After breaking through the Fourth Soldier Realm of the Immortal Sage, Wang Xiaoqiang released the 60,000,000 Spiritual Springs within his body, disguising himself as if he were in the Third Soldier Realm of the Immortal Sage,

to ensure he wouldn't arouse too much suspicion. Then, in the week leading up to the grand competition, he focused his cultivation on understanding the "Path of Courage".

The culture of the Immortal Realm is not flourishing. Although its history is long and full of myths, few are recorded, and even fewer are written down. Most are lost and unverifiable.

Fang Qiu selected a few books for Wang Xiaoqiang, but they were lacking in content. The books on stories of bravery failed to resonate with him and offered little inspiration, as they were myths from the Immortal Realm, and he was a person living on Earth.

Thus, his comprehension of the "Path of Courage" did not proceed smoothly. Over the month, the character "Courage" merely grew a bit larger, originally the size of a palm, and now the size of a folding fan, doubling in size.

Reflecting on this, Wang Xiaoqiang cast those books aside and began recalling the myths about courage he had seen on Earth, and he thought of Xing Tian.

Xing Tian was a subordinate of the Flame Emperor. During a battle between the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, Xing Tian fought the Yellow Emperor one-on-one. Due to a difference in strength, the Yellow Emperor beheaded him with a single sword strike. Yet Xing Tian did not retreat. He used his chest as eyes and his navel as a mouth, picked up his shield and axe, and continued fighting. Tao Yuanming praised his tenacious spirit in a poem — "Xing Tian dances with shield and axe, his fierce will unwavering as ever."

Clearly, Xing Tian is the embodiment of courage and perseverance. He is the mightiest warrior!

Wang Xiaoqiang then thought of Sun Wukong, recalling the Great Sage Equalling Heaven who dared to defy the Heavenly Court...

In the Immortal Peach Orchard he attended banquets, at the Yanluo Hall he ascended. For a time, the throne of the Dragon Palace changed hands, and I proclaimed myself emperor in the Jade Realm.

Called for the fine wine of the Turquoise Pool to indulge, swallowing Golden Pills of Dosu more joyfully. Naturally accustomed to freedom, he neither sat on immortal mountains nor meditated.

With the mystical stone of Nuwa lively awakening, unexpectedly entering the world. Mastering the Six Paths and Five Elements, serving within the Three Teachings and Nine Streams.

With fiery eyes quickly seeing injustice, the golden hoop staff thrashing the plague spirit platform. With virtuous conduct achieving just outcome, his formidable name eternally immortalized.

Thinking of these mythical figures, Wang Xiaoqiang was filled with a grand spirit. He felt himself become Xing Tian, swinging the axe and giant shield in battle with the Emperor, sometimes transforming into the fearless Sun Wukong with the golden hoop staff, toppling the Heavenly Palace.

The character "Courage" inside him, stirred by that grand spirit, continuously rolled, transformed, and grew stronger...

With a loud boom, the character "Courage" emerged from his body, growing to the size of a palm fan, flashing golden light, its power greatly increased.

Wang Xiaoqiang thought for a moment, and the "Courage" character then crashed into the side room of the guesthouse. With a loud bang, it collapsed the room, leaving Wang Xiaoqiang staring in shock, not expecting the Power of Courage to be so great as to topple buildings.

Although this house was allocated for his residence, it belonged to Yueyang Academy's public property. Having toppled public property, Wang Xiaoqiang felt a bit afraid. As fear grew in his heart, the "Courage" character that had just toppled the house dimmed slightly and began to shrink...

Greatly alarmed, Wang Xiaoqiang hurriedly dispelled his fear, comforting himself in his heart, telling himself it's just a house. If it was toppled, it was toppled. What's the big deal? At most he could compensate for it!

Besides, he had plenty of gold coins, no need to panic over this and damage his Daoist Heart. Thinking this way, the "Courage" character immediately stopped shrinking, the golden light blazing once more.

Soon, an administrator from Yueyang Academy came to Wang Xiaoqiang regarding the damage to the house and issued a fine, the amount converted to gold coins being 30,000. Wang Xiaoqiang paid the full amount of gold coins, dismissed the two administrators, and soon workers came to dismantle the walls and remnants of the house, preparing to build a new one.

Once Wang Xiaoqiang had determined the right direction, the process of enlightenment became easy and quick. The Path of Courage rapidly grew in his continuous understanding.

In just a week, the "Courage" character grew from the size of a palm fan to the opening of a large basin, flashing golden light, immensely powerful, with unparalleled might.

...

The Yueyang Academy's grand competition was held as scheduled.

The competition venue was set up in the plaza of Yueyang Academy. The plaza was vast enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people, while the total number of people at Yueyang Academy was only about a thousand, so it was relatively spacious.

The night before the big competition, Old Master placed three chess pieces in the plaza,

but these chess pieces were not the kind played in the palm of the hand; they were giant chess pieces ten meters in diameter, part of Old Master's 'Heaven-Piercing Chess',

This Heaven-Piercing Chess was often the set Old Master used when playing against masters from the outside world. Each piece of the Heaven-Piercing Chess weighed over ten thousand catties, requiring continuous movement of these massive pieces during matches, so this so-called match tested not only intelligence but also strength and cultivation base.

Now, Old Master intended to use three pieces as the platforms for this competition.

These three pieces weighing over ten thousand catties were a "Pawn", a "Horse", and a "General".

The competition rules were that three grades would compete simultaneously, each grade having twenty students participating in the competition,

The Beginner Class would choose ten students to compete on the pawn's platform,

The Intermediate Class would choose twenty students to compete on the horse's platform,

The Advanced Class would choose thirty students to compete on the general's platform,

In the first match, the Beginner Class would eliminate five people and select five, the Intermediate Class would eliminate ten and select ten, and the Advanced Class would eliminate fifteen and select fifteen,

The remaining twenty people would then mix together to compete in the second match, ultimately eliminating ten people, leaving the top ten of this competition,

Then the top ten would compete again to determine the ranks. A winner, runner-up, and third place winner would be selected.

On this day, every grade, every class, after clarifying the competition rules, began elections within their class,

Everyone understood that those who entered the top ten in this competition would receive Old Master's Sacred Dao Power blessing, enhancing one's Dao Power several times over, so everyone wanted to strive for this spot, although most were aware of their limitations,

Those with weaker cultivation bases gave up the idea of participating early on, becoming spectators, waiting to watch the exciting competition,

Although Wang Xiaoqiang disguised himself as having the cultivation base of the Third Soldier Realm of the Immortal Sage, even with such a cultivation base, he was a standout in Beginner Class One. No student had a higher cultivation base than him, so naturally, Wang Xiaoqiang was selected.

Then Beginner Class Two also selected four people, and the five of them would participate in the first match, facing five students from Beginner Class Two.

Wang Xiaoqiang's match was scheduled for the afternoon of that day.

With nothing to do in the morning, Wang Xiaoqiang watched the competition with Dai Yu, Ye Junqing, and Tian Yunyi,

Although Ye Junqing was as high as the sky, the competition focused on strength and cultivation base, and Ye Junqing, possessing the Ninefold Body of the Immortal Venerable, was in the Intermediate Class filled with experts. There was no condition to participate, so he gave up.

Similarly, Tian Yunyi from the Intermediate Class also gave up the competition. Despite Dai Yu having embarked on the path of cultivation with Wang Xiaoqiang's help, he was still at the Qi Refinement level—a negligible level—so naturally, he wasn't selected. (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)

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