At the entrance of the Return Dragon Tower, over a hundred martial arts rookies gathered together.
As the only Martial Arts Master guarding the Golden Scale Manor, Gu Guangqi took the stage to speak. He rambled on with a bunch of meaningless nonsense, making everyone feel sleepy.
Then it was Xu Yinquan’s turn to speak.
He was clean and efficient, directly announcing the start of the assessment.
More than a hundred martial arts rookies immediately filed in, entering the interior of the Return Dragon Tower.
Ye Qingzhou walked with light steps, passing through a light curtain resembling a water curtain. In the blink of an eye, he found that the surrounding scenery had drastically changed.
He was clearly walking into the tower, but upon opening his eyes, he appeared in a valley.
Just as Xu Yuebing said, inside the Return Dragon Tower is a world of its own.
And the canyon before them is precisely the first level of the Return Dragon Tower, the Chaotic Wind Canyon.
At the mouth of the valley stood a stone tablet, the inscriptions on it looked as though they were scratched out with claws.
Ye Qingzhou had seen this kind of writing before; the Divine Sword Jade Scroll he "found" had similar inscriptions.
The content of the inscription was naturally about the clearance rules of the Chaotic Wind Canyon.
The characters were ancient and unfamiliar, yet everyone could understand the content on the inscription, as if the intangible information was directly imprinted into their consciousness through the characters.
"This is the first level, the Chaotic Wind Canyon!"
"I heard the total length of the canyon is only about five thousand meters. You pass as long as you walk through it."
"Haha, is it that easy? On both sides of the canyon, wind blades randomly blow, and the further you go, the denser the wind blades become. As soon as you’re hit by the wind blade three times, you’re considered failed, and your score is settled according to the distance you progressed."
"What if I walk 999 meters and get hit in the last meter?"
"Zero points, how else could it be calculated?"
"Damn, that’s ruthless?"
"No choice, Secret Realm grading, no room for sentiments."
"It’s said that only the Wind’s Inner Breath is allowed in the Chaotic Wind Canyon. Otherwise, it’s considered cheating, and you get zero points immediately."
"I’m doomed, I specialize in the Mountain Technique!"
The surrounding crowd had a lot to say, the Chaotic Wind Canyon was quite famous, and many young talents from martial arts families regarded it as a holy land for training wind force.
Among them was the team captain from Yan City Eighth High School, Gu Junchen.
He was from the Gu Family, although not from the direct lineage of Star City, but as long as he bore the surname Gu and demonstrated outstanding martial arts talent, he would receive focused training from the family.
Thus, compared to other rookies present, he had a huge advantage. This wasn’t his first time here at the Chaotic Wind Canyon.
He was extremely familiar with the terrain here.
He had even mastered the Wind Force, thanks to the unique environment of the Chaotic Wind Canyon.
So in this stage, when Huang Dengfeng and Zhang Shousi were still observing, he confidently and leisurely began his journey: "Everyone, I’ll go ahead."
Someone in the Baoqing First High School team immediately got anxious and approached Huang Dengfeng: "Captain, Gu Junchen has started moving, shouldn’t we follow?"
Huang Dengfeng shook his head: "This assessment focuses on points, not who clears it first. Let’s wait and see."
Zhang Shousi also remained calm and didn’t rush in impulsively due to the heat of the moment.
After all, in this assessment, every point was extremely precious, so they couldn’t be careless.
Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, Gu Junchen moved swiftly. As he delved deeper into the canyon, the mountain rocks also began to blow fiercely, and the canyon walls were howling, showing the speed of the wind.
The sound of a blade resonated in everyone’s ears, followed by a stream of light slicing towards Gu Junchen from a blind spot on the right.
Fortunately, Gu Junchen’s Wind Force Mastery was genuine, and he easily evaded using sound direction detection.
"I feel like I could do this too."
After that, many others courageously decided to follow in Gu Junchen’s footsteps, stepping into the Chaotic Wind Canyon and embarking on the path to pass.
Ye Qingzhou had understood the rules and was full of confidence.
Xu Yuebing asked: "Are you sure?"
"So simple, I could pass with my eyes closed, couldn’t I?"
Xu Yuebing was immensely irritated after hearing this.
This guy, he’s at it again with the nonsense!
Ye Qingzhou slightly tilted his head, avoiding the wind blade from behind with minimal movement.
The remaining teammates also showcased the level expected of martial arts geniuses. The first thousand meters were basically not difficult. As long as they had Entry Level Wind Force and concentrated a bit, passing was easy.
The difficulty lay after, as they entered the second segment of the path, where the speed and number of wind blades not only increased, but they often came in groups of two or three, launching a coordinated attack, making evasion exponentially harder.
From here, more than half of the martial arts rookies who weren’t proficient in Wind Force were eliminated, only scoring the guaranteed single point.
However, Ye Qingzhou’s team had good fortune, all passing the second segment, earning 2 points smoothly.
Upon reaching the third segment, the difficulty increased again!
This time, the wind blades each person faced not only increased in speed and number, but their sound grew fainter. Only with Mastery Level Wind’s Inner Breath could they sense the subtle air fluctuations, allowing their body to react beforehand and dodge the attacks.
In this three-thousand-meter stretch, the number of martial arts rookies left was nearly none.
Ye Qingzhou’s group of eight saw Yuh Shouping and Lu Yifan, who majored in Forest Technique, unfortunately eliminated, leaving with their two points to proceed to the next level.
Then, in the four-thousand-meter stretch, only Ye Qingzhou, Xu Yuebing, and Zhu Jinfeng remained; even Hou Fei, who specialized in Wind Force, was knocked out.
Ye Qingzhou saw Xu Yuebing’s forehead glisten with sweat and asked, "Are you okay? Don’t push yourself too hard."
"Hmph, none of your business!"
Xu Yuebing was already at her limit, specializing in Wind Force and Yin Skill. Without Ye Qingzhou teaching her the Heart Sword Secret Technique, she wouldn’t have made it this far.
Zhu Jinfeng was the same, barely making it here thanks to the Dragon Breath Secret Technique which greatly enhanced her senses.
Ye Qingzhou encouraged the two: "Another hundred meters, and you’ll get 4 points. Focus your spirit; as long as you enter a state of Mind as Still as Water, you’ll detect the barely audible movement when a wind blade strikes."
"Do I need your reminder?" Google seaʀᴄh noveⅼfire.net
Xu Yuebing pouted. Even for a martial arts genius like her, to enter a state of Mind as Still as Water, she needed to burn incense, bathe, and find a quiet room free from external disturbances to let both body and mind enter a state of calm.
Zhu Jinfeng shook her head with a wry smile: "It’s not that easy, Ye Qingzhou, not everyone is a monster like you."