Chapter 8: The Beginning of the Test

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"Good, now, the test officially begins," said the man, raising his hands theatrically.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Chan Huzi, one of the ten elders of the Phoenix Sect, and I will be presiding over the test," he said, composing himself.

"Although many of you already know how the test works, let me repeat it for those who are new to all this.

"The test is divided into three parts, each focused on an aspect of you.

"The first test is the test of strength.

This test will gauge how much force you can exert with your current cultivation.

The minimum requirement to pass this test is to reach at least 50 strength points," he said, pausing to see if everyone understood.

Hearing this, Ethan couldn't help but sweat a little. He had never trained much, neither in his previous world nor in this one.

He didn't know how much strength someone who hadn't started cultivating could exert, but he had a feeling it would be difficult to reach 50 points.

Seeing that no one had any questions, he continued explaining:

"Now, we don't expect all of you to have already started cultivating, so you won't be eliminated immediately if you fail this test.

To be disqualified from the exam, you must fail at least two of the three tests."

The elder could see that at the mention of these last words, many had breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, he shook his head and then, with a wave of his hand, made a strange wooden machine appear beside him.

The machine was a nearly two-meter-tall rectangular wooden container with what looked like a circular brown cushion in the center and a small pointer at the top of the container with a thin wooden wheel behind it.

The wheel was numbered from 0 to 500, and the pointer was currently at zero.

Ethan, seeing how the elder made this device appear, was a bit surprised.

"Could it be one of those legendary storage rings often mentioned in cultivation novels?" he wondered, noticing that he wasn't the only one surprised by this sight.

"This gadget here is what we will use for the first test," he said, pointing to the machine next to him.

"What you need to do is simply punch the circular cushion as hard as you can, and the wheel above will spin and show your score."

"Now, line up, forming a single file, and approach one by one to take the test."

With these words, he moved to the side of the stage, leaving the space in front of the wooden machine empty.

The crowd wasted no time and immediately moved to get as far ahead as possible.

Ethan, who was at the back of the group, seeing this scene, wisely decided to take a step back and wait for the line to form first.

The last thing he wanted at this moment was to be in the middle of this frantic group and end up getting hurt.

After a short time, everyone lined up.

Seeing that the group was finally ready, the elder signaled the first person in line.

Seeing the examiner's signal, the person stepped onto the wooden stage and positioned themselves in front of the measuring device.

The one who stepped onto the stage was a young and tall boy who didn't seem to be more than 18 years old.

He had dark blue hair, almond-shaped eyes, and a confident expression on his face, as if he already knew he would pass.

The boy assumed a fighting stance, focusing his gaze on his target. Then, with a quick hand movement, he punched the device's cushion hard.

TING!

The device's wheel immediately began to spin rapidly.

The boy who had just thrown the punch composed himself and calmly awaited the result.

Even Ethan, who was almost at the back of the line, tried to see what the first score would be.

After a few seconds, the wheel began to slow down until it finally stopped.

Everyone leaned forward a bit to see the score, and upon seeing the value indicated by the pointer, a few gasps echoed from the crowd.

The number displayed on the device was '153'.

"153, that means he's already in the first stage of body refinement," said someone in the crowd incredulously.

"First stage of body refinement? No, friend, he's almost halfway to the second stage," said another near the first speaker.

"Heavens, to be already halfway to the second stage of body refinement at such a young age. He must be a genius from some prestigious family."

"Now that you mention it, I think I've seen him somewhere before. Oh yes, he's the third son of the Zhao family, Zhao Ming."

"Wait, are you talking about that Zhao family that runs the Zhao Auction House in Sun City?" said someone hearing what the boy in front of him had said.

"Of course, I'm talking about that family. Do you know any other Zhao families?"

The crowd buzzed with comments about the young man's result.

Zhao Ming, who was still on the stage, hearing the crowd's comments, smiled slightly as he descended from the platform.

The examiner, seeing the result, wasn't very surprised. He indeed expected such a value from someone of the Zhao family.

Wasting no time, he called the next person.

The next was a tall and robust boy with short hair who walked arrogantly onto the stage.

"Hmph, what are you surprised about? Let me show you real power," he said, assuming an attack position and, without wasting time, delivered a punch to the cushion.

TING!

As before, the wheel started spinning quickly. This time it seemed a bit faster than before, and people noticed.

"Isn't that Li Qiang?"

"Yes, it's him, without a doubt."

"It seems that many members of prestigious families of the Phoenix Kingdom have shown up for the exam today. We're in for a show," said someone while looking at some others in the crowd, eager to see how other competitors from prestigious families would score.

After a few seconds, the wheel stopped, with the pointer pointing to the number 161.

"161! He surpassed Zhao Ming's score."

"Incredible, that means he's also halfway to the second stage of body refinement."

Once again, the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

Zhao Ming, who had stopped at the side of the line, seeing that someone had immediately surpassed him, seemed a bit displeased but tried to hide his emotions.

Li Qiang, having composed himself, descended from the stage with a victorious smile on his face.

And so, one by one, everyone began to step onto the stage and record their scores.

Ethan, who was at the back of the line, seeing everyone's scores one by one, couldn't help but think:

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR: well, as usual, don't hesitate to leave comments/criticisms/ERRORS on the novel.