Chapter 40 - Opening Examinations End

After about two incense sticks of time, almost all the disciples had been ejected from the

pagoda. Soon after, they began conversing about their results in usual gossip fashion.

"Oh yeah, I faced off against a Dim Blue Talent Level." One disciple was bragging in front of

some praising listeners.

"Wow, that is amazing Li Muk, we got knocked out as soon as we saw our opponents!" These

people were all ranked around Average Green Talents and got knocked out immediately as

soon as a higher leveled talent approached. Li Muk was a bit lucky to defeat his first opponent,

but he lost in a single move against the Blue Talent Opponent. Of course, that information will

not leave his mouth.

It was not only this group of people chattering about their exploits; practically everyone outside

the pagoda got into groups and began their discussions. They also began moving towards the

right of the pagoda entrance, where the instructors' pagoda is located, and where the rest of the

accepted disciples remained.

One disciple sighed as he slumped on the grass, "I can't believe how strong a Blue Talent is,

even if it a dim one."

"I know right! They are on another level." Another disciple agreed.

"What's worse, the Black Talents are even more freakish than those." A third chimed in. The

disciples all sighed at that point.

"To believe we have two of those freaks in the same year as us." The second added. Indeed, if

just the lowest and average of Blue Talents can take out the majority of the disciples present, then

you could just imagine what a Black Talent like Lu Yan or Qin Qingtian can do.

The third disciple did a scan of the area. "As expected, they are the only ones left."

The first disciple rose his head. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, there are only 67 disciples here at the moment, including the ones who did not do the

bonus round." The third replied. "That means there are 6 remaining in the pagoda."

"Now, that you said it. I do not see him anywhere." The second noticed. The boy he was

referring to was obviously Tian Longmeng. With such an atrocious talent like his, he would be

better suited to cleaning the floors of the academy. However, no one can deny that strength of

his, even if it is something given out of lucky chances.

Thus, not only were these disciples looking to see his result, everyone was looking forward to

his result, probably even more so than Qin Qingtian.

In the Desolate Fang Pagoda, there were a couple of disciples currently in heated fights against

Black Soul Talent opponents. The first one to bow out of the competition was Dong Lin who

pitifully beaten in less than 10 moves by a Bright Black Talent.

As he approached the gathering area, he was bombarded by the avid questions of the other

disciples.

Under so much pressure, Dong Lin wryly smiled. "Well I managed to beat an Average Black, but

I was destroyed by a Bright Black."

Dong Lin was embarrassed by his performance, but the disciples were anything but. A Bright

Black Soul Talent! That meant that Dong Lin could fight one complete level above his talent

level.

Conversations were heated until a disciple uttered, "Hey, there is another person out of the

pagoda."

All eyes vigorously turned to the noble named Wu Changyin. Wu Changyin knew what the

gazes meant and resigned immediately. "Bright Black, lost in 30 moves."

There were outbursts; however, it seemed a bit more subdued than with Dong Lin. Maybe it had

to do with them both reaching the same level, or because of the sparse whispers of "well, he is

a noble" or "as expected".

Dong Lin did not mind the comparisons and casually joined the crowd to watch as the bonus

round ended.

It took 2 incense sticks of time for the third person to exit the Desolate Fang Pagoda, so a lot of

the fuss and noise had been reduced. This person was Zhou Wei.

He looked visibly upset, so much that no one dared to cheer or get too close to him, lest they

suffer his ire. Dong Lin had a slight hesitation but ultimately decided to confront him. Zhou Wei

calmed slightly upon seeing Dong Lin's face, as if someone weighing on his mind was

answered.

Dong Lin's vein stood for a second on his smiling face seeing Zhou Wei's relieved expression.

He could tell what that meant without the need for words. He, nevertheless, took the

opportunity, "Zhou Wei, did something unfortunate happen in the pagoda? How far did you

reach?"

Dong Lin made sure to include the question everybody wanted to hear. He could even hear their

silent praises thanking him in the background. He did not want to play representative for the group, but he had the current best relationship with Zhou Wei, even if it is tagged as "someone to beat".

What caught Dong Lin off guard was Zhou Wei's out of character pout as he tried his hardest

not to talk. However, he eventually gave up and dismissively snapped, "I almost beat the Bright

Black."

Everyone was in an uproar again. Even Dong Lin who knows that contending against a Bright

Black Talent is no small feat. "Almost defeated, you say?" Dong Lin was still taken aback by

Zhou Wei's comment.

"Yes." Zhou Wei's wrinkles creased more, "I would have done it if the bastard did not decide to

be a maniac and sacrifice his arm to land a hit."

Dong Lin left the noisy people and the grumpy Zhou Wei and drifted into his thoughts. Before

long he began mumbling to himself, probably some theory or profound understanding; but that

was sidelined because another person was coming out.

This time, the person to come out was Lu Yan.

As he approached the gathering, he perused

through the crowd and collected the tidbits of information he needed. He then moved to some

commoner females who just happen to be staring at him and are now panicked that he is

walking towards them.

"How many people are still in the pagoda?" He enquired.

One girl mustered up the strength that was lacking in her knees and converted it to speech.

"Uh... since you- came out just now- umm... there isss... two people remaining... I think."

Lu Yan chose to ignore the nervousness in her tone and took her words for it. He began

chuckling to himself. "Two people, and neither Qin Qingtian nor that kid is here. This ought to be

fun."

Another girl seemed to have charged enough courage to ask him the question everyone was

waiting for; well, with her eyes facing the ground that is.

"Oh, me?" Lu Yan's pitch rose for he forgot about that custom. "Well, I managed to defeat the

Bright Black Talent."

Boom!

There was a giant quaking of noise, just as the time Tian Longmeng punched almost 2000 jins

in the strength test. There was actually someone here that could defeat a Bright Black Talent?

The thought of it was just insane.

Someone in the crowd rose his volume so everyone could hear. "So, what did you face after

that?"

"Ah yes, I faced off against an Early Mortal Grand-Apprentice Beast. It easily tore me to shreds."

Lu Yan self-deprecatingly shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

Contrary to what was usually the response, everyone instead was grimly silent. The sound of

gulping of saliva could be heard in various places as everyone contemplated the terror that is

the Mortal Grand-Apprentice Realm.

Anything in that realm could stomp on anyone in this

vicinity effortlessly.

Someone would have to be a maniac to want to fight against those creatures.

After the arguments subsided, Lu Yan walked towards the back, passing by Zhou Wei in the

process. Zhou Wei shot Lu Yan a glare, causing Lu Yan to smile satirically. "Look we do not

know if he passed or failed but I will be sure to remember what you said."

With that, Lu Yan left.