Chapter 9 Outer Disciple

  All that could be heard was a "crack" sound, and everyone's eyes fell on Zhang Chong's hand, which had bent at an odd angle. On the bluestone, however, there wasn't even a slight crack. Clearly, it wasn't the bluestone that had cracked open, but rather Zhang Chong's hand that had broken off.

  Zhang Chong stood up with a start, his head sweating profusely. He stared at the green stone in front of him, which was shaking but not cracking. He steeled himself, made a palm shape with his left hand, and chopped down heavily once again.

  "Ahhh!" A loud, mournful cry accompanied the sound of "Ka Cha" ringing out once more, announcing that Zhang Chong's two hands were completely crippled. On the surface of the bluestone, only a faint crack appeared.

  "Disqualified!" shouted the person in charge of selecting beside "～", indicating that Zhang Chong did not pass, and also indicating that the next candidate came forward.

  "Where's the foul? Isn't this a split?" Zhang Chong heard the result and didn't care about the sweat dripping down his forehead, but instead rushed forward to argue.

  That person looked at Zhang's disheveled appearance and said with a hint of disdain,

  "You used two moves, which is naturally against the rules. And that crack of yours, can it be considered a real opening?" As he said this, he also reached out to pat Zhang Chong's arm, and instantly made him cry out in pain with tears streaming down his face.

  "Hanniko," at this time, Tu Bo spoke up from above, he asked Hanniko,

  "How many special quotas are there this year?"

  The man with the heavy name was originally called Hanniko. He listened to Tu Bo's question and replied respectfully,

  "Reporting to Lord Batu, this year's special quota has three places, but surely, milord wouldn't want to use one of them for this person, would you?"

  "When will it be your turn to take care of my affairs?" Tu Bo listened to Hanniko's words, his eyes widened, and although he spoke very softly, it made Hanniko shiver instantly, and he quickly said:

  "I don't dare, I don't dare~~~~"

  At this time, Tu Bo finally looked at Zhang Chong and said:

  "You're not very capable, but you're ruthless enough. I'll give you a spot, just don't disappoint me and get kicked out in three months."

  Zhang Chongyi heard that the adult named Tu Ba allowed him to pass, and he burst out laughing, saying repeatedly.

  "I will definitely live up to Master Tuo's expectations and not disappoint him."

  By dusk, the selection was thoroughly over. This time, Tianmen had summoned a total of 5,000 outer disciples, and Zhang Chong finally managed to mix in among these 5,000 people.

  Today is considered a selection, and three days later, it will be the time for formal entry. At this point, Zhang Chong finally understood the meaning of the three months mentioned by Tu Ba earlier.

  Originally, Tianmen would conduct an assessment of its members every three months to maintain its overall strength. The weakest twenty percent would be eliminated by ten percent, making Zhang Chong's chances of being eliminated extremely high.

  When he heard the news, Zhang Zhong felt as if he had been struck by five thunderbolts. His original idea of becoming a disciple for one day and having his meals managed for life was just an illusion, a beautiful mirage that was impossible to achieve.

  With a heart and body that had been wounded through and through, Zhang returned to his own grass hut.

  Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night, Zhang Chong's hands are in unbearable pain and he can't fall asleep at all. You see, his body has the excellent tradition of self-healing, but that only works after he falls asleep.

  And with both hands severed, he didn't even have the ability to knock himself unconscious. As the pain invaded him like a tidal wave, he was so distraught that he wanted to bang his head against the wall to knock himself out. But in the thatched hut, where could he find a place to knock himself out?

  Outside the door, there were indeed trees, but Zhang Chong didn't dare to do something stupid like running out and crashing into a tree. Not to mention anything else, just lying outside for one night was equivalent to giving the wild beasts in the forest an extra meal.

  Then Zhang Chong lay in bed, tossing and turning, with nasal mucus, tears, saliva and sweat flowing down non-stop, even soaking his whole body.

  At this moment, the Su Meng Xin Jing in his arms was soaked by his sweat and underwent a strange transformation. Suddenly, it flew directly into Zhang Chong's body and lay quietly in his dantian, emitting a faint golden light.

  Zhang Chong finally collapsed from exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep at that moment.

  He returned again to that familiar dream of his, the beautiful face of the white-robed fairy giving his heart a warm feeling once more.

  But the loneliness and tears that followed seemed to shatter his heart into pieces.

  This sad feeling was what Zhang Chong disliked the most. But after he got injured, he always had to go through this ordeal.

  Just as he thought the dream was about to end, suddenly, the scene underwent a drastic change, and he seemed to be in a black room, surrounded by darkness once again.

  This scene suddenly made him curse loudly in his heart

  "Is it just a healing process? Why isn't one time enough, is there a sequel?"

  However, this seemed to be his dream, but it was not under his control at all. Instead, it continued to unfold on its own. Before long, a faint light began to flicker, and several golden characters appeared before his eyes, shining with the light.

  Before him were four golden large characters, the words were not difficult, relying on his knowledge, he could recognize them all. They were two phrases, respectively written as: "Refine Symbol, Refine Elixir". The two phrases were separated by a certain distance, suspended in mid-air, seemingly quietly waiting for his choice.

  "Oh," looking at these, Zhang Chong suddenly became interested. He didn't know much about alchemy, and after taking a look, he wasn't very interested. However, when it came to refining elixirs, his interest greatly increased.

  Refining elixirs, isn't that just refining medicinal pills? Zhang Chong thought of the shop in Lengyu Town that sold medicinal pills, called "Ren Xin Zhai", and their business was surprisingly good.

  There was a time when Zhang Chong really didn't want to have that strange dream again, but he ran to the "Ren Xin Zhai" and asked, only to be disheartened and run out. An ordinary medicine for treating severed limbs would cost him a second-grade crystal stone, let alone more serious injuries.

  And now these two words "alchemy" shone brightly in Zhang Chong's eyes, could it be that he can learn the art of alchemy in his dreams?

  "Wow, gulp..." Thinking of this, Zhang Chong couldn't help but swallow a large mouthful of saliva. If he really mastered this skill, it wouldn't just be about not seeking help when injured, but also earning extra money. At this moment, the scene of crystal stones dancing in front of him appeared again.

  At this moment, he thought without hesitation of pointing his hand at the two words "alchemy".

  At this moment, he actually saw his own hand move towards the two words "refine dan" and clicked on it.

  Isn't it in a dream?

  Zhang Chong's head lowered, and at this moment, he saw his own body, and the real world was completely indistinguishable. This was the first time he had experienced a real feeling in his dream, and in this black room, it was as if he were in his thatched hut.

  "This is also too realistic." After Zhang Chong muttered this sentence, he also heard the sound of his own words. This also shocked him greatly.

  However, his attention soon focused again on the scene in front of him.

  After being pointed out by him, those four words disappeared immediately, but at the same time, another line of words flashed out, and the content of the words was like this:

  "You have not yet reached the third level of talisman refinement and are not qualified to enter the dan-making stage."

  "Is there still a restriction?" After Zhang Chong scolded in his heart, the four characters in front of him changed back to what they were before.

  He had no right to enter the alchemy team, so Zhang Chong could only nod at the two words "alchemy" and after nodding, a pile of paper and pen ink appeared in front of him. These papers and pens were exactly the same as what he saw during the day, which was what he spent 10 first-class crystal stones to buy specifically for copying down the formula given by Wang Daozhong.

  "Alas, even my dreams lack creativity and don't think of good paper." Zhang Chong thought to himself as he stood in the Qingfeng Zhai stationery shop, seeing many fine papers but only able to afford the cheapest kind due to his limited funds.

  It's a helplessness, but even in dreams, I can only dream of the worst, that is misfortune.

  At this time, a pleasant sound echoed in Zhang Chong's ears.