“Spiritual Perception!”
After parting from the young man, Zhang Xuan walked a distance away before releasing his Spiritual Perception. In an instant, he gained an overview of the entire mountain.
In truth, there were formations in place that prevented the examinees from using their Spiritual Perception. However, through exploiting the flaws of the formation and his superior strength, he was able to use his Spiritual Perception without catching anyone’s notice.
Soon, he found the trails of the two youths that he was looking for.
“Oh? Fan Xiaoxing is quite lucky, isn’t he? He was teleported in the midst of a mountain stream, so as long as he hides there, he should be able to avoid the attention of others for quite some time. Ah… did Fan Xiaoxing take up all of the luck?”
The three examinees from Ancient Sage Zi Chi’s lineage were Fan Xiaoxu, Fan Xiaoxing, and Fan Xiaofeng.
Fan Xiaoxing had managed to hide himself well, so no one had noticed him thus far. On the other hand, Fan Xiaofeng was in a precarious position. There were two powerful candidates chasing after him.
It was fortunate that Fan Xiaofeng was extremely nimble, or else his jade token would have already been shattered.
Thus, Zhang Xuan began flitting in the direction of Fan Xiaofeng. He knew that there was an enforcement squad constantly keeping track of his movements, so he made sure to maintain his speed at Saint 9-dan pinnacle.
Wuuuuuu!
While he was traveling, he could sense shockwaves rippling all around him.
The competition among the examinees was really not to be underestimated. It was no exaggeration to say that multiple battles had been ongoing every second since the start of the examination, and the examinees were swiftly being eliminated one after another.
The examination of the Great Phrontistery of Confucianism was truly cruel.
It was true that the rules permitted the examinees to form alliances, but in the face of limited slots, all alliances were transient. The moment a person lowered their guard, a dagger would be plunged into their back.
From the start of the examination, Zhang Xuan had already caught sight of such occurrences several times. Three examinees were working in coordination with one another to corner a cultivator traveling alone, but in the midst of the battle, one of the three examinees working together let his guard down for a moment and ended up getting injured. At the end of the battle, his teammate suddenly turned against him and eliminated him as well.
In this examination, sustaining injuries was extremely dangerous. Not only did it cause a decline in one’s fighting prowess, it was also a sign of weakness for other examinees to exploit. As such, being in an alliance might not necessarily be a good thing for this examination.
While Zhang Xuan was dashing ahead, Fan Xiaofeng was trembling nonstop as cold sweat trickled down his head.
Under the simultaneous assault of three examinees, he had already sustained significant injuries. With half of his energy expended, exhaustion was starting to seep into his body.
“Why struggle so hard? Just obediently accept your elimination, and all of your suffering will be over. You should have known from the start that the Great Phrontistery of Confucianism is not a place that someone of your caliber can possibly enter!” one of the youths scoffed with the confidence of a hunter cornering a prey.
The other two youths behind him encircled Fan Xiaofeng in a fan-shaped formation.
“Do your best to eliminate me then! Even if I can’t enter the Great Phrontistery of Confucianism, I’ll make sure to bring you down together with me!” Knowing that there was no escape for him, Fan Xiaofeng gritted his teeth furiously as he glared at the trio before him.
His luck was really horrible. As soon as he entered the mountain, he had been teleported right into the middle of these three. It had really taken his all to survive for so long.
“Hahaha! You’re going to bring us down together with you? That must be the greatest joke of the century!” The youth leading the team of three harrumphed disdainfully. “Get him!”
Huala!
Hearing the signal to attack, the three of them dashed forward and rained blows down upon Fan Xiaofeng. Their attacks covered all directions, making it impossible for the latter to escape.
The youth leading the team had already reached Half-Great Sage whereas the other two were at Saint 9-dan pinnacle. Fan Xiaofeng would have struggled against any one of them, let alone the three of them simultaneously. He flew into a fluster right from the start.
Peng!
A powerful blow sent him crashing heavily into a boulder behind him. Completely sapped, his body slumped to the ground as if a pile of loose mud.
Seeing that Fan Xiaofeng was already powerless to retaliate, the youth leading the team told the other two youths beside him, “Let’s not waste any more time. Quickly crush his jade token, and we’ll start finding our next prey!”
“Yes!”
The youth on the left chuckled softly as he leaped up to Fan Xiaofeng and darted his finger toward the jade token in front of the latter’s chest.
If the attack landed, there was no doubt that Fan Xiaofeng would be eliminated.
“It seems like I’m going to have to let down the expectations of the clan…” With a despaired look on his face, Fan Xiaofeng knew that there was no way he would be able to make a comeback.
Thus, he closed his eyes helplessly and accepted his fate.
However, as time ticked by, the jade token in front of his chest failed to shatter. Opening his eyes once more, he saw a figure sitting on a boulder not too far away. That figure was shaking his right leg casually as he looked in their direction with a trace of a smile on his face.
“Are the three of you proud of yourselves for ganging up on a lad?”
“Xiaoxu…” Fan Xiaofeng’s heart jolted upon hearing that voice.
It was none other than the son of the clan head, Fan Xiaoxu!
The other party had arrived at this crucial moment to save him!
“Another person who has come to court his death, eh?” Seeing how the newly arrived young man dared to provoke them, the youth leading the team sneered coldly. He gestured at the other two youths with a tilt of his chin, and they swiftly surrounded Zhang Xuan.
“You should see for yourself how proud we are of ourselves!”
Hula!
Knowing that time was precious, such that every single second that they remained in the open would spell a greater risk for them, the three of them charged right at Zhang Xuan.
Seeing that the three of them had turned their sights to the son of the clan head, Fan Xiaofeng exclaimed in a panic, “Xiaoxu, hurry up and run away! At the very least, one of us has to clear the examination. You don’t have to care about me…”
He knew that Xiaoxu was only slightly stronger than him, so there was no chance that the latter could defeat the three standing before him. Rather than getting eliminated just like that, the latter would be better off escaping. At the very least, there would still be a ray of hope for their lineage.
Peng peng peng!
However, before Fan Xiaofeng could finish his words, the sound of fists and kicks plunging into flesh echoed resoundingly in the air. Watching as everything unfolded before his eyes, the words that he had sought to say suddenly caught in his throat, causing his words to come to an abrupt halt.
Contrary to expectations, the trio who had still been standing smugly a moment ago were floored with horror reflected in their eyes.
Meanwhile, Fan Xiaoxu was still sitting on the boulder, not seeming to have moved at all. The other party looked at him with an encouraging smile and said, “You should eliminate them yourself.”
“Me?” Fan Xiaofeng was taken aback by those words.
Up till this moment, he had been unable to make sense of how the Xiaoxu that he knew was able to defeat those three so easily. His mind was so caught up in that matter that he was unable to process anything else.
“Weren’t they trying to eliminate you a moment ago? Since that’s the case, it’s only right for you to return the favor to them,” Zhang Xuan replied.
It was already an act of bullying for him to make a move on those three. He would feel too ashamed of himself if he really eliminated them on top of that.
No matter what, he still wanted to retain as much of his dignity as possible.
“B-but… I am not a match for them!” Fan Xiaofeng cried with a reddened face.
While the three of them had sustained injuries in the earlier clash with Fan Xiaoxu, his injuries were not light either. As much as he wanted to eliminate the three of them, he knew that the current him did not have the ability to do so.
“Rest assured. These three lads are nothing at all. Follow my instructions, and you will be able to defeat them with ease!” Zhang Xuan replied encouragingly.
“Defeat them with ease? Me?” Fan Xiaofeng was a little hesitant, but it seemed like the idea had struck a chord in his heart. He gritted his teeth and replied, “Alright, I’ll give it a try!”
In any case, Fan Xiaoxu was already there, and based on the current situation, it seemed like he was already in a safe position. Thus, there was nothing for him to worry about even if he did lose the battle.
“You aren’t going to make a move?” the youth leading the team eyed Zhang Xuan warily with fear in his eyes.
The other party had defeated the three of them in a single move. In terms of strength, there was probably no one who could stand against him among the younger generation. Fighting against such an opponent would surely spell their defeat.
However, if their opponent was just the fellow whom they had chased earlier, it should not be too difficult for them to claim victory.
“I won’t make a move, so feel free to use whatever you have at your disposal. If you are able to defeat him, I’ll let the three of you go. Otherwise, I guess the three of you will just have to end your cultivation journey here!” Zhang Xuan replied coolly.
Hearing those words, Fan Xiaofeng nearly keeled over. “Xiaoxu, are you out of your mind?”
