Blood Qi Assessment

Elder Jiang Daoming, clad in a brown robe, swept his gaze across the servants.

Then he said in a deep voice:

"You thirty-five remaining people, all come up onto the platform."

Li Qiming and the others looked at one another.

In truth, they were also very curious about how exactly this second Blood Qi Assessment would be conducted.

After all, those who had made it here had basically all brought the Tiger Roar Fist to Minor Accomplishment, with a small number reaching Major Accomplishment.

However.

Their Blood Qi cultivation was all at the early stage of Blood Refining, and absolutely none of them could have broken through to the middle stage.

In other words, everyone's Blood Qi was roughly the same.

It would be difficult to distinguish any obvious gap in strength.

So how was this supposed to be tested?

Li Qiming and the others stepped onto the platform and lined up in a square formation.

Jiang Daoming said:

"Prepare yourselves. Next, I will release the power of my Blood Qi. I must remind you that I am a martial artist at the Perfected level of Organ Refining. The power of my Blood Qi naturally exerts pressure upon your own Blood Qi..."

"This second test of Blood Qi power will determine who can endure the longest beneath the pressure of my Blood Qi!"

"The rules are simple. Stand properly. You may not sit, and you may not fall! Otherwise, you will be considered eliminated!"

"Whoever endures until the very end will take first place in this second Blood Qi power assessment!"

"Remember, the final Registered Disciple slot will depend on your combined performance across all three tests! Only the person with the highest overall score can obtain the precious Registered Disciple slot!"

Elder Jiang Daoming had finished explaining the rules. The instant his voice fell, a crimson glow rose from his body without warning.

Dense Blood Qi power erupted fiercely!

In an instant, more than twenty servants failed to react in time. They simply could not withstand it, and their bodies were flung off the platform, crashing down in a scattered heap!

They were eliminated one after another!

Li Qiming frowned slightly. He had nearly lost his footing as well, but fortunately, he had always been cautious and never let down his guard. The very moment the other man unleashed his Blood Qi, the Blood Qi in Li Qiming's legs surged into motion.

He stood as though nailed to the ground.

He had never expected this old bastard to launch a sneak attack!

In the blink of an eye, only a dozen or so servants remained on the platform.

Those servants swayed this way and that, nearly falling over. Fortunately, they managed to adjust themselves in the end, though they looked exceedingly bedraggled.

Besides Li Qiming, four others remained just as composed.

They were precisely the four whose Root Bone aptitude had been rated "medium" in the first test.

Of those four, three were children of wealthy families—two men and one woman—and each wore an air of pride.

The remaining one, like Li Qiming, had come from a servant's background. He was a somewhat timid-looking youth named Wang Liang.

"Keep it up!" Seeming to sense Li Qiming's gaze, Wang Liang nodded and spoke.

"Mm..." Li Qiming found it amusing. If I keep it up, won't you be eliminated? This kid is really too polite!

Jiang Daoming cast a cold look at the eliminated servants and said icily:

"I know many of you are full of complaints, but if you must blame someone, blame yourselves! The path of martial arts is filled with killing and thorns. When you travel the martial world in the future, your opponents, enemies coming to kill you, and demons will not give you time to react!"

"A martial artist must keep a vigilant heart at all times!"

"That heart can save your life at a critical moment!"

Those words immediately left the servants speechless.

Li Qiming nodded slightly. He felt that Elder Jiang's words made a great deal of sense.

Suddenly.

Jiang Daoming looked toward the remaining servants on the platform and nodded. "Next, I will slowly increase the pressure of my Blood Qi..."

The moment his words fell, the Blood Qi power around his body suddenly surged!

All the servants on the platform instantly felt their bodies sink as a terrifying pressure bore down upon them!

Li Qiming immediately let out a muffled grunt! He could not help taking a step back.

Good fellow, and he called this a slow increase in pressure?

Perhaps to someone at Perfected Organ Refining, it truly was slow. But even a casual wisp of the man's Blood Qi was an unbearable weight to these servants!

Everyone on the platform wore extremely grave expressions.

Under Jiang Daoming's pressure, the entire platform had become a "gravity field."

It was as though everyone's bodies had been coated in cement.

Heavy and oppressive.

And that pressure was still continuously increasing!

Wave after wave of pressure crashed over them like mountains collapsing and seas overturning!

Even worse, it was hot!

In Li Qiming's eyes, Elder Jiang in front of the platform had Blood Qi roiling all over his body, like a sun burning right in their faces! Like a furnace!

Drip, drip!

Sweat streamed down Li Qiming's cheeks and fell to the ground.

The surrounding servants were no better off. Every one of them gritted their teeth, their suffering so intense that they looked constipated.

Even more people had their legs trembling beneath the crushing pressure, as though they were dancing.

"I can't do it, I can't hold on anymore!" one servant roared. Then he finally failed to endure and collapsed to the ground.

Someone nearby immediately entered the arena and carried him away.

"I can't do it either!"

"Damn it..."

"Sigh, this is too hard!"

Before long, large numbers of servants collapsed one after another, unable to keep holding on.

In the blink of an eye.

Only five people remained standing on the platform.

They were Li Qiming, Wang Liang, and the remaining three young masters and young lady from wealthy families.

"Good, let's speed things up a little more." Jiang Daoming nodded slightly, and all five immediately felt a sense of foreboding rise in their hearts.

The next moment.

The Blood Qi power around Jiang Daoming's body erupted again, doubling in intensity!

Boom!

"I can't take it anymore!"

"Eek~"

One wealthy young master and that wealthy young lady both flushed red. Their bodies swayed before they crumpled to the ground.

Only three people remained.

A wealthy youth in white robes, Li Qiming, and Wang Liang.

"Hmm? Interesting. At this point in previous years, no one would still be standing." Jiang Daoming seemed somewhat surprised. Then he nodded. "Then I'll put a little more pressure on you!"

"Don't worry, just a little..."

Boom!

Jiang Daoming's Blood Qi suddenly erupted, and the pressure in the arena doubled once more!

Wang Liang's body was already shaking like a sieve.

Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought he was having a fit.

"I can't do it either! Brother, can you still hold on?" Wang Liang was in great pain, his face twisted out of shape, yet he still had the mood to speak to Li Qiming.

"I'm still all right." Li Qiming nodded. He was suffering too, but after taking the Blood Dragon Pill earlier, the Blood Qi in his body had greatly increased, making up for the weakness of his short training time.

Especially after recently honing his fist techniques and lightness skill, his Blood Qi had increased even further.

However, a layer of invisible bottleneck still stood between him and the middle stage of Blood Refining, preventing him from breaking through.

"Then you... must... hold... on... You have to beat him!" Wang Liang said through clenched teeth.

His Blood Qi had already been exhausted, but Li Qiming and the white-robed youth had clearly not yet reached their limits!

Li Qiming was taken aback and looked toward the white-robed youth beside him.

Then realization dawned on him.

So that was it. As a servant, Wang Liang had always been resentful of these wealthy young masters and young ladies entering the competition through the "back door."

"Keep it up!" Wang Liang said. Then he finally could not endure any longer. Yet he did not fall. Instead, he gritted his teeth and slowly shuffled off the platform by himself.

The moment he stepped down, he could not help collapsing into a sitting position on the ground, gasping heavily. Then he could not help looking toward the two figures on the platform.

In the end, who would claim first place in this Blood Qi Assessment?