by Dragon King
Ren Yin 168 suddenly shot out a wooden awl which instantly pierced Ren Yin 179’s armor and his shoulder before flying out through his back with a trace of blood.
Ren Yin 179 grunted and tried to fight back, but his right leg was pierced by the wooden awl which turned and flew back. With a banging noise, the burly cultivator, nearly two meters tall, sat down in the arena.
“Sorry!”
The Dui-level wooden-elemental dragon cultivator released a green light beam from the wooden bowl and sent the earth-elemental dragon cultivator with the Ren Yin 179 identity token flying out of the arena.
Several earth-elemental elders standing around the arena immediately rushed over to help this cultivator up.
This earth-elemental dragon cultivator pushed the elders off him and struggled up with great fortitude, and he looked defiant.
Obviously, this Ren Yin 197 was a new star in an earth-elemental dragon clan. Having been defeated, there was no use to be upset, and he had no choice but to return to the mountains and cultivate hard for next year’s exam.
The inspector responsible for the Jing Zhe Arena stood up with a cold expression and yelled, “Ren Yin 168 and Ren Yin 246!”
He didn’t even spare a glance at the earth-elemental dragon cultivator who failed. After all, such failures were countless during the Dragon God Shrine’s exams each year.
What the Dragon God Shrine wanted was the top ten who could become official inspectors and 40 masters who were going to become assisting inspectors. The cultivators who failed in the early stages of were not the ones who the Dragon God Shrine were after, no matter how great their backgrounds were.
Standing in the arena, Ren Yin 168 asked for a 15-minute break to adjust. This wood-elemental dragon cultivator would fight Hao Ren whose number was Ren Yin 246 next. If he won, he would gain seven consecutive victories and become the champion of the Ren Yin group, earning the qualification to enter the next stage of the exams.
At the inspector’s nod, Ren Yin 168 hurried out of the arena, and more than ten wood-elemental elders who were waiting around the arena immediately surrounded him. Some helped him smooth out his meridians while one fed him an elixir pill from a bottle. Some other elders glanced at Hao Ren and kept giving Ren Yin 168 tips and instructions.
In ancient times, if a scholar won first place in the imperial exam, he would bring great benefits to his family.
It was the same for the Dragon God Shrine’s general exam. If a cultivator became an official Inspector, no one would dare to mess with the clan he was in. Especially to those middle-ranked dragon clans, the more inspectors they had, the more powerful they were.
“Ren Yin 168 and Ren Yin 246!” The break was over, and the inspector stood up again and yelled.
The wood-elemental dragon cultivator had replenished his nature essence and leaped into the arena.
Steadily, Hao Ren went onto the arena, and the silver dragon embroidery on his shoulder shined in the rising sunlight.
The wood-elemental dragon cultivator had observed Hao Ren’s matches and found that he was good at boxing, but he had no dharma treasures or a high realm.
Despite that, Ren Yin 168 didn’t dare to relax since he was afraid that Hao Ren had been hiding his true power. He also asked the elders from his clan to observe Hao Ren’s companions.
The information he got was very confusing. Among Hao Ren’s cheering group were two beautiful twins who looked very powerful but emitted no lights of dragons’; the mother and daughter were respectively at Xun-level and the Foundation Establishment Realm; another beauty looked like a mortal without any fluctuations of nature essence, but she had silver and golden light encircling her like some dharma treasures; a Li-level kid who looked very fierce; the last person was a hunch-backed old man who was at Xun-level, and his light showed that he came from a water-elemental dragon clan…
“After you!”
“After you!”
On the arena, the wood-elemental dragon cultivator and Hao Ren cupped hands at each other.
Hao Ren’s strange support team and his identity as an assisting inspector confused this cultivator, and that was why he decided to suppress Hao Ren at the very beginning.
The wooden bowl in his hand shot a dazzling green light toward Hao Ren’s heart!
Green Wood Scroll!
This wood-elemental dragon cultivator was only 28 years old, but he had reached top-tier Dui-level, just one step from Xun-level. He was a young star in the Qingcheng Mountain Dragon Palace and even one of the entire wood-elemental dragon tribe.
If he unleashed his full force, even the elders in his clan were not his match.
That was why he was sure that he could suppress Hao Ren’s Gen-level power with one attack! If Hao Ren had been hiding his true power, he would force Hao Ren to show it.
“Be careful!”
Seeing the aggressiveness of the wood-elemental dragon cultivator, Zhao Yanzi shouted outside the arena. After all, the previous earth-elemental dragon cultivator got his shoulder and right leg pierced just a moment ago. Hao Ren reached out his hands, and he absorbed the green light coming his way with a wave!
The Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, absorb!
The power released by the wood-elemental dharma treasure that was powered by the Green Wood Scroll contained pure wood elements, and the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll had the power of absorbing five elements!
Absorbing his opponent’s attack looked risky, but Hao Ren had watched all the matches in the Jing Zhe Arena, and he remembered each of the six matches of this wood-elemental dragon cultivator.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!
Hao Ren absorbed the wood-elemental nature essence because he was sure he could do it!
The wood-elemental nature essence entered Hao Ren’s body through his palms before going to his feet. In one cycle, the energy was completely devoured.
A thin beam of white sword energy shot out from his little finger.
Metal-elemental sword energy! Metal conquered wood!
Almost at the same time, Hao Ren turned lightly and pushed his palm at Ren Yin 168!
The brown wooden awl suddenly shot out from the wood-elemental dragon cultivator’s forehead!
Like a flash, Hao Ren grabbed the wooden awl while the hundun godly lightning in his palm broke the wooden awl into two pieces!
The white sword energy arrived at the wood-elemental dragon cultivator’s side together with Hao Ren.
The wood-elemental dragon cultivator raised his hands to block Hao Ren’s palm, but the sword energy hit him on the chest. As he felt numb all over his body and couldn’t move, his shoulder was struck heavily by Hao Ren’s palm.
Hao Ren’s palm contained more white metal-elemental nature essence!
Feeling as if his whole body was disintegrated, the wood-elemental dragon cultivator took several steps back, not able to defend or attack. As he was forced back, he stepped into the air and fell from the arena!
Bang! He fell from the huge arena, and dust rose upon his fall.
The wood-elemental elders hurried over and helped the young cultivator with the identify token Ren Yin 168 up.
“Thank you!” Hao Ren stood on the edge of the arena and cupped his hands gracefully.
Standing on the ground, Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren in his fluttering robe with stars in her eyes.
“How come Hao Ren looks so dashing all of a sudden?” she thought.
Numb and sore all over, the wood-elemental dragon cultivator looked up at Hao Ren with rage and yelled with gritted teeth, “You cheated!”
Seeing people turning their eyes to him, he pointed at Zhao Yanzi and the others with ambiguous backgrounds and yelled, “They must have been assisting him with hidden weapons!”
“Hey! Careful with your words!” Zhao Yanzi jumped out and yelled, pointing her finger at the wood-elemental dragon cultivator.
“How could a Gen-level cultivator win six battles consecutively?
It must have been you guys who have been assisting him in secret!” Looking at Zhao Yanzi and the people around her, the wood-elemental dragon cultivator stood up and yelled.
The inspector responsible for this arena ignored this argument and lifted his right hand. The identity token hanging at the waist of this wood-elemental dragon cultivator flew into the inspector’s hand and turned black instantly.
It meant that the wood-elemental dragon cultivator was disqualified for the rest of the competition, and the inspector decided that Hao Ren won the match.
“I don’t agree! They used hidden weapons! You must investigate them!” The wood-elemental dragon cultivator pointed at Zhao Yanzi and the others, yelling in a loud voice.
As a young master from the Qingcheng Mountain Dragon Palace, it was a big disgrace for him to be defeated by a Gen-level cultivator with two attacks.
“You are a lousy loser! Useless!” Zhao Yanzi got angrier and made a face at the wood-elemental dragon cultivator.
It instantly enraged the wood-elemental dragon cultivator. Standing up, he yelled at the elders by his side, “Elder Liu, Elder Ye, teach them a lesson!”
The Qingcheng Mountain Dragon Palace was a big force in the southeast area, and this wood-elemental dragon cultivator was the son of the dragon king there. Feeling cheated, he got angry at Zhao Yanzi’s provocation and lost his temper.
“Ren Yin 246 from the East Ocean Dragon Palace is the winner!” Standing in the arena, the inspector declared.
“East Ocean Dragon Palace…” Although the inspector’s voice was not loud, his words stunned all the cultivators around the Jing Zhe Arena.
“East Ocean Dragon Palace?”
The wood-elemental elders from the Qingcheng Mountain all looked at Zhao Yanzi and her group in astonishment, and the other forces nearby stared at Zhao Hongyu and the others in bafflement.
Each of the 24 arenas would get one final winner whose clan and origin would be declared at the end of the elimination matches.
“The East Ocean Dragon Palace also entered the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams?”
The news instantly caused an upheaval around the Jing Zhe Arena!
The elders of the Qingcheng Mountain immediately dragged their young prince out of the area without a fuss.
After all, they couldn’t afford to mess with the East Ocean Dragon Palace!
409 Zhao Guang’s Reason
Hao Ren looked over to the Li Xia Arena and realized that it was empty as well. It meant that the battles in the Li Xia Arena had finished earlier.
The cultivators beside the Jing Zhe Arena were whispering into each others’ ears.
Hao Ren was only at Gen-level, but his performance was outstanding in the Ren Yin group. It was unbelievable, but experienced cultivators knew that it was impossible to cheat.
Each arena around the Dragon God Shrine had its own energy sphere which could resist any nature essence from cultivators below Kun-level. In fact, even if a Qian-level or Kun-level master were to break through the energy sphere, it would cause an obvious quack.
Since the cultivators outside of the arena couldn’t help, the only ones who could influence the outcome of the match would be the two participants.
Therefore, as many cultivators watched Hao Ren slowly jump down onto the ground, they were all surprised at this cultivator with the token ‘Ren Yin 246’.
“Great techniques! He seems to be only at Gen-level, yet his strength is impressive!” they thought.
Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren in surprise as well. She thought he wasn’t good at battling, but he appeared to be an experienced cultivator. He was both calm and fast!
That wood-elemental cultivator didn’t even get a chance to use his most powerful technique before Hao Ren kicked him out of the arena.
In Zhao Hongyu’s opinion, that cultivator might even have the chance to rank in the top 50 in the general exams. However, Hao Ren defeated this powerful cultivator…
Hao Ren was an absolute surprise to all of them!
In war, the key is to trick your enemies. In other words, have your enemies think you are going to use one method but use another; have your enemies think you are going near them but get very far; have your enemies think you are going away but get near; tease them if they are easily triggered; spoil them if they are timid; annoy them if they are in peace; split them if they are united; attack them when they are least prepared; and take actions that surprise them.
Hao Ren seemed to be using random techniques, but he was using the art of war.
Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren differently and thought, “Who said that he couldn’t be the Commanding General of East Ocean!”
“Grandma made you these zongzi for you, Hao Ren.” Xie Yujia walked to Hao Ren, took out two hot zongzi out of her bag, and handed them to him.
“What did you guys say to Grandma?” Hao Ren asked as he peeled the zongzi.
“I told her that you are going on a trip with Zi’s family and will be back tomorrow,” Xie Yujia answered.
Hao Ren nodded as he quickly ate half a zongzi. He hadn’t had any food since he got to the Dragon God Shrine last night and was starving after so many battles.
Xie Yujia covered her mouth and giggled when she saw Hao Ren devouring the food.
Zhao Yanzi stood half a meter away from them, and she got so mad when she saw them acting all lovey-dovey.
“I made these elixir pills for you to replenish your nature essence,” Xie Yujia took a white porcelain bottle out of her pocket and put it in Hao Ren’s hand.
Hao Ren sensed a strong surge of nature essence as soon as he opened it.
“There are 60 Essence Replenishment Pills,” Xie Yujia said.
She said it as if it was not a big deal, but these elixir pills were all valuable level 4 elixir pills! When she learned from Zhao Hongyu that Hao Ren was attending the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams, she stayed up a few nights and made them particularly for Hao Ren.
“Um, thank you very much,” Hao Ren put the bottle into his necklace. He was a little touched when he noticed the dark circles under Xie Yujia’s eyes.
If the surrounding cultivators were to see a bottle filled with 60 level 4 Essence Replenishment Pills, they would definitely be extremely jealous!
“Um…” Hao Ren suddenly asked Xie Yujia, “Did you…break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm?”
“Um…I broke through yesterday.” She slightly nodded.
“Haha, congrats! I thought I felt something different about you,” Hao Ren said happily.
Xie Yujia used to look a bit weak when she stood beside Zhao Yanzi. However, her temperament seemed to be even stronger than that of Zhao Yanzi’s today.
The Life-Death Notes could connect with heaven and earth. Therefore, Xie Yujia appeared to be more powerful than Zhao Yanzi even though they were both at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
“It’s alright…” Xie Yujia blushed a little. She used about 20 Foundation Establishment Pills in total to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Therefore, it wasn’t really something worth congratulating.
Hao Ren looked around and noticed that about six more battles were happening right now. The cultivators beside Jing Zhe Arena slowly spattered; they either went for a break in the outer city or went to watch the battles in the other arenas.
Dang…dang…dang… The bell at the Dragon God Shrine rang again.
It was noon!
There were 96 small arenas from east to west and south to north. All the battles have been completed, and 96 winners had been generated in total within eight hours.
All the level 4 inspectors on the stage entered the Dragon God Shrine. The level 2 inspectors who were in charge of the battle arenas followed their superiors and went back to the Dragon God Shrine. They had to issue internal reports, analyze scores, and generate the list.
The upcoming battles would take place between one to three in the afternoon!
Hao Ren looked over at the Li Xia
Arena; many cultivators were leaving. Then, he looked in the Dragon God Shrine’s direction but didn’t see Zhao Guang and the two elders coming out.
Zhao Yanzi was a little worried as well. She stood on her tip-toes and looked toward the Dragon God Shrine.
At this moment, Zhao Guang, the two elders, and six inspectors walked out of the Dragon God Shrine’s door.
“Dad!” Zhao Yanzi waved her hands. She was finally relieved to see Zhao Guang coming out.
Zhao Guang headed toward the Jing Zhe Arena calmly along with Elder Lu and Elder Sun.
Zhao Hongyu walked to them and asked worriedly, “How was it?”
Zhao Guang didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked, “How were Ren’s battles?”
“Not bad; he placed first in the Ren Yin group,” Zhao Hongyu answered.
“Oh?” Zhao Guang was slightly surprised; He obviously didn’t expect Hao Ren to win in the Ren Yin group.
He looked at Zhao Hongyu and said, “The Dragon God Shrine thinks that both East Ocean and West Ocean need to abide by the rules. They are still keeping Black Wolf, a top master of the West Ocean, in the Dragon God Shrine’s prison, and they didn’t release him even though the West Ocean Dragon Palace requested several times.”
“Black Wolf murdered several inspectors; they sure won’t release him,” Zhao Hongyu said.
“Therefore, they said that it is ok if we want our stuff back, but our cultivator needs to rank top three in the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams!” Zhao Guang exclaimed.
“B*stards!” Zhao Hongyu became furious suddenly, and it even startled Zhao Yanzi.
Zhao Hongyu looked at Zhao Guang and thought for a bit before saying, “We have several Qian-level and Kun-level elders, and it shouldn’t be hard for them to rank within the top three in the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams. But wouldn’t that be beneath them; they wouldn’t want to fight for the Dragon God Shrine’s inspector positions. We are already giving them face to let Hao Ren attend this general exam in East Ocean’s name!”
“Isn’t Third Uncle here this time too, mom?” Zhao Yanzi interrupted.
“Your third uncle is attending as an individual. He isn’t representing the East Ocean Dragon Palace even if he ranked within the top three,” Zhao Guang said.
