He was jumping up and down as he spoke, as if he were performing a warm-up routine.
However, Tang Wulin could sense that the energy fluctuations he was releasing had undergone a change.
In contrast with the nondescript energy fluctuations from before, Tang Wulin felt as if he had become an ignited bomb. His soul power was escalating at an alarming rate, and it wasn"t just an instantaneous boost. Instead, it was a continuous rapid rise. Even the s.p.a.ce around him was beginning to buzz due to the elevation in his soul power.
What kind of ability was this?
"Begin!"
The electronic voice rang out once again, and Lan Fuozi immediately sprang into action. As opposed to soul rings, a faint blue ring of light appeared around his body. The ring of light was riddled with peculiar runes, and his aura suddenly became extremely placid, as if he were a cloud drifting through the air.
He wasn"t particularly fast, but he seemed to be able to predict the movements of his a.s.sailants, contorting his body to evade their attacks before reaching the other side in the blink of an eye.
With Tang Wulin"s immense spiritual power, he could sense that Lan Fuozi had only been struck by three projections at most, which was certainly a far better result than the previous partic.i.p.ant.
However, Lan Fuozi was still quite frustrated as he stomped a foot onto the ground. "This is way too hard!"
Instead of immediately departing, he stood on the other side and appraised Tang Wulin with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.
He had been struck by three projections, giving him a final score of nine, and in his mind, there was no way that Tang Wulin would be able to do better than him. Even though speed wasn"t his forte, he was very confident in his own evasive skills. Tang Wulin had proclaimed that he had received a perfect score for the first examination, but he hadn"t shown Lan Fuozi his electronic chip; this second examination would most likely give Lan Fuozi a good indication of whether he was telling the truth.
As a potential rival for this event, he really wanted to see how Tang Wulin was going to handle this examination.
Tang Wulin made his way to the entrance, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he cast his gaze toward Lan Fuozi.
"Begin!"
The electronic voice rang out.
Immediately thereafter, a layer of bluish-purple lightning suddenly appeared over Tang Wulin"s body, following which he began to hurtle through the pa.s.sageway at an incredible speed.
Before Lan Fuozi had a chance to react, Tang Wulin had already appeared by his side.
However, the keys to success in this examination lay in one"s agility and ability to predict enemy attacks; a faster speed couldn"t diminish the effects of the projections" attacks.
However, Lan Fuozi"s eyes had completely widened with shock and he could see that all of the projections around Tang Wulin had warped in his wake. Their attacks were clearly about to strike him, but they were slowed down by this warping effect, thereby allowing Tang Wulin to charge right through them.
He immediately made a grab for Tang Wulin"s wrist, and Tang Wulin allowed him to do so.
The number being displayed on the electronic chip was 10!
"That"s cheating!" Lan Fuozi exclaimed in an indignant manner.
Tang Wulin glanced at him, and asked, "How did I cheat?"
"You..." Lan Fuozi suddenly realized that he had no idea how Tang Wulin had cheated. It was clear that the lightning he had released had disrupted the soul tool, but that was a part of his abilities, and there was no rule prohibiting this.
His lips twitched slightly as he gave Tang Wulin a thumbs-up, then departed from the soul tool.
Tang Wulin naturally followed along behind him. Following his departure, tragedy befell the partic.i.p.ant behind him. He had witnessed the blitzkrieg tactics that Tang Wulin had employed, and he tried to emulate him.
As a result, he became the only one to be struck by all of the projections during this examination!
Scoring zero in a single examination would result in an instantaneous elimination, and through this painful ordeal, he learned that some things shouldn"t be emulated!
"You"re ahead of me by one point for now, but I"m going to catch up to you no matter what this third examination is! Do you believe me?" Lan Fuozi said with a compet.i.tive gleam in his eyes.
"I believe you," Tang Wulin replied with a smile.
Lan Fuozi felt as if he had punched a bag of cotton. He had prepared a long rambling speech to proclaim his own greatness, but Tang Wulin"s nonchalant response left him feeling even more frustrated.
Thus, they arrived at the third examination.
The soul tool there resembled a stone plaque. Of course, it was constructed from an alloy rather than actual stone.
"Boom!" The partic.i.p.ant up ahead was attacking one side of the soul tool. Immediately thereafter, a beam of light sprang up on top of the soul tool, and the final position where it lingered was the final result of the examination.
The design of the soul tool was very simplistic with 10 grids, which clearly corresponded with the 10 available points.
"A strength examination?" Lan Fuozi faltered slightly upon seeing this, while a smile appeared on Tang Wulin"s face.
Lan Fuozi turned to look at Tang Wulin to find that he was quite tall and broad, but wasn"t all that muscular, and that was quite a relief.
The usage of soul power wasn"t permitted during this examination as it was a test of pure strength.
"Why do Soul Masters like us have to undergo a strength examination? Who even battles using pure strength anymore?" Lan Fuozi grumbled in a displeased manner, and it was clear that this wasn"t his forte.
Tang Wulin asked, "Do you still think you"ll be able to catch up now?"
Lan Fuozi replied, "Why not? Are you very strong?"
"I"m decent," Tang Wulin replied in a modest manner.
Lan Fuozi said, "Then we"ll see. I"m actually very strong as well; back when I was a kid, I..."
All of a sudden, his voice drew to an abrupt halt, and a hint of wariness flashed through his eyes.
Tang Wulin didn"t pry any further and merely looked on as Lan Fuozi stepped onto the examination platform.
A beam of light immediately shone down upon him; this was to ensure he didn"t use any soul power during the examination.
Judging from the results received by the partic.i.p.ants up ahead, it seemed that strength was no one"s forte. After all, once Soul Masters cultivated to a certain level, who would focus on honing their strength? One"s strength would automatically improve through the enhancements in one"s physical const.i.tution that resulted from an increase in cultivation rank and soul power. As such, only those with exceptional talent in that area would focus on strength.
Lan Fuozi stood in front of the soul tool with a look of intense focus on his face.
After the electronic voice announced for him to begin, he took a deep breath, and his rather thin body suddenly seemed to have become taller and broader. All of a sudden, he performed a semi-pirouette, then launched his right fist forward, creating a sonic boom as he did so.
"Boom!"
Lan Fuozi immediately turned around after throwing that punch just in time to see the beam of light stop at the seventh grid.
The best result thus far was only a six, so seven was quite an outstanding score.
He turned to Tang Wulin with a smile, then pointed at the seventh grid before making his way down from the platform.
Tang Wulin strode onto the platform in a calm manner. It had been a very, very long time since he had undergone a strength examination, so even he didn"t know how strong he currently was.
All he knew was that the golden trident weighed around 54,000 kilograms, and he was still able to just barely wield it.
"Begin!"
"Bam!"
Tang Wulin"s setup was definitely the most simplistic among all of the partic.i.p.ants. There was no preparatory routine; he had thrown a simple straight punch as soon as the announcement was made by the electronic voice.
The impact wasn"t very loud, but the entire soul tool had jumped slightly as a result of his punch. The beam of light instantly shot upward, reaching the top in the blink of an eye before a clear clang rang out. All of the partic.i.p.ants behind him were completely stunned.
The meter for this soul tool didn"t actually conclude at the 10th grid. Instead, the 10 grid was situated at around two-thirds the overall height of the device. The meter was only expanded to include the top portion of the device for strength examinations where the usage of soul power was permitted, and the use of soul power was not permitted on this occasion, so it had been thought that 10 grids were already enough.
However, Tang Wulin"s punch had sent the beam of light flying up to the very top, as evidenced by that loud clang.
Was this guy really a human?
All of the workers were looking on in a flabbergasted manner, while Tang Wulin merely looked down at his electronic chip to find the number "10" had been displayed on the screen.