First round 1

Now that they were the first ones in the line, Xiao Fan was the first of the two to begin the trial.

At this point, his whole idea in taking part in this tournament was a bit silly since he had no actual need to take part in this anymore and was on it only for the recruitment process.

However, that didn't mean that he would showcase his best during it, as the offer he most wanted to take right now was one where he would still need combat skills.

The Liang Dynasty's offer, as stated before, offered that they would be giving him entrance into their school system where everyone else went.

Meaning that there he would again be looked by the others by his combat skills and fame in it, they wouldn't be kind to him if he would try to get away by stating he was an inventor.

In that case, things would probably end up as they had with Qian Bai.

For Xiao Fan, this meant that showcasing his prowess in front of the Liang Dynasty delegation was needed, and though they wouldn't be watching the first round, he still needed to do things like everyone else.

So Xiao Fan like everyone else took part in the tournament like it had meant to be taken.

He walked into the small closed-off area in front of the gate.

When he went for the first ball, not a lot of people cared as no one had yet failed to lift the first rock.

And Xiao Fan wasn't going to be the first as he quickly raised it successfully and dropped in back onto the ground below his feet.

Then he didn't wait at all and also lifted the second rock he needed to lift to be treated like a Body Warming realm peak, this gathered some applause from the crowd, but this feat had been seen already.

The crowd finally got excited when they saw Xiao Fan after lifting the second rock still walk confidently towards the final rock.

Now, this was a test they didn't get so see a lot of times, and so the crowd started becoming excited.

The people also in the line now focused solely on him.

Before this, they knew him Xiao Fan was a Body Warming peak, yet now he was doing the test for a Body Activation realm?

Xiao Fan, who had now taken the third rock into his hands, squatting next to it started to lift.

Thankfully Xiao Fan had done this many times before that his technique when deadlifting rocks was already a good one, and the weight itself to the now Body Activation realm Xiao Fan wasn't a hard one.

The final test was anyway just hard enough to see if one had just broken into Body Activation realm.

So Xiao Fan, who was already peak first grade, didn't have a problem.

One thing he noted, however, was that comparing his lift to what he had seen from Du Huan before him, it became evident to Xiao Fan that he was indeed a grade lower than her.

Meanwhile, as he comprehended this, he also got applauded by the crowds, which were a nice confidence boost for someone like him who enjoyed being in the spotlight.

After successfully acquiring a special place for himself, he didn't go and leave for his position.

He stayed and watched Du Lan, who went for her evaluation as he had still things to do with her when this was finished.

Du Lan following her a massive growth in cultivation was about to show everyone how strong of a cultivator she was and even flexed a little on the first boulder by lifting it with one hand.

Which did gather the attention, for the men in the line had been looking forward to seeing what kind of women the inventor of Greenheart would have around him?

Moments later, seeing her lift the second boulder without showing much of a strain, they began to realise that the woman who companied Xiao Fan wasn't all talk either and that she could defend herself.

Some of the men had been thinking about bullying the woman a little. However, seeing that she was strong, these thoughts were flown into the wind, as most of them would be just asking for a beating from her if they hunted her during the first round.

Additionally, the people begun noticed how much resembling features this woman had to the other woman who had just a few spots before also cleared the trial.

The two women would almost look identical in their facial features; however, their bodies were distinctive, but not too much that they couldn't be something like sisters or kinsmen.

This did spark some conversation regarding what was happening, but the ones that were the wildest were quickly toned down when they realised something.

They were talking rumours, yet the person they were talking about could hear them through the noises that the crowd were making.

Especially one group that was discussing a certain possibility was vehemently crushed by Du Lan, who was looking at them as if she would break them down to bits if they continued to talk.

And so even before Du Lan had lifted the third rock, everyone in the line could say that she was a Body Activation realm cultivator!

Which to the crowds celebrated louder than they had to Xiao Fan completing the same thing.

It was so because so far they had only seen four women successfully taking on the third trial.

When she was done testing, Du Lan also took her starting spot from the organisers, and then happily skipped over to Xiao Fan, waiting for her.

Some complimenting words later, Du Lan and Xiao Fan said goodbyes and went over to the starting places that they couldn't show to each other.

They would soon be seeing each other anyways, for they had a plan which used could regroup them in this jungle of slums that were like a giant mace.

Now they only needed to wait.

This wait took a few more hours before everyone had gotten to their places on the edges of the area, some facing the walls, others on the edge of town.

The starting location couldn't be told to one another, but they could discuss beforehand the grading system that evaluated everyone.

The grading system would also say who continues.

And if the method of determining who would get which spot to start the round wasn't biassed enough...

The means how one could get into the second round were even more biassed towards Body Activation realm cultivators.

Because the only thing that gave one points was knocking down others and taking their points.

The scores would be counted by marbles that everyone at the start had in a bag they would be holding through the first round, gathering more marbles by negotiating with others.

Why this was so against Body Warming realm cultivators was that everyone started with the same amount of one marble in their bag, meaning that Body Activation realm cultivators could easily bully anyone weaker by a realm and be gaining good profit.

In an environment like this, the senses of a Body Warming realm were good and all, though when a Body Activation realm was in the same context, it wasn't so great anymore.

Xiao Fan had realised that with this ruleset, he could at least snatch a few or even five marbles in the beginning by just running on the edges and bullying the weaker.

However, he wouldn't do so as when a giant bell was hit with a drum beater the next sound everyone in the area could hear was a sound of two monkeys screaming.

For a moment the rogue master and representatives wondered what the hell was going on, but soon one of them noted to everyone else what was going on.

¨It is two people communicating! They are most likely trying to find their team partner as fast as possible!¨ The man who was saying this was the person who was called one of the wisest men in Ohin Continent.

His tittle was well deserved, for he quickly had figured out what was happening while others were wondering why this was happening or closing their ears.

Hearing the bald man speak, everyone else understood what he was noting, none of them was stupid, or they wouldn't have gotten this far.

And they were unmistakably impressed when comprehending this, for it was a coded language that the two could use to communicate in peace.

Meanwhile, the two who were doing this were, of course, the only people here who had lived with monkeys, and they didn't know monkey because of living there, but because of the third book Xiao Fan.

Xiao Fan and Du Lan planned to shout in monkey language to each other and by doing so quickly find the other who was also shouting her location back.

It didn't take long for the two of them to reunite in the centre of the slums where everyone with high enough cultivation could also perceive them.

And it was again the bald man from before who was the first one to understand who these two people using monkey to converse where.

¨Its that Xiao Fan and some woman!¨ He again shouted to everyone else in the VIP section that was filled with Body Shattering realm cultivators or above.

This time someone also replied to him, it was an old man, who had dozens of purity seals fixed on his shoulder plate ¨Hah, I wouldn't have thought less from my successor!¨ The old man said in a proud and righteous tone.

Yet the man with a bald head man refuted him ¨Who's your successor! An inventor and a thinker can't be confined into your close way of thinking; he would be much better under my counselling ¨ He said, shaking his head to his notion.

These two were amongst many people who had come to try and get Xiao Fan to join their band of travelling cultivators.

The righteous man was Guo Jie, a genuine Body Limit realm cultivator who had also sent an offer to take him in. Guo Jie had first heard about through Green Heart and had been surprised to hear about Xiao Fan, yet not caring.

However, that changed when he was also informed that Xiao Fan before inventing medical mix that Xiao Fan had been helping peasants while also being humble towards everyone around him not minding their background.

Hearing that made the old man think that he, Guo Jie, had finally found a successor to continue his good work in helping the common people.

The wise man was named Mao Li.

Mao Li was a master in politics and a known ponderer of more profound meanings.

He had also come to realise that if someone were worthy of following him and for him to teach it would be Xiao Fan, who at such a young age had already done something he might not be able in the path of research.

Many other rogue masters were also interested in Xiao Fan, but the fight between these two would always be the loudest one which made everyone focus on it during any downtime.

Both were the absolute peak and people that even Zou Zexi, who was near them didn't want to go between the two of them, as he couldn't influence them in the slightest.

So everyone in the meantime would start focusing on how these two men argued over their potential successor.

The more pressing the issue was Guo Jie since he was already old and had only some years to groom a successor before his death.

While Mao Li was a little more calculative and also the weaker one in terms of sheer cultivation, yet that didn't mean he was budging.