This is a street-style trading platform located on the deep web. Its interface, functions, and transaction methods are quite different from those of common shopping websites. It’s not the largest trading platform on the deep web, but because its content is more harmonious compared to other sites, its management is more regulated, and its position is closer to the “surface web,” Grace Brooks really likes this site.

Here, you can buy and sell many illegal or otherwise inconvenient things, and it’s not easy for the police to track you down.

But the place is full of scammers and freeloaders.

The chances of getting scammed are extremely high.

Grace Brooks’s nickname is “Qingcai Baiyu Soup.”

It’s the ID used by the protagonist in the first online game novel he read in his previous life.

“Mr. Cat” is a trading partner he’s known for many years. On the deep web, such stable and reliable trading partners are extremely important and rare.

Sometimes he sells knowledge-based content to Mr. Cat to earn some profit. There’s no other way—cultivation is too expensive, and it’s not something a student like him can afford. But in the past two years, the tasks posted by Mr. Cat have become increasingly difficult, and it’s getting harder and harder to earn his money, forcing Grace Brooks to keep learning and improving. Sometimes, Grace Brooks feels that he owes a big part of his progress to him.

Sometimes he also buys or freeloads some cultivation-related knowledge from Mr. Cat that’s hard to obtain in Yiguo.

As for Mr. Cat’s real-life identity, Grace Brooks isn’t very interested—this world is too big, and there are so many intelligent beings; maybe they’ll never cross paths in real life.

Guessing each other’s identities is just a pastime for idle moments.

Loading bar finished.

A few more unread messages are flashing.

Mr. Cat: Are you there?

Mr. Cat: Damn it, you’re not here again. We agreed on 8 p.m. tonight. When are you ever going to change this habit?

Mr. Cat: I’m numb

Mr. Cat: Good morning the next day / sarcastic tone

Grace Brooks yawned.

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: I was reading about the principles of body-protecting divine light spells last night and got absorbed in it. By the time I snapped out of it, it was already late, so I just went to bed.

Mr. Cat: Thanks for your hard work.

Mr. Cat: Time and place?

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: It’ll have to be after the big exam at least. During the exam period, the border is so strict, everywhere is strict, I’m afraid something might go wrong.

Mr. Cat: Go on.

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: You said it’s convenient by the sea, so let’s set it at Haishou Port. There’s a Nanshan Mountain outside Haishou Port City, and on Nanshan there’s a cemetery. Plot 1999 in Area 3, it’s at the diagonal corner from the entrance of the cemetery at the very top. Hide the stuff nearby, hide it well, don’t put it in front of the tombstone—some people specifically steal offerings.

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: Can you do it?

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: You can check the exact location first using satellite maps and street view, use Yiguo’s—it’s very clear.

Mr. Cat: I need to confirm.

Mr. Cat: I’ll contact you again at 10 a.m.?

Grace Brooks yawned again.

Today is the big exam in Yiguo, and having to contact in the morning—it’s hard to say whether “Mr. Cat” is testing if he’s involved with the exam.

Qingcai Baiyu Soup: Sure.

Shut down the computer.

Grace Brooks picked up a small bag, took an umbrella, and went out.

The city was still being pounded by heavy rain. The mist from the rain made it seem as if a thin layer of haze always hung over the road. The streets were very quiet, not a single car honked.

Only the noisy sound of the heavy rain.

Suddenly, a loud noise rang out—

“Rumble!”

He thought it was thunder, but it was deeper, longer, and more drawn out than thunder, startling many pedestrians.

Grace Brooks stopped and looked in the direction of the sound.

It seemed to come from across Mirror Lake.

The rumbling gradually faded. Grace Brooks didn’t have time to think about it and continued walking with his umbrella.

Soon, a car stopped beside him. Seeing that he was a test-taker, the driver asked which exam site he was going to. Since the exam site was less than a kilometer from home, Grace Brooks politely declined.

The big exam had begun.

Chapter 6: The Sacred Ancestor’s Cube

Grace Brooks was still quite confident about the big exam.

Yiguo doesn’t separate arts and sciences, nor is there a comprehensive arts and sciences test. Each subject has its own separate test or assessment method, only the score weightings are different.

The big exam lasts a total of four days.

On the first morning, history and geography are tested; in the afternoon, biology and physics, with physics including what was chemistry in his previous life.

Two test papers are handed out at once.

Grace Brooks’s history goes without saying.

Looking at the development of humanity, geography and civilization often go hand in hand, so that’s not a problem either.

Biology and physics are only above average or average—not because he’s bad at them, but because there are only twenty-four hours in a day, and with so much energy spent elsewhere, it’s inevitable that some subjects get neglected.

The second day tests literature and mathematics.

Grace Brooks is pretty good at both.

He can probably get close to a perfect score in math.

Literature is too subjective, so it’s hard to say.

The third day tests physical fitness, spiritual power aptitude, as well as moral character and an elective art course. Grace Brooks chose music back then.

How many points he can get in physical fitness and spiritual power aptitude depends on the total score.

It’s hard to get a low score in moral character, and as for music—he almost got sick of it in his previous life, so it’s hard not to get a high score.

The fourth day tests spiritual theory and runes.

One is mainly related to cultivation levels, the other to spiritual power application.