Arriving at the registration counter, Zhang Xuan paid the registration fee of three thousand gold coins and waited for the call.
Not long later, Zhang Xing's name was called.
In this batch of thirty people, Zhang Xing was the youngest. Naturally, he attracted a lot of attention.
The examiners and examinees turned their gazes toward him, as though they had seen something novel.
Usually, children from wealthy families would come here to take the examination at the age of twelve or thirteen to slowly accumulate experience. A few years later, they might even be able to pass the apprentice examination.
There had never been a child below the age of ten in history, and Zhang Xing was the first to do so.
"The theoretical examination will take one and a half hours, and you will pass if you score 98 points. The practical examination will take one hour, and you will be able to pick three sets of basic formations and set one of them up!"
"You are not allowed to whisper to one another during the examination..."
After announcing the rules, the examination began.
Looking at the questions on the examination paper, Zhang Xing heaved a sigh of relief. The apprentice examination was all about basic knowledge, so it was impossible for there to be some bizarre questions.
In less than ten minutes, he finished answering all of the questions. After checking his answers, he stood up and prepared to hand in the paper.
The door to the examination hall was pushed open, and a person walked in. Upon seeing Zhang Xing, their eyes met.
Kacha!
"Little brat!"
"I was still worried that I wouldn't be able to find you. To think that you would come knocking on my door. Haha, the heavens sure have eyes!"
The person who walked in was Grandmaster Hong Guang, who had fought with Zhang Xing for a spot in the teleportation formation.
"The heck, why would I meet this fool so coincidentally? Will he make things difficult for me?"
Zhang Xing thought to himself as he looked at the sneering Hong Guang.
Without any hesitation, he handed the examination paper over to the counter.
Hong Guang was a grade-1 formation master, and he was in charge of patrolling the area.
"Bring it over. You finished answering it in ten minutes. You must have scribbled nonsense. Given your attitude, you won't be able to pass the apprentice examination even in your next life!"
Zhang Xing did not move from his spot. 'Just because you said so? Why are you talking so much nonsense? Who do you think you are?'
The other invigilator was also curious. He picked up the examination paper and took a look.
He was also a grade-1 formation master, and he was of the same rank as Hong Guang. Thus, he ignored him.
The invigilator scanned through the paper and nodded his head.
"Not bad, not bad!"
After looking through the paper, he smiled in praise and passed the examination paper back to Hong Guang.
"This child got it all right, 100 points!"
Hongguang took the test paper with a face full of disbelief and started to read it carefully.
After reading through it once, his complexion didn't look too good.
"Damn, this brat really got everything right. He didn't make any mistakes at all. No, I can't let him pass. I have to find fault with him."
With that thought in mind, he began to watch it a second time.
He was so serious that he was stingy with every word. The invigilator beside him was puzzled.
Hongguang had been absent-minded for the past few days. Not to mention reviewing the exam papers, he was not even willing to show up in the examination hall. What was wrong with him today?
"This … the handwriting is a bit messy, deducting two points. This … the last question was not expressed properly, deducting one point."
"Unqualified!"
Hearing Hong Guang squeeze out these words, Zhang Xing coldly snorted in his heart, but he didn't say anything.
The invigilator beside him had a strange look on his face as he took the test paper and looked at it again.
There was nothing wrong with it. The handwriting was neat and tidy. It was a standard answer.
This was nitpicking. What was Hong Guang trying to do?
Did he have a grudge against him because he didn't want this child to be admitted?
But even so, he couldn't cheat so brazenly. There was a magic crystal recorder in the examination hall.
Once this child made a fuss and the higher-ups found out about it, he would be implicated.
No, he couldn't let Hong Guang do this. If he wanted to do it, he had to wait until the actual test.
"Cough cough!
Hong Guang, you must have seen wrongly. There was nothing wrong with the last question. It was very standard. "
"I think we should give him 98 points to pass."
As he spoke, he glanced at the magic crystal recorder.