Chapter 117: Third Round, Begin!

An hour had passed, and the second round was finally concluded.

Only a tiny fraction of examinees was remaining and advancing to the third round.

"Congratulation to you all to successfully pass the second round and officially join the Heaven Sword Sect."

"For the disciples who have only passed the Second Gate, unfortunately, you don't have the qualification yet to advance to the third round. There will be elders from outer courts that will help assign you a room in the outer courtyard."

Several Outer Court's Elders appeared and quickly lead the examinees who were recruited as Outer Disciples. 

Many of the new outer disciples felt slightly regretful that they couldn't get the opportunity to fight for a better starting point at the sect. 

However, they also knew that their strength wasn't sufficient yet they were really excited and couldn't wait to start cultivating in Heavenly Sword Sect.

After the outer disciples left with the Outer Court Elder, Elder Lan continued her explanation.

"For the disciples who have passed at least the third gate you can join the third round and with a good result you might be able to directly become an inner disciple."

"The disciples who had passed at least the fifth gate, you have officially become an inner court disciple and have an opportunity to become a core disciple depending on the results of this round."

"There are 41 peoples who reached the Third Gate, 5 peoples who reached the fourth gate, 3 people who reached the fifth gate, and one people who completed the trial by reaching The Ninth Gate. We have a total of 50 people who are going to join the Third Round."

"This round will test your comprehension aptitude of Sword Dao. Now, we will go to the next examination area."

Snowy and the group of examinees led by Elder Yan to a two stories ancient building that exudes a sharp aura which reminded people of the building in the Sword City. 

Hanging on the top of a huge gate on the first floor, a wooden board with the words "Sword Pavilion" carved on its surfaces was the first thing that welcomed anyone who wanted to enter the majestic building.

As they enter, more than a hundred stone tablets were scattered all around the room. If someone accidentally came upon this room, they might mistake it as a graveyard and the stone tables as the tombs.

"As you can see, there are many stone tablets were erected around you. You will find sword marks engraved on the surface of those stone tablets. Every stone tablet is a medium for you to learn a sword technique which ranges from Mortal grade technique to Earth grade technique. In fact, all of our sect's swordsmanship heritage, except for Heaven grade technique, was available in this room."

"You have six hours to comprehend the sword technique on your chosen stone tablet. After the comprehending period ends, we will set up the stage for you to show what you have learned. The examination this time around is quite special, so we make a special arrangement for determining your results."

"You will be divided into five groups consisting of 10 people each, and every examinee will have to battle with all other examinees in the same group. Two people with the most winning count from each group will be selected to advance to the last round. The remaining disciple will be granted a qualification to join the biannual inner sect disciple's selection."

"The battle was set up as a spar and not a death or life battle, so if any of you is caught red-handed to intentionally harm another disciple you will instantly to be eliminated from the third round and will receive punishment from the punishment hall."

"Do you understand?"

Elder Lan scanned the room and found that a number of people were raising their hands, waiting to be picked by Elder Lan. She chose a female cultivator that seemed to be at the third level of Qi Transformation stage.

"What if we are grouped with a person whose cultivation level is far above us? Isn't it unfair?" asked the female cultivator.

"Well to answer your question, this might be sound harsh, but you can't expect fairness from the world. Someone might be lucky enough to be born as a scion of a wealthy family and someone might be pitiable enough that they end up raised in the slum."

"But what can they do? can they swore like a madman and demand Heaven for fairness?"

"Although we are not the heaven, we pretty much understand that no one can be blamed for our weakness other than ourselves. After all, in this world, the one who has the bigger fist is the one who is reasonable, what is fair to them might be unfair to you, but again what can you do? Only with strength can you enforce your ideal, until you strong enough don't speak about fairness unless you want to beaten up for the so-called justice and reason."

The female cultivator was unable to retort what Elder Lan said. It was just the way of the world and Heaven Sword Sect was operated by the same rule. She bit her lips in frustration, silently complaining inside her heart.

Elder Lan moved to the next question.

"What if someone who had already became an inner disciple to fail in this round?"

"Well if you fail, you fail. There is no punishment or such," said Elder Lan, "But, you will need a longer time to become a core disciple if you miss this opportunity."

"Is there any more question?"

"According to what Elder Lan said that all of the sword techniques below Heaven grade are available on these stone tablets, how about other techniques like movement technique or the techniques for another weapon other than a sword, and such? And what about Heaven grade technique?"

As the word "Heaven Grade Technique" came from the questioner's mouth, other examinees' ears twitched and their gaze pinned at Elder Lan expectantly.

"Excellent question! Although it is not about today's examination, this time I'll satisfy your curiosity," replied Elder Lan.

"I'll answer the second question first. Only core disciples can learn our heaven-grade techniques so before you are capable to become one you should focus on becoming stronger. So, if you want a chance to learn these techniques faster, you need to put 100% of your effort in this round of examination."

Most of the examinees looked dejected after listening to her answer. Some of them though, had their fighting spirit ignite and couldn't wait to show their worth. 

On the other hand, Snowy didn't have any reaction whatsoever even after Heaven grade techniques were mentioned. 

Because to Snowy, Heaven Grade technique wasn't that different from Mortal grade technique.

"And now, I'll answer the first question. Other techniques like cultivation method and martial technique except for sword technique are kept in Martial Pavilion. Why only sword technique had been engraved in the stone tablet?" 

"There are two reasons for that. First, because Sword Dao is our root. That is why we spend a lot of effort to pass our swordsmanship legacy. What we had engraved in the stone tablets were not only technique manual but also insight on sword dao!" 

"Yes, all of the sword technique is made by our predecessor who already reached at least great success on each technique thus if you can comprehend the sword mark on the stone tablet your swordsmanship will improve by leap and bound! That is the benefit that only our sect can offer! That is the second reason."

At this point, the examinees start to liven up. They couldn't wait to observe these stone tablets!

"Okay if there is no question, let's begin the third round!"