What angered them more was that Zen was able to resist damage from their attacks. This was beyond
their imagination!
"Damn it! I've used up all my strength!" One of the men stopped and gasped. He felt so weak that he
couldn't even raise his arms.
Under the weight of the pressure on this stretch of the road, the man's body gave out. He collapsed on
the ground, shook his head, and said, "This terrible pressure and the running have made me very tired,
not to mention beating that brat. Holy crap!"
The pressure of 4, 000 pounds was originally designed for cultivators at the marrow refining level.
Under normal conditions, these men wouldn't have tired. However, their strength ran out faster as they
were attacking Zen while bearing the great pressure. They soon felt weary.
Just as they were about to give up, the scholar-like man suddenly called out with excitement, "He is
bleeding!" He saw the red liquid flowing out of Zen's body and assumed it was blood. He said with
pleasure, "I doubted whether this kid's body could be injured. Now, look at him! We have wounded him.
He's done! Let's carry on hitting him!"
Seeing that Zen was bleeding, the four men were overjoyed. They didn't want to fail the client.
They motivated themselves to keep striking Zen as hard as possible.
When Zen thought they were going to give up hitting him, he felt upset. He could feel his body growing
stronger with each blow. It was disappointing that they were giving up. He did not want it to end so
quickly.
However, when they mistook the impurities flowing from Zen's body to be blood, they thought he was
close to reaching his physical limit. So, they renewed their efforts!
Zen was ecstatic inside, but he didn't show any emotions. On the contrary, he pretended to be close to
complete exhaustion. While suffering their beatings, he staggered forward, being ready to enjoy the
second round of body refining.
Zen did not know that thirty miles away, the chief examiner, an elderly man with white eyebrows, was
watching the scene.
Beside the chief examiner stood a young woman dressed in green.
Both of them stared at a waist-high jade slab, also known as the 'Picture Slab', in front of them. They
could see everything that was happening on the whole path.
At this time, the images on the Picture Slab were showing the scene of Zen being chased and beaten.
The woman and the chief examiner could not look away. Their expressions conveyed the astonishment
they felt.
"He is resisting the attacks of four cultivators at the marrow refining level, but he is only at the organ
refining level. It seems that we have an interesting candidate in the initial exam this month!" said the
young woman with a smile.
The chief examiner felt embarrassed when he heard the young woman's statement. It seemed that the
examinee had invoked her interest. He thought for a while and said, "Master Su, you can't think like
that! If the masters of the other 32 peaks of Cloud Sect pick their disciples like you do, it will lead to a
big mess!"
Master Su grinned and turned to face the chief examiner. She said, "Well, if that is the case, then let
the masters also pick their own disciples. I will not mind."
"But according to the rules, these disciples are supposed to be allotted to a peak by the ranking of their
exam results. Last month, you picked quite a gifted disciple. The other masters have been discontent
since. If this month you pick another, then..." The chief examiner elder stopped and shook his head.
Master Su snorted with disapproval and said, "So what? They are unhappy? Well, they can always
come and speak with me if they feel that way. What exactly are they accusing me of? The fighting
power of the Drizzle Peak was ranked the lowest among the 33 peaks of Cloud Sect. If I don't use
some tricks, how can I hope to change that? Mmm, let me think! Right, I have a very simple idea. I will
go and tell this boy to save his strength so that he doesn't get the top rank in the entrance exam! Then
the other masters won't be upset that I pick a strong disciple, right?"
"Ah..." the chief examiner had not expected Master Su to come up with such a surprising idea. The
idea did not sit well with him!
Cloud Sect provided the inner and the outer disciples with 33 peaks for cultivating. To stimulate all of
the disciples to cultivate hard, Cloud Sect had made a set of very rigorous, scientific rules. The most
important rule was about the competition among the 33 peaks.
The competition affected not only the disciples but also their masters. Each master had their tasks and
goals. To produce better disciples, they would naturally scramble for the gifted ones.
If a person passed both the initial and the entrance exam and showed great talent and strength, every
master would be eager to pick that person as their disciple.
If Master Su broke the rule for the benefit of the Drizzle Peak, she would incur several complaints from
the other masters.
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