"The time has come, let the assessment begin!"
Seeing that the instructors were all in place and the vice-master had also arrived, a steward nearby shouted out loudly.
The crowd suddenly fell silent, waiting to see who the first person to step up for the test would be.
As this was something entirely new, no one understood it yet, and everyone wanted to gain some experience from the first tester.
"Tai Pengfei!"
The steward called out in a clear voice, and Shen Xiu saw a thin, gaunt young man make his way through the crowd onto the platform with a very aggrieved look on his face.
Clearly, Tai Pengfei felt extremely unlucky to be the very first one called.
Yet regardless of how he felt, when it was time to step up, he had to.
Under the steward's guidance, Tai Pengfei walked over to the sound-ringing stone pillar and planted his feet firmly.
Then, steadying his breath and focusing his mind, he executed one of the forms of the Vajra Palm, striking fiercely toward the middle section of the stone pillar, right where it was wrapped in a layer of leather.
That palm strike felt like a stone sinking into the vast sea; the sound-ringing stone did not budge in the slightest. Shortly afterward, however, a faint buzzing sound emanated from several hollows near the top of the pillar.
"The force of a single ring," the steward muttered, expressionlessly making a mark on the paper in his hand.
"Next, Zhu Wenle!"
...
As the disciples stepped forward one by one, the sound-ringing stone on the platform chimed from time to time.
Some produced only a single brief sound, some rang twice, and others did not make a single sound at all.
Observing from below for a while, Shen Xiu noted that those which produced no sound at all were the most numerous, followed by a single chime, while those with a double chime were exceedingly rare.
As for three chimes, from the beginning until now, only two people had achieved it, and both of those were registered disciples who had paid out of pocket to learn the arts here.
In terms of strength, they should be on the verge of stepping into the Body Tempering stage.
Shen Xiu deduced that three chimes was likely the dividing line for Body Tempering force.
"Next, Shen Xiu."
While Shen Xiu was still letting his mind wander, the steward above had already called his name.
When Shen Xiu walked onto the platform, he could see the varied expressions on the faces of the disciples below.
Some were relieved that their names hadn't been called yet, some watched intently to see what result he would get, and others wore an indescribable jealousy.
He also caught sight of Steward Yú standing in a corner, wearing a displeased expression in his eyes.
Walking up to the sound-ringing stone, Shen Xiu observed the pitch-black stone before him, fixed his gaze on the leather-wrapped middle section, and assumed his stance.
At the steward's command, Shen Xiu's muscles suddenly tightened and bulged high. Employing one of the forms of the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill, he crossed a distance of several meters and threw a punch.
His fist struck dead center in the middle of the leather, producing a harsh, grating sound.
Feeling the backlash of the force within it, he raised his arm to absorb and disperse the impact.
At that moment, the sound-ringing stone also emitted a tremendous buzzing sound in real-time—and this time, it rang out three times.
"The force of three rings."
The steward glanced at him a few times more before making a note on his paper.
The rare occurrence of three rings also caught the attention of several instructors on the platform, their gazes lingering on him a moment longer than usual.
Especially Instructor Duan.
After Shen Xiu stepped down from the platform, envious gazes surrounded him from all directions.
With only a few instances of the three-ring force appearing so far, anyone with half a brain knew that Shen Xiu passing the assessment and becoming a formal disciple was practically a certainty.
Wang Si's expression beside him was particularly astonished and deeply complex, carrying the aggrieved air of someone who thought they had agreed to grow old together, only to find out the other person went behind their back to touch up their hair.
The testing continued, and the next to take the stage was a robust, sturdy young man named Gao Xiaozong.
Without any particular technique, he shifted a few paces back, turned sideways into a brutal charge, and slammed directly into it with his broad, thick arm.
With a loud crash, the stone chimed three times.
The disciples below looked at each other in dismay, never expecting such a method could be used. Judging by the reactions of the instructors, however, it was evidently permitted.
Seeing the various expressions in the crowd below, Gao Xiaozong wore a slightly smug look on his face. Just as he started to step down with an arrogant, swaggering gait,
A figure suddenly appeared on the platform. Before anyone could react, the figure whipped out a single palm strike, and a sharp sonic boom cracked through the air!
Gao Xiaozong's sturdy body instantly flew backward, slamming directly into a courtyard wall more than ten meters away.
He lost consciousness on the spot, his breathing as faint as gossamer!
Even the wall behind Gao Xiaozong was caved in, covered in a terrifying web of spider-like cracks.
The martial arts training ground fell into a dead silence. Everyone stared at the wretched state of Gao Xiaozong, their hearts trembling uncontrollably.
Only then did the crowd notice Xiang Shou, the vice-master, standing aloof and cold-faced on the platform.
A Martial Practitioner in the Third Realm: Bone Cleansing truly possessed such terrifying might.
"Hmph! Whoever dares to take Energy-Boosting Pills and resort to deceit in front of me, Xiang Shou, this shall be your fate!"
Xiang Shou let out a cold snort, his sharp gaze sweeping across the faces of the many disciples present, causing those who harbored small ulterior motives to lower their heads simultaneously, gripped by fear.
Energy-Boosting Pills were a common type of explosive medicinal pill found in external pharmacies and were quite costly. Martial practitioners mostly used them during duels and battles to kill enemies, and no one expected someone would use them for an assessment.
Only then did the many disciples understand the truth of the matter; to think someone actually dared to use such a method to muddle through—they truly had no fear of death.
With that, Xiang Shou withdrew his gaze, returned to his seat on the platform, and looked toward the formal disciples watching the spectacle, his tone softening slightly.
"Pry your 'good' junior brother off the wall, and don't forget to toss him out the front gate for the Gao family to haul back."
Several formal disciples acknowledged the order, smiling as they pried the human-shaped dent out of the wall and dragged him away to be thrown out the gate, just as if they were discarding a pile of trash.
The Gao family servants outside the gates stepped forward trembling, carrying their young master back without daring to utter a single sound.
With this interlude, the remaining disciples who might have harbored similar petty thoughts instantly became much more honest.
The testing proceeded as usual.
For a while, the three-ring force did not appear again, until midway through, when a sharp-eyed, broad-mouthed, square-nosed youth took the stage. With a single punch, he made the three-ring sound echo once more.
An hour passed, and after the final disciple stepped up for the test without any similar breakthroughs occurring—
Most of the rest produced at most a few disciples with the two-ring force.
The entire assessment finally came to an end.
The many disciples below did not disperse just yet, as the instructors on the platform were discussing who to retain.
Once the discussion concluded, the resulting list was handed over to the steward, who then spoke in a clear voice, reading out the names on the list one by one.
Without a doubt, Shen Xiu's name was among them.
After all, throughout the entire testing process just now, only a tiny handful of disciples had managed to strike out with the force of three rings.
Where there is joy, there is naturally sorrow.
When the reading of the list finished, those whose names were called wore expressions of joy and ecstasy, while those who weren't looked like withered grass, their hearts turned to ash—this sentiment being even more pronounced among the errand-running disciples.
After all, if registered disciples missed out this time, they could simply wait another half a year to practice martial arts, but the errand-running disciples would have to endure another half a year of grinding toil doing menial chores.
Such a life was not something an ordinary person could easily endure.