Detection, Ranking

Seeing Fang Chang appear, Lu Yuan nodded with a smile.

It was not convenient to go over and talk to him now; it would not be too late to ask him a few questions after the test concluded.

Fang Chang, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with another burly youth, also nodded toward Lu Yuan with a smile.

"Brother Hong, Chen Pi said that as long as we place in the top three in today's strength test, we get a portion of meat every day. Is that true?"

Someone couldn't help but ask the burly youth.

"Of course it's true, Master said so himself!"

Hong Lei smiled and nodded.

"Awesome... that's amazing!"

"Master Song is mighty, Brother Hong is mighty!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd couldn't help but cheer, each of them looking excited. Some were even rubbing their palms together, unable to wait to start the strength test and seize one of the top three spots.

Although they were all Outer Courtyard martial disciples with relatively ordinary aptitude and were not Master Song's personal disciples—nor were they qualified to call him Master—getting a free portion of meat every day was still an excellent deal.

Lu Yuan was naturally quite expectant as well. With this daily free meat, not only would his body grow stronger faster, but it would also help him nourish and temper his blood and qi more quickly, which would inevitably speed up his progress in practicing the Five Animals Fist.

However, he also noticed that while everyone was shouting about Brother Hong's might, Fang Chang's expression turned slightly unpleasant, and his fists tightened ever so slightly.

After all, Fang Chang had only just entered the Inner Courtyard and become Master Song's personal disciple a few days ago; his prestige was certainly far inferior to that of Hong Lei, who had joined long ago.

Therefore, in the hearts of these Outer Courtyard martial disciples, they naturally supported Hong Lei more.

"The weight of these stone locks only differs by ten jin. The lightest is one hundred jin, and the heaviest is two hundred jin. You only need to lift one of them above your head and hold it for three breaths. Remember, know your limits!"

At this moment, Hong Lei looked at the crowd with a smile and asked, "Who wants to go first?"

"Brother Hong, let me try first!"

As soon as the words fell, Chen Pi walked out of the crowd and arrived in front of the two-hundred-jin stone lock.

Without the slightest hesitation, he leaned down and grabbed it tightly with both hands.

After taking a deep breath, Chen Pi exerted his strength abruptly. Veins popped out on his forehead, and his face even seemed to turn somewhat ferocious; clearly, he had used all his might.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, the stone lock on the ground remained completely unmoved.

Clearly, his strength was not yet enough to shake the two-hundred-jin stone lock in the slightest.

"Chen Pi, I said, know your limits!"

Seeing that Chen Pi's face had turned beet red and his whole body was trembling, yet he was still unwilling to give up, Hong Lei could only frown slightly and say in a deep voice, "If anyone else does this, I will directly disqualify them from receiving the meat!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Pi immediately let go and began to pant heavily.

After resting for a while, he tried the one-hundred-ninety-jin and one-hundred-eighty-jin stone locks respectively. Although he could move them slightly, he was completely unable to lift them above his head.

In the end, he could only barely lift the one-hundred-seventy-jin stone lock above his head and hold it for three breaths.

"Fang Chang, take note: Chen Pi, one hundred and seventy jin!"

After Chen Pi put the stone lock down, Hong Lei turned his head to look at Fang Chang, who was standing to the side, and smiled.

Upon hearing this, Fang Chang's fists tightened a bit more, but he quickly relaxed them and nodded with a smile.

He quickly fetched paper and a brush and wrote down Chen Pi's test result.

"Who is next?"

Hong Lei nodded slightly and then asked the crowd.

"I'll go!"

Soon, another youth walked out of the crowd.

After several attempts, he finally lifted the one-hundred-sixty-jin stone lock.

"Note it down: Zhang San, one hundred and sixty jin!"

Just like that, everyone took turns performing the test.

"Wang Er, one hundred and fifty jin!"

"Zhu Ba, one hundred and sixty jin!"

As time slowly passed, most people had their results recorded.

It was evident that, apart from Chen Pi, who was temporarily in first place, everyone's strength was basically concentrated between one hundred and fifty and one hundred and sixty jin.

This meant that the gap in everyone's cultivation progress and growth rate was actually not very large.

"Brother Chen Pi, congratulations!"

Lu Yuan whispered to Chen Pi with a smile.

"It's a bit too early to say congratulations. Those two guys' strength will definitely not be much weaker than mine!"

Chen Pi shook his head, looking at the two youths in the crowd with a solemn expression.

Lu Yuan also cast his gaze toward the two of them. After these few days of getting along, although his relationship with most of the Outer Courtyard martial disciples was not as close as it was with Chen Pi—at most, they were nodding acquaintances—he had managed to remember most of their names.

Among them, the youth wearing a cyan hemp jacket who appeared more burly was named Wu Yu.

The other youth, wearing a tattered gray padded jacket and appearing relatively thin, was named Chen Yong.

Lu Yuan naturally did not know much about their cultivation progress, but judging by Chen Pi's expression, the strength of these two, even if not quite on par with Chen Pi, was likely in the same ballpark.

As expected, Wu Yu not only walked straight up to the 170-jin stone lock, but he also quickly hoisted it above his head.

He looked even more relaxed than Chen Pi and held it for longer as well.

"Wu Yu, not bad. Let's record you at 175 jin!"

Hong Lei smiled at Wu Yu and then spoke.

"Many thanks, Brother Hong!"

Wu Yu hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed to Hong Lei.

"Being first or not doesn't matter; as long as I can secure a spot in the top three, that's enough!"

Chen Pi's expression grew more solemn, as if he were trying to console himself.

In fact, this was exactly what Lu Yuan was thinking as well.

The reason he had waited until the very end to be tested was precisely to control his score.

As long as he could make it into the top three and secure the daily ration of free meat, there was absolutely no need to fight for that first-place spot.

In this world, being steady and keeping a low profile was quite necessary.

Of course, when it was time to show his strength, he would do so appropriately.

After a few more people were tested, Chen Yong also stepped out from the crowd.

His target was likewise the 170-jin stone lock.

Under the gaze of the crowd, although Liu Yong also succeeded in lifting the stone lock, he appeared quite strained, and in the end, he could only hold it for a mere two breaths before he lost control and dropped it heavily onto the ground.

"Chen Yong, let's record you at 165 jin!"

Hong Lei said.

Chen Yong did not say much; he gave a slight cupped-hand salute to Hong Lei before turning around and returning to the crowd.

The dozen or so people who were tested after him remained, like most others, with strength between 150 and 160 jin.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Wu Yu should be the first place in this strength test, Chen Pi is second, and Liu Yong is third. It's a pity I'm still lacking a bit of strength; otherwise, I could have at least fought for that third spot!"

"Failing to break into the top three this time means it will likely be even harder next time. Once those three have the aid of meat every day, their progress will surely far outpace ours. One step behind, every step behind, indeed!"

Many people could not help but hang their heads in dejection.

"Yuan... Ah Yuan, you're the only one left now!"

At this moment, Fang Chang suddenly spoke up and called out to Lu Yuan.