Chapter 412: Losing For Sure?!
The audience around the Qiu Fen Arena didn't understand the situation yet.
Hao Ren kicked the ground lightly with his left foot and returned to the center of the arena.
The 320 sword energies returned to Hao Ren's body with swooshing sounds.
Lu Qi was unconscious and disheveled while Hao Ren was intact.
"Wow!" The audience exclaimed.
This battle lasted for one hour while the sword energies and the chess pieces fought with each other, but it ended in a flash.
Lu Qi used a dharma treasure to control the chess pieces while Hao Ren controlled his sword energies with his mind directly. Besides, he mostly used 160 sword energies to block the 360 chess pieces, showing people who was stronger.
The inspector responsible for the Qiu Fen Arena was a little stunned as well.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally lifted the sign, 'Ren Yin'.
There were altogether 24 small arenas in each direction, so there were 96 arenas in total. After defeating Lu Qi, Hao Ren entered the top 48, which meant that even if he lost the rest of the matches, he would be among the top 50 and thus would keep the position of assisting inspector until next year's Dragon God Shrine's general exams.
Aside from the 48 who would become assisting inspectors for sure, the other two would be chosen by the main examiners after the combat exams.
"Oh, Third Uncle!"
After seeing Hao Ren winning the battle, Zhao Yanzi suddenly remembered Zhao Kuo and immediately pushed through the crowd toward the Li Xia Arena.
Hao Ren also remembered Zhao Kuo, so he leaped forward lightly and headed in that direction.
Zhao Yanzi who was trying her best to squeeze through the crowd suddenly found herself being lifted into the air. Alarmed, she looked up and found it was Hao Ren.
"Don't move!" Hao Ren looked down at Zhao Yanzi in his arms and carried her by the waist as he flew toward Li Xia Arena.
Wrapped in Hao Ren's arms, Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren's chiseled cheeks, feeling his arms beneath her waist and smelling his warm scent after a battle. Suddenly, her heart began to race.
Bang!
Landing from the sky beside the Li Xia Arena, Hao Ren cleared an open space in the crowd with his presence.
The cultivators around him looked at him. When they saw the silver dragon embroidery on his brown robe that was signaling his identity as an assisting inspector, they kept their silence.
These cultivators were elders in their respective dragon clans, but in the territory of the Dragon God Shrine, they didn't want to offend even an assisting inspector.
Ignoring the surrounding cultivators, Hao Ren gently put Zhao Yanzi onto the ground.
Zhao Yanzi flushed with embarrassment and couldn't even look up.
Suddenly, she remembered that her third uncle was still in a battle and immediately looked up at the arena.
On the Li Xia Arena, Zhao Kuo was panting while his body was covered in blood.
"Third Uncle..." Zhao Yanzi forgot her girly muses and screamed at the sight of Zhao Kuo.
With two blazing fireballs on either side of him, the fire-elemental Kun-level cultivator stood in the center of the arena. Except for several tears in his brown robe, he seemed intact.
Zhao Kuo's right hand shook slightly while it kept a defensive gesture, but his left hand dangled listlessly as if it was broken.
Boom! A burly body dropped to the ground suddenly.
Zhao Yanzi was about to rush over when she saw that it was the Kun-level cultivator who had fallen instead of Zhao Kuo!
"Humph!"
Zhao Kuo snorted in disdain. Standing firmly on the edge of the arena, he took out the bottle of pills Hao Ren gave him and poured out three white Essence Replenishing Pills before swallowing them.
Instantly, some sharp-eyed cultivators saw that Zhao Kuo's elixir pills were level 4 pills!
"Eating three level 4 pills in one go! From the looks of it, he has one full bottle of them!" they thought.
Even the level 2 inspectors by the arena envied his luxury. After all, level 4 pills were rare even in the Dragon God Shrine!
After swallowing three Essence Replenish Pills, Zhao Kuo's ashen face regained some luster. After kicking the Kun-level cultivator out of the arena, he looked around viciously before leaping out of the arena.
All the cultivators who met Zhao Kuo's gaze shivered on the inside.
Down on the ground, Zhao Kuo didn't greet Zhao Guang and the others. Instead, he sat down at a spot and circulated his nature essence to heal his wounds and digest the nutrients from the Essence Replenishment Pills.
"Third Uncle..." Zhao Yanzi was about to approach him, but Hao Ren stopped her.
"Let Third Uncle rest," Hao Ren said.
Obviously, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi had missed the climax of the battle. When they arrived at Li Xia Arena, Zhao Kuo had just finished battling the Kun-level cultivator.
Only at Dui-level, Zhao Kuo should not have defeated a Kun-level cultivator; Hao Ren couldn't imagine how Zhao Kuo managed it.
With her arm in Hao Ren's hand, Zhao Yanzi's heart raced like crazy. With a slight nod, she pulled Hao Ren slowly to Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang's side.
"Ren won the match, right?" Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren and asked him with a faint smile.
"Yeah!" Hao Ren nodded without hesitation.
Meanwhile, another two pairs of cultivators were still battling in the two arenas, but Wang Xi was not among them. Obviously, he had also finished his match.
Xie Yujia took Lu Linlin, Lu Lili, and Zhen Congming to Zhao Hongyu's side.
"Take this time to get some rest." Seeing Hao Ren still standing by Zhao Hongyu's side, Xie Yujia urged him.
The cultivators who had ended their battles earlier would have more time to rest, which was essential to the upcoming fierce battles.
"Gongzi, we'll help you smooth out your meridians." Lu Linlin and Lu Lili stood on either side of Hao Ren, and each took one of his arms.
The moment their nature essence entered his palms, it encountered fierce resistance. Suddenly, their hands were bounced off him.
"Arrays are blocking our nature essence in Gongzi's body!" Lu Linlin and Lu Lili exchanged a look before looking at Hao Ren in surprise.
"Hehehe..." Hao Ren laughed, trying to smooth things over.
He took out the bottle from his necklace and swallowed an Essence Replenishment Pill before sitting down cross-legged in a cool spot.
When Lu Linlin and Lu Lili tried to follow him, Zhao Hongyu reached out her hands and stopped them.
"This is Hao Ren's chance to improve himself. We'd better let him do it by himself," Zhao Hongyu said gently while placating them with her eyes.
Dang! Dang... The Dragon God Shrine's bell sounded.
It was three in the afternoon!
The identity token hanging by Hao Ren's waist shone with a yellow light.
The identity token on Zhao Kuo, who was sitting not far from him, also lit up.
Yellow lights lit up in ten other places.
Meanwhile, Qin Shaoyang, who was wearing a silver robe with a four-clawed golden dragon embroidery on it, walked out casually in the company of other six level 4 inspectors.
As the main examiner of this region, Qin Shaoyang sat in the biggest armchair in the middle while the six deputy examiners sat on both sides of him.
With a wave of his right hand, the 12 identity tokens from the east exam area flew into Qin Shaoyang's hands and instantly dimmed.
It meant that another 12 cultivators were disqualified for the next round.
With one wave of his hand, Qin Shaoyang showed everyone his authority.
The remaining 12 cultivators, including Hao Ren, gathered in the grand arena.
After Zhao Kuo had defeated one Kun-level cultivator, there was one Gen-level cultivator, which was Hao Ren, four Dui-level cultivators, six Xun-level cultivators, and one Kun-level cultivator, and they were all males.
Among the original four assisting inspectors, one Dui-level assisting inspector was defeated by a Xun-level cultivator, and only two Xun-level assisting inspectors and Hao Ren were left.
It meant that the Dui-level assisting inspector who had lost the match didn't pass the Dragon God Shrine's general exams and thus lost his title as an assisting inspector.
After winning by a narrow margin, Hao Ren entered the top 48 and successfully kept his title of assisting inspector, but he aimed to enter the top ten and become an official inspector so that he could kick Qin Shaoyang out of East Ocean City!
The following combat exams would be held in the grand arena. As a crucial part of the Dragon God Shrine's general exams, the selection of official inspectors was worthy of the personal attention of Qin Shaoyang, the main examiner.
"The first match..." Qin Shaoyang glanced at each of the 12 cultivators and paused on Hao Ren for half a second before continuing with a loud voice, "Ren Mao versus Ren Yin!"
With the Ren Mao identity token on his waist, Wang Xi took half a step forward.
Being called by Qin Shaoyang, Hao Ren took half a step forward reluctantly.
Wang Xi was now at mid-tier Xun-level and was the strongest one among the six Xun-level cultivators. This move clearly showed Qin Shaoyang's intention.
"The second match, Bin Mao versus Gen Yin; the third match, Gui Mao versus Yi Yin..." Qin Shaoyang continued to announce the arrangements.
Each cultivator called by Qin Shaoyang took half a step forward.
"The sixth match..." Before Qin Shaoyang could announce it, everyone knew the arrangement.
Among the 12 cultivators, only two hadn't stepped forward yet; they were Zhao Kuo and the last Kun-level cultivator.
Qin Shaoyang planned to have Zhao Kuo fight two Kun-level cultivators in a row! The reason why he didn't arrange for the battle between Zhao Kuo and Hao Ren was that he wanted neither of them in the top ten!
"Jerk!" On the ground, Zhao Yanzi looked up at Qin Shaoyang with gritted teeth.
A moment ago, her third uncle almost lost half of his life in the battle against one Kun-level cultivator, and Qin Shaoyang made use of his power as the main examiner to make this arrangement on purpose!
Hearing the arrangement, Zhao Guang clenched his fist, and his eyes were full of fury. Knowing Zhao Kuo's identity, Qin Shaoyang was purposefully challenging the East Ocean Dragon Palace!
"We must ask Zhao Kuo to quit the exam," Zhao Hongyu said with a little sigh.
"Begin!"
Qin Shaoyang waved his hand and sat back in his armchair.
Ten cultivators shot out of the grand arena.
In their brown robes, Hao Ren and Wang Xi stood on the large square arena that was 300 meters long and 300 meters wide. The two of them looked like two small chess pieces.
Hao Ren looked around.
The crowd was packed, but Su Han who could remove the Five Mountains Bracelets was nowhere to be seen.
"After you!"
Wang Xi lifted his right hand and signaled the beginning of the battle.