Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Chapter 343: Chapter 192: Tie Fu (2)

A short while later, a disciple from Tianquan Peak appeared and started calling out names.

Du Chuan, Xie Zhan, and Qin Ze were all successfully accepted into Tianquan Peak.

"How could Qin Ze get into Tianquan Peak?"

Qin Ze had only placed in the top thirty of the Outer Disciple competition, failing to break into the top twenty. Seeing him get into Tianquan Peak so smoothly, many people were immediately up in arms.

"Qin Ze placed third in the Martial Arts Examination in Qingyuan County," Sun Tao said softly.

His current strength wasn’t much weaker than Qin Ze’s.

But because of his third-place finish in the Martial Arts Examination, Qin Ze could get directly into Tianquan Peak, while he couldn’t even get into Beast King Peak.

Soon, Sun Jian appeared and began to call out names.

Li Chuyang and Han Feng were both successfully accepted into Medicine King Peak.

Neither Xu Yang nor Xiong Kun, two geniuses from the Ten Heroes List, had their names called. The crowd looked at the two of them in surprise.

Medicine King Peak’s standards were truly harsh. Two of the top three from the Outer Disciple competition had actually been rejected. Instead, some lesser-known individuals had caught the eye of the Medicine King Peak Elders.

Although Xu Yang also felt some indignation, he was relatively calm inside. At worst, he would just have to spend more resources to find Pill Formulas in the future. He didn’t necessarily have to take a Pill Master as his master to learn Alchemy.

"Brother Xu, if you really want to learn Alchemy, you’ll have a chance on Li Fire Peak too. Medicine King Peak isn’t the only place with Pill Masters," Jiang Fan said.

Xu Yang was puzzled. "How can you learn the art of Alchemy on Li Fire Peak?"

Jiang Fan smiled. "The inheritances of the Purple Sun Sect’s Four Peaks aren’t exclusively for the disciples of those peaks. The only difference is having a master to guide you versus figuring it out on your own.

"Whether it’s the Weapon Forging Skill or the Alchemy Dao, they are all collected in the Purple Sun Sect’s Inheritance Tower. As long as you make contributions to the Sect, you can go to the Inheritance Tower to learn whatever you want."

Hearing this, Xu Yang completely calmed down.

’All I want are the Pill Formulas anyway. This is actually better for me; I can learn both the art of weapon forging and the art of Alchemy.’

The Inner Sect Disciple from Li Fire Peak also appeared. Jiang Fan and Lu Ren were both selected, and another three or four people also had their names called.

Of course, aside from Jiang Fan, everyone else had to complete an assessment task to truly enter Li Fire Peak.

Xu Yang strode forward and handed his newly written discipleship application to the Li Fire Peak disciple. Xiong Kun, who also hadn’t been accepted into Medicine King Peak, chose to submit his second application to Li Fire Peak as well.

"Come back here in three days to await the results."

After speaking, the Li Fire Peak disciple led Jiang Fan, Lu Ren, and the others up Li Fire Peak.

Xu Yang and the others also dispersed!

An hour later, all those who had been accepted into the Four Peaks returned with dark expressions, not a trace of joy left on their faces.

They had gotten one thing wrong: having a master willing to take them didn’t mean they were already disciples of the Four Peaks. They still had to complete their assessment tasks.

"Junior Brother Zhang, what’s your assessment task?"

Seeing Zhang Yong return with a dark expression, Sun Tao had a bad feeling, and his previous disappointment vanished completely.

Given Zhang Yong’s reaction, even if a master were willing to accept him, Sun Tao feared he wouldn’t be able to complete the assessment task either.

"Capture a Phantom Leopard cub," Zhang Yong said sullenly.

This was the same task that Li Qiang had failed to complete two years ago, even at the cost of his life. Now, it had fallen to him. He was perfectly clear on how difficult this task was; it was impossible to complete without both luck and strength.

Two years ago, they had followed Li Qiang through the mountains for over a month and had been nearly wiped out without seeing so much as a single hair from a Phantom Leopard.

Sun Tao sucked in a sharp breath. "Why is it capturing a Phantom Leopard cub again? What about the others’ tasks?"

He was also well aware of how difficult this task was.

Zhang Yong gritted his teeth and said, "Aside from Chen Yu of the Ten Heroes, everyone else’s task is also to capture a Phantom Leopard cub. I see it now. They don’t want us to enter the Inner Sect at all."

He was so angry he was trembling. Chen Yu’s talent was good, so his assessment task was simpler.

For those of them who weren’t Ten Heroes Geniuses, the tasks were all life-or-death missions. They weren’t even trying to hide it.

"Don’t lose heart. You, me, and Zhang Hong... we might be able to pull it off," said Sun Tao.

They had already agreed to do the assessment task together. Even though he hadn’t been selected, he still planned to help Zhang Yong.

"Phantom Leopards... I recall a litter has at least two or three cubs. Why don’t you find others to team up with?" Xu Yang reminded him.

Back then, the reason Li Qiang had tried to screw them over was because his reputation was ruined and no one trusted him, so he had resorted to tricking Zhang Yong and the others.

Zhang Yong’s eyes lit up. "That makes sense. I’ll go right now."

With that, he hurried away.

"Junior Brother Zhang, wait for me!"

Sun Tao chased after him. ’You can’t just pick any ally. It’s better to have no one than someone unreliable.’

At lunchtime, Xu Yang went to the dining hall and noticed that all the people whose names had been called that morning had ugly expressions, including Lu Ren and Xie Zhan, both of whom had already undergone Marrow Cleansing.

And Chen Yu!

Zhang Yong thought his task was simple, but Chen Yu also looked worried sick.

Xu Yang secretly felt lucky that he hadn’t been chosen. He had listened for a while and learned that the tasks were wildly varied—some were dangerous, while others weren’t dangerous but were incredibly difficult to complete.

For example, one disciple’s task was to kill a notorious bandit, but this bandit hadn’t committed a crime in over a year, so there were no leads on where to even start.

"How about you do me a favor?" Lu Ren walked over, forcing a difficult smile.

His task was very difficult. Even though he had already undergone Marrow Cleansing, he had no confidence he could complete it alone, so he had no choice but to seek help from Xu Yang.

The truth was, his reputation was ruined, but because he had undergone Marrow Cleansing, the Inner Sect had no choice but to accept him. Therefore, they had given him an incredibly difficult task.

Xu Yang had also undergone Marrow Cleansing. If he had insisted on entering Medicine King Peak, according to Sect rules, the Elders could refuse to take him as a disciple, but he would still be allowed to enter Medicine King Peak to receive the Alchemy inheritance.

But Jiang Fan’s words had made him let go of his fixation on entering Medicine King Peak. Perhaps Li Fire Peak was a better choice.

"I’ve known you for nearly five years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen you speak to me with a smile," Xu Yang said, a smile touching his lips.

This was not a lie.

When they had first met, that troublemaker Luo Dehu had jumped in to stir things up. So, in the nearly five years they had known each other, this truly was the first time Lu Ren had spoken to him with a smile.

The smile on Lu Ren’s face instantly stiffened, and he looked unnatural. "I won’t let you help for free. I’ll give you a reward."

Bowing his head and asking Xu Yang for help made him feel deeply ashamed.

But aside from Xu Yang, he had no one else to ask for help. He wasn’t close with anyone else, and they wouldn’t help him.

"I’m not interested in money!" Xu Yang shook his head.

’For Lu Ren to be asking for help, the task must be incredibly difficult. I’m not going to take that kind of risk.’

Never mind that they had no friendship; even if they did, he would have considered it carefully. As for rewards and the like, he had not the slightest interest.

If he wanted to make money, he wouldn’t have stayed cooped up in the Purple Sun Sect all this time.

"I can give you Cultivation Techniques, and contribution points... anything you want," Lu Ren said, thinking Xu Yang wanted something else.

Xu Yang laughed. "Do you really think I would risk my life for those things?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Ren’s face fell, and his smile vanished.

Only then did he remember that in his three years at the Purple Sun Sect, Xu Yang had never once gone to the Yunling Mountain Range and only ever took on tasks that had no danger. Getting Xu Yang to risk his life to help him was basically impossible.

"Zhang Yong, Senior Brother Sun..." He had no choice but to turn his gaze to Zhang Yong and Sun Tao.

"Don’t look at me. I have a task too, and it’s even harder than yours," Zhang Yong snorted coldly.

Seeing that Lu Ren was also out of luck, his mood finally improved a bit.

"I’ve already promised to help Zhang Yong," said Sun Tao.

Lu Ren could only leave with a dark expression.

...

Li Fire Peak!

Beside a red-hot furnace, Elder Tie Fu, one of the four great elders of Li Fire Peak, stood bare-chested, his gnarled muscles looking as if they were cast from molten iron.

In his hand, he held a giant hammer larger than a man’s head, which he swung with great effort. Each time the hammer fell, it was accompanied by a deafening THUD, and a blade embryo gradually took shape.

BANG!

Suddenly, the blade embryo exploded, becoming a piece of blackened scrap metal.

"Failed again. When will I ever reach Perfection in this Spirit Attachment Skill?"

Frustrated, Tie Fu put down the great hammer and picked up a nearby cloth to wipe the sweat from his body.

"Master, the second round of discipleship applications has arrived."

Zuo Mu walked over and respectfully handed him the discipleship applications he was holding.