Formal Disciple Assessment

As usual, one evening after finishing a day's chores, Shen Xiu hurried to the martial arts school's back kitchen, intending to bring a clay jar of medicinal dregs back for his Nine Transformations Golden Cicada.

Yet unexpectedly, he came up empty-handed.

"The medicinal dregs are gone again?" Looking at the empty clay jars in the room, Shen Xiu was both surprised and puzzled.

This was already the third time he had come up empty.

Something unprecedented.

After all, these dregs left over from refining medicine were mostly useless. Their only purpose was to be hauled to the herbal gardens outside the city and used as fertilizer.

They had always been cleared away on a regular schedule. Why did they seem to be taken away early these past two days?

"Hau... hauled away..."

In the back kitchen, only a dark-skinned youth was cleaning. Seeing Shen Xiu ask, he answered somewhat unclearly, then turned around and continued sweeping the floor.

Shen Xiu did not think much of failing to get the medicinal dregs. The Nine Transformations Golden Cicada was an immortal, indestructible existence; going hungry for ten days or so was no great matter.

If there were none this time, he could make up for it later.

Thinking this, Shen Xiu turned to leave. Halfway there, he suddenly recalled the dark-skinned youth's strange behavior, as well as how the corner of his mouth seemed somewhat blackened. His steps could not help but halt.

He thought of a possibility.

"No way..."

His predecessor had already sacrificed himself to the Dao by eating medicinal dregs once. Was someone else trying it too?

But after thinking it over, he felt something was off. The medicinal dregs from so many disciples in a single day should amount to four or five barrels in a cart.

How could one person possibly eat all that?

No matter how Shen Xiu thought about it, he could not figure out where all those perfectly good medicinal dregs had gone.

Only afterward did Shen Xiu discover that it was not just one person eating the medicinal dregs—many people were eating them.

He was instantly dumbfounded.

Then he discovered that even Wang Si, who had previously tried to dissuade him, was eating those medicinal dregs that still contained residual poison.

"Wang Si, are you eating those medicinal dregs? I'm telling you, don't eat them. Have you forgotten how I fainted almost a year ago?"

Inside the dormitory, Shen Xiu looked at Wang Si as he spoke.

He suddenly felt that his words sounded familiar, as though he had heard something similar before.

"Then what do you do in the dormitory every morning?"

Shen Xiu fell silent. After discussing it for a while, he learned that a rumor had appeared from nowhere recently, claiming that his rapid progress in practicing the Dragon Subduing Tiger Taming Art was because he had secretly eaten medicinal dregs.

At first, no one believed the rumor. But then some fellow, who knew where his extraordinary talent came from, ate medicinal dregs for several days and suddenly broke through.

Then everyone began attributing it to the medicinal dregs. Shen Xiu was utterly speechless. He had the Nine Transformations Golden Cicada—did they? Were they not afraid of eating themselves to death?

But when people were determined to seek death, Shen Xiu could not stop them no matter how hard he tried.

He could only persuade Wang Si to stop. As for whether Wang Si would continue sneaking medicinal dregs afterward, Shen Xiu did not know. Still, there was only one month until the assessment. Even if they all ate them, there should not be much harm.

Unlike his predecessor, who had eaten them for months on end.

As the assessment drew near, the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School issued an announcement: this time, only five Labor Disciples would be recruited. In other words, only the top five who met the requirements would have a chance.

The news, half as many slots as in previous years, instantly set the Labor Disciples boiling. Including the older generation of Labor Disciples, there were fifty or sixty people in total at the school.

Selecting only five from among them drastically reduced everyone's chances.

Once this news was announced, it stirred up a towering wave among the Labor Disciples. Without anyone noticing, the atmosphere among them grew tense, and the competition gradually became intense once more.

Several more training maniacs appeared, practicing day and night. There were also plenty who emptied their savings in the Canteen to drink several jars of Monster Beast Tonic Soup.

Because if they missed this chance, the next one would be half a year later.

In any case, everyone was racking their brains to improve their strength.

Shen Xiu, however, remained calm and unhurried. No matter how much they improved, they could not improve as quickly as he did. Over this period, he had also observed the other Labor Disciples; there were probably not many whose strength was comparable to his.

As for the advancement slots for Registered Disciples, those were calculated separately.

The Golden Crow rose, and sunlight blanketed the earth.

Dressed in a short robe, Shen Xiu stood in the courtyard, practicing the Dragon Subduing Tiger Taming Art move by move.

Beads of sweat as large as soybeans rolled down his body like droplets of oil.

More than two months had now passed. The muscles on his body had grown more defined, he had gained several inches in height, and his figure had become more slender and upright.

After completing a round of the art, Shen Xiu slowly exhaled a breath of white air and opened the panel of light.

[Host: Shen Xiu]

[Cultivation: First Realm Body Tempering]

[Talent: Heaven Rewards Diligence]

[Arts: ▼]

[Dragon Subduing Tiger Taming Art: Third Level, Slight Accomplishment 12.8%]

[Clone: Nine Transformations Golden Cicada (First Transformation, Satiety 15.3%)]

Shen Xiu had once again cultivated the Dragon Subduing Tiger Taming Art to the Third Realm. He wielded it with even greater ease, and there would be even less chance of surprise in the Formal Disciple assessment a few days later.

August 19th, Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School disciple assessment.

As the time arrived, Shen Xiu and Wang Si followed the other disciples to the center of the training ground, where an arena had been erected.

At the center of the arena stood an enormous jet-black stone pillar. No one could tell what it was, and it looked rather strange.

The Labor Disciples and Registered Disciples participating in the Formal Disciple assessment packed the area around the arena so tightly that not even water could seep through.

Only because Shen Xiu was strong enough did he manage to squeeze into the front rows.

From the well-informed Registered Disciples, he learned that the thing on the arena was called a Resonance Stone, and that the assessment rules for Formal Disciples differed from previous years.

There would no longer be matches, with contestants advancing step by step until superiority was decided.

Instead, they would directly test physical strength.

The specific reason, he heard, was that Xiang Shou, their Deputy Pavilion Master, had grown tired of watching these Labor Disciples and Registered Disciples engage in rookies pecking at each other.

So he had directly brought out the Resonance Stone Pillar obtained from Shanglin City, the prefectural capital.

This Resonance Stone was said to sense the strength of an attacker's blow and emit sound accordingly. The louder the sound and the more times it rang, the greater the attacker's force.

Viewed this way, the tester only needed to deliver one full-force strike, and their strength would be revealed.

As time passed, a restless agitation gradually spread through the crowd. After all, everyone who had come to participate was likely a competitor.

The Registered Disciples' side was not too bad. Shen Xiu gave the Labor Disciples a rough look and felt that most of them had joined in; many refused to yield to one another.

But that restlessness vanished into thin air when the school's five instructors and Deputy Pavilion Master Xiang Shou finally appeared.

Broad and powerfully built, he strode with the gait of a dragon and tiger. An indescribably powerful aura surrounded him as he walked, and as he passed through the disciples, they seemed to hear faint, deep thunder.

Bones carrying the thunderous roar of tigers and leopards—this was the unmistakable mark of the Third Realm Bone Marrow Cleansing.

With Pavilion Master Yang Jinhong in seclusion, attempting to break through to the Fourth Realm Return to Hiding and having entrusted numerous matters to Xiang Shou, the Deputy Pavilion Master, Xiang Shou was now the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School's ace combatant.