Chapter 31 – Small Competition

The three people in the center were the Gui Scholar, Zhu Chi and a beautiful, long haired thirty-year-old daoist nun.

Liu Ming already knew that the Gui Scholar, who was a Spirit Master, was known by Gui Ru Quan. The beautiful daoist nun who was standing together with them, was obviously the Zhong Martial Aunt who had been training when Liu Ming first arrived at the Nine Infant Mountain.

As for the other disciples, besides the new disciples and the disciples that Liu Ming saw last time, there were many new faces who were above thirty years old.

Although the faces of the older disciples were unfamiliar, all of them had a sense of power; it was obvious that most of them were far along in their cultivations.

Soon, about a dozen inner disciples landed around the field but after that no one else appeared.. After a small cough, Gui Ru Quan opened his mouth and spoke.

“Excellent, except for the disciples who could not make it because of the Sect Missions, all of our Nine Infant Sect’s disciples are here. This is the first time that our sect has organized a Small Competition since the addition of several new juniors. Whoever performs well in the competitions will be rewarded, and the disciple who performs the best will receive extra rewards. Zhu junior, go ahead and take out all the competition’s tools.

The scholar’s last words were spoken towards Zhu Chi.

“Don’t worry, senior, I have already prepared everything.” The shaggy-haired man grinned and walked ahead. Suddenly, yellow-coloured Glyphs appeared in his hands and were thrown out.

TL: Glyphs – http://www.sos123.com/uploadfile2/2012727153426594.JPG

With ‘ping ping’ sounds, white smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, several items had appeared out of thin air and were lying in the middle of the field.

Seeing this, Liu Ming’s eyes brightened as he realized that the glyphs that Zhu Chi had used were the Storage Glyphs mentioned by his Su Martial Uncle.

To be able to place so many things in such a small glyph, the Storage Glyph was indeed incredible.

Five jet black steel locks of different sizes, a cloudy white rock monument about five feet tall and seven to eight simple puppets the size of normal people. These puppets were all different: some had armor on while others had giant swords the size of a person.

TL: Locks – http://www.warrior-supplies.com/images_products/149_large.jpg

“According to the old rules, this competition will be conducted by dividing all of you into three groups. The new disciples will be in one group, the disciples whose ages are above thirty in one group and the rest of the disciples in another group. The subjects for the competition are strength, spells and also actual combat. Zhu Junior will be in charge of the test of those who are above thirty years old, Zhou Junior will take charge of those who are under thirty years old and I, personally, will be in charge of the new disciples.“ Gui Ru Quan briefly explained.

Zhu Chi and the Zhong Martial Aunt naturally did not have any objections.

After a short discussion with each other they decided to start with the new disciples, before testing the disciples under thirty before finally getting to the old disciples above thirty.

After a slight cough, the scholar walked out and said:

“New disciples, step forward and let your seniors know who you are. Our Nine Infant Faction might not be the strongest within the Sect, but our faction is the most united of all factions.”

Hearing the scholar, Liu Ming and the other four new disciples walked out and introduced themselves while greeting the surrounding disciples.

The other disciples replied with smiles on their faces.

“Yu Cheng, as a personal disciple, you will start the competition. Let me see the result of your half year of training.” The scholar said to the red-haired teen after looking at Liu Ming and the four other.

When the red-haired teen heard those words, he bowed and walked towards the five jet black steel locks and stood before the smallest lock.

Even though this wash-bowl-sized lock was the smallest of the five, it weighed a hefty four to five hundred pounds. Normal people would not even be able to shake it.

For the previous Liu Ming, if he didn’t use his technique which burned his potential, he would have also had a hard time shaking it.

After a low roar, the red haired youth grabbed the two handles on the steel lock and started lifting.

The steel lock shifted slightly but didn’t actually rise from the ground.

Seeing this, the red haired youth’s face flushed. Chanting something, his body suddenly became shrouded with a pale yellow light and seemed somewhat changed.

With another roar, a couple of yellow Spirit Tattoos appeared on Yu Cheng’s arms and he shakily lifted the steel lock.

With a “peng” sound, the steel lock was dropped back to the ground and made a small crater.

“Looks like you have trained your Earth Spirit Method to the first level. You wouldn’t be able to lift this lock with a simple use of your Fa Li. Do you want to try the second one?” Seeing Yu Cheng’s performance, Guan Ru Quan smiled but did not compliment him on the fact that he could raise the first steel lock.

The other inner disciples on the field watched this scene with smiling faces and did not show surprise at Yu Cheng’s performance.

“I have already used all my strength in raising this one. It’s impossible for me to raise the second one.” The red haired youth took a deep breath and calmed his heaving chest before responding respectfully.

“Okay. Next, use your strongest spell to attack this stone monument made of White Myanmar Crystals from ten steps away. The scars that you make in ten breaths (twenty seconds) on the monument will be used to measure the power and understanding of your spells.” The scholar slowly said.

“Yes, teacher Gui!” Yu Cheng answered and quickly walked to distance himself ten steps from the cloudy white monument. With a serious expression, he started to form hand signs and, after a few breaths, a green blade the size of his hand appeared between his hands before steadily growing brighter.

Suddenly, Yu Cheng yelled: “Wind Blade.” Raising his hand, the green blade flew forth.

With a “pu” sound, a half inch deep scar appeared on the smooth surface of the stone monument.

The stone monument was incredibly sturdy.

Once again, Yu Cheng started making hand signs and chanting. However, before the wind blade in his hands could fully form, Gu Ru Quan emotionlessly said: “Time is up!”

The red-haired youth could only dissipate his unfinished spell as his face showed some frustration.

“Good. To be able to leave a half inch scar on the monument shows that you have spent quite a bit of time on this spell, and you can be considered to have understood this spell. However, you must continue to practice hard until you can release two attacks in ten breaths. That would mean that you have begun to master the spell. As you train further, the difficulty of improvement also increases, so you must be prepared for such a thing.” The scholar took a look at the stone monument and nodded.

The red-haired youth quickly agreed.

“I can only give you a “moderate” grade for the first two tests. The grade that you receive, will highly depend on how you do in actual combat. Since you are a new disciple, you only have to fight against the weakest golem.” The scholar said as he walked over to the golems.

Stopping before the shortest golem with no weapon, Gu Ru Quan put a Spirit Stone into a notch in the chest area of the golem. Afterwards, he gently poked at the head of the golem, inserting a wisp of black air.

Immediately, the previously immobile golem’s eyes flashed red, and walked in large strides towards a circle already drawn in the field. After entering the circle, it stopped.

“You will fight with this golem that has a low level war soul in this circle. Whoever leaves the circle first loses. The score you receive depends on how long you manage to stay in the circle.” Gu Ru Quan said with his hands behind his back.

Quickly, Yu Cheng drew a green dagger from a pocket at his waist and carefully walked towards the circle.

Right as Yu Cheng’s feet entered the circle, the seemingly clumsy golem pounced like the wind towards Yu Cheng.

With shock, the red-haired youth instinctively slashed his dagger towards the golem that was decently far away.

With a “pu” sound a faint green light blade flashed past, but when it hit the golem the golem only paused for a moment before continuing to pounce towards Yu Cheng.

With the incoming golem, Yu Cheng was obviously shaken as he backed away.

As he continued to wave his short dagger around fruitlessly, he was not able to finish the chant for wind blades as he made errors while chanting.

After a moment, the golem already neared Yu Cheng and with a single brush, it knocked Yu Cheng out of the circle.

“A ‘low’ grade for actual combat. Your overall grade will be ‘moderate to low’.” Gu Ru Quan emotionlessly said while shaking his head.

Yu Cheng did not suffer any actual injuries from the exchange and could only walk back towards the other disciples with low head.

Seeing Yu Cheng’s performance, Liu Ming and the new disciples exchanged glances with each other.

“Next. Xue Shan.” Gu Spirit Master called the next name immediately.

Xue Shan gave a forced smile as he walked up.

As expected, Xue Shan who hadn’t even finished the first level of his Cultivation Method did poorly. He could not even raise the first steel lock, barely made a scratch on the stone monument with his Flame Technique and was knocked out of the circle before even touching the golem.

His final grade was a “low”.

Wan Xiaoqing, who was next, had a better overall performance.

Even though she didn’t do as well as Yu Cheng in terms of strength and spell power, she had the idea of placing a Lighten Spell on herself at the start of the actual combat and managed to stick through the attacks of the golem with a wind type support spell for the time it took to drink a cup of tea (fifteen to twenty minutes). In the end, she also got a “moderate to low” grade.

“Bai Chong Tian!”

The scholar’s gaze finally landed on Liu Ming.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Ming started using his Dark Bone Method and immediately, a layer of black gas emerged on his skin. Then, Liu Ming started walking towards the steel locks.

Seeing this, the scholar’s gaze became focused.

At Gu Ru Quan’s side, Zhu Ci was originally saying something to the Daoist nun beside him, but when he saw the state Liu Ming was in, he could not help but forget what he was saying.

The Daoist nun to his side furrowed her eyebrows as she asked:

“What is the matter, Zhu senior?”

“Zhong junior might not know but this kid is only a Three Spiritual Pulse, and the Cultivation Method he chose was the Ghost Spirit Method that our faction doesn’t practice. Looking at him, he obviously finished the first level of the Ghost Spirit Method. That’s quite unexpected.” Zhu Ci said slowly.

“Oh? Looks like this kid isn’t a simple Three Spiritual Pulse then.” The pretty nun heard Zhu Ci’s explanation and immediately gazed at Liu Ming with an interest in her eyes.