Chapter Fifteen: The End of Clouds, the Top of Heaven

  At the entrance of the dormitory area, a notice was posted.

  Red paper, black characters.

  One line per name, along with the strength measured at the end of the month in the small test, clear and distinct. Several dozen vigorous youths, both boys and girls, all gathered around to look at this ranking list. At the very top of the list were a few large red characters: "New Snow Mountain Villa Outer Disciple End-of-Month Small Test". Only below that did the actual content of the rankings begin.

  "Murong Ying, minor achievement in 72 Routes of Knife Technique, Post-Heaven Realm, 6th layer, later period."

  This first line has already caused a lot of discussion, and a young man said: "I didn't expect that Murong Ying not only pushed his internal power to the sixth layer of the post-heavenly realm, but also practiced the first-class martial skill - Mount Tai 72 Road Knife Method to small success, it's really incredible."

  Another young man asked in doubt: "What is a small achievement in martial arts? Is it very powerful?"

  "You must not have been paying attention in class, you were probably dozing off. Our Tai Shan Basic 72 Forms has a total of 72 moves, if we follow the sequence, first move, second move, third move, fourth move, fifth move and so on, the connection between moves will be seamless, however, this way, your next move can be predicted with certainty, it's easy for others to anticipate how you'll attack next. But if you don't follow the sequence, first move followed by the fifth move, fifth move followed by the thirteenth move and so on, jumping around like that, it's easy to create openings in the connection between moves, once an opening appears, it will be seized upon."

  "When the knife method is slightly successful, there will be no gaps between the switching and changing of moves. This is certainly formidable. When fighting with others, you can constantly grab the opponent's gaps, but the opponent finds it hard to grasp your own gaps. That's where the power lies."

  The young man said: "However, previously, Nan Gongyuan elder said that for a first-rate martial skill to be slightly successful, at least one year is needed, or even more than a year. I didn't expect Murong Ying to achieve it in just five months, and the 72 routes of knife method are already slightly successful. It's too formidable."

  Among us sixty-one people, only Murong Ying has achieved minor success in practicing the seventy-two routes of basic knife techniques.

  "Yes, Murong Ying is still firmly holding the position of the first outer door disciple of Xue Shan Manor."

  On the second line above was written: "Fang Yin, seventy-two knife methods are purely proficient, later heaven boundary five layers late period." The evaluation of pure proficiency in knife method is not as good as small accomplishment in knife method.

  On the third line it was written: “……”

  The nineteenth line read: "Liu Ya, seventy-two routes of knife technique mastery, acquired realm five layers initial stage." At the age of ten or so, it was just the prime of youth, and the time when young men admired Ai. Among the fifty-four boys and seven girls in Xin Xue Mountain Villa, the girls naturally became the red flowers among the green leaves, and Liu Ya was the most beautiful one among the seven girls, and also the most eye-catching. Liu Ya was not a vase, her strength could be ranked nineteenth among the sixty-one people, which was considered to be of high level, and she possessed both beauty and talent at the same time.

  The twenty-seventh line reads: "Gao Ren, seventy-two routes of knife method biased towards pure mastery, Post-Heavenly Boundary Fourth Layer Late Period." This is Gao Ren's level. When Gao Ren first entered the New Snow Mountain Villa, his internal energy was at the Post-Heavenly Boundary Fourth Layer Initial Period. After five months of cultivation, he advanced to the Post-Heavenly Boundary Fourth Layer Late Period, and his strength increased at a decent speed.

  The thirty-ninth line reads: "Luo Tao, seventy-two knife methods are slightly pure and skilled, later heaven realm four layers initial stage." Luo Tao was at the peak of the third layer of the later heaven realm when he first entered Xin Xue Mountain Villa. After five months of cultivation, his current strength is at the initial stage of the fourth layer of the later heaven realm. The evaluation of "slightly pure and skilled" is naturally not as good as "pure and skilled".

  The fifty-ninth line reads: "Gu Chao, seventy-two routes of knife method biased towards pure mastery, acquired realm third layer initial stage."

  The 60th line reads: "Yu Lin, 72 routes of knife technique are average, later heaven boundary third layer middle period." This Yu Lin's internal power is above Gu Chao's, but his knife technique is too poor, so he was ranked after Gu Chao. A person's combat strength looks at both internal power and martial skills, the two must be considered together.

  The sixty-first line reads: "Fang Qi, 72 routes of knife method are generally, later heaven boundary three layers initial stage." Fang Qi is the younger brother of Fang Yin, but his natural talent is ordinary. Later, due to an accidental injury, he was bedridden for several months and couldn't practice during this period, so now he ranks last.

  The list is out, with sixty-one names listed one by one.

  Except for a tiny minority of exceptions, almost everyone is constantly moving forward.

  No one is weaker than anyone else, why should I be inferior to you?

  The current Xue Shan Villa has already formed a chasing and rushing atmosphere, with most people constantly moving forward.

  These people, after seeing the list, also started discussing among themselves. A young man said: "It seems that in another two and a half months, it will be time for the year-end mid-term exam." In Xue Shan Zhuang, there is a small test every month, which can't be called an exam, but rather a test. At the end of the year, there is a medium-sized exam, which is more formal, with each mountain villa as a unit. Of course, the most formal one is still the outer door disciple competition held every two years. The brilliant figures who perform well in the outer door disciple competition can become inner door disciples.

  "Yes, the year-end mid-term exam is the real test, compared to which the small test at the end of the month is quite irregular."

  "The mid-term exam at the end of the year is our real stage to show off, and it doesn't matter if we don't do well in this month's small test." said a young man in yellow clothes who ranked quite far back in the previous month's small test.

  "Never mind, you didn't do well on this test, just do fine on the mid-term exam at the end of the year and that's it." Another person joked.

  "Who says I'm not good enough?" The young man in yellow clothes immediately retorted with discontent.

  Gu Chao soon found his own ranking, fifty-ninth. For Gu Chao, this was a normal performance. After all, Gu Chao had passed the outer disciple exam with his calmness in the face of events, strong observational skills and intelligence. Among the sixty-one people who entered Xue Shan Mountain Villa, Gu Chao's strength was the weakest. And Gu Chao's physical talent was also average, so now being ranked fifty-ninth was indeed an extremely normal thing.

  This is nothing! Except for Gu Chao, everyone else thinks this is a very normal thing.

  Of course, no one would mock Gu Chao. Everyone was constantly improving their strength and advancing on the path of martial arts. Who had the time to mock Gu Chao? Besides, Gu Chao was just a bit weaker at the foundation. Having only recently entered Xue Shan Manor, he was still in the middle stage of the second layer of the Post-Heaven realm. His improvement speed was average, neither fast nor slow, and there was nothing worth mocking about him.

  But this was unbearable for Gu Chao.

  Victory in every exam! Victory in every exam!

  In his previous life on Earth, Gu Chao had taken thousands of exams and tests, never losing once, always ranking first and leaving the second-place finisher far behind. He still remembered that when he was in high school, the classmate who ranked second to him was asked about his greatest wish, and that person replied with a hint of resentment: "I hope Gu Chao gets sick during an exam or transfers to another class, just so I can get first place once."

  In his past life, Gu Chao was like this on exams, otherwise he wouldn't say that he would definitely win whenever he took a test.

  In my past life on Earth, I must have been victorious in every exam. In this life, in this Eastern world, I also want to be victorious in every exam.

  In the previous wooden man alley assessment, Gu Chao won. But now in the monthly small test, he failed miserably, ranking 59th, third from last.

  So now Gu Chao's invincibility in exams has been broken, and it was a five-game losing streak, which is an unprecedented shame!

  The taste I never had in my past life, but now I have it in this life. The taste of losing is really unbearable!

  On the surface, Gu Chao is gentle and calm, able to crack jokes with anyone he meets. However, deep down, he is a rather proud person with sharp edges, always striving to come out on top. But now, this pride has been severely crushed!

  So Gu Chao is now very depressed, extremely depressed, and simply depressed to the extreme.

  I must think of a way to increase my strength! I absolutely cannot lose to others! That's right, now that my undefeated record has been broken, but I only want to lose five times like this, and from now on I don't want to lose again! There are no complicated thoughts or rational emotional considerations, just the simple desire to win and not lose.

  Two and a half months later, the year-end exam must not be lost! Gu Chao also remembered that there would be a year-end exam in two months.

  "From now on, I don't want to lose again! I just want a quick and decisive victory!" Gu Chao made an iron-clad vow in his heart.

  Gu Chao raised his head and looked at Yun!

  The white clouds in the sky are far away, so high!

  I'd like to stand at the end of the clouds and on top of the sky! Looking down at all living things from a high place!

  Must think of a way to make oneself triumph all the way in martial arts, until the end of the clouds, the top of the sky!

  (In the fierce battle of new book rankings, every reader's recommendation is very important. Please cast your vote with a recommendation ticket, thank you.)

  Ancient superiors wanted to fight at the end of the clouds, the top of the sky. I also want to stand at the end of the clouds, the top of the sky.

  And the recommendation ticket is what helps me stand at the end of the clouds and the top of the sky.