Dokurin looked rather forlorn, having tasted defeat for the first time since he was a child, and he had lost so miserably.
In the past, he was the proud son of heaven wherever he went, invincible to martial artists of his generation, and so he had developed a proud and conceited character.
Defeated in the hands of Zhang Ruochen, he realised that there was a sky beyond the sky, and there were people beyond the people, and no one dared to say that they were the number one in the younger generation.
Dugu Lin stared at Zhang Ruochen who was standing opposite him, his eyes were complicated, his lips trembled, and he said with difficulty, ”I lost! Senior Brother Zhang …… ……”
Zhang Ruochen could see that Dugu Lin was somewhat demoralised, so he said, “I won today, but in the future, you may not be unable to win back again. Isn’t that right?”
Fighting spirit rekindled in Lonely Lin’s eyes, and in his pupils, it was like two flames appeared as he said, “Thank you, Senior Brother Zhang for pointing it out. Now, I just want to know, what percentage of power did Senior Brother Zhang use just now?”
“Ten percent.” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Understood!” Dugu Lin’s face once again turned a little better and retreated.
In reality, Zhang Ruochen had only used 70% of his power just now, but in order to stop hitting Dugu Lin, that was why he said he had used 10% of his power.
A well-intentioned lie was sometimes an encouragement to the other party, after all, Zhang Ruochen and Dugu Lin didn’t have a deep hatred, and we were all fighting for the honour of the academy.
Dugu Lin had seriously injured Chi Minghai and wasted one of the West Academy’s experts, causing the West Academy’s popularity to plummet. Zhang Ruochen naturally stepped in to seriously injure him and also waste one of the East Academy’s experts, damaging the morale of the East Academy.
Even if he was seriously injured, taking pills, he would soon be able to recuperate, he just wouldn’t be able to participate in today’s four courtyards freshmen joint competition.
From afar, Duanmu Xingling stared at Zhang Ruochen, a marvellous look appearing in her star-like eyes as she said, “His cultivation has also risen too quickly, he must have already reached the middle pole position of the Xuanji Realm, his power is quite astonishing.”
“With his current strength, he’s already not much weaker than those Xuan Ranking martial artists at the back of the rankings.” Huang Yichen said.
Duanmu Xingling also nodded, her beautiful eyes blinking, a hint of a smile appearing at the corner of her mouth, and she didn’t know what she was thinking.
The deputy heads of the three great houses glanced at each other, all of them revealing helpless looks, the first place had already been determined before the four houses’ freshmen joint competition had even begun.
In previous years, such a situation had rarely been encountered.
The Eastern Courtyard was considered to have accompanied the lady and lost her soldiers, originally wanting to strike a blow to the morale of the Western Courtyard, but never expecting to lose a freshman first place.
The East Courtyard’s Vice-Master really wanted to cry, and in his heart, he was quite regretful, had he known that he shouldn’t have indulged Dugu Lin, and should have stopped him from fighting Zhang Ruochen in time.
The West Courtyard’s Master’s face was all smiles, the more he looked at Zhang Ruochen, the more he found it very pleasing to his eyes, it was only a pity that he had not been able to accept him as a personal disciple, it was really a pity.
The West Courtyard’s Master’s face was solemn as he blended his true qi with his voice and announced, “The joint competition of the freshmen of the four courtyards, officially begins.”
Under the surge of true qi, the voice of the West Courtyard’s Master resounded throughout the entire West Courtyard, echoing in the mountains for a long time.
Immediately after that, Deputy Academy Master Qing Hua began to read out the rules of the freshmen competition.
The freshmen of the four great courtyards were all one hundred and twenty people, divided into one hundred and twenty groups.
The first place of the freshmen from the four great courtyards is divided into the first group;the second place of the freshmen from the four great courtyards is divided into the second group …… The one hundred and twentieth place of the freshmen from the four great courtyards is divided into the one hundred and twentieth group.
From the eleventh group to the one hundred and twentieth group, the first place of each group will get “three” points, the second place will get “two” points, the third place will get “one” points, and the fourth place will get “zero” points. “Zero points.
The first 10 groups, totalling 40 people, are ranked in order.
The first place got “eighty” points, the second got “seventy” points, the third got “sixty” points, the fourth got “fifty” points, and the fifth got “zero” points. “points, fifth place got “forty” points, sixth place got “thirty-nine” points, seventh place got “thirty-eight” points. …… Fortieth place got “five” points.
In the end, the points of all the students were added up, and the academy with the highest points was the academy with the highest overall number of freshmen in this session.
Obviously, the real battle was between the top ten freshmen of the four academies, and the points gap was also the largest.
Whether it was in the Martial City Academy, or in the martial arts world, the true top experts played a decisive role. This was also the reason why the Martial City Academic Palace arranged the points in such a way!
For the freshmen of the Western Academy, there were a total of one hundred and eighteen people participating in the tournament. The other two were Prince Huo Xing and Chi Minghai, one was dead and the other was severely injured.
For the freshmen of the East Courtyard, there were also only one hundred and eighteen people who could participate in the tournament, and among them, the number one ranked Dugu Lin was severely injured and could not participate in the tournament. The once second of the freshmen in the East Courtyard became the representative of the first of the freshmen in the East Courtyard.
The North Courtyard and South Courtyard both had some special circumstances, and only one hundred and eighteen people were also selected to participate in the tournament.
In the West Courtyard martial arts field, there were a total of ten martial arts platforms set up, which were four metres high and ten metres in length and width. There were formation inscriptions on all sides of the platforms, and as long as a martial artist’s attack hit the platform, it would activate the formation inscriptions and form a protective light shield.
Ten martial arts platforms, all at the same time.
The battles went on quickly, and by noon, they were all over.
Zhang Ruochen became the number one freshman in the four courtyards without any surprises, earning eighty points for the Western Courtyard. Among the freshmen, there was simply no one who could block a single move from him.
Before the match started, everyone had expected the outcome and wasn’t too surprised. A heavenly pride like Zhang Ruochen, even in the Martial City Academy, it would take many years for one to come out.
The biggest surprise of the West Courtyard was Zi Xi, who, with a cultivation of the Xuanji Realm’s Great Extreme Position, defeated the East Courtyard’s Freshman No. 1 and the North Courtyard’s Freshman No. 1 to become the third freshman of the four major courtyards this year, earning sixty points for the West Courtyard.
With a total of five hundred and thirty-nine points, the West Courtyard became this year’s overall number one freshman.
The Southern Courtyard was the second of the freshmen.
Although the East Courtyard had lost its freshman number one, Lonely Forest, it was still very strong and lost to the South Courtyard by a narrow margin, becoming the third freshman.
The North Courtyard was the fourth freshman.
The freshmen ranked first and were rewarded with ten drops of Half-Saint True Liquid.
Freshmen ranked second and were rewarded with nine drops of Half-Saint True Liquid.
……
The new student ranked tenth and was rewarded with one drop of Half-Saint True Liquid.
Taking the first place of the freshmen in the four courtyards wasn’t too joyful for Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen’s real goal was the next Western Academy Quarterly Examination, only by entering the top ten rankings of the Western Academy would he be able to participate in the Intermediate Ruins Exploration Examination two months later.
In the intermediate level relics, there was a chance to find ancient treasures and also get the most brutal training, it was definitely an important opportunity that could not be missed.
Duo Mu Zi had waited for several years for the Intermediate Ruins Exploration Exam, and had been suppressing his realm, not breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm. Luo Shuihan, Huang Yichen, and Duanmu Xingling were also waiting for this once-in-a-decade opportunity, and if they missed it, they would have to wait another ten years.
Zhang Ruochen couldn’t possibly wait for another ten years, two months later, he must enter the Intermediate Level Ruins and take the Exploration Exam.
The trainees from the other three great academies didn’t leave, and were quite interested in the quarterly examination of the Western Academy, wanting to see just how strong the top experts of the Western Academy were?
The rules of the quarterly examination:
Every cadet in the Western Academy had a ranking, and cadets with a low ranking could challenge cadets with a high ranking, and each cadet only had two chances to challenge.
A successful challenge will result in a new ranking.
If the challenge fails, the original ranking is maintained.
There were still ten challenge stations, and every student was free to challenge.
Liu Chengfeng mounted one of the challenge platforms and stood in the centre of it, saying, “I want to challenge the seven hundred and sixty-fourth place.”
Liu Xifeng was originally ranked eight hundred and ninth, and recently, his cultivation had risen to the middle stage of the Xuanji realm, so for his first challenge, he chose a slightly conservative ranking.
The seventh hundred and sixty-fourth ranked student of the Western Academy, named Xie Xuan, was also a young man with a cultivation of late Xuanji realm, one realm higher than Liu Xifeng.
After exchanging more than twenty moves in a row, Liu Xifeng used a Spirit Grade Lower Grade Sword Technique to defeat Xie Xuan.
“Liu Xuanfeng wins the challenge and takes Xie Xie, becoming the seven hundred and sixty-fourth in the Western Academy. Xie Xie automatically drops one rank, seven hundred and sixty-fifth.” An elder standing next to the challenge stage announced.
As Xie Xie dropped one rank, the trainees behind him, naturally, all dropped one rank as well.
Liu Xifeng still had one more chance to challenge, however, he didn’t use it immediately, intending to look at other people’s challenges first before slowly seeking out an opponent to challenge.
There were only two chances, so one must use them carefully.
Ten challenge platforms, a steady stream of trainees ascended the challenge platforms and challenged the trainees who were ranked higher than them.
Before the examination, they had already carefully studied and investigated each and every cadet, and they already had a good idea of who they were going to challenge.
The most exciting thing was still the top ten ranked challenges, because, two months later was the Intermediate Ruins Exploration Examination, and everyone was all struggling to squeeze into the top ten.
Especially the eleventh to fiftieth ranked trainees, almost all of them were at the peak of the Xuanji realm great circle cultivation, their strengths were not very different, as long as they had the chance, they would soon be able to be among the top ten.
A young man carrying dual swords, walked up to the challenge stage, his body standing straight, his expression cold, saying, “I want to challenge the tenth, Jin Yue Ming.”
The trainees who were watching from below recognised the man with the dual swords.
“He’s Mo Qinglong!”
“Mo Qinglong was only forty-seventh in the last quarterly examination, only three short months have passed, and he actually dares to challenge Jin Yue Ming? Wait and see, Jin Yue Ming will only need three moves at most to defeat him.”
Among the trainees, a woman in her twenties walked out.
A cold snort emitted from her mouth, and with a stomp of her legs, she leapt up to the challenge and stood opposite Mo Qinglong, saying, “Mo Qinglong, you actually dare to challenge me, could it be that you have cultivated the ‘Twin Sword Deer Beheading Skill’ to a small level of success?”
Dual Sword Deer Beheading Skill, a Spirit Grade Medium Grade Martial Skill, one had to be a Martial Artist with Spiritual Strength of more than twenty steps in order to be able to cultivate it successfully, it was a rather formidable Martial Skill.
Without any unnecessary words, Mo Qinglong pulled out the twin swords on his back and held them in his hands, saying succinctly, “Whether or not you have cultivated it to a small success, after the battle, you will naturally understand.”
