Testing

In Chief Steward Wang's courtyard, the toothpick he'd been using to pick his teeth snapped in two with a sharp crack.

His bulky frame sprang up from the recliner with a speed utterly at odds with his size.

Suspicion and greed mingled in his narrowed eyes, blazing like a fire.

"Breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm?"

The thought exploded in his mind, making his rolls of fat tremble with excitement.

What kind of place was the Chore Servant Courtyard? It was the Spirit Sword Pavilion's sewer!

A corner where trash and refuse were piled up!

A Chore Disciple who could break through to the Qi Refining Realm here was worth no less than a nugget of Metal discovered in a cesspit!

This was about more than a disciple's promotion.

Anyone who could break through on their own in an environment with such thin Spiritual Energy and scarce resources had to be hiding a secret!

A fortuitous opportunity!

And as the steward of the Chore Servant Courtyard, the local emperor of this territory, he was entitled to a share of any opportunity that emerged from his domain!

"Hmph, trying to secretly keep it all to yourself? Not so fast!"

Chief Steward Wang sneered, the jowls on his face trembling.

He didn't even have time to put on his outer robe. He pushed open the courtyard gate and his plump figure melted into the deep night.

His Foundation Establishment Realm spiritual sense spread like an invisible web, silently enveloping the direction from which that ripple of Spiritual Energy had come.

Meanwhile, inside the thatched hut.

The moment Zhou Xuan broke through, he realized he'd made a fatal mistake!

Breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm and drawing the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth into his body hadn't made much of a commotion, but to a true cultivator, it was as clear as a beacon in the dark of night!

The strongest cultivator in the Chore Servant Courtyard was Chief Steward Wang, who was in the Foundation Establishment Realm!

The disturbance he'd just caused had definitely been noticed!

He had no doubt that the greedy, mean-spirited fatso was on his way over right now.

He had to hide immediately!

Without the slightest hesitation, he stirred his thoughts and pulled a dusty, circular iron plate, about the size of his palm, from the most inconspicuous corner beneath his bed.

It was a broken Formation Disk he'd picked up by chance at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department. It had long since lost its spiritual properties.

Later, when he'd been bored, he'd spent a little over ten Gold Touch Value on Enlightenment through the system, barely restoring its most basic Breath Concealment function.

He'd thought it was a useless trinket with no real value. He hadn't expected it to come in handy today!

Zhou Xuan carefully poured that newly born strand of Mana inside him into the Formation Disk.

Buzz!

A few blurry talismanic runes on the iron plate glimmered faintly. An invisible ripple spread out in an instant, enveloping the entire hut.

The Spiritual Energy roiling inside and outside the hut seemed to be smoothed over by an invisible hand, quickly returning to stillness without the slightest abnormality.

As soon as he'd finished, Zhou Xuan immediately lay back on his bed, quieted his mind, and pretended to be asleep.

Almost the instant he lay down,

a bulky shadow appeared outside his thatched hut.

Chief Steward Wang stopped and narrowed his eyes as he suspiciously studied the dilapidated hut before him.

The source of the Spiritual Energy fluctuations seemed to be somewhere nearby.

But this was the home of Zhou Xuan, that good-for-nothing.

Chief Steward Wang swept his spiritual sense around the hut again and again, but could no longer detect any unusual fluctuations in Spiritual Energy. There was only dead silence.

He furrowed his brow.

Had he sensed it wrong?

Impossible!

That ripple, the one that drew Spiritual Energy from heaven and earth, had been real!

His gaze settled on the closed wooden door, his mind filled with confusion.

Zhou Xuan? That good-for-nothing waiting to die? Breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm? That was the funniest joke in the world!

Chief Steward Wang's spiritual sense even tentatively passed through the door, settling on Zhou Xuan in bed.

His breathing was steady, his heartbeat calm. He was just an ordinary, Body Forging mortal, sleeping like a dead pig.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of Spiritual Energy in his body.

Boom! A Waste Pill exploded in the distance, and a flash of light vanished.

"Tch, what rotten luck!"

Chief Steward Wang spat in disdain, his face full of disappointment.

It seemed he'd been too jumpy. Maybe an Inner Sect Disciple had happened to pass by and gained some insight here, causing a small fluctuation in Spiritual Energy—or maybe that Waste Pill had blown up?

He shook his head and turned to leave.

But after only two steps, he suddenly stopped.

Something was wrong!

A glint of cunning flashed in Chief Steward Wang's narrowed eyes.

He'd suddenly thought of a crucial point he'd overlooked.

If someone had really broken through, why hide it?

Breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm was a wonderful thing!

It meant escaping the life of a chore servant and becoming a true Outer Sect Disciple. From then on, they could leap through the dragon gate and soar to the heavens!

Who would be stupid enough to hide such a wonderful thing?

Unless the secret they were hiding was more important than becoming an Outer Sect Disciple!

So important that they didn't dare let anyone know!

The moment this thought struck him, Chief Steward Wang's heart began to race uncontrollably.

He whipped around and fixed his gaze once more on Zhou Xuan's utterly ordinary thatched hut.

That good-for-nothing!

The most suspicious thing in the Chore Servant Courtyard lately was Zhou Xuan!

He should have wasted away in a place like the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, but instead, he was doing just fine.

And a few days ago, he'd been acting all mysterious with Zhou Ye, that living corpse. Who knew what they were up to?

The more Chief Steward Wang thought about it, the brighter his eyes grew, and the hotter the flames of greed in his heart burned!

"Clever boy. So this is where you've been waiting for me!"

He was almost certain that Zhou Xuan was the one who'd broken through just now!

That good-for-nothing had definitely stumbled upon some heaven-defying opportunity!

He was hiding his cultivation to quietly grow stronger, then amaze the world with a single brilliant feat!

"Heh, heh, heh..."

Chief Steward Wang let out a low chuckle, his fat cheeks bunching up like a chrysanthemum.

"Trying to keep it all to yourself? You should've asked whether I, Wang, would agree!"

He didn't go in and alert Zhou Xuan. Instead, he gave the hut a long look, then turned and left.

He had plenty of ways to make the little dragon hiding in the mud reveal its head!

When the time came, wouldn't the opportunity he'd found be his to seize?

Chief Steward Wang's figure vanished into the night.

On the bed, Zhou Xuan slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was icily calm.

He could sense the undisguised greed and malice Chief Steward Wang had carried away with him.

He'd been targeted.

That insatiable fatso had already decided he was prey.

There was no escaping him. If Zhou Xuan wanted to cultivate in peace, he had to pull out this thorn first!

A murderous glint flashed in Zhou Xuan's eyes.

Several days later.

On the Martial Arts Arena in the Chore Servant Courtyard, all the Chore Disciples had been summoned. They stood packed together in a dark mass.

Chief Steward Wang stood on the High Terrace, his trademark beer belly thrust out as he looked down at row upon row of numb, despairing faces.

"The Chore Servant Courtyard's assessment begins today!"

He channeled Mana into his voice, sending it across the entire Martial Arts Arena.

The crowd below remained unmoved.

The so-called assessment was just a formality, a check to see whether they'd slacked off over the past year.

Whatever the result, it wouldn't change their fate in the slightest.

Looking at the crowd's lifeless faces, Chief Steward Wang's lips curled into a cruel smile.

"But this year's assessment is a little different!"

He deliberately drew out his words, keeping everyone in suspense.

"With special permission from the Sect elders, this year's assessment will include a martial arts tournament!"

"Anyone whose cultivation has reached the seventh layer of Body Forging or above may take the stage and compete!"

At his words, the crowd below finally stirred.

Chief Steward Wang watched with satisfaction before dropping another bombshell.

"To motivate you all, I specially applied to the Sect for rewards!"

"Everyone who makes the top ten will receive a Qi Gathering Pill!"

"The top three will each receive two!"

"First place will receive three Qi Gathering Pills. And those who perform exceptionally well will have a chance to be recommended as true Outer Sect Disciples!"

Boom!

His words exploded through the silent crowd!

The entire Martial Arts Arena instantly erupted!

"What? A Qi Gathering Pill? Did I hear that right?"

"And a chance to become an Outer Sect Disciple! Oh, heavens!"

"I'm in! I'd fight for it even if I died on that stage!"

The eyes of all the Chore Disciples turned red!

The numbness on their faces was torn away, replaced by a nearly frenzied hunger and excitement!

Qi Gathering Pills!

Outer Sect Disciples!

These were things they hadn't even dared dream of!

Only Zhou Xuan stood quietly in a corner of the crowd, his face as calm as still water.

He felt a gaze—one full of scrutiny, greed, and ill intent—fall precisely on him from the High Terrace.

Zhou Xuan slowly raised his head and met Chief Steward Wang's narrowed eyes.

He saw the undisguised, smug smile at the corner of the man's mouth, as if he'd seen through everything.

In an instant, Zhou Xuan understood it all.

Chief Steward Wang was forcing his hand!

Forcing him to step onto the stage, forcing him to reveal his strength!

Zhou Xuan's heart sank. He looked at the fat figure on the High Terrace.

This man couldn't be allowed to live!