Chapter 28 (1/2)

On the second day, Ding Hao spent quite a substantial amount of time searching for the mysterious teenage siblings. Unfortunately, he had never caught sight of Xie Jieyu and Ding Ding, and as such he did not know about the fate of the teenage girls who had suffered so much. He guessed that it was more likely for their fate to have made a turn for the worse—it would be extremely hard for Xie Jieyu to pa.s.s the entrance test of the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect, what with her frail const.i.tution.

The test continued on the third day.

The entire enrolment process of the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect lasted for six days.

On the first day, most of the onlookers made the effort to arrive extra early, but on the second day, however, the number of onlookers began to decrease.

An estimated number of more than 40,000 teenagers from a 500-mile radius had turned up over the past six whole days for the entrance test. Eventually, only 2,020 of the teenagers officially pa.s.sed the test and became disciples on the waiting list of the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect.

On the evening of the sixth day, a register showing the names of all the partic.i.p.ants in the test, along with their ranking, was published at the announcement area.

Ding Hao’s ranking was revealed to have eventually dropped to the 100th position on the nominal roll.

Li Yiruo was ranked at the 430th position.

Xiao Chengxuan was ranked at the 563rd position.

Li Chanyang was ranked 199th.

Cao Yan was ranked 1213th.

Even Zhao Xingcheng, who had been severely beaten up by Ding Hao, also managed to make it past the entrance examination; he was ranked 2017th.

Ding Hao drew comfort in the fact that Zhang Fan, the teenager who came from a family of hunters and was fighting his fate, somehow managed to secure a position for himself as a disciple on the waiting list of the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect by earning the result of 2020th position.

Just as he expected, Ding Hao did not find Xie Jieyu’s name amongst the list of 2020 partic.i.p.ants who had got on the waiting list.

“Seems like the stubborn and extremely beautiful teenage girl had indeed failed to get selected. Where could they have gone to now? I bet she must be very sad and disappointed now.”

A feeling of desolation and disappointment came into Ding Hao’s heart with no warning at all.

Just like before, the first 20 names on the nominal roll were entirely covered with red paper. The names of these candidates were hidden, and no one knew who they were; it all seemed extremely mysterious.

This was the method employed by the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect to protect its gifted disciples.

Without a doubt, the first 20 candidates were the real exceptional geniuses that the sect had obtained from the enrolment contest. Most of them were probably martial artists with strong lineage—such candidates had remnants of mystical bloodlines in them which possessed great power. The Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect was now using the method of secrecy to prevent these 20 geniuses from being poached or a.s.sa.s.sinated by rival sects.

It was an extremely demanding and cruel process to shortlist 2,020 candidates out of 60,000.

From the looks of it, the fact that Ding Hao had managed to rank 100th eventually with his second-cla.s.s meridians was already extremely outstanding.

Ding Hao was extremely satisfied with this result.

However, he could vaguely feel that the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect’s test seemed to have overlooked something.

After going through the Adventure Province in the cave, which led to strange changes taking place within his body, as well as the huge secret encompa.s.sed within the virtual image of the saber and sword, Ding Hao now possessed a self-confidence that he himself was surprised with. He knew that the moment all of the potential hidden within him was unleashed, he would definitely not lose out to the exceptional talents ranked at the first 20 positions.

With the announcement of the final results, the mountainous entrance to the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect, which was once filled with commotion, reverted back to a peaceful state.

Other than the disciples ranked at the first 20 positions, who were given special treatment, each of the remaining 2,000 teenagers received the clothes, waist token and a long sword of a disciple on the waiting list from the logistics department of the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect. They were then temporarily a.s.signed to the guest quarters for the night.

Each teenager received a small booklet which was similar to a guidebook; every event that they would undergo for the next few days was described in detail in it.

Ding Hao returned to the slums district at the mountain behind. He casually packed up his belongings before returning to his guest room.