As usual, one evening, Shen Xiu finished his day of chores and hurried to the back kitchen of the martial hall, intending to take back an earthenware jar of medicinal dregs for his Nine-Transformation Golden Cicada.
To his surprise, however, he came away empty-handed.
"The medicinal dregs are gone again?" Looking at the empty clay jars inside the room, Shen Xiu felt somewhat surprised and puzzled.
This was already the third time he had come up empty-handed.
It was an unprecedented occurrence.
After all, most of these refined medicinal dregs had little use; their sole purpose was to be transported to the medicinal gardens outside the city to serve as fertilizer for cultivation.
Previously, the cleanup had been quite regular, so why did it seem a bit early these past two days?
"They've... they've been hauled away..."
In the back kitchen, only a dark-skinned youth was cleaning up. Seeing Shen Xiu ask, he replied somewhat indistinctly, then turned around and continued sweeping the floor.
Shen Xiu, having failed to get any medicinal dregs, did not mind too much. After all, the Nine-Transformation Golden Cicada was an immortal and indestructible entity; going hungry for ten days or half a month would do no harm.
Since there were none this time, he would simply make up for it later.
With these thoughts, Shen Xiu turned and left. Halfway back, he suddenly recalled the dark-skinned youth's strange behavior and the scene where the corners of his mouth seemed a bit blackened, and his pace involuntarily stuttered to a halt.
He thought of a possibility.
"No way..."
His previous incarnation had already martyred himself by eating medicinal dregs, and someone was actually trying it again?
Yet immediately afterward, he thought better of it, feeling something was amiss. The medicinal dregs produced by so many disciples in a single day easily amounted to four or five barrels carted away.
How could any single person possibly eat all that?
No matter how Shen Xiu thought about it, he could not figure out where the good medicinal dregs had all gone.
Only later did Shen Xiu discover that, as it turned out, the medicinal dregs weren't being eaten by just one person—many people were eating them.
He was momentarily dumbfounded.
Afterward, he discovered that even Wang Si, who had previously advised him, was eating these medicinal dregs that still retained residual toxicity.
"Wang Si, are you eating those medicinal dregs? I told you not to eat those medicinal dregs anymore. Have you forgotten how I collapsed nearly a year ago?"
Inside the courtyard, Shen Xiu looked at Wang Si and said.
He suddenly felt his own words were somewhat familiar, as if he had heard something similar before.
"Then what do you do in the courtyard every morning?"
Shen Xiu was struck speechless. After discussing the matter for a while, he learned that a rumor had recently come from goodness knows where, claiming that his rapid progress in practicing the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill was due to him secretly eating medicinal dregs.
Initially, no one believed this rumor, but then some fellow who happened to be unusually gifted ate the medicinal dregs for a few days and suddenly made a breakthrough.
Consequently, everyone attributed it to the medicinal dregs. Shen Xiu was utterly speechless at this—he had the Nine-Transformation Golden Cicada, but did they? Weren't they afraid of eating themselves to death?
Yet since they were all bent on courting death, Shen Xiu could not stop them.
He could only persuade Wang Si to stop. As for whether Wang Si would continue sneaking off to eat the medicinal dregs, Shen Xiu had no way of knowing, but there was only a month left until the examination. Even if they all ate some, it probably wouldn't cause any major issues.
Unlike his reckless previous incarnation, who had eaten them continuously for months.
With the examination drawing near, the Jínhóng Martial Hall issued an announcement: only five spots would be recruited from among the handyman disciples this time, meaning that only the top five who met the requirements would have a chance.
The news that there were half as many spots as in previous years sent a wave of boiling excitement through the handyman disciples. Including the older generation of handymen, there were a total of fifty or sixty people in the martial hall.
Selecting only the top five drastically reduced the odds.
After this news was released, it created an enormous uproar among the handyman disciples. Unnoticed, the atmosphere among them grew tense and gradually became fiercely competitive.
A few more training fanatics emerged, practicing day and night, and quite a few people emptied their savings at the cafeteria to buy a few jars of Monster Tonic Soup.
They did this solely because if they missed this opportunity, the next one would be half a year away.
In any case, everyone was racking their brains to enhance their own strength.
Shen Xiu, however, remained unhurried and calm, because no matter how hard the others improved, they couldn't possibly improve faster than he did. Over such a long period, he had observed the other handyman disciples, and there were probably not a few whose strength was comparable to his.
As for the promotion slots for registered disciples, those were calculated separately.
The golden crow rose, and sunlight blanketed the earth.
Dressed in a short tunic, Shen Xiu stood in the courtyard, practicing the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill step by step.
Beads of sweat as large as soybeans rolled off his body like beads of oil.
Now, more than two months later, his muscles had become fuller, he had grown a few inches taller, and his figure was even more slender and upright.
Having completed a full cycle of the martial art form, Shen Xiu slowly exhaled a breath of white vapor and opened the system panel.
【Host: Shen Xiu】
【Cultivation: First Realm: Body Tempering】
【Talent: Diligence is Rewarded】
【Techniques: ▼】
【Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill: Third Tier, minor accomplishment 12.8%】
【Clone: Nine-Transformation Golden Cicada (First Transformation, Satiety 15.3%)】
He had once again cultivated the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill to the third tier, making it even more effortless to use. When the formal disciples' examination arrived a few days later, there would be even less room for unexpected surprises.
...
On August 19th, the Jínhóng Martial Hall held its disciple examination.
As the time arrived, Shen Xiu and Wang Si followed the other disciples to the center of the training ground, where a martial arts platform had been erected.
In the very center of the martial arts platform stood a massive, pitch-black stone pillar made of an unknown material, looking rather strange.
The handyman disciples and registered disciples participating in the formal disciple examination packed the area around the platform tightly.
Thanks to his formidable strength, Shen Xiu managed to squeeze his way into the front ranks.
Through the well-informed registered disciples, he learned that the object on the martial arts platform was a Sound-Resonating Stone, and the rules for the formal disciples' examination were different from previous years.
It was no longer a matter of fighting matches step by step to determine superiority.
Instead, it was a direct test of physical prowess.
The specific reason, so they heard, was that their Vice Hall Master, Xiang Shou, had grown tired of watching these handyman disciples and registered disciples peck at each other like rookies.
Therefore, he had directly placed the Sound-Resonating Stone pillar brought back from Shanglin City.
This Sound-Resonating Stone was said to be able to sense an attacker's strength and emit sounds accordingly; the louder and more frequent the sounds, the more powerful the attacker's force.
Viewed this way, testers only needed to deliver a single full-power strike to demonstrate their true strength.
As time passed, a restlessness gradually spread among the surrounding crowd. After all, with everyone participating, it seemed likely that everyone around them was a competitor.
The side with the registered disciples was relatively calm, but Shen Xiu took a rough glance at the handyman disciples and felt that most of them had already gotten involved, many of them refusing to accept anyone else.
These ripples of restlessness vanished completely with the final appearance of the martial hall's five instructors and Vice Hall Master Xiang Shou.
Sturdily built and striding forward like a dragon or a tiger, he moved with an inexplicable, mighty aura. As he passed through the crowd of disciples, everyone felt as though they heard faint, deep peals of thunder.
Bones emitting the thunderous roar of tigers and leopards—this was the hallmark sign of the Third Realm: Bone Cleansing.
With Hall Master Yang Jinhong in seclusion striving to break through to the Fourth Realm: Guicang and having entrusted numerous affairs to the Vice Hall Master to manage, Xiang Shou was currently the premier combat powerhouse of the Jínhóng Martial Hall.