Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As the competition proceed smoothly over the next four days, the remaining audience members, who mostly consisted of wandering alchemists and blacksmiths, all benefitted greatly from the week of observing a group of seniors slowly and skillfully working.

At the same time, as the first part of the competition drew to an end, the large number of people who had left earlier on due to the rather boring state of the competition for those not skilled in blacksmiths or alchemy began to slowly return. Breathing life back into the competition space that was no longer dominated by the overjoyed conversations of the wandering blacksmiths and alchemists.

The few who had come from afar to try and gauge the strength of the Star Shattering Sect and to get a better idea about their strength also returned, with a clear exception being the ones from the Blue Sea Empire, who had long since left the borders of the Star Shattering Sect following their leader being noticed by Xuan Hao.

The only ones not part of the wandering blacksmiths and alchemists who had stayed inside the competition space and continued observing the competition for the entire week without leaving was the group of youngsters who had come here with the hope of observing this newly emerged power that had made their parents and seniors worried.

Of course, it was not like they wanted to remain at the competition for such a long time. Especially considering that their cultivation realm was still a bit too low to allow them to stay up for an entire week without any rest.

Instead… The reason why they had ended up remaining with all of this in mind, was because their guardians had forced them to stay put and just find somewhere to meditate to remove the exhaustion, they inevitably encountered from staying up for such a long period of time with their current weak cultivation realm.

”I really wanted to explore more of the Falling Star City…”

”I want to eat something delicious at those restaurants we saw on the way here…”

”Just… Just give me a place to sleep!”

No matter how much these youngsters complained, their guardians didn’t allow them to leave and made sure that they remained in the small part of the audience space that had been assigned to them.

The reason for this was rather simple, as these guardians had been tasked with keeping an eye on the Star Shattering Sect and trying to gauge their strength with the youngsters acting as a shield for them to do their work.

Meaning… The youngsters had to remain in place, or they, acting as their guardians, would have no reason to remain in the competition space.

No matter how much they complained, there was nothing the young ones could do about it, as they at least felt a bit of relief knowing that the first part of the competition was about to finish up.

At least… Now that this long and rather boring part of the competition had finished, the next part was bound to be more interesting. Not to mention, the competition should also be coming to an end sooner. Giving them a much-needed chance to go out and properly explore the Falling Star City, something all of them had grown increasingly interested in doing during the week they had spent watching the blacksmiths and alchemists below working.

…

”The first part of the competition is now officially over; I will have the senior of our sect personally examine what you made and score you accordingly. The fifty people who get the lowest score will be disqualified and won’t be able to move on to the next stage of the competition.”

As the seven-day mark was up, Elder Song, who had remained silent at the side observing everyone during this period of time. Stood up and addressed the little over 200 participants present.

”Wha- We can get disqualified from the first round!? Wasn’t this just a test to show off in?!”

”No! I focused on making my artifact more pretty than useful! What a mistake!”

”At least it’s pretty, the pill I made, though of a high grade, has a rather useless effect…”

Following the announcement from Elder Song, a few of the participants who hadn’t taken the first challenge seriously all began to panic as they looked down at the somewhat weird creations that they had ended up making for fun due to misunderstanding that the first part of the competition was only about having the elders from the Star Shattering Sect show off and not actually about anyone being eliminated.

Luckily, the number of people who made this kind of stupid mistake was rather limited, as most of the people present didn’t dare to be careless with what they made and had thus done everything in their power to make the best artifact, pill or potion that they could make with their current strength.

”The senior from the sect… Is it perhaps that person up there?”

”I think so… He is the only one who seems to fit the description… And for him to oversee this competition, he should be someone rather skilled in the Dao of Alchemy and Blacksmithing.”

”Wow… Someone skilled in both blacksmithing and alchemy? Indeed, a senior figure…”

Instead of focusing on the mistake they had made, the rest of the participants instead focused their attention on Xuan Hao, filled with curiosity.

After all, for him to personally be inspecting what they had made, it meant that he was skilled in both the Dao of Alchemy and the Dao of Blacksmithing. Surpassing all of them in both of these aspects, something that was a clear testament to this senior’s strength and his ability to oversee this competition.

Of course, there were still some among them who were doubtful about how skilled this senior might be, as they understood just how difficult it was to study two different professions at the same time, but they didn’t voice any of these doubts out loud.

The simple reason for this being that it would be rather easy to see if this person knew what he was doing or was simply making things up when he started evaluating what they had made.

Because of this, the ones who were the most hopeful about the senior figure faking his knowledge of the two professions were the ones who had ended up messing up during the first challenge. Hoping that this might be a chance for them to continue onwards in the competition. Unwilling to just give up on the rewards promised for proceeding further into the competition.

Rustle~

For this reason, every single person in the competition space, audience members and participants, all focused their attention on Xuan Hao, as he slowly rose up from his seat for the first time since the competition had started.

Whoosh~

Not affected by this, Xuan Hao displayed the temperament befitting of a senior, as he slowly descended down towards the first participant. Picking up the small dagger he had crafted over the past week before examining it closely with his divine sense.

”Imbalance between the metals used during fusion process. Added too much of the Spring Tail Spirit Metal. Not enough of the Red Breeze Metal during the final polishing. Not just that, but the heat was not well controlled when the Dark Iron Metal was added and…”

Not a second after he finished examining the small dagger, Xuan Hao instantly picked up on countless mistakes that the participant in front of him had ended up making during the forging process… And he didn’t hold back, as he directly stated them all out loud. Instantly causing the face of the participant to start paling visibly on the spot.

Although he might not have fully believed in Xuan Hao’s skill at first, he was certain that the person in front of him was indeed a senior now that he heard what he said. Especially so because he could clearly sense that everything, he said was correct. Not just that, but his words also seemed to carry with it the intent of a senior teaching a junior.

So, with that in mind, the participant decided to just earnestly listen to him and try his best to learn from what he said. Understanding that this might be an opportunity for him.

”… Overall, out of a hundred points, you will 57, though not of the best quality, it has shown you have room for improvement. Not to mention, it looks like you are good at picking up on your own mistakes and learning from them.”

After a little over ten minutes, Xuan Hao finished talking about the dagger before delivering a final judgement and handing it back to the participant.

”Thank you, senior!”

Not the slightest bit saddened by the judgement, the participant instead happily took the dagger back with an overjoyed smile on his face.

The ten or so minutes just now had been incredibly useful to him, as it was essentially him being taught personally by Xuan Hao in that period of time. An opportunity that was hard to come by for a wandering blacksmith like himself.