I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 780: Chapter Seventy-Four: Rules

After explaining the rules, the attendant asked the visibly disgruntled young nobles, “The list of the sect disciples is on the notice board, does any gentleman want to challenge them?”

Liu Maoluan turned pale and flushed alternately. Although he had just yelled loudly, he didn’t actually prepare to deal with a sect disciple. After all, even if he won, he would only gain a few more jade coins. However, if he lost, he would lose 145 coins. Unless he was sure of victory, no one would risk a position swap challenge.

On the contrary, some challengers at the bottom of the ranking were tempted. After all, they only had a few dozen coins, and even if they lost, they only needed to pay half. But what if they won?

For example, Li Xuanba and Cui Haoran of the Longxi group were a little tempted. They couldn’t help but look at Tang Luo for guidance.

“Let’s wait and see.” Tang Luo looked at the few young nobles who had already challenged the sect disciples and whispered to the two eager guys, “These sect disciples are not to be underestimated.”

No sooner had he spoken than a few young nobles who had issued challenges were knocked down within ten breaths of time. Such fighting power was almost on par with the strongest competitors present, causing disbelief and astonishment among the crowd.

After witnessing the performance of the responding disciples, Tang Luo affirmed his earlier speculations.

“These people, they are probably all representatives of the younger disciples of each sect, and many of them are even at the level of Inner Sect Disciples,” explained Tang Luo to Cui Haoran and Li Xuanba, trying to reassure them, “The several who just made the move, if placed in Bifang Mountain’s ring, would at least be among the top ten fighters. They are very powerful.”

Hearing Tang Luo’s praise, one could imagine the awe-inspiring martial arts of these sect disciples. Both Cui Haoran and Li Xuanba were instantly dissuaded from the idea of challenging them.

After a few unfortunate examples, no one proposed to challenge the sect disciples again. Everyone peacefully rested in the bamboo forest to regain their energy.

After a long while, the Grandmaster with white hair and eyebrows finally stood up and floated out, saying to the crowd, “Follow me.”noveldrama

The crowd followed the Grandmaster out of the bamboo forest, crossed a water source and stopped in front of a towering mountain wall. Master Wei pointed up at the mountain wall and asked, “Do you see the cave up there?”

Following the Grandmaster’s finger, everyone saw a cave high up on the mountain wall, with faint light spilling out. Given how noticeable the cave was, it was peculiar that nobody had noticed it before the Grandmaster had pointed it out. This confused Tang Luo, who scrutinized the cave carefully, trying to make sense of it, but to no avail.

At the foot of the cliff, Master Wei continued, “This cave is the trial ground for the second round. You will have a quarter-hour to ask questions. Then, according to the order of jade coins as listed on the notice board, from least to most, enter the cave. Three days later, whoever brings back the most jade coins will be deemed the winner.”

Upon hearing the rules for the second round, the sect disciples gave no reaction, while the young nobles of the great families were exclaiming in surprise. Almost as soon as the Grandmaster stopped speaking, the three members of the Longxi team could feel the eyes of the young nobles focused on Tang Luo.

The moment they comprehended the rules, all the young nobles momentarily saw black. If the ranking was based on who had the most jade coins after three days, then this trial would turn into a personal show for Tang Luo.

A top-level body cultivator in the cave who is a whole realm above everyone else sounded as terrifying as a ghost in an old house. How could anyone possibly win such a trial?

“Grandmaster, may I ask?” A young noble with a vexed countenance asked, “Is this the only exit from the cave?”

His question represented the fears of the majority of the young nobles. If there was only one exit, there would no point to the trial. After all, even if they took many jade coins out, they’d eventually lose all of them to the one guarding the exit. What would be the point?

Master Wei, clearly understanding their fears, faintly replied, “The depth and complexity of this cave has never been fully explored. This is just one of the entrances. There are many others scattered throughout the mountain.”

These words immediately reassured everyone. They were beaming. The Grandmaster had said the cave was winding and Tang Luo would be the very last one to enter. As long as they ran fast enough, they wouldn’t be overtaken by him.

Despite the overwhelming joy, there were still some clever young nobles who asked another question, “May I ask Grandmaster, what if a fight breaks out in the cave?”

The sons of wealthy families, all participants in the martial arts competition, were precious treasures to their families. No one would risk their life for a slightly better ranking. It was crucial to clarify some things in advance. After all, losing jade coins was a small matter, whereas getting seriously injured and not receiving help in time was a more serious consequence.

Fear of death was natural among these young nobles, each of whom had bright futures ahead of them. This mindset, although it solicited a smirk from the sect disciples, the young nobles were not ashamed, standing firm in their inquiries.

“If you get hurt in a fight or get lost and can’t find your way back, you can inject your Spiritual Power into the jade coins, which will teleport you back to the spell formation on the mountain plateau,” Master Wei pointed to another part of the mountain cliff as he spoke. “But if you return in this way, half of the jade coins you take back will be deducted.”

With their safety concerns addressed, the young nobles relaxed and started asking about the origins of the cave and the source of the fading light. Master Wei answered each question one by one.

The quarter of an hour was quickly over, the question period ended and the contestants began to climb the mountain wall to enter the cave one by one.

Although the rules stated that they should enter the cave in order of their jade coin count, from least to most, faced with this unknown trial, many of the young nobles preferred to stick together as a group. They were not going deep into the cave, but instead waiting at the entrance for the rest of their group.

Not just these young nobles, the young disciples from each sect did the same. Once they had concluded there would be fights, no one treated the second trial as solo battle, but rather approached ti as a team battle.

The Longxi group naturally followed the same plan. Li Xuanba, who was the first to reach the opening of the cave, carefully hid to one side and waited for the arrival of his group. Seeing the young noble-led teams eyeing them maliciously, he became a little frightened and summoned up the courage to exclaim, “Aren’t you all going to hurry into the cave? Our team leader will be here soon!”

Thanks to the honesty of the standard threat, when Tang Luo entered the cave, he saw Li Xuanba, covered in injuries and grimacing in pain, along with Cui Haoran, who looked downcast and miserable.

Injecting Innate Qi into Li Xuanba to heal him, Tang Luo asked the two, “Who hit you?”