Chapter 1

At dawn, Yang Kai woke up. After a simple wash, he took the broom beside the corner and walked out of the small hut where he lived alone.

Standing at the door, he stretched his body, took a look at the fish-belly white emerging on the horizon, closed his eyes and concentrated to enjoy a moment of tranquility. Then he opened his eyes, waving the broom in his hand and buried his head in cleaning the dust and fallen leaves on the ground.

Wearing a green shirt, simple and clean, the mature color of the clothes unexpectedly set off the young man a few years older. Yang Kai’s back was as straight as a javelin. Even when doing the most menial work, the expression on his face was still meticulous. His movements were very steady. The hands holding the broom didn’t use much force, and his body didn’t even swing much. Just by the rotation of his wrists, the broom was like an extension of his arm, coming and going freely. As he moved, the accumulated dust and debris on the ground miraculously moved along, as if they had grown two legs out of nowhere.

Yang Kai was a trial disciple of Lingxiao Pavilion. He started to cultivate three years ago when he entered the sect, but until now he had only cultivated to the third level of the Body Tempering Realm. His senior brothers who entered the sect with him had long surpassed this stage and had each obtained opportunities to worship under the high-ranking people in the sect and achieved prosperity, while he could only sigh helplessly.

Three years to reach the third level of Body Tempering, such qualifications can no longer be described as ordinary. It can simply be said to be extremely mediocre.

There is no other way. Yang Kai can only take on a job of sweeping the floor in the sect, maintaining his livelihood while bitterly cultivating.

The Lingxiao Pavilion is a rather special sect. This Particularity is reflected in the cruel competition among the disciples. In this sect, those with ability rise to the top, and those without ability are eliminated. The law of the jungle is vividly demonstrated in the Lingxiao Pavilion.

Perhaps in other sects, there is still some friendship and brotherhood among the same sect disciples, but in the Lingxiao Pavilion, there is none! To climb up, one can only step on the shoulders of those so-called senior and junior brothers and walk through their blood. Only in this way does one have the qualification.

The Lingxiao Pavilion has strict regulations for its disciples, and it is famous throughout the entire Great Han Dynasty. Although it cannot be regarded as a super-large sect the cruelty of the disciples’ struggles is second to none! precisely because of this, all the disciples are fierce in martial arts, and few people dare to provoke them when they travel the rivers and lakes.

Lingxiao Pavilion has a rule that for disciples under the age of fourteen, no matter who they are, within three years from the time of entry is considered the probationary period. During these three years, food, accommodation, and travel are all taken care of by the Sect , and disciples only need to focus on cultivation. If they can break through the Body Tempering Stage within three years, they will be eligible to become disciples under the masters among the Sect ‘s experts and let these experts teach them to cultivate. Of course, they can also choose not to learn and cultivate on their own, but in the path of cultivation having a good teacher to guide and groping on one’s own are completely different. To a certain extent, this rule of Lingxiao Pavilion is rather free.

And those who haven’t broken through the Body Tempering Stage within three years either leave the Sect or are demoted to probationary disciples.

Probationary disciples, which is Yang Kai’s current identity! Also the Shame of Lingxiao Pavilion!

Unlike ordinary disciples, the living environment of probationary disciples is even harsher. Because once they reach this point, they have to take care of all aspects of food, clothing, housing, and transportation by themselves, and the Sect will no longer waste any cultivation resources on them. And once they are demoted to probationary disciples, basically they will never have a chance to rise to the top in this life, unless their strength increases greatly in a short period of time and the Sect feels that they have the capital that can be invested.

There are three thousand disciples in the entire Lingxiao Pavilion, and how many probationary disciples are there？ Just a few！ Yang Kai is fortunate to be one of them！

It’s almost as difficult as ascending to the sky for a trial disciple to survive in Lingxiao Pavilion. For example the small hut where Yang Kai lives now was built by himself, one log at a time. There are several holes in the roof of the small hut and he doesn’t have time to take care of them. Once it rains, the water in the house is difficult to drain. His clothes were bought by himself, the food he eats was obtained by himself, and he is responsible for everything.

Even the location of the small hut is in the most remote and unnoticed place in Lingxiao Pavilion.

With such a bad treatment it is difficult for ordinary people to endure. This is also the reason why the number of trial disciples in Lingxiao Pavilion is so small. Basically, the disciples who have not broken through the Body Tempering Realm after the trial period will choose to leave Lingxiao Pavilion. But Yang Kai stayed.

He has already been kicked out once, how could he do the same this time？

After being demoted to a trial disciple a few months ago, Yang Kai took on a job of sweeping the floor in the sect to maintain his livelihood.

It can be said that Yang Kai is now both a trial disciple of Lingxiao Pavilion and a sweeper of Lingxiao Pavilion. But this job of sweeping the floor sometimes cannot maintain Yang Kai’s food and clothing. He is often hungry one meal and full the next, and no one cares about his cold. His life is miserable. Even so, Yang Kai has never given up. In life, in just a few decades, since he has chosen this path, he must keep going. Giving up halfway is not what a man should do.

Yang Kai has a tenacious nature, a tenacious nature that will not turn back until he hits the south wall！

The sky gradually brightened. Yang Kai swept the floor for a while, and wherever he passed was clean, and all the miscellaneous dust was swept away.

Although sweeping the floor doesn’t consume much strength, but having not eaten or drunk early in the morning and having moved for so long, Yang Kai was also sweating profusely. This has nothing to do with strength, but completely because of his poor constitution.

Eating hungry for two meals out of three, no matter who is in Yang Kai’s living environment, their constitution will not be good.

Gradually, some disciples of Lingxiao Pavilion gathered around. These disciples all got up early in the morning. Instead of practicing, they gathered around Yang Kai. Many people looked at Yang Kai with great interest, and even more people’s eyes were very greedy, as if Yang Kai was now a naked big beauty, a fragrant and attractive hot potato.

And among these disciples of Lingxiao Pavilion who gathered around Yang Kai, there was also a tense and competitive atmosphere spreading. They vigilantly looked at the senior and junior brothers around them, and their expressions were not kind.

Someone in the crowd showed a look of unbearable and said softly： “So many people, it’s a bit excessive.”

Immediately, someone replied： “If you think there are too many people, you can also leave. No one is asking you to stay.”

One sentence made that person blush and remain silent. Everyone knew why they were gathered here and why they were staring at Yang Kai. Now they were just waiting for that moment to come. The time limit was about to expire. Wouldn’t it be a pity to leave now? If one could take the lead, there would be another gain today.

Yang Kai naturally knew the movement around him, but his expression had never changed. He had to experience such a scene every five days, six times a month. There was really nothing to make a fuss about. Moreover, looking at the number of people in front of him, it seemed a little less. It should be because not everyone had arrived yet.

So he had been sweeping the floor, ignoring the people around him, sweeping all the way as he walked.

As time passed, more and more people gathered around Yang Kai. Roughly estimated, there were at least thirty or forty people.

Yang Kai suddenly stopped and just sat in the middle of the road, slowly taking a breath to restore the physical strength he had consumed early in the morning.

Seeing this movement, all the people gathered around Yang Kai immediately scattered and surrounded him in a circle. The tense and competitive atmosphere suddenly rose to a new level, as if even the air no longer flowed.

No one liked each other, but they all looked at Yang Kai with great anticipation.

If an outsider who didn’t know the truth saw this scene, they would probably think that the person surrounded by the crowd was a peerless master. Otherwise, why would so many people be dispatched to deal with him？ In fact, Yang Kai was just a Trial Disciple at the third level of the Body Tempering Realm. Any one of the people present was stronger than Yang Kai.

“Yang Kai, stop wasting your thoughts. Later, just obediently let us beat you down and save everyone’s time, right？” Someone looked at Yang Kai like this and couldn’t help but feel a little disdainful.

What was the point of a mere third-level Body Tempering Realm cultivator restoring his strength？ Anyway, he was going to lose. It would be better to be straightforward. Why bother prolonging the agony like this？

“That’s right. Yang Kai, you should also consider the feelings of your senior brothers. We are different from you. After this battle, we still have to go and cultivate.”

What was said made it seem like Yang Kai should be quickly defeated by them, and now Yang Kai’s restoration of physical strength seemed like disrespect to them.

Yang Kai turned a deaf ear and was like an old monk in meditation.

Time continued to pass. Suddenly, a long and empty bell rang. It was the morning bell of the Lingxiao Pavilion. The sound of the bell entered the ears of everyone, and the disciples gathered around Yang Kai all perked up.

The bell rang nine times, and the sun rose in the east. It was another new day！

The breathing of the crowd suddenly subsided, and they eagerly stared at Yang Kai who was surrounded in the middle. Yang Kai slowly got up, picked up the broom in his hand, and lightly swept a glance at the circle of people around him.

“Choose me, Senior Brother Yang！” Someone shouted loudly, “I will be very gentle, and I promise it won’t hurt you！”

“Bullshit！ Choose me, I will give you a quick end, one punch will be over, and I will never waste everyone’s time.”

“Choose me…”

The field was in a hubbub, just like the vegetable vendors in the market promoting the vegetables in their fields, and competing to see who was fresher.

“Yang Kai, don’t break the rules you set yourself！” Someone reminded loudly.

Yang Kai chuckled, and casually threw the broom in his hand into the air. Dozens of pairs of eyes looked up together, full of anticipation waiting for the moment when the broom landed, and prayed in their hearts： “Choose me, choose me！”

Time seemed to slow down. The broom spun a few times in mid-air, then fell, bounced on the ground, and froze motionless.

The front of the broom pointed to a burly boy in the crowd.

A sound of regret rang out, full of resentment and unwillingness. Instead, the burly boy laughed heartily and walked out of the crowd, cupped his fists and smiled at the crowd: “Fellow senior brothers, I have won this battle today. I hope you don’t blame me.”

“Fuck, what a stroke of luck！” Someone was extremely jealous.

“Why can’t it be me? I come here every five days and have been here for a full month. Are you doing it on purpose, Yang Kai?”

“Don’t mention it. I’ve been here for three months and haven’t been chosen even once！”

“Senior brother, you’re worse off than me.”

“Not bad, not bad. Just watch the show.” The two senior brothers looked at each other and smiled understandingly.

In the field, the others had already dispersed, leaving only Yang Kai and the burly young man looking at each other.

“Trial disciple Yang Kai, Body Tempering Layer 3！” Yang Kai looked at the other party and said.

“Ordinary disciple Zhou Dingjun, Body Tempering Layer 5!” The burly teenager reported his own identity.

The disciples of Lingxiao Pavilion were also divided into levels. From bottom to top, they were trial disciples, ordinary disciples, personal disciples, elite disciples, and core disciples. Zhou Dingjun said he was an ordinary disciple, which meant he hadn’t yet been accepted as a disciple by a master in the sect and hadn’t received good guidance. If he broke through the Body Tempering Stage and was accepted as a disciple by a master in the sect, he would be a higher-level personal disciple. The elite disciples at a higher level were all outstanding and were selected from the personal disciples.

And the core disciples were the hope of the next generation of Lingxiao Pavilion, and the sect cultivated these people as future successors.

The strict disciple ranking system seems inhumane, but it can well stimulate the bloodthirst and competitive consciousness of young people, which is also the foundation of the cruel system of Lingxiao Pavilion.

And the fundamental reason for the situation where Yang Kai is scrambled for by countless people is another rule of Lingxiao Pavilion, the rule of challenge.

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