Chapter 45: The Third Minor Exam, A Decisive Sweep

With the treasure now in hand, Su Yu’s remaining liquid funds instantly plummeted to just 1 gold and 43 silver coins, leaving him with an external debt of 20 gold.

Upon returning home, he used his mana to refine the Nine-Orifice Precious Pearl once before equipping it immediately, which filled him with an overwhelming sense of safety.

It was a pity that he had no money left on hand; otherwise, purchasing nine astral-foul essence souls to refine into it would instantly grant an additional 27,000 in defense. Combined with the artifact's inherent 48,000, his defense would instantly reach 75,000, and with an extra 9% damage reduction, its quality would rival rare treasures.

Astral-foul essence souls were a special type of spiritual material that granted a 10% damage reduction for a certain period upon use. Impoverished cultivators who could not afford specialized tribulation-crossing pills could refine an astral-foul essence soul to mitigate 10% of the heavenly tribulation's damage.

This item had a market price of 30 gold pieces per soul, meaning nine of them would cost 270 gold.

If he could gather all nine astral-foul essence souls, this magical artifact would hold considerable value and could be used continuously without replacement until he acquired a Tier 7 defensive artifact.

Opening his mouth to swallow the Seven-Orifice Precious Pearl into his abdomen, Su Yu took inventory of all the treasures currently in his possession:

A Tier 5 Spirit-Gathering Dharma Robe.
A Tier 5 Spirit-Cage Belt.
A Tier 6 Black Water Mysterious Pearl.
A Tier 5 Silver Ring.
A Tier 6 Golden Turtle Ring.
A Tier 6 Magical Artifact: Nine-Orifice Precious Pearl.
A Tier 6 Flying Sword: Sun-Masking.
A Tier 6 Flying Sword: Azure Sparrow.
A Sealed Spiritual Item: Sea-Suppressing Pearl.
A Flying Boat: Spirit-Fish Shuttle.

Surveying his immaculate gear, every piece of which was Tier 5 or above, the corners of Su Yu's mouth curled upward in increasing satisfaction.

"Not bad at all!"

Through his unremitting efforts, he had unconsciously assembled a stellar set of equipment.

Beyond that, he possessed a level 60 intermediate Qi-refining mental cultivation method, a level 60 advanced Taibai Sword Technique, a level 45 exquisite transformation technique, not to mention stealth techniques like the Mustard Seed Body-Hiding Method.

This suite of equipment was undoubtedly luxurious among rogue cultivators, placing his strength firmly in the top tier.

"My only challenge left before apprenticing to a sect is Ding Lingyu."

He had no intention of waiting for the year-end grand examination as originally planned; he wanted to try unseating Ding Lingyu during this minor examination.

"If I can defeat him, things will basically be complete."

Su Yu reached out and made a grasping motion in the empty air, full of anticipation for the third minor examination two days later.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day of the third minor examination quickly arrived.

Early that morning, Gu Zhiqiu and the others rushed over. As soon as they met, Zhuang Zhuo asked with a grin, "Which place are we betting on this time?"

Shi Ning also rubbed his hands in eager anticipation, "Your odds changed this year. The odds for third place are 1 to 1.5, second place is 1 to 2, and first place is 1 to 3. Brother Su, which place should we bet on?"

Su Yu pursed his lips and said, "I'm not betting this time."

The group froze, chiming in unison, "Why?"

Just as Su Yu was about to explain, Gu Zhiqiu chimed in first, "Because Brother Su is aiming for first place this time."

"Huh?"
"Brother Su wants to aim for first?"
"Are you sure you can do it?"

The others were shocked yet somewhat doubtful.

Su Yu said in a deep voice, "I have a certain degree of certainty, but not an overwhelming one."

"Well..."
"Alright then."

No further explanation was needed; everyone understood and naturally wouldn't blame him.

After chatting for a few more moments, the group headed out toward the guild arena.

The venue was surging with people, and the number of participants for this third round was even greater than the previous one.

However, it had little impact on Su Yu. As a seeded contestant, he didn't need to participate in the first round of eliminations.

In the seeded contestants' resting area beneath the main platform, many of the seeded contestants from the previous round had already arrived. Upon his arrival, He Shoucheng immediately spotted Su Yu chatting with Wei Xia in a corner and called out from afar, "Brother Su!"

He walked over and asked with a grin, "I heard you struck it rich a while ago, stealing the kill on a major boss. You must have gotten some good stuff. Well, are you confident about challenging Ding Lingyu this time?"

Su Yu nodded frankly, "I do have that idea."

***

He Shoucheng, on the contrary, froze for a moment, clearly quite surprised: "Damn, you actually want to challenge Ding Lingyu?"

Wei Xia grinned and bantered, "What, do you look down on Brother Su?"

"Of course not." He Shoucheng waved his hands hurriedly, speaking earnestly, "I'm just surprised. To be honest, we all know what kind of strength Ding Lingyu has; he's not in the same league as us. I really didn't expect Brother Su to have grown to this level so quickly."

Wei Xia curled his lip and said, "How many resources did his Ding family pour into Ding Lingyu? Brother Su built everything from scratch entirely on his own. If they started at the same baseline, Ding Lingyu definitely wouldn't compare to Brother Su."

Su Yu waved his hand modestly, "Family background is also a part of strength."

His gaze shifted to the other side of the resting area. Ding Lingyu was seated in the center, surrounded by over a dozen seeded contestants talking to him.

With a smile on his face, Ding Lingyu responded to everyone one by one. His demeanor was elegant, his speech articulate, and every gesture polite and poised.

As the son of the guild's vice president, his status was extraordinary. Having taken first place by a wide margin in two consecutive minor examinations, he had earned the adoration of many regarding his strength, winning their heartfelt submission. Naturally, he gathered widespread popularity and became the focal point of this year's newcomers.

Following Su Yu's gaze toward Ding Lingyu, He Shoucheng sighed with a mixture of emotion and envy, "Truth be told, although Ding Lingyu relied on his family background, his own talent is also quite good. The Daoist technique he practices is a sect-suppressing transformation method, requiring over 30 points of innate bone structure, over 30 points of innate comprehension, and over 30 points of innate six senses. If your own aptitude isn't up to par, you couldn't learn it even if the manual were laid out in front of you."

Wei Xia nodded in agreement, "Indeed!"

He smacked his lips and added, "If he can consistently maintain first place through the three minor examinations and the year-end grand examination, he'll be a legend. At the very least, a guild vice presidency awaits him in the future."

"???"

Su Yu looked over with a puzzled expression.

Wei Xia smiled and explained, "You might not know, but a trajectory like his was planned out long ago."

"From the moment he stepped onto the path of cultivation, he has maintained this crushing posture of growth, then entered an immortal sect to achieve certain accomplishments. In the future, upon returning from the sect, he will immediately become a core member of the guild and step directly into a guild management position."

"Then, after rotating through multiple positions and gaining years of experience, he can gradually take over the power of his father—Vice President Ding—and leapfrog to become the guild vice president."

"You know how our guild's president election system works; vice presidents have the opportunity to contend. With his background and the experience of taking first place in his cohort, his advantage when facing other competing candidates is immense."

He Shoucheng chimed in with a smile, "Just think, all the other competing candidates are his defeated opponents; what confidence would they have to compete with him?"

"Oh!" Su Yu nodded thoughtfully.

A moment later, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he asked, "Since that's the case, what will happen if I defeat him? Will I be suppressed?"

"Well..."

Both of them fell silent. Three seconds later, Wei Xia said, "Probably nothing much. They can't interfere externally during the arena matches, nor can they hold a rematch. A win is a win; at worst, they'll just be displeased with you."

"Oh!"

Su Yu didn't pursue the question further. One could tell from their expressions that neither of them believed he could actually challenge Ding Lingyu.

The conversation then shifted, turning to other matters.

An hour later, the host's voice suddenly rang out: "The first round of this minor examination has ended. The second round will begin in five minutes. Seeded contestants, please take your positions."

The chatting crowd dispersed, and Su Yu waved goodbye to the two of them as he prepared to head toward the arena.

As he walked up the stairs, he suddenly sensed a gaze landing on him. Turning his head, he saw Ding Lingyu standing nearby, who gave a slight smile and a nod of acknowledgment.

Su Yu nodded back in response, then stepped out of the stairwell and entered the arena.

As they entered, enthusiastic cheers and applause erupted from the spectator stands, with the cheers reaching their peak when Ding Lingyu appeared.

Five minutes later, the competition resumed, and seeded contestants were called out to fight one by one.

Soon it was Su Yu's turn. His opponent was a non-seeded contestant who looked somewhat familiar but whose name he didn't know; judging by his Qi-refining level, he wasn't even at level fifty.

The reason such a contestant could enter the second round was mostly due to possessing one or two magical artifacts with decent power.

Su Yu didn't even summon the Azure Sparrow; a single sword easily tore through his opponent's defense, knocking him off the stage in three seconds seconds.

Every subsequent round was largely similar. With a single sword stroke, he easily defeated opponents one after the other, quickly advancing to the top eight. The finalists were Su Yu, Ding Lingyu, Lan Yiying, Wei Xia, Xu Lulu, Cao Ze, He Shoucheng, and Gu Zhiqiu, who wielded over sixty golden-winged flying centipedes.

Zhou Xuan, who had reached the top eight last time, had been defeated by Gu Zhiqiu this time around.

Relying on the bonus to insect control granted by his exquisite-grade Qi-refining mental method, Gu Zhiqiu had quietly stepped into the ranks of experts.

Surveying the top-eight contestants, Su Yu estimated he could rank around seventh or eighth.

There was no help for it; everyone who made it into the top eight possessed powerful magical artifacts—at least Tier 6 fine grade. Low-level insects like ink-ball bees, even with the bonus from an exquisite-grade mental method, couldn't withstand them, as a single strike could instantly wipe out a large area.

Although golden-winged flying centipedes had high health and heavy defense, their numbers were still insufficient, and their level wasn't high enough to trigger a qualitative change.

The battles continued. Su Yu first defeated He Shoucheng, then defeated Xu Lulu, smoothly advancing to the semi-finals.

Just like the previous session, the semi-finalists were still the same four people.

Lan Yiying's gaze fell directly on Su Yu, and he smiled, "It seems the rankings this time will be just like last time."

Su Yu smiled slightly and shook his head, "Not necessarily. The rankings might change."

Lan Yiying nodded, "Indeed, this time I will defeat you."

Just as Su Yu was about to respond, the host's voice rang out right on cue: "First match, contestant number two Su Yu versus contestant number three Lan Yiying. Please take the stage!"

Su Yu raised an eyebrow and made a welcoming gesture with his hand, "Well, that's a coincidence."

Lan Yiying laughed heartily, leaped onto the arena, and Su Yu followed closely behind.

Whatever needed to be said had already been said before stepping onto the stage. Upon landing, Lan Yiying directly manifested his bloodline true form, transforming into a half-human, half-dragon, holding a large halberd that he slammed heavily onto the ground as he stared fixedly at his opponent.

Su Yu didn't waste any breath either. Bringing his hands together into sword fingers, he pointed them forward, and two streaks of sword light soared into the sky.

"Two Tier 6 flying swords?"

In the waiting area, Ding Lingyu's eyelids twitched slightly, but he didn't pay it too much mind.

Anyway, as long as a defense wasn't broken, one, two, or ten swords made no difference.

However, his facial expression control shattered when the countdown ended, and the two flying swords instantly crossed the arena, pinning Lan Yiying down so firmly that he had no power to fight back.

Physical constitution was equivalent to absolute defense; one point of constitution could absolutely block a specific amount of damage.

Strength was equivalent to attack power—attack was force, and a flying sword's damage represented the amount of force applied.

Last time, Lan Yiying had relied on his superior strength to casually swat the flying swords aside, storming all the way to Su Yu and beating him up mercilessly, nearly bludgeoning him to death with a flurry of fists.

But this time, contrary to everyone's expectations, Lan Yiying—whose strength had advanced further—tried to approach Su Yu just like before. However, the moment the twin swords intersected with the large halberd, instead of knocking the flying swords away, they fought to a standstill.

The flying swords trembled, but they blocked the blow.

Lan Yiying danced his halberd wildly. The two flying swords wove back and forth, slashing, cleaving, and parrying to block every sweep of the halberd, while still having the spare capacity to strike back every now and then.

Compared to last time when he had barely broken defense, this time each sword strike dealt just over seven hundred damage, opening a bloody groove in his dragon scales with every hit.

Lan Yiying was deeply shocked inwardly. Relying on footwork for evasion and technical parries, each of his movements could only trigger two or three stages of damage before losing momentum, failing to unleash full output with eight stages of damage like one would when farming monsters.

Yet he couldn't help the fact that every one or two strikes, his halberd was suppressed by the Sun-Masking sword, allowing the Azure Sparrow to slip past and slice into him.

His combat technique was good, but it certainly couldn't compare to the realm of Sword Qi Thunder Sound, especially when facing a two-on-one pincer attack from twin swords. He quickly fell into a disadvantage.

"Bloodline Power!"

Lan Yiying decisively activated his innate ability. His entire body of dragon scales glowed, doubling his defense and strength. With a wave of his halberd, he batted away the Sun-Masking and Azure Sparrow, flickered like a teleportation over two hundred meters away, and after a few blinks, arrived right in front of Su Yu, bringing his halberd down in a crushing blow from above.

*Bang!*

The strike stripped away nearly seven thousand points of defense, but the Nine-Orifice Precious Pearl above Su Yu's head didn't budge an inch, its divine light not even flickering.

With a thought, Su Yu poured mana into the magical artifact, rapidly recovering the lost defense.

The mana injection limit for a magical artifact was 1% of the user's own mana per second. Su Yu's current mana was 5,350, so 1% was 53 mana. The mana conversion rate of the Nine-Orifice Precious Pearl was 50, meaning 1 point of mana could restore 50 points of defense. Thus, 53 mana could restore 2,650 points of artifact defense. The defense stripped away by Lan Yiying's strike could be recovered in three seconds.

Lan Yiying's gaze sharpened as he swung his halberd in a flurry of combo attacks, just like in the previous round.

But this time, Su Yu was capable of counterattacking. He decisively activated the spell *Flare* attached to the Sun-Masking sword. The flying sword burned with Solar True Fire, thrusting straight toward the dragon-man's scale-covered neck and looping around it.

The glowing dragon scales were sliced open, and fresh blood gushed out.

Without changing expression, Lan Yiying pressed his fierce attack. Within just a few seconds of exchange, he already knew he was doomed to lose; retreating or advancing led to the same defeat, so he might as well finish in battle.

Unfortunately, Su Yu didn't give him the opportunity. After looping around his neck, the Sun-Masking sword flew back to Su Yu's front, where he reached out and grabbed it. With a twist and flick of his wrist, ripples of sword shadows burst forth, and a series of crisp clangs forcefully drove Lan Yiying back.

Reaching out to summon back the Azure Sparrow, the twin swords launched a joint assault, forcing Lan Yiying to retreat continuously.

Fifteen seconds passed in a flash. The Solar True Fire on the Sun-Masking sword faded, the *Flare* effect ended, and Lan Yiying's innate ability also wore off.

The Lan Yiying who had been stubbornly holding on the previous second was beaten into a steady retreat the next. In no time at all, his body was covered in sword marks and drenched in blood.

"I concede!" Lan Yiying let out a long sigh, forced to accept reality.

"Well fought!"

"You are indeed stronger than me."

Lan Yiying was a good sport. After conceding, he glanced back toward the main platform, suddenly thought of something, and smiled, "With your current output, you can already break Ding Lingyu's defense. I look forward to seeing you unseat him."

"I'll do my best!"

"Then I'll wait and see."

Space shifted, and the two of them were teleported away.