Martial Research Master

218 THE THIRD TEST

Teng Luo was within the elder hall awaiting the arrival of the envoy he sent. Teng Mengshen was not only an advanced Qi King but also an inner elder of the Pill Valley. The cherry on top was that his talent was quite good and was still a member of the younger generation. He was specifically called out of his usual schedule to help with the negotiations.

“Teng Mengshen requested an audience with the patriarch.” The guard announced.

“Let him in” Teng Luo’s voice rang out and was soon followed by the entrance of a young figure.

“I greet the patriarch. Greetings to the elders.” Teng Mengshen bowed.

“What was his reply?” Rather than asking the obvious, Teng Luo chose to hear the whole reply.

“The conversation proceeded calmly until I reported to him that the elders who were involved in this incident were being punished. He simply replied that he didn’t expect the Teng family to punish their grand elder for him.”

The elders in the hall were surprised on hearing this. How did Lu Ming talk about the secret meeting and the grand elder’s involvement in the whole situation?

“He also said that knew most of the meetings we held regarding matters involving him. He even pointed out the man he left alive, referring to him as a dead dog.” The elders were furious on hearing this. The whole team was wiped out except for the team leader who was barely breathing. He was left with a warning for the family.

“I proceeded with threatening him with the Ten family’s alliance, but he remained unmoving. He commented that the Ten families don’t seem that united. He asked me to deliver a personal message to you.” Teng Mengshen was about to move near the patriarch when Teng Luo raised his hands and indicated him to continue.

.....

“There are some people within this world who don’t require you to hold your name in an important regard.” The grand elder slammed his fist on the hand-rest.

“How dare the boy? Immediately prepare the team to capture him.”

“Silence.” Teng Luo intervened with a strict tone. All the elders immediately fell silent. “What did you do on hearing this? I guess from your attitude you must have wanted to teach him a lesson by yourself, but him not being present here indicates that something changed your mind.”

“He mentioned an incident which forced me to rethink my path of action.”

“apparently one of the teams who was involved in the night’s incident was from the Brownstone Guild. The person leading them seems to be the young miss of the guild. When the team was defeated, she was captured and taken hostage. Lu Ming seems to have arranged a meeting with elder Xuan Ying, and made him pay quite a big price for the exchange.”

“He specifically pointed out that Xuan Ying tried to do the same thing but there he stood un-harmed. He even threatened that I wouldn’t be leaving the building alive if I tried to irritate him any further.”

The whole narration brought an abrupt silence within the hall. All the elders present were familiar with the name Xuan Ying. If Lu Ming remained unfazed in front of him, then this incident was like a clown dancing in front of him.

“I guess I need to take action myself.” Teng Luo thought within himself.

.................................

The last finally came and a huge crowd was gathered within the stadium. The last two tests had created a massive wave of enthusiasm towards the whole competition, due to the contrasting performance of Lu Ming. The third test was also the last one in which 16 participants are going to take part together to decide the rankings among themselves.

Huge expectations were attached with both Lu Ming and Teng Huan as they were the two most prominent performers this time. Especially Lu Ming whose performance shocked every single eye present. They never expected him to be so monstrous.

“I welcome the 16 finalists to the last round of the competition. All of you are eligible to become core disciples of the valley, and this last round is to rank all of you, and give away the prizes and determine the top 10.”

“This round was initially going to be a simple one recipe concoction round, but due to some contrasting performance, the higher-ups have decided to change the format of the competition.”

“All of you will be presented with your own set of medicine cauldrons and a huge array of herbs will be displayed in front. Keep in mind that the herbs are all level 3 and you are to concoct a pill of the highest order you could make. The grade of the pill will determine the winner of the competition.”

“The prizes are kept a secret for now and will be revealed once the competition is over.”

16 participants stepped forward. The Teng family had two finalists and the rest of the nine families had 1 each. As per the other five participants, these were the dark horses who appeared within this year’s competition.

“There is going to be a single modification this time around. The senior council has decided that the choice of herbs would be done according to the overall rank held by the participant in the last two rounds. The one at the top would get the first chance.”

He looked at Lu Ming and continued: “You can proceed to choose the herbs.”

Lu Ming nodded and stepped out. Most of the participants found this competition unfair as the ones who get to choose first would surely take the best herbs. But to their surprise, Lu Ming not only took one of the medium grade ones but also, he took one out of each kind of herbs present in there. Even the judges were skeptical of the recipe Lu Ming was going to concoct in this competition.

“Are you sure about your choice?” The elder in charge couldn’t help but ask Lu Ming about his decision. The stage was set to allow Lu Ming to showcase his true abilities, but his choice seemed to be quite mediocre and random. Lu Ming gave a simple nod in reply.

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“I would like to propose another bet.” Teng Huan came up to Lu Ming.

“Did my choice of herbs earlier instill this confidence within you?” Lu Ming’s words were thoroughly undermining Teng Huan, and he couldn’t help but clench his teeth.

“Both of us had equal opportunities to choose from. You can’t complain about your own choice.” Teng Huan replied in a mocking tone.

“I guess we can proceed. But I fail to believe that you have something which could even interest me.”

Teng Huan took out a small storage ring and passed it to Lu Ming. Once verified, Lu Ming was surprised by the content. He raised his head and said with a smile: “The bet is on”

The ring contained another set of elemental stones, which were wind and earth types.

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