Chapter 13

– The Wooden Guardians
Watching Zhang Haoran leave, the crowd were full of respect and envy that even though Zhang Haoran and the people in the crowd were all human beings, he could reach the Mortal Realm Stage 10 and the highest stage of the Over Sky and Clouds Movement at the age of thirteen.
Is the difference between a genius and a normal person really that big?
Ye Chen shook his head and walked towards the notice board.
On that giant piece of white paper, there was a line of characters the size of a fist. It was perfectly written, probably by a master of calligraphy.
Besides some disclaimer information, it also listed that those participating in the Mu Ren Gang contest would receive one of Sky Cloud Martial School’s special Qi boosting pellet. It could save a month of training, and if it was used upon reaching a bottleneck, it could help breaking through to the next realm. However, it could only help with breaking through stages of the Mortal Realm.
What I need the most right now is time. This Qi boosting pellet that would save me a month of hard work would be really helpful. Ye Chen smiled, and carried on reading.

The top ten winners of the Mu Ren Gang would be able to choose one High Ranked Mortal Realm Skill; the top six would be rewarded with three Windy Dew pellets; the top three could learn one High Ranked Mortal Realm Movement of their choosing and the champion would also be rewarded with a Yuan Boosting Pellet.

Ye Chen squeezed his eyes, he didn’t really care about the High Ranked Mortal Realm Skills, but the Windy Dew pellets would be such a good asset to have for training Qi. In the first ten days after using the Windy Dew pellet, a warrior would feel extremely purified and fresh both physically and mentally, their training speed would also increase dramatically and would have a higher comprehension of martial arts. There were even a lot of inner disciples that desperately looked for it, it was valued at more than ten thousand silvers. The only bad thing about it was that it could not be used too often, each use of the pellet would be increasingly worse than the last time until its effectiveness completely disappeared.
However, a High Ranked Mortal Realm Movement was even more valuable. With a High Ranked Movement, Ye Chen could train at a much faster speed and the quality and quantity of his Qi would be on another level qualitatively. In other words, if he could get his hands on a High Rank Mortal Realm Movement manual, it would even be possible for him to breakthrough to the Condensing Reality Realm.
Ye Chen smiled helplessly as he saw the prize for the champion.
Needless to say, a Yuan Boosting Pellet was the most valuable among the listed prizes, it could help a Mortal Realm warriors step straight into the next stage, it could even be used to breakthrough the bottleneck of the Condensing Reality State. However in regards of obtaining first place, Ye Chen was not confident at all. Even Maq Wu, who was a Mortal Realm Stage Ten warrior, could never compete with Wu Zongming and Zhang Haoran who were the sons blessed by the heavens. The movements and skills they had mastered were much stronger than anyone else, and with their genius comprehension abilities, it was almost impossible to beat them to take first place. Only if Ye Chen could reach the Mortal Realm Stage Eight from Stage Six, then would he even have a chance to contend against those two.
Slowly letting out a breath, Ye Chen made up his mind. He dare not to dream for first or second place, but third place would be his! Failure will not be tolerated!
…
The night was over, the first beam of sunshine raised from the east side.
In the yard, Ye Chen had just finished a movement and was rubbing himself with the body boosting ointment.
Six months after the Mu Ren Gang, it will be the Ye Family Gathering. Whether or not I will attend will depend on what happens today!
Ye Chen understood clearly, his eldest uncle’s son Ye Tang and his fourth uncle’s daughter Ye Xuan were both rare geniuses of the Ye family. They had reached the Mortal Realm Stage Five at the age of twelve. And now, after three years’ time, they may have very likely reached the peak of Mortal Realm Stage Ten, or perhaps they had even broken through to the Condensing Reality Realm.
A Condensing Reality warrior was on a different level! Even if Ye Chen had amazing comprehension and insights, there was still a huge gap between him and them.
Before Ye Chen had even left the house, the Sky Cloud Martial School was already filled with chanting. It was an important day for most of the people, the day of Mu Ren Gang. What’s more was that during the challenge, some outer elders and inner disciples would come to watch the competition, and at some of the rare cases, a couple of inner elders would be present as well. If an outer disciple did well today, it could considered as a ticket to heaven if an elder took an interest in them.
Because the Mu Ren Gang was located right in the front for the message center which was usually closed so you could not really see what was actually happening inside.
Ye Chen arrived in the message center and found the place already crowded with people: half of the three thousand outer disciples were already waiting here, along with a few inner disciples and outer elders sitting in the high tower in the end of the plaza, looking down over the crowd.

Elder Lin, who do you think will be the top ten this Mu Ren Gang?
A teenager who was about sixteen years old asked. He was very good looking, although his skin was oddly pale.
The elder man who was called Master Lin laughed:
Yuntao, you are already one of the top inner disciples, yet you are still interested in this?

Yuntao nodded as he replied:
I didn’t really have an outstanding talent back in the day, and for that I really struggled during those days, so I really relate to the outer disciples, especially with their desperate desire to do well.


Right.
Master Lin nodded,
In my opinion, the top ten for this Mu Ren Gang would probably be the same but with Zhang Haoran in there somewhere.


Zhang Haoran? I heard of him. They said he is the number one genius among the junior apprentices.


Yesterday I heard that Zhang Haoran had already mastered his High Ranked Mortal Realm Over Sky and Clouds Movement to its highest stage. What a rare genius!


The fifth stage of the Over Sky and Clouds Movement… no wonder those elders have been praising him so highly.
Yuntao seemed surprised, when he was still a outer disciple, he also trained in the Over Sky and Clouds Movement but he still had not reached the final stage yet.
Elder Lin looked at Zhang Haoran who was standing in the plaza and said gratefully:
The more geniuses that the Sky Cloud Martial School have, the more potential we have. Perhaps one day we can even upgrade from a Rank Nine to a Rank Eight Martial School, I would be so happy that even if I died I would die with a smile.

Yuntao felt extremely motivated from Master Lin’s speech,
Don’t worry, Elder Lin! Although I still cannot compete with the core disciples, I will give everything I have and do my best to help the Sky Cloud Martial School promote to the next rank!


Haha! Wonderful! It is really great that you have this kind of determination.

It is time for the Mu Ren Gang to begin!
Crack!
The huge wall in the front of the plaza suddenly cracked open. Revealed in front the crowd was a dark path of unknown length and unknown destination.
At this moment, Master Lin stood up and said:
Everyone, today is our semi-annual Mu Ren Gang challenge, all outer disciples are eligible to enter. As for the prize, you probably had already read about it on the message board so I won’t go in details. Now, let’s get to the first round of the challenge: to enter the Mu Ren Gang, you would have to beat a wooden guardian.

Master Lin’s voice naturally was not very loud, but when fortified by his Qi, it spread miles away allowing everyone heard him loud and clear.

Shit, I almost beat one of those wooden guardian last time, this time I can definitely do it!


Me too! But I heard that there are not just wooden guardian in Mu Ren Gang but also a wooden sword artist, I am not sure if I can make it.

Regardless what everyone thought, the challenge of Mu Ren Gang had officially started.
Click, click, click…
A row of twenty wooden guardians walked out.
These two-meter-tall wooden guardians were made of a special kind of wood, their eyes were made of two thin slices of crystals sparkling with cold lights, they were obviously not normal puppets.
Ye Chen was not surprised. Rumors said that those wooden guardians were a special puppet which were invented five thousand years ago by the rank 5 Martial Academy – the Puppet School. Although the puppets were not intelligent, they could sense people around them and attack them in different ways which was very impressive.
Sky Cloud Martial School received the manufacture instructions in a fortuitous occurrence. However these wooden guardians were only powerful to an extent, equivalent to a Mortal Realm warrior, so they were only great for training the outer disciples.
………
Editor and Translator’s Corner:
Hi all! Just a little clarification on what a movement is. Movements are a set of routine movements that one practices in. Movements are divided into palm, sword, finger, and etc arts which are also meant for attacking. Deeper comprehension results in a better quality and quantity of Qi. The difference between movements and skills are that skills are a single
movement
that increases your attack in a short burst with no benefits for your cultivation versus movements which are a set of stances that are both meant for attack and increasing your cultivation.
If anyone has a better term for movement please comment below since Sheryl and I are going nuts over trying to find a better term that could be used in a bunch of different ways for different things!