Chapter 20: The Second Round of the Assessment
Chapter 20: The Second Round of the Assessment
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
"His… his power… How is it possible?" Lin Ningshan thought while she was bitting her lower lip and staring at Zhang Ruochen.
Lin Ningshan could not believe what she had just seen. She could not accept how powerful Zhang Ruochen had become after only three months of practice.
Lin Fengxian was also shocked by Zhang Ruochen’s performance. As if he had been petrified, his eyes could not stop staring at Zhang Ruochen.
The general warriors were able to tell how powerful Zhang Ruochen was, yet the warriors with cultivation discovered something more than that.
First of all, when Zhang Ruochen stamped one foot on the stone tray, he was able to shock a 1,000 kg stone tray up from the ground. This was not merely a kind of re-bouncing power.
To be exact, Zhang Ruochen infused the Genuine Qi in his body and directed it underground. Then, the Genuine Qi turned into layers of waves crashing into the bottom of the stone tray.
Undergoing several layers of waves, the stone tray eventually got off the ground.
Relying only on the power of re-bounce, even warriors from the Completion of the Yellow Realm were not strong enough to shock a 1,000 kg the stone tray.
Zhang Ruochen’s mastery of Genuine Qi was extremely detailed and fabulous. He had no doubt surprised a large number of Martial Arts superiors in the Coliseum. Some of them even felt ashamed of their abilities and experiences compared with the obscure Zhang Ruochen.
Shocking a 1,000 kg stone tray from underground was difficult. Yet, catching the stone from a five-meter height overhead with terrifying force was simply not something a Yellow Realm warrior would be able to do.
Since Zhang Ruochen managed to use Genuine Qi and converted it to layers of waves, it crashed into the bottom of the stone tray and neutralized the force of impact of the falling stone tray.
This was the reason why he could successfully catch the falling stone tray.
Only Martial Arts warriors with superior vision would be able to identify Zhang Ruochen’s exquisite technique. And because the superior Martial Artists with advanced attainment discovered certain clues throughout Zhang Ruochen’s performance, they were extremely shocked and found him incredible.
"The Ninth Prince’s ability to master Genuine Qi is much better than the warriors of the Black Realm!" The crowd started comparing Zhang Ruochen’s competence with that of other warriors.
A Genius of Martial Arts had risen!
Zhang Ruochen then walked out of the Martial Arts arena. When he passed by Lin Ningshan, she stared at him and said, "You did a good job of hiding your cultivation! Did you insult me on purpose? Let me tell you, a person’s power could be enhanced incredibly with the use of a treasure!
"However, power alone won’t ensure that you will win when it comes to a real fight. The Year-end Assessment has just started, you will see the actual difference between us later!" Lin Ningshan added.
Yet, Lin Ningshan could not even tell how excellent Zhang Ruochen was in terms of utilizing Genuine Qi. Thus, she thought that Zhang Ruochen had gotten lucky and had taken some kind of treasure for his vigorous power.
In fact, even if an ordinary person took some undefined Pills, there was a chance that they would become powerful.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head slightly after hearing what Lin Ningshan had said. It clearly did not bother him anyway as he walked toward Concubine Lin.
"Mom, I did it!" Zhang Ruochen exclaimed.
Standing among all the concubines, Concubine Lin’s vision was blurry as if she had just been shot by lightning. She shivered and asked, "Chen-er…? Is this my Chen-er?"
Concubine Lin hugged Zhang Ruochen firmly and started crying.
She had been waiting so long to see Zhang Ruochen become a warrior.
Concubine Lin thought that the day of Zhang Ruochen becoming a warrior would never come. She did not believe that Zhang would have made it. But he was now a warrior, he was a young superior! He definitely impressed every single one in the Coliseum and now no one would dare to tease him anymore.
What Concubine Lin wanted was very simple—fair and equal treatment.
For the other concubines, maidservants, and eunuchs standing aside who had witnessed Zhang Ruochen turn from a feeble boy into a warrior, only one thought came into their minds. "From now on, we have to flatter Concubine Lin for our own good!"
"Yes!"
The Yunwu Commandery Prince stood up suddenly, looked at Zhang Ruochen with excitement, and said, "My ninth son! I’m so pleased to know you’ve finally succeeded, though late in your life. No matter what your Year-end Assessment result is, the Royal Family is going to host a banquet for three days to celebrate your cultivation! Ruochen, come closer to me. Let me take a look at my dear son!"
"Chen-er, go! Quickly go
Concubine Lin wiped the tears from her face, held Zhang Ruochen’s hands, and walked toward the Yunwu Commandery Prince.
"Good day, Your Majesty!" Concubine Lin and Zhang Ruochen saluted the Yunwu Commandery Prince at the same time.
The Yunwu Commandery Prince took a deep look at Zhang Ruochen and asked, "I guess your cultivation has reached the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm…?"
During the first-round assessment, Zhang Ruochen fully demonstrated his power. Surely he could not hide the level of his cultivation from the Yunwu Commandery Prince.
Zhang Ruochen responded, "Yes, My Emperor!"
"Cultivating from nothing to the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm in just three months’ time is not something a normal warrior could do. Ruochen, what have you been doing recently? Have you experienced anything special lately?" The Yunwu Commandery Prince asked.
Zhang Ruochen said pleasantly, "Your Majesty, I did experience something special, but that is my secret. I have the right to keep it with me rather than sharing it with anyone else."
The queen was furious about Zhang Ruochen’s response. She shouted, "How dare you! His Majesty is your biological father, what secrets do you have to hide from your father?"
The Yunwu Commandery Prince moderately lifted his hand and stopped the queen from continuing speaking. Yet, he looked at Zhang Ruochen with appreciation and said, "Every warrior has their secret of cultivation. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not going to force you. Work hard in the rest of Year-end Assessment. I’m so looking forward to it!"
Up next in the Martial Arts arena was the Ninth Commandery Princess.
The Ninth Commandery Princess, Zhang Yuxi, was a tall, beautiful lady with bright skin, exuding an elegant nobility presence.
She was one day older than Zhang Ruochen. Her Martial Arts talent and beauty were comparable to Lin Ningshan. Zhang Yuxi was also one of the four beauties in the Yunwu Commandery. She and Lin Ningshan were called the "Two Beauties in Yunwu City".
The Ninth Commandery Princess was about to lift the 10th stone tray. She threw it 13 meters away. It seemed that her power was slightly weaker than Lin Ningshan, who made it two meters farther than Zhang Yuxi.
Zhang Yuxi frowned and walked out of the Martial Arts arena. She stood next to Zhang Ruochen with an attractive smile. "My ninth brother, be aware of me when we go hunting at King Mount, I’m one of your competitors!"
As Zhang Ruochen and Zhang Yuxi were at a similar age, they had played together all the time when they were small. After Zhang Yuxi had obtained the Sacred Mark, she had to spend most of the time practicing Martial Arts and thus their relationship was not as close as it used to be.
Zhang Ruochen felt even more distant from Zhang Yuxi now, as this was the Zhang Ruochen from the previous life. He did not have any memories of playing with her. He did not say much in front of her and just nodded to respond to what she said.
The next person who stepped into the Martial Arts arena was the Eighth Prince, Zhang Ji.
Since the Eighth Prince had cultivated to the Dawn State, he expected to easily beat down Zhang Ruochen and be praised by the Yunwu Commandery Prince at the Year-end Assessment.
Yet, the performance of Zhang Ruochen was so incredible that it seriously pounded the confidence of Zhang Ji.
Zhang Ji was under lots of pressure and started brainwashing himself. "I need to lift the 10th stone tray! Zhang Ruochen is just crap. If he can do it, I can surely do it!"
The Eighth Prince Zhang Ji had just reached the Dawn State and did not expect to lift the 10th stone tray. However, he could not lose this round to Zhang Ruochen. Beating Zhang Ruochen became his motivation and he desperately wanted to lift the 1,000 kg stone tray.
"Come on!"
The Eighth Prince locked his arms onto the massive stone tray. Every single vein in his body stuck out and the stone tray was going up moderately.
Yet, when he lifted the stone tray up to half a meter, his fingers slipped and "Boom!"—the stone tray fell down on Zhang Ji’s back foot.
"Oh!"
"My foot… Help! Please help!" the Eighth Prince screamed as if he was a hog being killing.
The stone that fell caused a fracture on Zhang Ji’s foot.
He fainted after a second due to too much pain. He fell down like a dead hog in the middle of the Martial Arts arena. Obviously, it did not go as he had planned.
Two royal security guards ran into the Martial Arts arena, moved the massive stone tray away, and carried him down for treatment.
Coming up, there was another young warrior walking into the Martial Arts arena.
The following warriors were all aged above 16. These were the geniuses being picked out from different families. Most of them could easily lift a 1,000 kg stone tray.
Among the warriors, there were three outstanding ones. All of them had cultivated to the Final State of the Yellow Realm and threw the massive stone tray 20 meters away.
The Fifth Prince, 19 years old with a Final State of the Yellow Realm cultivation, had shot the 1,000 kg stone tray 20 meters away.
The 17-year-old Situ Linjiang, who was the youngest warrior of the Situs, also with a Final State of the Yellow Realm cultivation, performed three meters better than the Fifth Prince.
Xue Kai, aged 19, was the grandson of the minister. He had also cultivated to the Final State of the Yellow Realm and even pushed the result further than Situ Linjiang to a distance of 24 meters.
Aside from Zhang Ruochen, Lin Ningshan, and the Ninth Commandery Princess Zhang Yuxi, the performances of these three warriors were brilliant among everyone in the first round of the power assessment.
Next, it was the second round of the assessment—Hunting in King Mount.
Only warriors who had lifted the 10th stone tray were eligible to enter the second-round assessment.
There were 43 young warriors who had lifted up the 10th stone tray in the first round.
The royal guards led 43 antelope-horses into the Coliseum. Each of them looked like a little elephant, wearing metallic armor with a sharp unicorn-like horn.
On every antelope-horse’s back, there was a meter-and-a-half-long wire-bow and five Thunder Arrows.
The minister stood at the stone table and loudly said, "You have all fully demonstrated your ability by lifting up a 1,000 kg stone tray. You are now qualified to fight against first-level savage beasts. However, the power of a first-level savage beast is much stronger than you imagine. Moreover, their speed is also as fast as lightning.
"With your abilities, you might not be able to kill a savage beast with your Martial Arts skills. Yet, with the use of Thunder Arrows, you will be able to pierce through and take the savage beast down.
"Every one of you will be given five arrows. The more savage beasts killed and the more power that those killed savage beasts have, the better result you will obtain. Only warriors who kill savage beasts are eligible to advance to the third-round assessment—the Martial Arts competition.
"King Mount is full of so much danger that you might lose your life. If you encounter a second-level savage beast, please run at once!" the minister warned the warriors.
"Hunting in King Mount now begins!"
Lin Ningshan pedaled along the back of her antelope-horse and fully showed how elegant and dexterous her bodily movement was. She glanced at Zhang Ruochen and said, "My cousin, I admit that the power assessment is my weaker area. Now it’s my show time! I hope that you can keep up with me in this round of assessment!"
"Bang!"
Lin Ningshan struck the whip on the antelope-horse’s buttock and it immediately expanded its iron heels and streaked across King Mount.