CHAPTER 1424 HIS BRIMMING CONFIDENCE
"Oh? Are you really that confident? It puzzles me where you get that much confidence and courage, you know?" Tessa said as she pulled a long face. At that moment, there was nothing on her mind but the excitement and anxiety as she looked forward to how Rocky would perform in the exam.
Not long after, the examination had officially begun. All the trainee disciples were obliged to take part in the examination in an orderly manner; that was, according to the order they were recruited in. Needless to say, Rocky would be the last one to take the test.
Entering the arena first was a disciple at the second grade of the Spirit Realm, which meant that he had a good and solid foundation. But to everyone's surprise, he had failed to pass the first trial. In fact, he wasn't even able to hit ten straw men within the given time frame.
"What? This test must be so difficult! Even a warrior at the second grade of the Spirit Realm failed to pass the first trial!" Rocky couldn't help but say out loud.
"Oh, come on. Do you really think it's easy to learn the swordsmanship of the Sword Spirit Sect? I mean, sure, every spirit warrior knows how to control a sword, but not everyone can master this skill gracefully. As a matter of fact, it is said that one must train the skill rigorously for at least a year in order to master this very basic skill," Tessa said with pride.
On the other hand, another trainee disciple failed again as they were exchanging their opinions.
Not long after, the third trainee disciple went up to the stage and, again, barely passed the second trial. Unfortunately, he still failed miserably. This is from .
After more than ten consecutive tries, these trainee disciples failed to pass the second trial. Luckily, someone had survived and made it to the third trial, but he still did not last for too long.
As the crowd saw how the test was immensely difficult, the atmosphere immediately became more tensed, stressing the life out of the remaining disciples who had not yet taken the examination.
But in contrast to the previous ones who had failed, these remaining disciples were stronger. At last, after more than twenty tries, someone had managed to pass three trials, making him the first-ever formal disciple of the Sword Spirit Sect.
Seeing this achievement, the crowd could not help but burst into loud cheers.
Soon after, more and more trainee disciples had passed the examination one after another. Despite their success, they were still very vocal on how difficult it was for them. To be honest, some of them admitted that they made it out just by sheer luck.
In the blink of an eye, it was already getting dark, signaling nightfall. The remaining light that the setting sun shone diffused across the entire arena. At that time, over two hundred trainee disciples had almost finished the exam, but sadly, the passing rate was not very promising, with only more than thirty of them being successful.
Meanwhile, last but not least, it was Rocky's turn to take the examination.
"Come on! You can do this!" Tessa shouted in encouragement.
The moment Rocky set foot on the stage, he heard a lot of boos coming from the audience. Perhaps, this was due to the fact that the disciples of the Sword Spirit Sect knew that he managed to get in the quota only because of his deep relationship with Tessa. As a result, they thought of him as nothing but a gigolo, with no capacity to even participate in such an event.
"Well, as it turns out, this guy is a trainee disciple." At that moment, a man in the crowd widened his eyes upon seeing Rocky on stage. He did not expect to see Rocky here at all after he was humiliated by Rocky in the training ground before.
"Wow, I can't believe that such a loser actually has the nerve to participate in the formal disciple examination. Isn't he afraid to embarrass himself in front of all these people?"
"From what I've heard, he has never received any training since he became a trainee disciple. All I know is that he always goes to the Fragrance Pavilion."
"How could a guy who only grovels on others pass this examination and become a formal disciple! That is absurd!"
Under the contemptuous gazes of the crowd, Rocky began to walk into the first area to face the first trial in a very humble way.
Almost at the same time, the straw men in the area moved quickly, and their positions constantly changed as they were driven by spiritual power, making it difficult for Rocky to pinpoint their locations.
With utmost focus, the spiritual sword behind Rocky suddenly unsheathed and dashed instantly towards one of the straw men. But unfortunately, it missed the target all too easily.
Seeing his failure, the crowd burst into laughter.
But before the laughing voices vanished, another straw man just behind Rocky's target had fallen down. Without a doubt, he had hit this straw man. It just so happened that the entire thing looked like a coincidence.
"Really? Wow, luck must really be on his side!"
"Bah, that's just pure luck!"
"I bet he can't hit another one."
Not long after, Rocky's spiritual sword rushed to another straw man but missed again. This went on to another straw man, but then, the same thing happened. Everyone burst into laughter after seeing how pitiful he was.
But to everyone's surprise, Rocky's spiritual sword went to hit nine straw men in a row. Then, the spiritual sword flew back into the scabbard on his back like a boomerang.
Without a doubt, everyone who witnessed this was stunned to their core. They thought that Rocky had already given up and thus, took pleasure in his tragedy.
But almost at the same time, all the nine straw men who seemed to be missed by Rocky's spiritual sword fell down immediately.
The silence became deafening as no one knew how the nine straw men could collapse and fall to the ground so suddenly.
Now that Rocky had hit all ten of the straw men, this only meant that he had passed the first trial and would proceed to the next part of the exam.
"Damn luck!" the man in white in the crowd mumbled gloomily.
The second trial required the examinee to remove the obstacles made of large iron stones in the assigned area. Despite looking ordinary, they were all materials for refining spiritual swords, so they were extremely hard and difficult to destroy.
Under the watchful eyes of the public, the spiritual sword behind Rocky flew out of its scabbard again and rushed towards the nearest iron stone that was half meter high.
Clang!
As soon as the spiritual sword hit the iron stone, it immediately bounced back with a crisp and distinct sound, buzzing and vibrating, echoing all throughout the arena. However, the iron stone remained still, without a single noticeable crack on it.
Of course, the crowd booed Rocky again for failing. Surely, the crowd thought that he had passed the first trial out of pure luck. As it turned out, these boulders could only be destroyed by an impeccable strong sword power.
But to everyone's surprise, just as Rocky's spiritual sword stopped buzzing, the motionless iron stone suddenly developed a crack that spread all over its body before it finally disintegrated into pieces on the ground.
Everyone was flabbergasted, their mouth agape when they witnessed such an impossible scene!
Afterwards, Rocky's spiritual sword flew towards the second stone, which was definitely bigger and thicker than the previous one.
Only this time, the spiritual sword didn't directly rush to the black iron stone. Instead, it instantly inserted itself under the black iron stone, lifting it sideways. Immediately, the black iron stone flew up into the air, directly crashing into the stone next to it. At the same time, both of them were smashed into pieces.
The audience fell silent again after seeing this creative take on the trial. At that very moment, everyone stared at Rocky with disbelief in their eyes. No one had ever expected that he could remove the obstacles without using his sword skill. In their eyes, Rocky was a monster for having such an unbelievable skill.
However, Rocky acted nonchalantly and continued to approach the other obstacles with his sword.
Not long after, only one obstacle was left in the area—the hardest one of all. Normally, it would take the sword skill at least at the third grade of the King Realm to break it.
While everyone was still wondering on how Rocky would be able to remove the last stone, Rocky's spiritual sword hacked the stone down in an instant, flashing everyone with a dazzling sword light.
"Is this guy trying to cut it with his sword? What a loser! He's just dreaming!" Immediately, everyone went into an uproar. They all thought that Rocky was being stupid and overconfident with his sword strike this time around.