Chapter 71

Seeing the enthusiasm of the disciples being stirred by the generous rewards, Elder Jin’s face showed a hint of a smile.

"The rules and rewards have been made clear to you all. Next, the assessment will begin. The last winner was the Blade Sect, so this time, the Blade Sect will enter the Sword Grove first!"

"Elder, I have something to say!" Zheng Gang spoke up again, "Testing each sect one by one is too boring. Why not have several sects test together? This way, it can ignite everyone’s fighting spirit and create a more competitive atmosphere."

As soon as Zheng Gang spoke, the inner sect disciples began to murmur. Xia Ye couldn’t help but comment, "This guy is just showing off because he’s strong."

With his Sixth Stage Body Tempering strength, Zheng Gang indeed stood out among the inner sect disciples. Now, by proposing that all sects test together, he clearly wanted to rise to prominence by stepping on the geniuses of other sects.

Hearing Zheng Gang’s words, Elder Jin stroked his beard and nodded slightly. "It’s not a bad idea, but the Sword Grove is limited in size, and a maximum of a hundred people can enter at once."

"That’s simple. We can split it up. Each sect sends ten disciples, so the nine major sects can test simultaneously, making it more intuitive to gauge each sect’s strength," Zheng Gang continued, clearly determined to make a name for himself in this test.

"Since that’s the case, it’s not a bad idea. Let’s do it this way. Each round, each sect will send ten disciples to participate," Elder Jin agreed.

At this moment, Elder Cheng’s voice echoed in the ears of the Sword Sect disciples, "This Zheng Gang is the son of Elder Zheng from the Blade Sect. This whole fuss is surely at his father’s behest. This time, all Sword Sect disciples must give it their all and must not disgrace us!"

With Elder Jin’s agreement, Zheng Gang looked rather pleased, a sly smile on his face. He turned to the Sword Sect and said, "I’ve heard that the Sword Sect has a few geniuses this time. I’m not much, but I’ve always enjoyed dealing with various geniuses. I wonder if the Sword Sect’s fellow disciples can fulfill my wish?"

As soon as Zheng Gang spoke, the other sects understood his intentions. Clearly, he was targeting the Sword Sect, and they were just caught in the crossfire.

"The Sword Sect doesn’t have any geniuses. Even if they do, they’re nothing compared to Senior Brother Zheng, who reached the Sixth Stage Body Tempering at seventeen, just one step away from becoming a core disciple."

"That’s right. In my opinion, the only one who can be called a genius is Senior Brother Zheng."

...

The Blade Sect disciples immediately began to flatter Zheng Gang and mock the Sword Sect. Zheng Gang, with his exceptional talent and a father who was an elder of the Blade Sect, naturally became the object of everyone’s flattery.

Although the other sect’s martial artists clearly understood Zheng Gang’s intentions, they had no way to counter him. After all, Zheng Gang’s strength was undeniable, and no one could confidently claim to outmatch him.

However, since Elder Jin had agreed to Zheng Gang’s request, everyone had no choice but to comply, even if they were reluctant.

The ten disciples of the Blade Sect quickly stepped forward, Zheng Gang among them.

"Xing Feng, you go. I don’t require you to defeat Zheng Gang, but you must not fall too far behind. The honor of the Sword Sect is in your hands," Elder Cheng said solemnly.

This time, the Sword Sect had two genius disciples: Lu Xuan and Xing Feng. However, when Elder Cheng saw Lu Xuan seven days ago, Lu Xuan was only at the Fourth Stage Body Tempering. In terms of strength, Elder Cheng undoubtedly had more faith in Xing Feng, who was at the Fifth Stage Body Tempering.

However, the gap between the Fifth Stage and the Sixth Stage was still significant. He didn’t push Xing Feng to defeat Zheng Gang, only to do his best.

With Elder Cheng’s personal command, Xing Feng couldn’t refuse. He gritted his teeth and said, "I understand. I will do my utmost to uphold the honor of the Sword Sect!"

Soon, under Elder Cheng’s arrangement, the ten disciples of the Sword Sect also stepped forward. Led by Xing Feng, they walked to the front and stood with the disciples from the other sects.

Seeing Xing Feng approach, Zheng Gang glanced at him and said disdainfully, "Is the Sword Sect out of people? Do you think you can challenge me?"

Although he knew his strength was inferior to Zheng Gang’s, Xing Feng showed no fear and retorted, "Dealing with you doesn’t require the other geniuses of the Sword Sect."

Zheng Gang laughed coldly, "Is that so? You will pay for your arrogance. I will make you realize the gap between us is far beyond your imagination."

Seeing all the disciples from the nine sects gathered, Elder Jin spoke again, "All enforcers, distribute the jade tokens! Disciples, listen up. The Sword Grove is covered by an illusionary killing array. To achieve the best training effect, all attacks you face inside will be real. The jade token in your hand is your key to survival. If you can’t handle it, immediately shatter the jade token, and the attacks will stop. However, you will also lose your qualification for this test. Now, enter the Sword Grove!"

After receiving their jade tokens, the ninety disciples from the nine major sects entered the Sword Grove.

Strangely, as soon as they entered, their figures disappeared. From the outside, the Sword Grove looked the same, and no one could see any of the disciples inside.

The Sword Grove was covered by an illusionary array, making it impossible to see the specific situation inside. For a moment, everyone could only speculate about the situation inside and check the results on the stone tablet.

Soon, the previously empty ranking stone tablet displayed dozens of names, from first to ninetieth. Their scores were updated in real-time through their respective tokens.

Unsurprisingly, Zheng Gang was at the top, already scoring twenty-six points. This meant that in this short moment, he had at least killed one First Stage Body Tempering, three Second Stage Body Tempering, and one Third Stage Body Tempering martial artist.

Right behind him was Xing Feng, who had sixteen points, ten points less than Zheng Gang. He had killed one less Third Stage Body Tempering martial artist, showing that his killing speed was slightly inferior to Zheng Gang’s.

The other martial artists had smaller gaps, generally maintaining the same level.

Outside the Sword Grove, everyone fell silent, their eyes fixed on the ranking stone tablet. It was just the beginning, and they were facing low-level martial artists, so it was hard to tell much. The real show was yet to come.