“Is this some trick?” Looking in front, where a golden text appeared showing the pass for the same woman on whom a few moments ago most of the individuals were laughing, a surge of confusion erupted in their minds as they seemed unable to believe it.
“It has to be, right?” another one chimed in, his feet instinctively moving forward as he felt something was wrong here. Considering that the punch was just a mere touch, why would the slab allow someone with such weaker strength to pass?
“Hm, you can move to the next stage,” the Elder said, stroking his beard as he looked at the thin woman who appeared to possess hardly any strength of even a normal adult human. Though surprised, he knew the possibility of this woman possessing some kind of physique or something that could be detected by this slab, and she had passed.
“What! Elder, why not reconsider?” Hearing the Elder’s words, one of them protested, creating a small wave, with a few others also voicing their thoughts.
“Yes, please make her do a retest; how could she even pass?”
“I bet she must have used some trickery!”
One after another, voices started to reverberate in that place. However, of course, they were hardly more than dozens, considering that only those who were immature and didn’t hear the explanation for this round were the only ones crying out here.
“Next will be from Middle Town; come forward.” Ignoring the words of these people who didn’t even understand that this test was not to judge who could hit this slab hardest but instead was simply to check different levels when one’s skin touches it. It detects their bone age, physique, bloodline, internal energy, etc., while the pressure behind the punch judges their physical strength and bone density.
“But Elder?—” One of them was about to try out his voice, but Haldedus suddenly felt a chilling gaze from the Elder, realizing that by saying the woman passed due to trickery, he was doubting the trials of the Celestial Phoenix Order, which was created by the Empress of Eternal Qi herself, causing him to stammer, “I-I apologize—”
“Next.” Although directly ignoring him, the disciple once again called out as several individuals from Middle Town started to move forward in a line to punch the slab as hard as possible while getting the results consecutively.
:: Fail ::
:: Fail ::
:: Fail ::
—
“Haah… n-no, why again?” A surge of panic filled the individuals as they saw that, unlike how easy they thought it would be to pass the first trial, they had already faced more than 100 failed candidates. It was as if that woman had done something to make others fail, but in truth, it was just their minds trying to make an excuse and reasoning to make sense of these failures.
They had been practicing cultivation and doing their best, even feeding themselves high-quality elixirs and herbs, using their family backgrounds to purchase such costly things. Yet even with internal energy at the Golden Core level, they were not able to even pass this test.
Several young masters from wealthy families were gritting their teeth with clenched hands, watching how one after another most of them were getting failed results, which was not something they wanted.
“Next,” Elder once again called out before making a man with curly hair and glasses move forward. Even though he wore a robe appearing completely like a native of this place, he looked more like a scholar instead of a cultivator.
“Tch, another one who will fail,” they thought, looking at the man, who more likely appeared like a nerd. They just gave up, rubbing their heads as they saw him moving towards the platform, clenching his fists and gathering his internal energy, which was at the level of a Golden Core.
Cultivation is split into two distinct categories: Body cultivation and Energy cultivation. The Golden Core level signifies the strength of one’s Qi, but it does not reveal anything about the practitioner’s body cultivation.
Consequently, without a measure of their punching power, it becomes challenging to ascertain their body cultivation level. However, it’s evident that a physically strong body will correspondingly enhance the potency of internal energy.
Observing this man at the Golden Core level, it was apparent that his body cultivation was unlikely to be high as well. Given that all the individuals of the same level who went prior to him punched and still got failed, there was a high chance that this man would also fail.
:: Pass ::
“Huh? Huhhhhh!?”
The moment a message indicating the pass status appeared, all the individuals present there, who were anticipating once again the consecutive failure just like it happened with the other hundreds who went prior to this man, felt their world turn upside down.
Some of them felt their perspectives shatter, where they had thought that the woman from Lower Town must have done something that caused this slab to fail all of them. But in truth, now it was clear that those who got rejected previously were unworthy.
“Th-this?” Most of them could not help but look at each other while stretching their chins, feeling embarrassed at the sight, seeing how they were blaming the slab, but instead it was them who were at fault.
“Next.” With those words, the Elder once again called, as again the individuals from Middle Town started to move forward. Given their numbers, over hardly a thousand, only a selected few—more than a dozen—were worthy of getting the pass status from this trial.
Those who passed moved towards the next stage instantly without staying in the first row, while those who failed returned out of the gate towards the upper town borders, leaving the place.
So, presently, only those who were yet to give the trial were the only ones present here. Slowly, as the event moved forward, it was finally the turn of the Upper Town individuals.
“Now, those from Upper Town come forth.” After finally seeing how the individuals from Middle Town had either reached the second level or got disqualified, finally emptying the first outer pavilion, he called out the individuals from Upper Town while also glancing at his disciples standing at the edge of the wooden structures nearby.
:: Stay focused; contenders from the upper town present a challenge. ::
The Elder conveyed his thoughts using key telekinesis directly towards all his disciples, standing while showcasing his expertise and precise control over his key to send vibrations of his voice in a coded form that could only be heard by the individuals to whom he had directed it.
[ That old man seems to be discriminating. ]
‘It’s obvious,’ Ryuk stood at the end of the row, observing as each person from Middle Town exited. He could see the arrangement of individuals and recognized that those who stayed until the end likely held the upper hand. It was clear to him that the Elder’s decision to start from Lower Town was intended to give an advantage to his disciples.
[ Let’s see. ]
[ :: Stay focused; contenders from the Upper Town present a challenge. :: ]
[ Oh, it’s done. ]
‘What is this?’ Ryuk suddenly wondered upon hearing the voice of that Elder inside his mind.
