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The man with the iron rod finished speaking and, along with the other two, crossed the line simultaneously. With a swing of a rod and an axe, they struck down. Cui Zhongyi opened his eyes wide and raised his hands to block the attack.
Cui Zhongyi relied on his own strength to withstand the attacks from the two Advanced Knights. At that moment, the Advanced Knight wielding a short blade crouched down and charged towards Cui Zhongyi, aiming a strike at his legs.
Cui Zhongyi exerted force to deflect the weapons of both attackers. He then thrust the iron rod into the ground, embedding it nearly ten centimeters deep. The Advanced Knight with the short blade swung down at Cui Zhongyi's iron rod, but at that moment, Cui Zhongyi used his arms for support, gripped the rod tightly, and jumped up, delivering a kick to each of the opponents wielding the iron rod and Great Axe.
After kicking them away, he aimed a powerful downward strike at the one with the short blade. Realizing the danger, that person quickly rolled to the side to create distance from Cui Zhongyi.
Cui Zhongyi's intentions were clear: if they wanted to cripple him, he would not show them any mercy in return. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he leaped towards the Advanced Knight with the short blade. The iron rod was on an entirely different level of power compared to the short blade. Upon reaching him, Cui Zhongyi swung down with his iron rod. Although it was just a simple strike, to his opponent it appeared as if multiple rods were coming down, making it impossible to distinguish between real and feigned attacks.
With a loud "crack... ah," the Advanced Knight's hand holding the knife dropped limply as blood poured down from his arm.
The surrounding people gasped in shock; even the two Advanced Knights were momentarily stunned. One blow had injured an Advanced Knight—what kind of strength did this person possess? Could he also be a Divine Knight?
Realizing this, the only option left for the two Advanced Knights was to run. They thought it was absurd to fight against someone like him; they weren't ready to die yet.
In reality, Cui Zhongyi still belonged to the category of Advanced Knights; he had simply improved his strength. After being heavily injured by Black Eagle, although he was hurt, his life was never in danger. On the contrary, Black Eagle's Fighting Qi had almost broken through Cui Zhongyi's Renmai. Although it didn't break through completely, it had significantly weakened the barriers within Renmai, leading to some improvement in strength. Now facing two lower-tier Advanced Knights and one mid-tier Advanced Knight made things much easier for him.
Once they thought about running, the two Advanced Knights wasted no time and prepared to flee. However, if they thought they could escape just like that, Cui Zhongyi would not allow it; after all, that loudmouth who had been boasting earlier still hadn't been dealt with.
Cui Zhongyi jumped back slightly and positioned his iron rod horizontally across the line he had drawn on the ground, blocking their path.
"What's wrong? Are you in such a hurry to leave?"
The two were taken aback and then bowed deeply towards Cui Zhongyi. "Esteemed senior, we were blind not to recognize your greatness. Please show mercy; we will never dare again." The one speaking was the one wielding the axe, while the other Advanced Knight holding the iron rod didn’t even dare lift his head.
"Do you remember what we said when we were drawing the line earlier? Since you dared to cross it, you must be prepared, so why run now?"
The one wielding the axe wanted to argue further, but the Advanced Knight with the club steeled himself and looked up at Cui Zhongyi. "Don't think we're afraid of you. I'm not a low-level Advanced Knight; if you want to win against me, you'll have to pay the price."
Cui Zhongyi smiled at the one with the club and said, "Not bad, you have courage. Then today, I'll break one of your arms and legs first; otherwise, you won't get a chance."
Seeing Cui Zhongyi's fearless demeanor, the one with the club made up his mind. He swung his iron rod, and suddenly blue Fighting Qi enveloped it. Meanwhile, Cui Zhongyi calmly raised his iron rod and jabbed it directly at his opponent's iron rod.
Incredibly, Cui Zhongyi's iron rod pierced through the opponent's layer of Fighting Qi and struck his iron rod directly. The opponent felt a surge of heat in his hand as the end of the rod he was holding transformed into the head.
Before he could comprehend what had happened, Cui Zhongyi's second strike arrived. Cui Zhongyi lifted the head of his rod half a foot and then thrust it forward, directly hitting the opponent's shoulder with a loud crack that announced his shoulder bone had been shattered. The excruciating pain made that Advanced Knight break out in cold sweat.
But it wasn't over yet; Cui Zhongyi turned the head of the rod toward his thigh and struck again, knocking him down to the ground. Everyone could see that this Advanced Knight had already lost an arm and a leg.
After finishing, Cui Zhongyi didn't even glance at the writhing figure on the ground. He turned his gaze toward the axe-wielder, who now dared not look at Cui Zhongyi anymore. He lowered his head with his hands hanging by his sides like a student earnestly listening to criticism.
Cui Zhongyi looked at him and said, "Get out of my sight right now. If anything like this happens again, I won't let you off easily. Do you understand?"
"Thank you for your mercy, senior; I will leave now." After saying this, he turned away from the crowd with his Great Axe in hand. He approached his master and cupped his fist in salute. "My lord, I apologize; I will no longer serve you from today onwards. Take care." With that, he left the crowd.
His master initially wanted to keep him but saw that he didn't even glance back once. No matter how much he wanted to say, he held back his words. The other two families took their injured Advanced Knight away for treatment while one of them pointed at Cui Zhongyi and said, "Kid, you've got guts. I'll make sure you know my strength."
With that, he led his guards away from the mountain gate. The others who had been causing trouble also left in defeat upon realizing things were going poorly.
Meanwhile, Cui Zhongyi continued to plant his iron rod into the ground with closed eyes. His actions had silenced those who still wanted to cause trouble. Everyone took a step back simultaneously, and even the guards wiped their brows in relief.
Although there was a bit of chaos at the mountain gate, the stairs were already filled with people. Due to the significant difference in strength levels among them, they were arranged accordingly: at the front were Advanced Knights, followed by Intermediate Knights, and finally barefoot children at the back.
At this point, many children had already stopped climbing. Although they had only ascended a little over a hundred steps, their tender feet were already blistered, and some had left traces of blood on the steps.
Despite many having given up, a large portion of the crowd continued to climb. Some children who could no longer move simply knelt down and crawled. Many parents, witnessing their children's struggles, shed tears of both excitement and heartache.
Numerous parents, feeling even more distressed, rushed up the stairs to carry their children down. Although there were many participants, the number had already dropped to three thousand at the very beginning, with those who voluntarily gave up mostly being beginner and Apprentice Knights.
The remaining participants continued to laboriously ascend the stairs. Meanwhile, Liu Guanfeng and two others had already reached the plaza of the Starry Sect. Standing at the foot of the stairs, they opened their consciousness fully, observing each participant in the examination.
The fastest among them had already reached one-third of the way up, while the slowest had climbed less than a thousand steps.
Due to the distance, Zhang Diba and Black Eagle could not sense much, but Liu Guanfeng was acutely aware of each person's performance. Additionally, in the woods flanking the stairs were Little Black, xp, Tsunami Lion, and Xuan Turtle—four Mounts assisting in observation. The knights primarily focused on Advanced Knights and Intermediate Knights, as these individuals were more adept at using Fighting Qi and could easily blend in.
Junior Knights would attract attention as soon as they mobilized their internal Fighting Qi, making them relatively easier to identify.
Those who violated the rules were all noted down one by one.
The grueling test continued. Although Liu Guanfeng felt immense sympathy for the children behind him, he understood that if these kids passed this examination, they would be exceptionally successful in whatever they pursued in the future due to their unparalleled perseverance.
At that moment, Black Eagle asked anxiously, "Xiaofeng, how many do you think will make it to the top today?"
"It would be good if around a thousand can qualify."
"What should I do if that's really the case? Should we accept them all?"
Liu Guanfeng pondered for a moment. "That's simple. You can select those you want from those who come up later and arrange for the rest to become outer disciples. In the future, when recruiting new members, prioritize accepting outer disciples first. If someone wants to become an inner disciple later on, you can choose from among them."
"What about those little Little Guys who come up afterward?"
"This is easy. For those Apprentice Knights who can make it up here, just write down their names and let them become outer disciples. Then, when their families send them over at the age of ten, they can officially join as outer disciples, and they won't have to go through the exam again."
Zhang Diba patted Black Eagle on the shoulder and said, "How about it, Black Master? I told you Xiaofeng would have a solution, and look, everything has been resolved."
After another half hour, someone finally reached the peak. The first to arrive were five Advanced Knights, each of whom had blisters on their feet. However, only one person's blister had burst, and blood was flowing down the steps. Seeing this, Liu Guanfeng took out the prepared Hemostatic Powder from his pocket and gave it to the bleeding Advanced Knight.
As time passed, more people arrived while those being eliminated gradually increased. By evening, everyone had finally reached the summit. The young people who made it to the top had almost worn off the skin on their feet, but none of them cried; they all looked at Black Eagle with determined eyes.
Liu Guanfeng arranged for those injured to receive Hemostatic Powder. Although the powder couldn't immediately regrow their skin, its effects in stopping bleeding and alleviating pain were evident. After applying the medicine, the blood on their feet and hands stopped flowing immediately, and the pain lessened.
Once everyone had treated their injuries and put on their shoes and socks again, they stood in formation. In the center of the square stood a massive statue, still covered by a red cloth that had not been lifted.
Standing before the statue, Black Eagle felt gratified because over thirteen hundred people had made it up from the steps today. After clearing his throat, he said, "Everyone has worked hard. You have passed a test—this is endurance. However, among you there are those who took shortcuts. I hope those individuals will step forward voluntarily; if you do so, you may have another chance to become part of my Starry Sect. If you do not come forward, you will lose this opportunity forever. Now, please step forward if you cheated during the stair test."
After a while, more than thirty candidates reluctantly stepped out from the crowd; all of them had used their Fighting Qi during the stair test.
After waiting a bit longer without anyone else stepping forward, Black Eagle continued, "Then for those who did not come out, I will have to find you myself. If I catch anyone, don't deny it."
"My four old friends, it's time for you to help me." After saying this, Black Eagle watched as Little Black and three other magical beasts slowly walked into the crowd. Over forty Advanced Knights were personally handled by Little Black, while intermediate knights were taken care of by xp. The two divine beasts were also very serious about their task; soon a large number of people were pulled out from the ranks by the four magical beasts.
However, those who were pulled out were not convinced; they shouted that Black Eagle was playing tricks on them. A few voices quickly resonated with all those who had been expelled. When the four magical beasts emerged from the crowd, over eight hundred people remained in line; everyone else had been found out while those expelled continued to shout and cause a commotion.
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