The crowd saw Chen Qiuqiao raising his hand and stepping out, his expression calm, without saying anything.
No one actively mocked him either.
After all, an inner sect disciple at the fourth layer of the Divine Transformation Realm was the most common in the Inner Gate of the Heavenly Sword Faction. Most of them had similar strength, and since they had no impression of Chen Qiuqiao, they naturally wouldn't mock him without reason.
Mu Jinyu saw Chen Qiuqiao step forward but didn't greet him, as there was no need. They were not friends to begin with.
However, he still watched very seriously to see how Chen Qiuqiao would test his strength.
"Begin."
The elder saw Chen Qiuqiao step forward and furrowed his brow slightly before speaking.
"Hmm."
Chen Qiuqiao stood behind a red line, looking resolutely at the first cauldron ten meters ahead, then began to absorb his True Yuan.
Soon, Chen Qiuqiao gathered his True Yuan to its limit, his face flushed red, then he shouted and punched through the air!
"Boom!!"
The powerful True Essence Power exploded out, as straight as smoke, hitting the first giant cauldron ten meters away.
Without any enhancement from martial techniques, spells, or divine skills, the power of Chen Qiuqiao's punch was significantly reduced. However, hitting the giant cauldron still produced a few faint vibrating sounds.
"Boom, boom!!"
Chen Qiuqiao's True Essence Power struck the giant cauldron, causing it to resonate with a few faint vibration sounds. The True Essence then penetrated through the cauldron and continued to strike the first ancient bell, making it ring.
"Dang, dang!"
The cauldron and bell rang together, but it was only the first one, and a significant amount of Chen Qiuqiao's energy had already been expended.
"Boom, dang!"
Soon, the second cauldron and bell also rang in unison, finally causing the third cauldron to emit a sound...
But unfortunately, the third bell made no noise at all.
The True Essence Power from Chen Qiuqiao's punch had dissipated after making the third cauldron sound.
The elder announced as usual, "Three cauldrons, two bells, barely passing."
Yes, barely passing. Generally speaking, inner sect disciples at the fourth layer of the Divine Transformation Realm should be strong enough to ring three cauldrons and three bells.
However, Chen Qiuqiao only rang three cauldrons and two bells, which was strictly speaking not passing. But considering it was his first time taking the inner sect assessment and he didn't yet understand some techniques, the elder counted it as barely passing.
If in the next assessment Chen Qiuqiao still had this score, he would not pass.
Chen Qiuqiao knew that the passing mark was three cauldrons and three bells. Hearing the elder's announcement, his face paled and he shouted inwardly, 'So close, I was so close, damn it...'
He then returned to his original position in low spirits. The friends he had made in the inner sect comforted him, saying:
"You don't need to feel this way. Your score is actually quite good. When I first entered the inner sect and took the assessment, my score was worse than yours, only two cauldrons and two bells..."
"Yes, and nobody laughed at you, right? It's because most people scored like this in their first assessment."
"Indeed. Don't look at Senior Brother Mu being at the eighth layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, third on the list of outstanding talents. His assessment score might not even be better than the fifth or even the tenth on the list."
"..."
Listening to their consolation, Chen Qiuqiao felt much better.
Indeed, it was normal not to perform well in his first assessment.
Mu Jinyu might be third on the list, but who knows, his score might not even surpass the tenth rank.
Chen Qiuqiao comforted himself.
The assessment continued methodically.
Most people only scored three cauldrons and three bells.
Then it was the turn of the disciples at the fifth and sixth layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, who began showing scores of four cauldrons and three bells, or four cauldrons and four bells!
After that, an outstanding disciple at the forefront of the seventh layer of the Divine Transformation Realm came out for the assessment. His punch rang five cauldrons and five bells!
People were stunned.
"Next, Wei Qingfeng!"
The elder announced after the disciple retreated, showing a rare hint of anticipation in his voice.
"Senior Brother Wei is going to take the test, he is tenth on the list of outstanding talents!"
"If the top ten are taking the test, can we expect six cauldrons and six bells?"
The crowd was excited to see Wei Qingfeng, the tenth on the list, up next.
Wei Qingfeng stepped up calmly, without extra preparation, absorbing True Yuan, then punching through the air!
"Boom! Dong, boom..."
As expected, Wei Qingfeng's performance was within the crowd's prediction, six cauldrons and six bells.
After finishing, he stepped down without saying anything.
"Wei Qingfeng, six cauldrons and six bells, excellent performance!"
The elder smiled, unconcerned with Wei Qingfeng holding back.
That's because, no matter how hard Wei Qingfeng tried, he could not surpass Yun Ge, Wei Ziping, or Mu Jinyu.
If that's the case, it was better to conserve his strength, not revealing too much, ensuring better performance in the duels later.
Quickly, the scores of those ranked ninth to fourth on the list of outstanding talents were revealed.
They all scored six cauldrons and six bells. If they exerted their full strength, it was unknown if they could ring the seventh cauldron.
"Next, Yun Ge!"
This time, the elder didn't follow the order from Mu Jinyu to Yun Ge but started with Yun Ge.
Everyone was surprised but didn't think much of it and began discussing:
"It's Brother Yun's turn. Last time he scored eight cauldrons and eight bells, way ahead of everyone. Let's see if he can achieve the true cauldrons and bells ringing together this time."
"Nine cauldrons and nine bells? That's too difficult. The further back the cauldrons and bells go, the more they are made of special materials and the harder they are to ring. Brother Yun will probably score eight cauldrons and eight bells again."
"Yes, that's what I think. The scores of the top ten on the list rarely change unless there's significant improvement in strength. Brother Yun's result should be similar."
"..."
Amidst the discussions, Yun Ge stepped beside the elder and stopped at the red line.
The elder encouraged Yun Ge a bit, telling him not to feel pressured, and let him begin his preparation.
"Hmm."
Yun Ge nodded gently, calming down, and then punched out!
"Boom, boom!!"
"Dang!"
"Boom! Dang..."
In an instant, the front six cauldrons and bells rang simultaneously.
Then, the True Essence Power passed through, making the seventh cauldron ring, followed by the seventh bell!
By then, Yun Ge's True Essence Power had been significantly depleted, and the eighth cauldron's sound was much weaker than the previous ones.
When the eighth bell rang, its sound was fainter still.
Just when everyone thought Yun Ge's score would end there, the ninth cauldron suddenly made a very faint sound, almost drowned out by the other cauldrons and bells.