Don't try to cultivate immortality; mortals live longer than immortals.

"Help!"

"Please, I...I'm not hungry, I really don't want to eat."

"I was wrong. I will definitely work hard next time and I will never fail."

"Mom, someone, someone save me! I swear I'll never slack off in my studies again!"

……

Screams and pleas for mercy rose and fell in an instant.

That scene would terrify even a deity.

Having learned from this experience, the students dared not skip meals the next day. The food was already terrible; after mixing dozens of dishes together, eating it could easily kill a person.

Rather than enjoying such treatment, it's better to accept your fate and eat it yourself.

Of course, this is only the choice of most people; there are still a few stubborn ones, among whom Zhou Ran skips meals the most.

However, each time, he was caught and forced to eat all sorts of bizarre and unappetizing dishes.

The more desperately you try to escape, the more you'll be forced to drink.

Although it looks terrifying, there's no need to worry about it leaving any lasting effects.

The school was well-prepared. Although these students who failed their courses ate their meals with great difficulty, as if they had been tormented for ten days and ten nights with each meal, each of them was given a corresponding pill the moment they stepped out of the dark catering department.

There are two types of pills: the Cleansing and Spirit-Concentrating Pill and the Evil-Eliminating and Mind-Calming Pill.

The former dispels foulness upon consumption, instantly eliminating the nausea caused by the unpalatable food, while also calming the mind and relieving the irritability caused by the memory of the bad food.

The latter is more effective. It can not only eliminate gastrointestinal discomfort but also soothe the traumatized soul and dispel the fear left by forced eating. It is suitable for students who were forced to eat by the steel puppet because they skipped meals.

……

And so, seven days later, the students who failed their exams finally had their make-up exams.

This time, the make-up exam went very smoothly, with a 100% pass rate. There wasn't a single student who dragged the class down, and the scores were generally very high.

Even Zhou Ran didn't do anything else.

After all, he's a comedian, not an idiot. Having learned such a lesson and overcome such setbacks, how could he dare to cause any more trouble?

The school was not surprised by this result, because it was the same every year. Mortals were used to eating, drinking and having fun. They had just embarked on the path of immortality. If they were not given a tough test, many of them would still be trapped in the illusion of their comfortable past lives.

Therefore, giving them a taste of their own medicine is necessary, and that's also the purpose of making them take the cultivation qualification exam.

Of course, this is only one of the purposes; there are also deeper intentions, but we will not discuss those for now.

Because they were very familiar with the procedures every year, the school didn't rush to teach Duan Xuan and his classmates who passed on their first try. Instead, they generously allowed them to eat, drink, and have fun for a week.

That set a benchmark.

Study hard and don't fail your exams—being a top student brings its own set of benefits. But if you slack off or don't work hard, all sorts of unexpected punishments await you...

As for the myriad ways of cultivating immortality, fellow students, it's best not to act recklessly out of curiosity. Don't say you weren't warned.

Now that the qualification certificates have been obtained, the new batch of students is about to embark on their immortal journey. The next thing they will face is class assignment.

The last exam served as a good assessment of everyone's abilities. Based on each student's individual circumstances, including their spiritual roots, all students were shuffled and reassigned to different classes.

Then, 50 students, including Duan Xuan, Zhou Ran, and Jiang Yaoguang, were assigned to Class One, the so-called elite class.

Duan Xuan was dumbfounded by this result. After all, in the highest academy on Shuiyun Star, his 50 points of spiritual root value was only barely satisfactory. Although he did not fail the cultivation qualification certification exam, his score was not outrageous either. How could he have been assigned to the elite class?

"Lingyun, could it be that my secret has been exposed?" Duan Xuan anxiously called out to the system in his mind, "The Spirit Root Boosting Pill you gave me granted me a true Heavenly Spirit Root. Could it be that this secret has already been discovered, which is why I was placed in the elite class?"

"Don't worry, host. How could that be? I've arranged this matter perfectly; it's foolproof."

With so many people around, Lingyun naturally wouldn't conjure a virtual projection composed of data streams. However, by connecting her brainwaves via the network and conversing with Duan Xuan in her mind, she wouldn't have to worry about being discovered by anyone.

Her voice was full of reassuring words: "This class assignment was based on a comprehensive consideration of various factors. You must have outstanding qualities in other areas, which is why you were assigned to the top class..."

"Is that so?" Duan Xuan was skeptical, but he didn't dwell on the question.

Lingyun patted her chest quietly, having finally managed to fool her host. After all, there was no such thing as a spirit root-boosting pill. Duan Xuan was originally a peerless genius with a true heavenly spirit root. The whole thing she did was just to win his favor.

The three Nascent Soul stage experts knew this kid's situation perfectly well; it would be strange if he wasn't assigned to the elite class.

Thinking of this, Lingyun felt a pang of guilt, but thankfully her host didn't dwell on the issue.

……

The class assignment process was uneventful. After passing the cultivation qualification certification exam and the test of terrible cooking, most of the students came to terms with reality.

Upon entering the school, the comfortable life of mortals is gone. Whether they like it or not, everyone must embark on the path of immortality and adapt to the new life. Otherwise, the hardships that follow will be countless.

The next day, the teacher began the formal lesson.

Duan Xuan arrived at the classroom early in the morning and found that almost all of his classmates had already arrived.

As expected of the top class, after this period of rigorous training, not a single person in the class is planning to slack off anymore.

Soon, a woman with a high nose bridge and long, jet-black hair walked onto the podium.

She was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and very beautiful.

"My surname is Tang, and my given name is Ya. I am your homeroom teacher for the first year, and I have the cultivation level of Golden Core."

"However, the body you see now is not my true form..."

Before the woman finished speaking, the students below got excited... If it's not the real body, could it be the legendary avatar?

Although people weren't enthusiastic about cultivating immortality in the past, thanks to the game promoted by the Immortal Alliance called "Lying Down Will Lead to Demise Sooner or Later, Cultivating Immortality is Boundless Fun," people were not unfamiliar with anything about the path of immortality.

"What are you thinking? Even a Golden Core cultivator isn't worthy of having an avatar. Besides, even if I really had that ability, wouldn't it be better to send the avatar to the lab to help me with my experiments? Why would I use it to teach you little brats? I'm not that wasteful..."

Seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, the homeroom teacher, Tang Ya, started to complain to herself, then smiled and said, "This is not an external avatar, but a divine puppet controlled by a wisp of my divine soul that I split off."

"What, a mystical puppet show?"

"..."

The students fell silent. As the homeroom teacher, was it really acceptable to use such a perfunctory approach in the first class?