A Close Match

Five hundred jin had already reached the limit of his strength.

But he could still hold it for twenty breaths.

After twenty breaths, he set the stone weight down and panted heavily, fine beads of sweat already gathering on his forehead.

Everyone was stunned. With a result like Lin Xuan's, he was already first among the Flag Commanders, a full two hundred jin ahead of the second-place contender!

What kind of talent was this? It seemed the Flag Commander position this time was his and his alone.

Commander Zhang silently ruled Lin Xuan out. His own limit was only five hundred jin. How could he possibly be the one who had killed Xiao Chongyang?

Although Xiao Chongyang was a half-trained Breath-Connecting expert with an unstable realm, far weaker than other Breath-Connecting experts, he still had nearly six hundred jin of strength.

The Thousand-Household Commander watched from a high platform in the distance, his eyes narrowed slightly.

After seeing this, Lin Jie stopped mocking Lin Xuan. He secretly congratulated himself for not openly ridiculing him in front of everyone. Otherwise, he would have made a fool of himself in the Garrison.

Lin Xuan stepped down and sat, taking deep breaths to settle his body and prepare for the next round, the archery trial.

"Squad Leader Zhang Quan!"

He was the last person to test his strength. Lin Xuan watched him, eager to see what he could do.

This was the young martial arts prodigy from the Zhang Family that the Qin Family had mentioned. The Zhang Family had secretly trained him for a long time, and now he was finally willing to show himself.

Zhang Quan was seventeen this year. Though he wasn't as talented as Qin Sheng, he was still far beyond an ordinary person. With his family's resources poured into him, he was undoubtedly one of the strongest contenders for the Flag Commander position.

He had an unremarkable face and ordinary features, but he was tall.

Once on the platform, he headed straight for the five-hundred-and-fifty-jin stone weight.

Lin Xuan furrowed his brow. Could this man be stronger than him?

Zhang Quan summoned all his strength. Even from a distance, everyone could see the veins bulging on his neck. After a roar to steel himself, he lifted the five-hundred-and-fifty-jin stone weight.

He held it for twenty breaths, then slowly lowered it to the ground.

The entire Garrison erupted.

They had thought that Lin Xuan, who could lift five hundred jin, was already the most outstanding among all the Squad Leaders this time. They hadn't expected someone to surpass him!

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!"

"When did prodigies start appearing one after another in our Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office?"

Lin Xuan fell silent. His situation had turned precarious. His opponent had beaten him in the strength test, so he couldn't afford to fall behind in either of the next two rounds. He even needed to outperform him in one of them to hold on to the Flag Commander position.

As for whether they might add another Flag Commander position to make room for two prodigies, he didn't dare gamble on it.

The Qin Family members, who had been in high spirits earlier, were now worried about Lin Xuan's situation. The road to the Flag Commander position looked rough today.

It wasn't that Lin Xuan wasn't good enough. His opponent was simply too strong—and Zhang Quan was two years older, giving him an inherent advantage.

They could only hope Lin Xuan would perform even better in the other events.

Commander Zhang was now beaming with pride, delighted that his own descendant had distinguished himself.

Still, he had his quiet worries. Lin Xuan was only a little over fifteen, came from a poor family, and was the only boy in his household. His family had few ways to earn money, yet he had displayed strength not much lower than the prodigy the Zhang Family had devoted every effort to cultivating.

Zhang Quan's limit was also only around five hundred and fifty jin.

The second round, the archery trial, began soon after. This time, people couldn't crowd around to watch. They would be shooting arrows, and standing too close could easily lead to someone getting hurt.

The archery test was simple, even shorter than the strength test.

The rules were to shoot at a target using three kinds of bows: the Six-Force Bow, the Nine-Strength Bow, and the Twelve-Strength Bow. Each bow allowed three shots, and the score depended on how the arrows hit the target.

The military households vying to become Squad Leaders had terrible aim. Their accuracy was poor. Most could hit the target, but not the bull's-eye. Anyone who hit the bull's-eye once in three shots was considered impressive.

So there wasn't much to watch. They soon reached the Flag Commander group, where the archers were much better. Most were a little older and had been handling bows for more than a day or two.

They hit the bull's-eye about half the time. Very few missed the target entirely, which was already quite good.

Lin Jie hit the target with eight arrows and missed once.

Soon it was Lin Xuan's turn. The archery scores were rigid: even if you hit the target from beyond the designated distance, you got the same points. There were no bonus points.

The hard part was the distance. The shooting line was quite far from the target. The Six-Force Bow couldn't shoot that far in a straight line, so he had to adjust his angle and send the arrows arcing toward the target. That greatly increased the difficulty of hitting it.

Nearly all the points lost came from this.

So for this event, Lin Xuan only needed to avoid mistakes and hit the bull's-eye every time.

In his eyes, the archery trial was the easiest of all the Martial Trial events. With so many factors working in his favor, it would have been harder for him to miss the bull's-eye.

He picked up the feather-light Six-Force Bow. There had been a time when he could only draw a bow of this strength once; by the second draw, his hands would start to waver. Now, it was no different from a toy. He could draw it dozens of times with ease.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The three arrows sliced through the air in graceful arcs and struck the bull's-eye with pinpoint accuracy.

Six-Force Bow, three shots, three hits! Every arrow struck the bull's-eye.

Lin Xuan immediately picked up the Nine-Strength Bow. He had never used one before, so he drew it once to test its feel. Finding no problem, he shot three arrows.

Nine-Strength Bow, three shots, three hits. Every arrow struck the bull's-eye.

He had been using the Twelve-Strength Bow all this time, so there was no need to test its feel. Once again, every arrow hit the bull's-eye.

With his unmatched strength and archery, Lin Xuan had become an insurmountable peak in everyone's eyes.

Soon it was Zhang Quan's turn. He had watched Lin Xuan's entire archery trial and felt the pressure, but he didn't dare slack off. He performed at his usual level.

With all three bows, he hit the bull's-eye with all nine arrows. His score was identical to Lin Xuan's.

Seeing this, Qin Sheng's brows drew together. He lowered his voice and said to his father, "I feel like Brother Lin is in a bit of danger."

Qin Lie said nothing, merely giving a slight nod.

Qin Sheng was right. The archery trial hadn't opened up a gap, so Lin Xuan would have to win the actual combat round to claim the position.

And Lin Xuan had already lost the strength test. He was weaker than Zhang Quan, putting him at an inherent disadvantage in the final martial trial. Whether he could win would depend entirely on his fighting skills.

Witnessing this, the military households began discussing among themselves.

"Fascinating, fascinating—this is truly spectacular."

"It was worth coming today! Two rare prodigies are going head-to-head. I really want to see who wins in the end."