Li and the group since I know I will be the last one to be called since i was late. So it\'s going to be awhile. Then i saw Shen Fei walking away from Nie Li and Ning\'er furiously with his lackeys.

"Yo! Nie Li! Ning\'er! What\'s up?!" - i said

"Your late!" both of them yelled.

"Hey, better late than sorry!" i said " By the way, what\'s going on with Shen Fei?"

Ning\'er narrated on what transpired during my absence. Then I looked at Nie Li.

"Dude! Are you sure you know what you are getting in to? Pretending to be in love Ning\'er will make you an enemy to Shen Fei! Not only that Ye Ziyun will kill you ȧss!" I told Nie Li

"Let me worry about that! Were were you when your girlfriend was being bullied by the ex. I couldn\'t stand still so that was all i could think of!" - Nie Li said

"I\'ll hold you to that! Besides, I still owe you for that shadow devil! hehehe!" he said

The rest of the group came, while Ning\'er find Ye Ziyun. We all greeted each other, tbhen joked around for awhile.

"I can\'t wait to show my talents and show those damn nobles a thing or two! Aaa~ no offense Chen Long, your different!" - Lu Piao

"You should be careful with your statements Piao! Someone might hear you! - Du Ze

"Ouu~. Lighten up Du Ze! You sound just like my father! Live a little will ya!" - Lu Piao

"Why amI even talking to you..." - Du Ze.

STUDENT SHEN YUE! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

"Want to watch and see how he do?" i asked everyone. Everyone nodded and we all make our way to the stage.

BOOM!

The crowd was in awe at the amount of strength. Shen Fei was feeling so proud of himself.

DING!

"Soul Force 115! Final result 1-star bronze rank!" - examinee

The crowd was in awe again. Shen Yue was walking proud with his head held high. Shen Xiu felt proud of her nephew.

Meanwhile, me and my friends were giggling trying to keep from laughing out loud.

STUDENT LU PIAO! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

"Let the show begins!" said Lu Piao while winking one eye to us as he make way to the stage.

BOOM! - (1st try)

BOOM! - (2nd try)

BOOM! - (3rd try)

"S-strength 325!" - examiner

Everone in the crowd was silent while me and the guys were clapping. I can see Shen Yue looking like his world just went upside down. He could not believe he got outshined by a commoner. Shen Xiu started to get nervous and is losing her confidence on the bet.

DING!

"Soul Force 365! Final result 3-star bronze rank!" - examiner

The crowd was in awe and started clapping. The principal told the teachers to put him to the genius class.

STUDENT WEI NAN! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

BOOM!

"Strength 299!" - examiner

DING!

"Soul Force 288! Final result 2-star bronze rank!" - examiner

STUDENT ZHANG MING! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

BOOM!

"Strength 325!" - examiner

DING!

"Soul Force 275! Final result 2-star bronze rank!" - examiner

Everyone in the crowd was in awe after one after another our group has made it to the genius class. They speculate that it was because of me having vast amount of resource. So they are not too surprised. But i know it wasn\'t.

STUDENT DU ZE! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

BOOOOM!

"S-strength 500!" - examiner

Everyone was now thinking that they are in front of a true genius. The principal stood from sitting in his chair and anounce that Du Ze will be his disciple.

"Silver rank at age 13. Truly a genius much like Lord Ye Mo. I must have him!" - principal

"That was low Principal! Announcing first, i wanted him as a disciple!" - Vice Principal

Du Ze made his way to a gigantic soul crystal to measure his soul force. He put his hand on the crystal and started to inject soul force to it!

CRACK! CRACK! PISHING!

The giant soul crystal exploded to several tiny soul crystals.

"Aaaa~...How do you measure this?" the examiner told another examiner. Then the principal yelled out.

"1-star silver rank! Continue with the examinations. Someone fetch another giant crystal!" - Principal

STUDENT ZHU XIANG! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

BOOM!

"Stength 330!" - examiner

Then the examiner picked up one of the shards of the giant crystal.

"What the heck is this." - Zhu Xiang

"It\'s gonna take some time before another giant soul crystal arrive. This one is good enough. Just go ahead and inject your soul force!" - examiner

DING!

"Soul Force 300! Final result 3-star bronze rank!" - examiner

STUDENT NIE LI! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

Tbe principal and Vice principal started to make way towards the stage. They know about the bet made by Shen Xiu and Nie Li. Shen Xiu also came to the stage.

"Ready to loose the bet! If you let you back out if you publicly apologize to me!" - Nie Li

"I will not back out! I will uphold to the terms if you win!" - Shen Xiu. She cannot back down due to her pride and to prevent further humiliation.

Nie Li just smiled and headed to the punching machine.

BOOM!

"Strength 100!" - examiner

Everyone in our group was laughing due to the fact that Nie Li is controling his punch perfectly. The principal and vice principal notice us laughing and figured out he is hiding his true strength and just doing it to further insult teacher Shen Xiu.

DING!

"Soul Force 100! Final results 1-star bronze rank!" - examiner

Shen Xiu left humiliated. And the Vice Principal announced that Nie Li will be his disciple.

Later on, another giant crystal was brought to the stage. Only to be broken again by Xiao Ning\'er. Once another replacement came, it exploded again. This time by Ye Ziyun. Then it was normal. They all thought all genius was chosen. Then the last examiner was called.

STUDENT CHEN LONG! PLEASE REPORT TO THE EXAM STAGE!

I came to the stage and looked to the punching machine. The guage only go up to 1000 which is a 1-star gold rank. I thought to myself "I better control my strength!".

Since punching will show my true strength, i used a finger flick to the punching machine.

KABOOOOOM!

"EEEEEH!" i said. I just destroyed the punching machine with a flick of a finger. "This machine is way too fragile" i thought to myself. I then looked around me.

Everyone was silent with their jaws hanged down. Even Nie Li and the guys were shocked as well.

"OOPS!" i said

"No need to test the crystal. I know you will only destroy it." - the principal said "So many geniuses this rear appear. The future is looking good, especially the commoner families."

Afterwards, the principal announce the end of the examination and for all students to return to their perspective classrooms.

We didn\'t see teacher Shen Xiu. We found out later when the vice principal taken over our class and announced teacher Shen Xiu resigned. Shen Yue was greeting his teeth at Nie Li for what he did to his aunt.

The rest of the class, excluding Shen Yue requeated Nie Li to help them with their cultivation.

A couple of weeks past and everyones cultivation drastically increased except for Shen Yue. All thanks to Nie Li, they were hesitant to come to me because of my status. The 3 month summer vacation starts next week. Nie Li will go home to the main branch of the heavenly marks family. It was a whole day journey by horse carriage. He has been staying in the student dormitory during school days. As for me, Im planning to go back to the black market and train this whole vacation.