You call this the way of the sword?

As one of the six scores in the major examination, the newly promoted cultivation level is tested every year, but Yang Qingfeng has not been able to fully understand its evaluation methods and standards.

What I can be sure of is that my cultivation level has reached its limit.

This upper limit is not the upper limit for newcomers or those taking major exams, but rather the upper limit of the rules.

There are various rules in the world.

The rules intertwine to form a series of cultivation systems, including Dao bodies, skills, dungeons, and secret realms. With levels and Dao cultivation as guides, it leads people to cultivate and assists cultivators to gradually become stronger by aiming for stage-by-stage growth.

These rules are all related to spiritual practice and are common knowledge known to all. In addition, there are many more profound rules, and their integrated and concrete representation is the Heavenly Dao Network.

Exploring and researching the Heavenly Dao Network is a matter for the powerful beings, and it is something for the future.

Yang Qingfeng doesn't have that much ambition or ability right now. He just wants to know what the consequences will be if his cultivation is exposed.

"Senior Brother Yang..."

Suddenly, Xiao Bingning's voice came.

Yang Qingfeng's thoughts were interrupted, and he realized that they had reached the middle to late part of the jade steps, about eight hundred steps.

At this position, they have already left the vast majority of candidates behind.

Looking back, almost every candidate was panting heavily and sweating profusely.

It was as if mountains were pressing down on them, making every step they took difficult.

Even Xiao Bingning's voice was trembling slightly, "Senior Brother, don't wait for me anymore, I feel... I'm about to reach my limit."

Yang Qingfeng looked away and saw Xiao Bingning's face was deathly pale, her delicate body trembling slightly, but she was still taking steps forward with her fists clenched.

"I wasn't waiting for you, I was just thinking about something," Yang Qingfeng explained truthfully.

However, Xiao Bingning acted as if she hadn't heard anything, keeping her eyes fixed ahead, her anxiety growing.

Only she knew that she couldn't go on after taking the 700th step, and the extra 100 steps she took were because Yang Qingfeng was there to encourage her.

Xiao Bingning was deeply grateful, feeling that Yang Qingfeng had deliberately slowed down, silently leading her forward step by step, breaking through her limits several times.

But now, because of my own shortcomings, my senior brother's first place is going to be handed over to someone else!

"Yang... Senior Brother, you go ahead, let me walk slowly by myself... It's alright."

Xiao Bingning looked at Yang Qingfeng, her eyes filled with anxiety.

Yang Qingfeng didn't know what she was thinking, but when he followed her gaze, he saw something even more perplexing.

At this point, only six people were walking ahead of them.

Three of them were unfamiliar and were resting on the 900th step.

The other three, from lowest to highest, are Sha Yinzhen, Qiao Lie, and Song Yuanshan. They have all exceeded 950 steps and are about to reach the end.

However, this last part made their condition somewhat abnormal.

The thousand-layered jade staircase begins to exert an invisible pressure from the hundredth step onwards. With each hundredth step, the pressure on the examinees increases by one point.

Upon reaching level 950 and above, the weight increases with each subsequent level, causing Song Yuanshan and the other two to resemble three crazed fighting beasts.

They glared at each other with six red eyes, wary and gritting their teeth. Saliva and snot flew out of their mouths with each breath, and they used this as an attack to try to interrupt each other's steps.

This battle was not a matter of life or death, but it was extremely humiliating.

Yang Qingfeng never imagined that all of this was caused by him.

As fellow practitioners of swordsmanship, Song Yuanshan was solely focused on surpassing Yang Qingfeng. Therefore, he exerted all his efforts to maintain his lead. Every time he looked back and saw Yang Qingfeng still halfway up the mountain, he would get excited and his lips would curl into a smile.

However, due to the immense pressure he was under, his facial expressions had long since become uncontrollable. To Qiao Lie and Sha Yinzhen, it looked as if he were looking down on them and mocking them.

Qiao Lie, with his fiery temper, couldn't stand it and started arguing with Song Yuanshan, their argument becoming incredibly fierce.

Sha Yinzhen, with a sinister glint in his eye, tried to overtake her, but was caught in the snot from who-knows-where. Startled and angry, he yelled and began to retaliate.

"You beasts! I'll kill you all!!"

"I! Can! Win!"

"If you can win, I'll change my name to something else!!"

Song Yuanshan's mocking glance truly provoked public outrage.

Seeing his hateful and despicable appearance, Xiao Bingning felt even more guilty and urged him anxiously, "Senior brother, go quickly!"

Seeing that Yang Qingfeng "remained unwilling to abandon her," Xiao Bingning couldn't help but reach out and grab him, pushing him forward: "Don't worry about me, go quickly, don't let him win!"

At this moment, Song Yuanshan leaped up two steps in one breath, and was only three steps away from the finish line.

Qiao Lie kept close behind Song Yuanshan, but always trailed by two steps. In his anger and frustration, a sudden idea struck him, and he roared, "Yang Qingfeng! If you keep hiding, how can you face your teacher?!"

"Do you still want to save the gentleman?!"

Upon hearing Qiao Lie's words, Yang Qingfeng immediately raised his head, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes.

Although he didn't know exactly what Qiao Lie meant, he had no other choice when it came to saving the master. Whether he kept his own skills hidden or not was insignificant compared to that.

Yang Qingfeng immediately took a step forward and rushed ahead.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind swept in.

"who!?"

As soon as Song Yuanshan turned his head, he saw someone flash past him. In the blink of an eye, Yang Qingfeng was already standing in front of the palace gate, walking in as if no one else was there.

Suddenly, all was silent.

Song Yuanshan stood there stunned.

Sha Yinzhen, who was behind him, was so shocked and angry that he forgot to catch his breath.

Only Qiao Lie, his body ablaze with fury amidst a sinister grin, stared at Song Yuanshan like a madman, relentlessly closing in step by step: "Kid, you want to beat him?"

"Beat me first!!"

Inside the prefectural government building, several prefectural lords and chief officials suddenly stood up, their eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yang Qingfeng! It's him again!"

"How is this possible?"

"How... how could he just suddenly pass away?"

"Even if you don't have enough experience, you can still persevere and get through it. But to run like him, you need at least a year of experience. How did he do it?"

"More than a year... How did this kid manage that?"

At this moment, there was only one scene in the inner hall, facing the thousand-layered jade steps of the Yu Palace. The prefects could see every examinee walking on the jade steps clearly.

Yang Qingfeng was in particular the focus of their attention; almost everyone kept an eye on him, waiting to see how he would perform.

Even so, Yang Qingfeng's sudden outburst still startled them.

Right under their noses, Yang Qingfeng suddenly accelerated and quickly overtook them. The last hundred jade steps seemed unreal; the reversal came far too fast!

"Wait, where did he go?"

Suddenly, one of the manor lords hurriedly asked, "Where is Yang Qingfeng? What about the footage from the third scene? Show us the footage quickly, it's driving us crazy!"

The others were also intrigued by Yang Qingfeng's words, and the officers quickly took action, only to find that they could not broadcast the message.

Tiandao Network's reason was that they did not have permission.