Longzang

Chapter 834 Selection Conference
Having finalized the new weapon, Wei Yuan returned to his residence and retrieved the lists of craftsmen from the weapon forging workshop, brocade weaving workshop, textile factory, gunpowder factory, medical clinic, and alchemy studio, and reviewed them carefully.

This list contains over 70,000 people, nearly 10,000 of whom are at the template Dao Foundation stage, and over 1,000 at the natural Dao Foundation stage. All of them have reached the level of skilled craftsmen in the eyes of the world. Some can even be called master craftsmen.

After seeing this astonishingly long list, Wei Yuan felt that the time was ripe to pave a path for the many craftsmen, researchers, and manufacturers in Qingming to stand out from the crowd.

Therefore, Wei Yuan spent several days drafting the regulations, which were then repeatedly tested by human beings to ensure they were correct. He then officially announced the establishment of the Qingming Academy of Sciences and the Hundred Industries Engineering Academy. Both academies, like the National Academy, implemented an academician system, with twelve academicians appointed for each academy, recruited from across Qingming.

With this, the three major institutions—the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and the Academy of Chinese Studies—were all established, and Wei Yuan's envisioned system of the highest academic institutions in Qingming was completed.

The National Academy primarily recruits academicians from outside the sect, since the Taichu Palace itself belongs to Taoism and doesn't produce great Confucian scholars. The Academy of Sciences and the Hundred Industries Engineering Academy, on the other hand, are mainly for internal use within Qingming. The Academy of Sciences, in particular, focuses on researching various fundamental theories, and in Wei Yuan's mind, given his experience in the outer world, it is of paramount importance.

Wei Yuan also consulted Xu Wenwu about this matter, and it turned out that this ignorant fellow actually knew about the Academy of Sciences, but had never heard of the Academy of Engineering.

The Academy of Engineering encompasses agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, medicine, and various industries and mines, among others. Medical clinics, alchemy, mining, and weapon crafting can all be categorized under the Academy's jurisdiction.

In Wei Yuan's initial plan, each of the two academies would have twelve academicians. This would be enough to cover the direct lineage of the Qingming Taichu Palace, with a considerable surplus to be allocated to cultivators outside the palace.

The title of academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering was actually intended by Wei Yuan to be given to the exceptionally talented geniuses in Qingming who had made contributions to Qingming, excluding the direct descendants of the Taichu Palace. It also gave hope to the vast number of craftsmen.

Once you enter the two academies, not only will you achieve fame and success, but you will also reap huge benefits. The annual Qingyuan subsidy alone is not a small amount, and you can also apply to the Qingming Academy for funding for your own research projects.

However, despite the perfect plan, its implementation was fraught with problems and chaos.

When it came to the selection of academicians, the harmonious and respectful relationship between brothers in the Taichu Palace that Wei Yuan had envisioned never materialized.

The selection of academicians is for all the highly skilled craftsmen in Qingming who possess the talent for cultivation, so it cannot be conducted behind closed doors within the Taichu Palace. Therefore, according to the established rules, anyone who meets a few preset conditions can apply.

The enthusiasm for registration far exceeded Wei Yuan's expectations. Not only did all the cultivators of Taichu Palace register, but more than 300 people from outside Taichu Palace applied to the Engineering Academy, and more than 200 applied to the Academy of Sciences. Almost all Dharma Aspect cultivators registered, and many late-stage and Perfection Dao Foundation cultivators with special skills also registered.

With so many qualified people signing up, Wei Yuan had no choice but to respect everyone's wishes and change the original rules to hold a public selection conference.

At the same time, Wei Yuan originally wanted to serve as the dean of both academies, but he was forced by the cultivators of Taichu Palace to give up the dean position and was only given the honorary title of dean.

The first day was the selection conference for the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Each candidate showcased their skills for the judges' evaluation. Sun Yu, Chu He, Xu Henshui, Yu Zhizhuo, and others were all determined and made it to the final round, their academician status practically secured.

However, the competition for the other spots was extremely fierce, with everyone refusing to give way, and in the blink of an eye, it came to the point where they had to fight it out on the dueling platform.

The cultivators had good reasoning. Regardless of the craft on the path of immortality, whether it was alchemy or weapon crafting, cultivation level was essential. Generally speaking, items crafted in the later stages of the Dharma Aspect realm were better than those crafted in the early stages. Therefore, when the skills were difficult to distinguish, they might as well go on stage and have a contest.

The cultivators of Taichu Palace were all people who loved a good show and were very supportive of the contest to determine the winner. As a result, the selection ceremony had to be moved to the contest platform.

The battle had just begun when Ji Liuli suddenly appeared. She stood on the stage, announced that she also intended to compete for the Engineering Academy, and then called on all the cultivators to come up together.

Some unconvinced Dharma Masters asked Ji Liuli what skill she used to join the Academy of Engineering. Ji Liuli replied: "Celestial Secrets Techniques." She explained that Celestial Secrets and Feng Shui are also engineering, and the Qi Luck Array is also an array, requiring the creation of array plates and magical treasures, thus falling under the category of engineering as well.

Unable to defeat Ji Liuli, everyone had to give up. Two fearless Dharma Masters outside the Taichu Palace actually tried to go up on stage, but their defeat was like an egg hitting a rock. The crushing defeat of these two Dharma Masters made everyone who followed fully realize how terrifying Ji Liuli was, and no one dared to challenge him again. Ji Liuli had snatched away one of the academician's spots.

Wei Yuan originally thought that was the end of it, but the cultivators of Taichu Palace were still not satisfied. They believed that the twelve academicians should also be ranked, and then the first academician would automatically become the dean, so as to convince everyone.

The cultivators agreed to first determine the winner based on their achievements in their respective fields of skill, and only proceed to the dueling platform if a clear winner could not be found. Everyone agreed to this rule, and thus the second round of combat began.

Wei Yuan had nothing to do with this round, and none of the other cultivators consulted him. Wei Yuan realized that everyone was eager to compete and determine the winner, and they didn't care about treatment at all.

The second round of competition was extremely fierce. The Dharma Aspect cultivators outside of the Taichu Palace were quite sensible and voluntarily vacated the dueling platform. Previously, they didn't know enough about the cultivators of the Taichu Palace; they only knew that the Taichu Palace was powerful, but they didn't know exactly how powerful it was.

Today's competition finally revealed the vast difference between people. Despite both being Dharma Aspects, none of them could withstand a casual slap from Ji Liuli. On the dueling stage, Sun Yu defeated Yu Zhizhuo, and Ji Liuli then defeated Xu Henshui. Just when it seemed the outcome was decided, and Ji Liuli's victory as the First Academician was almost a certainty, the Old Taoist Chuhe led a chicken into the arena.

The first day of the selection conference has now come to a close, and Chuhe Zhenren has become the first president and first academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, showing the demeanor of a young national master in northern Liaoning.

The next day, during the Academy of Sciences selection, the scholars argued all night but still couldn't figure out what the so-called basic theories Wei Yuan mentioned included.

After much debate, everyone finally settled on a standard: the number of tasks that could be processed simultaneously. A higher number undoubtedly meant a more potent spiritual essence.

This standard was set late at night, so it was posted overnight, since cultivators didn't really need to sleep anyway. Wei Yuan, meanwhile, spent the night setting up four hundred sets of tables and chairs on the dueling platform and laying down a magic array. The tasks would be distributed by the Human World Fireworks team later.

During the selection process, the number of tasks will gradually increase, and those who cannot keep up will be eliminated, until only twelve remain, who will become the twelve academicians. Then the academicians will continue to compete until only one remains, who will become the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the first academician.

It was only at this point that Wei Yuan realized that there were probably quite a few cultivators in the Taichu Palace secretly practicing the Invincible Heart.

As more people cultivate an invincible mindset, they gradually develop many small techniques. For example, it's okay to lose occasionally, as long as you believe you can win next time. It's also okay if you don't win next time, as long as you firmly believe you will win someday.

Besides this tactic, there's another way: losing doesn't matter, as long as you go around proclaiming that you won. Whether the audience believes you or not doesn't matter; as long as you believe it yourself, you can maintain your invincible spirit.

Upon hearing about the Academy of Sciences' selection rules, Zhang Sheng quietly left his seclusion and secretly registered.

However, just before entering the venue, she suddenly saw the selection rules on the notice board. The last rule stated that only Faxiang was qualified to serve as the first academician and dean, while Daoji could only serve as the second academician.

The ink on this rule was very fresh, clearly just written. However, the handwriting was so messy that Zhang Sheng couldn't make out whose handwriting it was.

Second place held virtually no appeal for Zhang Sheng, so she didn't bother to care who set the new rules, quietly left, and went into seclusion.

As all the cultivators entered and took their places, the selection ceremony officially began. A ball of light appeared in front of each person, and with a touch of their divine sense, they could know the contents of the task inside.

The orbs of light in front of the two hundred-plus cultivators all went out in the blink of an eye, at roughly the same speed. Then, two orbs of light appeared in front of each person, each with a different task.

A few people were a beat slow in answering the questions. Then came four, eight, and when sixteen orbs appeared simultaneously, some people finally fell behind and couldn't process them in parallel. The signs above their seats dimmed. These people, their faces burning, slunk off the stage.

As the number of tasks increased, gasps of amazement rose and fell from the audience. When the number of tasks reached thirty-two, more than half of the participants were eliminated, and only three Foundation Establishment cultivators remained. Wei Yuan secretly noted them all down.

When the mission reached the sixty-fourth stage, all the Dao Foundations were eliminated, leaving less than twenty people on the stage.

The mission then jumped to 128, leaving only nine people.

The number of tasks continued to increase, and as they climbed toward 256, both Xiaoyu and Cuiyu were defeated.

Taking advantage of the fact that the rules did not restrict spiritual manifestations, Xiaoyu released Shaoyang Xingjun to share the burden. Shaoyang Xingjun easily took on 128 tasks, but Xiaoyu herself was a little nervous and made a mistake after only taking on 108 tasks, resulting in her elimination.

Cui Yu could now handle 128 tasks on his own, and then he summoned twelve Six Ren Heavenly Soldiers. Each of these heavenly soldiers could handle an additional eight tasks, which almost surpassed Xiao Yu's record, giving Xiao Yu a fright.

Two hours later, the selection conference finally came to a successful conclusion, and Feng Tingyu was awarded the title of the first president and first academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, Feng Tingyu clearly wasn't using his full strength; Ji Liuli was already defeated after handling just over three thousand tasks. His strength was truly astonishing.

Below the stage, Xiaoyu and Shaoyang Xingjun suddenly remembered their evaluation of Feng Tingyu when they first entered the mortal world not long ago, and decided to delete this memory when they returned.

(End of this chapter)