My Martial Arts Level Never Drops

Chapter 340: Chapter 169: Root Bone

Most people at the Post House were aware of this, and other than Chen Fan, no one gave up their current seat.

...If you gave up your seat, a single loss would disqualify you from challenging for any other position.

But if you accepted a challenge and lost, you still had the right to challenge for a lower-ranked position...

Any fool knew how to choose.

And none of this... had anything to do with Qin Fang.

Because absolutely no one challenged him for the number one spot.

Even the dark horse in second place had challengers.

In contrast, people like Duan Ling, Tang Xiao, and Qu Yuan received few challenges.

...Xu Nianzhen, being a woman, was also challenged by two or three people.

After a flurry of activity submitting challenge slips, the fights finally began an hour later!

The spacious plaza was divided into twelve arenas, one for each of the twelve seats.

Since no one challenged Qin Fang, he didn’t need to enter an arena.

The other seat-holders who were challenged, however, ascended the arenas to begin their matches.

The competition for the final seat was the most intense.

A Black Armored Soldier held a wooden box. Inside were small balls of identical size and weight—most were white, but two were red.

The challengers took turns drawing lots. The two who drew red balls would fight, while the others waited for the outcome.

After the match, the remaining challengers would draw again. The one who drew the red ball would go up to fight... This time, there was only one red ball left in the box.

Qin Fang watched from the crowd, thinking the method was quite fair.

They redrew for every round, so it was purely a matter of luck.

...After all, everyone’s cultivation was more or less equal. Whoever had to fight first would be at a great disadvantage.

However...

’If you had Divine Sense, you could cheat easily...’

His eyes glinted.

’These people should all have a Contemplation Method. I wonder if any of them have managed to cultivate Divine Sense?’

Qin Fang mused, his eyes glinting.

The arena battles began. A huge crowd had gathered, even larger than for the previous rounds, because today was the competition for Huajin Martial Artists.

Watching the Huajin Powerhouses leap and pivot on the stages as they fought, the crowd’s cheers were endless.

Qin Fang yawned. With no one to challenge him, he was bored just standing around. He asked a Black Armored Soldier for permission to leave, and once he got it, he left immediately.

「In the blink of an eye, a day passed.」

That evening, Qin Fang got the results of the day’s examination from Qian Ruhai.

He was still ranked first.

Duan Ling was now second... he had successfully challenged the dark horse who previously held the spot.

Since Duan Ling was also one of the top twelve, the two of them simply swapped ranks.

But soon, other members of the top twelve challenged the dark horse.

He was forced into consecutive battles and ultimately fell to the eighth seat.

At this position, he was surprisingly left unchallenged. The previous eighth-seat holder was Qu Yuan, who was only challenged by a single person. By the time Qu Yuan challenged the dark horse, that single match against him was already over, which allowed the dark horse to secure his spot.

The other contenders had already submitted their challenge slips... and since everyone only got one challenge, no one was left to go after him.

Qin Fang sighed at the news. ’As expected of a Noble Family’s Heir. His Martial Arts Realm is quite high, after all.’

’The dark horse, on the other hand, clearly has the Physique but lacks in his Martial Arts Realm.’

’But in the end, he still managed to hold onto the eighth seat... you have to admit, a good deal of that was just pure luck.’

The twelfth seat, which saw the fiercest competition, was ultimately claimed by the original tenth-seat holder who had been knocked out of the rankings.

The tenth-seat holder had also faced numerous challengers. He was forced into consecutive matches and was defeated in his second fight by Shao Yan, ranked ninth in Building A. Shao Yan’s results in the first round had been outside the top sixteen; his strength lay not in his Physique, but in his Martial Arts Realm. By winning this challenge, he climbed to the tenth position.

The man who was originally in tenth place then used his challenge on the twelfth seat. Because he submitted his challenge slip late in the day, there were few other contenders left, and he emerged as the final victor for that spot.

’...Sure enough, luck plays a huge part in all of this.’

As for Shen Han and the others... they failed once again, ultimately missing their chance at the top twelve.

Their only hope was to show some shocking improvement in tomorrow’s talent test.

...But it wasn’t their first time taking the talent assessment. Their results were already set in stone; there wouldn’t be any surprises.

「The next day, they assembled once more.」

Today was the final day of the Martial Arts Examination!

And also... the day they would truly enter the Heavenly Gang Wuji Sect!

By the time Chen Hour (7-9 a.m.) arrived, they were already gathered in the plaza.

Today, they would be testing for innate talent—their root bones.

The classification of root bones was actually quite complex, but it could be broadly divided into three tiers.

Mortal Bone, Primordial Bone, and Dao Bone.

Mortal Bone was the most basic type of root bone.

The vast majority of Ordinary People in the world belonged to this category.

Those with this type of bone could only advance by honing their physical bodies and tempering their Qi Blood, but they could never hope to touch the threshold of Primordial Power in their entire lifetime.

However, different types of Mortal Bone had varying capacities for Qi Blood, which meant their potential cultivation limits also differed.

There were three or four common types of Mortal Bone. For example, the Dust Bone resulted in a frail body, making it difficult to condense Qi Blood; most with this bone would stop at the Mingjin Realm.

Then there was the Stubborn Stone Bone, which had a slightly stronger capacity for Qi Blood. With the help of elixirs like the Qi Blood Pill, one could struggle their way to the Anjin or even Huajin Realm, but the process of refinement was exceedingly difficult.

There was also the Muddy Essence Bone. Its foundation in Qi Blood was deeper than the Stubborn Stone Bone, granting a higher success rate for breaking through to the Huajin Realm. Yet even if one reached the peak of Huajin, they could never escape their mortal shackles... For instance, most of those who were now designated for the Outer Sect possessed this type of bone.

The Primordial Bone, on the other hand, was far superior to the Mortal Bone.

The greatest distinction was its ability to touch and wield Primordial Power, which was the key to stepping into a true Divine Domain.

There were also many types of Primordial Bone.

The most common, for example, was the Shallow Essence Bone. This level of talent already surpassed the mundane, allowing one to enter a true Divine Domain.