Wun Fun squatted down and reached his head over the hole. He looked down at his two companions downstairs and said, “Hey, are you guys coming or not?”
“Hmph! Show off!” scoffed Hung Yu Fei. She twirled her hand and a leaf appeared between her fingers as if she was doing a magic trick. She pinched the leaf with two fingers and threw it forward. The green leaf stalled in midair and she immediately jumped with all her strength as she muttered, “Lethality: Leaf Through a River.”
The sole of her foot tapped the leaf softly and she gently floated onto the first floor, as if her body weighed nothing at all. This technique perfectly showed off Hung Yu Fei’s flexibility and agility, impressing Fung Ching immensely.
“It’s a pity, but I don’t have any fancy skills to show off!” said Fung Ching before channeling soul energy to his feet and bending over. The metal sheet clanged loudly as he jumped with all his strength and landed firmly on the first floor.
However, when he landed on his feet, he saw Wun Fan flash a nasty smile at him and say, “Time for payback!”
“Lethality: Dragon’s Might, Fierce Blast!”
A powerful shockwave instantly knocked Fung Ching back and sent him crashing to the ground. The ten-meter fall instantly bruised Fung Ching’s back badly the instant he landed. He felt pain in his chest and couldn’t breathe at all for a moment. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain, “Ah!”
The loud noise drew the attention of the crowd. Even the guards looked over at the first-floor entrance. Fung Ching managed to catch his breath. He saw the crowd looking over at him and laughed awkwardly as he scratched his head and said, “I’m fine! I just slipped!”
Everyone couldn’t help but look down on him a little as they thought to themselves, A martial artist that slips and falls? What a disgrace.
Fung Ching jumped up once again. This time, Wun Fan didn’t push him down again. Instead, he put his hands behind his back and leisurely strolled away. Fung Ching glared at him angrily and said, “A gentleman always takes his revenge.”
“A scoundrel is always taking his revenge. Sorry, but I’m a scoundrel,” said Wun Fan without even turning back.
Fung Ching wanted to retort, but then he remembered he was the one who attacked Wun Fan without proper reason. He immediately floundered and lost his temper. He begrudgingly trudged after Wun Fan.
Compared to the ground floor, the hall on the first floor was a lot more quiet. The layout and furniture of the hall mostly consisted of mahogany. There was a trading counter set up by the guild. Martial artists could purchase supplies from the guild here, or sell their loot for guild points.
According to Fung Ching, any sort of loot could be exchanged for points with the guild. Of course, there was no price guarantee for the loot. However, with enough points, you could exchange them for rare weapons, pills, materials and consumables.
Of course, as the party responsible for the exchange, the guild made a small profit from the margins.
The price of the supplies, on the other hand, was outrageous. Wun Fan was speechless after just taking a quick look at the catalogue. Drinking water, for instance, usually only cost two copper coins for a large bucket in town. However, that same bucket of water cost a whole silver coin in the Martial Artist Guild! They were making a killing on these prices.
Fortunately, Wun Fan didn’t have to buy anything from them. He took a look inside the ring that Chan Chi Yuet prepared for him last night. The resources inside of it were tremendous. He could easily go for two months without needing to resupply with the abundance of items he had on him.
At the moment, all he wanted to do was test his strength and become a member of the guild. He could finally accept missions and go on his training then!
“Hi, how may I help you?” said a guild staff as she approached the three of them. Judging from her attire and the way she carried herself, she was of a higher position than the receptionist downstairs.
“I want to test my power and register as a guild member,” said Wun Fan. His voice hadn’t changed yet and he was only 140 centimeters tall, barely taller than a fence. He looked just like a cute little kid and the receptionist found him rather adorable.
However, owing to her professionalism, she smiled politely and said, “Please follow me.”
The three of them were led to the end of a hallway on the first floor. The staff member then explained the process enthusiastically, “There are two parts to the test. First, please channel your soul energy into the soul-testing stone to help us determine the density and characteristics of your soul energy. Next, attack the striking stone without your strongest attack and you will get your results.”
“A small reminder: the guild encourages you to use all your strength in this test. The results of the test will likely affect your priority when accepting missions in the future!”
“Mm, collecting information, I see!” said Wun Fan. He was rather impressed with the Martial Artist Guild’s strategy. By conducting the test this way, they would be able to collect information on all their guild members and information was the most valuable resource of all.
Wun Fan stroked his chin and thought for a moment. The ‘priority’ that the staff member mentioned earlier was probably a way of determining which martial artist was assigned a mission when multiple people tried to apply for the same one. Those who performed better or were more trusted by the guild had a higher chance of getting the mission. This also meant that no one but the assigned martial artist could receive credit for the completion of the mission, disincentivizing any sort of sabotage or interference.
In addition, one’s martial realm was not equivalent to actual combat power. You might have power, but you might not be able to wield it effectively. That was the purpose of the striking stone. It can quantify the damage of an all-out attack from a martial artist. Of course, this test wasn’t the most accurate measure of combat power either. There were certain martial souls that specialized in area attacks, which were disadvantaged in this test.
Wun Fan was easily able to figure out the rationale behind the Martial Artist Guild’s test based on his observations and some simple deductions.
“Siu Suet, help these three guests with the test,” the staff waved her hand and motioned for the three of them to approach the desk. The lady known as Siu Suet stood up and said politely, “May I know which of the three of you will take the test first?”
Hung Yu Fei volunteered, practically leaping into the air as she raised her hand and shouted, “Me! Me! Let me go first!”
Wun Fan shook his head and said unamusedly, “You always want to be first at everything.”
Hung Yu Fei turned around and stuck her tongue out at Wun Fan. The guild staff chuckled and said, “May I know your name, miss?”
“Hung Yu Fei. ‘Hung’ as in red, ‘Yu’ as in language, ‘Fei’ as in pretty,” said Hung Yu Fei. The receptionist was a little surprised, but Hung Yu Fei stepped forward and pressed her hand on the soul-testing stone. She conjured her soul energy and poured it into the stone.
Green pattern lit up along the soul-testing stone, slowly forming into the character ‘wood’. The winding patterns gathered on top of the character and formed into several other characters. ‘59’. It was quite amazing to watch. Wun Fan observed the stone closely, but couldn’t figure out how the stone worked. Old Lei spoke up in his mind, “Don’t bother. These are made by artificers. Even I can’t figure anything out just by looking at it.”
“Even you can’t figure it out?”
“Idiot. Specialists are specialists for a reason. Why would an alchemist know how to make artifacts?” said Old Lei rudely. He was quite upset that Wun Fan expected him to know everything.
Of course, Wun Fan didn’t try and argue. Instead, he turned his attention back to the guild staff, who said, “Miss Hung’s soul energy has the wood attribute. Your soul energy’s density is at 59 percent and you are at peak Martial Vassal realm.”
Fung Ching leaned by Wun Fan’s ears and explained, “Soul energy density is the purity of your soul energy. Your typical Martial Vassal only has around 40 percent density. Hung Yu Fei’s 59 percent is considered quite excellent.”
Wun Fan nodded his head. The girl was quite powerful. She probably spent a lot of effort on refining her soul energy.
“Haha! I knew I would do well,” said Hung Yu Fei giddily as she looked down on Wun Fan.
“Hmph!” said Wun Fan. For some reason, he was always easily provoked by Hung Yu Fei. It annoyed him to see her so pleased with herself.
Hung Yu Fei then concentrated soul energy on her palm and attacked with all her strength as she shouted, “Lethality: Spinning Leaves’ Crimson Palm!”
Her palm came into contact with the stone and the storm of leaves on her palm started shredding the surface of the striking stone. If this palm had landed on a human being, her palm would have been stained a bright crimson shade. The leaves clashed against the stone, letting out an uncomfortable scraping noise that echoed throughout the first floor.
Everyone’s attention turned to the end of the hallway as people started murmuring amongst themselves, “Hm? Is someone taking the test?” Hung Yu Fei’s test had drawn everyone’s gaze towards her. Some martial artists even walked over to watch the test unfold. This upset Wun Fan a little. His secretive habits from his past life meant that he preferred to keep a low profile. He didn’t like to have a crowd watching him.
“Attack power, 538!” shouted the guild staff. She was quite impressed. Your average peak Martial Vassal would be considered above-average if he could score 438 points. 538 attack power was very impressive.
Hung Yu Fei stared at Wun Fan gleefully and said, “Did you see my power? Why don’t you consider taking on a mission with me now?”
Wun Fan looked at Fung Ching. The teenager motioned that he would try later, so Wun Fan approached the soul-testing stone and put his hand on it. He declared his name for the guild staff, “Wun Fan. ‘Wun’ as in clouds, ‘Fan’ as in ordinary.”
He calmed himself down and took a deep breath, inhaling like a whale swallowing seawater and exhaling like a dragon unleashing its breath. Death aura surged out of his body. Li’l Black started roaring furiously in his martial heart, flailing its claws about menacingly.
Wun Fan conjured his soul energy and poured it all into the stone!
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