Chapter Twenty-Six: Long Life

  Yan Guang hastily returned to Zhao Yong's residence and quickly told him what he had seen and guessed.

  After hearing Yan Guang's words, Zhao Yong hesitated for a moment and then a triumphant smile appeared on his face.

  "It seems that Qian Ziguo and Wang Hao have gone to catch Kong Fang. With the strength of these two, dealing with the weak and vulnerable Kong Fang is extremely easy. Now we just need to wait for their good news." Zhao Yong had a smile all over his face, in an extremely good mood.

  However, Yan Guang, who stood respectfully beside Zhao Yong, was not in a good mood. Once Qian Ziguo and Wang Hua succeeded, his status would be the lowest, which was something Yan Guang did not want to see no matter what.

  "I hope those two bastards get killed by others after they kill Kong Fang." Yan Guang cursed with extreme discontent in his heart.

  ……

  Huoyun Hall, in the grand hall of deliberation.

  The grand hall for discussion is extremely large in area, and even if 400 or 500 people come in at the same time, they can still stand comfortably.

  At this time, in the grand hall of deliberation, more than thirty people stood in two rows, with a distance of over ten meters between them. In front of each person on the empty ground were placed varying numbers of weapons, and some had several pieces of armor.

  The more forward the person, the more weapons were placed in front of them on the empty ground, with some having over a hundred pieces. The further back, the fewer the weapons, and those at the very end had only five or six pieces in front of them, not even enough to make up the remainder of what was piled up for the first few people.

  These days, Chang Sheng has been searching for a place in the left column, but he is always at the very end, with only six miserable weapons in front of him. Even the miscellaneous servant standing opposite him had more than a dozen weapons, more than twice as many as his. This made others look at Chang Sheng with contemptuous glances, and their faces were even more adorned with superior smiles.

  The servant standing opposite Long Sheng, although also at the end of the line, would snort in disdain every time his eyes fell on Long Sheng, immediately turning his head to one side, clearly looking down on him. Not to mention sympathizing with Long Sheng, that attitude was obviously unwilling to be associated with Long Sheng.

  Changsheng felt his face burning, his head slightly lowered, and this appearance made others think that Changsheng was too ashamed to show his face, so they became even more disdainful.

  However, everyone didn't notice that the long-lived gaze of Changsheng was tightly staring at the six weapons in front of him. The appearance of these six weapons wasn't good, and the level of the person who refined them obviously wasn't up to par. The things they refined were a bit rough and ugly, and among these six weapons, one of them was actually wrapped in tattered cloth. This made everyone who saw it twitch their faces, holding back their laughter. How bad did it have to be? It had reached the stage of evaluation, yet there was still something wrapped in cloth. Even if they wanted to use cloth to wrap it, couldn't they at least use a good piece of cloth? Instead, they used a tattered one.

  Changsheng slightly lowered his head, letting the surrounding eyes filled with disdain and ridicule sweep back and forth, he tightly stared at the weapon in front of him, precisely at the two-product short sword wrapped in tattered cloth made by Kong Fang.

  The double-edged short sword refined by Kong Fang is the hope of Long Sheng's survival, and with this short sword, he has a chance to turn things around. Therefore, at this time, although being ridiculed by others, Long Sheng was not moved at all.

  Actually, if Changsheng had stayed in Huoyun Hall all along, he wouldn't have only received six weapons. These days, he has been searching everywhere for Kong Fang, and his time spent in Huoyun Hall hasn't been much, which is why the number of weapons he received is the least among everyone. However, Changsheng doesn't regret it; even if given another chance, he would still go search for Kong Fang.

  Among the crowd in front, there were four noble inner disciples. Sun Hao, who had met Kong Fang before, was standing among them, but he wasn't at the very front and instead stood in the second position.

  The eyes of the individual servants looking at the four inner disciples were both envious and worshipful. Although they were just servants, they also had dreams in their hearts, that is, to become inner disciples. Becoming an inner disciple was not only because of the noble status, but more importantly, becoming an inner disciple would allow them to obtain the Soul Refining Method, from then on, they could embark on the path of cultivation. Their fate would be completely changed.

  The four inner disciples were already accustomed to this kind of gaze and now stood in place with their hands hanging down, extremely obedient.

  Standing in front of the four inner disciples is the controller of the entire Huo Yun Hall, as well as its strongest member - Qing Fan, the elder of the Hua Ling realm.

  A tall and sturdy elder in a suit of crimson armor stood like an iron tower.

  Elder Qingfan's face was rugged, with two thick eyebrows slanting upwards, his eyes wide open as he quickly scanned everyone before nodding in satisfaction.

  "Although there are still three days before the assessment ends, we in Huoyun Hall must review the submitted weapons and armor in advance to avoid running out of time." The voice of Qingfan Elder echoed loudly in the conference hall, with great authority.

  Everyone listened with reverence.

  "Now, lay out all the weapons and armor you've collected." Elder Qingfan ordered the miscellaneous workers.

  "Yes." Everyone responded.

  More than thirty servants immediately became busy, each placing the weapons and armor in front of them to let Qingfan Elder and the four inner disciples easily inspect and evaluate.

  Changsheng slightly rearranged the six weapons in front of him and completed the task. The number of weapons he received was too small, and even if Qingfeng didn't do anything, Elder Qing could easily inspect them.

  Looking at the short sword wrapped in tattered cloth, Changsheng hesitated for a moment, but finally removed the wrapping and placed the short sword in front.

  After a while, when everyone had laid out their weapons and armor, Qingfan Zhenren said to the four inner disciples beside him: "Now you quickly take a look at which ones have higher grades of weapons and armor. However, do not get close or touch them, this is a test of your eyesight."

  The four inner disciples respectfully accepted the order and then slowly walked forward along a narrow, three-meter-wide path in the middle. As they walked, the four of them carefully examined each weapon and armor, trying to find the highest-grade ones among them.

  The old man with green sleeves looked at the four of them, a satisfied smile involuntarily appearing on his face. He nodded slightly and then began to examine them as well.

  This time, they only need to find the highest-grade weapons and armor among them, without evaluating their pros and cons. Therefore, the four inner disciples' inspection speed was still relatively fast. Meanwhile, Elder Qingfan followed closely behind the four of them, examining the various weapons and armors on the ground while also observing the four inner disciples.

  Among the four inner disciples, Li Sen was the one standing in front of Sun Hao, and at this moment, his scanning speed was the fastest. Li Sen's gaze quickly swept back and forth, committing to memory all the higher-grade weapons and armor among them.

  However, as Li Sen approached the end, he became somewhat indifferent. In previous years, people who ranked behind him would not have high-grade weapons and armor in their hands. To Li Sen, everything that came from the back was just some worthless trash, not even worth looking at.

  However, when he arrived in front of Changsheng, Li Sen's expression suddenly froze, and he looked at a short black sword not far from him with some astonishment.

  The sword body was dark and glossy, with a bright luster. At first glance, Li Sen knew that this short sword was not bad. However, when Li Sen carefully observed the material used to make the short sword, he suddenly shook his head indifferently again.

  "It's just made from the most ordinary materials, even if the person who refined it has some skill, but the materials are too ordinary and can't possibly have a high grade." Li Sen shook his head and turned to leave directly.

  Changsheng stared at Li Sen's departing back in shock, he had great confidence in the short sword refined by Kong Fang, but unexpectedly, Li Sen only took a glance and then shook his head indifferently and walked away.