The first round tested the physical body's strength;

The second round tested the martial skill's might;

The third round tested the individual's martial capability when…in a fierce and brutal fight.

This absolutely wasn't merely looking at whether there was sufficient potential to break through to half-step Xiantian.

Even though it was for the sake of improving the martial strength of the Cangyun Empire's elites, one wouldn't go so far as to say they were impatient about it. Each generation of the five great young masters all had resources. Although this generation was a little stronger, their strength hadn't reached the stage where the Azure Dragon Pool needed to be opened in advance.

Once this matter was dealt with, perhaps the royal family would still need to keep searching.

Gongyi Tianheng's inner thoughts churned, and he already guessed nearly everything.

However, as to what they were specifically searching for, he was unable to speculate for the time being.

The sc.r.a.ps of information were too few, but ultimately, it should be related to something that benefited the whole empire.

When mentioning the requirements of the third test that the Cangyun Emperor revealed, one just had to look at the eight finalists' performances.

While each of the young powerhouses' expressions were all different, there was no doubt that all of their moods were solemn.

In addition, as for who'd go first, they weren't able to decide.

Naturally, no one discovered the flash of disappointment that streaked across the Cangyun Emperor's meaningful gaze.

Unexpectedly, none of these powerhouses had the courage to face the rhinoceros beast?

Due to his eyesight he could naturally see that, apart from Gongyi Tianheng's sudden display of unparalleled ability, three of the seven others had done their best to constrain their instinctual fear. The remaining four were indecisive, balancing the pros and cons, or were sticking to the sidelines…

Just at this time, Helian Xingcheng abruptly opened his mouth. He gave a strange laugh and started taunting: “Among all of us, young master Gongyi's strength is the greatest. We admire you endlessly. Wouldn't it be better to ask young master Gongyi to take the stage again and let us admire some more?”

These words were spoken. Duanmu Qingrong and Huangfu Zhanghao couldn't help frowning slightly.

Although Tianheng made them look out of sorts, Xingcheng was really too petty. The five of them were always compared to one another. With Xingcheng doing this, wouldn't their quality be dragged down?

Sima Yuanyou lowered his head, his gaze flickering indeterminately.

This kind of thing wasn't something he could do. However, if Xingcheng could force Gongyi Tianheng into making a fool of himself, then he was ready to watch the show.

Cang Yu's eyes flashed with disdain.

On the contrary, the Cangyun Emperor looked towards Tianheng, wanting to see how he reacted.

Gongyi Tianheng faintly smiled and stood up: “Since it's like this, I'll give it a try first.”

There wasn't a bit of reluctance in his words. He strode forward with determination straight to the front of the iron cage.

That Xiantian martial artist slapped the cage, and an opening that could let a person through appeared on the cage. Inside, the Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros roared and it continuously stomped its four hooves. It would rush out immediately!

However, it was suppressed by the palm of the Xiantian martial artist before it could reach that opening. That tremendous aura quelled the beast and made it suddenly stop — And while it was stopped, Gongyi Tianheng entered the cage. As for the iron cage's opened door, it was immediately sealed.

In the iron cage, all that remained was Gongyi Tianheng and the Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros. It was one man and one beast.

Gu Zuo's eyes were glued to the scene.

A fight between a ferocious beast with such high strength and his surrogate big brother. His first reaction was naturally to worry, but after he thought about all of Tianheng's performances in the Arena of Life and Death, he calmed his heart down.

Even those killing machines were beaten to submission by his big brother. No matter how provoked this Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros had become, it shouldn't be able to handle his big brother.

On the contrary, those people who were mockingly watching…

Gu Zuo secretly glanced at Helian Xingcheng and the other great young masters, and silently ridiculed: This group of spineless guys deserve to be big brother's stepping stones!

At this moment, Tianheng and the Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros started fighting to the death.

The Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros had several parts that were difficult to deal with. For example, its four hooves with the trampling strength of several tons, its thick hide, its nose's three sharp horns, and its innate ability to breathe explosive flames.

When compiling everything together, its strength was very formidable.

Gongyi Tianheng stood in front of the rhinoceros beast and, compared to its huge build, it could be said that he was puny. However, he definitely wasn't alarmed. Instead, when that beast freely moved in the blink of an eye, Tianheng was even faster as he leaped forward!

Rushing Thunder Palm!

The power in his palm carried a thunderous light and thousands of light rays blossomed!

Gu Zuo was very clear about this rhinoceros beast's weak points. He could see his big brother striking a location that was precisely one of those several weak points. The depression just below the horns.

Striking here was very challenging. A moment of inattention could lead to being impaled by the rhinoceros' horns. However, running low to the ground was the easiest way to get close to it.

Gu Zuo's worries were for naught. Sure enough, Tianheng struck the target and caused the rhinoceros beast to experience violent pain.

Then he started circling the beast neither quickly nor slowly. After every couple of steps, he would dodge its attacks and simultaneously land palm strikes, imprinting them on its hide.

It wasn't long before the beast's hide was covered in more than ten palm prints. Gu Zuo understood what was happening. The locations of these palm prints were the corresponding sites of the rhinoceros beast's internal organs. Tianheng's power was great and the qi energy was fired from his palms. Although the strikes didn't crack the rhinoceros' hide, some of the power had penetrated and injured its organs.

The Cangyun Emperor took this scene in and his eyes held some praise.

Being able to use this kind of exquisite wandering footwork with seemingly slow yet precise palm strikes one after another, one could see that Gongyi Tianheng had fine control over his power to accurately seize every opportunity.

As for the other seven, they felt differently.

The three who were slightly weaker naturally tried to take in every detail. They tried to discover a few things they could learn from. Duanmu Qingrong and the others also appeared focused, and treated this as a chance to acc.u.mulate first-hand experience.

It was only that, due to several psychological blows and after restraining himself many times, Helian Xingcheng's comparatively irascible temperament had already taken a step to the extreme. If before he held Tianheng in contempt and didn't want Tianheng to be equally as famous as him, that originally condescending person now stooped down to act. Those feelings of resistance became jealousy, and those feelings of jealousy then became an obsession. Perhaps, it could turn into an internal demon [1], affecting his advancements along the path of cultivation.

Now it seemed that if Xingcheng kept control over his mental state, then at most he'd join Yuanyou in watching the fight from the shadows. However, he didn't only provoke Tianheng, but during this seldom view of gaining first-experience combat, he was h.e.l.l-bent on hoping that Tianheng suffered a setback during the fight's course of events. The best thing he hoped for was that Tianheng didn't even have the opportunity to cry for help and would be completely eradicated.

Unfortunately, no matter how much Helian Xingcheng wished in his heart, he ultimately discovered that Tianheng fought the rhinoceros beast skillfully and easily. There practically wasn't a single hair out of place.

He wasn't willing to believe that this was Tianheng's usual fighting strength — It was impossible! The time he'd been practicing martial arts was so short. It simply wasn't like them, who'd seen so much blood, to be capable of overcoming the berserk rhinoceros beast's intimidation unscathed. How was it possible to still do this so effortlessly?!

— This was surely because this seemingly provoked rhinoceros beast was merely the royal family's way of testing their courage. The true situation must be that this beast originally couldn't withstand a single blow!

During the time he thought about this, Helian Xingcheng's face underwent several changes.

Gu Zuo snuck another glance, and was a little stunned: Was this buddy's face a painter's palette? He previously heard that people's faces could change color, but he never thought it could be so marvelous…

As for Gongyi Tianheng, he seemed to validate Xingcheng's guess. At this moment, he jumped high in the air and used a single hand to press against the beast's skull. The force caused it to collapse to the ground, evoking a sharp and clear sound. After that, his other hand didn't remain idle. He just clenched his fist and brazenly smashed it against the weak point at the back of its head —

Bang!

The rhinoceros beast's skull was crushed by this extremely powerful strength!

— During the entire course of events, the rhinoceros beast never had the chance to sense it was in mortal danger nor breathe its explosive flames trump card. It had already lost its life.

Gongyi Tianheng won!

Moreover, his victory was direct and efficient, as if it was even easier than killing a chicken.

Xingcheng only felt an ache in the pit of his stomach. His face turned red, which was caused by his heart's blood bubbling up in anger. The reason why he almost vomited blood: Gongyi Tianheng, he actually —

Just despicable!

A Helian Clan elder was nearby and keenly discovered Xingcheng's inappropriate behavior. Subconsciously, he promptly retrieved a medicinal pill from his breast pocket and fed it to him.

He knew this was an emotional issue in his heart that changed into a manifestation of an internal demon. If it caused him to vomit blood, his foundation would certainly receive damage. When that moment came, don't mention becoming Xiantian. With this kind of situation, he might not necessarily pa.s.s the third test. Even if he pa.s.sed, it wasn't guaranteed that he would be able to make use of the Azure Dragon Pool.

The Helian Clan Head was supremely disappointed.

This was his third son, whose apt.i.tude had been impressive since childhood. After growing up, Xingcheng seized much honor and glory for him. However, he never thought that because of this very small setback, his pride and joy would nearly suffer a stumble he could never recover from!

How could he be at ease from this kind of descent?

With great difficulty, Xingcheng managed to suppress the churning in the pit of his stomach. He was covered in a cold sweat. He rushed to recuperate his qi and prepared to wait for the inevitable test. He didn't dare go pay attention to Tianheng.

Gu Zuo: “…”

He absolutely never thought that his big bro had the ability to do nothing and still anger someone to the point of vomiting blood. With Helian Xingcheng's degree of pettiness, how did he manage to grow up without a hitch? Wouldn't he be angered breathless if someone got an extra bowl of rice today, or if someone got an extra medicinal pill tomorrow, or if someone got an extra slice of wild beast meat the day after? [2] Thinking like this, the Helian household didn't have it easy either.

After silently criticizing Xingcheng in his heart, Gu Zuo felt at peace.

The following matters rapidly unfolded.

Because this rhinoceros beast was directly put to death, the Xiantian martial artist put the iron cage away and brought out a violent ape. Indeed, it also was comprehensively evaluated to be a wild beast on par with the Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros.

Because their overall strength was low, the three martial artists were still in the middle of enduring. Once the remaining unscathed three great young masters looked at each other's faces, Huangfu Zhanghao entered the iron cage in the end.

Similarly, he was subjected to a provoked wild beast and fought in close-quarters combat. However, Zhanghao was suppressed by it from the very beginning. No matter how much he tried to dodge, he was still only able to doge and he couldn't hit back. There wasn't the least bit of effortless satisfaction like Gongyi Tianheng a moment ago.

In other words, this test wasn't only to test their courage playing around with wild beasts that looked strong but were actually weak. Rather, they were wild beasts that were genuinely and thoroughly powerful!

Helian Xingcheng clearly saw Zhanghao's fight and the redness on his face became even redder. His fists suddenly clenched tightly. Afterwards, he slammed his hand over his mouth.

However, between the slits of his fingers, red lines overflowed…

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[1] 心魔 - Xin mo, heart demon, negative influences that can hamper a martial artist's cultivation, which can lead to qi deviation.

[2] I'm stumped over the point of this sentence. (Thanks to user Charysa for the explanation.)

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