"Haha, Yang Chen, just how pathetic had you become? It was only a Coming-of-Age Ceremony assessment, yet you were so scared that you did not even dare take it? You even needed Second Master to speak up for you?" Yang Heng stood to one side, sneering. He was eagerly awaiting Yang Chen making a fool of himself later.
This time, Yang Chen did not pay Yang Heng any attention. In truth, whether it was Yang Heng or anyone else, everyone was eagerly awaiting his result at this moment.
Then let the result speak for itself.
At a time like this, results were more convincing than anything else.
He was also quite surprised that Second Master Yang had spoken up for him. He had never expected it beforehand. It left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He knew that Second Master Yang had no idea about his martial cultivation and had only done it for his own good. Warmth filled his heart, and he had already resolved to repay Second Master Yang.
After all, speaking up for him on an occasion like this required courage.
If he failed the assessment, he truly would be expelled from the family registry.
At this moment, Second Master Yang was still negotiating with Yang Jinhe in the pavilion, his eyes brimming with pleading.
"Patriarch, we cannot abandon an Alchemy Genius over this." Second Master Yang was anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof.
"Second Elder Yang, strictly speaking, an outsider like me should not be speaking here. However, I think letting Yang Chen go up and give it a try may produce a result even more unexpected than you imagine." Li Youyan smiled faintly. The Yang family had hidden Yang Chen deeply enough. Even a Second Elder did not know Yang Chen's true background.
From what he knew of Yang Chen, that boy certainly was not as the Yang family claimed—someone incapable of cultivating martial arts.
Second Master Yang was somewhat dumbfounded.
Why was Li Youyan butting in now?
Yang Jinhe had originally been somewhat inclined to agree to Second Master Yang's request, but with Li Youyan's interjection, he was even more caught between a rock and a hard place. Expressionlessly, he said, "Second Elder, do not bring this matter up again."
"But..." Second Master Yang was unwilling to accept this.
At that moment, Fourth Master Yang, standing nearby, said gently, "Second Brother, there is no need to be anxious. Let this boy go up and try."
"Fourth Brother, you..." Second Master Yang did not know what to do.
One had to know that Fourth Master Yang usually had the best relationship with him. Why was he not helping him speak up today instead?
Fourth Master Yang chuckled. "Second Brother, listen to Fourth Brother's advice. Perhaps the outcome will not disappoint you too much."
Others might not know Yang Chen's strength, but he knew it better than anyone.
Yang Chen failing the assessment would simply be the joke of the century.
He only wanted to say that Yang Chen being placed after Yang Wu was truly not very fortunate for Yang Wu.
Eighth Master Yang knew there was no point in persisting any longer. He could only sigh and say, "Fine. The younger generation's fortunes will depend entirely on themselves."
He had done all he could, but since he truly could not resolve this matter, there was no longer any point in interfering. Of course, he had already made up his mind: even if Yang Chen were expelled from the family registry, he would find a way to bring him back. He would never give up on an Alchemy Genius like Yang Chen.
Yang Jinhe waved his hand. "The assessment will continue!"
"Yang Chen, you should just give up this time. Haha, even Second Master Yang cannot protect you. What is the point of stubbornly holding on?" Yang Heng said with a mocking laugh.
Yang Chen did not even glance at Yang Heng and strode straight ahead.
The hundred-jin boulder...
Yang Chen did not spare it a single look and simply ignored it.
Then came the two-hundred-jin boulder, the three-hundred-jin boulder.
Yang Chen turned a blind eye to them and pressed onward without hesitation. Was he not doing exactly what Yang Wu had done, heading straight for the thousand-jin boulders?
This left quite a few people staring in stunned silence.
"What is Yang Chen doing?"
"Who knows? Could it be that he was pushed too far and something went wrong with his brain?"
"Yang Chen loved nothing more than grandstanding. Every time he played the clown, it seemed as though he gained a little more sense of presence. Who knew what disgraceful stunt he would pull this time?"
In everyone's eyes, when Yang Wu did it, he had the confidence to back it up. But when Yang Chen did it, it became mere posturing. A famously useless waste was actually heading all the way toward the thousand-jin boulders. If that was not putting on airs, what was?
"Haha, it seemed Yang Chen would not rest until he had muddied the waters of the Yang family's Coming-of-Age Ceremony."
"What a disgraceful thing."
"Yang Chen was still putting on an act at a time like this? He was heading for the thousand-jin boulders—could he even lift one?"
"I suspect he could not even lift a hundred jin."
"You are right. Yang Chen was not even at the Body Refining Realm First Level. How could he possibly lift a hundred-jin boulder?"
Hearing their discussions, the angriest person was undoubtedly Yang Caidie among the crowd.
Yang Caidie was famously protective of Yang Chen and could not tolerate anyone humiliating him in the slightest. If there had only been one or two bits of gossip, she might have ignored them for the time being. But these people spoke one after another, as though they had become addicted to it. She truly could not endure such personal attacks on her younger brother.
Yang Caidie clenched her delicate fists and shouted, "All of you, shut up!"
With Yang Caidie's martial cultivation, her furious shout was like a thunderclap beneath a clear sky to those nearby, deafeningly loud.
It gave quite a few people such a fright that they shuddered all over, asking in confusion, "What is going on?"
"It is Yang Caidie, the Number One Genius among the Yang family's younger women!"
"A woman was this fierce? Did she have any of the bearing of an esteemed young lady?"
"She is Yang Chen's sister, and you dared call her fierce? Were you tired of living? Did you know what happened to that Black-Fur Wolf from the Sun family?"
"This is bad. Yang Caidie was famously protective of her own. We had better stop talking about Yang Chen. With Yang Caidie's temperament, there was nothing she could not do."
The fierce feared the reckless, and the reckless feared those who did not fear death.
Yang Caidie was both reckless and fearless of death.
Who would dare provoke her?
After Yang Caidie let out that roar, everyone wilted.
No one dared point fingers at Yang Chen again. They all behaved themselves.
Yang Caidie folded her arms and swept her gaze around before parting her red lips. "Sisters, start cheering!"
At some point, more than a dozen girls from other clans had appeared beside Yang Caidie. All of them had been pulled over by Yang Caidie to cheer for Yang Chen.
There was nothing strange about that. Although Yang Caidie was fierce, she actually had quite good relationships with others. On top of that, she was exceptionally talented. As one of the Three Golden Hairpins of the Great Wilderness Hundred Clans, she naturally did not lack close friends among other young ladies.
Not only did she not lack them, but there were quite a few. With Yang Caidie's influence, a single call from her had brought over more than a dozen of them to the Yang family Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
At Yang Caidie's command, the girls began shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Go, Yang Chen!"
"Go, Yang Chen!"
Yang Caidie also shouted herself hoarse amid the crowd. "Baby, do your best! Your sister is right here!"
"..."
"Sister Caidie, what exactly is Yang Chen's martial cultivation? If us sisters cheer for ages and he cannot even lift a three-hundred-jin boulder, would that not be embarrassing?"
"Uh, I do not know what my younger brother's martial cultivation is either." Once Yang Caidie thought about it, she realized she truly did not know what level her younger brother's martial cultivation had reached.
With Yang Caidie and her sisters shouting again and again, Yang Chen naturally could not fail to hear them. Not just him—even the entire Training Field could probably hear their cheers clearly. It left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Then, he focused his eyes on the boulders beside him.
One thousand two hundred jin. He finally stopped there.
Yang Chen's target was precisely the 1,200-jin boulder.
"I will start with this 1,200-jin one." Yang Chen rubbed his fists together, ready to strike.
In truth, with his current strength, he could completely lift a 1,300-jin boulder. During this past month, his martial cultivation had already broken through into the Body Refining Realm Fifth Level. Lifting a 1,300-jin boulder would be no trouble at all. However, Body Refining Realm Fifth Level cultivation was simply too shocking.
After thinking it over from every angle, he still set his sights on this 1,200-jin boulder, planning to reveal only cultivation at the late stage of the Body Refining Realm Fourth Level.
Yet even that intention was enough to leave the onlookers utterly shocked.
"What was this boy trying to do?" Yang Family Patriarch Yang Jinhe frowned deeply.
Yang Wu had only lifted an 1,100-jin boulder, yet Yang Chen had actually set his target on 1,200 jin!
I had originally planned to post extra chapters today, but tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so I will unleash them tomorrow instead. At least five chapters. During the new-book period, I do not have enough saved drafts, so do not think it is too few. Everyone, do not miss it!
Before you continue