Shi Mu consulted about a few more matters related to the competition. Then, he bid his farewell to Huo Mao. After that, he turned around and advanced towards the rings.

　　Huo Mao sighed as he watched Shi Mu’s figure recede. Then, he turned around and left as well.

　　The competition in the ten rings grew more intense with the passage of time.

　　The new disciples had been exempted for one year from the challenges of others. Moreover, they were free to abstain from participating in this quarterly competition. But, most of them wanted to try their skills in these matches. After all, a newborn calf has no fear of the tiger. In addition, the new disciples had made tremendous progress after joining the Sect. So, they were eager to display their strength.

　　Shi Mu was cautious. He decided that he won’t make a rash challenge. So, he wandered around the rings, and observed the fights.

　　The fact was that Shi Mu only knew the disciples who had entered the Sect with him. However, he knew nothing about the rest of the 300-400 disciples.

　　Shi Mu noticed a tall and sturdy young man fighting with a green-haired youth in the fifth ring. Both youngsters held long swords; they seemed to be Hou Tian primary stage warriors.

　　The tall youth’s sword art was simple yet fierce. His sword set-off a strong sword-wind as he poured his Real Qi into it. The wind produced by his sword started to spread chill in the air; it was even felt by the people who stood dozens of meters away from the ring.

　　However, the youth with green hair didn’t seem to be affected by this attack; his body swayed in the air like a willow leaf. He conveniently dodged the attacks made by the opponent’s swift and fierce sword.

　　Then, he waved his sword to launch his counterattack. His sword art seemed strange; his counterattack was a simple thrust at his opponent. However, its speed was extremely fast. A black trace of shadows would appear in the air every time he attacked. The tall youth was thrown into confusion as he tried to hold against the fast strikes of the opponent’s sword.

　　The bilateral situation changed after a while.

　　The green-haired youth strolled around the ring as he gracefully thrust his sword at his opponent. However, the tall youth seemed to be gasping for breath due to the excessive use of his Real Qi. His exhaustion seemed to have affected his sword’s movement, which had become slow and sluggish.

　　Suddenly, the green-haired youth’s eyes sparked as he waved his sword. Then, his body shot forward towards his opponent – like an arrow leaving the bowstring. Then, he swooped down on his prey with his sharp sword.

　　A trace of a faint golden light shrouded the edge of his sword. Then, it exploded into a dozen of golden sword shadows.

　　“Bang!” a loud sound resounded.

　　The tall youth couldn’t resist this attack even though he responded fast and swung his sword. His efforts went in vain, and a massive invisible force lifted him off the ground. His back bumped against the ground as he was thrown out of the ring; upside-down.

　　The tall youth struggled, but couldn’t get up. Blood started to gush out of his wounds. It wasn’t clear how many times he had been stabbed; he was badly injured. His wounds didn’t seem to be life-threatening. However, his condition would render him bedridden for at least half-a-month.

　　Then, a few black-robed janitor disciples rushed out from the crowd, and took him away for treatment. Meanwhile, the junior disciple – the ring referee – announced the green-haired youth as the winner of the match.

　　The surrounding disciples burst into a roar. Then, they started to discuss the sword art that the green-haired youth had displayed.

　　However, Shi Mu stood silently and focused his eyes on the green-haired youth. The green-haired youth stepped-down from the ring. His eyes sparkled as he turned around and left.

　　*** ***

　　A young man and a girl were fighting in the seventh ring; both were empty-handed.

　　The young man seemed to have practiced a mysterious martial arts; his hands were wrapped in a layer of bright white light. From afar… the youth’s hands seemed to be made up of precious jade.

　　He clasped his hands to make a palm knife, and fluttered it up and down. This quick movement raised a strong gust of wind which dashed toward the girl.

　　The girl wasn’t dressed in the Sect’s uniform; she wore tight-fitted blue-colored clothing. She seemed small and fragile under the fierce attack of her opponent’s fists. However, she was displaying an extremely fierce art; it was called ‘The Fist of the Heavenly Eagle’. She curled-up her fingers in the shape of a hook as she took the youth’s fists.

　　Suddenly, a series of dull-thumping sound reverberated.

　　Their fight grew more and more intense with each passing moment.

　　However, the two of them seemed to have reached a stalemate as they collided and staggered back a few steps; they seemed to be extremely exhausted.

　　A murderous look flashed in the youth’s eyes as he stomped his foot on the ground. This halted the backward motion of his body. Then, he shot forward like a bullet, and clasped his jade-like palms together. Then, he threw a fist in the direction of the blue-attired girl; his fist appeared like a white jade hammer.

　　A pair of arms with bulging muscles was revealed as the youth’s sleeves burst open with the force of the movement.

　　The girl narrowed her eyes and let out a loud shout as she felt the heavy palm wind against her face. Her hands curled-up at the same time, and emitted a faint red light. Then, the red light condensed and left behind ten dark-red fingers – as sharp as thorns.

　　An ear-piercing sound was heard as she waved her hands. Her hands moved forward – like a flood dragon rushing out of its lair – to deal with the youth’s attack, and were followed by after-images.

　　The two figures twisted together, and were thrown back by the fierce collision.

　　The youth’s complexion turned pale as he staggered a few steps backwards. Five blood-dripping holes had appeared on his shoulders; his arms looked soft and droopy. It seemed that he couldn’t make a move anymore.

　　The girl’s complexion also looked pale; she was breathing heavily. However, she didn’t seem to be hurt.

　　The outcome of this match was pretty obvious.

　　The corners of Shi Mu’s eyes twitched as he saw this. He couldn’t help but look at the girl. He started to think about the approach to deal with her attacks.

　　*** ***

　　Two people were involved in an intense fight in the first ring. One of them held a long sword in his hand; the other was bare-handed.

　　Both were moving at an incredibly fast speed. They were wielding their sword and palm by drawing support from their Real Qi. The sword and palm were occasionally setting-off strong winds that were making the air swirl around them.

　　The surrounding people were watching this duel with utmost concentration. A few tongue-clicking sounds could be heard every now-and-then in admiration.

　　Shi Mu was watching the match carefully as well. Suddenly, he shook his head and turned around to leave.

　　The two youngsters seemed to be fighting intensely on the ring. However, their match seemed more like a show. Both looked extremely flashy. Moreover, their fast speed was hampering their potential; it was making their striking power insufficient. So, the outcome of the match couldn’t be determined for a long time as none of them seemed to be striking to defeat his opponent.

　　Shi Mu got a general impression of the average strength of the new primary disciples after he had watched a few matches. Moreover, he had overheard people’s conversation, and had noted the names of the opponents worthy of his attention.

　　His acquaintances like Bai Shi, Xiao Ming, Lan Feng and a few others had successfully streaked across several rings. They had won several matches, and had stood-out among others. This had added to their popularity.

　　Shi Mu had seen Bai Shi’s match. Bai Shi had taken only a couple-of-seconds to crush his opponent. This proved that he had achieved significant progress since he had joined the Holy Spirit Association.

　　Shi Mu sucked in a deep breath. Then, he looked around and concentrated on the nearby ring.

　　A match had just ended in that ring; a junior disciple was busy in making arrangements for the next competition.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes flashed as he quickened his steps.

　　*** ***

　　The ranks of the new disciples continued to change on the black stone monument along with the outcome of the matches. This stone monument wasn’t an ordinary stone; the names were automatically upgrading and dropping from time to time. It was a mystical sight.

　　Nearly half-of-the-day was over. Many strong disciples had outshone the others in this duration.

　　Bai Shi, Ou Yang Ming, Lan Feng… these were a few of the many names that had climbed to the top of the new disciples’ ranking.

　　Some old disciples gathered near the black monument, and got immersed in a heated conversation.

　　All of them were old primary disciples. Several old disciples had come to watch the new disciples’ matches. After all, they were supposed to be challenged by these disciples on the next day.

　　“I’ve discovered a few promising guys amongst the new disciples. The best of them is a person named Bai Shi; he’s really good. I watched some of his matches. He practices a fire art called the Yang Gong Art. He seems to have a profound control over his art,” a black-robed youth looked at the stone monument as he said.