Chapter 31: Assessment Registration (Part 1)
Today was the registration day for the Xuanmen assessment. Bei Shan had to rush to Anjiang. Zhang Ji’s death was horrifying and bizarre, and might be related to Lady Hei. Bei Shan had taken full charge of the Xianling Lake and snake tomb incident, so she definitely had to go and see for herself.
So she asked Sang Jing to help take care of the child, Cui Wangshu.
One ghost, one snake, and one child. Even for a registration, she had to bring the whole family.
Sang Jing sighed quietly.
Bei Shan patted her shoulder and smiled happily. “I’m off. The Special Investigation Team will reimburse all expenses for these few days. Have fun.”
Watching Bei Shan pack her things, Sang Jing glanced to the side. Xie Yu and Cui Wangshu, who had been sitting on the sofa, were gone. The room door was open, though.
Sang Jing walked over and leaned against the door, looking at the corridor. The two of them and a ghost were huddled together, each one’s face redder than the next, except for a certain ghost.
Cui Wangshu’s eyes were almost twitching. She looked around and kept blinking, a kind of shy attempt to cover up.
Sang Jing wasn’t interested in what they were talking about, as long as they weren’t lost.
Leaning against the door, Sang Jing watched the three outside and asked Bei Shan inside, “Did Lady Hei kill Zhang Ji?”
Bei Shan casually stuffed her clothes into her bag. “Maybe. By the way, I forgot to tell you, there’s an identity check during the Xuanmen assessment. It’s quite detailed.”
Sang Jing raised an eyebrow at her. “So? I’m not an undocumented person.”
The corner of Bei Shan’s mouth twitched. She said directly, “Isn’t your teacher inconvenient? Do you want me to apply for you to be a consultant for the Special Investigation Team? Then you can just be registered under the Special Investigation Team.”
Last time in the snake tomb when Tan Wei had asked about Sang Jing’s teacher, Bei Shan had belatedly remembered that Sang Jing didn’t seem to like to talk about her teacher. Every time her teacher was mentioned, Sang Jing would change the subject.
The identities of the members of the Special Investigation Team had all been thoroughly checked before they joined. When it came to the Xuanmen, it was simpler. They just had to say which team they were from and who their team leader was.
Sang Jing laughed. It wasn’t the first or second day that Bei Shan had wanted to pull her into the Special Investigation Team. She would mention it every time they met. This time, when she didn’t see her mention it, she thought she had given up. She hadn’t expected her to be waiting here.
Although her teacher had also said that the Special Investigation Team was good and she could have contact with them, Sang Jing had always felt that she hadn’t graduated yet and her skills were not enough, so she hadn’t agreed to Bei Shan.
“It depends on the situation.”
Bei Shan looked up abruptly and rushed to the door, pleasantly surprised. “Are you sure!?”
Sang Jing’s level in the Xuanmen assessment would definitely not be low. The Xuanmen would never let go of such a good prospect. But the Special Investigation Team was also in dire need of such Xuan Masters. Bei Shan had been trying to win Sang Jing over for so many years and had never seen her nod. She had just asked casually and had gotten an unexpected answer.
“It depends on the situation.” = “I agree.”
“Alright, I’ll report it later. You have to keep your word!” Bei Shan took her bag and left, not giving Sang Jing a chance to speak.
As she went downstairs, Bei Shan also patted Cui Wangshu and instructed her, “Follow our 136th team’s Consultant Sang well.”
Cui Wangshu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at Sang Jing.
Consultant Sang?
Sang Jing looked at the group of them. “Are you done chatting? If you’re done, get ready to go and register.”
Cui Wangshu was the first to raise her hand and answer, “Alright!”
Shen Jue also finally let out a sigh of relief. Her buns were getting cold. Cui Wangshu had said she could eat while they talked, but with a ghost with a tragic death appearance beside her, she really couldn’t eat.
Xie Yu’s problem had not been solved. Cui Wangshu and Shen Jue, one a good student of the Special Investigation Team who usually studied metaphysical arts diligently, and the other an unlucky person who was always being dragged down by some strange ghost and scared, then inexplicably sent back up after crying.
In short, neither of them had any experience.
The two of them and a ghost talked for a long time. In the end, Xie Yu had no choice but to try Cui Wangshu’s suggestion—
Post on the forum of the White Whale Live metaphysics section. Maybe an experienced Ghost Master would see it and share their love tips.
Shen Jue took her breakfast back to her room. As she passed by Sang Jing, she stopped. “Sister Sang, Ying Laishi is also coming over today.”
They were also friends, so she should let her know.
For some reason, hearing Shen Jue call her “Sister Sang,” Sang Jing felt a little psychological pressure. “Just call me Sang Jing.”
Shen Jue lowered her eyes. “Oh.”
After going back, a complaint about Sang Jing was added to Shen Jue’s document—
Doesn’t let me call her Sister Sang.
*
The assessment site set up by the Xuanmen was not far from the hotel. When Sang Jing took Xie Yu and Cui Wangshu over, she could see many Celestial Masters on the road heading that way, all of them nervous and expectant, still drawing talismans and reciting incantations on the way.
It wasn’t even time for the assessment yet, but the atmosphere was already there.
As Sang Jing observed, a buzzing sound suddenly came from her ear. She turned her head, and Cui Wangshu was also reciting incantations.
Sang Jing could understand and relate to this feeling very well. When she had just started learning metaphysical arts, she was also like this when facing her teacher’s questions. She would draw talismans and recite incantations day and night, just to get her teacher’s approval.
Sang Jing raised her hand and patted Cui Wangshu’s back. The eighteen or nineteen-year-old’s body was still very thin, but it exuded a sense of resilience.
“Don’t be too nervous. It’s just registration today.”
Cui Wangshu took a deep breath and nodded. The energy she had just mustered up was deflated again when she saw the other hard-working Celestial Masters on the road. “No, I get flustered when I see them.”
Sang Jing smiled lightly. “Memorizing at the last minute is useless. It depends on how solid your usual foundation is.”
Cui Wangshu pressed her hand to her chest. “This is more nerve-wracking than the college entrance exam.”
As they were talking, they arrived at the registration place, an office building with many rooms, so there was no need to wait in a long line.
When it was Cui Wangshu’s turn, the child was so nervous she stuttered and couldn’t speak a complete sentence. Afraid of embarrassing herself, she blushed and let Sang Jing, who was behind her, register first.
The Xuanmen staff gave her a registration form and asked her to fill in the basic information: name, age, date of birth, place of birth, whether she had participated in the assessment before, her results, and her teacher.
When she got to the teacher column, Sang Jing’s pen paused. Listening to Bei Shan’s words, she wrote “136th Special Investigation Team.”
The staff took her form and glanced at it, her brows furrowing. She handed the form back. “This, the teacher, write it clearly.”
“Is the Special Investigation Team not okay?”
“It’s a new rule this year. People from the Special Investigation Team also need to write down their teacher.”
Sang Jing was still hesitating when a voice suddenly came from her ear. “Teacher!?”
Sang Jing and the staff looked up at the same time. He Lansu was walking over with a big smile on her face.
Seeing He Lansu, the staff smiled at Sang Jing and said, “So you’re Elder He’s student. What’s there to hesitate about? Although Elder He is an examiner for this assessment, we’ll take note of it when we compile the data. This is also why people from the Special Investigation Team also have to state their teacher this year.”
He Lansu came up to Sang Jing, raised her hand, and bowed. “Teacher.”
The staff: “…”
The staff: “??????”
Who is calling who teacher????
Sang Jing coughed lightly. “Don’t call me that.”
He Lansu was still holding a stack of candidates’ information in her hand. She replied cheerfully, “Alright, teacher.”
Sang Jing: “…”
Although He Lansu was old, she was not yet senile. She saw Sang Jing’s registration form on the table and said in surprise, “Teacher is also participating in the assessment.”
Sang Jing couldn’t stand the staff’s gaze. She quickly said, “Yes, yes, yes. Don’t you have something to do? Let’s talk later, okay? Look, there are still people queuing behind us. Don’t waste their time.”
He Lansu thought for a moment and nodded. “Teacher is very considerate. Then I’ll go and submit the materials first. See you later, teacher.”
After He Lansu left, Sang Jing saw the staff’s shocked and incredulous gaze and smiled politely, then looked back at the teacher column on her registration form.
Her teacher didn’t mind her name being mentioned, but Sang Jing was afraid that she would make a mistake and embarrass her teacher, so she didn’t often mention her teacher.
Sang Jing thought for a moment, crossed out the few words in the teacher column, and solemnly wrote the two characters ‘Ji Zhi’.
The staff: “Alright, please wait a moment.”
Then, she took out a very large book. This was not the original, but a copy of each page.
“What is this?” Sang Jing asked.
Probably because of He Lansu’s “teacher” just now, the staff’s attitude became respectful. “This is the Xuanmen family tree. We’re checking which lineage you belong to. Each family’s primary and secondary studies are different, so the assessment content is also different. This was proposed by Vice-Chairman Tan Wei to make the assessment fairer and more accurate.”
Sang Jing nodded and said nothing, letting her check.
“Ji Zhi…”
The staff first started checking from the Ji family lineage in the Xuanmen. After not finding this person, she started to check some scattered Celestial Masters.
From front to back, from back to front, the staff had originally started checking from the previous generation, seeing that Sang Jing was not old. After not finding her, she went to the generation before that, and still couldn’t find her.
In the end, the staff was a little anxious. Then she suddenly thought of something and looked up at Sang Jing. “What level of Celestial Master is your teacher?”
How could she have forgotten the most important thing! With the level, it would be much easier to find. It was all because of what had just happened that was so shocking.
Sang Jing took a breath. She really didn’t know this and had never asked. It would be impolite for her as a student to ask this.
“She’s a Ghost Master. Maybe nine-coin? Or ten-coin?”
The staff looked up, and Sang Jing looked down. The two of them looked at each other silently. Sang Jing saw a speechless expression in her eyes.
In the end, the staff laughed speechlessly. She returned Sang Jing’s registration form to her and waved her hand. “Come back when you’ve asked clearly. Don’t waste time.”
“What’s with your attitude?” a palm-sized small paper effigy jumped onto the table.
The staff’s eyes widened when she saw the paper effigy, and she stood up at once. Then she looked at Sang Jing and said angrily, “You’re a Ghost Master, but you wrote Celestial Master on the registration form. And nine-coin, ten-coin? Do you know what that means? You don’t know anything. You’re just here to cause trouble, aren’t you?”
She had searched for a long time among the Celestial Masters, but it turned out her teacher was a Ghost Master, and she herself was registering as a Celestial Master, and she was carrying a ghost with her. She was just playing with them.
The hall was originally very quiet, with only some soft whispers. After she shouted this, many people looked over.
Sang Jing: “I’m not a Ghost Master, and she’s not a ghost I’m raising.”
A bolt from the blue.
The small paper effigy on the table fell down with a thud.
Xie Yu rushed out and came to Sang Jing’s side. “You don’t want me anymore? You’re not going to cook for me?”
The staff snorted and laughed, the meaning obvious.
And you say she’s not a ghost you’re raising?
Sang Jing looked up at Xie Yu. “…”
Why did she have to mention that damn food at this time?
“Forget it, I’m not taking the test,” Sang Jing said, taking the registration form and preparing to leave.
Xie Yu grabbed her and looked down at the staff. “Why not take the test? Just take it!”
“It’s just a name. If she can’t find it, I’ll find it.”
Xie Yu angrily reached for the Xuanmen family tree. The staff wanted to stop her but was glared at, and a cold sweat broke out.
This ghost was too fierce.
The staff quickly burned a talisman behind her back to call for help.
Xie Yu had just opened the first page and almost laughed out of anger.
She slammed the family tree in front of the staff and pointed to one of the only two names on it. “Look, what is this! You’ve been fumbling around for half a day, and it turns out it’s on the first page. You’re the one who’s deliberately making things difficult for us, aren’t you?”
The staff quickly glanced at it and was completely petrified.
On the first page of the family tree: Ji Zhi, the founder of the Ghost Dao.
