In chaotic times, one can become a martial immortal.

Upon seeing Fang Chang appear, Lu Yuan nodded with a smile.

It's not convenient to talk to him now; he can ask him more questions after the test is over.

Fang Chang, standing shoulder to shoulder with another burly young man, also nodded to Lu Yuan with a smile.

"Brother Hong, Chen Pi said that if you get into the top three in today's strength test, you'll get a meat meal every day. Is that true?"

Someone couldn't help but ask the burly young man.

"Of course it's true, it's what my master said himself!"

Hong Lei smiled and nodded.

"Yay...that's awesome!"

"Master Song is awesome! Brother Hong is awesome!"

Upon hearing this, everyone cheered, their faces filled with excitement. They were even rubbing their hands together, eager to begin the strength test and compete for the top three spots.

Although they were all relatively ordinary martial arts disciples from the outer courtyard, and could not become Master Song's personal disciples or be qualified to call him master, it would still be excellent if they could receive a free meal of meat every day.

Lu Yuan was naturally quite looking forward to it. With this free meat every day, not only would his body grow stronger faster, but it would also help him cultivate and refine his qi and blood more quickly, which would surely speed up his progress in practicing the Five Animal Fist.

However, he also noticed that when everyone was shouting "Brother Hong is mighty!", Fang Chang's expression turned slightly ugly, and his fists clenched slightly.

Fang Chang had only just entered the inner courtyard and had only been Master Song's personal disciple for a few days, so his prestige was certainly far inferior to that of Hong Lei, who had already entered the sect.

Therefore, these martial arts students from the outer courtyard naturally support Hong Lei even more.

"These stone locks differ in weight by only ten jin (approximately 5 kg), with the lightest weighing one hundred jin (approximately 50 kg) and the heaviest two hundred jin (approximately 100 kg). You only need to lift one of them above your head and hold it for three breaths. Remember, do what you can!"

At this moment, Hong Lei, with a smile on his face, said to everyone, "Who wants to go first?"

"Brother Hong, let me try first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Pi walked out of the crowd and stood in front of the stone lock that weighed two hundred pounds.

Without the slightest hesitation, he bent down and reached out his hands to grab it tightly.

After taking a deep breath, Chen Pi exerted himself forcefully, and the veins on his forehead bulged out. Even his face seemed to become somewhat ferocious, clearly indicating that he had used all his strength.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, the stone lock on the ground remained unmoved.

Clearly, his strength was insufficient to budge the two-hundred-pound stone lock even slightly.

"As I said, do what you can handle!"

Seeing that Chen Pi's face was flushed red and he was even trembling, yet he was still unwilling to give up, Hong Lei could only frown slightly and say in a deep voice, "If anyone continues like this, their eligibility to receive meat will be revoked!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Pi immediately released his hands and began to gasp for breath.

After resting for a while, he tried lifting stone weights weighing 190 jin and 180 jin respectively. Although he could move them a little, he could not lift them above his head at all.

In the end, he could only barely lift the 170-pound stone lock above his head and hold it for three breaths.

"Fang Chang, write this down: 170 jin of dried tangerine peel!"

After Chen Pi put the stone lock down, Hong Lei turned to look at Fang Chang beside him and smiled.

Upon hearing this, Fang Chang clenched his fist a little tighter, but quickly relaxed it and nodded with a smile.

He quickly grabbed paper and pen and wrote down the test results for the dried tangerine peel.

"Who's next?"

Hong Lei nodded slightly, then asked the crowd.

"I'll do it!"

Soon, another boy stepped out from the crowd.

After several attempts, he finally lifted the 160-pound stone lock.

"Remember, Zhang San, 160 jin!"

And so, one by one, everyone underwent testing.

"Wang Er, 150 jin!"

"Zhu Ba, 160 jin!"

As time went by, most people received their test results.

It can be seen that, apart from Chenpi, which is currently ranked first, everyone's strength is basically concentrated between 150 and 160.

This means that the differences in everyone's cultivation progress and growth speed are actually not that great.

"Congratulations, Brother Chenpi!"

Lu Yuan chuckled softly at Chen Pi.

"It's too early to congratulate them. Those two guys are definitely not much weaker than me!"

Chen Pi shook his head, looking at the two teenagers in the crowd with a somewhat solemn expression.

Lu Yuan also turned his gaze to the two of them. After spending the past few days together, although his relationship with most of the outer courtyard martial arts disciples was not as close as Chen Pi's, at most they were just nodding acquaintances, he still remembered most of their names.

The boy who was wearing a blue hemp jacket and appeared more robust was named Wu Yu.

The other boy, who was wearing a tattered gray coat and was relatively thin, was named Chen Yong.

Lu Yuan was naturally unaware of their cultivation progress, but judging from Chen Pi's expression, the two men's strength, even if not as great as Chen Pi's, was probably roughly equal.

As expected, Wu Yu not only walked directly to the 170-pound stone lock, but also quickly lifted it above his head.

It seems easier and lasts longer than dried tangerine peel.

"Wu Yu, you're not bad, I'll record 175 jin!"

Hong Lei smiled at Wu Yu and then said.

"Thank you so much, Brother Hong!"

Wu Yu quickly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Hong Lei.

"It doesn't matter if we're first or not, as long as we stay in the top three!"

Chen Pi's expression grew even more serious, as if he were trying to comfort himself.

In fact, Lu Yuan thought the same thing.

The reason he waited until the very end to conduct the test was to better control the score.

As long as you can get into the top three and receive the free meat every day, that's enough. There's absolutely no need to compete for first place.

In this world, being steady and low-key is still quite necessary.

Of course, he will also reveal himself appropriately when the time is right.

After a few more people had been tested, Chen Yong also walked out of the crowd.

His target was also a 170-pound stone lock.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Liu Yong successfully lifted the stone lock, but he seemed to be struggling quite a bit. In the end, he could only hold on for two breaths before he couldn't help but throw the stone lock heavily to the ground.

"Chen Yong, just record 165 jin!"

Hong Lei said.

Chen Yong didn't say much. He clasped his hands slightly in greeting to Hong Lei and then turned back into the crowd.

The dozen or so people tested after him, like most others, had a strength between 150 and 160 jin.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Wu Yu should be first in this strength test, Chen Pi second, and Liu Yong third. It's a pity I'm still a little short of strength, otherwise, I could have easily secured third place!"

"We failed to make it into the top three this time, and it will probably be even harder next time. With the help of meat every day, those three will definitely make far more progress than us. One step behind means falling behind at every step!"

Many people couldn't help but hang their heads in dejection.

"Yuan... Yuan, now you're the only one left!"

At this moment, Fang Chang suddenly called out to Lu Yuan.

……