Chapter 38: 38

38

Xu ZiYan’s expression didn’t have a single trace of fear in it. Other people didn’t know why he had been called out, but to him the reason had been clear.

A moment ago, when the team of black-clothed cultivators took the opportunity to sneak attack while everyone’s attention had been occupied by the demonic beast, the majority of candidates had fallen into their traps. However, with Xu ZiRong’s assistance, Xu ZiYan had discovered their presences ahead of time and thus silently plotted against the black-clothed cultivator that had charged his way.

At this very moment, a certain person standing in the middle of the black-clothed cultivators was currently gnashing his teeth as he glared at Xu ZiYan. He completely didn’t expect this, ah! Qilian HongYun was always running around provoking cats and teasing dogs, never knowing his own place. So, he never would have expected that he would lose his face¹ in front of everyone today.

That damned, smelly kid was simply too treacherous. He didn’t know how the other had discovered him, but the kid had unexpectedly made a move against him before he himself managed to. At that time, don’t talk about trying to sneak attack Xu ZiYan, Qilian HongYun almost lost even more face and collapsed right there. Fortunately, the Liu Qi beside him had supported himself a bit, or else he would have really lost all his face and honour in front of his future junior-apprentice brothers and sisters.

Currently, Qilian HongYun’s right leg was so numb, he practically couldn’t feel it. He really hadn’t expected that a Qi Condensation Stage kid would actually have such a formidable lightning style attack.

Qilian HongYun saw how Xu ZiYan wasn’t panicking at all and couldn’t help but want to vomit blood. He was a big, wild goose, however, he had been pecked in the eye until he became blind by a goose duckling. This kid! Alright! Qilian HongYun would remember him!

The red haired buff man called Xu ZiYan out and patted his shoulder, “Not bad, even your senior-apprentice brother couldn’t keep you under control. I’ll give you a bonus point.” After he finished talking, he turned his head to face the other people and stopped paying attention to Xu ZiYan.

Every candidate’s expression suddenly changed. Although they didn’t know what this one point represented, it was clear that this examiner had a very good impression of Xu ZiYan.

The red haired buff man’s gaze revealed a trace of a smile. Then, he deliberately turned his face emotionlessly cold as he told the exam participants, “To reach Liu Guang Sect from here, it will take about three days. Three days later, before yinshi², those who have not yet arrived at Liu Guang Sect or those who do not have two points will all be eliminated.” When he finished talking, he paused for a moment before lifting his hand. Then, he threw out a bunch of jade pendants that were radiating a faint red colour. All of the candidates held one in their hands, but unexpectedly, Xu ZiYan possessed two.

“This jade pendant represents your identity, and it also represents one point,” the red haired buff man raised one finger. “Correspondingly, your senior-apprentice brothers and sisters also have a jade pendant, although they’re green. They also represent one point.”

The red haired buff man laughed very fiercely, “Your goal this time is to defeat your senior-apprentice brothers and sisters to steal their jade pendants. Of course, your objective isn’t merely just this. If your own jade pendants are snatched away by your senior-apprentice brothers and sisters, you don’t have to be too worried. You can just go and steal someone else’s. Now——”

He swept his gaze over everyone before suddenly wrinkling his forehead. “Mark the jade pendants with an imprint of your soul.” Everyone left their soul imprints onto their pendants according to the red haired buff man’s instructions.

“After you return to Liu Guang Sect, I will be checking your jade pendants. If you still have your own pendant, that would be one point. If you snatched a green pendant, that will also be one point. If you stole another candidate’s red pendant——” When he said that, he paused slightly before continuing. “Three red pendants from other candidates will equal one point.”

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All the candidates suddenly made a commotion. Although the content of every inner-disciple exam for Liu Guang Sect was different, it was obvious that this year’s exam was much more cut-throat. Apart from having to be careful of sneak attacks from their future senior-apprentice brothers and sisters, they also had to pay attention to attacks from their fellow participants.

That buff man had said things so clearly: if they lost their own pendant, they could steal someone else’s. In other words, while fighting with other people, even if you lose, one had to try their best to maintain their combat strength. This way, they would still have a chance to bully other weaker candidates afterwards.

Nobody there was stupid. Although three red jade pendants equaled one point, if one compared a senior-apprentice brother or sister who had suppressed their strength to the Qi Condensation Stage to a candidate whose strength was originally only at the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Condensation Stage, the candidate would of course be easier to bully.

The buff examiner didn’t pay attention to the candidate’s discussions. Instead, he turned around to smile at Xu ZiYan.

Those candidates noticed who he was gazing at and gradually quieted down.

“Kid, you’re pretty lucky. Both of these red jade pendants of yours represent your identity. In other words, you already have two points. As long as you move quickly, perhaps you would be able to reach Liu Guang Sect before your senior-apprentice brothers and sisters catch up to you.” The red-haired buff man smiled very sinisterly.

Xu ZiYan could only force out a helpless, bitter smile. Didn’t he only sneak-attacked that senior-apprentice brother or sister before they could do the same to him? Mister Examiner, why are you doing this to set me up?

When that red-haired buff examiner said that, the gazes the other candidates used to look at Xu ZiYan all became extremely fierce. If only this happened, Xu ZiYan could let it pass. However, the problem was that even the gazes of those black-clothed senior-apprentice brothers and sisters started looking a bit weird.

The reason the examiner said this was obviously to help Xu ZiYan accumulate some hatred. Now, whether it was the other candidates or the black-clothed senior-apprentice brothers and sisters, Xu ZiYan was afraid that they had all made him their target.

Because of this, he felt pretty depressed. This examiner was really being too mean. In the (past) Xu ZiYan’s memories, he clearly remembered that this examiner was pretty normal. Who knew he was actually this demented? If Xu ZiYan had known earlier, he would have just followed Wei Qing and the other two’s actions and just stopped the black-clothed person’s attack. Why would he insist on courting disaster before falling into a pit like this……

“Ah, right, I forgot to say this,” the red-haired buff man seemed to have suddenly thought of something. “Two points mean you pass. However, like all marks and scores, it has always been the more the better. In addition, the first candidate who reaches the Liu Guang Sect will be able to obtain a bonus ten points. And then the second person will receive nine points. The bonus points will gradually decrease in order like this. These points will be your basis for when you begin the second exam. In short, they certainly won’t bring you any harm. Good luck, ah!”

After the examiner finished talking, he waved his hand and allowed the candidates enter the forest one after another. Their future senior-apprentice brothers and sisters could only start moving one shichen³ after they leave. This could also be considered as giving them an opportunity to run a bit further away.

Xu ZiYan was incomparably sullen as he entered the forest with Xu ZiRong. He didn’t even have to look and he could already feel the burning gazes that were concentrated on him.

Ah, forget about it. Although this was an unexpected mishap, this could also be considered as a good chance to for his strength to grow. In the future, should Xu ZiYan wish to create a huge organization backed with power, necessary strength would be the foundation for everything.

This was the same as Mo ZiYuan’s circumstances in the original novel. Don’t just look at how his Moyu Long Court was flourishing everywhere in the Xuan Yu region. If Mo ZiYuan’s strength was insufficient, then the Moyu Long Court trading company would just be a fat cash cow ready to be slaughtered. The more money Mo ZiYuan earned, the quicker he would die.

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“Let’s go,” Xu ZiYan pulled Xu ZiRong’s hand and entered the forest with a body flicker. Perhaps it was because the two of them both studied Xu family’s escaping art, thus, even though Xu ZiRong was only at the eight layer of Qi Condensation Stage, he was still completely capable of keeping up with Xu ZiYan’s speed.

Xu family’s escaping art wasn’t some kind of superb martial art technique. The speed was merely ordinary, but the two of them was travelling in the forest as fast as possible. Xu ZiYan was half-pulling Xu ZiRong forward so it would be convenient for the younger to both save energy and probe their surroundings.

“Big brother, west, fifty steps ahead,” Xu ZiRong spoke softly.

Xu ZiYan’s gaze sharpened. Sure enough, it came. That deceptive red haired examiner had only opened his red lips and white teeth to speak, but it sure brought him an endless inconvenience.

Lightly sighing once, Xu ZiYan decisively took out his bow. Next, a purple arrow made out of lightning violently shot out. Rumbling, it penetrated the wide trunk of a tree before leaving behind a huge hole.

Hm?

Xu ZiYan was quite surprised. His attack actually didn’t succeed?

“They ran,” Xu ZiRong furrowed his forehead slightly.

“If they ran then let’s forget about them. We don’t have time to deal with them. In this test, there are only a few candidates that pose a threat to us. Those senior-apprentice brothers and sisters are the ones who are the most dangerous.”

Xu ZiYan rubbed his nose. “If I had known earler, I wouldn’t have taken the initiative to make a move before. Tut tut, that examiner is so petty.”

Xu ZiRong couldn’t help but lightly smile. Every now and then, he would sometimes think that his older brother was actually quite cute……

“Dang! So dangerous ah……” A thin youth lightly stroke his chest with a face full of fright. “Luckily I had ran fast enough. Otherwise, if I had to suffer that attack, I would certainly be done for.”

“Tut tut, where the heck did this Xu ZiYan come from? Mo New Town’s Xu family? I have never heard of them before ah.” That thin youth talked to himself in a distressed tone.

“Oh well. Sure enough, anyone capable of being here for Liu Guang Sect’s inner-disciple exam aren’t easy to deal with. This Xu ZiYan’s senses are too sharp, I can’t afford to offend him, can’t afford to offend him.” The thin youth quickly helped himself find enough reasons as to why he shouldn’t provoke Xu ZiYan, before firmly abandoning that goal.

He lazily stretched before looking around. “I wonder if those senior-apprentice brothers and sisters left yet? Fighting against them seems to be a better plan. In the very least, it’s unlikely they would kill or injure me too badly.”

After the thin youth said this, his nose suddenly twitched. With his expression changing, his body leaned backward onto a tree trunk before he quietly disappeared.

A few breaths later, a gloomy-looking teenager suddenly appeared. He looked around with a puzzled expression, “Strange, how did they suddenly disappear? Forget it, let’s look for the next one.” When he finished talking, his figure flickered and he disappeared.

The forest sank into silence. After a long while, that gloomy-looking teenager once again flickered there and appeared. He vigilantly checked his surroundings. However, from the beginning to the end, he never managed to find his target. Finally, he had no other choice but to give up, looking slightly unwilling as he departed.

After another period of time, that thin youth’s body slowly emerged once more. This time, he practically didn’t even dare to breath big breathes. After leaving that place with light footsteps, he ran very far away before letting out a sigh of relief. Then, he couldn’t help but curse, “Isn’t this f*cking too exaggerated! Everybody is this powerful, how do you expect people like me to live on, ah?!”

Angrily flapping his sleeves, his figure disappeared again……

All of these candidates were child prodigies. The moment the examiner explained how three red jade pendants from other candidates equalled one point, almost everyone started to make their own plans.

Capture three unlucky guys, force them to give up their jade pendants, and then rush toward Liu Guang Sect at their fastest speed to snatch the first place in this assessment.

At least half of the candidates had this kind of plan. This was why there were already people losing their jade pendants right after they had entered the forest, even before those senior-apprentice brothers and sisters had set off.

If your own jade pendant was gone, then naturally you had to go and steal someone else’s. In a short period of time, a bunch of the candidates had already fought against each other. A small number of the candidates with the worse strength hadn’t even walked far before they had lost their own jade pendants. In addition, with their strength, it would be extremely hard for them to be able to snatch someone else’s.

What was even more frustrating was that within these candidates, there was actually someone who was actually proficient at the ‘petty thief’ art. This was great for them because there was a restriction seal on these jade pendants, so it wasn’t possible for anyone to place them within their inter-spatial bags. Thus, the candidates could only keep their pendants on their bodies.

^{1. Face = honour or dignity.↩}

^{2. Yinshi is the same as 3AM-5AM, it’s a time period.↩}

^{3. Shichen is equal to two modern hours.↩}

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