17 Chapter 17: Three Tests (Request for Recommendation Votes, Request for Monthly Votes)
Translator: 549690339
[Martial Arts]: Breaking Wind Saber Technique Perfection, (Third-rate martial art, cannot be improved), Mix Origin Technique Small Achievement (54%)
In the inn room, Lu Yun, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils shone with a deep and incomparable light, completely unlike a young boy who was not even eleven years old.
“Today is the day of the examination.” Lu Yun was slightly excited in his heart.
He had been in this world for almost half a year, always staying in the mountain village and mostly coming into contact with ordinary people and low-level martial artists.
Now, as long as he passes the examination, he will be able to fully enter the world of martial artists and have the opportunity to advance to higher martial arts realms.
In order to achieve this goal, he will give it his all, and no one will be able to stop him.
“With the help of half a month of hard training and accumulated energy points, I’ve improved my Mix Origin Technique training progress to small achievement (54%), which is one step closer to great accomplishment.” Lu Yun’s mind slightly moved, and his powerful blood and Qi surged, giving him incredible strength in every move he made.
If he were to encounter the horse bandits from last time again, Lu Yun was confident that he could defeat them with just two strikes.
His confidence mainly came from the Mix Origin Technique, a top-notch second-rate cultivation technique.
With just a small achievement, Lu Yun felt that he was in the middle stages of the Enter Martial Realm and feared no one.
After washing up and putting on the new clothes prepared for him by his sister, Lu Yun pushed the door and went out.
A fine saddle matched with a fine horse, and black clothes matched with a young man. Dressed in black, Lu Yun had just stepped out of the door when Lu Liangpeng, who had been waiting outside for a long time, greeted him.
“Lu Yun, you finally came out. The village head and the others have been waiting impatiently. We must hurry up and set off.”
Lu Yun apologized with a smile, “Sorry for making you wait so long!”
Upon arriving at the first floor of the inn, Lu Yun saw Lu Cangsheng, Lu Cang and Lu Tianhu. They didn’t seem as impatient as Lu Liangpeng had described.
“We still have some time, let’s eat something to fill our stomachs first.” Lu Cang beckoned Lu Yun to sit down, and on the table were three bowls of Sturdy Body Soup.
There were five people, but only three bowls of Sturdy Body Soup, which were obviously prepared exclusively for Lu Yun, Lu Liangpeng, and Lu Tianhu.
The three young men didn’t hesitate or act politely, and under Lu Cangsheng’s gaze, they quickly finished the soup.
“Today, I wish you all victories and have your wishes fulfilled!” After Lu Cangsheng’s inspiring words, the group left the inn together.
On the street, there were many young people and martial artists, making it very lively. They all went towards the central square of the county town, where the Martial Academy examination would take place.
During their journey, Lu Yun learned some news from Lu Cangsheng.
First, during their secluded hard training, Cloud Water County had been disturbed by the activities of an evil cult. The arresting officers of the county were repeatedly dispatched, and even the city guards were involved, but they had not achieved any results.
Lu Yun was slightly surprised, as he had heard some information about the evil cults, but he knew little about them.
From what he knew, there were many evil cults in the Morign Empire, with the most powerful one being the Red Moon Demon Sect. However, its influence had not reached the Spirit Martial Prefecture.
After getting more information from Lu Cangsheng, Lu Yun found out that the rampant evil cult in Ling Province was the White Lotus Sect, one of the powerful evil cults in the Morign Empire.
Spirit Martial Prefecture was one of the subordinate prefectures of Ling Province, and for years, the White Lotus Sect had been quite active, infiltrating various factions, and causing a lot of trouble for the provincial and county officials.
Secondly, there were many talented individuals participating in the Martial Academy examination, including a large number of official martial artists and even Heavenly Prides in the Meridian Passage Realm, making the competition unprecedentedly fierce.
“Meridian Passage Realm?” Lu Yun’s eyes flickered.
There were restrictions to participate in the Martial Academy examination. The first restriction was that the age should not exceed fifteen years old.
In other words, the martial artist in the Meridian Passage Realm couldn’t be much older than Lu Yun and wouldn’t be more than fifteen years old.
Even if they were exactly fifteen years old, the thought of a fifteen-year-old Meridian Passage Realm martial artist was terrifying.
In Spirit Creek Village, besides Lu Cangsheng, there was no other Meridian Passage Realm martial artist.
From this, one could see that the Meridian Passage Realm was a threshold. In some small places, it represented the most powerful existence.
“I’ve also heard about that Heavenly Pride in the Meridian Passage Realm. His name seems to be Xiao Chen, a swordsmanship genius with a terrifying talent for defeating higher-level opponents. When he was in the Enter Martial Realm, he had killed more than a handful of Meridian Passage Realm experts.” Lu Cang said in a deep voice.
“Defeating higher-level Meridian Passage Realm experts?” Lu Liangpeng gasped, “It’s unbelievable that such a Heavenly Pride has appeared in our Cloud Water County.”
Lu Tianhu remained silent, but Lu Cang noticed and comforted him, “Don’t be discouraged. You are now very close to becoming an official martial artist, and there is a great chance of passing the examination.”
“Thank you for your kind words, elder brother Lu Cang!” Lu Tianhu managed to squeeze out an ugly smile.
“Do I really have a chance?” Lu Tianhu sighed secretly in his heart, glancing at the black-clothed youth walking in front of him.
“He’s so much younger than I am, yet he’s already a martial artist. Is this the difference in talent?”
He shook his head slightly, carrying a belly full of thoughts as he continued to move forward.
Lu Yun didn’t know what Lu Tianhu was thinking, nor did he want to know. All he wanted now was to see what kind of incredible person the only Meridian Passage Realm martial artist with the extraordinary genius of fighting against higher-level swordsmanship was.
“Although I am only in the middle stage of Enter Martial Realm now, as long as I have time, reaching the Meridian Passage Realm is definitely not a problem.
But can I, at the time of entering the Martial Realm, challenge and defeat a Meridian Passage Realm martial artist by fighting above my level?”
Lu Yun thought to himself, but soon shook his head.
He still had enough self-awareness about his own strength; the possibility of challenging and killing a Meridian Passage Realm martial artist as soon as he entered the Martial Realm was slim.
Unless after entering the Martial Academy, he gains other opportunities, such as cultivating more powerful martial arts.
Today, in the county town, the streets were deserted as large numbers of people were heading to the central square to watch the Martial Academy’s recruitment test, making the streets quickly become quiet.
Soon, Lu Yun and his group arrived at the central square.
Lu Yun cast his gaze across the square, noticing the grand and spacious atmosphere, covering an area almost the size of ten football fields, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people.
The young men and women on the square stood tall and proud, full of youthful vigor.
Outside the square, there were numerous black-armored city guards and arresting officers, armed with weapons and heavy crossbows, keeping the other martial artists and spectators outside.
In order to maintain order, the city guards and arresting officers were also arranged around the central square to maintain the order of the assessment.
“Those participating in the assessment, line up in order and enter the square. Others unrelated to the assessment, wait outside.” As Lu Yun and his group approached, a city guard shouted.
Lu Cangsheng stopped in his tracks, speaking earnestly, “Xiao Cang and I will see you off here, the rest is up to you.”
At parting, Lu Cang also clenched his fist and encouraged, “Fight hard, and bring glory to our Spirit Creek Village!”
“We will definitely try our best to perform, and not disappoint Village Chief and Eldest Brother Lu Cang!” Lu Liangpeng laughed, also encouraging himself.
With thousands of people participating in the assessment, it was impossible for him to say there was no pressure.
Among the three of them, Lu Yun was the only one with absolute confidence.
“Those who are participating in the assessment, come over and stand properly. No waiting for latecomers!” A loud voice rang out, drowning out all the surrounding noise and clearly entering everyone’s ears.
The young men and women hurriedly gathered together, and Lu Yun, Lu Tianhu, and Lu Liangpeng joined them, standing in the back of the line.
As time passed, the line grew larger and larger, quickly surpassing a thousand people.
“The several people at the front should be the geniuses who are staying at the Soaring Dragon Restaurant. Even the gathering is led by them. It seems that these people are well-known and highly regarded by the county.” Lu Yun narrowed his eyes.
In the entire line, sixteen figures stood proudly, maintaining a certain distance from the others, including Mu Qingyun, who had fought with Lu Yun and the others before.
At this moment, the gazes of a large number of martial artists and spectators outside the field were focused on these sixteen young people with extraordinary features.
Lu Yun was not surprised, looking at these sixteen Heavenly Prides, trying to find the extraordinary genius in swordsmanship who could fight above his level.
After watching for a while, he found nothing and helplessly withdrew his gaze.
This was normal, as any of the sixteen young people had higher cultivation than Lu Yun and outstanding temperament. Without deliberately releasing their aura, it was impossible to tell who was the strongest among them.
At that moment, the square suddenly became noisy, and Lu Yun followed the crowd’s gaze to see four figures walking in together from the entrance.
“These people must be far superior to the Meridian Passage Realm!” Lu Yun thought to himself.
He had experienced the explosion of Lu Cangsheng’s Meridian Passage Realm at close range, but from these four people, he felt an overwhelming aura that far surpassed the one he had experienced with Lu Cangsheng.
And this was only a hint of the aura they casually released without making a move.
“It’s the County Magistrate, the County Warden, and the two genius disciples of the Martial Academy!” the onlooking martial artists exclaimed.
The County Magistrate and the County Warden were the most powerful and influential figures in Cloud Water County, and their strength was also at the peak of the True Qi Realm.
And the two geniuses from the Martial Academy would certainly not be weaker than the True Qi Realm.
With four True Qi Realm powerhouses gathered, such a scene was rare in a place like Cloud Water County.
Under the excited gazes of the crowd, the four True Qi Realm powerhouses came to the stage in the square and sat down, looking down at the people in the square.
At the head of the group was Lin Chen, a genius disciple of the Martial Academy. With one sweep of his gaze, the lively atmosphere at the scene instantly froze.
“This assessment is divided into three items. The first item is bone age and identity verification.” Lin Chen’s voice, mixed with genuine Qi, spread out and resounded through the entire square.