Whoosh!
The crowd drew in a sharp breath. Gao Han had pierced clean through the maple wood stake with a single finger strike, even leaving a dent in the wall behind it—a devastating display that left them all reeling.
Nian Hua remained calm, for such a feat was only to be expected of Gao Han.
As the champion of this year's tournament, if he could not accomplish this much, it would only make the rest of them look pathetic. Nian Hua himself had barely placed sixth.
Guo Jingfeng and the others were thoroughly impressed. They had heard tales of Gao Han's prowess, but seeing it firsthand left them stunned.
"Gao Han: passed," Elder Bai declared.
After Gao Han's test, Elder Bai saw the remaining candidates lingering in silence and began calling out names.
"Next: Sun Tianchang."
Sun Tianchang was an eighteen-year-old youth with delicate features, yet his true essence was unsteady, clearly the result of prolonged medicinal indulgence.
He stopped thirty meters from the stakes, channeled his essence into his palm, and struck out. A wave of palm force roared forth—but vanished into thin air before it even reached the wood.
"Failed. Sun Tianchang, leave. Next: An Ruoxuan."
The dejected young man trudged out. He would have to wait another two months for another chance, and was already considering waiting until the year-end promotions.
Few could match Gao Han's ascent to the Third Layer of True Essence in a mere half year.
A figure stepped forward from the line—the last candidate to arrive, a First Layer True Essence cultivator with a rock-solid foundation.
An Ruoxuan was reasonably handsome, not on par with Gao Han or Jian Qingtian, but still pleasing to the eye.
He planted himself thirty meters from the stakes, took a deep breath, and unleashed a punch.
A fist of condensed essence shot toward the wood with blinding speed.
Boom!
The stake snapped clean in two, its broken end jagged and splintered.
Elder Bai nodded. "An Ruoxuan: passed. Next: Lin Lin."
The watching true disciples smiled in approval.
Lin Lin was a female disciple. She stepped quietly before Elder Bai, bowed her head, and asked softly, "Elder, may I use a weapon?"
"You may. You are permitted to use any means necessary to succeed. I raise no objections," Elder Bai replied with a quiet nod.
"Weapon use allowed? Lucky we stayed to watch—we would have missed this!"
"Yes! Any means means martial arts too! Perfect!"
"The first two never stood a chance. If only they'd known…"
"Silence! This is an examination, not a marketplace! Another outburst, and you will be removed at once, disqualified for good!"
Li Changtian snapped from the side. The true disciples watched with quiet amusement.
They knew Elder Bai well. For over a decade, he had overseen the examinations with unyielding impartiality. So strict and fair was he that the five peak lords tolerated even his defiance, for men like him kept corruption from poisoning the sect.
He gave ordinary disciples hope: with enough strength, even those without connections could rise to inner-sect status.
Elder Bai glanced at the chastened crowd and muttered, "Even with weapons or martial arts, the first two would have had less than a ten percent chance. True strength is what matters, not cheap tricks."
This was his defining trait: his heart belonged only to the sect, and its honor was his sole concern.
Lin Lin drew her longsword. True essence surged, and a three-foot-long sword beam erupted from the blade, streaking toward the stake.
Shatter!
The beam pierced the wood, though barely, fading away the moment it broke through.
Elder Bai inspected the result and nodded slightly. "Lin Lin: passed. Next…"
And so it went. Of the fourteen candidates, most failed. Nearly half were eliminated in this first round, leaving only eight.
The two Second Layer True Essence cultivators naturally advanced—their essence was more than strong enough for the trial.
None were foolish enough to imitate Gao Han's single-finger strike; none practiced finger arts.
A high-tier Mortal Rank finger art was nearly as precious as a Profound Rank technique, for finger arts were exceedingly rare. They were notoriously difficult to master, leaving few practitioners—and thus few creators of such techniques.
Gao Han's strike, however, was merely a focused burst of raw power, not a formal finger art.
He had considered learning one, but lacked a manual. The lower levels of the Misty Sect's library held no finger techniques, and he could not afford the higher ones, so he had set the idea aside for now.
Elder Bai led the eight remaining candidates to another location. The true disciples, growing bored, decided to wait in the main hall for those who passed.
After all, their real target was Gao Han; the rest mattered little.
Once outside the training chamber, the group was met with a completely different scene.
Two stone platforms stood before them, each fifty meters square and thirty meters tall, rising from a pool of water. The platforms lay one hundred and eighty meters apart.
The eight candidates stood on the bank, awaiting Elder Bai's instructions.
Elder Bai's figure blurred as he launched himself upward, soaring like a bird before landing lightly atop one platform.
Wow!
The disciples stared in awe. They knew Elder Bai was powerful, but not to this extent. He had ascended thirty meters effortlessly, without pause, moving with graceful ease as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
Elder Bai cleared his throat and addressed them. "This second trial tests your lightness skill. It has two stages: first, leap from your current position to this platform. Second, jump from here to the platform opposite. Complete both, and you will proceed to the final examination."
"First candidate: Liang Qing! Step forward!"
A plain-faced young man stepped out from the group. He walked calmly to the base of the platform, gazing upward with confident poise.
Gao Han noted his light, gliding steps—his lightness skill was clearly well-honed.
As expected, Liang Qing leaped lightly into the air, rising like a whirlwind, and landed gracefully upon the platform.