Chapter 17 – Chen Feng

“Charge!”

As the voice of the great elder fell, a flood of outer sect disciples stampeded crazily towards the other side of the square.

These hundreds of people turned into a mass of black figures flying across the square and arriving in front of a giant mountain wall. The mountain wall was several hundred meters high and as smooth as a mirror, but there were spread out shallow holes that could be used for support.

The first round of this assessment tested the strength of one’s Zhen Qi. The disciples had to cross the mountain wall first, then enter a channel inside the mountain. Only then could they pass the first round of this assessment.

In the previous test, the success rate was over 99 percent. The ones that dared to participate in the inner sect assessment naturally had the confidence to pass it. In other words, there were at least several hundred people that had passed and could have gone on to the second round to fight. Of course, it was impossible for all of them to participate in the second round’s fights.

Out of everyone that passed the first round, the people who finished in the last half were unable to participate in the second round.

In order to pass early and guarantee a spot in the next round, the crowd was going crazy. After reaching the mountain wall, they all furiously gathered qi in their bodies before pushing upwards with their legs towards the top. They used the shallow holes on the wall to simultaneously rest and concentrate their qi once more.

“Swish, swish, swish!”

In the midst of all this chaos, an azure clothed disciple was the first to reach the cave at the top of this hundred meter mountain wall. Before entering, he turned his head and sneered, his eyes filled with self confidence.

The figure was no other than Wang Meng.

Wang Meng’s strength was currently at the the sixth Zhen Qi layer, therefore it was understandable that he was so quick compared to the others. But the moment Wang Meng’s feet landed, another figure flew up rapidly from below like a giant bird, his speed only slightly slower compared to Wang Meng.

This unrecognizable youth was very handsome, having a pair of eyes as bright as a star. The pressure exuding from his body was also the sixth Zhen Qi layer. Wang Meng did not recognize the youth at all after seeing him and was momentarily surprised.

The youth sneered at Wang Meng as he entered the cave.

“Damn, where did this boy come from. The movement technique he used was actually a rank two movement technique,” Wang Meng cursed angrily in his heart and he felt that he had encountered a formidable enemy. His dream of achieving first place and entering the core felt as if it had just become more difficult because of the appearance of this youth.

Wang Meng rushed into the cave as well.

“Damn, stop grabbing.”

“Your mother, do not step on your father’s head.” [‘Your father’ is here used to show a tone of superiority, while ‘looking down’ on others. Or at least to have such a façade.]

“Fuck off.”

The ones that rushed to the mountain first were naturally able to advance without a hitch while the slower ones were entangled in what appeared to be a very large, chaotic crowd.

Although the mountain wall was quite large and had many ledges, there still wasn’t enough room for several hundreds of people to reach the summit at the same time. Thus, given this lack of room when propelling upwards, people naturally stepped on each other’s heads and shoulders in order to regather their qi and keep going.

Curses and roars resounded time and time again. The situation was utter chaos as everyone clambered over each others’ heads to try and reach the top.

“Damn, fuck off. This father is Ke Xue, who dares to fight with me.”

An angry curse flew out from the crowd as another azure clothed disciple soared to the sky. The disciple stepped on a person’s shoulder and flew midair to land on another person’s head, his body flying once more.

He was feeling very proud of himself when, all of a sudden, he felt someone stepping on his own head. A clear footprint appeared, followed by his soaring body’s slow downfall.

“Zi Chen, you son of a bitch! Just you wait.”

Ke Xue landed very loudly and cursed angrily after seeing that Zi Chen had rushed ahead of him.

Ke Xue roared once more as he stepped on two more people in an attempt to stay in the air. However, he felt a fragrant wind blow as his head was stepped on once again. His body fell backwards yet another time.

“You fuc ……!”

Ke Xue looked up and was ready to curse his heart out when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a smart looking and lovable figure. Unexpectedly, it was Lin Xue who was to blame for his angry curses to be cut off. Ke Xue inevitably fell on the ground and faintly cursed, “Zi Chen, you fucking wait for me.”

As such, it turned out that Lin Xue has added another hateful debt on top of Zi Chen’s head.

When Miao Kong arrived at the front of the mountain wall, his body and foot moved like a swallow, becoming exceptionally flexible. The mysteriousness of his movement skill was even more natural than Zi Chen’s, as he only had to move several times in midair before arriving at the mountain cave.

Miao Kong’s way of leveraging his position in the air also involved stepping on other people’s head, but it was as if he did not step on anyone at all. He was as light as a feather.

“Let’s go.”

Zi Chen was at the edge of the cave and seeing that Miao Kong and Lin Xue arriving one after the other, he gestured them to go forward.

A pressure appeared when they just entered the cave, causing the three figures to abruptly slow down.

Just as they entered the cave, Lin Xue warned, “Be careful, there’s some kind of pressure in this cave that’s used for measuring our strength, If you’re at the fourth Zhen Qi layer, your speed will be reduce greatly when facing this pressure. It’s even more difficult to progress when facing the attacks of the wooden puppet mechanism.”

“Huu!”

Just as Lin Xue’s voice died down, a gust of wind blew across Zi Chen’s face. He waved his fist and gathered all his strength to punch forward.

“Bang!”

Along with a dull explosion sound, Zi Chen took two steps back. There was a two meter high, wooden puppet ahead that was also staggering backwards.

Seeing Zi Chen throw out a casual strike towards the wooden puppet and knocking it back, Miao Kong and Ling Xue’s expression changed in an instant. They looked at Zi Chen as if he was a monster.

“You are only at the fifth Zhen Qi layer, yet you can actually knock the wooden puppet back?”

“Was it very strong?” The Zi Chen knitted his brows, perplexed.

“You think it’s weak? Why don’t you take a look at them? “Miao Kong rolled his eyes and motioned for Zi Chen to look ahead.

Zi Chen soon saw those at the fifth Zhen Qi layer who had entered the cave earlier. When they came across the wooden puppet, every one of them avoided its attacks and no one dared to face it head on. Eventually, there was a disciple who scrounged up some courage. But after being hit by the wooden puppet, he was thrown back around seven or eight meters while the puppet remained motionless.

“It is quite strong.” Zi Chen muttered.

The other two were absolutely speechless as the trio continued on.

“Ah!”

At this moment, a pitiful scream suddenly came from behind them. As the three of them turned around, they saw an azure clothed disciple being blown away towards the cave entrance. Earlier, the disciple had approached the wooden puppet. After being unable to hold against the pressure, he kneeled down and was attacked by it.

“Ahh, let’s go. Year after year, there are always some people that are not afraid of the devil. They are only at the fourth Zhen Qi layer, so even if they manage to climb up here, they will still face the wooden puppet’s oppression. They will, at the very least, be injured falling from such a high distance. His life is done for.” Miao Kong heaved a low sigh and urged his group to proceed.

After that, two more pitiful yells came from behind them. Obviously, two more disciples had been sent out of the cave after facing the wooden puppet. They were barely at the peak of the fourth layer and still wanted to take advantage of the loopholes.

Those at the fifth Zhen Qi layer could come and go freely within this place, but those at the fourth Zhen Qi layer found it difficult to even take a step forward. As to how the pressure in this place operated, Zi Chen was very confused.

Noticing Zi Chen’s doubts, Lin Xue explained, “This cave is said to be personally built by Ling Wu sect’s grand elder. Its sole purpose was to test the disciples and all these years, it has never made a mistake.”

As Su Mengyao’s good sister, Lin Xue naturally knew a lot of secrets about the Ling Wu sect.

“Grand Elder?  Isn’t the great elder the strongest person in Ling wu sect?” Miao Kong also had his own doubts.

“I’m not too sure about that, it was senior sister Su Mengyao who told me this.” Lin Xue replied.

The trio passed through the cave quickly and soon arrived at a bigger square in the front. There were a lot of people gathered here, many of which were outer sect disciples while some were from the inner sect.

Out of all those participating in the inner sect assessment, the strongest one was only at the fifth Zhen Qi layer. As such, the inner sect disciples naturally did not put them in their eyes. However, the test this time around actually attracted a lot of inner sect disciples.

Besides those that came because of Su Mengyao, some were actually very curious about who would be the lucky guy to become a core disciple.

One must know that becoming a core disciple was their dream.

Both Su Mengyao and Wang Xiong came nearly at the same time, but compared to Su Mengyao, Wang Xiong was simply negligible. Aside from the white clothed Su Mengyao, there was another youth who received much attention from above the square.

This youth was dressed in black with a pair of starlight-bright eyes and sharp brows. He stood there with an unusually cold expression, looking cool and handsome. Even if men saw him, they could not help but want to take a look again.

Black clothing was the symbol of a core disciple and when this person stood next to Su Mengyao, they seemed like a pair of celestial deities that garnered a lot of attention.

There were many female disciples from the inner sect that looked at the black clothed youth with their eyes radiating with pleasure. They could only wish to take the place of Su Mengyao.

“It’s him?”

After Zi Chen and the others came out, Lin Xue spotted the black clothed youth and looked obviously startled.

“Who is he?”

Zi Chen also saw the black clothed youth standing next to Su Mengyao. For some reason unknown to him, Zi Chen felt a twinge of pain in his heart as he saw the two people who were supposedly perfectly matched. He was very uncomfortable, and it seemed that this was a common problem for many men. The more he saw them, the more he convinced himself that they were not a perfect match at all.

“He is Chen Feng, ranked first place out of all the core disciples as well as the patriarch’s personal disciple. He is also the a candidate to become the next patriarch.” Lin Xue answered Zi Chen gently, a complicated look on her face.

Zi Chen’s complexion slightly changed; He could not match any points that Chen Feng had, whether it was status or prestige. It was as if he were an ant next to an eagle. They were worlds apart and, while Zi Chen was occupied with his shock at Chen Feng’s status, he did not notice Lin Xue’s complicated expression.

When Lin Xue came out, Su Mengyao’s look of indifference finally turned into a slight smile.

Chen Feng, who was standing next to Su Mengyao, only had her in his eyes and no other. When he saw that Su Mengyao had smiled, he turned his head to see Lin Xue, as well as Zi Chen and Miao Kong standing beside her. His cool face also broke out into a faint smile.

At this place and time, the attention being received by Su Mengyao and Chen Feng naturally surpassed these elders. Both of them have smiled, and what’s more, they were both staring in the same direction. Many people also directed their attention to that place.

Everyone saw Zi Chen and Miao Kong, both of which were ignored. Miao Kong’s figure was very small and had an indistinguishable, ordinary appearance. On the other hand, although Zi Chen was very handsome, it was not a feature that this place was lacking in, and therefore unsurprising. It was only the noticeable Lin Xue who had made everyone’s eyes light up.