Chapter Fourteen: New Disciple Assessment

  The next day, Xia Chen and other new disciples arrived early at the arena, waiting for the start of the decisive assessment that would determine their fate.

  The arena is a special venue used by the Orthodox Sect for competitions, with an extremely large area, surrounded by huge spectator stands. The stands behind have already seated many disciples below the Sixth Heaven, while the front is reserved for disciples above the Sixth Heaven and Divine Ability cultivators.

  The new disciple's cultivation is weak, but after all, it is the foundation of the sect, and everyone from top to bottom attaches great importance to it. Almost half of the disciples will come to observe.

  Before long, disciples of six or more levels above arrived at the arena one after another. Among these powerful disciples, Xia Chen had not seen a single one.

  The sixth stage of Houtian is the watershed of the Houtian realm, extremely difficult to cross. Every disciple above the sixth stage of Houtian is a personally selected disciple and an elite of the sect.

  The viewing platform occasionally echoed with the exclamations of the six younger brothers below.

  "Look, that's Yu Xiulian, the Seventh Heaven of Post-Heaven. She's a rare sight indeed."

  "Yes, you see that, there is still the eightfold Wufeng behind, I heard that Wu Shixiong is a martial arts fanatic, addicted to martial arts as if his life depended on it."

  Xia Chen looked in the direction of the crowd's pointing and saw a lovely short-haired woman and a middle-aged man with disheveled hair sitting in the front row of the stands. The two were focused, looking like there was nothing out of the ordinary.

  But Xia Chen's gaze was a chill. Clearly felt the strong vitality of the two, as if under that ordinary appearance, loaded with a huge sun, which could burst out at any time and strike with thunder.

  It seemed that they felt the scorching gaze behind them, and Yu Xiulian and Wu Feng simultaneously turned their heads back, but what they saw was only Xia Chen chatting and laughing with others.

  "It's strange, aren't the ones sitting in the back all disciples below the fifth rank of the posterior heaven? How can someone's gaze be so sharp?" Yu Xiulian frowned and said.

  "Illusion, disciples below the fifth rank of the acquired realm cannot make us feel a sense of resonance." Wu Feng said with an expressionless face.

  "Yu Shi Jie and Wu Shi Xiong are both disciples under Master Yue Zi Feng, I see. They must be here to cheer on the genius disciple Zhuo Bu Fan." a disciple commented.

  "Yes, look over there. Isn't that Fang Qing, the first disciple under Master Xu Fang's seat and a nine-heaven cultivator? She must be here to support her talented junior sister Li Yuan Yao." said another new disciple.

  Xia Chen raised her eyes and saw a beautiful woman in purple clothes sitting in front of her, her whole body shining as if she was radiating light. Within several meters around her, not a single disciple dared to sit down, as if she was like lightning, involuntarily making people's hearts retreat.

  Suddenly, Fang Ziqing turned her head abruptly, and two extremely bright gazes were directed at Xia Chen. Xia Chen instantly felt his eyes burning, and he hastily lowered his head, pretending to look elsewhere as if nothing had happened.

  "Ants like you!" Fang Ziqing's eyes flashed with a hint of disdain.

  At this time, all the disciples of Hou Tian burst out in unison with a cry of surprise.

  "Chen Qiushui! Eldest Sister has arrived!"

  Xia Chen's heart skipped a beat. The name Chen Qiushui was well-known among the disciples of Hou Tian, and he had heard it mentioned more than once when he first entered the sect.

  The only post-heavenly ten-refined boundary disciple of the Zhengyuan Sect, the great senior sister of all post-heavenly disciples, and a powerful cultivator who is just one step away from advancing to the Divine Ability realm!

  A slender and beautiful woman slowly walked onto the platform, her white clothes were as snowy, her long hair fell on her shoulders, her eyes flowed with a mesmerizing gaze, her appearance was breathtakingly beautiful, and she had an indescribably stunning aura.

  Although she was walking alone, it seemed as if she had taken away the sunset that filled the sky, making it impossible not to notice her figure. This woman, the simple beauty of the mortal world was already insufficient to describe her.

  Even Xia Chen couldn't help but be moved, and had to say that this woman's beauty was truly breathtaking, and it was really enough to make one's heart feel admiration!

  Chen Qiushui smiled faintly and nodded slightly to the disciples on the watchtower, although he was not as cold as Fang Ziqing, but still made people feel a distance, a kind of intangible distance that could only be felt.

  It's as if the heavens and earth are far apart, this is the feeling that Chen Qiushui gives people, but everyone seems to think it's a matter of course. The next day, disciples above the sixth level stood up one after another, greeting Chen Qiushui.

  Chen Qiushui sat down beside Fang Ziqing, and the two outstandingly beautiful women sitting together instantly attracted many fiery gazes.

  Xia Chen withdrew his gaze, but what he didn't know was that at the moment he did, Chen Qiushui seemed to have glanced at him unintentionally.

  After a moment, a strange footstep sound came from afar. The footsteps were loud but gave people a feeling of lightness, as if the person who made the footsteps could tread on air and ascend to heaven at any time.

  Everyone stood up and said in unison: "Welcome, Master, welcome, all respected teachers."

  Zhan Fengchen and ten other divine transcendence cultivators appeared on the scene, walking towards them. In front of the middle-aged Confucian scholar Yue Zifeng and the middle-aged woman Xu Fang were the majestic and extraordinary Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao.

  The crowd applauded warmly, and being able to appear on stage with their seniors was a great honor for Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao. It was clear that Yue Zifeng and Xu Fang were creating momentum for them, and today the two of them were the main characters, no one could steal their thunder.

  Xia Chen watched quietly, two months unseen, Zhuo Bu Fan's demeanor was even more impressive than before, he strode forward with the momentum of a dragon and the steps of a tiger, his eyes were sharp as a needle, exuding an aura that was profound and lofty, although he was a new disciple, he gave off an overwhelmingly powerful presence that was unmatched, compared to two months ago when he first entered the sect, it was stronger by who knows how much.

  Li Yuanyao wore a white dress, floating like an iceberg and a snow lotus, out of the dust and empty, ethereal as a fairy, making people feel her coldness and inapproachability even more, her temperament was not at all inferior to Zhuo Bufan's.

  "Indeed a genius! Just by aura alone, Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao far surpass the other new disciples, not to mention some of the older ones."

  "These two can only be described with the four words 'human dragon and phoenix', I reckon in a few years, they will become the elite among the sect's elites."

  "Alas, seeing these two people, I finally feel the huge gap. Cultivating for a lifetime, even if I were to whip horses, I still can't catch up with them."

  Everyone gasped in amazement.

  Feeling the scorching gaze and whispers of the crowd, Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao couldn't help but become more radiant and spirited.

  Suddenly, Zhuo Bu Fan's eyes moved slightly, and he saw Xia Chen. His eyes instantly turned icy cold, with an expression of unbearable hatred.

  Li Yuanyao's expression also changed, "It's that little clown, I didn't think he would dare to come and take the assessment. Not bad, today you can fulfill your wish and thoroughly defeat him."

  "Not bad, I've been in closed-door training for two months, and today I must make him wish he were dead!" Zhuo Bu Fan's eyes blazed with furious fire, thinking of how Xia Chen had beaten him into a pighead two months ago, it had almost become his constant nightmare, always thinking of revenge.

  Zhuo Bufan, you want me to be worse off than dead? I'm afraid it's not that easy... Xia Chen remained expressionless, but he clearly felt the hatred in Zhuo Bufan's eyes. However, he didn't flinch at all and only smiled faintly.

  As the crowd of cultivators stepped into the viewing platform and sat down, the disciples immediately quieted down. A disciple who looked like a chief examiner walked to the center of the arena, it was Fang Zhong.

  "Fang Zhong loudly said: 'Head of the sect, various senior uncles and aunts, as well as fellow disciples, this year's new disciple assessment has a total of twenty people, divided into five rounds of competition. The last five people will be eliminated...'"

  He introduced the rules of the assessment competition and then respectfully invited War Empty Dust to announce the start of the assessment.

  Zhan Kongchen didn't waste any words and promised that whoever won would receive a hundred Yuanqi Dans as a reward, then announced the start of the assessment.

  "The first match, Xu Wenda and Jiang Yang will take the field." Fang Zhong loudly announced.

  Two new disciples walked into the arena, exchanged a glance, and then charged at each other and started fighting.

  These two were still only in the stage of sensing each other's aura, their fist and foot techniques weren't worth mentioning, but at this moment they used all their strength, fighting extremely fiercely, after all, losing would increase the probability of being eliminated.

  Half a move, Xu Wenda was exhausted and retreated step by step. He was finally knocked out of the arena by Jiang Yang's one punch and couldn't help but hang his head in shame.

  In the next few matches, Sun Li, Chen Lie and Fang Qiu took turns to take the field. The three broke through Tianyi Heavy Industry with ease, winning effortlessly and impressing everyone, including the Divine Communication Masters who nodded in approval, thinking that this batch of new disciples was exceptionally good.

  "The eighth round of competition, Zhuo Bufan and Li Meng take the stage." Fang Zhong said loudly.

  Everyone's spirits lifted, and for the first time, this heaven-sent child took the stage. What kind of performance would he put on? His heart was filled with anticipation.

  Zhuo Bufan walked calmly onto the stage, his eyes gazing upwards, treating Li Meng in front of him as if he was nothing. These new disciples had all tried to curry favor with him before, but now they had already distanced themselves from him by a huge chasm, and didn't even remember him.

  "In a lower position, I am no match for Master Zhuo, I concede defeat." The disciple Li Mang was also straightforward, directly cupping his hands and walking out of the arena.

  He and Zhuo Bu Fan fought with their hands, naturally they would definitely lose, it's better to conserve energy and wait for the next assessment.

  Everyone didn't have any great disappointment, Li Meng was just an ordinary new disciple, and automatically conceding defeat was within expectations.

  Then Li Yuanyao took the stage, and she faced an ordinary new disciple. The new disciple did not dare to confront this proud heavenly jade girl, so he conceded defeat and stepped down.

  "The tenth match, Xia Chen and Fang Qing enter the stage." Fang Zhong's voice rang out once again.

  As soon as the words fell, Fang Qing's disciple was pale with fear and shook his head repeatedly: "How dare I fight with Shixiong Xia? Far from being a match, I concede defeat, I concede defeat!"

  Fang Qing was also one of Wu Gang's followers at the beginning, and naturally had a taste of Xia Chen's ferocity. He didn't even have time to hide, let alone dare to try.

  Everyone's face was stunned, and Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao didn't even need to fight to make the others surrender. After all, they were genius disciples, and their prestige was already established. But what about this new disciple named Xia Chen? He actually made the other new disciples automatically admit defeat, and it seemed that he gave off an even stronger aura than Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao.

  "I had forgotten, this waste is also a day later, no wonder it can make others give up their rights. However, with his mediocre talent, I estimate that the progress of these two months is minimal, and we have no way to compare." Zhuo Bu Fan's expression was gloomy, seemingly dissatisfied that Xia Chen could also make other new disciples automatically concede.

  "If this clown knew that we would break through the second double in two days, he wouldn't be scared to death. However, it's not good if you meet him and this clown automatically admits defeat." Li Yuanyao said.

  "No need, I'll directly kill this trash, and then humiliate him so badly that he won't even have the chance to concede." Zhuo Bufan said calmly.