Chapter 44: Another Challenge

The complexion of Zhou Yun’s father, who was scared off by Lin Yun and the horse, turned livid with rage.

As noble as a sect elder, it was such a shame for him to be forced back in public by a sword slave and his magical beast.

What’s worse, the laughter of the Blood Dragon Horse, strange as it was, seemed to be a sneer at his inability.

Being laughed at in such a serious contest, Zhou Yun’s father was so infuriated that he intended to compete with Lin Yun again after setting his son aside.

“How ridiculous!”

There came a howl in anger from the platform. It was the sect leader Bai Tianming.

As soon as he finished speaking, the contest field was immediately overwhelmed by silence. With the sudden stop of the laughter offstage, elder Zhou, with his face turning ghastly pallid, heard Bai Tianming clearly before he could retort, “Elder Zhou, how dare you violate the rules set hundreds of years ago! Are you out of your mind?”

All the spectators, including other elders and inner disciples on the high platform, as well as the several thousand outer disciples offstage, were stupefied by the gruesome aura in his tone, which was enough to chill everybody to their bones.

“Why are you still here!”

Letting out a long sigh in relief, elder Zhou returned to his seat on the platform in gloom with Zhou Yun.

With the gruesome aura swept away by a smile on his face, Bai Tianming announced in a gentle voice, “Lin Yun, as humble as a sword slave, can make such enormous progress in martial arts. All the spectators present should learn from him. If every one of you are like Lin Yun, our Qingyun Sect will definitely flourish!”

“Thank you for your compliment, Your Excellency,” Lin Yun said while cupping his fists.

“You may leave now. There’s no right or wrong in the competition. The one who dares to give you a hard time will be setting himself against me!”

Bai Tianming’s words had freed Lin Yun from some troubles.

Though the Zhou family was powerful in the Qingyun Sect, they dare not offend him with the sect leader’s promise.

The contest ended before all the disciples offstage could come back to their senses, while they were still discussing about how Lin Yun turned the tables.

Nobody thought he would win after Zhou Yun revealed the magical armor.

To everyone’s surprise, by employing the Flowing Shadow of Reflective Light, Lin Yun had merged with his sword in an instant, leaving numerous shadows around Zhou. Until he unsheathed the sword, Zhou Yun’s body had been filled with gashes with blood splashing out like red flowers in full bloom.

Only a few of the outer disciples who could see his move clearly.

All of them felt confused.

“Stop guessing randomly. It’s called the Flowing Shadow of Reflective Light. Only when you made the Big Achievement in the Flowing Wind Swordplay, could you employ that move!”

Zhang Han, one of the senior outer disciples, sighed with disappointment.

“The Big Achievement in the Flowing Wind Swordplay? Are you sure about that, Zhang Han?”

“It’s so difficult to make a Big Achievement in any swordsmanship, let alone the Flowing Wind Swordplay. How amazing it is!”

“Definitely impossible. Even Zhou Yun hasn’t gained a Big Achievement in the Thunder Snake Swordplay!”

Not bothering to explain any more, Zhang Han decided to mind his own business.

Displeased as he was, Zhang Han, after watching the contest, had realized that it was just because he wanted to hide the Flowing Wind Swordplay at the Big Achievement from him that Lin Yun decided to give up in the contest half a month ago.

He was so foolish to believe Lin Yun’s words and left laughing, thinking he had scared the antagonist off.

How shameful it was!

The second turn of the midterm exam continued after Lin Yun left the stage.

It was, admittedly, wonderful enough.

All of the eighty people fighting their way out of the group stage had an ace up their sleeves, but they were still pitifully dwarfed by Lin Yun’s breathtaking opening show.

Leading the Blood Dragon Horse to the side of the field, Lin Yun sat down before crossing his legs to ponder on the contest with Zhou Yun just then, the strongest antagonist since he became the outer disciple. Thanks to the enemy, he had learned a lot in the combat.

Lin Yun had a vague feeling that he had found the shortcut to the top of the sixth level in martial arts.

As the time passed, the first turn of the knockout match was reaching its end.

The second turn started!

Since there were merely ten people among the forty who could be inner disciples, the contest became increasingly fierce.

“The sixth turn, Zhang Han vs Lin Yun!”

Upon hearing the referee’s words, Zhang Han was totally thrown in panic as his face turned red as the pork liver.

The most frightening thing always came unexpectedly. He was not a match for Zhou Yun, let alone the stronger one, Lin Yun.

Zhang Han stepped onto the stage reluctantly. No matter what the result was, an attempt was necessary. Anything could happen during the combat after all. In terms of his cultivation, Zhang Han was at a higher level, which gave him a chance to gain advantage over Lin Yun.

“Lin Yun, come onto the stage as soon as possible!”

The referee shouted since he didn’t turn up.

“Coming!”

Following the deafening sound, all the spectators turned their heads.

Lin Yun, crossing his legs while sitting beside the Blooded Dragon Horse, opened his eyes suddenly.

Boom!

With a gleam in his eyes, his aura had entirely changed as he broke through the sixth level of cultivation.

He did it finally!

“Oh, my God. Was he cultivating his energy by sitting quietly with his eyes closed?”

“He must have been greatly inspired by the combat with Zhou Yun.”

“How confident he is! In case he failed, he would not only be seriously hurt, but also might be disqualified if not waking up on time.”

Other outer disciples, being aghast at Lin Yun’s bravery, felt their heart beating fast.

Swish! Swish!

Lin Yun, whose martial art had been promoted to the seventh level, could employ the Wild Goose Script more easily.

By touching the ground lightly with his tiptoe, Lin Yun made about three leaps before landing on the stage, each time for more than ten meters.

Facing Lin Yun at the seventh level, Zhang Han laughed in frustration. “Lin Yun, well done!”

He, giving up in the competition of the first turn, became Zhang Han’s antagonist again after his cultivation got enhanced. Zhang Han absolutely didn’t stand a chance.

After realizing what Zhang Han meant, Lin Yun smiled apologetically. “Sorry. It’s a sudden enlightenment. I just broke through the bottleneck after the penance.”

“Ha-ha.”

Zhang Han, flicking his sleeves heavily with a sneer, shouted, “I quit!”

Everybody was amused by this ridiculous scene.

Given his grudge against Lin Yun, it’s natural for Zhang Han to have a fight with him, but he unexpectedly gave up so soon.

“The winner is Lin Yun.”

The referee announced the result without hesitation.

Lin Yun felt a little pity to win such easily. He wanted to test his cultivation at the seventh level to learn about its power.

There was only one battle awaiting Lin Yun who would be advanced to an inner disciple after another victory.

Not long after he stepped off the stage, there came an acclamation in the crowd.

Turning around, Lin Yun noticed that another outer disciple, Hu Zifeng, had turned up.

Hu Zifeng!

With his cultivation at the eighth level, the undefeatable Hu Zifeng stood out among the outer disciples of the Qingyun Sect.

There were numerous stories about this legendary figure.

“Senior Hu, I’m not giving up!”

His antagonist said nervously.

“As you wish.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the antagonist was thwacked to the air by the powerful force emitting from Hu Zifeng’s palm.

Thump!

During the whole process, he never moved or touched his enemy, but somehow he still managed to knock the antagonist off the stage.

“How powerful he is!”

Lin Yun was a little surprised. That’s the fearful power of the cultivation at the eighth level.

“Hu Zifeng, Hu Zifeng!”

The majority of the outer disciples were shouting his name excitedly.

The knockout match ended before the sunset.

Defeating his opponent in the third turn without any difficulties, Lin Yun fought his way from a humble sword slave to the top ten among the outer disciples, a seemingly impossible mission to complete for common people.

All of the ten winners were on the stage with inner disciples and sect elders.

“Congratulations! You can go to the Sect Affairs Office for your reward. Now, each of you have a chance to challenge one of the inner disciples!” The sect leader Bai Tianming chuckled.

The competition between the inner disciples were fiercer. Their capacity could be clearly observed from the rankings.

Whoever won the contest could get the rank of his opponent directly.

Most of the ten winners remained calm.

The relationship between seniors and juniors played a more important role in the sect than the level of cultivation.

Challenge meant disdain. If you won, the opponent had no choice but to surrender. If you lost, the opponent would very likely seek revenge after the midterm exam.

Of course, Hu Zifeng was an exception.

No sooner than the sect leader finished speaking, Hu Zifeng, raising his head, stared at one of the inner disciples and said, “I, the worthless person, would like to learn from senior Feng.”

Instead of being angry, the inner disciple whose surname was Feng forced a smile before saying, “Since I was defeated by you a month ago, there is nothing I can teach you. I surrender.”

He surrendered.

Though being a little surprising, it’s still reasonable given Hu Zifeng’s strong power.

No one made a fuss over that.

“Anybody else want to have a try? Or is Hu Zifeng the only courageous one?”

Bai Tianming, the sect leader, tried to inspire others into action in smile.

However, no one dared to answer him. After all, not everyone was a master. With the cultivation at the eighth level, it was natural for Hu Zifeng to come out first.

“I, the worthless person, would like to try!”

Lin Yun broke the silence by uttering the words resolutely and caused an uproar.