160 kilograms. Hearing that, everyone either became excited or disappointed.
Generally, cultivators at the 9th level could exert around 180 kilograms of force. There shouldn't be any difficulty for them to pass this examination. Those at the 8th level had strength around 150 kilograms, so only some of them would pass. And as for those at the 7th, their strength was around 120. There was no chance.
It was clear this exam was designed to weed out those at the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
Everybody knew their own strength very well, so the moment the Elder announced the requirement, everybody knew if they would pass or fail. There was no longer any suspense. The actual testing was just a formality.
Some people broke out in laughter and relief, while others looked sad and forlorn. Plenty of people just sighed and began leaving the testing square directly, knowing they couldn't pass.
"For those of you who pass, your scores will be recorded, and will establish the Outer Ranking. The higher your ranking is, the more advantages you will receive while in the sect. Further, the Sect Elders have prepared special prizes for this competition," the Elder said as he pulled a bottle out of his robes.
"Inside is a low-quality Qi Gathering Pill. I'm sure you're all familiar with its effects, so there's no need for me to explain it. It will be granted to the disciple who scores the highest."
Judging from everyone else's expressions, Harry figured he was the only one who didn't know what the effects of a Qi Gathering Pill were. But he knew having one could only be a good thing. Right now, what he needed the most was ample cultivation resources.
"We also have prepared additional rewards. If you score 200 or above, you will get one pill, even if you don't place first. And if you score 225 or above, you will get two pills," he continued.
Almost immediately, discussion broke out.
"225?" some cultivators repeated, as if they thought the Elder misspoke.
"Yeah, who can get 225? 200 is difficult enough, but still possible. But how is anyone supposed to get 225?"
Plenty of people were whispering to each other, saying that 225 was impossible. 180 was the standard for the 9th level, while 200 would indicate a powerful cultivator. Very quickly, all but two people put thoughts of getting 225 out of their minds. Of course, one of them was Harry. And the other…
"I'll score over 225 and get first!" a loud voice rang out. Looking up, Harry saw it was Maynard Hatton who yelled those arrogant words.
"Of course, our Young Master is the strongest one here," one of his clan members said, sneering at everyone else.
"Right, three of those pills are destined to be yours!" said another.
Harry saw many people frown and look displeased, but none of them dared to speak up. It wasn't just that they didn't dare speak, rather, they knew they were weaker than all the disciples from the Ivory Fist Clan.
"Alright, that's all," the Elder waved his hand. "Let the recruitment event begin."
There was a mad scramble as everyone either rushed to the stage, or dejectedly walked out of the testing square. In a few minutes, around half the participants left, while the rest lined up in front of the stage. Besides Harry, everyone else was at the 8th or 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
The first to go was Maynard, who stood on one of the formations and proudly displayed his Magic Spirit. From behind his back, the image of an elephant condensed, which roared and stomped its feet.
"I am Maynard Hatton, the Young Master of the Ivory Fist Clan. I have the Rank 3 Ivory Crushing Elephant Magic Spirit."
Above his head, a line of text was displayed in the air.
18 years old. 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. Magic Spirit: Rank 3
'Impressive,' Harry thought. The only other Rank 3 Magic Spirit he'd seen was Dudley's, but the two of them couldn't be compared at all. Dudley could barely manifest his Magic Spirit, due to the miniscule amount of Qi available in the environment of Crystal Mine City. In contrast, Maynard's spirit was fully formed, and the strongest he'd ever seen. If it charged at him, he probably couldn't withstand its power, simply due to how large it was.
Also impressive was the formation. Somehow, it was able to determine one's age, cultivation, and spirit rank. Harry was very curious how that was made.
As expected, the crowd broke into excited discussions. Rank 3 Magic Spirits were rarely seen, so getting to witness one was a special occasion.
"Very good. Go and hit the Strength Pillar," the examiner nodded and said.
Maynard walked over to one of the white rocks, and flexed his muscles. With bated breath, everyone kept their eyes on him. They were all wondering just how strong the Young Master of the Ivory Fist Clan was.
As he walked forward, his skin began transforming, growing and taking on a pale white hue. At first Harry thought he was hallucinating, until he heard other people commenting.
"Look, it's the Ivory Fist Clan's Ivory Strengthening Technique!"
"It's impressive Maynard's already mastered it to this extent. With this, he should be able to get 200 kilograms," another person voiced.
"I heard it takes years of practice to form just a light layer of ivory. Maynard's talent is incredible, maybe he can actually get 225!"
Up on stage, Maynard's upper body became even bulkier, as if he donned an armor made of white rocks. Once his arms had completely transformed, he let out a roar and swung his fists into the Strength Pillar.
BAM!
When Maynard's fists contacted the pillar, the carvings lit up, and the pillar shook slightly. A few seconds later, a number was displayed in the air above it.
219.
All at once, the crowd let out a deep breath. Many people gasped.
219! Maynard was nearly 40 kilograms stronger than the average cultivator!
But instead of appearing pleased, Maynard scowled and smashed the pillar again.
BAM!
220.
"No!" he roared. Stepping back, he took a short running start and smashed both his fists into the pillar. The pillar shook a third time, and the number in the air changed.
224.
His strength was actually 224 kilograms! Anyone else in the crowd would have been ecstatic to achieve such a result, but Maynard glared in anger. Finally, he turned around and looked down into the crowd.
"Nobody will be able to reach 225," he proclaimed. "The two Qi Gathering Pills are mine."
The arrogant words hung in the air, but nobody dared to refute him. After all, his words were true. Who else could possibly reach 225?
After he stepped off the stage, the rest of the Ivory Fist disciples stepped on. One by one, they stated their names and Magic Spirit. All were at the 8th or 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm, and all had Rank 2 Magic Spirits. When they struck the Strength Pillar, they all reached somewhere between 190 and 210 kilograms.
'The Ivory Fist Clan can't be underestimated,' Harry was startled. Besides Maynard, they actually produced another 20 powerful disciples. Nearly half of them earned a Qi Gathering Pill.
They all practiced the Ivory Strengthening Technique, which was obviously a cultivation technique that could transform the body. A layer of ivory grew on their skin, acting as a layer of armor. It was like Strengthening Flesh, except the transformation was visible. The Ivory Fist disciples had varying degrees of accomplishment, but none mastered it as thoroughly as Maynard did.
Not long after the Ivory Fist Clan's disciples finished, the scholarly man in the front lead his group of disciples forward. Seeing the Hopkins Clan begin to move, the square once again grew lively in anticipation.
The scholarly man was the first to take the examination, and began condensing his spirit.
"Wayne Hopkins, of the Hopkins Clan. I have the Rank 3 Aching Maple Magic Spirit."
From behind his back, the image of a large tree manifested. The distinguishing features were the bent trunk and thin branches, which stretched like long and skinny fingers, spanning dozens of meters. Covering the canopy were thousands of brown leaves, which collectively forced the branches to sag down, nearly to the ground.
'Aching Maple, a Magic Plant that can grow to the Heaven Grade,' a sentence appeared in Harry's mind.
He almost jumped in surprise. So, his ability also worked on Magic Spirits, as long as they were plant-type spirits?
Above Wayne's head, another line of text was formed. It was identical to Maynard's.
18 years old. 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. Magic Spirit: Rank 3
Wayne walked over to the Strength Pillars. But before anyone could start speculating, Wayne leapt into action. He unsheathed his sword, and in a quick motion, stepped forward and executed a sword strike against the pillar.
'Fast!' Harry thought.
The blade flashed through the air. The time it spent to reach the pillar was just a fraction of a second, so fast that Harry nearly missed it. If Harry blinked, he may very well have.
The sword struck the pillar, then Wayne returned his sword into his sheath right after. The entire motion was fluid and well-practiced. It was done in less than a second.
'Wayne's sword style is different from mine,' Harry realized. With Harry's tough body and great strength, all he had to do was swing his sword as hard as he could. His fighting style was one of brute force strength. But just from that one strike Wayne displayed, Harry could tell Wayne preferred speed over power, a precise strike over a heavy smash.
Neither style was wrong, nor was either style better than the other. It was just a matter of what was better suited for the wielder.
The carvings on the pillar lit up, then the number was displayed in the air.
203.
Immediately after, Wayne stepped back into the crowd without the hint of any expression on his face.
"Only 203?" people remarked. "I thought for sure he could get much higher."
"Right, I thought he and Maynard had equal strength. I guess when Maynard uses the Ivory Strengthening Technique, he has an edge. If Maynard used it during their duel, he would definitely have won."
But Harry thought differently. He had more fighting experience than anyone else competing, and was able to notice something.
In that last strike, Wayne definitely hadn't used all his strength. He had great control of his power. He likely knew he couldn't reach 225, and didn't see the point in showing off his strength.
After all, in terms of the rewards, achieving 200 was the same as achieving 224. But by holding back his strength, Wayne kept his true abilities hidden. And in terms of control, Wayne was far better at it than Harry or Maynard were.
'He's much more dangerous than Maynard,' Harry realized. Maynard was the type that liked to show off. If he was the strongest, he made sure everyone knew. Fighting against those types was easy, since they didn't have much of a brain, or any hidden moves.
But Wayne didn't display his full strength, showing he had a sense of restraint. It was much more difficult to fight against those types. Not only were their techniques and true strength unknown, they were also more intelligent.
After Wayne, the rest of the Hopkins Clan went forward. Every single one of them passed the examination, displaying the strength of the two large clans. However, only a couple of them were able to surpass 200, showing in terms of physical strength, they weren't as strong as the Ivory Fist Clan.
After them, cultivator after cultivator stepped on the stage, each at the 8th or 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. Harry noticed the carvings on the pillars lit up in proportion to how high the score was. A score of below 160 released no glow at all, between 160 and 180 was a slight glow, between 180 and 200 was a brighter glow, and the light produced by a score higher than 200 was dazzling. Besides the Ivory Fist Clan and the Hopkins Clan, very few others were able to achieve that dazzling light.
Around two-thirds of the competitors had Rank 1 Magic Spirits, while most of the other third had Rank 2. Besides Maynard and Wayne, a handful of others also had Rank 3 spirits.
Harry was surprised to see so many Rank 3 spirits, but quickly rationalized it. After all, the 1 in 1000 statistic was assuming a random group of 1000 people. But this group of cultivators was far from random, it was a gathering of the strongest junior cultivators around the Swan Sea. The strongest cultivators were likely to have higher ranked Magic Spirits.
Speaking of Magic Spirits, it was Harry's first time seeing such a wide variety of them. All sorts of Magic Beasts and Magic Plants were displayed, along with various weapons, tools, or natural objects. A few cultivators even had books and scrolls as their Magic Spirit. He was curious how they were used.
But the more spirits he saw, the more nervous he was about his turn. He could already hear the mockery that would occur when he told the examiners he was a Spiritless cultivator.
'Whatever,' Harry finally thought. 'I'm wearing a mask, and using a fake name. It's not like anyone knows who I am.'
The line steadily grew shorter as more people were tested. Nearly everyone passed, simply because those who knew they couldn't pass left beforehand. The only people who failed were those at the 8th level, but not quite able to reach 160 kilograms. There were very few of them.
Harry was near the end of the line, so it wasn't until nearly the evening when it was finally his turn.
"What's your name?" the examiner asked.
"James Evans," Harry replied.
"Alright, step onto the formation."
Harry did so, and a line of text appeared above his head.
18 years old. 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
Once that was displayed, mocking laughter broke out among the crowd.
"Haha, 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm! This boy really has guts to try the examination."
All the other participants at the 7th level gave up once they heard the requirement was to reach 160. They had no desire to embarrass themselves in front of the crowd. As such, Harry was the only one at the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
"This boy is going to fail for sure," someone else snickered. He didn't even bother to whisper, letting everyone hear his words. Nobody contradicted him.
"Haha, just look at his chubby appearance and shitty robes. There's no way he can get 160."
"160? I think he won't even get 120!"
"Alright, display your Magic Spirit," the examiner said.
"I'm a Spiritless cultivator."
Due to him being the only person at the 7th level, he attracted a large amount of attention. All eyes were focused on him, and everyone heard his words. There was a moment of silence, and then the square was suddenly filled with noise.
"Did I mishear him? Did he say he was Spiritless?" people asked their neighbors.
"No, I think I heard the same thing! He said he was Spiritless!"
"You know this is the entrance examination for the Swan Sea Sect, right?" the Inner Disciple in front of him slowly asked. In fact, he was thinking something was wrong with James' head, or that he was here to deliberately mess around.
"Is there a problem?" Harry asked innocently. "Earlier, the Elder said there was no requirement on the Magic Spirit."
The examiner opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words to say. True, they said the spirit rank didn't matter. But that was assuming they had a Magic Spirit in the first place! Besides, it was common sense that a Spiritless cultivator, not to mention one at the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm, had no chance.
Was this person looking to humiliate himself?
"Haha, listen to him! He still wants to try!"
"Still, my eyes have been opened today. Not only did I get to see a rare Spiritless Cultivator, I also got to see one with big guts."
"Brat, get off the stage, and stop wasting everyone's time!" one of the Ivory Fist disciples yelled. Plenty of other contestants joined in on the remarks. Even some of the spectators were mocking him.
In this world, strength was everything. Those with it were respected, those without it were derided. And Spiritless Cultivators were the weakest existence among all humans.
"Go hit the Strength Pillar. If you can reach 160, you can join the sect," the examiner helplessly said. It was clear from his tone he only said those words to be fair. His expression showed he had no hope.
Harry walked over to the Strength Pillar and stood in front of it. He filtered out all the taunts and mocking calls behind him.
'Hmph. I'll show all of you.'
Burning Blood!
Fire raced through his veins, and Harry punched out with all his strength.
BANG!
The entire Strength Pillar shuddered, even swaying back and forth. At once, all the carvings lit up, releasing a blinding glow that surpassed any from before!