The Heavens: Man Covers the Heavens, Refines Treasures to Become an Emperor

“You’re looking for death!”

With the referee's signal, the battle officially began.

Buff charged at Jiang Xuan, his fists bursting into flames, distorting the surrounding air due to the intense heat.

"Blazing flames engulf the heavens!"

A violent burst of flames swept across the entire arena, and the spectators could even feel the terrifying heatwave through the light screen.

"That's it, that kid's dead meat!"

"It wouldn't even last three seconds!"

"Instructor Xiaoman is going to suffer a crushing defeat this time!"

Before the taunts had even subsided, a flash of silver light suddenly streaked across the arena.

Jiang Xuan stood still, raising the Flying Star Crossbow in his hand and calmly pulling the trigger.

After a crisp sound, a strange silver starlight burst forth from the crossbow bolt.

The light was breathtakingly beautiful, like the most brilliant star in the night sky, yet it also contained a deadly danger.

Buff's expression froze instantly. He felt the threat of death and wanted to escape, but it was too late.

The silver starlight drew a perfect arc in the sky, piercing precisely through Buff's brow.

The Fire Barbarian expert who was so aggressive just a moment ago is now a corpse, lying heavily on the arena.

The entire process, from start to finish, took only three seconds.

The audience was silent.

On a high platform outside the assessment area, Xiao Ke and the obese middle-aged man witnessed the entire scene.

“How is this possible?”

The obese middle-aged man's chin almost fell to the ground.

"Three seconds? He really did it?"

Xiao Ke stared intently at Jiang Xuan on the arena, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"Was that short crossbow Old Mo's doing?"

"It seems Xiaoman was right."

The obese middle-aged man murmured.

"This kid is indeed no ordinary person."

Xiao Ke snorted coldly.

"Don't get too excited yet, this is just the beginning."

But her clenched fist betrayed the shock in her heart. As one of the strictest instructors in the camp, she knew better than anyone how precise the judgment and how terrifying the strength required to kill a Fire Barbarian in an instant.

On the arena, Jiang Xuan calmly put away his Flying Star Crossbow, as if he had just done something insignificant. The referee, as if waking from a dream, then loudly announced the news.

"Seventh Arena, Jiang Xuan wins!"

Only then did the crowd erupt in a deafening roar of surprise.

"Am I seeing things? Three seconds?"

"What kind of weapon is that? It's terrifying!"

"Have we all misjudged them?"

Bai Lingxi, Zhao Yin, and the others, who had previously looked down on Jiang Xuan, now had serious expressions.

They understood better than ordinary students what it meant to deal with a powerful Fire Barbarian so cleanly and efficiently.

"interesting."

Bai Lingxi seemed to be deep in thought.

"Looks like this assessment won't be so boring."

Zhao Yin snorted coldly.

"It's just because he has a good weapon; true strength doesn't depend on external things."

But everyone present knew that this was not just a matter of weapons. Even the best weapons require a sufficiently skilled user to unleash their full power.

Inside the central camp, Xiaoman excitedly slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

"See that, Lao Xu? I knew this kid was something else!"

Xu Sanqi remained silent, but seemed somewhat surprised. After a moment, he finally spoke.

"Don't get too excited yet, this is just the beginning."

"It was already this exciting from the start, wasn't it?"

Xiaoman grinned.

"Now I'm even more excited for what's to come."

Outside the assessment area, the obese middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Xiao Ke, what do you think?"

Xiao Ke remained silent for a long time before coldly uttering a sentence.

"Keep watching."

Inside the central temporary camp, the light screen rippled like water, reflecting the real-time scenes of the various assessment areas.

Xu Sanqi stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, constantly scanning the light screen.

"Bai Lingxi is indeed extraordinary; Camp Seven is likely to take the lead again this time."

Xu Sanqi nodded, watching the white-clad figure in the light screen weave through the Fire Barbarian warriors, his sword flashing like a rainbow.

Xiaoman pouted.

"Instructor Xu, you're being too biased. I think Zhao Yin isn't bad either; Camp 22 has really invested heavily in training him this time."

Xu Sanqi remained noncommittal, turning his gaze to another light screen.

Changsun Hen and Li Duxing fought independently, their moves were fierce, and they were indeed rare talents.

"what?"

Xiaoman suddenly exclaimed softly and pointed to a light screen in the corner.

"Why is Jiang Xuan from Camp 39 still standing there without moving?"

Xu Sanqi looked at the scene at Camp Thirty-Nine. In the scene, a handsome young man was standing, playing with a strangely shaped short crossbow in his hand, while the Fire Barbarian warriors roared and charged towards him.

"Hmph, cowardly in the face of battle."

Xu Sanqi snorted coldly.

"With this kind of mentality, even the most talented person will find it difficult to achieve great things."

Xiaoman blinked.

"Instructor Xu, how about we make a bet? I bet Jiang Xuan will be the first to kill the Fire Barbarian powerhouse."

"absurd!"

Xu Sanqi chuckled.

"Bai Lingxi is almost finished with the battle, and Jiang Xuan hasn't even moved. How is that possible?"

Before the words were finished, a blinding light suddenly flashed across the screen.

"Killed! Jiang Xuan, Camp 39!"

The mechanical announcement echoed throughout the central camp, and Xu Sanqi's expression froze instantly.

"How is this possible?!"

He turned around abruptly and stared intently at the light screen.

In the scene, Jiang Xuan is still standing in the same spot, but the short crossbow in his hand is emitting blue smoke.

Before him, a thin crossbow bolt, as fine as a cow's hair, was stuck between the eyebrows of the Fire Barbarian warrior, who was already dead.

Xiaoman jumped up excitedly.

"Three seconds! It only took three seconds from start to finish! Instructor Xu, you lost!"

Xu Sanqi's expression shifted between light and shadow as he quickly pulled up the replay. The slow-motion replay showed that when the Fire Barbarian warrior was still three zhang away from Jiang Xuan, the boy merely raised his hand, and the arrow fired from the short crossbow was so fast that its trajectory was almost invisible, instantly piercing the enemy's forehead.

"This short crossbow"

Xu Sanqi's pupils contracted slightly.

"This is not standard equipment for the camp."

Xiaoman shook her head smugly.

"Of course not, Jiang Xuan made this himself. I heard he has a very powerful master, and this crossbow was forged according to his sect's secret techniques."

Xu Sanqi was silent for a moment, then suddenly said in a deep voice.

"Although he didn't violate camp regulations, this kind of cheating is ultimately an unfair victory. Issue my order: from now on, the use of homemade weapons is prohibited in camp assessments!"

"Why?"

Xiaoman retorted, unconvinced.

"Didn't the Imperial cultivators rely on magical artifacts to fight against the barbarian witches? It's only natural for cultivators to use magical artifacts!"

"absurd!"

Xu Sanqi glared angrily.

"True strength lies in self-improvement, not in relying on external resources! If Jiang Xuan truly possesses the ability, he should fight the Fire Barbarian warriors honorably!"

Xiaoman did not back down.

"Spiritual artifacts are an integral part of a cultivator's strength! According to you, if alchemists don't use pill furnaces and weapon refiners don't use hammers, then what's the point of cultivating the Dao?"

As the two argued, new kill notifications kept flashing on the screen.

Bai Lingxi, Zhao Yin, Changsun Hen, Li Duxing, and other talented students successively completed their missions, but none could surpass Jiang Xuan's astonishing three-second record. "Kill! Camp Seven, Bai Lingxi!"

"Killed! Camp 22, Zhao Yin!"

As names were called out one by one, the atmosphere in the central camp gradually became tense.

Xu Sanqi stopped arguing with Xiaoman and instead focused on observing the performance of each student, sometimes nodding and sometimes shaking his head.

"This assessment must uncover the true elite for the empire."

He muttered to himself, his fingers rapidly swiping across the screen to bring up detailed information on each student.

Xiaoman, meanwhile, secretly plotted to herself, a sly smile playing on her lips.

"When those guys get here, see how I deal with them!"

Just then, an instructor hurried over.

"Instructor Xu, was the White Rhinoceros from Camp Seven the first to complete it?"

Xu Sanqi shook his head expressionlessly.

"What?"

The instructor looked on incredulously.

"Besides Bai Lingxi, who else could..."

Before he could finish speaking, another instructor arrived.

Is Zhao Yin from Camp 22 in first place?

After receiving another negative answer, the two instructors looked at each other, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

Xiaoman suppressed a laugh and stood mysteriously to the side.

Soon, one instructor after another came to inquire, and they all received the same answer: their proud genius students were not the first to complete the assessment.

"Who exactly is it?"

Finally, someone couldn't help but ask.

Xiaoman blinked.

"Don't rush, you'll know once everyone is here."

As dusk settled, the quarterly assessment finally came to a close. The final statistical results were displayed on the screen.

"A total of 600 trainees participated in this assessment. 237 successfully defeated the Fire Barbarian powerhouse and advanced, while 363 were eliminated."

Xu Sanqi looked at the number.

A 60% elimination rate seems rather cruel, even for a camp known for its strict standards.

"Camp 39 performed well."

Xiaoman suddenly pointed to the detailed data and said.

"Only 13 people were eliminated, and 17 passed the assessment. Most other camps eliminated more than half of their people."

Xu Sanqi glanced at it and confirmed it was true.

Camp 39 had a pass rate far exceeding that of other camps, a rare phenomenon in the quarterly assessments over the years.

But when he saw the name at the very top, his expression became complicated.

"Jiang Xuan killed the Fire Barbarian expert in three seconds, ranking first in overall score."

Instructors and elites from twenty camps gathered here, where the two hundred and thirty-seven trainees who had passed the assessment should have been celebrating.

Three seconds? Are you kidding me!

The instructor from Camp Seven slammed his hand on the metal table, causing the liquid in his cup to splash.

"I personally witnessed Bai Lingxi resolve the battle in five seconds, which is already the best record for the Bloodthirsty Camp in ten years!"

"Instructor Xu, did your Camp 39 rig the assessment?"

Another instructor asked in a sinister tone, his gaze fixed on Xu Sanqi like a venomous snake.

Xiao Ke stood in the corner without saying a word.

Xiaoman quietly approached Xu Sanqi, and as she looked at the angry and distorted faces of the crowd, a subtle smile appeared on her lips.

"Quiet."

Xu Sanqi's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the entire hall.

He raised his hand and manipulated the screen a few times, and a video began to play.

In the scene, Jiang Xuan faced a three-meter-tall Fire Barbarian expert, but unlike the other students, he did not exercise the necessary caution.

He reached for his waist with his right hand, and a uniquely shaped short crossbow appeared in his hand. The crossbow was entirely black, covered with intricate spiritual runes, and emitted a dazzling blue light the moment it was released.

The fire-wielding warrior had just raised its battle axe when three blue beams pierced its brow, throat, and heart. Its massive body crashed to the ground, dissipating into sparks of fire.

"this"

The instructors at Camp Seven looked ashen-faced.

"This isn't a standard imperial artifact! He cheated!"

"He made the crossbow himself."

Xu Sanqi explained calmly.

"The camp rules have never prohibited participants from using homemade weapons."

A collective gasp filled the hall. A homemade magical artifact? From a student who had only recently joined the camp?
"impossible!"

Someone screamed.

"Even a spirit pattern master couldn't achieve this! The power of that crossbow is already close to that of a third-grade spirit weapon!"

Xu Sanqi's gaze swept over the crowd.

"The entire assessment process is monitored, and the results are authentic and valid. If you have any questions, you can appeal to headquarters."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads. Appeal to headquarters? That would be tantamount to questioning the fairness of the entire evaluation system, and the consequences would be beyond their ability to bear.

The instructors at Camp Seven's expression changed several times before they finally reluctantly sat back down in their seats.

Behind him stood Bai Lingxi, a girl with snow-white hair, a cold face, and an unusual light in her eyes.

"Now that the results have been confirmed as correct..."

Xiaoman suddenly spoke, her voice clear and crisp like a bell.

"Isn't it time for all the instructors to honor their bet from yesterday?"

Many instructors' faces turned extremely ugly, and some even began to quietly back away.

"I'm betting that Bai Lingxi will be number one."

"The instructor at Camp Seven gritted his teeth and said."

"But since this is the outcome..."

He reluctantly took out a jade box from his pocket and pushed it in front of Xu Sanqi.

Other instructors also took out various precious items, and some even trembled as they handed over a bottle of pills.

Xiaoman accepted the bets with a smile, her eyes curving into crescents.

The assessment results quickly spread throughout the Bloodthirsty Camp.

Jiang Xuan's name swept through every corner like a hurricane, bringing with it countless doubts and hostility.

"Three seconds? You're kidding me!"

"Camp 39 must have been secretly helping us!"

"Let's go to Camp Thirty-Nine and find Jiang Xuan to learn a thing or two!"

Similar comments arose everywhere, and Jiang Xuan went from being unknown to becoming the target of public criticism overnight.

Inside Camp 39, the reaction was equally intense.

"Hahaha! I knew this kid was no ordinary person!"

Ning Meng slapped his thigh and laughed wildly, causing dust to fall from the roof.

"Those idiots must be furious right now!"

Shi Yu leaned against the wall, twirling a copper coin between his fingers.

"A homemade magical artifact... Interesting. But this might make our Camp 39 a public enemy."

“What are you afraid of?”

Ning Meng snorted dismissively.

"A bunch of useless trash, we'll take them all!"

"A reckless man."

Shi Yu rolled his eyes.

"Do you think everyone is like you, only knowing how to solve problems with their fists?"

"What did you say?"

Ning Meng suddenly stood up, his body surging with spiritual energy.

"Want to fight?"

Shi Yu suddenly stopped holding the copper coin, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"I'm available anytime."

The two were on the verge of conflict when a voice interrupted them.

"If you're going to fight, go outside and fight."

Jiang Xuan appeared at the doorway at some point, his voice calm and undisturbed. (End of Chapter)