by Dragon King
At this moment, Zhao Kuo glimpsed around from Li Xia Arena. He stood proudly in front of a fire-elemental Kun-level cultivator.
He saw Zhao Guang, Zhao Hongyu, two elders, and Premier Xie heading over but didn’t see Zhao Yanzi with them.
“Ay, a grown girl can’t be kept at home,” he thought.
Zhao Kuo shook his head as he sighed. He knew Zhao Yanzi’s heart was closer to Hao Ren already, and he silently swore, “If Hao Ren ever mistreats Zi, I will for sure destroy him!”
“Come on!”
Then, Zhao Kuo shouted at the Kun-level cultivator in his fighting stance.
A wave of majestic aura raised from him.
Hao Ren stood in front of Lu Qi in the Qiu Fen Arena, four to five arenas away from the Li Xia Arena. Both Hao Ren and Zhao Kuo created sword energies.
There were even more cultivators around the Qiu Fen Arena than those who went to watch the Kun-level cultivators.
The title as East Ocean Dragon Palace’s Fuma was more than enough to attract them to watch the battle. On top of that, the Kun-level cultivator would for sure make it to the next round, so they would have a chance to watch an even better battle later on. But Hao Ren, as a Gen-level cultivator, might be battling for the last time at the Dragon God Shrine.
Hao Ren took a deep breath and looked at the crowd around the arena. Then, he shouted, “Please!”
Lu Qi took out a black-and-white chessboard and raised it. Then, 180 black chess pieces and 180 white pieces rolled out of the board.
When Lu Qi fought Hao Ren in the club room back at East Ocean University, he didn’t apply his full force since he was worried about damaging the classroom. He didn’t know anything about Hao Ren’s techniques because it was their first fight ever, and he also underestimated Hao Ren. That was why he lost twice.
But since now they were at the Dragon God Shrine’s arena, Lu Qi could go all out with his dharma treasure!
The area around the Qiu Fen Arena had already been extremely crowded before the battle started. It took Xie Yujia and the others a while to squeeze to the front row, but they immediately got pushed back and forth by the incoming cultivators.
Boom! Boom!
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili couldn’t bear being touched by other people, so they both used their Qian-level power!
As if two bombs exploding in the crowd, it pushed all the cultivators back, making it seem like two stones were thrown into a lake.
The inspectors who were in charge of maintaining order sensed Qian-level powers when they were about to head over, and they were astonished by the strong power!
“So annoying!” Zhen Congming said as he stood between Lu Linlin and Lu Lili. Then, he created a sharp white energy sphere, pushing the cultivators around him one meter away!
An inspector of an even higher level came over to see what was going on, and he suddenly spotted Xie Yujia who was beside Zhen Congming. He saw the light mark shining on her shoulder…
“That is… the special mark from a Soul Formation Realm cultivator,” he thought.
Soul Formation Realm cultivator! The equivalent of the Heavenly Dragon Realm!
The inspectors returned to their assigned area in a rush; there was no way that they could do anything about the order around Qiu Fen Arena!
When the surrounding cultivators were in a hectic mess, Lu Qi and Hao Ren started their battle in the arena!
Lu Qi’s chess pieces floated half a meter above the ground like stars. They reflected each other in a well laid out formation.
Hao Ren used his technique. The 160 colorful sword energies shot out of his back, and they floated beside Hao Ren.
“Woah…”
Many cultivators were surprised to see Hao Ren use his technique for the first time.
Lu Qi was the only calm one because he knew that Hao Ren’s technique was going to be like this.
Lu Qi shook his chess board.
Shoo… Shoo… The 360 chess pieces dashed toward Hao Ren in a very messy order.
It felt like Lu Qi picked up a handful of chess pieces randomly and threw them at Hao Ren.
However, the chess pieces coordinated with each other, demonstrating that the positioning of them wasn’t random at all!
Hao Ren slightly turned and flipped the 160 sword energies to block the 360 chess pieces.
Dang, dang, dang, dang… There were sparks everywhere.
The chess pieces were a part of the dharma treasure, and they were different from the regular ones that Lu Qi used in the classroom last time. All the pieces hidden in the chess board were made of Vermilion Bird Rocks. They went through 49 days of forging and were as hard as diamonds! They entailed incredible power and were assigned Yin and Yang properties and corresponded to black and white colors.
The fire element that the Vermilion Bird Rocks entailed was as powerful as the Samadhi True Flame!
Hao Ren tried his best to defend it with his sword energies. However, the pressure he felt was entirely different from last time!
Lu Qi’s chess board dharma treasure had been thoroughly put to use, and it was challenging to fend against. If Hao Ren didn’t have sword energies, he would never be able to defend himself with just one or two dharma treasures!
“The Vermilion Bird Board is the ultimate treasure of the Wude Forest’s fire-elemental dragon clan. This little cultivator borrowed the dharma treasure from the head elder. No wonder he could rank top from the Jia Mao group.” A cultivator beside the arena recognized the dharma treasure and praised.
“Gen-level is still just Gen-level. There’s a big difference between Gen-level and Dui-level. I suppose he wouldn’t have a chance to win against a dharma treasure like this now,” another cultivator said as he watched the battle.
Seeing Hao Ren having trouble defending himself, Lu Qi applied more nature essence.
The Vermilion Bird Board’s chess pieces gave out a ray of heated light, and all the surrounding cultivators felt a strong energy.
The arena under Hao Ren’s feet became boiling hot, and the chess pieces caught on fire!
Hao Ren’s sword energies suddenly turned black!
The 160 black sword energies were thrown back into the chess pieces!
“It’s indeed the Black Water Scroll again!” Lu Qi was prepared for this. He slightly shook the chess board, and the flame immediately covered up Hao Ren. He knew that Hao Ren was a water-elemental dragon cultivator, and the Black Water Scroll was the most authentic and relatively powerful technique amongst all water-elemental techniques. Therefore, it was not surprising at all.
However, the 160 black sword energies turned white within a second!
Black! White!
Hao Ren’s sword energies changed as Lu Qi’s chess pieces changed. But instead of changing positions, they changed color!
“Black Water Scroll… No… White Metal Scroll…” Lu Qi was a little confused with the chess board in his hand.
Hao Ren’s sword energies slowly purified after waves and waves of trembling.
“Metal creates water, and water counters fire,” Zhen Congming murmured as he stood closer to the arena. He seemed to have put the pieces together.
The white ones were the purest metal-elemental sword energies, and the black ones were the purest water-elemental sword energies.
“Break!”
The 160 sword energies all sprung up. Black sword energies put out the flame on the chess pieces and knocked them away!
The other 160 sword energies Hao Ren kept aside suddenly flew out at this moment!
First, there were 160 black sword energies, and then there were 160 white sword energies. The power of 320 shooting sword energies was way stronger than that of the tiny chess pieces.
The chess board in Lu Qi’s hand suddenly enlarged.
The Vermilion Bird Board was a dharma treasure which could both attack and defend. The chess pieces could attack, and the board could defend.
On top of that, Lu Qi held his natal dharma treasure in his palm; it was al
so a chess board!
Two dharma treasures; one was a natal dharma treasure, and the other was a top-tier dharma treasure!
The Vermilion Bird Board shoot out a ray of black light all of a sudden under the cover of the many chess pieces.
The black light hit Hao Ren’s chest, and the strong impact force pushed him five meters back. He tripped out of the arena.
The very thing that hit Hao Ren’s chest was nothing else but another chess piece.
The 361st chess piece!
Zhao Yanzi screamed out as she jumped up outside the arena.
Boom!
Hao Ren suddenly released a sword energy from the bottom of his left foot, and the tip of his right foot was still in the battle arena!
“Break!”
Hao Ren shouted out again calmly. The sword energies surrounding Lu Qi suddenly united and formed a web, reflecting white light.
The hundun sword energies could break through all five elements!
Lu Qi’s mind turned blank as he felt lightning flashing through his body. The Vermilion Bird Board slipped out of his hand as he fell onto the ground softly.
412 Losing For Sure?!
The audience around the Qiu Fen Arena didn’t understand the situation yet.
Hao Ren kicked the ground lightly with his left foot and returned to the center of the arena.
The 320 sword energies returned to Hao Ren’s body with swooshing sounds.
Lu Qi was unconscious and disheveled while Hao Ren was intact.
“Wow!” The audience exclaimed.
This battle lasted for one hour while the sword energies and the chess pieces fought with each other, but it ended in a flash.
Lu Qi used a dharma treasure to control the chess pieces while Hao Ren controlled his sword energies with his mind directly. Besides, he mostly used 160 sword energies to block the 360 chess pieces, showing people who was stronger.
The inspector responsible for the Qiu Fen Arena was a little stunned as well.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally lifted the sign, ‘Ren Yin’.
There were altogether 24 small arenas in each direction, so there were 96 arenas in total. After defeating Lu Qi, Hao Ren entered the top 48, which meant that even if he lost the rest of the matches, he would be among the top 50 and thus would keep the position of assisting inspector until next year’s Dragon God Shrine’s general exams.
Aside from the 48 who would become assisting inspectors for sure, the other two would be chosen by the main examiners after the combat exams.
“Oh, Third Uncle!”
After seeing Hao Ren winning the battle, Zhao Yanzi suddenly remembered Zhao Kuo and immediately pushed through the crowd toward the Li Xia Arena.
Hao Ren also remembered Zhao Kuo, so he leaped forward lightly and headed in that direction.
Zhao Yanzi who was trying her best to squeeze through the crowd suddenly found herself being lifted into the air. Alarmed, she looked up and found it was Hao Ren.
“Don’t move!” Hao Ren looked down at Zhao Yanzi in his arms and carried her by the waist as he flew toward Li Xia Arena.
Wrapped in Hao Ren’s arms, Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren’s chiseled cheeks, feeling his arms beneath her waist and smelling his warm scent after a battle. Suddenly, her heart began to race.
Bang!
Landing from the sky beside the Li Xia Arena, Hao Ren cleared an open space in the crowd with his presence.
The cultivators around him looked at him. When they saw the silver dragon embroidery on his brown robe that was signaling his identity as an assisting inspector, they kept their silence.
These cultivators were elders in their respective dragon clans, but in the territory of the Dragon God Shrine, they didn’t want to offend even an assisting inspector.
Ignoring the surrounding cultivators, Hao Ren gently put Zhao Yanzi onto the ground.
Zhao Yanzi flushed with embarrassment and couldn’t even look up.
Suddenly, she remembered that her third uncle was still in a battle and immediately looked up at the arena.
On the Li Xia Arena, Zhao Kuo was panting while his body was covered in blood.
“Third Uncle…” Zhao Yanzi forgot her girly muses and screamed at the sight of Zhao Kuo.
With two blazing fireballs on either side of him, the fire-elemental Kun-level cultivator stood in the center of the arena. Except for several tears in his brown robe, he seemed intact.
Zhao Kuo’s right hand shook slightly while it kept a defensive gesture, but his left hand dangled listlessly as if it was broken.
Boom! A burly body dropped to the ground suddenly.
Zhao Yanzi was about to rush over when she saw that it was the Kun-level cultivator who had fallen instead of Zhao Kuo!
“Humph!”
Zhao Kuo snorted in disdain. Standing firmly on the edge of the arena, he took out the bottle of pills Hao Ren gave him and poured out three white Essence Replenishing Pills before swallowing them.
Instantly, some sharp-eyed cultivators saw that Zhao Kuo’s elixir pills were level 4 pills!
“Eating three level 4 pills in one go! From the looks of it, he has one full bottle of them!” they thought.
Even the level 2 inspectors by the arena envied his luxury. After all, level 4 pills were rare even in the Dragon God Shrine!
After swallowing three Essence Replenish Pills, Zhao Kuo’s ashen face regained some luster. After kicking the Kun-level cultivator out of the arena, he looked around viciously before leaping out of the arena.
All the cultivators who met Zhao Kuo’s gaze shivered on the inside.
Down on the ground, Zhao Kuo didn’t greet Zhao Guang and the others. Instead, he sat down at a spot and circulated his nature essence to heal his wounds and digest the nutrients from the Essence Replenishment Pills.
“Third Uncle…” Zhao Yanzi was about to approach him, but Hao Ren stopped her.
“Let Third Uncle rest,” Hao Ren said.
Obviously, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi had missed the climax of the battle. When they arrived at Li Xia Arena, Zhao Kuo had just finished battling the Kun-level cultivator.
Only at Dui-level, Zhao Kuo should not have defeated a Kun-level cultivator; Hao Ren couldn’t imagine how Zhao Kuo managed it.
With her arm in Hao Ren’s hand, Zhao Yanzi’s heart raced like crazy. With a slight nod, she pulled Hao Ren slowly to Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang’s side.
“Ren won the match, right?” Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren and asked him with a faint smile.
“Yeah!” Hao Ren nodded without hesitation.
Meanwhile, another two pairs of cultivators were still battling in the two arenas, but Wang Xi was not among them. Obviously, he had also finished his match.
Xie Yujia took Lu Linlin, Lu Lili, and Zhen Congming to Zhao Hongyu’s side.
“Take this time to get some rest.” Seeing Hao Ren still standing by Zhao Hongyu’s side, Xie Yujia urged him.
The cultivators who had ended their battles earlier would have more time to rest, which was essential to the upcoming fierce battles.
“Gongzi, we’ll help you smooth out your meridians.” Lu Linlin and Lu Lili stood on either side of Hao Ren, and each took one of his arms.
The moment their nature essence entered his palms, it encountered fierce resistance. Suddenly, their hands were bounced off him.
“Arrays are blocking our nature essence in Gongzi’s body!” Lu Linlin and Lu Lili exchanged a look before looking at Hao Ren in surprise.
“Hehehe…” Hao Ren laughed, trying to smooth things over.
He took out the bottle from his necklace and swallowed an Essence Replenishment Pill before sitting down cross-legged in a cool spot.
When Lu Linlin and Lu Lili tried to follow him, Zhao Hongyu reached out her hands and stopped them.
“This is Hao Ren’s chance to improve himself. We’d better let him do it by himself,” Zhao Hongyu said gently while placating them with her eyes.
Dang! Dang… Th
e Dragon God Shrine’s bell sounded.
It was three in the afternoon!
The identity token hanging by Hao Ren’s waist shone with a yellow light.
The identity token on Zhao Kuo, who was sitting not far from him, also lit up.
Yellow lights lit up in ten other places.
Meanwhile, Qin Shaoyang, who was wearing a silver robe with a four-clawed golden dragon embroidery on it, walked out casually in the company of other six level 4 inspectors.
As the main examiner of this region, Qin Shaoyang sat in the biggest armchair in the middle while the six deputy examiners sat on both sides of him.
With a wave of his right hand, the 12 identity tokens from the east exam area flew into Qin Shaoyang’s hands and instantly dimmed.
It meant that another 12 cultivators were disqualified for the next round.
With one wave of his hand, Qin Shaoyang showed everyone his authority.
The remaining 12 cultivators, including Hao Ren, gathered in the grand arena.
After Zhao Kuo had defeated one Kun-level cultivator, there was one Gen-level cultivator, which was Hao Ren, four Dui-level cultivators, six Xun-level cultivators, and one Kun-level cultivator, and they were all males.
Among the original four assisting inspectors, one Dui-level assisting inspector was defeated by a Xun-level cultivator, and only two Xun-level assisting inspectors and Hao Ren were left.
It meant that the Dui-level assisting inspector who had lost the match didn’t pass the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams and thus lost his title as an assisting inspector.
After winning by a narrow margin, Hao Ren entered the top 48 and successfully kept his title of assisting inspector, but he aimed to enter the top ten and become an official inspector so that he could kick Qin Shaoyang out of East Ocean City!
The following combat exams would be held in the grand arena. As a crucial part of the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams, the selection of official inspectors was worthy of the personal attention of Qin Shaoyang, the main examiner.
“The first match…” Qin Shaoyang glanced at each of the 12 cultivators and paused on Hao Ren for half a second before continuing with a loud voice, “Ren Mao versus Ren Yin!”
