Registration and Farewell

Zhou Ming had nothing left to practice.

He returned the technique Huang Muheng had given him the very next day after coming back that night.

He had originally wanted to ask whether Huang Muheng could provide a Fifth Grade Organ Refinement technique, but the Huang Family guards told him their young master had entered seclusion.

Zhou Ming could only sigh to himself. What a pity.

These days, the two beauties often came looking for him. Either they asked him to guide them in martial arts, or they dragged him along to all sorts of gatherings for young prodigies.

When he attended the banquet held by the first and second-ranked figures on Qing Prefecture's Earth-Rank Martial Ranking, Lu Hao and the other two somehow caught wind of it and followed along.

By then, he had attended every banquet hosted by the top ten on the lower-rank Martial Rankings. He had seen the gifted geniuses and heavenly talents from every corner of a prefecture.

Time flew by.

Today was the official registration day for the Martial Examination.

The entire Qing Prefecture City was livelier than ever.

This was a grand event held once every ten years throughout the Yan Kingdom.

Li Mu led Zhou Ming and the others to the registration site.

Looking at the vast sea of people, Zhou Ming felt that he had underestimated just how enthusiastic Martial Artists were about the Martial Examination.

There were simply too many people.

By rough estimate, there were at least a thousand.

It can't be a tournament, can it? How long would that take to finish?

After voicing his doubts, he quickly got the answer from Li Mu and the others.

It was indeed a simple tournament.

The top ten on the Martial Ranking did not need to participate. They were directly added to the list for the Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament.

Of the thousand-plus people participating in the Martial Examination, the top ten would be selected for the Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament.

The top hundred would be recruited by the Yan Kingdom and assigned to various places as martial officials—County Guard commanders.

Those who stood out could even join the Sky Patrol.

Everyone else would be eliminated.

However, those who came to take the Martial Examination were generally outstanding talents from Martial Academies, prominent families, martial halls, counties, or towns. Even if they failed to reach the top hundred—

As long as they worked hard to improve their strength in the years ahead, the worst-case scenario was still reaching Sixth Rank.

Once they reached Sixth Rank, even without a Perfect Foundation, they could generally establish their own force in the major county cities, earn money, and raise the next generation.

That was the embryonic form of a martial hall or a prominent family.

Of course, Martial Artists like Zhou Ming, who had grown wild in the wilderness, were not unheard of.

But people like that almost always joined a Martial Academy.

After spending this time with everyone, Zhou Ming had roughly learned from them what kind of place a Martial Academy was.

Martial Academies were places where the Yan Kingdom cultivated talent. They asked for nothing and only gave.

Thus, aside from families like Huang Muheng's, which had a Second-Rank Celestial and whose descendants never needed to worry about martial resources—

Most smaller prominent families had many members but limited resources. Most of their exceptionally gifted children also joined Martial Academies.

And this created a conflict, one that sparked fierce struggles between commoners and prominent families within the Martial Academies.

In the eyes of commoners, children from prominent families already had good backgrounds, yet still came to seize their resources.

The children of prominent families, meanwhile, were divided into two factions.

The first was the Neutral Faction, which helped neither side.

Most of these people came from newly risen prominent families. They had been commoners originally, and through the efforts of several generations, had brought their entire lineage into the ranks of prominent families.

The second consisted of old aristocratic families. Before the Yan Kingdom had even been founded, such families had already been local powers.

The descendants of such families clung to an obsession: they believed martial resources were limited. If commoners wanted to practice martial arts and obtain resources, fine—trade their lives for them.

Thus, this irreconcilable conflict played out within the Martial Academies. Whenever resources were contested, casualties occurred on both sides.

The Martial Academy higher-ups simply turned a blind eye to the conflict between them.

They only did the duty assigned by the royal family: distribute resources and cultivate outstanding Martial Artists.

If someone died, then they were not outstanding enough.

As for wasted resources, that was not something they needed to consider.

Li Mu looked at Zhou Ming, who was scanning the area, and asked, "Zhou Yuxi, are you planning to fight for a place in the top ten of the Martial Examination and enter the Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament?"

After spending this time together, Li Mu knew Zhou Ming was very strong, though she did not know exactly how strong.

But even before they had met, she had heard Jiang Jiang say that he had come to participate in the Martial Examination.

Out of curiosity, she wanted to hear what the person himself had to say.

Zhou Ming smiled. "What else did I come for, to play house?"

"Wow, then I'll wait for you to make a splash!" Li Mu teased.

Zhou Ming shrugged and spread his hands. "Then you'd better be careful. Don't let me scare you."

After a long while, it was finally Zhou Ming's turn.

The people handling registration were city guards from Qing Prefecture City. One registered names, while the other verified applicants.

County Guards were generally Eighth-Rank and Ninth-Rank Martial Artists, while city guards started at Seventh Rank.

Registration was extremely simple. They did not investigate anyone's place of origin; they only recorded names and verified ages.

As for identity matters, the Sky Patrol would take over afterward.

The city guard responsible for verification said flatly, "Hold out your hands."

Zhou Ming extended both hands.

This step was for verifying age. While they had been in line, Li Mu had explained it to him.

The city guard gripped his hands and pinched upward from his fingers.

Every place the guard pinched was marked by the other man's blood qi.

What the hell? He can determine bone age just by feeling my bones?

Zhou Ming looked doubtfully at the blood qi covering his arms.

The city guard looked up at Zhou Ming in surprise, then said, "Dispel your Body-Protecting Astral Energy. Otherwise, my blood qi can't probe your bone age."

Zhou Ming's eyes lit up.

This man had some real skill.

He immediately dispersed the astral energy covering his entire body.

The city guard seemed to notice Zhou Ming's surprise and said indifferently, "Fully opened Circulatory Acupoints are indeed rare. But Qing Prefecture City happens to have one among its city guards as well."

After a long while, the city guard withdrew his blood qi. His expression turned strange as he slowly said, "Bone age: eighteen."

The city guard recording names cried out in surprise, "Cao, are you sure?"

"Mm."

Since his companion had confirmed it, the registering city guard placed the register before Zhou Ming.

"Write down your name. Come back in seven days when the Martial Examination begins."

A moment later, Zhou Ming and the others left the registration site.

Fu Shan clasped his hands behind his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who would've thought you're only eighteen? You're still a chick whose feathers haven't even grown in."

"Brother Fu, have these days been a little too comfortable for you?" Zhou Ming said blandly.

Fu Shan halted, then vanished into the crowd.

Looking at Fu Shan leaving, Lu Hao smiled. "Other than not being able to control his mouth, he's not bad in other respects. Don't take offense, Brother Zhou."

"What's there to take offense at? We're fucking brothers. But I'm eighteen, and you call me Brother Zhou—isn't that a little inappropriate?" Zhou Ming shot him a glance.

Hearing Zhou Ming's off-the-wall words, Lu Hao said helplessly, "I can't exactly take advantage of you, can I?"

"True enough. But we're fucking brothers, so stop being so polite every day. I don't care about that stuff. Friends are friends, regardless of strength or background," Zhou Ming said seriously.

These past few days, Lu Hao had become increasingly formal with him, and Zhou Ming really did not like that feeling.

Lu Hao froze, then threw an arm around Zhou Ming's shoulders. "Brother Zhou Yuxi, I understand."

Damn it.

This brother was quick on the uptake.

The group had only just returned outside the courtyard.

Zhou Ming suddenly stopped.

Lu Hao and Fang Yang walked past him and took the reins from Fu Shan's hand.

Neither side spoke.

After a long while, Zhou Ming asked, "You're not staying to watch the Martial Examination?"

Lu Hao led his horse forward and patted Zhou Ming on the shoulder. "Brother Zhou Yuxi, I'll wait for the day your name shakes the world in Hua'an County. Remember—it must shake the world."

Fang Yang patted his round belly. "Come to Hua'an County, and I'll treat you to something delicious."

Fu Shan said flatly, "Why the face like someone died? We'll fight again next time we meet, but you can't rely on brute force to smash everything."

Zhou Ming said nothing, silently watching the three of them leave.

After watching them disappear at the end of the road, Zhou Ming looked at the two beauties beside him. "Why aren't you leaving?"

"Please! My home is in Qing Prefecture City."

"None of your business!"

After saying that, the two beauties exchanged a smile and walked into the courtyard.