Ignoring Cai MingZhu, two disciples who were twins, suddenly went near Luo and as they surrounded him, constantly looking at him from various angels they introduced each other. "We are the nightingale twins of the Ancient Zither Abode. This is Zhong Bai, my brother."
"And this is Zhong Gui, my brother. Now, you should introduce yourself."
Luo was amused at this and introduced himself "I am Luo LianHao, nice to meet you."
The other apprentice, a scrawny girl with a flat chest and short,wild brown hair looked at Luo with disinterest. As their eyes met, Luo smiled "Hello sister, I am Luo LianHao, what would your name be?"
"Hmm. My name is Hao Qi". She looked at him up and down and carried on with her business.
Luo also introduced himself to Cai Mingzhu but she did not grace him with a reply, so he shrugged and moved to the registration counter with Xun.
After entering their names for the competition, master Fu Lin bi
As everyone, about 500 who passed out of the 5000 applicants, shuffled into the next building for the test, they were allotted different rooms based on their token numbers. Luo and Xun found their room and started walking into it. Cao Mingzhu , Zhong Bai and Gui and Hao Qi were also in the same room as them.The test began after the instructors explained the rules and gave out written tests with questions that checked their approaches to different problems. Cao and Luo at once began to tear into it and started answering their questions.Xun looked at all the questions and she didn't recognize half of them. The other half were as master Fu Lin had made her practise. The Zhong brothers started meditating and listening to the tempo of the brush strokes of Luo and Cao who were answering the questions vigorously.They found the rhythm in it and started using their own brushes to replicate that rhythm and answers started flowing from their hands as well.Hao Qi
Master Gu Ryu bade all of the applicants to move to the open ground for the next round of testing and everyone followed his orders."All right. Now for testing how much of the 36 walls of Soul you all have comprehended." He then expanded his Qi and his Martial will with the intent to kill, gushed out from him. This was to put pressure on the soul or to test out the mental defense of those around them.Hua Geming comprehended the soul defense technique until the peak of the 4th wall of Soul and he immediately put his soul defense up. While it was still hard for him and he was feeling a little suffocated under the pressure he withstood it.Cai MingZhu had comprehended till the 3rd layer and had broken through to the 9th layer of Gathering Qi. The Zhing Gui and Zhong Bai Twins also comprehended till the 3rd layer but their cultivation had not progressed enough for a breakthrough. These three were finding it very suffocating under the pressure but were able to withs
Hao Qi, Cai MingZhu, Xun, Zhong twins chose to go to the Ancient Zither abode as well.Gu Ryu went over to Han Ryu and said "Han did you know that, that boy Luo had come to our sect first for a jade slip of acknowledgement. We rejected him because he was not a noble apparently. And if you have eyes you will see that Hua Geming and the other's decision to join the Ancient Zither abode were affected by Luo's decision even if by a little. You see Han-boy, Fate is a fickle thing. If you don't catch the opportunities that come your way , more often than not you'll be left with heartburns and stomachaches."Han Ryu scoffed at what the old master was saying but did not argue. Xiao Wu was seething at all the attention that Luo was getting. "This disciple bows to Master Han Ryu. I would like to join the Heavenly Dragon sect and show the trash Luo Lian-whatever here what he just passed up on." Ha
Everyone was ready before the break of dawn and Fu Lin wished them good luck and they all started.Even though the Zither disciples started together having packed the necessary supplies for the journey, after a while Cai MingZhu stopped in front of Luo and said "Me , Zhong Gui and Zhong Bai will be one team once we reach the starting point.It's not good to have big teams as the share of the loot will be lesser and there will be more opportunities this way. I wanted to give you this chance to form your own strategy. Master expects a lot from you , but that doesn't mean that I or the others will automatically concede to you. I hope you get that."The Zhong twins looked at the others and just shrugged and smiled as if they were just going along with what Cai had said just for fun.Before Luo could thank her she jumped the gun and started using a movement technique to run at high speeds. The Zhong twins were keeping up as well. "Huhh...there she goes" Luo sa
The moment Luo's and Hua's attacks had landed on the big trolls, they launched their most powerful attacks as well. Xun enhanced her body with Qi and with increased mobility relied on light and fast kick combos to the head , hitting at vital points near the base of the neck. After those consecutive attacks the troll just fell down, dead, with a broken neck lying at an impossible angle.Hao Qi's most powerful attack however was not an attack but a support type technique. She took out her flute and notes started pouring out of the flute. It had a strange effect of taking everyone in the hearing range into a kind of trance and the trolls started to headbang in coordination with the sharp drops and the lilting notes of her melody.Luo and the others however understood that her technique affected the soul after it began and immediately used the 36 walls of Soul technique they had learnt earlier and used it to stop the effects of the technique.They took advantage of
The second day was upon the contestants. Xiao Wu and his lackeys were leading in terms of overall cores because he had pushed them without letting them sleep using lesser Qi replenishment pills. They were finally in a layer where Tier2 beasts started appearing. Red-scaled Nagas were spotted leading small hunting parties of Tier1 Nagas.Xiao Wu cleverly distributed antidote pills to all of his followers and set up ambushes for the hunting parties. Sometimes it would work and after having sneakily killed the Red scaled naga, they would slaughter the other Nagas, but sometimes the monsters would detect the ambush and it would become a battle.Xiao Wu was the only one who was in the Qi Condensation realm among them so he would lead the charge and then the others would attack the Red scaled naga coordinating with each other. Their tactics served them pretty well as they carefully moved through the slightly deeper levels on the second day.***Luo and the other
Hao Qi was shocked at both of their displays of power. "You … Both of you have brought down a Tier 3 monster...a half step Tier3 monster granted , but still..they would be as strong as the upper layers of Qi Condensation realm cultivators. And yet you brought it down in ONLY 2 MOVES!!! How can that be possible??"Hua looked at Luo and asked him, "Qi Gathering realm cultivators can only cover their bodies in Qi and then attack their opponents with that. I have never seen any Gathering Qi cultivators cause explosions that are as freaky as that. No to mention, those stones you used to attack caused a similar kind of explosion. Why is that? How did you do it? "Luo hesitated but then made up his resolve and said " Would you guys tell me your family's cultivation secrets if I just simply asked you? Hua..would you tell me the secret behind that superfast attack that you did just now . It packed a hell lot of power. Would you tell me? I'm as
After the sun was high in the sky and it was noon, Gu Ryu took to the podium again. The points were tallied against the jade slips which were then displayed on the display board they had set up."Good day everyone. Now that all of you have gathered and without incident I might add, it is time to announce the results of the competition.So without delay, at first place is Xiao Wu of Heavenly Dragon Sect with 7000 points.At 2nd place is Luo LianHao of Ancient Zither Abode with 6500 points.At 3rd place is Hua Geming also of the Ancient Zither abode with 6200 points.Congratulations to the three of you. Your visit to the Royal Library is scheduled for 3 months from now. Emissaries to your sect will notify you before you need to depart for the Royal Library.Now with that I call the Summer Competitions CLOSED!"The prizes were delivered to the winners after the declarations were done. Xiao Wu got the Low grade Xian Tier def