Heaven rewards diligence, but there are always fairies plotting against me.

Song Qing's eyes flickered with struggle and resentment.

Finally, he sneered, "You are indeed very clever, knowing to expose this strange weapon on the arena. Don't worry, the sect rules are in place, I will not force you to give me the strange weapon."

At this point, Song Qing leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying, "However, such a treasure is like a pearl cast before swine in the hands of someone at the fifth level of Body Tempering. I can persuade my family to offer you an astronomical price that you can't refuse. You'd better think it over carefully."

With those words, Song Qing turned and left, departing with unusual decisiveness.

Watching Song Qing's departing figure, Chu Chang was somewhat surprised to find that the [Red Thread of Killing Intent] that was attached to Song Qing's head, after a violent tremor, actually disappeared into the void with a "pop"!

"Hehe, it really disappeared." Chu Chang's lips curled up slightly.

The desire to kill is gone; only greed remains.

As long as the other party is thinking about buying rather than stealing, then the initiative is completely in your hands.

"Brother Chu! Did Song Qing just threaten you?"

Zhang Erniu and Yu Xiaoxiao rushed over at this moment.

"No, he not only didn't threaten me, he even wanted to do business with me." Chu Chang patted Zhang Erniu on the shoulder to reassure him.

"Chu Chang, you've been hiding this well!" Yu Xiaoxiao looked at the rusty sword at Chu Chang's waist with envy and said sourly, "And I've been worrying about you every day, afraid you'd get beaten to death. Why didn't you say so sooner that you had such a powerful trump card?"

"Keep it low-key, keep it low-key." Chu Chang chuckled. "This is a life-saving secret. If everyone knows about my trump card, what kind of trump card is it?"

At this moment, the assessment on the field was still in full swing.

The first round of competition ended quickly, and half of the 350 disciples were eliminated in an instant.

After a short break, the second round of assessments began in earnest.

However, luck clearly didn't always favor Yu Xiaoxiao.

In the second round, she encountered a tough opponent who had reached the ninth level of body tempering.

After exchanging blows for more than ten rounds, he was ultimately blasted off the stage by his opponent's palm due to the vast difference in their strength, thus ending his journey in regret.

"Damn it! I was so close!" Yu Xiaoxiao stomped her feet in anger after stepping off the stage, but there was nothing she could do.

Soon, the elder's pronouncement echoed across the plaza once more: "Second round, seventh group! Chu Chang, versus Lin Yue'er, ninth level of Body Tempering Realm!"

Upon hearing the name, Chu Chang dusted himself off and stood up.

He looked up and saw a young girl in a light pink samurai outfit with a high ponytail walking onto the stage with a grim expression, holding a slender green sword.

At this moment, Lin Yue'er stood in a corner of the arena, her pretty face so dark it was almost dripping with water.

She was very unhappy, even extremely frustrated!

As an elite at the ninth level of Body Tempering, with her strength, she could have easily secured a spot as a trainee disciple in the Enforcement Hall during this assessment.

But she never expected that she would draw Chu Chang, this freak, in the second round!

She was not afraid of Chu Chang's mere fifth level of Body Tempering cultivation.

What she feared was the chipped and dented weapon in Chu Chang's hand!

Everyone just saw the power of that thing; it's an evil weapon that can instantly corrode clothes!

Xu Da, a rough and tough guy, was corrupted to the point where he was left with only his underwear. At most, he would lose face, but everyone would forget about it in a few days.

But she's a virgin!

The really top-notch kind!

If she were stripped naked in front of hundreds of fellow disciples and elders, how could she ever face the Divine Sword Sect again?

I might as well just find a block of tofu and smash my head against it!

In an instant, Lin Yue'er's knuckles turned white as she frantically racked her brains for a way to kill Chu Chang instantly without touching the strange sword.

Meanwhile, the audience below the stage had completely erupted in chaos.

"Look! It's that kid! He's only at the fifth level of Body Tempering, yet he's wielding a strange weapon!"

"Tsk tsk, this artifact looks so shabby! It looks like it's been buried in the mud for eight hundred years. It's such a rip-off."

"You don't know anything! Ugly as it may be, it's a genuine magical weapon! Didn't you see Xu Da running around naked just now?"

"Exactly, the artifact is sentient and incredibly powerful. What kind of incredible luck did this kid have...?"

Chu Chang stood on the stage, listlessly turning his head to look around. He was surprised to find that the number of onlookers had more than doubled compared to before, and the crowd was packed in layers.

Even several high-ranking members of the Deacon Hall who are usually rarely seen glanced in this direction.

These people had obviously heard that an outer disciple with a "clothes-exploding artifact" had appeared here, and they had come specifically to see it.

Chu Chang touched his nose, thinking to himself: he seemed to have underestimated the value of the treacherous artifact.

In fact, artifacts are extremely difficult to cultivate.

We must venture deep into the perilous and eerie forbidden zone, slay powerful evil creatures, and forcibly fuse the core evil seed of those creatures into our weapons!

Finally, it takes an exorbitant amount of money to hire a high-level weapon refiner to work on it, and only after going through the process of forging can a single piece be created.

Let alone outer disciples, even some inner elders may not have a suitable magical weapon!

However, to be fair...

Looking at the sea of ​​people below the stage, all staring at him with fear, envy, and jealousy, Chu Chang felt incredibly pleased.

This is what it feels like to be noticed.

"Huh, I didn't expect my opponent this round to be a beauty." Chu Chang composed himself, looked at Lin Yue'er's tense face opposite him, and casually clasped his hands in greeting: "Greetings, Senior Sister!"

"snort!"

Lin Yue'er's eyebrows furrowed, her slender sword pointed directly at Chu Chang, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "Junior brother! If you're so capable, don't use that broken weapon of yours today! Fight me fair and square, and even if you lose, I'll respect you as a man!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Chang shrugged with amusement: "Senior Sister, such childish provocation won't work on me. If you're really scared, you might as well step down and admit defeat now. Otherwise, if we really start fighting later... my sword energy doesn't discriminate, and it might melt your clothes too, which wouldn't be pleasant."

"You... shameless!" Lin Yue'er was both ashamed and angry, her cheeks flushed red.

She stared intently at the rusty sword in Chu Chang's hand, which exuded an ominous aura, her whole body tense.

Admit defeat? Absolutely not!

She's a dignified ninth-level Body Tempering cultivator. If she were to be so intimidated by a fifth-level Body Tempering cultivator that she surrendered immediately, how would she ever be able to maintain her standing in the sect again?

"I refuse to believe that with my ninth-level Body Tempering speed, I can't dodge your crude sword energy!"

Lin Yue'er gritted her teeth, a resolute glint in her eyes, and with a stomp of her foot, her figure instantly transformed into a pink afterimage, rushing towards Chu Changji like a shooting star!

"Well done!"

Chu Chang let out a low shout and decisively made his move.

He didn't use any profound sword techniques; he simply slashed at the afterimage in front of him with an ordinary sword strike.

"brush!"

A streak of gray sword energy flew out in response.

To Chu Chang's surprise, Lin Yue'er, despite being at the ninth level of Body Tempering, possessed truly remarkable agility.

Her waist twisted strangely in mid-air, like a willow catkin in the wind, narrowly missing the gray sword energy!

We avoided it!

"We won!" Lin Yue'er was overjoyed. Using the momentum from her dodge, she instantly closed in on Chu Chang, her slender sword pointing directly at his shoulder.

She could even picture Chu Changzhan being defeated and stepping down from the stage.

Just when she thought she had won, Chu Chang suddenly grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "Senior sister, not bad speed. But... what if the entire arena was filled with my sword energy?"

Lin Yue'er's pupils constricted sharply: "What?!"

"Go on, you ruffled cloak!"

Chu Chang didn't bother with any talk of martial ethics or rules. Holding the Corrosive Blade, he transformed into a human water truck, wildly slashing at the surrounding air!

"Swish swish swish swish!!!"

In an instant, dozens of gray sword energies roared out without any pattern, densely intertwining to form a huge gray electric net, almost completely surrounding the entire arena!

"not good!"

Lin Yue'er had a premonition of something bad happening. With no way to avoid it, she could only grit her teeth and frantically urge her internal energy to condense a thin protective shield around her.

However, the corrosive aura of the artifact was extremely strange and could not be easily resisted by ordinary true energy.

"Sizzle!"

With a sickeningly loud melting sound, Lin Yue'er's protective aura was instantly corroded, leaving several large holes.

Immediately afterwards, the gray mist seeped through the hole and instantly climbed up her sleeves and the hem of her skirt!

"Ahhhhhh! My clothes! Stop! Stop right now! They're going to fall apart, they're really going to fall apart!"