59: Chapter 59, 1790 cultivation points
Who could have imagined it?
Targeting a powerless examinee had actually been escalated to the grave charge of undermining the roots of the Great Xia.
Between social death and literal death, the Hard-Soled Proctor chose to play dead.
Just faint.
As long as he didn't wake up, this nightmare wouldn't begin.
...
Professor Li's angry outburst made all the Breeders present realize that the ridiculously young Senior Cultivator before them was simply not someone they could afford to provoke.
Ultimately, after a discussion among several professors, the results of this Primary Cultivation examination were voided, and all candidates would need to return for a re-examination.
Except for Li Yu.
Having promoted to a Senior Cultivator, it was meaningless for him to go take a low-level certificate exam again.
Li Yu politely declined the dinner invitation from Professor Li and the others, left the building, and hurried home.
12:30.
If he didn't go back now, his younger sister would go hungry.
Upon returning home and pushing open the door, a rich aroma of food wafted over. The scent of scallion scrambled eggs made Li Yu's throat move slightly, and his stomach let out a "rumbling" protest.
Li Meng rushed out of her room, looking at Li Yu with a mix of nervousness and anticipation.
"Brother, how did it go?"
Although Li Yu had told her it was a sure pass, waiting so long for him to return made her inevitably worried. Besides, it wasn't like her brother hadn't reported good news while hiding the bad in the past.
Seeing his younger sister looking so cautious, wanting to ask but afraid to hear the answer, Li Yu curled his lips slightly and handed her the certificate.
"See for yourself."
Li Meng hurriedly took it. Seeing the gold-stamped "Breeder Qualification Certificate" on it, her eyes lit up. She jumped on the spot in excitement, and as if that wasn't enough, she lunged at Li Yu and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.
"Yay! Brother is mighty! Hahaha..."
Li Yu was choked and stumbled. Just as he steadied himself, hearing the crisp, pleasant voice behind him and feeling that heartfelt joy, he couldn't help but laugh too.
He patted his sister's back with his hand and comforted her, "Alright, let's eat first. Your brother is so hungry he's dizzy; if I don't eat soon, I'm going to collapse."
He wasn't wrong.
Cultivating beasts was both mental and technical work; it was both technical and physical work.
Furthermore, Li Yu had cultivated two of them in one morning.
The gains were substantial, but the exhaustion was also very real.
Li Meng hurriedly climbed off his back and pulled Li Yu to sit at the dining table. The food, which had just been reheated, was steaming. His sister took a bowl, ladled some corn and pork rib soup, and placed it in front of Li Yu.
"Brother, drink some soup first."
"Mm."
Li Yu didn't stand on ceremony; he picked it up and started eating. Looking at his sister, she had already opened the certificate and was examining it carefully.
After a good while.
It was quiet.
Li Yu looked at his sister and saw her standing there blankly, scratching her head one moment and her cheek the next, looking exactly like a monkey.
He naturally knew why his sister was reacting this way, but he didn't point it out. He took another sip of soup and asked with a smile, "What's up? Did you grow a head? Why so itchy?"
Li Meng came back to her senses, looking at her brother and then at the certificate.
"Brother, did you spend money to buy this certificate?" Li Meng asked cautiously.
"Why would you say that?"
"The person who made the certificate is too unprofessional. For a Primary certificate, they gave you a Senior one. It even has a seal and looks like the real thing, but..." The smile on Li Meng's face gradually faded. She sighed softly, her tone somewhat low, "It's okay if you didn't pass. Many people don't pass their first level assessment. You don't need to buy a fake certificate to trick me."
Li Yu blinked.
"Brother, making fake certificates is illegal," Li Meng said earnestly. She just assumed her brother was concerned about his pride and, after failing the assessment, had gone under some overpass to find someone to forge a fake certificate.
But if it had to be a fake, couldn't he have just gotten a Primary one? She could have humored him, but he just had to get a Senior one; it was hard for her to pretend not to notice.
Damn it!
It was all that fake certificate peddler's fault!
Li Yu watched his sister's face, which shifted from depressed to conflicted, to angry, and then to heartache, and was incredibly surprised.
So, a person's expressions could really be this rich.
Isn't this more exciting than those deadpan TV dramas?
Li Yu couldn't help but drink a couple more sips of soup. It wasn't until a strange atmosphere spread and he saw mist forming in his sister's eyes that he secretly thought, "Oh no."
"Ahem, uh, don't be sad. Brother's certificate is real, really, I'm not lying. If I'm lying, I'm a puppy." Li Yu hurriedly comforted her.
Li Meng looked up at her brother, the mist in her eyes condensing as if a tear was about to fall. That pitiful appearance instantly left Li Yu helpless.
He hurriedly opened the Ningyang City Breeding official website, entered his name, and showed the query results to his sister.
Li Meng looked at it again and again.
She sniffled sharply, holding back her tears and snot, and said with a heavy nasal tone, "So, Brother really passed the Senior Cultivator certificate?"
"Yes! Absolutely genuine." Li Yu wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead and said, "Now you should believe me, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking.
Li Meng "whooshed" and stood up, staring straight at Li Yu.
That look made Li Yu feel a chill down his spine.
The next second, Li Meng lunged at him.
"Waaah! Brother, you scared me to death! Wuu wuu wuu..."
"You were the one overthinking it; I didn't lie to you. I even gave you the certificate... wait, are you a cat? Why do you like licking people so much? Eww... so much drool!"
"Hee hee hee~"
"Hurry up and eat!"
"Yes, sir!"
After the farce, Li Yu went to wash his face, and the two of them happily ate lunch.
Just as they finished, his sister took his badge and certificate and ran to her room, presumably to show them off to someone.
Li Yu didn't mind.
The certificate was in hand.
He was no longer an unknown apprentice, but a young Senior Cultivator, just waiting for work tomorrow to register his past cultivation achievements under his own name.
By then, there would surely be some buzz.
After 5,000 years of beast-taming endeavors, the entire Beast Tamer and Breeder circles were tending toward saturation. The status of Breeders was not as high as it was at the beginning, but that was only limited to low-level Breeders.
Nowadays in Great Xia, apprentices were everywhere, and Primary ones were as common as dogs; they weren't worth much. At best, they had higher incomes, but they certainly didn't receive much respect.
Once reaching the level of an Intermediate Cultivator, one was considered an elite member of society. Ordinary Beast Tamers would have requests for them and try to curry favor, but in the eyes of Gold-rank and above Beast Tamers, they still didn't make the cut.
Only upon reaching Senior Cultivator.
Did one truly enter the eyes of those powerhouses. Every action, every cultivation, had a significant impact.
Every Senior Cultivator was a treasure to companies and cities.
It could be said that with this badge alone.
As long as Li Yu didn't court death, he could walk sideways in Ningyang City without issue. If he could continuously output high-quality cultivation...
He could even have the mayor pour him tea.
"System, how much cultivation value do I have now?"
[Current cultivation value: 1790]
"View logs."
Immediately, a long list of logs regarding the increase and decrease of cultivation value appeared before his eyes.
Aside from the bits and pieces of evolution value contributed by a few cultivated beasts, the bulk mainly came from two sources.
One was the Hurricane Mountain Tiger.
It contributed 200 points.
The other was the Spirit Probing Armor.
It contributed a full 700 points.
Such a large Hurricane Mountain Tiger, and the evolution value it contributed was less than one-third of the little pangolin's.
How embarrassing; no, it was a disgrace to tigers!
Li Yu suddenly thought of the Spirit Probing Armor that had escaped from the Research Institute.
"I wonder how that guy is doing? Is that lousy master really that great? Why did it have to go there..." Li Yu muttered, feeling an inexplicable sense of annoyance. He shook his head, casting aside the strange thoughts in his mind.
"System, draw a prize."