Ling Han walked through the mountains, walking along a narrow mountain path towards the Fallen Goose Valley. On the way, he encountered many battles, but he obviously quelled them easily with his strength.
If his opponent showed killing intent, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them, but if the other party simply wanted to rob, then he would give them a way out. After all, contending over tokens was the rule of the game, and not personal grievance.
Battle after battle, Ling Han finally suppressed his Sword Qi, forming Fist Qi once again.
Comprehension of a rule led to comprehension of all rules—the world martial arts was originally from one source.
Ling Han comprehended by analogy, thinking, ‘I encountered a bottleneck in my cultivation of Sword Qi: from the fifth flash, it has been no longer smooth. In reality, the fifth one appeared because father was captured and I broke through the shackles under fury. The sixth one was formed through a discussion of sword path with Teacher Mo that led to enlightenment. The seventh one was also due to an explosion of emotions.
But, I can’t always be accompanied by such overwhelming emotions, and I don’t want to improve my sword intent through great sorrow since I can’t always be so lucky that the people by my side are only ever injured and never die.
Since I’ve encountered a bottleneck with cultivating Sword Qi, it wouldn’t hurt to try other arts and skills. Training the fist technique for such a short time, I can indistinctly feel some sort of resonance with the sword path. Perhaps improving War Elephant Fist to the highest tier can let me form the eighth flash of Sword Qi.’
On the third day, Winter Moon Sect’s disciples officially joined the exam. Not many, only three hundred or so, but these people were all around twenty-five years old, and the weakest was in the Gushing Spring Tier. This was very shocking, disrupting the exam again.
Ling Han never met a rival and the tokens he gained reached ten thousand, yet the opponents he defeated were but seven hundred or so. As expected, robbing the right people brought more profits.
This already guaranteed his entry into the top hundred. Ling Han had no ambition to take the first place because there was no meaning in it as the top hundred all could enter the second round’s exam.
The Fallen Goose Valley appeared. It was a natural death valley. Birds didn’t fly past because there was often fiendish Qi that surged upwards from the bottom that even Flower Blossom Tier warriors feared. It was said the Winter Moon Sect once dispatched three Spiritual Infant Tier cultivators to investigate, but only two came out and both died soon after.
Ever since then, the Fallen Goose Valley became a restricted area that no one dared enter.
Ling Han and other examinees naturally didn’t have to enter the Fallen Goose Valley, simply gathering at the outer perimeter of the valley. After people arrived, they delivered their tokens and registered their identities.
“Brother, Brother, got a question, how many tokens did you get?” After Ling Han walked into the safety area, a youngster twenty or so years old approached.
“Why should I tell you?” Ling Han replied with a question.
“Hehe, the truth is, of the ones that are coming here now, those in the top hundred have a least nine hundred tokens, so if you have less, why not sell the tokens to me? If you’re way over that amount, why not share some with me,” the youngster said, grinning widely.
Ling Han laughed and said, “Not interested.”
“Hey, hey, hey, we can discuss the price, don’t go!” The youngster caught up, but Ling Han still ignored him, making him shake his head and going back to wait for those that came later.
Ling Han walked towards the token delivery point. At least a dozen people struck up a conversation to buy tokens from him, but he still ignored them.
When he reached the end, a tall platform was placed here, and those who returned had to walk up to deliver their tokens. Besides that, on the platform was stuck a large white paper, and on it were a hundred names, each name with a number behind it.
Obviously, it showed those in the top hundred and their scores.
Ling Han took a glance. As expected, the last place’s score was in the nine hundreds, but this person would definitely be eliminated because there was still half a day’s time before the exam was over; there were still large amounts of people that hadn’t returned, and there would definitely be many whose score broke through one thousand.
He glanced but didn’t find the names of the Zhao Huan and the other youngsters of the Nine Nations of the Desolate North. Perhaps they could advance into top ten thousand, but getting into top hundred was too difficult—unless their luck was especially good and they met pushovers all the time.
Even if they didn’t enter top ten thousand, they still got plenty Yellow Dragon Fruit, so this trip wasn’t for nothing.
He only discovered one familiar person: Sword of Justice Bai Ming, who now ranked second with a score of 11008. This score might only rank forty or fifty—even lower—but as long as one had ten thousand tokens, one could enter top hundred. What meaning would it have to have more?
‘He’s a smart one.’ Ling Han nodded.
He walked up to deliver his tokens. When he waved his right hand, a large amount of tokens was piled up on the table, stunning the person responsible for counting; who would’ve thought that an eighteen to nineteen year old youngster was actually so fierce.
Ling Han intentionally disguised himself as a bit older, or else a seventeen-year-old face would be even more shocking.
“Your score is 10086 pieces.” The people responsible for counting were four Gushing Spring Tier warriors, so their speed was naturally fast. And on top of the platform sat a Spiritual Pedestal Tier practitioner, looking like he was resting with eyes closed and not caring, but with such an expert sitting there, who dared to mess around?
“Name, age, birthplace, and cultivation,” a disciple asked, holding a book in his hands that had several names written on it.
He was responsible for recording the top hundred people’s scores. Although the first round of exam wasn’t over, those who broke through the score of 10000 were guaranteed to enter top hundred, the only question being what their rank would ultimately be.
Ling Han said, “Han Lin, nineteen years old, Fu Yun Mountain, the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier.”
Han Lin was Ling Han backwards. A nineteen-year-old Spiritual Ocean Tier cultivator was still surprising, but being “older” by two years was a lot better. Fu Yun Mountain was a small mountain in the north region that Ling Han had read about previously in a geographical record. He took it in passing, and because the vast lands experienced a great calamity in the past nine thousand years, many place names were changed; he couldn’t rashly throw out a place name from his previous lifetime.
The four disciples were all surprised. Although the score of over 10000 tokens was impressive, it might’ve been partly luck, but being in the Spiritual Ocean Tier was certainly surprising; even the expert in the Spiritual Pedestal Tier who was resting couldn’t help but open his eyes to size up Ling Han, nodding his head. He said, “Youngster, not bad! Quite impressive!”
Ling Han didn’t make himself look too old, because his life force was too vigorous. If he really disguised as a twenty-four or twenty-five-year-old youth, old monsters at the Flower Blossom Tier would see through it with a single glance. If they associated him with one of the great thieves, then he would be in a pretty pickle.
Ling Han smiled faintly, and said, “Thank you, Senior, for your complement.”
The Spiritual Pedestal Tier expert gave him a friendly smile, not daring to be arrogant. A nineteen years old Spiritual Ocean Tier cultivator was truly something surprising, and in days to come, Ling Han might become a Flower Blossom Tier, or even a Spiritual Infant Tier cultivator. Even if he couldn’t be a friend of Ling Han, he definitely couldn’t fall foul of him.
“This is your new token, you mustn’t lose it.” A disciple handed over a heavy black token; on it, the two words “Han Lin” were carved.