Li Pingsheng returned to his little courtyard and pulled a small porcelain bottle from his robes.
As soon as he removed the stopper, a wave of cold surged out.
He poured all the sticky, ice-blue liquid onto his trembling, reddened right arm.
The moment the liquid touched skin, it caused a searing pain.
The out-of-control thunder-attribute qi and blood rampaged through his meridians. The Ice Marrow Fluid was meant to rein it in, compress it, and freeze it solid.
Li Pingsheng grunted, the veins on his forehead bulging as beads of sweat rolled down.
The meridians in his right arm felt as though something had locked them in place. His qi and blood moved in a stiff, halting rush.
This was the price of Thunderclap Explosion—the "suicide path of Black Tortoise Unity" Old Qi had warned him about.
Only after what felt like an eternity did the pain finally begin to subside.
Li Pingsheng raised his right arm. His entire limb was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and even moving his little finger took effort.
Ice Marrow Fluid could serve as a lifesaving medicine or as a poison to imprison evil power.
[Potential Points: 2]
These two potential points were his last trump card for the Grand Exam.
Just then, three knocks sounded from the courtyard gate.
It was a signal Lu Qingshan had given him.
Li Pingsheng went to open the gate, and Lu Qingshan slipped inside at once, dressed in a different set of night clothes.
"What happened?"
"Your draw... I heard someone tampered with it!"
After catching his breath, Lu Qingshan pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from his robes.
It was a draft of the matchups for the new disciples' first round of the Grand Exam.
Clear as day, the name Chen Tieshan was written beside Li Pingsheng's.
"Chen Tieshan?"
Li Pingsheng didn't know much about the name.
"A madman. A monster. He's an old disciple in the Bone Refining Realm, with far more seniority than Zhao Ming and the others."
"He trained in a body-hardening art. His skin is rough, his muscles are strong, and he has boundless stamina. His nickname is 'Whetstone.'"
"Whetstone?"
"Right. His specialty is wearing people down. Winning isn't his strong suit."
Lu Qingshan said, "He'll use his body to block every move you make. Once you run out of strength, once your arms and legs are broken, he'll slowly torture you."
"Three years ago, he wore down a True Disciple's meridians until the man became a cripple. That's why he was locked in solitary confinement for three years."
"He's here to take you on! They've picked someone who can exploit your injured meridians and depleted qi and blood, so he can grind you into minced meat in front of all the disciples!"
"The Zhao Family did this."
"Who else would it be?"
Lu Qingshan slammed his fist on the stone table. "After Chen Tieshan was released from solitary confinement, he was even granted a special exception to take part in this Grand Exam. The Zhao Family must be behind it."
He looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Pingsheng, we can't let this go."
"Let's go to the Hall Master right now and show him the evidence."
"The martial hall has rules. Rigging the draw like this is a serious violation of the exam regulations. Even if it doesn't hurt the Zhao Family in the slightest, we can still get the match canceled before it happens."
That was indeed the safest course.
But Li Pingsheng shook his head, a faint smile on his face.
"If we expose them now, they'll only become more covert."
"Ah? But..."
"Brother Lu, do you think they went to all this trouble just to cripple me—a man with injured meridians—on the arena?"
Lu Qingshan froze.
Li Pingsheng continued, "They're doing this to test where I draw the line and to force my hand."
"They want to see what my trump card really is."
"If I go to the Hall Master today and complain, they'll cancel the match. But what about tomorrow? The day after? When the Grand Exam begins, there'll be more than one person lurking in the shadows."
"Instead of waiting for them to make their move, why not..."
He tapped the three characters "Chen Tieshan" on the draft with one finger.
"...smash their 'Whetstone' to pieces in front of everyone."
He wasn't acting on impulse. He understood the situation better than anyone.
"They want to force me to reveal my thunder arts. I won't give them the satisfaction."
After seeing Lu Qingshan off, Li Pingsheng didn't stop to rest. Instead, he walked straight to the middle of the courtyard and took up the opening stance of Thunderbolt Fist.
His right arm was out of commission, and he couldn't use his thunder arts freely.
Then he'd deal with this trouble using the most primitive weapon of all: his fists.
[Martial Wisdom] talent activated!
Every move, every stance, every detail of how to exert force in Thunderbolt Fist was broken down further, then taken apart and examined.
Where would an opponent like Chen Tieshan leave an opening?
After running through the possibilities countless times in his mind, an image came to a halt.
The stronger a person's physique, the slower their qi and blood moved, but the more airtight their defenses became.
Yet between one cycle of qi and blood and the next, when they shifted from defense to offense, an opening appeared near the Tanzhong acupoint at the center of their chest, lasting less than a second.
In that instant, their defenses would reveal a gap so subtle that no one could possibly notice it.
To anyone else, that flaw didn't exist.
But to Li Pingsheng, who possessed [Martial Wisdom], it stood out plainly.
Early the next morning.
A single clang rang out, and the copper gong's sound swept away the morning mist.
The martial hall's Grand Exam officially began.
A crowd of disciples had gathered on the Martial Practice Field.
Many people sat on the raised platform.
At their head sat the Hall Master, still wearing his Bronze Mask.
The martial hall's senior figures were all present.
One seat beside the main seat was empty.
It had been left for Old Qi, the Well-Guardian.
Li Pingsheng stood among the crowd and touched the Well-Guarding Bronze Talisman tucked in his robes.
Old Qi hadn't come, but he was surely watching from somewhere.
Instructor Wu stood before the Draw Board, his shifty eyes scanning the crowd before finally settling on Li Pingsheng.
"Silence!"
A disciplinary disciple held a roster and spoke in a loud voice.
"The first round will determine opponents by drawing lots!"
The disciplinary disciples began loudly announcing the first batch of matchups, and the crowd below fell utterly silent.
"First match: newly appointed True Disciple Li Pingsheng versus—"
The disciplinary disciple deliberately drew out the pause.
"—our veteran disciple, Chen Tieshan!"
The moment Chen Tieshan's name was announced, the Martial Practice Field fell silent.
Then the whole place erupted into chaos.
"What the hell? Chen Tieshan? Wasn't that 'Whetstone' Chen Tieshan in solitary confinement?"
"My heavens, they're starting with a match this brutal? Li Pingsheng is so unlucky!"
"Unlucky? I think someone wants him dead! I heard Li Pingsheng got into a fight a while back and injured his meridians. His strength dropped badly. Now he's up against a monster like Chen Tieshan, who specializes in wearing people down. Even if he survives, he'll lose a layer of skin!"
"It's over. He's completely done for! The Azure Cloud Martial Hall finally produced a genius with superior bone structure, and now they're going to toy him to death in the first round!"
All around him, voices rose in discussion as thousands of eyes fixed on Li Pingsheng.
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