Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Chen had never used a knife. He gained countless wonderful insights when standing in front of the knife trail, but was unable to express them explicitly.
But his right hand, in which he was holding the knife, was clenching tighter and tighter. And his facial expression tensed more and more.
No one knew what he was doing there. He stood there motionless until the dawn.
A whole night had passed. Many people started to notice this strange guy.
Someone tried to approach him to figure out what was going on with him.
Suddenly Jiang Chen burst into laughter and started to brandish the knife in the air.
“Crazy!”
People cursed him and tried to stay away from him.
What should I name this slash?
Jiang Chen didn’t know any knife methods, but after spending the whole night comprehending the knife trail, he had mastered a knife movement.
A slash! It had no name. It wasn’t a movement, either.
It was only a slash! A slash that slashed at the mountain!
Ten days later, the Natural Law School started to recruit disciples.
This was the most celebrated day in Ninedragons.
The Natural Law School didn’t only pay attention to the disciples’ talents like other sects and schools. They valued the comprehensive ability of their disciples more, so their requirement for talent was almost the same as that of an ordinary school.
Their test tool was very simple, a stone in a strange shape.
To take the test, people only needed to put their hands on the stone. Then the stone would emit a light beam.
The candidate would pass the test if the light beam was at least twenty zhangs high.
The test was done in the palace of Ninedragons. Ever since the Xia Dynasty moved their capital, it had been used as the Duke’s Palace.
At that moment, it was used to receive the representatives of the Natural Law School.
The spacious square was full of people.
The rare stone for the talent test was put in the center of the square. The elders of the Natural Law School and the duke were staying in an airship that was suspended at a low altitude.
“All candidates will take the rare stone test first. Please note that you have to be less than twenty years old. If you are older than twenty and intend to fish in troubled waters, it is at your own risk.”
A few people were standing beside the rare stone to administer the test.
Everyone was queuing up. One youngster after another went up to the rare stone and let it stimulate their genuine yuan. Then the rare stone would emit a light beam responsive to the strength of their genuine yuan.
Almost everyone could satisfy the requirement.
There were also people who wanted to try their luck, expecting to enter the second phase, but their light beams were very low.
They had to leave in dejection under people’s laughter and the cold look of the elders of the Natural Law School.
The test went very fast, which Jiang Chen felt lucky about. Otherwise, if everyone in the area had wasted time, who knew when it would end.
And he saw someone he knew there.
To his immense surprise, Su Qian was there as well.
Jiang Chen knew she had changed a lot after the Pulse Invigorating Ceremony, but she was still in a low state…
“Eh?”
Jiang Chen suddenly found Su Qian had achieved the Gathering Yuan State. No wonder she wanted to try her luck here.
But how will she survive at the trial ground?
Jiang Chen was curious. He also noticed a man standing beside Su Qian. The two seemed very close. They were making eyes at each other while talking.
That wasn’t Meng Fei. Jiang Chen didn’t know him, but he found that the guy had achieved the peak of the middle stage of the Gathering Yuan State.
The crowd let out a cry at that moment.
Jiang Chen saw the light beam emitted by the rare stone had achieved as high as a hundred zhangs, which could be clearly observed from very far away. It caused an uproar in the crowd.
Even the elders of the Natural Law School who had been pulling a long face smiled at Wen Xin and encouraged her.
Then Hong Feiyu’s sister Hong Youjun took the test. Her light beam reached sixty or seventy zhangs.
Although not as great as Wen Xin, it was also an awesome result.
“Wen Xin, looks like no one can break your record,” Hong Youjun walked up to Wen Xin and grinned at her.
“There’s no big difference between a hundred zhangs and ten zhangs.”
“That’s not true. The elders will see everyone’s performance at the trial ground. If you can stand out now, the elders will pay more attention to you by then. Maybe it will help you find a master as soon as you join the Natural Law School,” Hong Youjun said.
Wen Xin didn’t contradict her. Suddenly she set her eyes on one guy.
His light beam also reached a hundred zhangs and maybe even a little higher than Wen Xin’s.
He looked over to Wen Xin with provocation. He turned one corner of his mouth upward, as if he were laughing at her.
“Zhang Shichao! He is from the capital.”
“He is one of the top 500 of the Eternal Flame List.” Someone recognized him.
Since there were too many people on the Eternal Flame List, it was difficult to memorize how great the influence of each ranking was.
So many people tried to memorize it in an easier way.
For example, it was an honorable thing to be listed in the top 800, and people would admire and worship you if you were listed in the top 500.
“He’s Zhang Shichao? It’s said he has killed many people, although he is very young. He is cruel and emotionless. It’s not uncommon for him to kill people in a competition.”
“Exactly. He’s really a bad*ss in the capital.”
Zhang Shichao was standing aside, aloof, turning a deaf ear to what people were saying about him.
Yang Jianwei was in the crowd and feeling unhappy. He felt ashamed that the locals were surpassed by the guy from the capital.
He came forward and shoved the guy behind Zhang Shichao out of the way.
The guy was irritated, but when he saw it was Yang Jianwei, he backed off.
Yang Jianwei pushed his hand onto the rare stone with strength and a strong light beam shot upwards.
But it was moving slower and slower and finally stopped before it reached a hundred zhangs.
“Damn,” Yang Jianwei cursed silently. He sensed Zhang Shichao’s disdainful look and was deeply hurt.
Then a familiar figure showed up before him. It was Jiang Chen!
He recognized him as the one who had offended him on the Martial Saint Mountain the other day.
He had been trying to take revenge on him, but Jiang Chen had been hiding in the Hong Mansion, so he didn’t have any chance to.
“Exceed twenty zhangs. You have to exceed twenty zhangs, so that I can teach you a good lesson at the trial ground,” Yang Jianwei thought.
But to his disappointment, it wasn’t Jiang Chen’s turn yet.
Later, two more people stood out.
One was Su Qian.
Her light beam was eighty zhangs high, more or less the same as Yang Jianwei’s.
“Her potential did get inspired by the Pulse Invigorating Ceremony. But she won’t be able to become a powerful person due to the limitation of her mentality,” Jiang Chen thought to himself.
The other person was in the late stage of the Gathering Yuan State, but was almost the same age as Jiang Chen. People were greatly surprised when he came forward.
“He’s from the Black Dragon City. His name is Ning Ping!”
“He is Ning Haotian’s younger brother. Maybe he will have a stunning performance, too!”
Ning Ping’s light beam shot upwards and exceeded a hundred zhangs rapidly, but it stopped when it was about to exceed Zhang Shichao’s record.
“Hum,” Zhang Shichao expressed his disdain with a sneer.
Ning Ping shrugged his shoulders. It was certainly a pity for him, but he didn’t care too much.
Finally it was Jiang Chen’s turn.
Most people only regarded Jiang Chen as an average guy, so they didn’t take him seriously. They thought he was guy with only ordinary talent, or maybe no talent at all.
Except Wen Xin and Hong Youjun. The two women were both watching Jiang Chen attentively.
Wen Xin was thinking about his instruction on the Martial Saint Mountain.
Hong Youjun said, “Wen Xin, did he instruct your swordsmanship?”
“Oh? Did he tell you that?”
Wen Xin was displeased. She thought Jiang Chen was taking advantage of her to boast himself.
Although that was the truth, she was unwilling to admit it, since his swordsmanship looked very ordinary to her.
If she gave it a second thought, what Jiang Chen had said that day was quite ambiguous. There could have been many interpretations.
“Yes.”
Hong Youjun thought she knew Jiang Chen had mastered the sword point, so she didn’t mention it to her.
