Chapter 16: The Final Event—Claiming First Place!
Up on the platform, the imposing Blade-Bearer spoke sternly:
“Third event: assessment of willpower.”
At his words, the dark shadow in most contestants’ eyes lifted somewhat, hope rekindling in their hearts.
This was especially true for those elites ranked between twentieth and fortieth, their faces lit with excitement, as though they’d just grasped a final lifeline.
When it came to sheer martial resolve, who was truly weaker than whom?
No one was willing to concede!
Talent was granted by heaven, but willpower belonged entirely to oneself.
The leader of the Heavenly Mystery Guard’s Blade-Bearers, in his orange flying-fish robe, gave the command:
“Bring out the artifact!”
A moment later, one of the Blade-Bearers carried forward a tray holding a single snow-white bell, its surface crystal-clear, glinting faintly with an inner light.
The orange-robed figure explained the rules:
“All contestants compete simultaneously, enduring the sound of the bell. Your score is determined by how long you can hold out. Should anyone be unable to continue, they may cover their ears or seal off their ear’s acupoints.”
The moment he finished speaking, the thirty-two Blade-Bearers spread out to the four corners, drew out an assortment of talismans, and formed a circle around the platform, placing the bell artifact directly at the front.
Seeing the contestants scramble for positions toward the back, the orange-robed figure spoke coldly:
“Every position is the same.”
At those words, no one dared step to the front.
Young Master Qilin, Zhao Yao, took the lead without hesitation, claiming the spot nearest the bell.
Gu Lin and Zhu Yuting stepped forward as well, settling cross-legged on either side.
Seeing this, the academy’s many prodigies followed suit one after another, sitting down, drawing breath deep into their dantians, casting aside every stray thought.
A moment later, all eighty contestants had taken their seats.
Ding—
Ding—
Ding, ding, ding—
As the crisp, melodious ringing of the bell began, a wash of blood-red flooded every contestant’s vision, their minds plunging into a horrific, blood-soaked purgatory.
Mountains of corpses, seas of blood, bridges built of bleached bone—before every single one of them, ghastly hordes of skeletons materialized.
“Kill!”
The skeletons’ voices rasped with murderous intent that shook the heavens, surging forward instantly, tearing at every scrap of flesh belonging to the intruders.
“Spare me!” one contestant screamed, his face twisted in horror, hysterical.
He suddenly clapped his hands over his ears, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
He snapped fully awake from the terrifying vision.
He looked around and saw that the other seventy-nine contestants were still deep in the trial.
Drenched in sweat, this contestant couldn’t hide the shame written across his face.
Right after, another dozen or so contestants sealed off their ear acupoints, snapping awake from the vision.
It had all felt too real!
Whether it was the wave of murderous intent bearing down on them, the pain of skeletal teeth tearing into flesh, or the thick reek of blood blanketing heaven and earth—it had all felt so real that even after waking, chills still ran down their spines.
But within Gu Lin’s own world—
His stride remained steady as he walked step by step across the bridge of bleached bone.
More than a dozen skeletons already lay felled before him.
His face held not a trace of fear, only the thrill of the slaughter.
As for whether it might shake his resolve?
What a joke!
He cultivated both Confucian and Martial Dao!
Righteous Energy could sharpen focus!
Even if he hadn’t opened his Literary Palace, this vision would never have frightened him.
Because he believed, without a doubt, that the more he killed, the stronger he grew!
Those hideous, ferocious skeletons were, in his eyes, nothing more than evildoers steeped in unforgivable sin. The more he killed, the more thrilled he became—killing until his whole body was drenched in blood, killing until the sea of blood churned with an uncountable swarm of skeletons.
BOOM!
Gu Lin simply leapt down from the bone bridge, plunging straight into the bloody sea of skeletons—killing this way was far more satisfying.
Back in reality, half an incense stick’s time had passed, and seventy contestants had already woken one after another, limbs frozen stiff, that same hellish vision resurfacing the instant they so much as closed their eyes.
And among the final ten—Gu Lin remained.
Whether it was the density of his internal energy, his reaction and judgment, or now his sheer willpower in cultivation, this so-called parasite from the Wilderness cohort ranked among the academy’s top ten in every single category!
Every category except cultivation realm itself.
As Wei Yuan, Wei Xuan, Lin Yan’er, Yan Zhengzhao, and Li Jiuzhi woke one after another—
within the artifact’s range of effect, only five remained!
Li Qingwu and Yan Shouxu sealed their ear acupoints at nearly the same instant, Li Qingwu managing it half a breath faster.
Li Qingwu glanced around, and when she saw Gu Lin still sitting there, utterly unmoved, jealousy and fury flared up so hot she nearly laughed.
‘The surnamed Gu had stronger willpower than her?’
It was the most absurd joke in this entire world!
She’d cultivated by any means necessary, all in pursuit of becoming a Blade-Bearer—nothing external could ever be allowed to shake her ambition or her resolve!
‘What right did the surnamed Gu have?’
A spineless coward who’d once groveled and squandered his entire family’s fortune just chasing after her—what possible willpower could he have?
With the eyes of the entire assembly fixed upon them, as more and more onlookers streamed into the academy grounds, Zhu Yuting slowly stirred awake, the ferocious, twisted expression on his face smoothing back into calm.
He glanced toward Young Master Qilin’s direction, then swept his eyes further—his normally composed gaze filled suddenly with genuine shock.
‘How could this be possible?!’
Time crept slowly onward, and the entire academy fell into dead silence.
Two remained, still holding on.
Another half incense-stick’s time passed, and Zhao Yao finally sealed his own ear acupoints—yet he didn’t open his eyes, wanting to savor once more that familiar chorus of admiration echoing across the crowd.
He knew, without question, that he was still first.
But the graveyard-like stillness pressing in around him, that hair-raising silence, made Zhao Yao’s brow furrow despite himself.
He opened his eyes—and saw the shocked expressions on every single Blade-Bearer’s face.
A hint of pride still lingered in Zhao Yao’s eyes, but in the next instant his pupils contracted sharply, his eyes locked wide in a fixed stare, his whole face washed with disbelief.
“He lost!”
“Young Master Qilin actually lost…”
Countless onlookers murmured amongst themselves, the impact of this moment beyond anything that had come before.
The academy’s leadership stood frozen like clay statues—never in their wildest imagination had they thought Zhao Qilin might taste the flavor of defeat!!
This was the young man who had crushed every single subject, held first place without exception—whether in mastering martial arts, in outside trials, or in the academy’s own internal assessments, for three full years straight, Zhao Yao’s name had always stood at the summit.
In the first two events, Zhu Yuting had certainly proven himself exceptional—even the headmaster’s own eldest legitimate grandson had paled before him.
But so what?
Zhu Yuting and Zhao Qilin still stood worlds apart!
Zhao Qilin had still managed to remain far, far ahead.
But in this final event—he had lost, and lost completely!
In front of the entire county, his willpower in cultivation had proven inferior to Gu Lin’s.
Magistrate Lu, positively glowing, turned to Deputy Magistrate Zhao beside him and said with a smile:
“Well now, seems Young Master Qilin’s been outdone by someone else!”
He deliberately raised his voice, tone light and pointed.
The Zhao Family held great power, having produced Zhao Can, and with Zhao Yao growing more impressive by the day, Deputy Magistrate Zhao had grown careless of proper hierarchy, his reach for influence extending even ahead of his own superior’s.
Now, at last, an opportunity had presented itself to give his deputy a good, satisfying dose of humiliation—how could he not enjoy this?
Deputy Magistrate Zhao’s expression turned rigid as iron, his eyes growing colder by the moment.
Though this single loss wouldn’t affect the trial’s overall outcome—a loss was still a loss, and it might well shake young Yao’s cultivation resolve.
If Can’er, stationed within the Martial Extremity Palace, ever learned of this, he’d be bitterly disappointed—failing even to dominate Shiyang Academy already counted as a serious loss of face!
‘Gu Lin, was it? Just what manner of evil art did you use?’
Among the crowd of onlookers, the chief escort of the Tongxing Escort Agency hurried away, rushing back to the agency—he had to tell Changchuan at once, had to let him witness his son’s magnificent moment with his own eyes.
Another incense stick’s time passed, and Zhao Yao’s expression grew steadily uglier. Unable to hold back any longer, he turned toward the four Blade-Bearer Bureaus.
“Honored elders, might this artifact have proven ineffective against Gu Lin? I humbly request an inspection.”
The words had barely left his mouth.
“Insolence!”
The leader of the Heavenly Mystery Guard’s Blade-Bearers closed the distance in a single step, his voice deliberate and cutting:
“Are you questioning the fairness of a trial established by the dynasty itself? Or do you not trust the artifacts of the Heavenly Mystery Guard?”
Deputy Magistrate Zhao, hearing this, was consumed with fury, roaring at Zhao Yao:
“Shut your mouth! Apologize to the honored elders at once!!”
Zhao Yao regained his composure, cupping his fists and bowing deeply.
“I spoke out of line. I beg your magnanimous forgiveness.”
At that moment, a Blade-Bearer of the Martial Extremity Palace strode forward, his voice low and severe:
“This artifact is the masterwork of a Grand Master of the Heavenly Mystery Guard’s formation arts—how dare you question it? Given that you are a contestant, I shall let this pass just once. Were you standing in Chu Province itself and dared voice such doubt about a Grand Master of the Heavenly Mystery Guard’s arcane arts, you would be thrown straight into the Heavenly Mystery dungeon, to suffer torment for the rest of your life!”
Zhao Yao bowed in apology once more, his posture utterly humble.
Only then did the orange-robed Blade-Bearer of the Heavenly Mystery Guard let the matter drop.
Though he himself was merely a Blade-Bearer—
while Lord Zhao Can held a position within the Martial Extremity Palace itself—
on this occasion, he represented the entire dynasty. Never mind Lord Zhao—even someone with far greater power and standing than Lord Zhao could not interfere, nor exact any revenge afterward.
Inside and outside the square, countless onlookers had witnessed with their own eyes Young Master Qilin losing his composure.
‘So the once-radiant, spirited Zhao Qilin could also be a sore loser—could also reveal such an unbecoming side of himself?’
Win, and it’s simply his due.
Lose, and suddenly the Sacred Ground’s own artifact must be called into question?
No one was without flaw, it seemed.
And it was at this very moment that Gu Lin slowly stirred awake.
Not because his strength had given out, unable to hold on any longer.
But because the sea of blood and skeletons had simply vanished. He’d been drifting aimlessly through that crimson sea, all the way to its very end.
In an instant, every eye in the square turned to a single person.
Everyone stared fixedly at this contestant whose willpower defied all reason.
No one could have imagined that the one to defeat Young Master Qilin would come from the Wilderness cohort, that hall crawling with parasites.
This young man—once nothing more than a laughingstock the moment he’d registered—now sat in complete silence, as though declaring to the entirety of Shiyang County:
‘Now, tell me—who’s the real joke here?’
A group of Blade-Bearers deployed every secret art and pupil technique their bureaus possessed, attempting to see straight through this young man.
Yet, they found nothing—he was no different from an ordinary cultivator, no special spiritual physique of any kind.
The Blade-Bearers had no choice but to give up.
As followers of the Sacred Grounds, they naturally possessed deep knowledge of many advanced cultivation principles.
Every person’s body was, in its own way, a buried treasury—it merely depended on how much of it one could unearth—and Gu Lin had clearly pushed his own body to its absolute limit.
But it was such a shame that his talent and bone-foundation were so constrained!
Had he reached the Cavern Mystery realm, he would have stood an excellent chance at claiming one of Chuwei Prefecture’s six coveted spots.
But at Energy Condensation Third Tier, even becoming a mere Blade-Bearer remained little more than a fantasy.
The orange-robed figure announced the results before the entire assembly:
“First, Gu Lin!”
“Second, Zhao Yao!”
“Third, Zhu Yuting!”
“Fourth, Yan Shouxu!”
“Fifth, Li Qingwu!”
“………”
Once the list had been read out, the thirty-two Blade-Bearers began tallying the final combined rankings across all three events—the top twenty would advance to combat, the remaining sixty eliminated entirely.
Half a cup of tea later, under the weight of countless watching eyes, the orange-robed figure held up the final list and announced with resonant clarity:
“The twenty who advance to the final trial are as follows—”
“First, Zhao Yao!”
“Second, Zhu Yuting!”
“Third, Gu Lin!”
“Fourth, Yan Shouxu!”
“Fifth, Liu Si!”
“Sixth, Li Qingwu!”
“Seventh, Wu Tong!”
“Eighth, Wei Xuan!”
“Ninth, Yan Zhengzhao!”
“Tenth, Li Jiuzhi!”
“……..”
“Twentieth, Lu Pi!”
“All remaining contestants have been eliminated. Return to the square at once.”
The sixty eliminated stood there, utterly lost—defeated in this trial, their futures now dim and uncertain.
Leaving the academy to make their way through the wider world, joining some sect as an outer disciple.
That was the best path left to them now.
However unwilling to accept it they might be, a loss was a loss—three full events, every chance given, and if you still couldn’t measure up to others, that only proved your own inadequacy.
The Blade-Bearer looked to the twenty who remained, his voice gentler now:
“Rest for one shichen. Then the real combat trial begins.”
The twenty nodded one after another, each finding a spot to sit cross-legged and close their eyes.
Zhao Yao stared at Gu Lin for a long moment, then walked slowly over.
“Yao’er!”
Deputy Magistrate Zhao, seeing this, suddenly called out sharply.
He knew his son had taken a hard blow, but this Gu Lin fellow was in no way a true rival—Yao’er’s real stage lay a month from now, in Chuwei Prefecture. There was no need to lose his composure in front of so many watching eyes and hand people something to gossip about.
Zhao Yao drew a deep breath, stopped in his tracks, turned, and walked away.
Li Qingwu approached her former lapdog instead, her voice icy cold:
“Tell me—just what crooked, underhanded path have you been walking? Do you really think cultivating some evil art as a shortcut can hide how fundamentally mediocre and worthless you are underneath?”
Gu Lin fixed her with a cold stare, his words deliberate and clipped:
“Get as far away from me as you possibly can. What do you even think you are?”
Li Qingwu’s smile turned to ice, fury sweeping through her in waves, though she forced herself to hold her composure, leaving him with only these parting words:
“You’re ranked third right now. Do you really think you’ll place third in actual combat? Pray you don’t draw me as your opponent on the combat stage!!”
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