章 16: Second Round (2)
BAAM!
Ji Bei's aura washed over the contestants like a tidal wave, swallowing them in its gigantic folds and pushing them away.
Luckily for Yan Guang, he had been conserving his energy and resting, slowly tempering his energy. Due to his being solidly rooted and unmoving, he was not pushed back by much.
This was not the case for other martial artists, however. The weak martial artists such as Lin Yuan were all ejected from Ji Bei's internal force field.
As Yan Guang looked back to see what happened to those who were ejected, he realized that losing here might truly mean being eliminated from the second round.
No matter what, he had to hold on!
As for Lin Yuan being eliminated, Yan Guang felt that it was a pity he wouldn't be able to have a friend in the martial schools, but it was not the biggest deal.
Even the top 4 martial artists were pushed back, with Han Jing being the worst off by far. Although he had passed the 20-meter mark previously, he seemed to have been caught off guard by the wave of internal force and was pushed back 10 meters.
Yan Guang felt a sense of satisfaction seeing this snarky bastard get his comeuppance. As they say, what goes up must come down.
The rest of the top three were still struggling past the 20-meter mark, which was unreachable for Yan Guang.
It was just a 5-meter gap, but it felt like a massive ravine was set in place between Yan Guang and the true elites of this test.
Upon realizing this, Yan Guang couldn't help but voice his grievances internally
How can I give up this easily? A system-wielder can't be this much of a waste! Step forward!, Yan Guang roared.
Finally moving forward for the first time in almost 15 minutes, Yan Guang made it to the 16-meter mark.
After another 3 minutes of adjusting, he once again began walking, stopping at the 17-meter mark.
Every time he pushed himself beyond his limits, he could feel them expanding to meet his requirements.
In terms of accumulation, Yan Guang was inferior to the top 3, and possibly even Han Jing. However, in terms of talent, he had a medium martial physique and many other special abilities on top of that!
If it had been any other martial artist, such a risky practice would likely end up injuring them.
For Yan Guang, it simply excavated the talent granted to him by the system that was hiding in him.
Before long, he had reached the 18th-meter mark.
Ji Bei, who noticed Yan Guang's sudden improvement, was impressed.
While Chen Hao and the rest were certainly impressive, they never improved on the spot.
At the beginning of this trial, Yan Guang's limit had certainly been the 15-meter mark. Ji Bei knew that for certain as he had watched Yan Guang struggling to even remain at that distance.
However, in the last 10 minutes, Yan Guang had managed to make it to the 18-meter mark, an improvement of 3 meters!
One had to know that Chen Hao and other geniuses cultivated since the tender age of 5 or 6 just to get within 5 meters of a skilled master such as Ji Bei.
Yan Guang, however, had walked 3 meters in 10 minutes! Such a speed was simply astonishing and indicated some sort of hidden talent.
Ji Bei's thoughts wandered until they stumbled upon an interesting piece of trivia found in the sect records: the existence of martial physiques!
Once upon a time, a scholar had confidently said that all humans were born equal. However, any martial artist would laugh at this statement.
The concept of talent existed prominently in martial arts. Some mortals took until their 30s or 40s to become third-rate, while prodigies such as Chen Hao broke through to second-rate in their teenage years.
However, these existences were all still considered mortal physiques, some higher and some lower quality.
Beyond mortal physiques, were martial physiques!
Those with martial physiques surpassed average people in talent in every way, especially in raw strength.
Most importantly, they were guaranteed to break through to the 1st-rate realm if they were trained sufficiently.
A guarantee far surpassed probability!
Even martial artists Ji Bei regarded as geniuses were only likely to reach such a realm.
There was even a certain chance of those with martial physiques becoming a martial master.
One had to know that in martial society, the rate of people breaking through to a martial master was practically non-existent.
Hundreds of millions of people lived in the Huang Kingdom alone, and many of them practiced martial arts, yet the number of martial masters in total was less than a thousand, representing the difficulty of reaching that state.
Ji Bei also knew that one of the properties of a martial physique was extreme adaptation. Whatever situation they were put in, martial artists with such a physique would grow and become stronger to adapt, unearthing their potential. That was exactly what was happening to Yan Guang now.
I need to recruit this kid, no matter what!, Ji Bei thought to himself.
Yan Guang, oblivious to the keenness of the old man in recruiting him, continued to persevere.
Just one foot in front of the other, Yan Guang repeated to himself in his mind.
Nothing mattered more to him at this moment than this trial.
After another couple of minutes, he had finally reached the 19-meter mark. This time, he felt he was truly reaching his limits. Any more pressure than this could either benefit him immensely or injure him.
A fire still burned in Yan Guang's heart; he wanted to reach 20 meters, to be equal to those above him in the ranking!
Each second further tested and solidified his will and drive to become stronger.
It had been nearly 20 minutes since the trial had started, and almost everyone was exhausted, with Yan Guang the only one left still advancing.
His internal force barrier that once perfectly covered him was now left fragmented with gaps in multiple areas.
Yan Guang knew that any more waiting wouldn't do him any good; it was time to go all out!
Mustering up the last of his strength and energy, Yan Guang began to push forward once again.
Pain surged through his body in waves as every cell seemed to scream out in pain. The lack of internal force and the excess of fatigue combined to form a feeling more torturous than Yan Guang had ever experienced before.
Right as the last of his internal force ran out, he finally arrived at his goal, the 20-meter mark.
Yan Guang was both exhilarated that he had reached his goal and fearful of what would happen next. Without any of his internal force, he would likely be thrown out just like the other contestants.
To his surprise, the waves of internal force being released by Ji Bei suddenly subsided.
"The second round has now ended!", shouted Ji Bei.
The examiners standing around on the sidelines seemed confused. According to their knowledge, this round was typically supposed to last for 30 minutes. However, this entire test had been quite nonstandard, with Ji Bei releasing more of his aura than he was supposed to. As the increased difficulty made up for the decreased time, none of the examiners made any comments.
"Saved by the bell...", Yan Guang muttered to himself. He was sure he would've been eliminated if not for the round ending at that very moment.
Only after the round had ended did Yan Guang realize just how many people had been eliminated.
The number of contestants had dwindled from 43 to just around 15.
After only two rounds, the hundreds of contestants were narrowed down to just 15. Yan Guang felt this was simply insanity.
The top three of the test remained unchanged, with Chen Hao, Lin Sheng, and Zhang Wu, taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively. Yan Guang and Han Jing had, however, swapped places.
Yan Guang felt a sense of satisfaction knowing he had bested perhaps his first ever rival.
What surprised Yan Guang more than his victory was the acceptance rate of these schools.
Out of the hundreds of contestants that appeared for the exams, only 15 were left. Such an acceptance rate was comparable to elite colleges from his previous world.
Meanwhile, Ji Bei, supposedly a dignified senior, was frantically finding a way to recruit Yan Guang without the other martial schools noticing.
If I treat him any differently from other contestants, the Starry Kendo Academy and Elegant Crane School will notice... I need to wait for him to pass the third round, Ji Bei pondered.
Ji Bei was in a real conundrum. If he treated this kid specially, the rest of the martial schools would realize there was something unique about him. If he treated this kid normally, then he likely wouldn't join the White Tiger School!
Everybody knew that the premier martial institution in Guming Town was the Starry Kendo Academy, with the other 2 martial schools playing second fiddle to it.
Moreover, young martial artists were naturally drawn to sword dojos.
After all, who didn't dream of being a master of the sword, cutting through everything with a slice?
If Yan Guang displayed enough of his talent, he would likely have the choice to join any school of his preference which was exactly what Ji Bei wished to avoid.
Suddenly, an idea struck the dome of Ji Bei's head like a shooting star.
"I hope you'll forgive me, young one, I had no other option.", Ji Bei muttered with a determined glint in his eyes.
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