The Unexpected Incident Subsides, Patriarch's Portrait

The pebble came without warning.

Chu He's ears twitched. His face, which had been showing strain moments ago, abruptly changed. He swung the stone hammer, stirring up a gale, and struck out fiercely.

Bang!

The stone was hit by the hammer and shattered into powder.

"Which bastard is looking to die?!"

Chu He had no intention of indulging whoever it was, suddenly roaring out.

Clack—

The stone hammer hit the ground. Dragging it behind him and crushing the blue bricks along the way, Chu He glared fiercely at the group in the direction the pebble had come from.

"Who threw it? Step forward yourself."

The few of them looked at one another, at a complete loss.

Seeing their expressions, Chu He frowned. Had it not been them?

His cold gaze immediately swept across the crowd. It had happened too suddenly, and he had no idea who had maliciously thrown the pebble at him.

It was not the time to pursue the matter.

Once he got down there, he would definitely settle this score properly!

Everyone else stared at Chu He as though they had seen a ghost, their eyes round as gongs and filled with disbelief.

Since when had the stone hammer become so light?

It was one thing to lift it and hold on for five seconds, but he had actually swung it through the air! Was this guy who had appeared out of nowhere really that monstrously strong?

Chu He saw everyone's expressions as well and suddenly felt that he had overdone it. He hurriedly set the stone hammer gently back in place.

He wiped at the sweat on his forehead for show, held his waist, and said, "I'm exhausted. I almost couldn't hold on."

Everyone: "..."

He was so begging for a beating. Was this guy showing off?

"You lifted this stone hammer?"

Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded beside his ear.

Chu He turned and discovered that the woman called Aunt Lan had appeared beside the stone hammer. She looked at him with some interest. "It seems there was a little accident, but... you needn't concern yourself with what happens next."

The woman in blue said something inexplicable.

"So I passed the test?"

Aunt Lan raised a hand and pointed toward the main hall behind them.

"Of course. Go in." Aunt Lan smiled. "Barring any surprises, you should be able to secure a spot."

A strange light flashed through Chu He's eyes. Catching the meaning behind her words, he chuckled. "That depends on there being no surprises..."

Aunt Lan smiled without speaking, her eyes full of hidden meaning.

It seemed the Armor Forging Hall was not absolutely fair and righteous either!

With a flick of his sleeve, Chu He turned and left.

The moment the others saw Chu He leave the testing area, they swarmed forward, scrambling to climb onto the stone platform and grab the stone hammer.

One man moved quickly. He seized the stone hammer and exerted every ounce of strength he had, but the hammer did not budge in the slightest, remaining where it was.

His face flushed red from the strain, but it was still useless.

Suddenly, the man realized a fact.

It was not that the hammer had become lighter.

The man from before was simply a monster!

On a rooftop some distance outside the Armor Forging Hall, an elderly man in black fitted clothes wore a gloomy look in his eyes, his expression slightly darkened.

Crack!

The pebble in his palm was crushed into powder.

Turning his head, he saw an old man squatting on another rooftop, smoking a long-stemmed pipe. The breeze drifted past, pulling the tobacco strands from his pipe into a straight line.

"Zheng Keshi, you broke the rules."

The old man took a puff from his pipe and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Du Bin, your Master Li gave me his word..."

"Bullshit. Since when could that old fellow represent our Armor Forging Hall?" Du Bin turned his head and sneered. "We can ignore you if you pull tricks outside, but if you want to interfere with our assessment... for the sake of our acquaintance, leave behind one finger."

"I have truly experienced the Armor Forging Hall's tyranny today."

Anger appeared on Zheng Keshi's face, his eyes unwilling. "But if you want my finger, you may have to come take it yourself!"

"Hehe, I've long wanted to witness Tower Lord Zheng's fine skills!"

Du Bin gave a strange laugh. Smoke billowed from his pipe, and in the blink of an eye, this entire area was shrouded in thick gray mist.

On the other side, Chu He entered the main hall.

He had only taken his first step inside and had not even had time to examine his surroundings when a massive portrait above the hall caught his eye.

A scholarly man in green robes, his sleeves fluttering as though he were an immortal or a god.

Could this be the Armor Forging Hall's founding patriarch?

The instant the thought arose, the surroundings seemed to sink into darkness. As Chu He stood bewildered, he saw firelight—raging, blazing flames.

As his vision drew closer, Chu He found himself inside a stone chamber.

A bare-chested man stood with his back to him. Crimson bloodflames burned from the five fingers of his left hand, and within those flames, a peculiar stone was being scorched.

Bang! Bang! Bang—

His right hand swung a massive hammer, striking the stone again and again, allowing it to thoroughly merge with the flames until it gradually began to change shape.

Every time he swung the hammer, the muscles on the man's back would suddenly tense in the next instant. Those distinct, sharply lined muscles seemed, in that moment, to gather into the eyes of a demon, radiating a terrifying aura.

Gradually, the stone's sharp edges were hammered smooth. The vivid scarlet within the flames dyed its surface with a blood-red hue.

Watching from the side, Chu He gradually sensed that something was wrong.

Huff...

The flames suddenly went out, and the stone finally took shape.

The man abruptly turned around, his features twisting into an indistinct blur. The hammer in his right hand vanished, while the stone in his left transformed into the shape of a heart.

Chu He now completely understood the situation.

This had to be the sudden third round of testing.

But was it necessary to make such a grand spectacle over a test?

Then was this round a fight, or...

As the man slowly approached, every muscle in Chu He's body tensed like a drawn bow ready to fire. He stared warily at the man before him.

However...

The battle he had imagined did not happen.

The man stopped three meters from Chu He and sat cross-legged on the ground. He raised the red heart-shaped stone in his left hand and held it out before Chu He.

Chu He hesitated and was just about to reach out to take it.

The next moment, the man's figure rose infinitely high. A vast, overwhelming pressure bore down upon Chu He, as though he were facing a true god.

His aura was as mysterious as divinity itself, impossible to look upon directly.

Then, a majestic voice that seemed to have refracted from ancient times and pierced through the river of ages slowly rang beside Chu He's ear.

"Tell me, what is martial arts?"

Chu He's ears rang deafeningly, and his eardrums stung.

So this was the third trial's question?

Realizing it was not a martial contest but a written test, Chu He thought seriously for a while before slowly answering, "Martial arts are a manifestation of strength, one of the laws of the Great Dao between heaven and earth. Those who cultivate martial arts have blood and qi like thunder, fierce as tigers..."

The man slowly shook his head, rejecting Chu He's answer.

He continued mechanically, "What is martial arts?"

"Martial arts are cultivating techniques and strengthening one's body."

The man shook his head again in rejection.

"What is martial arts?"

"Martial arts are what make people stronger, allowing them to possess more things—wealth, freedom, power..."

"What is martial arts?"

"It is love. It is responsibility..."

The sun rose and set.

This question-and-answer exchange continued for an entire day and night.

Whether Chu He answered from economics, philosophy, or his own personal insights, every answer received the same rejection from the man before him.

His mouth was dry, and his spirit had been worn down immensely.

The man before him, as awe-inspiring as heavenly might, repeated that tiresome question once more. "What is martial arts?"

Chu He's rare patience was finally ground away. He had endured answering so many questions, but when the man asked once again, veins bulged on his forehead as all the anger and impatience he had been suppressing surged to his heart.

"What is martial arts? I'll tell you what it is right now!"

Chu He abruptly rose to his feet and fiercely kicked at the other man.

"This is martial arts!"