Xu Yang paid no attention to Zhu Yang's provocation. More than a hundred and sixty people were taking this metropolitan examination; the odds of meeting Zhu Yang were slim.
If they really did meet, he could settle things then. Trading empty barbs was pointless.
He continued looking around and spotted quite a few familiar faces. Yang Jun had actually reached great accomplishment of Qi Gathering too and had been assigned to Group A.
He saw Lin Wei in Group B, as well as the Liu Family's Fifth Miss, Liu Qian.
There were few female candidates, but still more than a dozen. Their Group C alone had three.
"C-eight, step forward!" the examiner called.
Xu Yang looked over. C-eight turned out to be Zhang Yong.
He stopped scanning the crowd and watched Zhang Yong enter with a solemn expression, choosing a thousand-jin iron weight.
"C-eight, forty lifts. D-Grade Upper."
Zhang Yong lifted the thousand-jin iron weight forty times, earning a D-Grade Upper result. His martial foundation was fairly sound; both his true qi and his body had been tempered well.
The Martial Licentiate title should be no problem, but securing a Dragon Ascension place would still require some luck.
Zhang Yong was now pale, sweat pouring down like rain, and nearly collapsed on the spot. Zhang Hong hurried forward to help him down.
"Stay within your limits. If you injure yourself and affect tomorrow's bouts, the loss will outweigh the gain."
Seeing Zhang Yong looking half-dead, Sun Tao knew at once that he had exhausted himself.
Zhang Hong's expression was grim. He had only barely reached great accomplishment of Qi Gathering five days ago. Forget Dragon Ascension-even the Martial Licentiate title was uncertain.
Zhang Yong could still give it everything he had. Zhang Hong feared he would not even have that