Chapter 53 – The Inner Disciple Entrance Test (Part One)
“Father, mother, don’t worry, I can take care of myself.” Ye Chen was holding the reins of his horse, they were on the main street of the Luo City, as he turned his head and said to Ye Tianhao and Shen Yuqing.
Shen Yuqing nodded, “If you run out of silver, send a letter back, and I will ask someone to send you some.”
“I have enough. Plus, I will receive a lot from the rewards for finishing school missions.” Ye Chen did not plan to ask his family for money at all because he felt uncomfortable to ask them .
Ye Tianhao had no choice and said with a huge smile: “Yuqing, Chen’er had grown up. He will earn his own money with his own hands, and we, as parents, should just give him some space. Chen’er, be safe, okay?”
“Yes! I will.”
Ye Chen nodded exaggeratedly, “I should get going, you guys should take care!”
Finished speaking, Ye Chen jumped up his horse as he waved goodbye, then his feet clenched the horse’s stomach and it started to gallop.
Ye Tianhao and Shen Yuqing watched him leave.
When Ye Chen almost reached the gate of the Luo City, someone rode up to him.
“Ye Chen!”
Ye Chen turned his head, it was Ye Hai. “Where’s your mentor?”
“He is waiting for me in a small temple ten miles away towards north.”
As the two spoke, they rode their horses out of the city gates, rushing past the city guards who did not dare to stop them.
The small temple was in the north-east, while the Sky Cloud Martial School was in the south-east, so the two were not heading in the same direction.
“I got a little something for you, here.” Taking out a blue crystal ball from his storage ring, Ye Hai tossed it to Ye Chen.
Catching the blue crystal ball, Ye Chen asked: “What is this?”
Ye Hai and his horse was already ten meters away, he answered without even turning his head: “I don’t know, it looks pretty nice I thought you might like it.”
“Thanks!” Ye Chen shook his head, and held the blue crystal ball closer; he started studying it carefully.
The crystal ball was about the size of an eye; it was clear with a hint of blue shine under the sun which explained why Ye Chen thought it was blue when he first saw it. Aside from that, the crystal ball was very heavy, seemingly much denser than gold. It seemed like it was not made from crystal either.
Unable to figure it out, Ye Chen decided to put it aside for now and tossed it into his storage ring.
Orienting himself towards his destination, Ye Chen lightly pulled the reins and disappeared in the dust.
Unlike the azure horse he rode before, this time he had a dark brown horse which was worth more than sixty thousand silver and was able to run two thousand miles in one day. There were no more than twenty dark brown horses within the whole Ye family.
At that moment, the dark brown horse galloped at full speed flashing through the country like lightning through the sky. The surrounding scenery passed Ye Chen in the blink of an eye.
…
Six days later, Ye Chen arrived at the bottom of the the Windy Mountain.
Ye Chen walked towards the inner disciple examination court in the middle of the mountain, after he put the dark brown horse in the stable and paid the tuition fee for the year. Today was the day of the inner disciple entrance test, if he missed it today, then he would have to wait for another week.
In front of the court, the two inner disciples who were on watch duty were standing by the door. They saw Ye Chen coming towards them from afar, the disciple on the left could not help but say: “This is like the thirteenth person today. It seems like those outer disciples gained a lot from their trip home!”
“Hm, those people from before did not even stabilize their Zhen Qi yet, they obviously did not get it from training, they probably copped out and just took a condensing reality pellet.”
“A condensing reality pellet could help warriors liquidize their Zhen Qi faster, but it has a huge side effect which drastically decreases their chances of any future breakthroughs in their cultivation.”
Walking to the door, Ye Chen said: “I am here to take the inner disciple entrance test.”
“Go ahead! I hope you pass.” The disciple said disingenuously.
Ye Chen took a step and walked into the court unperturbed.
The examination lobby was cavernous, there were nine thick stone columns inscribed with vibrant dragon and phoenix carvings on each side. In the front was a large empty area which had a single thick wooden shelf, below the shelf hung a huge bronze azure bell that was three meters high that looked extremely heavy.
If Ye Chen guessed correctly, this should be the first test of the examination to be an inner disciple.
No matter if it was the Sky Cloud Martial School or any other martial institutions, just reaching the Condensing Reality Realm was not enough to become an inner disciple, you would also have to pass a few tests. Since there was a huge difference between actually achieving Condensing Reality Realm by hard work and achieving it by taking the pellets, not to mention there was a huge difference in fighting ability as well between the two. In order to avoid accepting worthless students and to maintain a high standard for the inner disciples, martial institutions had to set all kind of tests just to make sure no one slipped through the cracks by luck.
As for the Sky Cloud Martial School, the first test to be inner disciples was located in this lobby. According to Wu Zongming, Ye Chen would have to ring the heavy bronze bell with one punch from a ten-step distance; if the bell did not make a sound, then he would be disqualified, otherwise, he could go onto the second test.
As for Zhang Haoran and Wu Zongming who had both reached the Condensing Reality Realm by themselves, they had passed the inner court disciples test without any effort.
“Are you here for the entrance tests? Come register your name here.” The staff handed over a piece of paper and a writing brush.
Ye Chen nodded, wrote down his name and information.
“Okay, now go join the queue!”
There were already thirteen people waiting there in a line, Ye Chen went and stood at the back of the line.
Finally, the examiner showed up.
The exam master who was in his fifties stood in front of everyone and scanned the room, then frowned. ‘What happened? All the disciples testing this year all have weak Zhen Qi, did they all boost up their power level by taking pellets?’
“I don’t care how high your cultivation is, if you could not ring the bell from ten steps away, then you fail. If you want to try again, you will have to wait another three months.”
Finished speaking, the exam master took the name chart and said slowly: “The examination has officially started. Lin Changchong, you’re first!”
An ordinary-looking teenager walked out from the front of the line, stopping ten steps away from the bronze bell. After taking a deep breath, he threw out a punch, blasting out a wave of strong and fast wind.
However, the bronze bell did not move an inch. The exam master said lightly: “Disqualified. Next, Fang Xiaozhong!”
Hearing the elder, the teenager named Lin Changchong looked disappointed, he stepped back to the side with his head hanging down. He looked at the second disciple in line, secretly hoping he would not pass as well.
Fang Xiaozhong asked the exam master: “Could I use martial skills?”
“Yes.” The exam master nodded.
Lin Changchong’s eyes widened, he yelled: “Unfair! Why did no one tell me that I’m allowed to use martial skills?”
The staff on the side yelled back: “Impudent! No yelling in the examination lobby. Did you not check the rules before you came here?”
Lin Changchong was a little bit shocked, he did not dare to say another word.
“With your Zhen Qi, you would not pass even if you used martial skills. Okay, Fang Xiaozhong, you can start.” The exam master was not mad at all.
Fang Xiaozhong accumulated his zhen qi, his palms turned into claws, he waved them out in the air.
“Tiger’s Might Claw!”
Shoo!
His claws exuded a green aura the size of a bucket, it scratched the bronze bell heavily.
Somehow, the bronze bell still did not move an inch.
“Unqualified. Next! Zhao Hu!”
All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the lobby had changed.
“What the hell? Why is it so hard? Even martial skills could not make it move.”
“Not good, I probably would not pass either.”
All of the disciples remaining were all scared and started looking at each other as they did not know what to do. Only Ye Chen looked extremely relaxed and could not care less.