Zhang Aidao, who was reading in his room, looked up and saw it was the boy he saved yesterday.
"Oh? Zhou Bai?" Zhang Aidao scratched his head in exasperation, "Looks like someone told you about my status as a dropout."
Zhou Bai smiled sincerely, "Old Zhang, I want to ask you about the entrance exam for Donghua Dao School."
"No time. Helping you yesterday was my duty," Zhang Aidao said, "Today is my only day off this month, and I already have plans."
Zhou Bai showed an awkward smile, secretly resenting: 'As someone destined to save all of humanity, shouldn't I have beauties and handsome guys lining up to help me, and old grandpas popping out everywhere?'
Christina: "Me, me! I'm both pretty and cute, and I have the grandpa attribute! I'll guide you through the entrance exam!"
Zhou Bai didn't trust this slightly off-kilter cat one bit. He glanced around Zhang Aidao's somewhat messy room and tentatively said, "Old Zhang, do you need someone to clean your room?"
"Hmm?" Zhang Aidao looked up at Zhou Bai. "Will you wash my underwear?"
"What?" Zhou Bai asked, "You all have flying bronze horses... don't you have a machine to wash underwear?"
Zhang Aidao nodded, "In wartime, the Heavenly Court assigned all the experts in immortal technologies to research weapons. Not much is done for daily life. So will you wash them or not?"
Zhou Bai sighed, "Yes."
So, Zhou Bai started cleaning Zhang Aidao's room, washing clothes and mopping the floor while listening to him talk about the Donghua Dao School entrance exam.
"Donghua Dao School, one of the Four Great Taoist Schools, only recruits elites, cultivation geniuses who can bear the future flag in war."
"So, there are two hard requirements for admission: under 20 in bone age and primordial spirit value above 30." Zhang Aidao looked at Zhou Bai and said, "When I tested you yesterday, you were 18, so you meet the age requirement. And you should have a primordial spirit value of 30, right?"
Zhou Bai nodded, too shy to mention that his primordial spirit value was already 70 that morning. By the time of the entrance exam, it would likely be even higher.
Zhou Bai couldn't help but think gleefully, "Will I shock everyone? Become the number one genius on the first day?"
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask Zhang Aidao, "What's considered a good level for a primordial spirit value of 30?"
"The Heavenly Court divided cultivators from the Return to Origin Realm to the Shifang Realm into eleven levels." Zhang Aidao elaborated, "To put it simply, Dao transformation degree 0% to 9% is the zeroth level, 'Return to Origin Realm.'
10% to 19% is the first level, 'One Ki Realm.'
20% to 29% is the second level, 30% to 39% the third.
Then every 10% is another level, reaching 100% forms one level.
So from the zeroth to the tenth level, there are eleven levels or realms."
"And before formally enhancing the Dao transformation degree, all of you have 0%, and the highest primordial spirit value can only reach 99."
At this point, Zhang Aidao suddenly pointed to Zhou Bai, "Why are you mopping the same spot over and over? Move to another area, here... there... clean it all."
"Oh, oh, oh." Zhou Bai released his primordial spirit force, controlling the mop to clean the surroundings.
Zhang Aidao continued, "I remember during my entrance exam, there were about 20,000 people who met the age and primordial spirit value requirements. Most were at the 30-60 level, and there were over ten with the maximum 99."
"Yeah." Zhou Bai thought to himself, "I wonder if my auxiliary system will also cap at 99 in primordial spirit value."
"The auxiliary system will manage," Christina said, "It directly increases your primordial spirit value; as long as you can handle it, it should go up."
Zhou Bai nodded, using his primordial spirit force to scrub underwear, feeling more motivated.
Zhang Aidao continued, "After meeting the first hard requirements, the remaining exam content is about willpower and learning ability." He explained, "Since the Heavenly Dao distorted, cultivation efficiency has increased significantly, but it's also much more dangerous. Even with protective arrays and runic vaccines, cultivation can still cause aberrations and madness.
Cultivators need strong willpower to withstand this."
Zhou Bai: "How do they test willpower?"
Zhang Aidao: "Back then, I had to squat in a horse stance inside an illusion array, and the requirement was to last until the final 5,000 people."
Zhou Bai: "...That sounds brutal."
Zhang Aidao nodded in agreement, "I squatted for seven hours, almost thought my legs weren't mine anymore."
Zhou Bai asked, "What about learning ability?"
"Learning ability shows talent in cultivating the Dao," Zhang Aidao said, "Since resources are limited, although it's harsh, the best resources should go to the most talented, who will then protect us.
For my learning ability test, I remember we had to write." Zhang Aidao said, "They showed us an ancient Daoist scripture, and based on it, we wrote a sentence."
"That ancient Daoist scripture was from before the Heavenly Dao distortion, an object that metaphysically articulated the Heavenly Dao. The deeper the understanding, the higher the talent in cultivation. This test is what eliminated me."
Zhou Bai nodded, "So, how do I prepare?"
Zhang Aidao shrugged, "Primordial spirit value can't be increased in just a few days. Willpower, I don't know how to improve either.
As for learning ability, that's half talent and half accumulation. If you'd read more Daoist books, ancient Daoist scriptures from a young age, it could help, but now it's too late."
"What?" Zhou Bai said, "Then I can only wait for the exam? Was asking you a waste of time?"
Zhang Aidao said, "On the contrary, you at least know that preparation wouldn't help, so you can relax and take the exam."
Zhang Aidao changed into a plain white outfit, looked in the mirror, and opened the door as he spoke, "That's all for the exam content. I have a date..." He waved excitedly at Zhou Bai, "Finish the remaining chores, then rest."
After watching Zhang Aidao leave, Zhou Bai huffed, stopped all the chores, and collapsed on the sofa.
Zhou Bai: "This entrance exam can't be prepared for in advance, so it's all up to luck?"
Just then, he noticed his auxiliary system showing that his Laziness Points were increasing.
He checked the time, it wasn't the next day yet.
"So, not cleaning also increases Laziness Points?" Zhou Bai felt a rush of joy and lay on the sofa, watching his Laziness Points increase, nearly one point per minute. After 10 minutes, it reached 10 points then stopped.
He joyfully converted 10 Laziness Points into primordial spirit value, seeing it reach 71 points, Zhou Bai pondered.
But after slacking off, Zhou Bai had to finish the remaining chores. When he returned to the room, it seemed someone was waiting.
An old man with a yellow Shiba Inu stood at his door.
"Hello, are you Zhou Bai?"
Zhou Bai nodded, "What's up?"
"It's , your companion is healed. You can see her now."
"Really?" Zhou Bai brightened, "Let's go then, take me to Elsa. How is she now?"
The old man awkwardly scratched his chin, "Quite well, very hearty eater." He pointed to the Shiba Inu, "This is her. Check if there's any problem."
The Shiba Inu grinned and looked cheerfully at Zhou Bai.