Luo Zheng stepped across the stone stele marking twenty li. The green on the jade pendant slowly faded, gradually dyeing it with a layer of bloodlike red.
He then gripped the jade pendant and turned around, waving it at the four people behind him with a smile.
The four people tailing Luo Zheng saw his smug expression and felt as if their lungs were about to explode with rage.
Before they came to participate in the Sea Trials, someone had assigned them a task: deal with a brat in the Viscera Refining Realm.
They had thought little of the task. Was a mere brat in the Viscera Refining Realm really worth the four of them, all in the Marrow Refining Realm, going out together?
They had originally thought it would be a piece of cake, but unexpectedly, the brat had slipped away right under their noses. Not only had he escaped, he even dared to provoke them so smugly! How could a fellow in the Viscera Refining Realm be so brazen?
This was indeed intolerable.
The scholar's face had gone completely dark. He said coldly, "Everyone, use your own methods. Kill this brat!"
"But he passed the Sea Trials. Wouldn't killing someone in front of the examiner be a little too..." The burly man among the four hesitated.
The scholar said with a vicious expression, "Young Master Wang said he'll take responsibility even if the sky falls. This brat isn't from the Imperial Capital and has no background. Even if he dies, who will stand up for him?"
Once the scholar said this, the other three finally set their minds at ease.
The last shred of concern they had vanished completely. All four charged toward Luo Zheng with faces full of resentment. Judging by their appearance, they would not stop until they tore Luo Zheng to pieces.
Seeing this, Luo Zheng was quite satisfied. He had deliberately provoked the four of them.
There were two ways to rapidly increase his strength. One was to have Black Fire devour Mysterious Artifacts and light up the Dragon Scale. As a pauper, Luo Zheng currently had no large number of Mysterious Artifacts for it to devour.
The other method was to have others temper him, producing a Warm Current that would cleanse the impurities in his internal organs.
All four of these people were in the Marrow Refining Realm. Their attacks were neither too strong nor too weak for Luo Zheng—they were just right.
If cultivators in the Bone Refining Realm or Marrow Refining Realm tempered him, they could not produce much of an effect.
But if experts at the Half-Step to the Innate Realm struck him, the force would be too heavy. One careless blow could leave him seriously injured or even kill him. Thus, these four were practically perfect "blacksmiths" for Luo Zheng.
That was why, after dyeing the jade pendant red, Luo Zheng had turned around and provoked them.
When he saw the four charging toward him, Luo Zheng also turned and ran forward. Another reason he was unwilling to leave this road was that he wanted to see exactly how much pressure he could withstand.
After crossing the stone stele marking twenty li, the pressure on the road suddenly doubled, jumping from two thousand to four thousand jin.
Under such tremendous pressure, he felt an enormous force dragging his entire body toward the ground. As soon as his own strength fell even slightly short, his whole body would be pressed firmly into the ground by that pressure.
Fortunately, the four Marrow Refining Realm cultivators behind him were likewise bound by the four-thousand-jin pressure, and their speed immediately slowed.
Thus, an exceedingly strange scene unfolded on the road.
Luo Zheng ran forward at an extremely slow pace, while the four chased him at an equally slow pace. If anyone had been watching from the side, they would have thought the five of them were performing a slow-motion play.
Luo Zheng could have run faster. Up to now, he was still relying solely on his own strength and had not used the power of the two Dragon Scales. If he borrowed the Dragon Scales' power, he could increase his speed by more than double.
He deliberately slowed down so the four people behind him would have a chance to hit him.
The scholar was the first to catch up. As soon as he reached Luo Zheng's back, he roared, "Die!" He struck repeatedly, unleashing seven or eight palms in succession, each with all his strength. Under the four-thousand-jin pressure, even he, a Marrow Refining Realm cultivator, was panting heavily after those seven or eight blows.
The frenzied palm force hammered Luo Zheng's back, benefiting him immensely. At the same time, he relied on the force of the palms to push him forward, saving his own strength while producing great amounts of Warm Current to cleanse his internal organs. The comfort he felt could well be imagined.
Once he had completely digested the palm force, another person took the scholar's place.
"Frost Wolf Fist!"
"Bursting Elbow Strike!"
"Great Force Crushing Fist!"
The four took turns attacking Luo Zheng's back. Wave after wave of force pushed him forward, while his internal organs drew out impurities at an astonishing speed. The impurities tempered out by the Viscera Refining Realm were dark red. Mixed with Luo Zheng's sweat, they flowed out and looked just like blood.
The four people behind him grew more and more alarmed as they struck.
This brat's body was far too abnormal. Even a body-refining practitioner of the Devil Race did not possess such a terrifying physique.
Under the four of them taking turns attacking him, the brat could still hold on. It was completely beyond their imagination.
"I can't do this anymore, I can't! I'm out of strength!" one of them said, clutching his waist and gasping heavily.
The burly man even dropped onto the ground, shaking his head. "Under this pressure, just running is exhausting enough. On top of that, we have to hit someone. I'm dead tired."
The four-thousand-jin pressure had originally been designed for Marrow Refining Realm cultivators. Withstanding that pressure while beating Luo Zheng caused their strength to drain at an astonishing rate, and before long, all of them were utterly exhausted.
Just as they were about to give up, the scholar suddenly shouted, "He's bleeding!" He saw red liquid flowing from Luo Zheng's body and instinctively assumed that Luo Zheng was bleeding. Delighted, he said, "I told you this brat wasn't truly made of steel and possessed an undying body! So he can still be injured. He's at the end of his strength. Everyone, put in a little more effort!"
Seeing fresh blood pouring from Luo Zheng, they indeed thought he could not hold out any longer. The four were delighted as well. At least they had finally injured the brat, which somewhat salvaged their pride.
They rallied their spirits, gritted their teeth, and charged forward, furiously raining their fists upon Luo Zheng.
Luo Zheng had thought they were about to give up, and he had felt somewhat depressed. This perfect opportunity to be beaten was something he did not want to end so soon.
Unexpectedly, after seeing the impurities flowing from his body, they mistook them for blood and decided that he was finished. They had actually begun another round of beating.
He was secretly delighted, but his face remained impassive. He even pretended to look weak and haggard, staggering forward while taking their blows. The second round of tempering had begun.
Luo Zheng did not know that thirty li away, the White-Browed Old Man presiding over the examination had witnessed everything.
Beside the White-Browed Old Man stood a young woman dressed in green.
Both of them focused their attention on a half-person-tall Jade Box before them. This kind of Jade Box was called a Trust Jade. Through the Trust Jade, they could see every scene along the entire road.
At that moment, the image on the Trust Jade was showing Luo Zheng being chased and beaten.
Both their gazes were fixed on Luo Zheng, and their expressions held a trace of surprise.
"He's enduring the attacks of four Marrow Refining Realm cultivators, yet he himself is only in the Viscera Refining Realm. Another interesting student has appeared in this month's Sea Trials!" the Green Shirt Woman said with a smile.
Hearing this, the White-Browed Old Man immediately felt a headache coming on. It seemed that the Green Shirt Woman had taken an interest in this examinee again. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Instructor Su, you can't do this. If all thirty-two peaks of Azure Cloud Sect selected disciples as you do, it would be far too unfair to the instructors of the other peaks."
Hearing the White-Browed Old Man, Instructor Su instead said generously, "That's fine. Let everyone choose together. I don't mind."
"But according to the rules, these disciples are assigned according to their rankings after the trials and examination. Last month, you took away a disciple with considerable talent, and the other thirty-two peaks already had quite a few complaints. If you do the same again this month, then..." The White-Browed Old Man shook his head as he spoke.
Instructor Su merely snorted. "So what? They have complaints? If they have complaints, they can come tell me directly, or go ahead and report me! My Little Rain Peak ranks dead last among Azure Cloud's Thirty-Three Peaks. If I don't use some methods, how could I revive it? Oh, right! There's a very simple way. I'll go find this brat first and have him conceal his strength so he doesn't take first place in the trials and examination! Then the other thirty-two peaks won't compete with me for him, will they?"
"This..." The White-Browed Old Man had never expected Instructor Su to come up with such a devilish idea again, and his headache grew even worse.
Azure Cloud Sect had a total of thirty-three peaks for its inner and Outer Sect Disciples to cultivate on. To make all the disciples strive forward with all their might, it had established a highly rigorous and scientific set of rules. The most important of these was the competition among the thirty-three peaks.
This competition affected more than just the disciples. The instructors of the thirty-three peaks also had their own tasks and goals. To nurture more outstanding disciples, they naturally fought over talented prodigies.
Although those who could pass the Sea Trials and the trials and examination would all possess decent talent and strength, among the best, one could always choose the better. There was no best, only better. Everyone was willing to take away the most outstanding disciples.
Instructor Su had already made the instructors of the other peaks extremely dissatisfied by breaking the rules for the sake of Little Rain Peak.
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