Translator: Lordbluefire
Editor: Lordbluefire
“What are you looking at me for?” Xia Qingchen stared at him and asked, “It’s as if you know in advance that I won’t be able to pick the stone flower.” Li Weifeng turned his gaze away, guilty-stricken.
“Since that’s the case, then bring out the stone flowers you guys have picked. I’ll check them out in turns.” Li Weifeng walked over.
The first was Liu Yiyi. She took out a purple-colored stone flower.
The second one was Zhao Ling`er…
Li Weifeng checked them in succession, giving them a pass while the referee behind him recorded the results.
Xia Qingchen was the last one he checked.
“Where’s your stone flower?” Li Weifeng asked, appearing calm but was secretly smirking inside. He didn’t believe that Xia Qingchen would be able to bring out a stone flower.
However, what he hadn’t expected was that Xia Qingchen brought out a white stone flower from his sleeves.
“How is that possible?” Next to him, Zhao Tianyu appeared extremely surprised.
Xia Qingchen had clearly turned back midway. Where did he pick the stone flower from?
Li Weifeng’s gaze kept on changing. He believed that Zhao Tianyu wouldn’t lie to him. But where did the stone flower come from?
Could it be that Xia Qingchen was so lucky that he had managed to find himself a stone flower before he reached the end of the walkway?
If that was the case, wasn’t his luck just too good?
The referee looked at the stone flower and was about to record Xia Qingchen’s result.
“There’s no hurry. I’ll do a random check on this stone flower.” Li Weifeng put on a fair appearance. “In case someone found out about the examination topic and had picked a stone flower in advance.”
The referee felt that this made sense and stopped.
Li Weifeng took the stone flower from Xia Qingchen and looked at the spot where it was broken off at. It looked very fresh. The stone flower had been freshly picked.
However, his finger rubbed against the mark without a trace, and the stone flower rapidly wilted, turning into a charred black color.
There had clearly been some kind of special medicine on his finger that caused the stone flower to undergo this abnormal transformation.
“There’s a problem with the stone flower!” Li Weifeng immediately shouted. He was like a constable who had caught a thief in action, his eyes filled with excitement as he reprimanded in a loud voice.
“This stone flower is definitely not one that had just been picked!” When he said this, a commotion broke out.
Xia Qingchen’s action of sending the copper ball flying with a kick in the first round had already taken people by surprise.
When a similar problem appeared in the second round, it would garner people’s attention.
Li Weifeng chided loudly, “Xia Qingchen! How dare you openly cheat! Someone, take him away and punish him severely! Get him to confess the truth!” Two martial practitioners immediately ran over from the distance.
Xia Qingchen said calmly, “Tutor Li, you’re too quick to come to a decision. What if the stone flower that has just been picked was about to wilt to begin with?”
Li Weifeng smirked. “Excuses! The stone flower has been destroyed. It’s useless no matter what you say now!” He had used all his means, determined to do Xia Qingchen in.
He had thought that Xia Qingchen was doomed, but the latter suddenly said, “It’s alright. I still have more.”
What?
Li Weifeng’s expression stiffened up. Stone flowers could only be found at the end of the walkway.
It was already extremely lucky for Xia Qingchen to have been able to pick one of them midway.
Could it be that he had been able to pick a second one?
Li Weifeng’s mind was distraught. If that was the case, then he could only take the risk and destroy the second stone flower as well.
He must let Xia Qingchen pay the price today!
Swoosh——
Xia Qingchen brought out the stone flowers.
It wasn’t just one single flower.
It was a whole bunch of them!
There were over 100 of them!!!
“Tutor Li, which one do you like? Take your pick. There’s no need to stand on ceremony.” Xia Qingchen held onto the bunch of flowers and said, smiling.
Li Weifeng was stunned on the spot.
He was no longer capable of any more schemes. Where did Xia Qingchen get his hands on so many stone flowers?
Li Weifeng was stumped.
It was fine for him to destroy a single flower or even two of them. However, it’d be a big problem if he were to destroy over 100 of them.
The flowers were fine in Xia Qingchen’s hands, but if they were to be destroyed after being given to Li Weifeng.
Then even a blind man would be able to tell that Li Weifeng had played some sort of trick here!
“Tutor Li, why are you in a daze? Take your pick. There might be a problem with all these stone flowers!” Xia Qingchen urged.
Li Weifeng’s countenance was grim and he glared at Xia Qingchen, speaking in a low voice, “Xia Qingchen passes the examination!”
He had no choice but to allow Xia Qingchen to pass!
Therefore, a commotion broke out once again.
Backstage.
The Vice Headmaster gave it some thought before saying, “Out of the ten walkways the second group had headed to, nine of them are often used by people from the medicine halls to pick the stone flowers. Therefore, the stone flowers there are sparse. Only the walkway with the damaged path has no one using it, thus making it possible for there to be over 100 stone flowers.”
Both Consecrators realized this as well.
Usage of that walkway was forbidden, and as a tutor, Li Weifeng should be aware of this.
Yet, he still arranged for Xia Qingchen to take that walkway for the examination.
Taking into consideration how Xia Qingchen’s first round of the examination had also been tampered with, and the sudden wilting of the stone flower earlier, the answer was very clear.
Li Weifeng was an advanced martial tutor, having a status that was just right below the Consecrators. Yet, he had openly cheated and created trouble for a participant.
The Vice Headmaster’s expression turned dark. “Secretly investigate Li Weifeng. Remember, keep it a secret.”
Both Consecrators nodded.
The second round of the examination finally came to an end not long after the remaining groups returned in succession.
20 people were eliminated, leaving only 80 behind.
“The last round of the examination is sparring in martial arts,” Li Weifeng announced.
Several martial practitioners pushed a heavy puppet into the center of the training ground.
The puppet had a complete set of facial features, and its limbs were as agile as that of a human. Most importantly, it was skilled in the martial skills that humans used.
“This training puppet is at the seventh radiance-level of the minor constellation stage. Each participant just needs to be able to take ten moves from it to be assessed as having passed the test,” Li Weifeng said.
The third round was the most important one of all.
Whether they’d be assigned to the upper, middle, or lower court would be primarily dependent on the results of this third round.
Therefore, all the participants got their spirits together, determined to give it all they had.
“Right now, all of you will take turns to spar with the puppet in order,” Li Weifeng announced.
The first one to head up was a skinny young man who had just attained a breakthrough to the fourth radiance-level of the minor constellation stage.
Despite the fact that he had tried very hard, when facing the attacks from a puppet at the seventh radiance-level, he was defeated after three moves.
“Eliminated! Second participant, please head up!”
The second participant had been at the fourth radiance-level of the minor constellation stage for a while. As he had been nervous during the previous examination, he had been eliminated during the sparring with the puppet.
This time around, he had strengthened his mind and went all out.
Finally, he managed to hang on and was only defeated at the puppet’s tenth move.
However, he was only able to enter the martial pavilion’s lower court.
“Pass! Third participant, please head up!”
Everyone else continued to head up in succession.
“Number 11, please head up.”
Liu Yiyi was like a proud peacock, stepping up to the center of the training ground.
A series of discussions immediately broke out backstage and the spectators stood.
As the candidate with the greatest chance of passing, her appearance attracted a lot of attention.
“Haha, I’m definitely going to go to the upper court!” Liu Yiyi went up and sparred with the puppet.
Her inner force was very strong and her movements were very agile. She managed to be equally matched with the puppet.
She only slowly became at the disadvantage after 30 moves.
Just as she was about to be hurt by a palm attack, Liu Yiyi dodged it easily, smiling proudly.
The referee was extremely satisfied to see this. “Pass!”
The rest of the tests were extremely boring.
Most of the participants were unable to persist for ten moves.
There would occasionally be some who could do so, but they would only be able to hang on to the 12th or 13th move.
“Number 19, please head up.”
Dong——
A stifled step rang out into everyone’s ears.
They looked up and saw that it was Cheng Wei, the one with a strong and muscular build.
He rubbed his palms together, grinning. “Count me in for one of the places in the upper court as well!”