Elder Tang and his three brothers were waiting on the ring. After the sect disciples lead the candidates down to the first floor, they lined them up before the elders.
"You all have had one week to study the martial art of your choosing. Now is the day to finally show us the result of your training."
Some candidates were fired up, others were anxious, and some were even depressed. Choosing a manual too difficult to understand was a common mistake during this examination. Although it did not mean that they would surely be failed, they would at the very least show a poor performance and earn little points.
Once again, Elder Tang asked for the last candidates to be the first against the puppet.
The first candidate was a very young boy who probably just turned 15 a few days ago. According to his clothes, he clearly was one of the commoners. The puppet was almost twice his size as it was modeled after an adult. With a saber in hand, the boy had chosen a relatively easy weapon.
"State your name, your weapon and your martial art."
The boy was startled when he heard Elder Tang's voice.
"Xin Zhuge. Saber. Two moons desolation."
As soon as he finished speaking, the puppet began to move. Its first movements were really strange, as though it was trying to mimic a human. Slowly, it started to actually move like a human.
The puppet only launched probing attacks during the first moves. Xin Zhuge got more courageous and went from defense to offense. With each move, the puppet became more serious and more violent. Finally, the puppet got a hold of the saber and disarmed Xin Zhuge.
While it stopped and got back to its original position, Elder Tang announced the result.
"Xin Zhuge, 12 moves. Passable." He turned toward the other candidates before adding something. "I forgot to mention this, but the number of moves you're able to sustain is a good indication of your overall score. Even though you'll know your number of points only at the end. Generally, under 8 or 10 moves, you'll be disqualified."
Hearing this, Xin Zhuge froze. He was really close to this boundary.
-
The other candidates took their turn and, despite some accidents, most sustained more than 10 moves. There was some guy who tried to learn a 1-star Human martial art but only took three moves before reverting to his own art. He was immediately disqualified and had no real hope of making the cut.
It was finally the turn of the top ten candidates.
"Li Gui. Sword. Elusive Edgeless Sword." ... "Li Gui. 39 moves."
"Zhi Wang. Sword. Wild Horse Thousand Blades." ... "Zhi Wang. 38 moves."
"Xin Chen. Wind and fire wheels. Moon and Sun Courtship." ... "Xin Chen. 43 moves."
"Xin Xiong. Staff. Monkey Climbing the Mountains." ... "Xin Xiong. 42 moves."
-
"Mei Hua. Rope dart. Ten Thousand Thorns."
Mei Hua was the only woman among the top ten. She wore a purple dress that perfectly enhanced her beautiful figure. Black hair fell on both sides of her face on which she always wore a serious look. Cao Yun got a little intrigued by the weapon she chose as she was the only one with a rope dart. The rope was 5 meters long and a metal dart was attached to one end of it.
As soon as the fight started, she made the rope spin and twirl in the air, using her arms, shoulders, elbows, knees and even waist to control and alter the direction of the dart. The puppet had a hard time getting near her. The dart attacked it from the sides, the back, even from below and above. The way she was controlling the weapon gave the impression that her mind was able to move it freely in the air.
For more than 30 moves, the puppet could only block and avoid. But even when it came close to her, Mei Hua got the dart in hand and used it as a weapon and the rope as a defense. She was able to trip the puppet and get in its back.
During the trial with the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, she obtained a pretty disappointing result. Her fighting ability was not on par with the other boys of the top ten. On the other hand, her learning ability was prodigious. She lasted more than anyone before her.
She finally exceeded 50 moves. Just after that, the puppet seemed to become even faster than before. The dart hit it in the throat and retracted as fast as before, but this time, the puppet caught it. As Mei Hua could not contend with it in strength, her weapon was taken from her.
"Mei Hua. 51 moves. Excellent!"
Despite her achievement, she seemed a little dejected. Even with that many moves, she probably would not gain enough points to balance out the previous trial and she had no idea what the next one would be.
The candidate just after her was very nervous because he was not confident at all in being able to exchange fifty moves.
"Tian Lan. Sword. Ninety-Two Testimonies Variations." ... "Tian Lan. 47 moves. Very good."
Indeed, he had failed short, but he kept his head high as his result was not shameful.
Then came the turn of Ren Chao. His forte was strength and he got on the ring with a large mace.
"Ren Chao. Mace. Bujun's Chest Piercing Mace."
He wasted no time and directly went closer to the puppet. Swaying his large mace around, he struck the puppet many times. Not a single mark was made on the strange metal that composed the puppet. Ren Chao seemed to become angry and his attacks were more and more violent. No matter how hard he hit the puppet, it moved but its surface stayed perfectly clean.
Ren Chao had not lost his reason. He used the head of the mace to strike, but also to push and even to block. Some of his moves were made with the shaft of the mace to parry some blows.
"I refuse to believe there is a metal I can't bend!"
This time, Ren Chao had lost it. He focused everything in a single attack and bludgeoned the puppet right in its chest. The sound was so aggressive that all the candidates covered their ears. At last, there was a small dent, a very, very small dent on the puppet. It would be more accurate to call it a scratch.
Anyway, Ren Chao was proud and when he got eliminated just after, because he had no more stamina to go on, he didn't care.
"Ren Chao. 29 moves."
"Ha, ha, ha! You all saw that! Even a Mortal Warrior can't destroy this puppet, but you saw me?! There's no metal in this world I can't bend with my hammer!"
But you're wielding a mace though, not a hammer. Everyone thought the same thing at the same time, even the chief elders up in the sky.
Ren Chao went back to Cao Yun as another candidate took his place.
"Zhao Qing. Meteor Hammer. Crust Smashing Comets."
Ren Chao didn't care and kept on talking with his friends.
"You saw that?! I showed them all! Ha, ha, ha!"
"Brother Ren, are you perhaps a blacksmith?" Cao Yun was a bit perplexed but asked away.
"Ha, ha, ha!" He hit the palm of his hand with the mace as if it was a hammer. "It shows, right?"
I mean, you literally called your mace a hammer. But Cao Yun did not say his thought out loud.
"Oh? Is Brother Chen interested? We could become master blacksmiths together? Wouldn't it be great?"
"Huh... Sorry, Brother Ren. It's really fascinating but I'm more of a martial art guy..."
"What a pity... But you don't have the muscles to be a blacksmith anyway."
Then why did you want to be a master blacksmith with me? Once again, Cao Yun silenced his thoughts. Since the different incidents with Sun Liao, it was clear that there was nothing to gain from arguing with Ren Chao. As long as he was happy, everything was fine.
"Zhao Qing. 46 moves. Very good."
"Wait!" All of a sudden Ren Chao shouted. "My points?! I forgot about the points!" He realized that he could have fought for a little bit longer. Crossing the fifty points mark was not possible but he was sure to have been able to go at least up to forty points. "My points!"
Elder Tang cleared his voice. He liked the guy, but he had to admit he did not know how to behave.
-
"Sun Liao. Bow and arrow. Houyi's Nine suns."
It was almost the end of this trial as Sun Liao got on the ring. Just like Mei Hua, his weapon was unique among the candidates. Even among cultivators, using a bow and arrow as a main weapon was very rare.
He had a quiver with around a hundred arrows. The main reason bow and arrow was rare was that before begin a Mortal Warrior you had to use physical arrows. This meant that you could be without weapon in the middle of a fight. At least, when you reached Mortal Warrior, you could produce Qi arrows. But, by this time, all cultivators had already chosen a main weapon and they would seldom change.
The reason Sun Liao used a bow was because of his main occupation. As an array formation master, he could fire flags instead of arrows and create a temporary formation right in the heart of the battle. Cao Yun was very intrigued, because he wondered how he would fight when the puppet would get near him.
As soon as the fight started, Sun Liao launched a barrage of arrows all other the puppet, but also all over the ground. The puppet blocked or dodged most of it. But when it tried to move again, its speed plummeted. With the arrows, Sun Liao had created an array formation.
Ren Chao yelled to Elder Tang. "He's cheating! He used another technique!"
"An array formation is not a martial art. He used his martial art to create this array formation."
Ren Chao got frustrated.
Sun Liao used is bow to then demonstrate all his skills as the puppet was almost immobile. He shot two or three arrows at once. He was able to make his arrows vibrate to alter their course. Everyone was a little angry about his tactic as they had to fight the puppet head on, but his skill with the bow was real. As the puppet reached the fiftieth move, it suddenly began to move faster and broke out of the array formation.
Sun Liao was expecting that and knew the end was near. He just wanted to do better than Cao Yun. If he could reach sixty moves, he would probably be alright.
He chanted some mantra as he fired his arrow and it seemed as though the air around got hotter. When the puppet blocked the arrow, its surface also got redder for an instant. His last arrows were pretty mysterious as another one changed course in midair and hit the puppet in the back of the head.
When the puppet was upon Sun Liao, he was still able to exchange some blows by using the bow as a kind of staff. Eventually though, his bow was taken from him.
"Sun Liao. 58 moves. Excellent!"
While leaving the ring, he sent a look of challenge to Cao Yun.
"Final candidate, get on the ring."
Cao Yun did not hesitate at all and stood firm with his spear in hand.
"Chen Guo. Spear. Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars."
Immediately after his presentation, Cao Yun dashed with his spear in hand. He kept the right distance and stabbed several times. The shaft of the spear was pretty rigid but with Cao Yun's strength making it vibrate was easy. In a single strike, he was able to stab at least four times in a row. He attacked all the vital parts on the puppet. When it got closer, Cao Yun used the shaft of the spear as a blunt instrument to strike him in the side and get some distance.
The way he handled the spear was very elegant, but there was a ferocity within. He used a large sweeping move to push back the puppet and immediately followed with a vertical hit. The candidates were amazed by such a mastery. They knew that this martial art was a 1-star Human rank and how difficult it was to learn.
-
Chief Elder Baishen was completely absorbed in the trial. "He almost forged the first star."
"The first star?"
"According to the legends, 'The Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' was created by a great master who studied the stars composing the body of a true Azure Dragon, a divine beast as vast as our galaxy. He then grouped these stars into different constellations and these constellations into seven Mansions. To achieve the Small Success, you must first forge the seven central stars of these Mansions. A star is formed as the martial art gets engraved in your body and mind."
"Then, each star can further evolve into a constellation. That is called the True Success. Every move made by the martial artist will contain a bit of the technique at this point. Finally, these constellations can evolve into the Mansions themselves. This is called Perfection. There is no record of anyone attaining the Perfection grade. But if the legends are to be trusted, the martial artist will form a real Azure Dragon's spirit within him."
"How long does it take to forge the seven Stars, Sister Baishen?"
"It depends on the practitioner. I'd say that two to three weeks to forge the first Star is really good ; a week would be excellent. The first one is the easiest to forge. The three following stars can take months to forge each. Finally the last three require a year at the very least. Some martial artists just stop and choose a different martial art. That's why it's only considered a 1-star Human rank."
"You mean to say, that its real rank is superior?"
"Well, if we only consider the Small Success, yes it's a 1-star Human rank. But if we consider the True Success, it would probably be between 5-star Human rank and 1-star Heaven rank."
"And what about the Perfection realm?!" Chief Elder Luoming became terribly curious.
"Hard to say as no one was ever officially known to have reached it. I can only speculate based on the legends, but I'd say that it surpasses the Heaven rank. After all, it's supposed to create an Azure Dragon spirit within you, so that could only be a Spirit rank martial art."
"Then, how come this manual is in the exam?"
"As I said, nowadays, people consider that forming 1 star is a Small Success, 4 stars a True Success and 7 stars Perfection. No one has the patience to try and evolve the Stars into Constellations or Mansions. These two realms are almost treated as legends. And to be honest, they may be. Some people tried to evolve a Star into a Constellation for more than fifty years. Most just lack the patience and choose another manual. Unless you're fated and achieve good results, I would also recommend to change for another martial art."
-
As he was fighting, Cao Yun was refining his mastery of the spear. Gradually, he was understanding the 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' a little better. He was like a rider and his spear was the dragon he rode. As these images got in his head, in his sea of consciousness a dot began to shine dimly in the sky.
Finally, the puppet got faster. Cao Yun had already reached fifty movements while he was absorbed in his martial art. For him, it was almost like a trance. Cao Yun decided to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath as well as Yi that he was already using since the beginning of the fight. His moves became a little sharper. No one noticed except for Chief Elder Baishen who got even more excited.
Cao Yun blocked a punch from the puppet with the shaft of his spear and repelled it by creating a vibration in the metal before it grabbed it. His moves got more violent as he was trying his best to last one more move.
One more move.
Each time, he was almost beaten but kept on going.
One more move.
One more move.
"One more!" Cao Yun shouted with all his might on the ring. At this moment, the little dot of light in his sea of consciousness exploded into a small star in the distance. Cao Yun felt this change and lost his focus for a moment. He got afraid that the Drop of Wrath he was using was getting out of control again. Sadly, Cao Yun's instant of distraction ended the fight. The puppet grabbed the spear and flicked it away.