The disciple at the Earth Level drew the audience's attention as he approached the stone. Everyone
was on the edge of their seats, waiting to see his performance.
The disciple walked towards the huge stone and lunged his fist at it. In a split second, the martial
energy exploded from his body.
Before they could blink their eyes, a loud sound came from the stone. The huge stone was pushed
forward by the disciple's power. It moved forward, sending bits of ground stones and dust up as it
scraped the ground.
"Three inches!" the examiner announced. The audience was amazed by the disciple's record. They all
stared at him agape in surprise.
"Three inches! That's an incredible score!"
"It seems to me that he would get the first prize in this competition."
"The last contestant is a piece of trash. I guess that there is nothing else worth seeing here. Let's go
and watch the other groups!"
A smug smile spread across the disciple's face for he felt very proud of his record. When he returned,
he held his head high and cast an arrogant glance at Zachary. He totally enjoyed his triumph.
Since the four contestants had finished their tests, Zachary was the only one left in this group.
As Zachary caught a glimpse of the surroundings, he noticed that a large number of disciples had left
to watch the other groups. Only a small number remained in their seats and stared at him with
complete disdain on their faces. They had lost their enthusiasm for the test and just wanted to witness
Zachary embarrass himself.
'Just wait and see!' Zachary thought to himself and chuckled. He was not irritated by their deliberate
provocations and remained composed in front of the audience. As he started his turn, he walked
around the huge stone and measured the height of the stone with his eyes. To everyone's surprise, he
didn't hit it. Instead, he placed his hands on the surface of the stone and moved them towards different
areas of the stone's surface.
The disciples were totally confused by Zachary's strange actions. It seemed to them that Zachary was
not there for a real test, but to humiliate himself. It was impossible not to notice the derisive stares that
they threw at Zachary as he proceeded with his seemingly foolish actions.
Ignoring the disciples' reactions, Zachary stood firmly in front of the huge stone as he finished his
preparations. He simply clenched his fist tightly into a ball and gently placed it on the exact spot that he
had determined before. He then slightly knocked on the surface of the stone with a minimal amount of
force.
"I'm done," Zachary calmly declared as he raised his hand that indicated that he had finished his test.
The audience all froze when they heard what he said. They all stared blankly at him with wide open
eyes.
"What? Was that a joke? Why did he bother to participate in the test if he has such poor performance?
That's ridiculous!"
"He's just messing around with his jokes!"
"He can't even kill a bird with that hit! He is such a loser!"
Scoffing and booing erupted from the audience. Anger burned in their eyes. They felt that Zachary's
actions had mocked them and the test.
The examiner started to announce the result without examining the stone, "The record is..." But before
he could finish his sentence, the stone erupted in a loud explosion. The disciples close to the stone all
moved back, startled.
In the blink of an eye, the huge stone which stood erect on the ground suddenly collapsed. It sounded
like the crack of thunder in the sky and the roar of an earthquake on land. A cloud of dust and dirt went
up from the ground as the huge stone shattered into pieces.
Suddenly, a wind picked up the dust and blew it on the disciples who stood nearby. Before they could
blink their eyes, a thick layer of dust hit their faces and made their clothes dirty.
In the aftermath of the explosion, an eerie silence fell on the entire training ground. The disciples who
were watching the other groups all turned their heads towards the source of the explosion. They were
totally dumbfounded by the stone pieces scattered on the ground and the dust cloud that lingered near
the stone debris. They stared at Zachary, who stood in front of the debris with pride. They still didn't
know what happened and couldn't understand why the huge stone broke all of a sudden.
"Ha-ha. Did you see it? The huge stone broke! And who did it? It's me, of course! Am I that powerful? I
can't believe it myself!" Zachary arrogantly laughed.
Sara, Lewis and the stewards were watching the test on the platform near the training ground when
they heard the explosion.
"Gray, go and see what happened there," Lewis immediately ordered as his brows furrowed in
confusion.
Gray instantly went to Zachary's group. When he saw the stone pieces scattered on the ground, he
inquired about the explosion from the examiner. When he learned that it was Zachary who broke the
huge stone, he stared at Zachary incredulously for he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Master Gray, how should I score for him?" the examiner asked. He scratched his head and didn't know
what to do next.
"Since the stone is broken, an exact score is not possible. Although it is hard to believe, we should
admit that he has achieved the best score in this test. Maybe luck is on his side today. He should count
himself lucky!" Gray replied after he pondered on the matter for a while. Since Zachary broke the stone
under everyone's watch, there was no way they could tamper with the score, whether Zachary won the
test by luck or any other reason. If they dared to change the result, rumors would spread fast and ruin
their reputation.
Moreover, admitting Zachary's score would ensure fair play. After all, Sara, who was the invigilator, was
supervising the test. It was virtually impossible for Zachary to fool them with his little tricks to get a good
score.
To Gray's surprise, the entire field was in an uproar as they heard the announcement of the result.
The four disciples who were on the same group with Zachary were seething with anger. Their faces
were red with frustration. Especially the disciple at the Earth Level—it never occurred to him that he
would be defeated by Zachary in this test.
What confused them most was that none of them could figure out how Zachary managed to break the
huge stone with the slightest movement of his fist. They knew that with Zachary's current strength, it
was impossible for him to break the huge stone that could withstand the attack from a warrior of
Heaven Level.
But they quickly let the matter pass. There were two more rounds left for the preliminary contest
anyway. It was important to get the highest gross scores from the three rounds. So they regained their
composure and prepared themselves for the next test. They were certain that luck would not be on
Zachary's side again in the following rounds, because in the next round they would contend for the first
prize in terms of speed. There was no way Zachary could use his dirty tricks and deceive them again.
'I can't believe that the One Inch Punch I just learned is so powerful. But if I did not use some of my
physical knowledge, the stone would not be broken effortlessly. I'm indeed a genius!' Zachary quietly
thought to himself and chuckled. The One Inch Punch was a new martial art that he acquired. It was a
reward he received after he accomplished a number of cultivation quests.
Gray then went back to the terrace and reported the strange thing that happened in Zachary's group to
Lewis.
"What? What did you just say? Zachary broke the test stone into pieces in the strength test?" Lewis
and the other stewards shouted in disbelief when they heard what Gray said.
"Gray, the test stone should at least be able to withstand the attack from a warrior at the Heaven Level.
How could it be broken into pieces by a mere nobody?" Herman asked in a confused tone.
"I agree with you. How did he manage to break the test stone? Even if he has powerful skills, I still think
that it is beyond his capacity to break the test stone.
How could that happen? That is so strange! Such a thing has never happened before in the
competition."
The other stewards looked at each other in confusion.
"Although I am not sure how he was able to do it, one thing I'm sure of is that the stone broke into
pieces after Zachary lunged his fist at it," Gray replied.
"Maybe he won the test by luck," Lewis calmly said and cast a glance at Sara.
Sara appeared unaffected by the developments and remained silent. Her eyes had a distant faraway
look as she glimpsed Zachary's group briefly. She was lost in her thoughts and seemed to be thinking
about something very serious.
Seeing that Sara didn't have any objections, Lewis felt a surge of relief.
The speed test would follow the strength test.
The second round was also a simple one. The contestants would run one lap of the entire Welkin Sect
in a designated route and fetch the flags along the route within ninety minutes. The one who collected
the most number of flags would become the winner.
The constants were divided into different groups in the second round too, and Zachary's group was the
last but one. With time to kill, he found a secluded place and dozed off.
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