As Xiao Shan cultivated in the room, a short middle-aged man came. "Bao Tie, ancestor Chen Fan wants to see you," he said. Bao Tie furrowed his brow. The middle-aged man saw this and took out a jade slip; it had the word "Command" on it.
This meant that Bao Tie was forcibly summoned by the elder. He could not reject since a Command slip held very high authority in the sect and was only used for important matters, so Bao Tie had to follow the man.
After he left, Xiao Shan got called again. As he walked out of the room, he noticed that Bao Tie was absent. This made him feel a bit uneasy. The uneasiness did not come from not having Bao Tie at his side, but rather a feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Still, he walked back to the arena. As he went through the door, he could see who his adversary was going to be. This time he saw an ordinary young man. Without the clothes he was wearing, one would easily confuse this young man for a mortal or a servant in the sect.
Xiao Shan narrowed his eyes. He could feel the qi aura around him, but it was faint. This made him cautious. His adversary seemed to be around the first level of Qi Condensation, weaker than the scrawny young man he fought previously. However, to have made it to the second round meant that this person was not simple.
His opponent smiled at him as the elder signaled the start of the combat round.
The young man dashed out at Xiao Shan, his body exuding spiritual energy as he burned it to gain speed and strength.
He was able to close in quickly on Xiao Shan and throw a punch. However, to Xiao Shan, this punch seemed slow. He had gotten accustomed to dealing with Bao Tie's relentless flying dagger attacks; this punch could not compare.
Xiao Shan evaded to the side. However, the young man continued with an onslaught of punches. His motion seemed very refined, like a mortal martial artist.
Although his opponent lacked speed, his technique was strong and managed to land a few hits on Xiao Shan.
Xiao Shan moved to block, but he also found that the punches lacked power. Compared with the kicks of his previous opponent, these punches were lacking.
However, Xiao Shan did not get complacent. Instead, he waited for an opening while keeping a defensive posture.
During this time, a heated conversation was going on in the balcony. "Brother Zhang, it seems like your family disciple will have a hard time," said one elder. The Zhang family elder frowned. "If he loses, that is his luck. I think he has a lot of potential, so there is no harm in trying next year." But then another elder replied, "Luck? Potential? Ah! The last match was clearly arranged. I would like to see if this one is also fixed." The Zhang elder looked back with dissatisfaction. "I wonder what Brother Meng means." The conversation continued like this.
Meanwhile, Xiao Shan felt like he had grasped his opponent's patterns. He took a chance after blocking a hit. He parried and struck his opponent with a knee to the chest.
This produced a crunching sound as it broke his opponent's ribs. His opponent was sent several feet back and eventually fell to his knees in pain.
The poor young man spat a mouthful of blood before passing out on the floor. Then a voice quickly called out the victory for Xiao Shan.
Xiao Shan stood speechless. He was not sure if this had actually happened. It felt a little too easy. However, at the elder's call, he just cupped his hands and then walked back to his room.
On the way back, he thought about the gap between cultivation levels. He understood just how much more powerful he was than the disciple on the first level. However, this made him even more uneasy as he could imagine the gap between him and somebody at a higher level.
He finally arrived at the door for his assigned room. Bao Tie was nowhere to be found. Xiao Shan had a bad feeling. He quickly opened the door and tried to get in, but suddenly his body stopped as a voice called him out.
"Little friend, this old man saw your performance and thought it was pretty good. Come and greet me, and I may give you some pointers!" said the voice. Xiao Shan felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
As he looked back, he recognized the owner of the voice. This was the man at the entrance of the sect. This was Chen Yun!
Xiao Shan gritted his teeth. It took some effort to look at this person. He felt he was being suppressed by the pressure of this person's aura.
Sweat rolled from his forehead. He knew this person likely held ill intentions. He cupped his hands. "Junior Xiao Shan greets senior. This humble junior was just lucky in previous combat..."
"Lucky?" The man's voice caused Xiao Shan to freeze. "You mean my family's Chen Yi lost by luck?" the man said in a flat tone as he narrowed his eyes.
Xiao Shan felt an immense pressure, like a mountain was pressing over him. "No! I just mean..." He struggled to get words out.
The man looked at him with a serious expression. This made Xiao Shan feel that saying the wrong words might get him killed.
"I guess breaking him down is fine too. I wanted to bring him into the fold, but breaking him also works. There is no downside for me," thought the man as he focused harder on Xiao Shan.
"Enough!" called a familiar voice. This broke the pressure, making the man frown and look back.
In the hall, Bao Tie walked toward the man and Xiao Shan with a cold expression.
The man looked back at Bao Tie. He furrowed his brows. He was not expecting Bao Tie to arrive at all, but he still had ways to deal with the situation.
"Look who is here," the man said with a derisive tone.
"I see you are having fun with this master charade," he said as he looked back to Xiao Shan. "However, you are just a weakling." The man walked toward Bao Tie, exuding an imposing aura, trying to crush Bao Tie.
Before he could get closer than five feet, the man stopped, seemingly losing his momentum. He then spat a mouthful of blood as his aura diminished.
He looked at Bao Tie with hatred. "What are you doing?!" he screamed, trying to call the attention of others in the vicinity.
"Is this what you are coming for? To fake and spit blood on my clothes?" "Trying to cause an incident?" said Bao Tie.
The man fumed and was about to say something when he saw his family ancestor behind Bao Tie. His pupils shrank. He felt something was not right.
The ancestor then called out, "Let's go, Yu'er." The man felt even more confused. The ancestor turned and started to walk away. The man hesitatingly followed.
On his way, he tried to shove Bao Tie with his shoulder. However, he felt like he hit a mountain. Bao Tie did not give in. The man looked at Bao Tie and noticed something strange. As he looked into Bao Tie's eyes, his scalp exploded with a sensation like imminent death. What he saw in those eyes, he couldn't explain. He shivered and lowered his head as he walked quickly behind his ancestor.
As the Chen family ancestor walked away, the man tried to ask what happened. The original plan was to have the ancestor summon Bao Tie to allow Chen Yun to act. However, Bao Tie returned, and even the ancestor intervened.
The ancestor just walked without speaking. This made Chen Yun anxious.
Back at the examination pagoda, Bao Tie looked at Xiao Shan. "Seems like I arrived on time," he said while examining Xiao Shan closely. "You made it to the peak of the second level. Be careful," he said as he walked beside the door.
"Breaking through can happen involuntarily. If you make a breakthrough right now, you may have an advantage, but it can also become a disadvantage as your cultivation will not be stable."
As he spoke, his tone turned serious. "However, be careful while battling. It is said that battle breakthroughs can be very dangerous. It may leave you exposed."
"However, I have also heard of people gaining enlightenment while breaking through in battle. Those who do tend to become very powerful in the future."
Bao Tie looked at Xiao Shan. His tone sounded like a warning but also contained a hint of expectation, like he was suggesting Xiao Shan give it a try.