ATPnovel Chapter 33 Has Lu Yuan gone mad?
Chapter 33 Has Lu Yuan gone mad?
The bell rang.
Tie Heng walked to the center of the arena. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.
"In this Iron Bone Sect's entrance selection, only one person will be chosen from Qingzhou City. He will become an outer disciple of the sect."
The Iron Bone Sect's long-standing rule is to select only one outstanding candidate from each city.
The path of martial arts depends on both cultivation and talent.
Therefore, the Iron Bone Sect's principle for selecting talent is to prioritize quality.
The selection process stipulates that only young people under the age of twenty can participate.
Before it officially begins,
Members of the Iron Bone Sect conducted qi and blood tests on the youths participating in the general election.
The contestants whose names were called stepped forward one by one, allowing the testing personnel to inject internal energy into their bodies for examination.
The state of one's Qi and blood varies greatly at different ages.
The blood and qi test is conducted before the selection process begins to prevent some people from taking advantage of the situation.
"Next up, the Zhao family, Zhao Li!"
The entire room fell silent for a moment when Zhao Li stepped forward.
He extended his wrist as the tester's internal energy entered his body.
Dark red blood and qi surged throughout his body like flames.
"Zhao Li, peak Body Tempering!"
He was only a thin veil away from the Blood Condensation Realm. The surging blood and qi just now were like boiling water, and the intense fluctuations caused several spectators in the front row to involuntarily take a half step back.
A murmur of discussion immediately arose in the venue.
"Body Tempering... Peak Body Tempering? Keep in mind, Zhao Li was only at the mid-stage of Body Tempering just a month ago!"
"What kind of cultivation speed is this?"
"Such talent...no wonder he can be ranked alongside Lu Yuan, who possesses the Qilin bloodline, as one of the two outstanding talents of Qingzhou!"
......
"Next up, the Lu family, Lu Yuan!"
When it was Lu Yuan's turn to be examined, his surging blood and qi were in a different state. Although it was not as turbulent as Zhao Li's outward appearance, it was still very strong.
The blood and qi were as clear as water, without any impurities.
"Lu Yuan, peak of Body Tempering!"
These words sparked even more discussion than before.
"Another...another peak Body Tempering stage!"
"I knew it! How could Lu Yuan, with his Qilin bloodline, be weaker than Zhao Li!"
"The two prodigies of Qingzhou are evenly matched in cultivation; today they will finally determine who is superior... This is going to be a good show!"
Some of the other young people present who were also running for election felt their hearts sink immediately upon hearing the test results.
"Peak of Body Tempering! Yet another peak of Body Tempering!"
"What's the point of even having a competition like this!"
"I've risked my life to cultivate, and I'm only at the late stage of Body Tempering."
"I'm not competing anymore, I'm not competing anymore..."
For a time, several young people couldn't bear the contrast.
They began to gradually abandon the election and leave the venue.
The Iron Bone Sect members watched all this with indifference and did not try to stop it.
That's just the selection system; there's nothing we can do about it.
The Iron Bone Sect does not accept the weak.
"Heh, not bad. I didn't expect you to be at the late stage of Body Tempering!"
Zhao Li looked at Lu Yuan and snorted coldly.
He admired Lu Yuan, but also looked down on him.
What I admire is his ability.
What I despise is his waste of talent.
In Zhao Li's view, as a martial artist with such talent, one should always be on the path of cultivation.
Unlike him, who only knows how to rely on his talent and go everywhere...
"You're not bad either, you've caught up with me." Lu Yuan remained calm.
"You arrogant brat, today I'll show you that talent alone isn't enough to succeed in martial arts!"
All candidates have completed their testing.
The general election has officially begun.
The first round of the election: a test of strength.
Several bronze tripods were lined up in the center of the arena, arranged from smallest to largest.
The smallest weighs 300 jin (150 kg), and the largest weighs 2,400 jin (1,200 kg)...
The largest one is a weight that even a Blood Condensation Realm martial artist would have to exert considerable effort to lift.
The rules are simple: each person has three chances, and the highest weight is recorded as the score.
Lifting the cauldron is a regular event in the Iron Bone Sect's entrance selection. For centuries, young martial artists from various cities have distinguished themselves under these cauldrons.
After all, for a young person in the Body Tempering Realm, testing their strength is an effective test of their cultivation results.
The first few contestants performed only moderately, stopping between 400 and 500 jin (approximately 200-250 kg). It wasn't until Zhao Li stepped out from the crowd that things changed.
Zhao Li did not look at the small cauldrons.
He walked straight to the cauldron weighing a thousand catties.
The weight of this cauldron is the same as that of the Azure Dragon Cauldron that Lu Yuan lifted with one hand a month ago at the Lu family's martial arts arena.
Zhao Li gripped the handle of the cauldron with one hand, his five fingers deeply embedded in the groove.
He took a deep breath and quickly engaged the muscles in his right arm.
With the circulation of Qi and blood throughout his body, his entire arm seemed to be filled with magma, turning a strange dark red color.
He lifted the cauldron above his head with one hand in one swift motion.
The cauldron was as stable as a rock, without the slightest tremor.
He slowly lowered the cauldron, and a muffled rumble echoed from the ground.
The entire stadium fell silent for a moment, then erupted in thunderous cheers.
"A thousand pounds with one hand! Zhao Li did it too!"
"Just like Lu Yuan! The two heroes of Qingzhou are evenly matched!"
From the stands, Zhao Tianxiong turned his head and smiled in the direction of the Lu family.
"Patriarch Lu, I remember last month, the genius in your household lifted the same weight, didn't he? It seems my Li'er can do it too."
Lu Youde braced himself on his knees and replied steadily, "What's the rush, Patriarch Zhao? Yuan'er hasn't even appeared yet."
"However," Lu Youde said, his tone shifting.
"Your Zhao Li's strength is comparable to my Li'er's mid-stage Body Tempering level. Not bad, not bad... the strength of a peak Body Tempering cultivator is quite impressive!"
At this moment, Tie Qianshan also nodded slightly.
"This Zhao Li from the Zhao family is quite good too." He stroked his beard with his hand.
"They're not inferior to the inner disciples of the sect!"
Tie Heng nodded slightly.
"However, I still admire Lu Yuan more..."
"Oh? Then I'm even more looking forward to Lu Yuan!"
On the stage, Zhao Li did not rush to leave.
He stood beside the Azure Dragon Cauldron, looked up at Lu Yuan who was still in the contestants' seats, and spoke in a clear voice.
"Lu Yuan, do you see? For the past month, I've been cultivating almost every day. And you... I've heard that all you do is fish and drink tea. I never see you at the training ground."
There was no sarcasm in his tone at this moment, only an almost stubborn seriousness.
"In the path of martial arts, having talent but not working hard is a waste."
As soon as he finished speaking, a few scattered cheers came from the stands.
Zhao Tianxiong stroked his beard and nodded slightly.
Lu Yuan glanced at him.
He didn't say anything.
He stood up from the contestants' seat, stretched his wrists, and then walked straight toward the row of bronze tripods.
He didn't stop in front of the Azure Dragon Cauldron, nor did he even glance at the thousand-pound cauldron.
He passed by a 1,600-jin (approximately 600 kg) cauldron, paused for a moment in front of a 2,000-jin (approximately 1,000 kg) cauldron, and then continued walking forward.
After passing all the cauldrons, we walked to the center of the open space on the north side of the arena.
"What is he going to do?" someone leaned out from the stands.
"The weight of the tripod used in each of the previous entrance examinations was no more than 1,400 catties! The rest of the tripod was just placed there."
"That's...that's the area where cauldrons weighing over two thousand catties are placed."
A member of the gang who had participated in previous elections swallowed hard. "That largest cauldron weighs two thousand four hundred jin—that's used for the Iron Bone Sect's inner disciple assessment. Has he gone mad?"