Chapter 241: The Grand Finale

  Tang An sat on his small bed, holding "Shu Mountain Entrance Essentials" in his hands, quickly flipping through it.

  "It's said that to join Shu Shan and become an outer disciple, the first requirement is that one must be no older than 10 years old. I completely meet this point. However, the second requirement is that one must lift a 100-jin stone lock to confirm their qualifications for entry. Of course, since I'm still quite young, at the very least I should be able to lift 50 jin to confirm my qualifications."

  Tang An felt a headache when he saw this, his body was very poor, looking chubby and cute, but he didn't have much strength at all. The meat was mostly loose flesh, from small to large, it had never been tempered. He wanted to temper himself, but his body simply couldn't take it.

  He has tested himself and at this stage, he can only lift up to 30 kilograms. This amount of strength is really not enough...

  "Huh? There's still a bit left here."

  Tang An slowly looked down and saw that there was another note above. If one meets the age requirement but does not meet the requirement of lifting heavy objects, they can pay a fee of 1000 silver taels to temporarily join Shu Mountain and receive the same conditions as other disciples. Three months later, if they can meet the requirements, they can still be converted to formal outer door disciples.

  Upon seeing this, Tang An suddenly realized: the Shu Shan Sword Sect is still making money with this kind of thing! However, the method of cultivating disciples in the Shu Shan Sword Sect is relatively ordinary among Wulin schools. As the saying goes, "the literati are poor and the martial artists are rich", those who can practice martial arts from a young age will not lack these thousand taels of silver.

  Having no other choice, Tang An could only think of a cheap plan.

  But this matter is too embarrassing, and it's better to think about it in the long run...

  ……

  On the ninth day of the ninth month, it is Chongyang Festival. The autumn is high and refreshing, with no clouds for thousands of miles, and the Shushan Guild Hall is crowded with people, flags flying...

  The Shu Shan Sword Sect sent out a large number of disciples to be in charge of receiving the children who signed up to join the sect.

  Among those disciples, Tang An vaguely saw that Wang Gongzi who was thrown out of the building by his own fiancée a few days ago.

  The prince's face was gloomy at the moment, and he must still be resentful about what happened a few days ago. His eyes were filled with coldness as he looked at everyone. The children who came to sign up saw his expression and all kept their distance from him, no one dared to get close.

  "Those who want to take the entrance exam, please go this way!"

  Tang An heard someone shouting something and those people all moved to one side. He followed the crowd, advancing towards the assembly hall.

  Along the bluestone-paved road, people walked for only a short while before arriving at an open space.

  On this empty ground, there are already over a hundred children gathered here now. Almost all of them are boys who have come to participate in the entrance examination of Shu Mountain Sword Sect. After all, joining Shu Mountain Sword Sect is about learning martial arts skills.

  Women in this era are obviously less important than men. Moreover, those who practice martial arts need to be physically strong and robust, girls are naturally at a disadvantage in this aspect from birth.

  "Those who want to take the entrance exam, line up and come here one by one for testing!" A thick voice sounded.

  Then, Tang An saw a majestic man. The man's body was as thick and sturdy as an iron tower, standing there gave people a sense of oppression. From a distance, the man exuded an aura all over his body! Wang Gongzi stood beside him, but anyone could see that Wang Gongzi was absolutely no match for him!

  Just by looking at their auras, it's clear that there's a huge gap between them. If they were to really fight, perhaps with just one move, Wang Gongzi would be defeated.

  Tang An immediately inserted himself into the crowd and moved closer to the center.

  He has now made up his mind, but he still wants to try, maybe today's luck is good, the small universe bursts out, and he lifts a 50-kilogram stone lock.

  After all, a thousand taels of silver is no small sum, if it can be saved then save it!

  ……

  In the center of the empty space, four black stone locks of different sizes were placed, with large white characters written on them: [50 kg], [100 kg], [200 kg], and [500 kg].

  "Those who can lift 50 kilograms can enter the door, but three months later, they must lift 100 kilograms to qualify as a Shu Mountain outer disciple!"

  Those who can lift 100 jin directly will skip the assessment in three months and only need to pass the big exam in March next year.

  If you can lift 200 catties directly, you don't need to take part in the Grand Assessment within three years and can directly contend for the qualification of Inner Disciple.

  As for those who can lift 500 catties, they will be directly accepted as inner door elders and become my Shu Mountain's inner door personally transmitted disciples after verifying their identity. Moreover, they will be rewarded with one thousand taels of gold!

  At this point, the square suddenly burst into an uproar.

  Those familiar with the rules of Shu Shan's entry-level disciples suddenly began discussing it quietly.

  "What's going on with the rules this year? There wasn't a 500-jin requirement before. How many children in the world can lift 500 jins? That's almost at the level of the Third Heaven's internal energy realm! A 10-year-old child, unless they're an absolute genius and their family is willing to waste elixirs on them, could cultivate something like that. But even if they did, who would send them to Mount Shu? Wouldn't that be doing someone else a favor? There aren't many families or powers in the world that can cultivate such geniuses."

  Others who heard it just smiled: "Who says it's not... I think this Shu Mountain Sword Sect is really getting worse with each generation. They actually came up with a method like this to attract geniuses. A thousand taels of gold? An absolute top-notch talent, can that be measured by money?"

  "Shut up! You're courting death by saying such things here. I think you'd better leave quickly, lest we all be implicated by you."

  No matter what others say, these children have made up their minds to come to Shu Mountain and join the Shu Mountain Sword Sect to bring honor to their families.

  In the center of the square, a disciple of Shu Mountain maintained order. A large group of children formed a long queue, one by one starting to take the assessment. Tang An was also queuing at the back, constantly hypnotizing himself, trying to boost his adrenal hormone secretion and make his small universe explode once.

  "Hey!"

  A sturdy boy with a dark complexion let out a loud cry and suddenly lifted the 50-kilogram stone lock with ease.

  "Are you still holding on?" asked Shu Shan's disciple, who was sitting beside him and writing with a brush.

  That little fatty shook his head: "My dad only lets me lift 50 kilograms. The others didn't tell me to lift, I won't lift. If I lifted, my dad would go back and spank my butt." The Shu Mountain disciple smiled, handed a small sign to the little fatty, and recorded his name.

  "This is your notice! Report back here in three days."

  That little fatty took it over and was delighted, then ran towards his old man's direction in a flash. But as soon as he got there, his old man raised his huge hand to spank him on the butt.

  "You stupid kid, you're so careless! You can lift 100 catties at home, why didn't you? I'm calling you careless! I'm calling you careless!"

  His old man was shouting, and his hand was still slapping the fat boy's butt. The fat boy's face was all tear-stained, but he didn't beg for mercy, only his face turned red and said: "It was you who told me to lift 50 kilograms. I lifted it up, and you're still hitting me. I'm going to tell mom..."

  Tang An looked for a while, and his heart became more anxious.

  Because more than half of the children can lift 50 kilograms of stone locks, and a few can lift 100 kilograms, let alone 200 kilograms.

  As for those who can't even lift it, I haven't seen any so far. It's possible that ancient people were more introverted and humble, and not being able to lift it would be too embarrassing, so they only came to participate in the assessment when they had a great deal of confidence.

  In short, Tang An still hasn't seen anyone who can pass the assessment by using silver to open a path.

  "Am I supposed to set this precedent? It's really too embarrassing!"

  Before long, half a time had passed... It was soon Tang An's turn.

  "Cough...cough..."

  A loud and heavy cough came from in front of Tang An.

  Tang An only then noticed that there was a small, pale-skinned guy in front of him. His face had a sickly flush to it from the side, and he looked even more frail than Tang An himself. What was this weakling doing here for the assessment?

  However, seeing him coughing so hard and no one around him showing any concern, Tang An didn't know why but suddenly felt a pang in his heart. Perhaps it was because he saw his own shadow in him. Thinking about himself, if not for the 20-year-old soul in his body, he would have probably been crying out loud looking for his mother by now.

  Thinking of this, Tang An untied his waist and took out a gourd from there, which contained honey water. Tang An liked sweet things, and Xiao Er knew that the young master had to attend an assessment today, so he specially prepared a pot of honey water for him because of the strange heat.

  Tang An patted the person's shoulder and said sincerely: "Have a drink of honey water."

  The man turned around and looked at Tang An, seeing him hand over a small gourd with the lid already open, emitting the unique fragrance of honey.

  Seeing the clear and calm eyes of Tang An, the person's heart also felt a warmth.

  That person took the gourd and lightly drank a mouthful against his mouth. Tang An didn't know how effective honey water was in treating coughs, but seeing that the other's cough had lessened after drinking a mouthful, he felt happy to have been able to help the other, and a smile appeared on his face: "If you like it, it's fine to drink a bit more."

  He shook his head and handed the gourd back: "Thank you, that's enough."

  The voice is soft and gentle, with big eyes that are like a pool of water, evoking sympathy and affection.

  Tang An couldn't help but widen his eyes and stare at the person: "You're a girl?"

  The little girl heard this and frowned, looking very unhappy. She directly turned her head away and stopped talking to Tang An.

  Tang An found it boring, so he took the gourd and drank a big mouthful. Grandma's, it's my turn already? I haven't thought of a way yet. Could it be that I really have to use silver to fill it?

  Before long, there was no one in front of him, and it was the turn of the little girl in front of Tang An.

  Tang An watched her walk away step by step, her back straight and strong, familiar. Although she was so weak, anyone could see the determination in her heart. Tang An couldn't help but shout out: "Add oil!"

  The girl turned her head back in surprise and saw that it was the little fatty who had shouted, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she nodded slightly.

  She skipped over the first stone lock and walked directly to the second 100-jin stone lock, but her eyes hesitated and looked at the 200-jin stone lock.

  She pinched a 100-jin stone lock, and let out a delicate "Hey!" from her mouth.

  Her body looked so weak, but she unexpectedly lifted the 100-jin stone lock over her head with ease. She proudly turned around and looked at the boys who had already passed the test, surrounding her. Seeing their astonished faces, she tossed the stone lock to the ground with a clang, and proudly turned back again.

  She seemed to be saying something: "Who says women can't practice martial arts!"

  "Through! 100 catty stone lock!"

  She took the sign, reported her name, but didn't retreat to the side. Instead, she walked directly towards Tang An. She quickly stuffed a small thing into Tang An's hand and clearly said in his ear: "Eat it, little fatty!"

  Tang An looked at his hand in confusion and found a small white pill.

  "Ding~ System Prompt: Acquired Strong Qi Supplement Pill x1. After consumption, strength will be doubled for 10 minutes. Afterwards, the body will become completely powerless. This is a poisonous medicine, please be cautious! Restriction: Can only be used once, subsequent uses will be deemed invalid!"

  Tang An heard this and his mouth suddenly curved upwards.

  He swallowed the small pill in one gulp, without hesitation, and then turned around, patted his chubby chest heavily towards a little girl on the side, indicating that he was fine. Then, with a heroic stride, he walked up to the 50-kilogram stone lock, under everyone's gaze, and "whoosh", easily lifted it up!

  The little girl who was originally smiling at him suddenly stiffened her face for a moment, and then her eyelids began to twitch violently.

  "This little fatty probably doesn't even have 50 kilograms of strength, and he's coming to take the assessment?"

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