26 The Beast with the Third Level of the Basic Qi

When talking about the world of cultivators, we inevitably had to mention the beast as well, because there were two sides to every coin. While the human was destined to be a creator, the other side of the coin was to be a destroyer. There was no absolute right or wrong; everything was according to the nature of the species.

Generally, a human was born weak, but as they stepped into the path of cultivation, they would definitely become stronger according to their talent and fortune. That was different from the beasts which were born with the strength of their species. This was why their basic Qi was powerful, and their attacks and defense were stronger than humans from the same Qi level.

According to the beast textbook that was commonly taught by large academies, a beast with the first level of the basic Qi was comparable to a cultivator with the third level of the basic Qi, and a beast with the second level to a cultivator with the fourth level. However, a beast with the third level of the basic Qi was half a step weaker than a cultivator with the fifth level of the basic Qi, because when a cultivator advanced to the fourth level, he would be able to control the use of Qi within his body, thus allowing him to learn the Qi techniques at lower levels.

(A cultivator with the fourth level of the basic Qi would be able to use the absorbed energy to cover and encapsulate the various parts of the body necessary for learning and using lower levels of the Qi techniques. Then, when a cultivator stepped into the first level of the natural Qi, he would be able to absorb or release the Qi energy out of the body, thus enabling him to learn the Qi techniques at all levels.)

A cultivator would be able to make full use of the lower-level Qi techniques upon advancing to the fifth level of the basic Qi, which was the reason why a beast with the third level of the basic Qi, which may have physical power over 20,000 Jin—higher than that of a cultivator with the fifth level of the basic Qi physical power of about 10,000 to 12,000 Jin—was still considered weaker than a cultivator with the fifth level of the basic Qi.

Then, a cultivator who reached the first level of the natural Qi was stronger than the beast at any level of the basic Qi. Yet, he is still weaker than a beast at the same level of the natural Qi.

In the second round of the entrance exam of the Azure Dragon Academy, the contestants would face the beast with the first level of the basic Qi and must be able to survive within a period of a burning incense stick, which was not an easy task for a cultivator with the second level of the basic Qi. But for a cultivator with the third level of the basic Qi such as Zi Hui, fighting with the beast with the first level of the basic Qi was extremely easy.

When the test began, as expected, with the third level of the basic Qi and his extraordinary talents, not only was Zi Hui able to survive from the beast with the first level of the basic Qi but also kill the evil beast just within the period of half of the burning incense stick, causing quite a stir among all the contestants. There were many participants who were able to kill the beast before the incense stick was completely burned, but all of them spent more time than Zi Hui did.

This test in this round lasted much longer than the one in the first round. The test results were exactly what Elder Buzhen had expected. More than eight-tenths failed to qualify, including the two brothers of the Yong family.

As for Mu Jinlan, she made it through the next round, but her expression didn’t look good because she realized that her ability wasn’t good enough to pass the test. Li Biao had lent her a magic item that allowed her to hide herself, while the use of that kind of magic item was prohibited in the test. But as time passed, the exam officer, Hong Kun, did not mention that she used the magic item, thus enabling her to pass through the next round.

The test was now approaching the final round, and because Xueming had passed through the final on a special condition, Buzhen then told the outer disciples in charge of arranging the sequence of the contestants that they put Xueming in the last group of contestants.

More than 35 hours had already passed, and so far, there were 170 people who passed the test.

Eventually, it was time for the final round of the test. Xueming was called to stand in the Sphere of Illusionary Spell. Zi Hui who had already qualified was waiting for Xueming's results in the test room, giving the thumbs up to Xueming.

Xueming slightly raised a corner of his mouth and nodded before closing his eyes in meditation. The whistling sound of the wind blew past his ears. Just within a moment of inhaling and exhaling, Xueming opened his eyes again. But this time, the surrounding image had already changed.

A bright light shone in all directions before fading and becoming faint sunlight. Xueming was sent to the sparse forest and surrounded by big and tall trees. Even though he knew that his current dimension was just an illusion, Xueming was still very astonished by the power of the magic sphere because everything here didn’t look any different from the real thing, including the Qi flowing through the trees and grass, or even the steamy hot weather.

But this was not the time for him to admire the wonders of nature created by the magic sphere because this was the second round of the Azure Dragon Academy examination. And Xueming needed to survive until the end of one burning incense stick.

Before Xueming could move from the spot where he was dropped, the roar of the beast sounded first, followed by the falling sound of a large tree from the forest on the right. Xueming then hurriedly ran and tore away to the other side of the forest, before using a powerful hand to squeeze into the wood of a tree to pull himself up to a high place. When Xueming climbed about 5 wahs, the image of a huge rhino-like beast was clearly visible. Although Xueming had never fought with a Qi beast before, he had an idea that this over-three-meter-tall giant rhino was a beast with the third level of the basic Qi, not the first level.

However, before he could think through until reaching clarity, Xueming had to a deep breath in preparation for the incoming attack. As soon as the giant rhino saw Xueming, it rushed toward a big tree and then used its own shiny silver horn to cut and collapse it in the blink of an eye. Xueming foresaw the worse. If he fell from the tree like that, he would lose his balance and could be stomped on by the giant rhino until flat. Thus, he quickly jumped toward the nearby branch before his big tree would fall.

The giant rhino Xueming met was called ... Sword Horn Rhino. Even though it had a gigantic body, it was not slow. Moreover, the one Xueming faced was at the third level of the basic Qi, which was considered an adult Sword Horn Rhino. Therefore, its physical strength was more than 25,000 Jin. If it collided directly, Xueming would be knocked down and shredded in the blink of an eye.

As soon as the Sword Horn Rhino sensed that its prey leaped into another big tree, it turned its huge body to follow Xueming and use its big buttocks to bump onto the big tree. The tremendous force struck the giant tree until it fell down with its roots coming off. Luckily, this time the tree did not immediately break down but gradually leaned downward until at an angle with the ground. Xueming saw it as a good opportunity to escape, so he ran straight down along the inclined trunk. The Sword Horn Rhino saw him, so it intended to soar upward to attack. But before Xueming was about to reach the base of the tree, he soared and did a somersault in order to roll his body away. Finally, he fell down under the big tree nearby before soaring in the opposite direction and being able to escape from the attack of the Sword Horn Rhino once again.

When the Rhino saw that its prey was cunning and fleeing quickly, it no longer held back its power, thus opening the holes on its four thighs and spurting white smoke like a boiling kettle. Xueming—standing more than 10 wahs away watching what was happening attentively—gathered up the strength of the whole body until the muscles tightened together, meaning that if he could not dodge in time, at least he could resist and protect the internal organs from serious injury and damage, as the condition of the test was just to survive the beast within the period of a burning incense stick anyway, not to defeat it.

After the white smoke burst out, the Sword Horn Rhino became a lot faster than before. Its four feet hurtled toward Xueming. In the blink of an eye, it was less than two wahs away from him. Even though Xueming had prepared himself to dodge, but considering the unmatched agility of the Rhino’s attack posture, it would be hard to avoid. As his two eyes saw what was coming, his thoughts in the brain ran as quickly as lightning. His two arms with tightly-packed muscles—enhanced by the level-one Divine Body Cultivation technique—were raised across each other, forming a cross. His two feet deflected sideways to flee from the sharp giant horn. Yet, it seemed like Xueming's two feet lacking the posture technique was a bit too slow, but he was still fortunate to avoid the attack on his fatal point in time. The Rhino’s horn slashed into his right arm that failed to avoid the attack, but his side torso—having deflected earlier—was able to escape the sharp edge in time. However, he was fully bumped by the big, rough head of the Rhino that was moving behind its horn.

Xueming’s body was bounced off, bent, and flown by the force of the impact. Blood flowed out for a long way.

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Back outside, Xueming's figure, sitting cross-legged on the Sphere of Illusionary Spell, suddenly had a pale face before blood seeped out from the corners of his lips and nose. Zi Hui who was watching there jumped out of his skin, so anxious that he could not sit still. Looking at the surrounding sphere, he saw flashes of light blinking quickly, indicating that the contestant was on the verge of defeat, even though the incense stick had not yet burned halfway.

In the other corner of the Sphere of Illusionary Spell room, Li Biao and the three brothers of the Yong family all smiled with joy when seeing that their opponent was about to lose.

Hong Kun, who was standing at the control point, could only close his eyes and shake his head because he knew that being able to withstand a beast with the third level of the basic Qi for more than a minute was even more difficult than escaping a beast with the first level for a period of one burning incense stick. But Xueming had already endured for more than five minutes, meaning that the boy he was hired to use the trick this time around deserved to pass this test without much difficulty. Yet, when Hong Kun used his hand to hold on to the pocket of his own dimensional bag, his guilt immediately subsided. The 10 Qi stones that were packed inside were enough for him to forget what had happened.