"Good work my brothers." Tang Qiang said, as he retrieved the beast core from the body of a monstrous wolf. It was an intermediate rank 2 demon beast that his team had hunted. "Gather around, let's split up this week's gains."
The group of five gathered together, and everyone received a portion. Amongst them was Yang Bin and Yang Chen.
After working together for months, Yang Bin had become close with everyone despite the age gap and difference in clans; he and Yang Chen were the only two members of the Yang Clan. The other three are from other smaller villages nearby that were allied with the Yang Clan.
"Leader, my portion seems larger, and yours looks smaller." Yang Bin lightly commented.
Tang Qiang patted his shoulder. "Take it. Isn't your academy exam in two days? You're almost at the ninth rank of body tempering. With this you might be able to break through right before the exam."
"What about me? I have the academy exam as well." Yang Chen joked.
"You? You don't need it." Tang Qiang shot him a glance. "As long as your mouth doesn't accidently shout 'I surrender', you're guaranteed a spot."
Yang Chen grinned at that response. He had improved by leaps and bounds and was at the initial rank of Qi Condensing stage. Most of the participants were just at the seventh or eighth rank of Body Tempering, so Yang Chen was basically undefeatable, as long as he didn't meet Yang Bai, who was the same rank as him.
Yang Bin nodded his head. "Thank you. I'll definitely do my best."
"Don't stress yourself out. If you aren't able to make it, you can always come back to us!" Tang Qiang laughed. The other two smiled and nodded in agreement. The group chatted and laughed for a while before bidding goodbyes.
****
"I'm home!" Yang Bin exclaimed, as he walked through the front door.
"Welcome back. How was it today?" Li Jing peeked out from the kitchen.
"It was great!" Yang Bin excitedly said. "Our luck was really good today, and we were able to find three initial rank 2 demon beasts and one intermediate rank in the inner ring. I think I made around 50 gold this week! This is the most I've ever made!"
"Very good. Very good." Li Jing smiled. "Yaoyao is in her room cultivating right now. She found another rare herb today while playing outside."
Yang Bin could only smile. "Again? I guess that's pretty normal now."
Similar to Yang Bin, Yang Mengyao had also made significant progress over the last four months. Unlike Yang Bin though, she didn't have to fight for her cultivation resources. In fact, she just walked out and picked them up. Her luck was truly out of this world, as she would find a herb for cultivation almost every other day. With an abundance of cultivation resources, she was third Qi Condensing Stage cultivator of the upcoming exam. Her breakthrough occurred very recently, thus not many people knew about it.
"Looks like she secured a spot." Yang Bin said with a smile. Despite the fact that he put in much more effort than her and was still lower ranked, he didn't feel jealous. He was happy for her.
Li Jing shook her head. "Knowing her personality, even if she did get a spot, she won't go if you don't make it."
Thinking for a bit, Yang Bin sighed in agreement. Yang Mengyao was still very young and dependent on her family. She would be hesitant to go somewhere unfamiliar without them. "That's another reason to win. I need to reach the ninth rank as soon as possible."
Reaching the ninth rank would drastically increase the chances of him winning, but not just because he was stronger. Since their clan had a quota of five people, the exam would be based around that. The exam was five elimination tournaments, and to prevent the strongest youths from being eliminated, the top five strongest would not be fighting against each other.
Yang Bin, being at the eighth rank of body tempering, doesn't qualify for this privilege. There are only four that do: Yang Bai, Yang Chen, Yang Mengyao -who was all at the initial stage of qi condensing stage-, and Yang Qian, who was at the ninth rank of body tempering. Everyone else was at the eighth rank of body tempering or below, so in actuality, there was only a "top four" and "everyone else". Since Yang Bin was part of the "everyone else", he could be matched up against one of the "top four", lowering his chances of winning.
After an uneventful night, Yang Bin went to the city tomorrow with Yang Chen.
"Brother, how much do you think you'll get?" Yang Chen asked.
"It should be around 50 gold." Yang Bin replied.
A surprised look appeared on Yang Chen's face. "Really? I only expect 45 at most."
"Brother Qiang did give me a bit of his share as well." Yang Bin replied.
"You better not let him down." Yang Chen nudged him with a smile. "I hope that you'll be able to reach the ninth rank today. If you don't and end up meeting me in the ring, I won't go easy on you."
Yang Bin frowned and shook his head. "Reaching the ninth rank seems very unlikely. It took half a month to cross the sixth and seventh rank. Even with this windfall, I predict that I'll still need about a week to make it to the ninth rank. Hopefully, I don't end up meeting any of you monsters early on."
"My brother, I have some very good news for you." Yang Chen quickly glanced around then leaned in and whispered. "I was told that the five strongest competitors don't follow the standard tournament procedures. They only fight the winners of each tournament. As long as you don't get defeated by anyone else and become the runner up, you still have a chance."
Yang Bin's eyes widened. "Really? Where did you hear this?"
"From my father." Yang Chen replied in a hushed tone. "It shouldn't be fake if it's coming from him."
"This is wonderful news!" Yang Bin exclaimed. He only considered the top three as threats, and with them out of the equation, he was confident to beat everyone else.
Two continued chatting as they wandered the streets. After selling their beast cores, they bought cultivation pills and hung out; they visited many different shops and tried new restaurants.
As the sun began to set, the two of them sat in a carriage headed back to the Yang Clan.
"You bought a lot of items. Are they for your brother?" Yang Bin glanced at the stuffed bag Yang Chen was carrying.
"Yes, they are." Yang Chen answered. "Speaking of which, my younger brother changed a lot. No longer does he spend his time harassing other kids. He now diligently cultivates. I want to thank you for that."
"Me?" Yang Bin pointed to himself in confusion. "What did I do?"
"It seems like the thrashing you did to him a few months back sparked something in him." Yang Chen replied.
Yang Bin stared at Yang Chen with an incredulous look. "What? Yang Yu didn't cry to your parents?"
"How did you know?" Yang Chen looked back at him in surprise. "He did run to my parents, but they scolded him for being too stupid and losing to someone lower ranked than him, so he became determined to surpass you." He paused for a moment. "Don't think that'll happen since he's still at the sixth rank."
Yang Bin frowned. "Two ranks in five months? That's really slow progress. "
Yang Chen shrugged. "Not really. During next year's Academy exam, he'll be a Qi Condensing Stage Cultivator like me. He'll dominate the stage then."
Yang Bin blinked several times, as if he was struck by a discovery. "Wait. You're right."
At Yang Yu current pace, he could easily reach the initial rank of Qi Condensing stage next year. Yang Bin had been so used to monstrous growth that he assumed taking longer than two months to progress was too slow.
The carriage rolled to a stop.
Yang Chen patted his shoulder, as he slowly stood up. "The true monster here is you, not me or Yang Bai. You still have another year to prepare in case you fail this exam. A year ago, Yang Bai and I were only at the fifth and sixth rank respectively. Don't stress yourself out too much. This is my stop, I'll head out now." He left the carriage, and it began to move again.
Alone in the carriage, Yang Bin muttered to himself. "That's very easy for you to say. I can't be relaxed as I live with an actual genius with inhumane cultivation speed."
He was referring to Yang Mengyao, who was an entire year younger than him. While her peers just set foot into the cultivation journey, she had already surpassed their goals.