A mirror grinder? No, call me the master polisher of magical tools.

Chapter 214 Outstanding Disciples of the Nightfall River Stronghold

The characters kept jumping around, and the number of first-grade demon beasts stopped at one hundred and then stopped rising, while the number of second-grade demon beasts began to increase.

Everyone watched with trepidation, asking themselves: how powerful must a team of four have been to kill a hundred first-grade demonic beasts? He was rightfully in first place.

At this moment, the great cultivator above seemed to be in a good mood and said, "Sit down and rest, and adjust your state."

He didn't seem to mean that "the punishment for the teams behind is standing for a long time and expending a lot of energy."

As soon as the words were spoken, the second team immediately took out a bunch of pills and magic weapons, fully arming themselves, and stared intently at the large list above.

The people in the back of the line were naturally the most relaxed, as they were still quite far behind.

Zhong Ming then remembered a question and quietly asked Xuan Jing behind him, "I remember that the first place gets into the military academy, right?"

"I don't know, wasn't it the reform announcement you saw?"

"But the announcement didn't specify what the reward would be," Zhong Ming said helplessly.

At this moment, one of the monks in front spoke.

"Which base are you from? Don't you even know that?"

"I don't know, Ye Lanjiang didn't say. Hey, brother, which base are you from?"

"Hmph, young master of Yelanjiang, huh? I'm from Nanzhen County," the man said, sitting upright without turning his head. Zhong Ming could only watch his back. "Are all the people at your base this sloppy? Didn't they tell you that the top twenty teams would enter the third trial and only then would you be eligible to know the rewards? If you don't make it into the top twenty, you're nothing."

Zhong Ming felt very uncomfortable listening to this, as if you were some kind of genius.

"Nanzhen County, you are our fellow sufferers."

The man was taken aback. "Who said we're brothers in misfortune? This is a military stronghold."

"Oh right, you're second to last, and I'm last."

Zhong Ming's words infuriated the other party, who stammered a long, rambling explanation: his stomach wasn't feeling well, which was why he was running so slowly... the team had encountered some unexpected trouble... the other teams in Nanzhen County were much stronger than him...

By the end, Zhong Ming was almost at his breaking point, and he casually said, "I'm at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Do you really think I made it to the end based on my strength?"

One sentence nearly shattered the other person's Dao heart; their body trembled uncontrollably, as if they were enduring...

Don't cry out loud.

Wow~~ You guys are so mean, so mean!

They bullied me, a weak, pitiful, and helpless cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

After teasing the young cultivator in front of him, Zhong Ming originally intended to observe and see if he could figure out the approximate distribution of cultivators from different places. Suddenly, a figure covered in blood flew out from the other side of the "cliff" and crashed heavily to the ground, with blood flowing everywhere. The injuries looked horrifying.

Even so, the man struggled to turn around, supporting himself with one hand on the ground, his arm bones clearly visible, yet he still wanted to rush back to support the battle.

The burly man sitting there casually said, "If you're not good enough, you have to accept it and go back to get yourself bandaged up."

After that person came out, the four-man squad lost a key member, and could no longer hold on as well as before. Before long, the maid Huang Qi was also blasted out, followed by another guard.

Only then did everyone realize that the number of second-grade demonic beasts on the list had also stopped at fifty.

After a long time, just when everyone thought that Young Master Yan was being kicked by a bunch of second-grade demon beasts and was struggling to hold on, a golden light flashed on the list.

"Number of Rank 3 demonic beasts killed: 1."

When this number was revealed, everyone gasped in shock. Was this even human? After fighting more than a hundred demonic beasts, he even managed to kill a Foundation Establishment stage demonic beast, a realm higher than himself?

The next moment, Young Master Yan staggered out from the cliff. Although his clothes were torn and he was covered in wounds, it did not stop him from being in high spirits.

Let me tell you a secret: I'm now at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, and I just killed a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast.

As far as he knew, he was truly the number one among his peers, at least within the Yelanjiang stronghold.

The great monk, draped in a bearskin, sat cross-legged on the spot, with a large plate of meat and two wine bowls in front of him.

He smacked his lips, looked at Yan Tingqian, and was about to hand him a wine bowl when he stopped when his hand touched the rim. He then circled the bowl around its edge and began toying with it.

He said calmly, "You still have energy to spare, don't you plan to fight another battle?"

"Reporting to senior, I have used all my skills. If we continue to fight, I fear I will die on the spot."

"Hmph," the burly man sneered twice, saying disdainfully, "You're not even afraid to fight to the death in a fake trial?"

Young Master Yan replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Senior, all exercises should focus on actual combat. Actions that lead to certain death would only needlessly weaken the dynasty's strength and would be a losing proposition. Such actions are not advisable."

"Okay, got it." The burly man silently took out a booklet and wrote down on the side of Yan Tingqian's name that he had failed the Shield Guard Battalion's assessment.

Those who came later were eager to try. They bit the pills in their mouths, swallowed them, and stood up arrogantly. Young Master Yan, who had come down from the boulder, walked past them face to face, looking at Yan Tingqian with a sneer, his lips slightly moving.

Young Master Yan knew he meant, 'You good-for-nothings from Yelan River, look at the might of your Huling County grandfather!'

Competition for the various outposts is fierce, and the higher-ups are watching closely.

New recruits are the future of a place.

The competition among the top twenty teams is fierce, with each stronghold having a significant share. The advantage of the Yelanjiang stronghold lies in its numerous branch strongholds distributed along most of the riverbanks of the Yangtze River, and its large number of recruits. However, its disadvantages are also obvious: a severe lack of combat experience.

However, this time, thanks to the beast tide from the previous secret realm trial, these young men now have a lot of murderous intent on their faces.

At this crucial point in the formation, the chaotic scene after the pagoda "went mad" had been mostly cleaned up. An old man with a sage-like demeanor was gently waving his fan and chatting with the old woman next door.

"Look, this time, the fine young men of Yelanjiang have come up and killed a third-grade demon beast, showing the prowess of my younger days."

The old man was naturally a new recruit who won the championship that year, and was very popular for a time.

The old woman wasn't in a hurry. She brushed away the fan that the old man was waving at her with one hand and retorted, "Don't be so sure of yourself. Things are different now than they used to be. In this simulated battle, those wild brats from the southern counties might just try to fight to the death and lose one or two of them."

Just then, a commotion broke out outside.

On the merit list, the second team to go up also killed a third-grade demon beast, and all three members were still alive!

Everyone, eager for a good show, was hoping for a "miracle."