Dugu Lin appeared to be quite despondent, this was his first ever failure and it was made even worse by it being so miserable a loss.
Out of all of his contemporary, while growing up, he was the most talented and invincible warrior, which inevitably resulted in his proud and arrogant character.
He hadn't understood that there would eventually be someone to beat him, until he had been defeated by Zhang Ruochen. After that, no one would dare to claim that they were the best of the young generation.
''I failed! Elder brother... Zhang..." Dugu Lin said with disappointment, lips trembling, while complicated emotions filled his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen noticed that Dugu Li had been demoralized. He said, "Dugu Lin, although I'm the winner today, it doesn't mean that you cannot beat me in the future, does it?"
Dugu Lin was rekindling his fighting spirit and it was as if he had two fires burning in his eyes. He said, "Thank you for your guidance, elder brother Zhang. However, I wonder what percentage of your power did you use just now?"
"100%." Zhang Ruochen responded.
"I see!" Dugu Lin's complexion immediately improved. Then, he turned and left.
Actually, Zhang Ruochen had used only 70% of his power. Yet, in order to avoid insulting Dugu Lin's pride, he lied and said that he had used his full power during the fight.
Sometimes a white lie could serve as a kind encouragement. Zhang Ruochen and Dugu Lin didn't have a vendetta against each other and they were both fighting for the honor of their colleges.
Since Dugu Lin had badly beaten Chi Minghai, a master from Western Campus, which lowered their morale badly. Zhang Ruochen then, naturally, hit him where he was seriously wounded so as to destroy a master of Eastern Campus, to cripple its morale in return.
Though Dugu Lin could recover, by taking some healing pills, in a short period of time, it was impossible for him to participate in the Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition today.
From a distance, Duanmu Xingling was staring at Zhang Ruochen with an astonishment that quickly fled from her starry eyes. She said, "His cultivation has greatly increased, in such a short time. He must have reached the Medium State of the Black Realm and gained quite an amazing power."
"With his present strength, he is equal to those post-ranking warriors of Division Profound," Huang Yanchen said.
Duanmu Xingling also nodded and wrinkling her beautiful eyes with a smile that teased the corners of her mouth. However, nobody knew what she was really thinking about.
Deputy headmasters, from the three campuses, looked at each other in helplessness. They all knew that first place had already been confirmed, even before the Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition started.
Such occasion hardly ever happened.
Eastern campus had sustained too many losses though. They were meant to defeat the morale of Western Campus and yet, they had paid for it by losing their No.1 freshman.
Deputy Headmaster of Eastern Campus was experiencing too much regret to even cry. If he could have predicted this result, he would have prevented Dugu Lin from fighting with Zhang Ruochen in time.
The Lord of Western Campus smiled contentedly. The more he looked at Zhang Ruochen, the more satisfaction he felt. At the same time, he deeply regretted not having Zhang Ruochen as his own disciple, which was an indeed pity for him.
The Lord of Western Campus looked serious. He combined his Genuine Qi with his voice and announced, "The Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition begins now!"
Enhanced with his Genuine Qi, his voice reverberated through the whole Western Campus and lingered on the mountains for a long time.
Deputy Headmaster Qing Hua began to read out the rules of the competition.
Each campus had sent 120 freshmen to participate in the competition, where they had been divided into 120 groups.
The No.1 freshmen from each of the four-campus were divided into group one; the second freshmen of the four-campus were divided into group two, and so on until the 120th freshmen were in group 120.
From group 11 to 120, the first place could get three points, second place two points, third place one point and the fourth place had no point.
As for the top 10 groups, there were 40 people in total who would be ranked in order.
The freshmen who ranked in the top five would win 80, 70, 60, 50, 40 points respectively with the rank descending, while the sixth one would gain 39 points, the seventh 38 points... the 40th five points.
At the end, all of the points the students had scored will be accumulated and sorted according to their campus. The college that acquires the highest points will become the first of the comprehensive strength for the freshmen this year.
It was obvious that the real battle was taking place among the top ten freshmen from each campus. The points in between were also the greatest.
No matter in the School of the Martial or in the world of Martial Arts, the top masters had always possessed the decisive factors. That was why The School of the Martial had arranged the points in such way.
There was a total number of 118 freshmen from Western Campus that had joined the competition. The two missing were Prince Huo Xing and Chi Minghai, the first was deceased and the second badly hurt.
Eastern Campus had a similar situation happen, where they also had 118 students joining the competition. Dugu Lin, who was once the No.1 freshman had been seriously injured and was unable to join the martial arts competition. As a result, the No.2 freshman from Eastern Campus that replaced Dugu Lin had become the No.1 freshman.
The other two campuses also had some special circumstances in which only 118 students were chosen to take part in this event.
There were 10 martial competition platforms stood solemnly on the drill ground of Western Campus. Each platform was four meters high and 10 meters long and 10 meters wide. Every side of the platform was carved with the Inscription of Array and once a warrior made a hit on one of the platforms, the Inscription of Array would activate and form a protective light mask.
Martial competitions proceeded on the 10 platforms, all at the same time.
The battle progressed very quickly and was over by noon.
Without the shadow of a doubt, Zhang Ruochen had become the No.1 freshman of the four campuses, contributing 80 points to Western Campus. No one could withstand any of his moves among the competing freshmen.
The result was predicted even before the start of the contest. Therefore, no one was surprised when it came to a talent like Zhang Ruochen. It would take the School of the Martial Market years to foster a warrior like him.
Zi Qian, who had beaten the No.1 freshman of the Eastern and Northern Campus, did so under her cultivation of the Final State of the Black Realm. She had undoubtedly become the biggest surprise for Western Campus. By contributing 60 points to Western Campus score, she ranked third in the competition.
Western Campus, with a total score of 539 points, became the champion of the comprehensive strength of the freshmen this year.
The Southern Campus ranked second.
Although losing Gudu Lin, the No.1 freshman of Eastern Campus, they still showed their strong strength and won the third place in the competition with only a slight gap behind the Southern Campus.
Nothern Campus ranked last.
The No.1 freshman was rewarded with 10 drops of Half-Saint's Essence.
The second received nine drops of Half-Saint's Essence.
So on and so forth...
Until the 10th got just one drop of Half-Saint's Essence.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't overjoyed about ranking first of all the freshmen, among all four campuses.
His real target was actually the next quarterly assessment of Western Campus. Only by ranking in the top 10 of Western Campus could he participate in the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test, which would be held in two months.
In the middle-level heritage, not only did warriors have the opportunity to find ancient treasures but also to receive the most brutal exercise which was definitely an important experience that could not be missed.
Tuo Muzi had been waiting for years to join the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test. He had been suppressing his Realm instead of breaking into the Earth Realm. He was not the only one who was longing for the test. Luo Shuihan, Huang Yanchen, and Duanmu Xingling were also waiting for this once-in-a-decade opportunity, which meant that if they missed it this time, they would have to wait for another 10 years.
It was impossible for Zhang Ruochen to wait for another ten years. He had to enter the Middle-Level Heritage and participate in the exploration test, in two months.
The students from the other three campuses did not leave because they were interested in West Campus' quarterly assessment. They wondered what level of strength the top masters of Western Campus indeed had.
Rules for the quarterly assessment:
Each student from Western Campus had a ranking. A lower ranking student could challenge a higher ranking student, and they had two chances to defeat them.
If they succeeded, the challenger would obtain a new ranking.
If the challenger failed, he or she would still maintain their original rank.
This took place on the 10 challenge coliseums where students could challenge their chosen opponent freely.
Liu Chengfeng was the first one to step up onto one of the challenge platforms. He stood in the middle of the coliseum and said, "I'm going to challenge the 764th."
Liu Chengfeng was originally ranked 809th. Since his cultivation had elevated to the Mid Stage of the Black Realm, he chose a slightly conservative position for his first challenge.
Xie Xuan, who ranked 764th at Western Campus, was a young man with a cultivation of Advanced Stage of the Black Realm and one level more advanced than Liu Chengfeng.
After fighting with more than 20 moves in a row, Liu Chengfeng beat Xie Xuan with one movement of a sword technique from the low-class of Spiritual.
"Challenge successful. Liu Chengfeng becomes 764th of Western Campus and replaces Xie Xuan. Xie Xuan drops down a place to 765th." A presbyter standing by the challenge coliseum announced.
Since Xie Xuan had dropped a rank, students who ranked lower than him all automatically dropped too.
Liu Chengfeng had another chance to challenge, but he did not use it immediately. Instead, he intended to observe the others' competitions and eventually pick out the new opponent.
Everyone had only two chances to challenge another and they needed to be used with caution.
On the 10 challenging platforms, an endless stream of students were challenging their higher ranked peers.
Before the assessment, they had carefully learned about each student and were aware of whom was best to challenge.
Of course, the most exciting battles involved the top 10 students. As everybody knew, the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test was just around the corner, so all of the students were trying to squeeze into the top ten.
The students who ranked 11th to 50th were the most competitive in particular. They were almost all at the peak of their Completion of the Black Realm and had no significant difference in cultivation with each other. It meant that they would soon have the opportunity to be one of the top 10 students, with some good luck.
A young man carrying two swords stepped onto a challenging platform. He stood straight with an indifferent expression on his face and said, "I'm going to challenge Jin Yueming, who ranks 10th."
The crowd of onlookers recognized this man.
"He is Mo Qinglong."
"Mo Qinglong ranked 47th in the last quarterly assessment. How dare he challenge Jin Yueming after only three months? Jin Yueming can no doubt beat him with three moves at most. Wait and see."
A woman who looked to be 20-years-old walked out of the crowd.
She sneered coldly and leaped up onto the challenge platform with just a strike of her legs. She stood opposite of Mo Qinglong as she said, "Mo Qinglong, how dare you challenge me? Could it be that you've practiced the Double-Sword Deer-Killing Tactic into Small Success?"
The Double-Sword Deer-Killing Tactic was a mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage, which could be practiced only by those warriors whose Spiritual Power had reached level 20 or above. It was a fairly powerful martial technique.
Mo Qinglong pulled his swords out of the sheathes on his back. He held them in his hands and only provided a brief answer, "This battle will answer your question."
...
Seeking votes! 100th.
Dugu Lin appeared to be quite despondent, this was his first ever failure and it was made even worse by it being so miserable a loss.
Out of all of his contemporary, while growing up, he was the most talented and invincible warrior, which inevitably resulted in his proud and arrogant character.
He hadn't understood that there would eventually be someone to beat him, until he had been defeated by Zhang Ruochen. After that, no one would dare to claim that they were the best of the young generation.
''I failed! Elder brother... Zhang..." Dugu Lin said with disappointment, lips trembling, while complicated emotions filled his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen noticed that Dugu Li had been demoralized. He said, "Dugu Lin, although I'm the winner today, it doesn't mean that you cannot beat me in the future, does it?"
Dugu Lin was rekindling his fighting spirit and it was as if he had two fires burning in his eyes. He said, "Thank you for your guidance, elder brother Zhang. However, I wonder what percentage of your power did you use just now?"
"100%." Zhang Ruochen responded.
"I see!" Dugu Lin's complexion immediately improved. Then, he turned and left.
Actually, Zhang Ruochen had used only 70% of his power. Yet, in order to avoid insulting Dugu Lin's pride, he lied and said that he had used his full power during the fight.
Sometimes a white lie could serve as a kind encouragement. Zhang Ruochen and Dugu Lin didn't have a vendetta against each other and they were both fighting for the honor of their colleges.
Since Dugu Lin had badly beaten Chi Minghai, a master from Western Campus, which lowered their morale badly. Zhang Ruochen then, naturally, hit him where he was seriously wounded so as to destroy a master of Eastern Campus, to cripple its morale in return.
Though Dugu Lin could recover, by taking some healing pills, in a short period of time, it was impossible for him to participate in the Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition today.
From a distance, Duanmu Xingling was staring at Zhang Ruochen with an astonishment that quickly fled from her starry eyes. She said, "His cultivation has greatly increased, in such a short time. He must have reached the Medium State of the Black Realm and gained quite an amazing power."
"With his present strength, he is equal to those post-ranking warriors of Division Profound," Huang Yanchen said.
Duanmu Xingling also nodded and wrinkling her beautiful eyes with a smile that teased the corners of her mouth. However, nobody knew what she was really thinking about.
Deputy headmasters, from the three campuses, looked at each other in helplessness. They all knew that first place had already been confirmed, even before the Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition started.
Such occasion hardly ever happened.
Eastern campus had sustained too many losses though. They were meant to defeat the morale of Western Campus and yet, they had paid for it by losing their No.1 freshman.
Deputy Headmaster of Eastern Campus was experiencing too much regret to even cry. If he could have predicted this result, he would have prevented Dugu Lin from fighting with Zhang Ruochen in time.
The Lord of Western Campus smiled contentedly. The more he looked at Zhang Ruochen, the more satisfaction he felt. At the same time, he deeply regretted not having Zhang Ruochen as his own disciple, which was an indeed pity for him.
The Lord of Western Campus looked serious. He combined his Genuine Qi with his voice and announced, "The Four Campus New Student's Martial Competition begins now!"
Enhanced with his Genuine Qi, his voice reverberated through the whole Western Campus and lingered on the mountains for a long time.
Deputy Headmaster Qing Hua began to read out the rules of the competition.
Each campus had sent 120 freshmen to participate in the competition, where they had been divided into 120 groups.
The No.1 freshmen from each of the four-campus were divided into group one; the second freshmen of the four-campus were divided into group two, and so on until the 120th freshmen were in group 120.
From group 11 to 120, the first place could get three points, second place two points, third place one point and the fourth place had no point.
As for the top 10 groups, there were 40 people in total who would be ranked in order.
The freshmen who ranked in the top five would win 80, 70, 60, 50, 40 points respectively with the rank descending, while the sixth one would gain 39 points, the seventh 38 points... the 40th five points.
At the end, all of the points the students had scored will be accumulated and sorted according to their campus. The college that acquires the highest points will become the first of the comprehensive strength for the freshmen this year.
It was obvious that the real battle was taking place among the top ten freshmen from each campus. The points in between were also the greatest.
No matter in the School of the Martial or in the world of Martial Arts, the top masters had always possessed the decisive factors. That was why The School of the Martial had arranged the points in such way.
There was a total number of 118 freshmen from Western Campus that had joined the competition. The two missing were Prince Huo Xing and Chi Minghai, the first was deceased and the second badly hurt.
Eastern Campus had a similar situation happen, where they also had 118 students joining the competition. Dugu Lin, who was once the No.1 freshman had been seriously injured and was unable to join the martial arts competition. As a result, the No.2 freshman from Eastern Campus that replaced Dugu Lin had become the No.1 freshman.
The other two campuses also had some special circumstances in which only 118 students were chosen to take part in this event.
There were 10 martial competition platforms stood solemnly on the drill ground of Western Campus. Each platform was four meters high and 10 meters long and 10 meters wide. Every side of the platform was carved with the Inscription of Array and once a warrior made a hit on one of the platforms, the Inscription of Array would activate and form a protective light mask.
Martial competitions proceeded on the 10 platforms, all at the same time.
The battle progressed very quickly and was over by noon.
Without the shadow of a doubt, Zhang Ruochen had become the No.1 freshman of the four campuses, contributing 80 points to Western Campus. No one could withstand any of his moves among the competing freshmen.
The result was predicted even before the start of the contest. Therefore, no one was surprised when it came to a talent like Zhang Ruochen. It would take the School of the Martial Market years to foster a warrior like him.
Zi Qian, who had beaten the No.1 freshman of the Eastern and Northern Campus, did so under her cultivation of the Final State of the Black Realm. She had undoubtedly become the biggest surprise for Western Campus. By contributing 60 points to Western Campus score, she ranked third in the competition.
Western Campus, with a total score of 539 points, became the champion of the comprehensive strength of the freshmen this year.
The Southern Campus ranked second.
Although losing Gudu Lin, the No.1 freshman of Eastern Campus, they still showed their strong strength and won the third place in the competition with only a slight gap behind the Southern Campus.
Nothern Campus ranked last.
The No.1 freshman was rewarded with 10 drops of Half-Saint's Essence.
The second received nine drops of Half-Saint's Essence.
So on and so forth...
Until the 10th got just one drop of Half-Saint's Essence.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't overjoyed about ranking first of all the freshmen, among all four campuses.
His real target was actually the next quarterly assessment of Western Campus. Only by ranking in the top 10 of Western Campus could he participate in the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test, which would be held in two months.
In the middle-level heritage, not only did warriors have the opportunity to find ancient treasures but also to receive the most brutal exercise which was definitely an important experience that could not be missed.
Tuo Muzi had been waiting for years to join the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test. He had been suppressing his Realm instead of breaking into the Earth Realm. He was not the only one who was longing for the test. Luo Shuihan, Huang Yanchen, and Duanmu Xingling were also waiting for this once-in-a-decade opportunity, which meant that if they missed it this time, they would have to wait for another 10 years.
It was impossible for Zhang Ruochen to wait for another ten years. He had to enter the Middle-Level Heritage and participate in the exploration test, in two months.
The students from the other three campuses did not leave because they were interested in West Campus' quarterly assessment. They wondered what level of strength the top masters of Western Campus indeed had.
Rules for the quarterly assessment:
Each student from Western Campus had a ranking. A lower ranking student could challenge a higher ranking student, and they had two chances to defeat them.
If they succeeded, the challenger would obtain a new ranking.
If the challenger failed, he or she would still maintain their original rank.
This took place on the 10 challenge coliseums where students could challenge their chosen opponent freely.
Liu Chengfeng was the first one to step up onto one of the challenge platforms. He stood in the middle of the coliseum and said, "I'm going to challenge the 764th."
Liu Chengfeng was originally ranked 809th. Since his cultivation had elevated to the Mid Stage of the Black Realm, he chose a slightly conservative position for his first challenge.
Xie Xuan, who ranked 764th at Western Campus, was a young man with a cultivation of Advanced Stage of the Black Realm and one level more advanced than Liu Chengfeng.
After fighting with more than 20 moves in a row, Liu Chengfeng beat Xie Xuan with one movement of a sword technique from the low-class of Spiritual.
"Challenge successful. Liu Chengfeng becomes 764th of Western Campus and replaces Xie Xuan. Xie Xuan drops down a place to 765th." A presbyter standing by the challenge coliseum announced.
Since Xie Xuan had dropped a rank, students who ranked lower than him all automatically dropped too.
Liu Chengfeng had another chance to challenge, but he did not use it immediately. Instead, he intended to observe the others' competitions and eventually pick out the new opponent.
Everyone had only two chances to challenge another and they needed to be used with caution.
On the 10 challenging platforms, an endless stream of students were challenging their higher ranked peers.
Before the assessment, they had carefully learned about each student and were aware of whom was best to challenge.
Of course, the most exciting battles involved the top 10 students. As everybody knew, the Intermediate Relic Exploration Test was just around the corner, so all of the students were trying to squeeze into the top ten.
The students who ranked 11th to 50th were the most competitive in particular. They were almost all at the peak of their Completion of the Black Realm and had no significant difference in cultivation with each other. It meant that they would soon have the opportunity to be one of the top 10 students, with some good luck.
A young man carrying two swords stepped onto a challenging platform. He stood straight with an indifferent expression on his face and said, "I'm going to challenge Jin Yueming, who ranks 10th."
The crowd of onlookers recognized this man.
"He is Mo Qinglong."
"Mo Qinglong ranked 47th in the last quarterly assessment. How dare he challenge Jin Yueming after only three months? Jin Yueming can no doubt beat him with three moves at most. Wait and see."
A woman who looked to be 20-years-old walked out of the crowd.
She sneered coldly and leaped up onto the challenge platform with just a strike of her legs. She stood opposite of Mo Qinglong as she said, "Mo Qinglong, how dare you challenge me? Could it be that you've practiced the Double-Sword Deer-Killing Tactic into Small Success?"
The Double-Sword Deer-Killing Tactic was a mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage, which could be practiced only by those warriors whose Spiritual Power had reached level 20 or above. It was a fairly powerful martial technique.
Mo Qinglong pulled his swords out of the sheathes on his back. He held them in his hands and only provided a brief answer, "This battle will answer your question."
...
Seeking votes! 100th.
