Chapter 74

"Eldest Brother, Xu Yang has reached Great Success in Qi Refining. Should the Huang family send a gift to fulfill our previous friendship?" Huang Jin asked.

Huang Xu shook his head: "If he cannot be used by our Huang family, don't worry about him. From what you've said, this child is probably even more unruly than Lu Ren. Without the support of a noble family and relying only on the martial arts hall's Foundation Establishment martial arts, he will definitely not get a good ranking at the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent.

If he cannot ascend the dragon, he will be at the peak of Great Success in Qi Refining for the rest of his life, and it's almost impossible for him to undergo Marrow Cleansing."

"Yes!" Huang Jin cupped his hands.

He felt that Huang Xu's vision wasn't much longer than Huang Ping's, but Huang Xu's dignity was too great; he dared to talk back to Huang Ping a few times, but he didn't dare to refute Huang Xu.

[Bone Structure: 70]

[Comprehension: 70]

"There are still more than two months left. By then, both bone structure and comprehension will reach 80. I wonder if 80 enters the Grade A realm."

Xu Yang glanced at the panel and got up from the bed.

His bone structure reached 70, but there was no phenomenon of tendon-changing and bone-forging on his body, which meant that he was actually still at Grade B-plus bone structure.

Therefore, even with the same bone structure, there would still be a large gap between individuals.

After eating, Xu Yang went to the Liu family.

Wu Yongfeng, who could originally speak a few words, had been transferred away. He went straight into his room to practice the Diamond Art, and by noon, he returned to the Mighty Far Hall.

With the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent approaching, everyone was putting their all into training, and even Lin Cheng appeared more often, frequently showing up to guide the disciples in their fist techniques.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Fang Xing, Xiong Kui, and Zhang Yong had all reached Great Success in Qi Refining. As for what was going on with Zhang Hong, Xu Yang didn't know.

They rarely communicated anymore.

Zhang Yong reached Great Success in Qi Refining, and it was only when Zhang Yong announced it in the inner courtyard that he knew about it.

This day, just as Xu Yang stepped into the Mighty Far Hall, Sun Tao came looking for him: "Junior Brother Xu, are you going to participate in the Martial Examination's preliminary test?"

Xu Yang nodded: "That's natural."

Sun Tao said: "Registration has already begun. The registration fee is one tael per person. The martial arts hall collects it uniformly, and the hall will handle the registration matters."

Xu Yang was slightly surprised; he really didn't know that registration also cost money. He immediately took out one tael of silver and handed it to Sun Tao.

"Senior Brother Sun, I haven't reached Great Success in Qi Refining yet, so why has registration already begun?" Zhang Hong walked over with an ugly expression.

His bone structure was one grade lower than Zhang Yong's, and his resources were not as abundant as Zhang Yong's, so he hadn't reached Great Success in Qi Refining until now.

If he missed it, wouldn't his previous trip into the mountains to risk his life have been in vain?

Sun Tao smiled: "If Junior Brother Zhang is confident, you can register first. You just need to reach Great Success in Qi Refining before the preliminary test. If you can't reach Great Success in Qi Refining, the registration fee won't be refunded."

Hearing this, Zhang Hong breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he could register in advance. With more than a month left, he had a certain degree of confidence in reaching Great Success in Qi Refining.

"Please, Senior Brother, register for me."

After handing the one tael of silver to Sun Tao, he looked up again, and Xu Yang had already disappeared.

"Sigh..."

He couldn't help but sigh. Unknowingly, his relationship with Xu Yang had reached the point of being as bland as water, no different from that with ordinary disciples in the inner courtyard.

As a batch of people selected by the Huang family, they should have supported each other, but since he wanted to integrate into the circle of Jiang Ping and the others, he couldn't have too deep a relationship with Xu Yang.

"Senior Brother Sun, how many people have registered?" Withdrawing his thoughts, Zhang Hong asked Sun Tao curiously.

"A total of fifteen people have registered, but two of them are like you and haven't reached Great Success in Qi Refining yet."

Zhang Hong gasped: "How many people are participating in total?"

The Mighty Far Hall, which had the fewest disciples in Qingyuan County, had more than a dozen people participating. If all the martial arts halls were added together, plus some family-taught martial arts halls and noble family disciples who hadn't entered a martial arts hall, wouldn't there be one or two hundred people?

The difficulty of the Dragon Ascent was even greater than he had imagined.

"Generally, it won't be less than 130, and when there are many people, it's nearly 200," Sun Tao said.

Zhang Hong bit the bullet and asked: "What ranking do you need to get to obtain the qualification for the Dragon Ascent?"

Obtaining the title of Martial Licentiate did not mean one had the qualification for the Dragon Ascent.

Sun Tao glanced at him and said: "In most cases, you need to be in the top 50 to obtain the qualification for the Dragon Ascent."

Fifty spots sounded like a lot, but when divided among more than a dozen martial arts halls and a crowd of noble families, there weren't many left.

Basically, you had to be in the top five of the martial arts hall to have a chance at the Dragon Ascent; to be safe, you needed to be in the top three.

Zhang Hong's face was extremely ugly. In the Mighty Far Hall, let alone the top five, he couldn't even get into the top ten.

"Junior Brother Zhang, don't be discouraged. For the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent, it's 70% strength and 30% luck. If only the top five people could ascend the dragon, why would everyone else bother?"

"Maybe you'll be lucky and get into the top 50. Such lucky people appear every year."

Zhang Hong's spirits were greatly lifted.

That's right, the Martial Examination's preliminary test involved combat. People like Sun Tao had a chance at the Dragon Ascent, but if they were unlucky and encountered a genius like Kong Yu in the first round of combat and were injured, they would inevitably be eliminated.

People who were lucky but lacked strength could pick up the scraps; maybe they could really ascend the dragon with sheer dumb luck.

A tingling sensation spread throughout his body. Xu Yang's veins bulged, his expression was extremely ferocious, and he was sweating everywhere as if he had been dehydrated.

His spine, arms, and leg tendons roared, emitting a series of cracking sounds.

"The bone structure has finally reached Grade A-minus."

Although it was uncomfortable, the look in his eyes was one of excitement.

Not to mention comprehension, in terms of bone structure alone, he was already on the same level as Kong Yu.

After a while, this discomfort like tendon-changing and bone-forging subsided, and the bone structure improvement ended.

[Bone Structure: 80]

[Comprehension: 70]

[Cultivation: Great Success in Qi Refining]

[Techniques: Diamond Art - Introductory (603/1000), Flying Swallow Art - Great Success, Turtle-Snake Great Stake - Great Success, Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist - Great Success]

[Skills: Mining lv.3 (283/400)]

[Remaining Lifespan: 65]

[Martial Dao Longevity Points: 20]

"Only the Diamond Art is left!"

Xu Yang helplessly closed the panel. The Flying Swallow Art had reached Great Success a few days ago, and only the Diamond Art was still lingering in the introductory stage.

Having spent a year, the training for the introductory stage of the Diamond Art was only half finished; the progress was maddeningly slow.

According to this progress, if he wanted the Diamond Art to reach Great Success, it would take at least ten years.

Even someone like him, who had already achieved an alternative longevity, felt that this time was a bit long.

"Should I use some points to improve it in the future?" Xu Yang pondered.

The Diamond Art was very exquisite. In the past year, although it was still lingering in the introductory stage, under the day-by-day tempering of the Diamond true qi, his physical body was astonishingly hard.

He could resist the attacks of masters at the Small Success of Qi Refining with his physical body alone, and he was confident that ordinary swords could not break his defense.

Even masters at the Great Success of Qi Refining, if they hadn't mastered techniques like the Wind-Thunder Strength that specifically targeted the internal organs, would find it very difficult to hurt him.

"Five more days!"

There were five more days until the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent, but he was still a long way from Marrow Cleansing. However, with his cultivation, it wouldn't be difficult to get a good ranking, and he had no intention of fighting for first place.

His bone structure had changed too much; it would be troublesome if noticed by someone with ulterior motives. Getting the opportunity for the Dragon Ascent would be enough.

At noon, Xu Yang came to the Mighty Far Hall. The atmosphere here was no longer so tense. With the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent approaching, everyone began to relax their minds and conserve their energy.

"Senior Brother Xu!"

"Hello, Senior Brother Xu!"

After more than a year, he had also become an old disciple of the inner courtyard of the Mighty Far Hall. With his cultivation at the Great Success of Qi Refining, disciples who saw him would all cup their hands and salute.

Walking to the positions of Qiu Wenjie and Tian Li, he set up his stance and began to practice the Turtle-Snake Great Stake.

"Senior Brother Zhang Hong is here!"

"Look at his satisfied and proud appearance; I'm afraid he reached Great Success in Qi Refining at this last moment."

Listening to the whispers of the surrounding disciples, Xu Yang looked up and saw Zhang Hong, who hadn't been to the Mighty Far Hall for many days, stepping into the inner courtyard.

His face was glowing, and he was in high spirits.

"Senior Brother Zhang Hong, have you reached Great Success in Qi Refining?" a disciple asked.

Zhang Hong's gaze swept over the people in the inner courtyard, and he smiled: "I succeeded by luck."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people got up and went forward to congratulate him.

Great Success in Qi Refining was only the threshold for the Martial Examination's Dragon Ascent, but for most people, this was a height they could never reach in their entire lives.