Chapter 59: Sect Minor Examination

The immortal path knows no days or months; on this day, Xiang Little Wei Yuan finally completed the forging of his sinews and muscles, his physical strength surging dramatically, and thus the sect's minor examination arrived. This examination targeted only Xiang Little Wei Yuan's cohort, a temporary test originally of little importance, with modest rewards—useful only to Xiang Little Wei Yuan and a handful of others.

Yet in recent years, the Dingxin Faction's moves had grown increasingly bold: beyond centralized instruction, they were preparing to unify disciple recruitment—revoking each hall's True Person's right to personally select disciples, instead having the Taichu Palace recruit uniformly through the sect's grand examination, then redistributing the accepted disciples. Each hall could now choose only from those already selected by the palace. Naturally, the True Lords would still retain some autonomous slots, but these would be strictly limited.

The Zhigu Faction naturally resisted fiercely, and tensions between the two factions intensified. Under this backdrop, the comparison between Xiang Little Wei Yuan, Bao Yun, and other disciples of the first centralized cohort and the Zhigu disciples became crucial—after all, which faction was superior could best be proven by their own cultivated disciples, trained for three full years.

Thus, several True Lords proposed elevating the importance of this minor examination by one level and dividing it into two parts. The first part remained a faction-vs-faction battle, decided by arena matches to determine rankings. The second part involved combat against selected non-human races.

After three years of study, a small portion of disciples had already forged their Dao Bases; most of the rest had reached the pinnacle of Body Forging, awaiting only a breakthrough to establish their Dao Base. By Taichu Palace convention, the Foundation Establishment realm marked the true beginning of the immortal path, granting eligibility to wage war against non-human races.

On the first day of the minor examination, the faction-vs-faction battle was spectacular.

Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu had perfected the Immortal Sword of the Great Sun—the culmination of the Great Sun Embracing Sword Scripture. Over centuries, countless had practiced this art, yet only one in a thousand achieved the Immortal Sword of the Great Sun. With the Immortal Sword in hand, Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu slaughtered all before him.

Bao Yun had perfected her Spirit Refinement, just one step from the Dao Base. Though not yet at Foundation Establishment, her Dao techniques were extraordinarily potent, her treasures abundant—fully armed to the teeth. With every gesture, several divine and demonic wheels rotated above her head, vying to aid her, and she too slaughtered all before her, leaving many Zhigu Foundation Establishment disciples dusty and humiliated.

Compared to Bao Yun and Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu, Cui Yu was slightly inferior, but the Cui family's depth was immense; his treasures rivaled Bao Yun's. His ancestral master's gift was an Immortal Sword, its killing power only slightly less than theirs. In the end, he single-handedly defeated four Zhigu recipients of ancestral gifts—still a glorious feat.

At this point, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's sinews and muscles were fully forged, his body like jade, his appearance exceptional, and his durability truly formidable. Even if he faced Xu Du's magic weapon again, he would suffer only superficial wounds—no more piercing through his body. Whether by coincidence or not, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's first opponent in the examination was Xu Du.

Enemies meeting, naturally, burned with hatred. Not to mention Xiang Little Wei Yuan, Xu Du had been relentlessly targeted by Xu Xu Henshui these past months, subjected to countless petty humiliations, forced to endure scolding from the Xu family's ancestral elders every few days, and had half his cultivation resources seized by Xu Xu Henshui. Only after much inquiry did Xu Du's parents learn the truth: Xu Xu Henshui had been severely humiliated by Zhang Sheng after Xu Du injured Xiang Little Wei Yuan, and now he was taking revenge on Xu Du.

Yet Xu Xu Henshui's talent was supreme, and as the direct grandson of an ancestral elder, Xu Du could only endure whatever he did. As for skill, Xu Xu Henshui only seemed weak against Zhang Sheng and Ji Ji Liuli; among the Xu family's younger generation, none could withstand him for ten strikes—most fell to a single slap.

If Xu Du had once felt envy that day, now, facing Xiang Little Wei Yuan again, he felt only hatred.

The sect's minor examination forbade the use of magic weapons—only Dao Base and Dao techniques could be used to strike opponents. At the start, Xu Du's hands glowed brilliantly as multiple Dao techniques slammed toward Xiang Little Wei Yuan. Then Xiang Little Wei Yuan burst through the techniques, lunging forward with a massive hand—nearly seizing Xu Du's head. Xu Du was stunned, immediately retreating. He had long since established his Dao Base, his movement swift; Xiang Little Wei Yuan, however, was still slow and unrefined, unable to catch him.

Though Xiang Little Wei Yuan could not catch Xu Du, Xu Du's Dao techniques could not harm him. Soon, Xu Du's Dao power was spent, and in panic, he fled in circles. But Xiang Little Wei Yuan's body was monstrous—his stamina equaled eight or nine times that of a Mingwang Hall disciple at the same realm, over ten times Xu Du's—so he pursued relentlessly, never knowing fatigue.

Xu Du, chased by Xiang Little Wei Yuan, fled up mountains and into the earth, running hundreds of laps until he was vomiting. Xiang Little Wei Yuan nearly caught him several times, but always fell just short, chasing behind him with sighs and shouts. Xu Du always felt Xiang Little Wei Yuan's voice right behind his head, never daring to look back, until finally collapsing from exhaustion, his body pinned under Xiang Little Wei Yuan's light footstep—Xiang Little Wei Yuan feared crushing him and making him vomit again.

After defeating Xu Du, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's next opponent fell the same way—though this time, Xiang Little Wei Yuan pursued silently, without shouting to frighten his foe. The man had no sense of Xiang Little Wei Yuan's distance, only ran blindly until he collapsed. But Xiang Little Wei Yuan's match took too long; by the time the second opponent finished, the Zhigu Faction had already lost.

Originally, the agreement had been that each disciple fight four opponents; Xiang Little Wei Yuan fought two fewer, and Bao Yun fought them for him.

After the matches ended, Xiang Little Wei Yuan learned Xu Du was also a recipient of an ancestral gift—though no one could recall what exactly had been bestowed upon him back then.

For the second round against non-human races, the Taichu Palace selected Mountain Folk.

When the two-zhang-tall Mountain Folk entered the arena, Xiang Little Wei Yuan suddenly recalled a question from the written examination. Only now did he understand why a victory of two hundred seventy-three decapitations against eight thousand elite soldiers was called a great triumph.

The Mountain Folk before Xiang Little Wei Yuan wore animal hides, gripping a tree trunk. Xiang Little Wei Yuan was barely taller than his knee. The Mountain Folk looked down at him and let out a deafening roar, swinging the trunk down with all his might!

Xiang Little Wei Yuan sidestepped, and the trunk slammed into the ground, shards of stone striking his body with loud thuds—painfully so. Enraged by the miss, the Mountain Folk bent low and swept the trunk horizontally along the ground toward Xiang Little Wei Yuan.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan's weapon remained the twelve-foot spear—a Foundation Establishment magic weapon, which he, not yet at Foundation Establishment, could only use as an ordinary spear. Seeing the trunk sweep toward him with mountain-moving force, Xiang Little Wei Yuan raised his spear—and chose to block it head-on!

A dull boom echoed; wood splinters flew. The trunk shattered under the impact, and Xiang Little Wei Yuan was thrown back several zhang, his feet sinking deep into the earth, gouging two furrows.

A flush rose on Xiang Little Wei Yuan's face, a metallic sweetness surged in his throat, his muscles bulged and writhed. Though brutal, he had taken the Mountain Folk's full-force blow straight on!

The Mountain Folk was not unscathed—he shook his hand several times, then switched the broken trunk to his other hand.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan had caught his breath and strode forward, thrusting his spear at the Mountain Folk's knee. The Mountain Folk, without hesitation, stomped down—only for Xiang Little Wei Yuan to plant his spear firmly into the ground and hold it steady! The Mountain Folk's foot came down—and he screamed in agony as the spear's tip pierced his sole, bursting through the instep.

Beneath the Mountain Folk's foot, Xiang Little Wei Yuan held the spear with one hand and braced his bent elbow against the Mountain Folk's sole—blocking the full-force stomp again. This was Xiang Little Wei Yuan's second direct test of strength against the Mountain Folk.

The Mountain Folk yanked his foot free; Xiang Little Wei Yuan retracted his spear, darting through the Mountain Folk's legs like a charging steed, sweeping his spear sideways and opening a deep gash along the inner thigh.

The Mountain Folk, wounded repeatedly, roared in fury, crouching to grab Xiang Little Wei Yuan. But Xiang Little Wei Yuan moved with uncanny agility, already circling behind him. Leveraging the Mountain Folk's crouch, he thrust his spear upward with full force—stabbing straight into the front of the Mountain Folk's groin!

The Mountain Folk's scream echoed through the entire examination grounds; every male spectator, whether Zhigu or Dingxin, instinctively clenched their legs.

The rest of the battle was simple: Xiang Little Wei Yuan smashed the Mountain Folk's ankle with his spear, then drove the spear through its throat as it fell. The Mountain Folk's body was remarkably tough—Xiang Little Wei Yuan's spear, capable of shattering boulders, struck the ankle multiple times before finally breaking it, leaving blood trickling from his lips.

After killing the Mountain Folk, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's tension eased, and sweat poured from his body. Only then did he feel pain everywhere—his vision darkened. Fortunately, the examining Daoist promptly fed him an elixir, preventing him from fainting.

Though brief, the battle was extremely fierce; countless micro-wounds had formed inside Xiang Little Wei Yuan's body. Had it not been for the elixir's power holding him together, he would have already spat blood.

(End of Chapter)