Brother Luo

After severely injuring Jiang Heng with a single punch, he brought him to the young man with a sword who had been injured earlier and was now preparing to sneak away. He left the two of them together.

"What is your cultivation level, how many celestial-level techniques have you mastered, and to what extent have you reached?" 

"I'll be honest; I'll spare your lives for now."

"You, first!"

Jiang Heng pointed at the young man with the sword and said expressionlessly.

At this moment, what he most wanted to figure out was the level of his own strength within the Spirit Sea Realm.

This required a clear reference point.

Although the young man with the sword was injured, the power of a Spirit Sea Realm warrior was not significantly affected.

After hearing Jiang Heng's question, he promptly replied, "I am at the eighth level of the Spirit Sea Realm and proficient in a celestial-level sword technique."

Jiang Heng then looked at the young man with the knife, "And you?"

The young man with the knife also honestly answered, "I am at the seventh level of the Spirit Sea Realm and proficient in two celestial-level martial arts."

With no room for resistance at this point, the two could only cooperate as best as they could with Jiang Heng and hope he kept his promise.

Jiang Heng nodded thoughtfully and said calmly, "I'm in a good mood today, so I won't kill you this time. But if there's a next time, I won't hold back."

"Give me your transmission symbols, and you can go."

The two hurriedly took out their transmission symbols and handed them to Jiang Heng, then quickly bid their farewells, fearing he might change his mind.

After collecting the other person's transmission symbol, Jiang Heng now had four transmission symbols.

He continued to walk leisurely in a certain direction.

"Considering their cultivation and martial arts, these two should be considered quite decent among the true disciples."

"However, these two, without celestial-level protective techniques, were able to withstand two punches from me. This suggests that my burst power isn't top-notch."

"So, if I encounter a strong expert who is proficient in celestial-level protective techniques, I might not be able to do anything at all."

As Jiang Heng walked, he contemplated.

"My speed and burst power are in the same category."

"All in all, my physique can be considered invincible, but in other aspects, I'm just about at the top, without overwhelming advantages."

With a clear reference for comparison, Jiang Heng's understanding of his own strength became clearer.

"In that case, since the trial will last for a month, I might as well spend a few days practicing."

Jiang Heng glanced at his remaining potential points.

After half a day of automatic cultivation and consecutive victories over several Spirit Sea Realm experts, he had accumulated 3.2 million potential points. With just two or three more days of practice, he could reach ten million points again.

At that time, he could choose to upgrade one of the two martial arts or his primary technique, the "Indomitable Heaven Technique."

With a faint smile on his lips, Jiang Heng began to search for a hidden place in the forest.

Since he wanted to focus on cultivation, he needed a concealed location, such as a tree hollow or a cave.

In fact, many people wanted to hide.

This was mainly due to the rules of the martial contest.

In the alliance martial contest, the total points of the sects were compared, and in the same situation, the more participants a sect had, the greater the advantage.

Furthermore, as long as someone survived until the last day of the trial, they could earn an extra ten points. This was the Holy Land's way of encouraging sects to send more participants.

Otherwise, if each sect sent only the most outstanding one or two disciples, the martial contest would lose its meaning.

However, many of the disciples sent by the sects had recently become true disciples, and compared to the genius seniors who had practiced for several years, their strength was clearly weaker.

For these junior true disciples, the best strategy was naturally to hide and wait for the trial to end, or to gather with their senior brothers and sisters.

Not long after, Jiang Heng found a small cave concealed by a thicket. It was only a few meters deep and just tall enough for one person.

After clearing away the dust, Jiang Heng sat cross-legged and began his cultivation.

...

In a valley at this moment,

Two disciples from the Dalu Sect, who had joined forces, were carefully exploring together.

"Brother Luo, that slash you made earlier was so impressive! Your blade technique must have reached the level of mastery, right?"

One of the youths, with a simple and honest appearance, exclaimed as they walked.

With a cultivation level at the ninth level of the Spirit Sea Realm and proficiency in two celestial-level martial arts, one of which had reached mastery, he was considered one of the top contenders among the many true disciples participating.

Although they were from the same sect, as true disciples, they usually practiced on their own. Even the occasional exchanges and sparring were brief and superficial.

Thus, they weren't very familiar with each other's true capabilities.

It was only during the sudden battle against a strong contender from another sect that he realized Brother Luo's strength had reached such heights.

Having such a powerful companion greatly increased his own sense of security.

"That's right!"

The youth addressed as Brother Luo nodded indifferently.

During the first round of trials, most disciples from the same sect would help each other. After all, for every additional person who survived until the end, the sect would earn an extra 10 points. A good performance by the sect benefited everyone.

As the two were walking at a leisurely pace,

A shadow suddenly darted out from behind a large rock, moving like a swift streak of black light.

"Watch out!"

Brother Luo shouted, drawing the long blade from his waist. His Qi surged, enveloping the blade.

He moved to intercept the shadow.

But the opponent was too fast and too sudden!

By the time Brother Luo reacted, the shadow had already swept past his junior, slashing at his neck just as he was gathering his protective Qi.

The protective Qi was instantly shattered, and the blade, enveloped in a thick orange Qi, left a wound nearly ten centimeters long on the junior's throat, cutting deep into the flesh.

"Shh!"

Blood spurted out!

The shadow, without any hesitation, quickly turned and darted towards Brother Luo.

"Such fast footwork!"

Brother Luo's face was grave, but he wasn't panicked. Instead, he readied his blade to meet the attack.

As for his junior, who had fallen stiffly to the side, he had no time to attend to him.

"Clang!"

Blades clashed fiercely!

Brother Luo finally got a clear look at his opponent.

It was a young man with a sinister face, a hooked nose, triangular eyes, and a murderous aura.

At this moment, a hint of shock appeared in the young man's eyes.

In this head-on confrontation, he realized that Brother Luo's explosive power was clearly superior to his own.

He himself was at the ninth level of the Spirit Sea Realm, and his blade technique was also at the celestial proficiency level.

If Brother Luo's cultivation was at the tenth level, the gap between them wouldn't be that significant. So, there was only one possibility: Brother Luo's blade technique had reached the level of mastery!

The boost in explosive power was a full eight times!