31: Chapter 31 Third Round of Assessment

Liu Qingyan leaned in close to Su Li and asked softly,

"Senior Sister, are you alright?"

"Is it because the spiritual energy consumption was too great?"

Su Li wanted to calm her mind to ease the feeling, but she only felt her head spinning even more.

She gritted her teeth to suppress the surging spiritual energy, shook her head slightly, and lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear.

"It's no matter. We'll talk after this round of assessment is over."

Hearing this, Liu Qingyan didn't try to persuade her further. She simply stood closer to her, using her body to block the view of the Disciples below the stage, and sent a stream of spiritual energy into Su Li's body, which slid along her Meridians into her Dantian.

Su Li felt the abnormal sensation in her Dantian ease slightly and nodded to her in gratitude.

She endured for a while longer.

The assessment score of the last Disciple was finally fixed upon the tower's surface.

The second round of the comprehensive assessment had completely finished.

Su Li let out a long sigh of relief, raised her hand to gesture slightly to Great Elder Qin Cangyue, and waved her hand to push the Myriad Manifestations Tower floating in mid-air back to him.

Great Elder Qin Cangyue reached out to catch the Myriad Manifestations Tower, his brow furrowing slightly as he asked in a low voice,

"Girl Su, is your condition alright?"

"If you can't hold on, let Qingyan host the subsequent assessment for you. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Indeed, Senior Sister."

Liu Qingyan immediately chimed in, her face full of concern.

"If you're not feeling well, go to the back and rest. I'm here; you can leave the remaining segments to me."

Su Li shook her head slightly, clutching the medicine bottle in her sleeve, her tone remaining firm.

"No need."

"There has never been a precedent for changing the Chief Examiner halfway through a Sect assessment; I cannot start such a trend."

"It's just an old injury flaring up. I'll take a pill to stabilize it; it's no matter."

Seeing her determined attitude, Great Elder Qin Cangyue didn't push further and only let out a sigh.

"Fine, then manage it yourself with discretion."

Liu Qingyan also stopped persuading her, merely helping her tidy her slightly messy wide sleeves considerately as she reminded her softly,

"Then Senior Sister must pay attention to your health. If there is any discomfort, you must tell me."

Su Li nodded, quickly poured a Medicinal Pill from the bottle, tilted her head back, and swallowed it.

As the pill entered her stomach, the familiar medicinal power spread out.

The dizzy sensation receded significantly.

Below the stage.

Mo Zixing was constantly monitoring Su Li's status panel.

He saw it clearly: the moment the new pill entered her stomach, the [chronic pill poison] entry on Su Li's panel began to tremble violently once again.

It was even more severe than the last time.

Mo Zixing's mouth twitched.

He had a feeling that if this continued, the pill poison would erupt before the Inner Sect assessment even concluded.

On the stage.

Su Li stabilized her breath and walked back to the very front of the high platform, her cold voice carrying through spiritual energy to every corner of the Martial Arts Field.

"The second round of the comprehensive assessment has officially ended."

"I will now announce the list of the fifty people advancing to the final round."

She waved her hand.

A screen of light unfolded in mid-air.

Fifty names, along with their corresponding scores, were listed in order from top to bottom.

The Disciples below held their breath, each crane-necking to stare at the light screen, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Jiang Yuwei also gripped Mo Zixing's sleeve tightly, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the screen.

Only when she saw her name in the twenty-third position did she breathe a sigh of relief, hugging Mo Zixing's arm and jumping twice.

"Yay! Senior Brother, I made it!"

"Let me see... twenty-third place, that's indeed quite good."

Mo Zixing smiled and rubbed the top of her head, his gaze sweeping to the very top of the screen.

The first name was strikingly his own.

The eyes of the entire crowd once again swiveled toward Mo Zixing, filled with envy and shock.

Everyone had seen that Mo Zixing's score was staggering, but when that score was listed and compared to others, his formidable strength became even more apparent.

Su Li waited for the clamor below to subside slightly before speaking again.

"Congratulations to the fifty Disciples present for advancing to the final round of the assessment."

"After this round concludes, the top twenty Disciples based on the combined scores of both rounds will enter the five main peaks of the Inner Sect and become official Inner Sect Disciples of the Sect."

"Among them, the Disciple ranked first in the comprehensive total of both rounds..."

At this point, her gaze swept over Mo Zixing again. She paused before continuing.

"As stated previously, will additionally receive one opportunity for Body Tempering in the Sect's Hundred-Year Spiritual Spring."

Su Li clapped her hands and began to announce the final assessment content.

"The final round of assessment will take the form of a Gauntlet Battle."

"All advancing Disciples may take the stage at any time to defend the ring."

"For every opponent defeated, one point is accumulated. The loser may not take the stage again."

"The Gauntlet Battle has no time limit, continuing until only one Disciple capable of taking the stage remains, or until no one else is willing to challenge."

"The final ranking for this round will be based on gauntlet points, which will be proportionally calculated with the second round's score to determine the final comprehensive ranking."

As her words fell, the crowd below erupted again!

A Gauntlet Battle!

In an instant, the Disciples' eyes lit up, and they all began to rub their hands together, calculating when would be the most suitable time to take the stage.

Mo Zixing leaned against a stone pillar, his fingertips lightly tapping his arm as he began to calculate rapidly in his mind.

Losing doesn't clear your points?

This meant that even if the defender lost, the points they had already earned would be preserved.

There was no need to worry about all previous efforts being wasted due to a single failure.

He had a massive lead in the second round.

Even if he only scored one or two points in the gauntlet, his combined ranking would definitely not fall out of the top twenty.

His position as an Inner Sect Disciple was set in stone.

But what he wanted wasn't just an ordinary Inner Sect slot; he wanted the first place overall and that one opportunity for Body Tempering in the Hundred-Year Spiritual Spring.

Therefore, he not only had to fight in the gauntlet, but he also had to achieve an absolutely crushing score.

He couldn't leave any chance for those behind him.

He looked around at the Disciples with various expressions and finally made up his mind.

He had to be the first one up.

The fifty Disciples who had made it this far were almost all top-tier in the Outer Sect.

Many would surely have the mindset of lying low until the end to pick up the scraps.

If he really waited until the Late Stage, those remaining would all be tough nuts who had been biding their time, each full of spiritual energy.

By then, it would be a clash between the most competitive Disciples; not only would there be no scraps to pick up, but it would be harder than the early stage.

The Hundred-Year Spiritual Spring was right before his eyes.

What was there to fear?

Charge!

At this moment, below the arena, the Disciples were still observing each other, nudging one another, with no one willing to be the first to take the stage.

While everyone was at a standstill, Mo Zixing pushed through the crowd and walked slowly toward the arena.

The eyes of the entire field instantly locked onto him.

The originally noisy Martial Arts Field became so quiet that a falling needle could be heard.

Everyone held their breath, their faces filled with shock.

No one expected that the Genius Disciple who had a massive lead in the second round would actually be the first to take the stage!