In an era where everyone is cultivating immortality, the system wants me to become a demon?

Chapter 364 Female Examiner? That makes things much easier! (4K views, please vote!)

(The exchange rate between Spirit Coins and Blue Star Coins was changed in the previous chapter to 1:1000.)
The level of a Nascent Soul cultivator was too far from Su Yuan's reach. He only thought about it briefly before considering the practical problems at hand.

Should I spend these 10,000 spirit coins?
Or, to put it another way, is it worth spending the equivalent of ten million dollars on Earth to increase the probability of being admitted to the celestial official system?
That's definitely worthwhile, especially for the direct descendants of those cultivation families who are the focus of their cultivation efforts; for them, 10,000 spirit coins is a fixed expense.

For Su Yuan, this intelligence was even more important.

On a smaller scale, this concerns the success or failure of this undercover mission; on a larger scale, it may even affect the balance of power between Earth and the Celestial Law World.

You should buy it!

The problem is, even if the organization can reimburse the money for purchasing this intelligence, Su Youlin doesn't have enough spirit coins!
Even if he were to mortgage all the valuable items on this guy's person, his savings of 1,900 spirit coins would still be far from reaching the 10,000 spirit coins figure.

Not only Su Yuan, but other ascendants in the Cold Plum World also face the same predicament.

No one can guarantee that they will pass the Celestial Official Examination. The more preparation you do, the better your chances.

Unfortunately, the reality is that among the more than twenty ascendants in the Cold Plum World, only two gritted their teeth and took out 10,000 spirit coins to buy information.

The intelligence broker handed each of the two men a jade token.

Amidst the envious glances of those around them, the two placed the jade pendant between their eyebrows. Immediately, the pendant flashed with light, and the information it contained flooded into their minds.

Subsequently, the jade pendant's color quickly faded, and it finally shattered with a snap.

"Are there only two people buying from the Cold Plum World? Is this the purchasing power of cultivators in the Great World?"

The intelligence dealer was not satisfied with the sales of the intelligence, and his tone was laced with provocation.

Silence fell over the surroundings, and just as the man shook his head in disappointment, preparing to find another place to sell his information, Su Yuan spoke up:

"I need a copy of the intelligence."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Cold Plum World looked at Su Yuan with strange expressions.

After all, in their eyes, Su Yuan should be a penniless wretch; where did he get 10,000 spirit coins from?

Su Yuan maintained Su Youlin's aloof demeanor, disdaining to explain anything, and waited for the information broker to speak.

The latter stopped in his tracks, his spirits lifted, and he flipped out a jade pendant with one hand while making a gesture of asking for money with the other.

Su Yuan reached into his wide sleeves and quickly pulled out a heavy bag of spirit coins.

The information broker took the spirit coins and counted them; the amount was exactly ten thousand, neither too many nor too few.

He just didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that the bag of spirit coins looked somewhat familiar.

However, he didn't dwell on it. After putting away the spirit coins, he handed the information jade tablet to Su Yuan.

The transaction was successfully completed. Su Yuan calmly watched the other party leave, but his heart was already filled with joy.

Because not a single penny of those 10,000 spirit coins belonged to him.

When he reached into his sleeve just now, he was indeed taking out money, but he took out the Dragon Emperor Coin from the Moon-Catching Pearl.

He used the Dragon Emperor Coin's forced transaction ability to borrow 10,000 spirit coins that the information broker had just received from someone else, and then returned them to the other party.

As for whether or not the 10,000 spirit coins borrowed using the Dragon Emperor's money should be repaid.
Didn't I just return it?

You're saying I used those 10,000 spirit coins to buy the jade pendant, and that doesn't count as paying back the money?

Sorry, this transaction is not notarized by Dragon Emperor Coin and therefore does not have any transaction effect; it is simply a repayment.

Quite reasonable, isn't it?
Su Yuan secretly admired himself for being such a clever little devil, managing to find such a bug.

However, this method cannot be used every time.

It's fine to use it to punish these unscrupulous merchants, but it's wrong to use it to cheat innocent people.

Moreover, no matter how corrupt the celestial official system is, it is certainly extremely efficient at investigating large amounts of income from unknown sources, and if it is used too much, it will be investigated.

Another issue that arises when using the Dragon Emperor's Coin is that there is a certain probability of attracting the attention of the golden divine eye above one's head.

The Holy Law Heavenly Lord and the Purple Gold Dragon Lord should know each other, and they are probably familiar with the Dragon Emperor Coin.

Fortunately, the mask crafted by the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Lord can not only conceal his own aura, but also the aura of the user's magical artifact, as long as the artifact does not leave a certain range from the user's body.

Moreover, the Golden Divine Eye is merely a projection of the Holy Law Heavenly Lord's vision, and it is not the same as directly facing a Nascent Soul cultivator. Therefore, Su Yuan is not afraid of being discovered.

Facts have proved that his judgment was correct.

[Congratulations, host, for violating the rules of the Holy Law Council once in front of the Holy Law Demon Lord. Your ability to court death is unparalleled in the world; you survived purely by sheer luck.]

[Mission Progress: Rule Violation (2/100)]

Su Yuan rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

Because according to this standard, he will be able to complete the task very quickly.

He raised his hand and placed the jade pendant between his eyebrows. A short piece of information surfaced in his mind.

But these brief words contain a great deal of information.

Because this thing completely leaked the questions of the Celestial Officials' Grand Examination.

The Celestial Official Examination consists of three stages: a written test, a celestial test, and an interview.

Let's talk about the written test first. There were three questions in total, and Su Yuan was already a little confused by the first one.

The questions are as follows:

Material 1: Yangxi Town is the poorest town under the jurisdiction of Jinyang County. Local people are almost unable to pay taxes, and young people are fleeing en masse.

Material 2: The magistrate of Jinyang County has recently gone into seclusion to break through to the Golden Core realm. Once he succeeds, Jinyang County will have the opportunity to compete for the position of county seat. Therefore, a large number of small and medium-sized sects and caravans have moved into the county in advance.

Material 3: Yangxi Town once tried to vigorously develop the spiritual plant industry, but failed due to fierce competition, a shortage of talent in soil and wood spiritual roots in the town, and serious loss of fertility in the town's thousands of acres of spiritual fields due to the rampage of black wind rats, which led to spiritual plants being eaten, having poor appearance, and being difficult to survive.

Material 4: Due to the prosperity of the county seat and the increase in caravans, the demand for spiritual plants in Jinyang County increased by more than 30%, which gave Yangxi Town an opportunity to revitalize.

Answer requirements: Summary question: Based on the given materials 2 to 4, please summarize the main difficulties that Yangxi Town is currently facing in the process of removing the label of a poverty-stricken town and revitalizing its economy.

Analysis Question: Based on all the given information, discuss your understanding of the view that "townships and counties are a community of shared destiny that mutually benefits each other."

Policy Proposal: Write an argumentative essay on the theme of "The prosperity of counties and prefectures generates industrial demand for their subordinate townships, promoting the integration of counties, prefectures, and townships." (Choose your own title.)

After just reading the information and answer requirements for the first question, Su Yuan immediately felt an indescribable sense of terror coming towards him!

The other two questions were similar, or even more difficult.

I was so scared when I saw this episode as a child that I cried!

The written test is not something that can be passed by cultivation level or realm of understanding.

If you don't put in the effort to learn in depth for a year or two, you're bound to be eliminated.

Fortunately, the intelligence report thoughtfully pointed out a shortcut—bribing someone.

And the money was clearly priced: 5,000 spirit coins for the first question, 6,000 spirit coins for the second question, and 7,000 spirit coins for the third question.

As long as you put in enough money, you can get the answer directly.

Then comes the Heavenly Test, which, simply put, tests one's aptitude.

In the Celestial Law World, ordinary spiritual roots are divided into three, six, and nine grades. Only first-grade spiritual roots and above are celestial spiritual roots, and those above that are immortal spiritual roots.

Only those with a third-grade or higher spiritual root, or equivalent lineage, spiritual body, or other talents, can pass the Heavenly Trial. This is relatively easy to say, as Su Youlin possesses a naturally occurring Heavenly Spiritual Root.

What if my spiritual root level is not high enough?
Give me money!

The lower the quality of your spiritual root, the more money you have to pay. In short, as long as you have enough money, you're guaranteed to pass.

The final interview is a direct confrontation with the examiners, whose impressions and evaluations of the candidates determine their final scores and positions.

The method to get a high score in an interview is also very simple.

Swallow money! Swallow money! Swallow money again!

As long as you fill the examiners' pockets with spirit coins, it's not impossible to take office as the county magistrate right away!

After reviewing the intelligence, Su Yuan realized that this worthless intelligence had only one purpose.

That is to tell the candidates to hurry up and beg and plead for money before the celestial official examination begins.

So... that information broker wasn't wrong after all. He was just a small fry in the Celestial Official Examination industry chain. The real big players were the Celestial Officials, who even had direct access to the Celestial Realm.

It is foreseeable that most of the profits on this line will be passed up layer by layer, and very little money will actually reach the lower-level soldiers.

It is precisely because those above are so greedy that the newly promoted officials who successfully pass the civil service exam will never do anything honest in their positions. Instead, they will work even harder to make back all the losses they incurred before taking office.

Ultimately, only the working class at the bottom suffers.

Su Yuan shook his head, somewhat speechless.

Compared to the evil and darkness hidden within the Heavenly Law World, he, a mere lone demon, is utterly insignificant.

So how can he achieve a good result in this dark and celestial examination?
His current status doesn't allow him to flaunt his wealth.

Moreover, Su Yuan was unwilling to pay so much money; what difference would that make from taking his life?
As he pondered, he unconsciously reviewed the information in his mind over and over again.

Suddenly, he noticed a line of small print at the very end of the intelligence report.

[If you are a descendant of a Nascent Soul True Monarch or a relative of the examiner, you can disregard all the above conditions.]

Su Yuan was not surprised at all by the information conveyed in this line of small print.

If anything can surpass money, it must be power.

Most things that can be solved with money can be solved even faster and more conveniently with power.

Take, for example, this grand examination for celestial officials.

If we could leverage the examiner's authority...

A thought like this popped into Su Yuan's mind.

But that seems even less realistic than gathering 20,000 to 30,000 spirit coins.

Su Youlin is a newcomer, so how could he know the examiners and get them to give him special treatment?

It seems we should look for another way.

With that thought in mind, Su Yuan prepared to suppress the idea.

Just then, his mind suddenly changed.

Wait... why am I thinking in Su Youlin's way?
I'm an undercover agent whose true abilities far surpass Su Youlin's! Just because I don't know the examiners now doesn't mean I can't get to know them later.

There are still ten hours until the start of the Celestial Official Examination. The examiners should have already arrived in the nearby cities.

Su Yuan raised his head and looked at the sky, which was only beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn on the horizon. His mind began to race.

He moved swiftly, approaching an information broker who was peddling information about the upcoming exam, and asked in a low voice:
"My friend, do you know how many examiners there are for this year's Celestial Official Examination, and where they currently reside?"

The information broker glanced at Su Yuan, recognized him as someone who had previously visited his establishment, and patiently asked:
"Why are you asking this?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment, then said confidently:
"What else can we do? Of course, we'll give them gifts."

Upon hearing this, the intelligence broker immediately cast an admiring glance at Su Yuan:

"Young man, you're quite insightful. Your idea is excellent."

"Candidates who want to pass the interview stage of the Celestial Official Examination all have to give gifts, but the first person to give a gift and the one who gives gifts in a group will always leave a different impression on the examiners."

"However, I am an intelligence dealer with professional ethics. Such valuable intelligence, you see..."

Su Yuan understood and immediately used the Dragon Emperor's Coins to borrow 10,000 spirit coins from the other party and handed them over.

"My brother is very generous."

The information broker was somewhat surprised by the weight of the spirit coins that Su Yuan handed him.

He originally only wanted three or five hundred spirit coins as a token.

It seems that not all second-class citizens are poor.

What he didn't know was that Su Yuan generously gave him 10,000 spirit coins simply so that when he checked the number of spirit coins, he wouldn't be able to find out who stole them.

After all, information brokers collect spirit coins in increments of ten thousand. The difference between ten thousand less and five hundred less is actually less likely to be detected.

Given Su Yuan's generosity, the information broker immediately provided the examiners with detailed information and addresses.

As Su Yuan had expected, the examiners had all arrived at the large immortal city, Jinling City, where the examination was held, and had moved into the luxurious townhouses in the city.

There were five examiners in total, each with a cultivation level ranging from the early stage to the peak of the Golden Core stage.

One examiner in particular, named Huai Lingwei, deserves special attention.

This is the only woman among the five examiners. She has the lowest cultivation level and the youngest age, but her background is the most powerful. She is said to be the niece of a third-rank official in the central government.

After receiving this detailed information, Su Yuan's tension eased considerably.

There are female examiners.

Hello, female examiner. Everything will be much easier now.

"Thank you for the information, brother. Once I successfully deliver the gift and pass the exam to become a celestial official, I will definitely give you a generous gift in return!"

Su Yuan used the etiquette of the Heavenly Law World to cup his hands in greeting to the hooded man.

During the bow, Su Yuan made a point of glancing at the other person's face under the hood.

I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to get to know them, because someone who can gather so much information obviously has an extraordinary background.

Su Yuan saw a chubby, fair face. He silently memorized this feature, hoping to have some interaction with this person in the future.

Immediately afterwards, he casually made up an excuse to visit Jinling City, told his nominal tour leader, and left.

Following the route provided by the information broker, Su Yuan arrived at the residence of the female examiner, Huai Lingwei, in less than ten minutes.

Under the cover of night, the magical power of "a successful night raid" was brought to its fullest potential.

Neither the city guards nor Huai Lingwei's bodyguards noticed Su Yuan's arrival.

When he was only a hundred meters away from Huai Lingwei, the night raid would automatically lock onto her.

Immediately, the supernatural power was activated!
(End of this chapter)