Bronze Man Formation

A new week, please give me a few recommendations~~~

Among the five people beside him, four were at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining, and even at the peak of that layer. It wasn't surprising that they could hold on until the end!

But Zhou Heng?

He was only in the late stages of the Seventh Layer of Body Refining. By drawing on his potential, he could indeed reach the finish line within three minutes of Yu Dongcheng—but to say he'd followed right behind him without falling a single step behind was almost too hard to believe.

Besides, this kid didn't seem to have reached his limit yet!

Tsk, how could such a freak exist? His reserves of True Essence Power were terrifying!

Yu Dongcheng had the wrong idea. Zhou Heng didn't have such deep reserves of True Essence Power. Rather, the Flying Cloud Steps let him draw on the power of nature, saving him an enormous amount of True Essence Power!

If not for the limitations of his body, he could have sprinted at full speed for another hour without any problem.

The Twelfth Layer of Body Refining really was a series of steps, each one bringing a completely different degree of physical strengthening! Zhou Heng glanced at Shen Xinqi and the other three. Their breathing was somewhat ragged, but not one of them looked as exhausted as he did.

There was no helping it. All four of them were at the peak of the Ninth Layer of Body Refining, with two more layers' worth of tempering than Zhou Heng. Their physical strength was on an entirely different level.

"What's your name?" Yu Dongcheng suddenly asked Zhou Heng.

Seeing that the examiner had asked only Zhou Heng for his name, Shen Xinqi and the other three showed a hint of resentment. But how could they dare offend the examiner now? They had to swallow their dissatisfaction.

"My name is Zhou Heng!" Zhou Heng replied respectfully, but with confidence.

"Mm!" Yu Dongcheng nodded and committed the young man's appearance to memory. As they spoke, more people came running over, one after another, their faces flushed and their breathing as rough as bellows.

Thump, thump, thump. As soon as they reached the finish line, they collapsed onto the ground. But they knew that falling asleep right after exhausting themselves would do more harm than good, so they struggled back to their feet and circulated their cultivation methods to recover their True Essence Power.

By the final stretch, they had long since run out of True Essence Power. They had been running on nothing but physical strength—almost pushing themselves to the point of death.

The three minutes passed quickly. Without hesitation, Yu Dongcheng said, "Let's go!"

He turned and faced a gigantic mountain gate. After bowing respectfully, he led the young men up the stone steps. Any who arrived after them were blocked by an invisible force and could only look on helplessly.

Many thought of how their families had sent them off in grand style, only for them to fail even the first test. They immediately burst into tears. Their grief seemed contagious, and soon the mountain gate was filled with weeping.

If they missed this chance, they would have to wait another five years for the Nine Spirits Sect to open its gates again. By then, they would already be over twenty and no longer eligible to take part. And if they couldn't join one of the Three Great Sects, it meant they would never have the chance to set foot on the Ascension Path in this life. How could that not be a devastating blow?

A mysterious force at the mountain gate could keep people from entering, but it couldn't block out their voices. Hearing the sobbing behind them, those who remained felt a pang of bitterness in their hearts. This was only the first test—who could guarantee they wouldn't be eliminated next?

The mountain was enormous. Rows of houses had been built starting at its foot; the higher they went, the larger and more beautiful the buildings became. It was obvious that the higher a person's status, the higher up the mountain they lived.

"Are these the people taking the test this year?"

"They don't look like much!"

"The highest cultivation among them is only the Ninth Layer of Body Refining. Not one of them can enter the Inner Sect directly!"

As they walked along, young men came out of the houses on both sides. They ranged in age from fourteen or fifteen to just under twenty, and their cultivation ranged from the Fifth Layer to the Ninth Layer of Body Refining.

There were so many people at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining!

Zhou Heng was slightly astonished. Shen Xinqi and the other three were geniuses who had stood out among over a hundred towns under Fengyu City's rule—genuine talents, one in ten thousand. How was it that the Nine Spirits Sect had so many of them?

However, hearing the obvious scorn in those young men's words, everyone showed their anger. They had all been absolute geniuses in their own towns. Who had ever looked down on them like this?

Yu Dongcheng paid them no mind. He strode along with effortless grace and soon reached the halfway point up the mountain, where he led everyone into a magnificent hall.

"Old Yu, are these the ones who passed the test?" another middle-aged man came over. He was tall and lean, with a kindly smile on his face, and seemed easy to talk to. "One, two, three, four, five, six... only forty-seven in all. Sigh, the newcomers get worse every year!"

The Twelfth Layer of Body Refining!

Zhou Heng was shocked. As expected of a feudal lord who ruled over a region. In Raw Stone Town, someone at the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining would be an unrivaled expert, and the Zhou Family could produce only one. But in the Nine Spirits Sect, someone at the Twelfth Layer seemed fit only to handle odd jobs. They weren't worth much at all!

The others were much less surprised than Zhou Heng. They had heard of the Nine Spirits Sect since childhood and knew how terrifying its foundations were. That was why they had been willing to fight tooth and nail to get in!

Yu Dongcheng nodded, then turned to the young men. "This is the examiner in charge of your second test. His name is Zhu Xun. Those who pass the second test can follow Zhu Xun to find the third examiner. Those who fail... come outside and find me!"

With that, he strode out through the door and stood straight as a spear.

"All right, follow me!" Zhu Xun clapped his hands and led everyone deeper into the hall. They passed through a Martial Arts Arena and arrived in front of a long corridor, where he stopped.

The corridor was wide, about three meters across, and around a hundred meters long. It was completely empty.

"This is your second test. It's very simple: make it fifty meters and you pass. For every additional ten meters you travel after that, you'll earn one point. The three people with the most points will receive a certain reward!" Zhu Xun said indifferently.

No one was naive enough to think this corridor would be so easy to cross. There had to be countless traps inside!

"You have half an hour to rest," Zhu Xun said, showing a decent amount of consideration. He didn't start the second test right away, but gave them plenty of time to recover. "I'll demonstrate where the difficulty lies."

Everyone had only managed to recover some of their True Essence Power. At his words, they hurriedly sat down to continue recovering, while Zhu Xun strode into the corridor.

Boom!

The moment he stepped inside, the walls on both sides suddenly cracked open, revealing a pair of Bronze Men. Then, boom, boom, boom! One pair after another shot out of the walls. Whoosh, whoosh! The first two Bronze Men swung their arms and attacked Zhu Xun, their blows whipping up a fierce wind. Their strength was at least at the Seventh Layer of Body Refining!

Zhu Xun twisted his hands and casually knocked the two Bronze Men away. He was a master at the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining; naturally, knocking back two Bronze Men at the Seventh Layer was easy for him.

Boom, boom, boom!

He kept moving forward, fighting the Bronze Men on both sides as he went. There were many of them, but none could slow his pace. However, once Zhu Xun passed the fifty-meter mark, the Bronze Men grew noticeably stronger!

The Eighth Layer of Body Refining!

Farther on came the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Layers!

In the final twenty meters, even Zhu Xun could no longer handle them with ease. He forced his way through, but came out in a sorry state, sweat streaming down his forehead.

Terrifying!

Fortunately, they only had to get through the first fifty meters to pass!

The young men were shocked, but also couldn't help feeling relieved.

Zhu Xun said nothing more. He pressed a mechanism on the wall, and all the Bronze Men retracted. Then he walked back and waited quietly. Before long, the half hour was up, and the young men rose one after another. After resting for so long, everyone had nearly returned to peak condition.

"Let's begin!" Zhu Xun didn't waste words. He pointed at someone and reactivated the mechanism. "You, first!"

Everyone had recovered, so there wasn't much difference between going first or last. The chosen man didn't dare defy Zhu Xun or protest about why he had to go first. He hurried to his feet and cautiously entered the corridor.

Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters. The man fought off the Bronze Men's attacks as he struggled forward, but there were simply too many of them. They hemmed him in from front and back, leaving him completely trapped. Boom, boom, boom! He was hit again and again. Even a body tempered to the Seventh Layer of Body Refining couldn't withstand such a barrage, and he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

Smack. He fell to the ground at around the forty-meter mark.

Zhu Xun immediately slapped the wall. All the Bronze Men stopped moving and shrank back into it.

"Failed!" he said coldly. He went over, picked the man up, and tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. Then he pointed to someone else. "You, second!"

Everyone turned to look at the one who had failed. He had been beaten badly, but fortunately none of his bones were broken. He had only suffered flesh wounds, which would heal easily.

Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief. If failing meant paying with a crippling injury or even their lives, they would have to reconsider whether to keep going.

Zhu Xun restarted the mechanism and began testing the second person.

They were both at the Seventh Layer of Body Refining, but there was a considerable difference in their strength. The second man was far more capable. He made it past the fifty-meter mark, but didn't push his luck. He immediately stopped and asked to leave.

"Passed!"

"Passed!"

"Failed!"

Time passed slowly. More and more people entered the corridor and faced the Bronze Men's test. Fewer than half passed, and only two managed to score any points—and each earned just one!

Zhu Xun's gaze swept over the final five people. Four were at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining, the strongest among all those taking the test. The last one... was only in the late stages of the Seventh Layer of Body Refining. He didn't know why Yu Dongcheng had specifically told him in private to pay extra attention to that young man.

He thought for a moment, then pointed at Shi Qingfeng. "You're next!"

Shi Qingfeng froze for a moment, then a trace of gloom crossed his face. Why him? With his strength, he should have been the grand finale! He didn't dare direct his anger at Zhu Xun, so he entered the corridor with a dark expression, secretly deciding to use his full strength and show everyone just how terrifying he was.

"Begin!"

Shi Qingfeng strode forward. Boom, boom, boom! The Bronze Men leaped out one after another, but he easily smashed them aside. He soon passed the fifty-meter minimum. For someone at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining, that was naturally easy.

"Ha ha, I'll definitely take first place!" He laughed and began charging into the Bronze Man Formation's second half.