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Chapter 55 – The Inner Disciple Entrance Test (Part Three)
All of a sudden, everyone’s eyes focused on the last contestant Ye Chen.
Ye Chen did not feel any pressure as he jumped, smoothly leaving the ground as he extended his arms like a huge bird, before landing lightly on the wooden bridge.
Just that feat alone had already shocked all the other candidates.
“Start!” The exam master nodded. Ye Chen’s excellent performance had already surpassed his expectations, and he was sure that with time, Ye Chen would definitely become one of the top inner disciples.
Looking at the other side of the bridge which was sixty-six meters away, Ye Chen felt it was too close since he could already walk in the air for about one hundred meters when he was at the peak of the Mortal Realm, and now that he had reached the Condensing Reality Realm, one hundred and fifty meters would be a piece of cake. If he could manage to train a top rank Mortal Realm martial art, reaching two hundred meters would only be a matter of time.
With only a whisper of his clothes, Ye Chen stepped out and flew. He extended his arms like a big bird taking off; his clothes floated in the air, his movements were extremely smooth and fast.
Shoo!
Within two blinks of an eye, Ye Chen had already landed on the other side of the bridge.
The exam master yelled: “Good! Pass!”
“Brother Huang, this Ye Chen’s movement art seems to be as good as yours!”
“No, if we are just comparing movement arts, I think he has already surpassed me. My only advantage is that my Zhen Qi is slightly higher.”
“Oh my, an inner disciple can access top rank Mortal Realm manuals freely. By that time, I think only ‘Wind Rider’ Brother Feng could compete with his movement art.”
“You guys are overrating him if you intend to compare him with Brother Feng.”
Seeing that the second test had finished, all the inner disciples who were watching started to passionately discuss between themselves, all with different ideas.
The exam master looked at those inner disciples with a smile, “What? Feeling pressured? Besides him, also don’t underestimate Zhang Haoran and Wu Zongming who had just become inner disciples a few months ago. Their talent and potential are extremely rare, maybe one in ten thousand disciples.”
“I know that Zhang Haoran, he beat brother Guo who was famous for his brutal attacks six months ago when he just became an inner disciple, even now, there are still a lot of people talking about him!”
“He is extremely arrogant, but still, he has what it takes.”
Soon after.
The third test had begun.
In the back of the open field, there was another space which had the look of an ancient Greek coliseum. In the middle of the court, a round hole was dug out like a round swimming pool without water; and on the wall surrounding the hole on the ground, there were eight dark passages that had large iron bars blocking them.
“The third test is to battle a demonic beast. If you could hold on for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, then you pass the test and officially become an inner disciple of the Sky Cloud Martial School.” The exam master said to the remaining four.
The disciple next to Wang Xuemei asked: “Master, I wonder what rank the beast is?”
“Rank 3!”
“Ah! Rank 3 demonic beasts!” The disciple’s face paled in a second. If the opponent was an Early Condensing Reality Realm warrior, he would not be this afraid; but a rank 3 beast was a completely different story, because when compared to a human warrior, a demonic beast’s body was naturally stronger and had a strong intimidating killing intent. With the same cultivation level, a demonic beast would be much stronger than a human warrior.
The exam master sneered: “Are you afraid?”
The disciple did not know how to respond.
“If you are afraid of a rank 3 beast, how are you going to travel the world which is filled with more dangerous things than a demonic beast? You know, in this world, the fearsome things are not the demonic beasts, nor the strong warriors, it is human desire. People with a strong evil desire are ten times, even hundred times dangerous than demonic beasts. They kill without any emotions.” The exam master meant every word of his, and was trying to teach his young apprentices a life lesson.
Wang Xuemei gave that disciple a scornful look, and said: “Master, I volunteer to be the first one!”
The exam master quite liked Wang Xuemei, he smiled: “Since you are all just new to the Condensing Reality Realm, of course we would not use the very strong rank 3 beasts. The rank 3 beasts for this test are Iron Claw Demonic Wolf, Cheetah Tail Wolf, Blood Pattern Bear and the Black Shelled Cow.”
“They are indeed not very powerful, but they are still equivalent to a normal Early Condensing Reality Realm warrior!” An inner disciple said.
“Alright, the test officially begins. Wang Xuemei, you go first.”
Wang Xuemei followed the instruction and jumped down into the hole. Her eyes focused on the dark passages being blocked with iron bars, because she could sense that sinister auras emanating forth had locked on to her.
“Ready?” The exam master walked over to the control platform, and asked.
Wang Xuemei nodded.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
After the exam master pressed a button, iron bars in front a passage slowly lifted up, inch by inch, the darkness behind the bar was revealed.
Ahwooo!
The iron bar had not completely lifted up yet, but a huge dark shadow had already jumped out with a terrifying speed and moved towards Wang Xuemei.
“Wind Shirt Sword Art!”
Wang Xuemei did not panic, she took out two short knives from her waist and held them in a cross before slicing out towards the dark shadow.
Chin!
Sparks flew everywhere. The dark shadow revealed its true identity, it was a calf-sized demonic wolf with dark hair, its red eyes had a hint of green in them. Its huge jaw filled with its horrifying teeth made an unbearable sound. At that moment, its front claw touched the knife, clashing with Wang Xuemei.
“Piss off!” Accumulating Zhen Qi onto the short knives, Wang Xuemei yelled with a low voice. Her body suddenly twisted, and her knives started to spin.
Shoo!
The demonic wolf was extremely fast, it jumped away from Wang Xuemei’s attack, then in the next second it jumped towards her again from a different angle. It was sly yet also cautious, and was full of natural murderous instinct.
Wang Xuemei seemed to have experience fighting against a rank 3 monster and seemed to know what she was doing. She was in control of the situation and did not try to take any risks. Basically, she had been using the classic strategy where she blocked all the attacks while looking for chances for her attacks hit. Her two short knives created a great defense line, protecting her body without any flaw. They kept clashing with the demonic wolf’s claws and brought up sparks.
As human and beast fought, no one was losing, and no one was really winning either. Soon, the time it took for an incense stick to burn had passed.
“Wang Xuemei, entrance test passed! Congratulations! You are now an inner disciple of the Sky Cloud Martial School.” The exam master’s right hand made a gesture in the air, and the iron claw demonic wolf was caught by an invisible hand. It was then sent back into the black passage as the iron bar was once again closed, blocking its way out.
Wiping the sweat off, Wang Xuemei was a little bit surprised. That iron claw demonic beast had been locked up for too long, which made it three times more vicious than usual, attacking every living creature it came into contact with. If it wasn’t for her having the same kind of training at home, she might not have passed the test without getting hurt.
The good thing was that she finally made it, now that she had became an official inner disciple, she could access all the Top Rank Mortal Realm manuals and she would also be able to take on school missions in the future and travel the world with other inner disciples, building her own reputation.
After her was that male disciple who had embarrassed himself before, and his opponent was the Cheetah Tail Wolf which was famous for its speed and brutal attacks.
Within ten breaths of time, he had been wounded by the demonic wolf and fell on the ground. Thankfully, at that deadly moment, the exam master saved him, but sadly that also meant that he failed his test and lost his chance to be an inner disciple for at least three months.
Next was that disciple who had used the Explode Water Spell in the second test. While his movement art was not as exquisite as the rest of the group, his combat skills were definitely on par. The Blood Pattern Bear, that was not very quick with its movement, obviously could not injure him and instead, had been hit several times. But of course, with this level of attack, the beast could not be stopped at all.
After an incense burning time, the second inner disciple was selected.
“Ye Chen, it is your turn.” The exam master was pretty confident about Ye Chen. The only thing he was wondering about was whether if Ye Chen would actually beat the beast or pass by passing the time like the two before him.
Ye Chen did not know what the exam master was thinking and just jumped down into the hole without any hesitation.