The 20 martial artists in front of Yan Guang each presented their tokens one at a time and left, allowing the queue to move forward slowly.
Eventually, it was Yan Guang's turn. Taking 22 tokens out of his bag and one out of his armor, he showed them all to the examiners.
He then walked to the side and sat down as the rest of the martial artists behind him began to present their tokens.
The first thing he did was begin cultivating to restore his used-up internal force.
He could feel the emptiness of his body due to the internal force it relied upon having disappeared.
It was quite an uncomfortable feeling. Once one became a martial artist, there was no going back. They would have to replenish their internal force or feel constant pain and discomfort for their entire life.
For most, that was well worth the benefits.
Eventually, every examinee had turned in their tokens and they had all been counted.
A final leaderboard was then formulated by the examiners and announced from the bottom.
The rankings were announced one after another, with each contestant waiting for the mention of their name.
"43rd, Cao Li. 42nd, Yi Ming. 41st..."
Yan Guang only perked up when he heard a familiar name being called
"32nd, Lin Yuan."
It turned out that his somewhat-friend Lin Yuan had actually managed to survive and rank above 11 others. Considering his cultivation, it was quite a decent result.
Lin Yuan actually came to sit next to him after turning in his tokens to talk about the leaderboard results and hearing his own.
Yan Guang welcomed it as he needed someone who was knowledgeable about the people who were placed highly on it.
Eventually, the leaderboard was down to just the top 10.
While most of them were names he hadn't ever heard before, Yan Guang still memorized them just in case. Perhaps it would come in handy after he was admitted.
Finally, his own name was announced.
"5th, Yan Guang."
The next name was also someone Yan Guang knew.
"4th, Han Jing."
Although 5th place was a very high rank, Yan Guang was still disappointed that he hadn't managed to beat someone he considered a worthy rival, Han Jing.
The top 3 had one name that he was only somewhat familiar with.
Lin Yuan had long ago mentioned that the Lin Clan leader's son was a martial prodigy who was participating in this year's events, so Yan Guang wasn't surprised to see another martial artist with the same surname in the rankings.
He was in 2nd place, and his name was Lin Sheng.
3rd place was taken by a martial artist called Zhang Wu, and 1st was taken by a quite famous member of the younger generation of Guming town, Chen Hao.
That was all the information he had gleaned from Lin Yuan's ramblings.
After the ranking announcements finished, the examiners placed a crate on a table.
Opening the crate up, a medicinal fragrance spread nearby, inviting all the martial artists to come take a look.
"All examinees, please come up to the front desk for your allotted rejuvenation elixir."
Yan Guang immediately got up and headed over. This was too valuable to miss out on.
After all, he wasn't still bleeding out but there was still a large gash across his chest.
If he relied solely on his natural regenerative ability, he was sure that he would have to carry this injury with him into the next rounds.
Thankfully, it seemed the martial schools had accounted for such situations.
After eventually managing to grab an elixir from the crate, Yan Guang examined it carefully, trying to determine its composition.
From what he could ascertain, it was a viscous liquid, tinted green in color.
It smelled of flowers and various mountain herbs that he couldn't tell apart.
After watching the contestants around him drink the elixir like it was juice, Yan Guang decided to do the same.
He was cautious enough to be wary of random liquids, but since everyone was drinking it, it surely couldn't be too harmful.
To his side, he could see Lin Yuan extending his bottle towards him.
Returning the gesture, Yan Guang collided his bottle with Lin Yuan's, and the sound of a clink was heard.
No matter which world, toasting seemed to be universal.
"Bottoms up!", Lin Yuan said before he emptied the whole bottle into his mouth.
Yan Guang did the same, silently preparing himself for whatever weird taste this concoction would have.
Unexpectedly, it actually tasted like honey, with a slightly herbal aftertaste that only served to compliment the sweetness.
"Delicious!", remarked Yan Guang as he shook the bottle to get one last drop.
After about half a minute, Yan Guang felt the elixir's effects.
It was as if his natural healing was boosted multiple times over.
The gash on his chest that had just stopped bleeding began to scab, and the bruises and marks he had sustained faded.
The fatigue from multiple battles was also cleared up, allowing him to return to 100% physically.
Of course, no matter how rejuvenated the body was, Yan Guang still had to replenish his lost internal force.
"Attention, all examinees! The second round will begin shortly. We now invite Senior Ji Bei from the White Tiger School to explain.", announced one of the disciples from the White Tiger School.
Yan Guang suddenly spotted a mysterious blur in the sky that was quickly approaching them and becoming bigger.
As it came into view, it became clear that the 'blur' was actually a human, an old man at that.
The ground cracked and shook with the landing of the old man, who seemed completely fine. With a full head of white hair and skin as wrinkly as a prune, no one would guess he was a powerful martial artist.
After dusting his robes, the old man began talking, "Hey, future disciples, I'm Ji Bei. The second round is quite straightforward. You just have to approach me, that's all. The closer you get, the better your result is. With that being said, let's begin, shall we?"
Internal force rushed out with the old man at the center of it all, forming a field of internal force.
The farther one was, the weaker the internal force was. This exam was clearly made to see how well one resisted the internal force.
Yan Guang immediately activated Swimming Fish, hoping it would streamline him just enough to get a bit farther into this field of internal force.
With every step he took, Yan Guang was more and more astounded by the old man's power. Yan Guang estimated that if he attempted to expel all of his internal force, he would probably only end up with a force field with a range of about 50 centimeters.
Yet, this old man managed to conjure up an entire field of around 30 meters! That was 60 times the radius, and many more times the volume that he could manifest!
Not only that, but the very nature of their internal force was different.
To put it simply, Yan Guang's internal force was like a puddle, tiny and generally calm.
The old man's internal force was like the raging sea, orders of magnitude bigger and more dangerous.
Yan Guang managed to make it to the ten-meter-mark, with 20 meters to go.
As soon as he took another step, the pressure increased exponentially.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, Yan Guang continued to stroll toward the old man.
The rest of the contestants weren't just standing around, either. Many were keeping up with Yan Guang, and some even surpassed him.
Yan Guang noticed Han Jing slightly ahead of him, with a smirk on his face. Naturally, 2nd-rate martial artists were at an advantage as their internal force was greater in both quantity and quality.
As Yan Guang advanced, he felt a miraculous change occur to his internal force. Each wisp of it that was surging through his body felt just a little more vibrant and powerful.
Even the internal force barrier he had constructed around himself to withstand the old man's aura was becoming sturdier.
What was even more incredible was that this effect only grew the closer he got to the old man.
Step by step, Yan Guang reached the 15-meter mark before deciding to rest.
"What's wrong, can't keep up?", Han Jing tauntingly remarked, having already reached the 20-meter mark.
Yan Guang was too occupied to even take someone else's taunts seriously, simply choosing to ignore all external stimuli and focus on himself.
Although he felt like he had already reached his limit, Yan Guang was overjoyed.
Every second that passed made his internal force grow stronger, after all.
While it was easy to grow the quantity of one's internal force, it was many times more difficult to increase its quality.
The only reason Yan Guang could gain so much was that he was practically being baptized by a powerful martial artist's inner force.
While the trial went on, Ji Bei himself was silently observing the participants.
Most of the weaker martial artists capped out at 10 meters or less and were not even worth his observation.
Yan Guang, who had reached 15 meters, was only ordinary in his eyes, above average but not anything noteworthy. Of course, Ji Bei didn't know Yan Guang's realm or how fast he had gotten there.
Han Jing and the rest of the top 4 who had passed the 20-meter mark were already regarded as quite good in Ji Bei's eyes.
As for Chen Hao, who had already closed the gap between them to 5 meters, he was the only one who could truly be described as a genius.
It's still too early to judge, Ji Bei thought to himself.
While strength was an important factor when deciding to select disciples, there was one that was even more important: perseverance.
"Well done, future disciples. All of you have managed to make it far. However, some of you are getting too close for comfort, so... let's kick it up a notch!", announced Ji Bei before his aura flared once again.