After the loud sound, the entire room shook. A bit of a white mark appeared on the side of the wall that had been smashed. Although this white mark quickly disappeared, the spectators outside keenly discovered it.
“He can strike a white mark on the Wall of Punishment? This explosive strength should be over a hundred thousand kilograms!”
“The Wall of Punishment’s restorative ability is extremely powerful. Although that white mark existed for only an instant, it can also be seen that this person’s qi energy is sustained, his follow-up power is rather sufficient, and his power control is very strong.”
“He seems young and his realm isn’t high. However, his strength is unrivaled in equivalent realms!”
“I don’t know which mountaintop and power nurtured this genius. I can go around and make some discreet inquiries.”
When such discussions entered Gu Zuo’s ears, he realized that quite a few people had unknowingly come over to stand right outside Gongyi Tianheng’s testing room. They commented as they watched. They all seemed to admire Tianheng. This should be beneficial... Right?
On the contrary, that casual young man from before had sunk into the crowd. He didn’t seem to have much presence.
When all was said and done, it was just strangers coming together by chance. Gu Zuo didn’t go to look for that young man, and just watched his dear big brother in the testing room as he continued his grandiose show of might.
In the wake of Tianheng’s strikes and heavy punches, the rays of light that tested speed faded away. Each of his punches carried incomparable strength. When they landed on the wall, a distinct white mark would appear. When his punching speed got faster and faster, the white marks blanketed the face of that wall, almost forming a sheet of white light. And amid this white light, although the fervent-eyed Tianheng carried a faint smiling expression, that kind of attitude was greatly different from the past.
His imposing aura was like a demon god.
Previously, when Gu Zuo bantered with Tianheng, his big brother would deal with many business matters and scheme countless situations. However, he’d practically never seen this kind of spectacle where Tianheng unleashed frightening attacks with uninhibited, valiant martial strength. Gu Zuo didn’t know why, but after seeing this side of him, Gu Zuo actually felt that his dear big brother had another sort of handsomeness — A so-called winner in life should basically be a master of the pen and the sword!
En. Pure menfolk! Aggressive and bold!
That kind of unadulterated power would leave onlookers enraptured!
After Gu Zuo watched for a while, he snapped out of it and pinched his arm.
He had broken through to Xiantian stage four. It really wasn’t known how many times stronger this body was compared to that frail, ordinary body of his in the beginning. His originally weak-chicken figure was no longer so brittle that it would break with a poke. His bones, which weren’t particularly thick, had long been covered with a thin layer of muscle...
But as a pharmacist, when talking only about the physical body, he was still a squishy. When mentioning strength... It was better not to talk about it. There was nothing but tears.
Seeing his big brother like this, he really was unreasonably jealous.
Off to the side, Tianheng had already struck thousands of times in a row. Just like before, he’d altered his footwork tens of thousands of times. Both his strength and speed were being tested.
Then, he suddenly stopped, and stood calmly in the middle of the testing room.
At this moment, the gazes of many martial artists couldn’t help facing another wall to look at the words on it:
Body Technique: A+
Power: A+
Overall Evaluation: A+
— In other words, judging from his current realm, his speed and strength had both achieved the highest degrees!
What the testing rooms tested wasn’t just how fast or strong he was. Rather, based on these two items, it judged his aptitude and potential.
At the same time, the ones this place tested were all Inner Sect disciples — That’s to say, the lowest standard among them was much stronger than ordinary martial artists, and some Outer Sect disciples or non-Qingyun Sect disciples — When their strengths reached this place, it simply wasn’t possible to compute their achievements.
Returning to the main topic.
Generally speaking, people were divided into four big grades in the testing rooms. They were A, B, C, and D. And each of the big grades were further divided into three levels, which were plus, neutral, and minus. Altogether, there were twelve grades.
D Grades were ordinary talents, C Grades were superb talents, B Grades were exceptional talents, and A Grades were monstrous talents!
Furthermore, this division was completely different from outside gossips who would say that such-and-such was a super genius. Rather, after passing through the testing, there was a precise division!
In the Sect, monstrous talents who could reach the A Grade were very rare. And those who reached A Grade and could still become A+ were negligible! Even through the ages, all the monstrous talents that the Qingyun Sect had gathered over countless years could be all counted on one’s fingers!
Regardless of which generation, such geniuses were the core of the core. So long as they didn’t die prematurely, they all became the Sect’s top-notch powers or were sheltered by the Sect’s almighty personage. In addition, such monstrous talents were usually accompanied by tremendous luck. Aside from a small number, the rest could all turn peril into safety and survived without a hitch.
Thus, when these words appeared on the stone wall, the packed venue became silent. Just then, any discussions or admirations had turned to nothingness.
The lines of sight of these people had all fallen onto those huge words.
In response, Gu Zuo again looked at the others’ reactions and suddenly felt a bit discouraged.
What did it mean for those words to appear on the wall? Wasn’t this place supposed to test speed and strength? That evaluation... Why did it seem to have attracted some problems?
At this moment, Gongyi Tianheng walked out in large strides. He reached out a hand and patted Gu Zuo’s shoulder.
Yet, there were a total of five or six people here whose expressions changed a little. Following which, one of them suddenly entered the testing room. When the light rays were emitted, the writing on the wall also vanished.
Outside.
Gu Zuo asked, puzzled: “Big brother, the words on that wall make me feel a bit uneasy.”
Tianheng smiled and said: “That’s the place to test a disciple’s aptitude and potential. Everything shown on the wall is the result of my testing.”
Gu Zuo’s heart tensed: “What grade is A+?”
Tianheng’s smile became somewhat meaningful: “The best grade.”
Gu Zuo didn’t fully understand: “Big brother already knew earlier what the wall would reveal?”
Tianheng said with mirth: “This is general knowledge, so naturally I’m aware of it.”
Gu Zuo was even more confused: “Then...” He hesitated a bit, “Didn’t big brother say that he didn’t want to become a formal apprentice? Wouldn’t the unveiling of the best aptitudes cause a person to be discovered?”
Tianheng saw him with this worried appearance and his gaze warmed. He lifted a hand and covered the top of Gu Zuo’s head, giving him a few ruffles. He said: “Ah Zuo doesn’t need to worry. On the contrary, because it’s like this, nothing will happen.”
Following that, as the two walked onwards, Tianheng told Gu Zuo all about the grades of talents.
Gu Zuo didn’t feel odd about the matter of his dear big brother being a monstrous talent — The Tiandu Body: Even the heavens envied it and wanted him to die young. How couldn’t his big brother reach the insignificant rank of monstrous?
Soon after, Tianheng continued to explain to Gu Zuo: “As far as I know, it’s normally very difficult to witness a monstrous talent at the A Grade or above in the testing rooms. Because many of those with aptitudes reaching such a degree are still young, they’ll be received by veteran Elders with significant authority and strength and even Grand Elders supporting a bloodline, and become true Apprentices. Only in this way can it be ensured that such monstrous talents develop strong emotional ties to their bloodlines. Before reaching the high Immortal Realm, they’ll be willing to dedicate their power to the bloodline, and after becoming a high Immortal Realm, they’ll be willing to shelter that bloodline.
He continued: “And if such aptitudes were discovered as one reached twenty years of age, although many bloodlines would want to rope them in, they would compromise with each other. On the contrary, every one of the bloodlines will lay down their flags and still the drums. At most, it’s the Sect Master’s bloodline or someone whom I have contact with who’ll determine my tendencies.”
Gu Zuo understood a little bit: “In other words, they all think that big brother can be roped in, but they also think that it won’t necessarily be possible to nurture you after roping you in. As a result, once everyone wrangles over this, no one will rope you in to avoid breaking the balance of the younger generation... And because the Sect Master’s bloodline needs to supervise the Sect, they can’t completely ignore big brother. After interacting with big brother, they’ll determine that big brother poses no threat to the Sect, right?”
Tianheng smiled and nodded: “Ah Zuo is smart.”
Gu Zuo understood: “It’s safe when everyone knows. If only one or two of the bloodlines know, then it wouldn’t be good for big brother to refuse, right?”
Tianheng nodded his head again.
The more Gu Zuo spoke, the more he felt that this was probably the case: “So during this time’s testing, big brother used his full strength in front of everybody, right?”
Tianheng smiled and said: “Correct. My strength is increasing by the day. It’s impossible to constrain myself for the long-term. Otherwise, if I lose my cutting edge, even if I want to reveal some skills in the future, I’m afraid that I’ll have lost my touch. For a person who practices martial arts, no matter how effective their stratagems are, it can’t compare to one’s true martial strength in the end.”
And if he didn’t constrain himself in the future, it’d be impossible to hide his level — At the least, a large part would be exposed. Rather than being discovered that he could suppress equivalent realms on his own, it was better to expose his aptitudes now so that everyone understood that there was a reason why he was strong.”
Gu Zuo finally figured it out.
Since this was a decision his big brother made himself, he also didn’t object. Concerning matters of this aspect, his big brother had the final say. This wasn’t the same as refining pills. On that side of things, he had the final say.
Following which, Tianheng and Gu Zuo arrived at the puppet gates.
This place was unlike the previous two. The gravity rooms tempered the physical body and the testing rooms could allow one to know their potential as well as train their strength and footwork. As such, what the puppet gates tested was actual combat.
Here was the place where martial artists could best express themselves and show off!
There were even more people in the puppet gates.
Just learned a martial skill? Come to the puppet gates!
Want to verify your martial skills? Come to the puppet gates!
Feeling that your physical body is very powerful? Come to the puppet gates!
Haven’t got enough fighting experience? Come to the puppet gates!
In any case, people could ascertain their own limits and gain deeper self-awareness by fighting against the puppets — Nothing told more about oneself than fighting.
Only, what one faced here was just puppets. As it wasn’t real people, it naturally had its pros and cons.
On the benefits side, the puppets had no emotions. So long as one felt that they couldn’t beat the puppet, they could admit defeat. And once they admitted defeat, the puppet would promptly stop. Fundamentally, there were no emotional reactions, so there also weren’t any selfish motives like being unable to hold back because it was “too late”.
On the detriments side, no matter how life-like the puppets were, they weren’t real people. No matter how exquisite the martial discipline they performed, it would never be as agile and unconstrained as a living person who genuinely and profoundly grasped this martial discipline. Moreover, because one could shout for the puppet to stop at any time, it couldn’t bring about the stress of a life and death crisis.
Indeed, it could let one familiarize themselves with martial arts and increase one’s battle experience, but it was still somewhat inferior to honing oneself in life and death battles outside. If not, then the Sect’s disciples would only need to stay in the Sect all day long. Why would they still need to leave the Sect to go adventuring?
Of course, the puppets were manufactured with the utmost care. A martial discipline could be subdivided into low, mid, high, and perfect... A living person would perhaps be able to grasp perfection, but puppets would only be able to grasp a high discipline at most. However, while this world had many martial artists, not everyone could grasp their martial disciplines and reach a perfect state! Thus, a high discipline puppet was useful enough.
Only those talented geniuses would feel that those puppets were completely inadequate.
After listening to Tianheng gradually explain these matters, the two stood in front of the puppet gates.
Ahead were fifty narrow and small passages, where a single individual could enter each time. Fifty people could step inside every round, but multiple people weren’t able to go into the same passage together.
There were lots of people here, and the passages were naturally in short supply. As a result, every person who wanted to enter needed to wait for the person in front to go in first. In addition, in order to meet the disciples’ requirements, those who wanted to try out the puppet gates also had some clear-cut and strict regulations.
Each time someone went in, they needed to spend a contribution point. Once they were defeated while challenging the gates inside, they would be expelled and would be incapable of entering again for an hour. One could challenge the same gate, but if there was no progress after two consecutive tries, they wouldn’t be able to continue challenging the gate that day. When challenging, one was permitted to continue from the location of the previous time’s failure. One could also start from any gate that one had finished previously.
Thus, many martial artists who wanted to monopolize public resources were restricted, which let even more disciples get their chances.
The puppet gates had a total of ten checkpoints, which separately corresponded to Xiantian stage one to the Immortal Realm. Every checkpoint also had four types of difficulty settings — Ordinary gates, challenging gates, extreme gates, and nightmare gates. Among them, one would only face a single opponent in the ordinary gates, five opponents in the challenging gates, ten opponents in the extreme gates, and a hundred opponents in the nightmare gates!
No matter how valiant the genius, if they had to deal with a siege of a hundred people who had the exact same realm as their own, they would likely die from exhaustion. And if a genius broke through a nightmare gate, then their futures were incalculable! They themselves would also become a generation’s overlord and rule the world!
Gu Zuo understood the gist of it. He took a deep breath and sighed. Then, he clenched his fists and said: “Go, big brother! I’ll wait for you outside!”
Tianheng smiled: “Rest assured, Ah Zuo. Watch how I beat that puppet.”
Immediately following which, Tianheng moved forward in large strides. In the blink of an eye, his body had already flashed inside.
Although the fifty passages were called passages, one was actually confronted with a large building after going in. However, there were some deceptive illusions along that stretch of road as one entered the main hall. With a martial artist’s eyesight, even if they stood outside of the passage, they could watch the performances of those inside from the rear. Those outside could also clearly see the methods used by those inside.
It was even simpler for Gu Zuo. He could directly release a wisp of psychic power.
After the psychic power turned to smoke and enveloped everything, he was able to see the situation inside more clearly than anyone else!
Gongyi Tianheng’s figure disappeared into the passage’s entrance. At the same time, some martial artists who were bored waiting started to pay attention to Tianheng’s battle inside.
What he first needed to do was to traverse that small and narrow, ten-meter long passage.
And this narrow passage was actually the first checkpoint.
After discharging his psychic power, Gu Zuo had sharp ears and keen eyes. Compared to what he “heard” previously, he could hear even more sounds. Very quickly, some people started to chat in trivial and low voices, which were all heard by him.
“Looks like a newcomer...”
“It seems his realm isn’t high?”
“Don’t get kicked out by the first checkpoint...”
“How can shadow puppets be that easy to handle? Rookies usually have no way to cope.”
“Shush — He’s going to be given a surprise!”
“Let’s take a look at that new Junior Sect Brother’s wretched appearance! Hahaha!”
Although these words didn’t necessarily have much malice, that type of schadenfreude wasn’t lacking in derisive intent.
After Gu Zuo heard this, he naturally wasn’t too happy, but at the same time, feelings of worry about Tianheng being ambushed had sprung up unbidden from the bottom of his heart.
Tianheng, who walked along that pitch-black, narrow road, was nevertheless very calm.
In front of his eyes, a wind blew passed. His ears also heard the whistling of the wind on both sides. This appeared to be a deliberate attempt at hiding some things. This was also to deceive his five senses, preventing him from seeing or hearing clearly.
Suddenly, an extremely tiny thread of killing intent lunged towards him!
Tianheng — He didn’t seem to have discovered it?
A human puppet was ruthless and heartless. Due to the issue of the manufactured materials, it wouldn’t cause too many fluctuations when attacking. Under the cover of the sound of the wind, that thread of killing intent came from below Tianheng’s armpit. At the same time, an additional thread of flowing wind that was even finer stabbed from another direction!
Unexpectedly, this was a chained attack!
Gu Zuo almost cried out involuntarily.
It was naturally impossible for a Xiantian stage one puppet to kill his big brother, but being unable to kill didn’t mean that it wouldn’t cause any harm. That attack lunged forward, concealing the other killing move. It was too treacherous!
The remaining numerous martial artists all experienced that when their realms weren’t high and they came to challenge the puppet gates in high spirits, most of them suffered a loss. As a result, whenever they subsequently saw a latecomer suffer losses, they all had a type of refreshed feeling of watching someone making a fool of themselves — After all, misery loved company! As Senior Sect Brothers, they’d all made fools of themselves. How could the Senior Sect Brothers be happy when the Junior Sect Brothers didn’t mess up?
It was just that they’d miscalculated this time.
The sound of the wind indeed had a strong interference effect, but it wasn’t able to completely disrupt Tianheng.
Gongyi Tianheng had the Tiandu Body. After breaking free from his life and death crisis, his five senses were far stronger than that of the average martial artist. Although the sound of the wind was loud, he had still discovered those two attacks!
In the blink of an eye, two scimitars appeared in his hands.
Gu Zuo: “...”
Scimitars? Speaking of which, it seemed that his big brother hadn’t used those much...
But Tianheng’s IQ was at the top of the charts. Even if he didn’t necessarily use the corresponding martial skills, so long as he mastered its general usage, there wouldn’t be any problems in the least.
Only two sharp and clear metallic noises were heard. The two attacks of the ambushing shadow puppet had already been blocked by those two scimitars.
At the same time, with its gambit having been broken, the shadow puppet had naturally appeared in front of Tianheng.
That figure resembled a human. The puppet’s black skin didn’t have eyes, ears, or any other sense organs. Due to the body’s skin, it could completely conceal itself in nooks or corners. It would merge with the darkness, making it hard for someone to detect the puppet.
The martial artists outside saw this, and felt a little odd.
He actually avoided it?
Was this a coincidence, or true strength?
Ah, but since the Junior Sect Brother hadn’t messed up, the Senior Sect Brothers didn’t feel too happy.
Meanwhile, Gu Zuo let out a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, his big brother was extraordinary. A measly shadow puppet wouldn’t be capable of catching him!
There was a Senior Sect Brother who’d previously suffered a loss. He harrumphed and said: “I want to see if he can withstand a few more blows!”
Another person couldn’t help laughing, and said to him in comfort: “Watch for now. If it’s just luck, it won’t always be there for him.”
Gu Zuo heard their conversation, but didn’t discover any malicious intentions, so he didn’t take note of them any longer. His attention was still on his big brother inside.
Because of that strike, the shadow puppet had appeared, but its reaction was very fast. At once, it blended into the darkness as it prepared to carry out its second sneak attack!
Gongyi Tianheng was calm and unhurried as he continued to walk onward.
He only took about five or six steps forward, moving two or three meters, when the killing move came again!
This time around, that attack was even fiercer. It looked like it was going to immediately dig into his Heavenly Spirit Fatal Acupoints. It would carve bloody holes into his body, which would inflict serious damage!
Tianheng’s wrist rotated. Immediately following that, there were four or five sonorous, clashing sounds one after another. That shadow puppet had made quite a few consecutive moves, but all of them were blocked in an instant. Moreover, just when it was about to blend back into the darkness, Tianheng’s body suddenly flashed forward. His arms criss-crossed. The scimitars in his hands sliced up and down, cleaving its neck and waist!
In the blink of an eye, the puppet’s head rolled on the ground, and its waist had been cut open with an inch-long gash, which reached to the spinal column in the back. Its ability to move had been destroyed.
At this moment, the shadow puppet collapsed. The first checkpoint had naturally been passed.
Tianheng didn’t even turn around. He kept walking a few more steps and had already traversed this narrow stretch of road, entering the interior of that building, which had become clear.
Gu Zuo settled his heightened nerves, and his face also revealed a happy, smiling expression.
Just like he said. With his dear big brother’s strength, how could he still be unable to deal with a measly shadow puppet!? This time, wasn’t it was those jeering naysayers who had their faces slapped?
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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