"Before I present you the specifics of this examination, let me clarify one thing. As you may all probably know, Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu both attained the Foundation Establishment Realm, this exceptional situation took us by surprise, particularly since it happened not long before our grand competition. Under such circumstances, the three of us contemplated wether they should be allowed to participate, however, we eventually concluded that it would be unfair for their own aptitude and efforts to exclude them from the chance to fight and gain a peak-tier battle skill, hard work should always be rewarded, not punished." Hong Li exclaimed.
For a student like Shen Xue to breakthrough the Foundation Establishment Realm before he turns sixteen and all this in his first year at the Tiger Martial Institute, this was an unprecedented situation, it's no wonder the deans couldn't predict such an outcome. As for Qiong Lieyu, although he has been a member of the Golden Martial Institute for several years and always displayed prodigious performances, it was still expected for him to cultivate for some time before he could reach the next realm.
"With the pleas of both interested parties along our own views on this matter, we finally conducted a vote which solded by two against one in favor of their participation in this year-end competition." As Hong Li said so, the Golden Martial Institute's dean smiled lightly while the Sky Martial Institute's dean snorted on the side.
It could be seen all this happened without considering the latter's opinion. He wanted to remove them from the competition in favor to his Sky Martial Institute who didn't have a Foundation Establishment student, but how could they not see through his intentions? His attempt was quickly dismissed through the vote.
Usually, 8th layer Qi Gathering Realm students would be sent to a sect during the start of summer, and the senior students who attained the Foundation Establishment Realm would leave the institute or become instructors soon after. With these configurations, there could be no Foundation Establishment cultivator participating in the students' competition. However, Qiong Lieyu couldn't be enrolled in the past since he broke through the 8th layer only shortly after last year's batch of students was sent out, while Shen Xue's situation was even more abnormal.
None of them could become an instructor or get kicked out of the institute since they were supposed to join the sect they are affiliated to. With their aptitudes, no doubt they would have great results anywhere they went and the organization that raised them would be rewarded handsomely, hence this situation where they were still 'half-students' and allowed to participate in the competition.
"Now fret not as we are aware of the great difference in power between each realm, leaving these two in a pack of Qi Gathering Realm students would be too disadvantageous for you all, as such, they have been bound with an additional rule. They can only use 50% of their qi in this competition, anymore and it will considered as their loss and result in their immediate disqualification."
Hearing this, many sighed in relief.
"The liquid qi of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is of much better quality than our gaseous qi, even if they can use only half of it, it's still much more than the full capacity of a peak qi Gathering cultivator's reserves. However, Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu just recently reached this realm and even if they regularly gathered qi in their dantian for this last month, they should have filled it to only thirty or forty percent at best. Now being allowed to use no more than half of this amount, that's indeed a good handicap..." Ye Mo thought quickly.
If the deans said so, then it meant they had their own way to inspect the qi of the students' dantian and how much was used during the event. With this rule restraining them, they won't be able to fight all the time but will have to take pauses in between, slowing their progression in the competition.
Around the rallying stone plateau, although the students seemed to be casually standing, they had subtly split in multiple groups.
Most of them were formed between students of the same institute, the only exception being members of one clan who didn't enroll in the same institute but still conserved a good relationship and chose to face the hardships of the competition together.
Blood is thicker than water, the clan comes before anything else. Despite wearing different uniforms, many clan members had no misgivings allying with each other.
The greatest pack in the crowd was gathered around Gao Lixin. Dozens of people wanted to attach themselves to him, but the members of his clan formed a tight circle around him and used their bodies as a defensive wall, preventing anyone from approaching him as he remained standing behind them with a helpless smile.
Of course, there were also those that stood by themselves, one of them was Ye Mo.
It might not be evident for members of other institutes and people of the exterior, but students of the Tiger Martial Institute knew of his strength and the abilities he displayed were no secret for them. Getting close to stronger people was human nature, and although he was ruthless in the pagoda and cold to others in general, he was still approached by a number of youngsters.
Yet, they were all rejected by Ye Mo. To him, only useful pawns could be allowed by his side, these youngsters had too little value to be accepted.
Those attempts to strike a partnership with him still drew the attention of students from different martial institutes who struck glances at him, wondering why these people would want to team up with this young 8th layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivator.
Ultimately, the deans gave long speeches in turn, mentioning the rewards and presenting the competition in detail and how it would unfold.
In fact, this competition held many similarities with the Tiger Martial Institute's first phase of this year's recruitment.
The competition would take place in the Jade Forest once again, with this natural environment and its many blood beasts, it was a good field for examination. Several instructors of the three institutes commonly joined hands to get rid of the new rank 2 blood beasts that took the place of the ones previously slaughtered on the outer edge of the forest those last months so the students didn't have to fear anything in this aspect.
The competition would last seven days and the goal of every student was to kill rank 1 blood beasts and accumulate points.
A low-tier blood beast is worth 10 points.
A mid-tier blood beast is worth 50 points.
A high-tier blood beast is worth 100 points.
Finally, peak-tier blood beasts are worth 500 points.
Next, the students were each handed an iron token shimmering in a faint white light.
These tokens were all registered with 200 points from the start, and this amount would increase with each blood beast eliminated.
The most important point of this matter was that you could also defeat other students and transfer the points they accumulated in your token.
Hearing this last part, many students distanced themselves from the group they happily formed an instant ago, looking at each other warily.
Such a vicious rule, how could they trust each other knowing they can attack and steal the points of other contestants?
Most teams disbanded without a word and only parties composed of members of the same clan or factions hovering around the young masters stood in place.
"They could have given us a base point of zero, but instead the tokens have been set with 200 from the start, just enough to give the participants the urge to attack each other. This way, they will have a reason to steal other points even at the beginning of the competition without the need to wait a day or two for people to accumulate them. Truly shrewd, exactly what you would expect from an institute." Ye Mo could understand the higher-ups' aim in doing this.
The martial institutes were not clans and evaluated mostly personal abilities, there was no place for hand-to-hand cooperation. The best triumph while the loser is forgotten, only your own strength and intelligence should influence your final ranking.
Lastly, you can break your token when you wish to give up, resulting in your elimination as you would be transported out of the Jade Forest.
"Don't forget, if you must fight, try to do so against members of opposite institutes, you are all numerous enough to attain a good place without hindering each other. Now go on and enter the Jade Forest, this competition shall officially start the instant you invade these woods. If you're still in my sight after five minutes, consider yourself disqualified." Hong Li declared.
In the distance could be seen a range of tall trees and green bushes covering the edge of the forest and concealing myriads of creatures behind it.
The students immediately rushed inside in waves, but Ye Mo and a few others instead remained in place for an instant.
They were too many participants so if they decided to all rush together, they would end up assailed from all sides in a crowd of thousands of participants inside the forest.
The students disappeared one by one behind the vegetation of the Jade Forest, after three minutes, Ye Mo went inside as well.
However, even after the precaution he took, he was still attacked the moment he passed the trees as three yellow light rings of qi flew above his head and went down in a flash, binding him tightly and making Ye Mo fall on the ground in the middle of his run.
"Hehe, I knew some smart ass would stay behind and enter by themselves right after if I waited a bit. Your points are mine, I will just take your eyes to make sure you don't bother me for the rest of the competition, so don't resent me."
A lanky man with the robe of the Sky Martial Institute jumped down from a tree in the vicinity and approached Ye Mo with a large smile.
Not taking Ye Mo's life was supposed to be the cultivator's mercy, but Ye Mo didn't see it that way.
"If you could think about it, don't you think others could too?" At this moment, a voice suddenly resounded as a man in the attire of the Golden Martial Institute suddenly broke the earth open and revealed himself, clasping his hands.
Earth Prison.
The ground quickly surged up under the manipulation of his battle skill and swallowed the Sky Martial Institute's student, leaving only his head outside.
"I will deal with the kid first before I come back to you, if you lose consciousness now, you won't be able to maintain the bindings of your battle skills." The man in golden attire said before walking towards Ye Mo, still tied on the ground by the rings.
When the man stood just beside Ye Mo and raised his hand to take hold of his token on his waist, the latter smiled coldly.
Suddenly exerting his strength, he broke free of the rings, which dissipated in the air, before he grabbed the man's wrist.
The Golden Martial Institute's student was taken by surprise and didn't have the time to react when Ye Mo caught him. He was about to be punched when he tried to use a defensive battle skill, but it was too late.
Ye Mo's fist tore through his face, sending blood and flesh spilling in the surroundings as the neck of the man broke under the force of the strike, leaving the head dangling against the upper part of his back.
"Trying to restrain me with a mid-tier Yellow Class battle skill is not so easy." Ye Mo said as he released the wrist of his victim. The corpse of the Golden Martial Institute cultivator fell on the ground and Ye Mo crouched down to take hold of his token, transferring 200 points in his.
"My Guardian Rings, how could they break so easily, you are a body cultivator?" The Sky Martial Institute's student, still imprisoned in a dome of earth enveloping his body, asked flabbergasted.
When Ye Mo was done and walked towards him, he realized he wasn't in a situation to satisfy his curiosity and grew distressed as he spoke quickly, "Wait, you don't need to kill me, I will give you my points, you just have to free me from this battle skill so I can reach my token."
There were many different battle skills, this man's Guardian Rings had to be maintained through his will and continually pouring out qi so they wouldn't dissipate, but the Earth Prison only had to be used once, and then even if the cultivator died, the earth wouldn't suddenly return underground, it kept imprisoning the Sky Martial Institute's student.
Ye Mo shook his head in silence as he kicked the head of the cultivator, sending half of it flying in the distance while the tongue and the interior of the mouth were left in open view in a bloody mess along the lower part of his face.
With the chatter of the cultivator abruptly coming to an end, Ye Mo broke the earth enclosing the body and retrieved the token, transferring an additional 200 points.