C462 Forceful Challenge!(1)

On the third day, as the morning light broke, a new guide appeared before everyone. By now, they were used to this routine and followed the guide into the world beyond the light curtain without hesitation.

This time, they found themselves in a vast wilderness stretching as far as the eye could see. The guide's task was straightforward: gather medicinal herbs. Within a hundred-mile radius of this wilderness, many rare and valuable plants grew. However, these treasures might be guarded by fierce beasts, natural dangers, or even man-made obstacles.

The collected treasures could be exchanged for tokens.

On the fourth day, a new guide and a new task awaited them. This task piqued Woo Zhengyang's interest: breaking enchantments. Enchantments are part of the art of formations, yet they stand apart from ordinary formations. Many formations operate with incredible power on their own, but with a master, they can unleash even greater abilities. Enchantments, however, have no master and draw power from the natural world. To break them, one must either use brute force or, like unraveling a formation, find the weak point.

This task required the young villagers to understand enchantments and, using the methods etched around them, attempt to break them. The more enchantments they broke and the more complex they were, the more time they could earn in the gravity room.

In the past few days, the tasks at Azure Sun Martial Mansion felt like a transaction. But this time, it seemed more like a gift. Learning how to break restrictions was a win-win for the young people from the villages. It benefited them greatly and allowed them to earn time tokens. Why not take advantage of it?

This changed many people's perceptions of the Azure Sun Martial Mansion. Could it be that the mansion was genuinely teaching them skills, just with a tough approach?

On the fifth day, a new challenge began. However, this task wasn't as favorable. Everyone was taken to an arena area where each platform had a disciple from the mansion. Below each platform, there were rewards listed for winning the challenge, ranging from one to ten hours.

For the past few days, Woo Zhengyang had been completing tasks with everyone else, keeping a low profile. Even though he excelled in formation techniques, he didn't showcase his skills much. He wasn't sure of the mansion's true intentions, and since the village youths likely hadn't encountered formation techniques before, standing out too much might draw unwanted attention from the mansion, which could be either good or bad.

Today, Woo Zhengyang felt a bit conflicted. As the champion of the Thousand-village Martial Competition, blending in was one thing, but failing to stand out in combat would be hard to justify.

Woo Zhengyang needed to carefully gauge just how much he should show. There were about twenty arenas, and as Woo Zhengyang looked around, he noticed that the Azure Sun Martial Mansion disciples on the platforms were much younger than those he had seen before, all just teenagers. Below the arenas, the names and skill levels of these young fighters were listed.

After making a round, everyone, including Woo Zhengyang, was thoroughly impressed by the depth of talent at the Azure Sun Martial Mansion. The young disciples they had seen earlier, who were in their twenties and already masters of the Inner Stage, had already left many in awe. But now, it seemed their amazement had been premature.

These teenagers, the youngest of whom was already at the peak of the Skin Stage, had the highest among them already mastering the Inner Stage. One particularly remarkable boy, only fourteen years old, had already reached the Inner Stage. The gap between the peak of the Skin Stage and the Inner Stage was vast, like a chasm between villages.

In various villages, there were young people who reached the peak of the Skin Stage, but compared to these disciples from the Azure Sun Martial Mansion, the difference was stark. Woo Zhengyang had only realized this in the past few days. This realization was also tied to the Thousand-village Martial Competition. Yu Xiaoshui and others reaching the peak of the Skin Stage at their age was actually the result of pushing themselves too hard.

Every time the Thousand-village Martial Competition rolls around, the top ten villages receive a special reward: a transformative pill. These villages hold onto the pills until the next competition is announced, then give them to the most promising young talents.

This is why securing a top ten spot is so crucial for each village. Achieving it once can ensure they stay in the top tier for the next competition unless an extraordinary talent emerges to disrupt the status quo.

In essence, the peak abilities of Yu Xiaoshui and others are strategically developed by their villages to maintain their top ten positions. Their original skills were actually just at the late Skin Stage.

While taking the pill can boost their abilities, it's not as stable as natural training. So, even if they advance slightly faster now, they won't enter the Inner Stage much sooner than others. In fact, it might backfire, delaying their breakthrough until their thirties.

After realizing this, Woo Zhengyang concluded that there must be a flaw in the pill's creation process, possibly intentionally introduced by the Azure Sun Martial Mansion.