He found that the top five cultivators all had knives and swords, but when it came to Ban Ji, he had none at all.
"These bronze weapons are all arranged by formations and randomly allocated."
"Knives and swords are the most common, hence the majority."
"Ban Ji has been practicing knife and sword techniques, yet hasn’t encountered a single piece. What’s worse, the bronze artifacts he obtained are barely decent."
"Even if he had something like a mace or axe, he could still half-heartedly use knife or sword techniques. But he doesn’t have those either. How bad is his luck?"
The Hao-surnamed cultivator watched the battle.
He looked at Ban Ji using flying knives, chain hammers, and the wolf fang club against the double-section stick, his expression becoming increasingly peculiar.
"Let me see, what is his fifth bronze artifact?"
The Hao-surnamed cultivator used his authority to secretly check the follow-up.
"Uh... it’s a shield."
Afterwards, still no knives or swords!
"What kind of heaven-defying thing has this kid done?" Even the Hao-surnamed cultivator felt a bit sympathetic towards Ban Ji.
Ban Ji wielded weapons and performed sword and blade techniques. This kind of battle made him appear mismatched, each action seemed to fervently call out: "I want knives and swords, I want knives and swords!"
Ban Ji had also practiced other weapons, but the problem was, the time allocated to martial arts for him was almost entirely focused on knives and swords.
In the heat of battle, he didn’t have time to think, his body instinctively executed knife and sword techniques.
There was really no other way, he was too familiar with them!
The Hao-surnamed cultivator mused: "However, Ban Ji only needs to wait for a period to enter the third stage."
"In the third stage, he can at least obtain a blank mysterious armor."
"Since he primarily cultivates the Upper Dantian and has abundant Divine Sense, given his foundation, obtaining two pieces is highly likely. This means he could ultimately obtain knives and swords."
"The Ban Family wants me to secretly assist him, probably trying to ensure he performs well in the second stage."
"The more bronze artifacts obtained in the second stage, often leads to better final results in the third stage."
"Only by collecting nine pieces can one qualify to be the champion of the Xuan Armor Cave."
"I understand now. The Ban Family wants Ban Ji to win the championship, helping him catch up with the first wave of geniuses and squeeze among them."
Thinking of geniuses, the Hao-surnamed cultivator skipped the seventh and eighth positions and his gaze naturally leapfrogged to Ning Zhuo on the other side.
Ning Zhuo was holding a knife and sword, engaged in a fierce battle with boxing gloves.
The Hao-surnamed cultivator instantly saw Ning Zhuo was at a disadvantage and thought: "Our Xingyun Trial counts with five in the second stage. As long as a certain number of cultivators obtain five sets of mysterious armor, the third stage will automatically commence, eliminating those with less than five."
"At Ning Zhuo’s current pace, I’m afraid he won’t make it."
"Being able to learn while trialing, he really has a big heart."
The Hao-surnamed cultivator thought further: "However, if he indeed plans to intercept Ban Ji, given his strength, he may have no other choice. After all, in the third stage, the array still prohibits cultivators from using other methods, they can only use the mysterious armor and their physical prowess."
"Which means, Ning Zhuo is very confident, allowing him to gain what he learns in the nick of time and stop Ban Ji."
"Such confidence... perhaps this is what’s different between a genius cultivator and us ordinary people."
The Hao-surnamed cultivator put away his thoughts, secretly transmitted through Divine Sense, formally agreeing: "Okay. I can help with this."
"But..." he showed a peculiar expression.
He had just checked once, finding that almost every cultivator had a knife or sword, or both. The remaining knives and swords were few and all carried some special nature.
Some of the mysterious armor recorded in the Xuan Armor Cave come from their own refining, others from feedback from countless cultivators.
If their feedback mysterious armor is of high value, the Xuan Armor Cave will also give other treasures as compensation.
Every Xingyun Trial, the Xuan Armor Cave sends out many mysterious armor, but each year, cultivators return here to fulfill their promises, returning the refined mysterious armor they owe to the Xuan Armor Cave.
The Great Array will randomly draw some mysterious armor from the armory and distribute them to the cultivators participating in the trial as opponents.
The remaining mysterious armor are basically special and cannot be randomly called upon.
"These knives and swords are universally strong, even Golden Core cultivators struggle against them. If arranged for Ban Ji, can he take it?"
"Actually, next Ban Ji will face is the very high-quality bronze shield. In this Xingyun Trial’s second stage, there is only this one shield. Shield-type mysterious armor tends to be very useful in the third stage."
The Hao-surnamed cultivator pondered and felt no need to tell Ban Jie, to avoid prolonging and complicating matters midway.
He immediately and secretly used his authority, manipulated the Great Array to quietly insert two bronze swords and knives into the original sequence, disrupting the distribution of bronze artifacts that everyone was originally meant to face.
The Hao-surnamed cultivator wasn’t worried.
Doing this still falls within the high-level’s tacit approval.
After all, the high-levels are people too, they also have descendants and friends they need to look after. This degree of favoritism is just fine, even if exposed, the consequences for the Hao-surnamed cultivator wouldn’t be too severe.
Ning Zhuo’s blade slashed diagonally, the sword thrust straight forward. One left, one right, one hard, one soft, attacking the boxing gloves simultaneously.
The bronze boxing gloves countered with a swift and precise move. The left glove drew a short and precise arc, avoiding the blade.
Ning Zhuo immediately changed his stance, swapping the diagonal slash for a downward chop. But the bronze boxing gloves precisely landed on the power node of the bronze knife’s technique change.
With a dull clang, Ning Zhuo’s blade momentum vanished.
Ning Zhuo’s right sword struck but was deflected by another bronze boxing glove glancing off the sword body, using skillful power to bend the bronze sword outward, the sword tip slipped off target.
There was both brute force and exquisite deflection and guidance, the bronze boxing gloves alternated with hard and soft, heavy and light, pressing Ning Zhuo into the disadvantage.
Ning Zhuo frowned, finding it quite troublesome.
He had changed his attacks multiple times, but the bronze boxing gloves only appeared "confused and helpless" initially, then quickly "adapted" and suppressed Ning Zhuo back again.
This made Ning Zhuo feel a mistaken impression, as if the bronze boxing gloves had an owner, only the owner was entirely invisible, unable to be observed by the naked eye.
But Ning Zhuo also knew this was just an illusion.
"This is a higher realm of martial arts!"
"Earlier bronze sword and knife were only in the apprentice realm. The sword had only basic moves, while the knife was slightly stronger, capable of not just basic knife techniques but also continuous techniques and small routines."
"But with these bronze boxing gloves, the martial arts realm has surpassed the apprentice level and reached the craftsman level."
"The bronze boxing gloves not only proficiently mastered various combinations of moves but can also adapt moves based on the opponent, that’s me, and change on the spot."
"A Martial Apprentice merely practices autonomously, aiming to execute every move to standard and skillfully, and combine them together."
"Martial Craftsman, on the other hand, incorporates a degree of tactical thinking, perceives the opponent and engages in tactical games."
"I see now, this is how it is."
Ning Zhuo utilized the Boat Burning Soul Crossing Technique, gaining much life experience, accumulating a vast amount of tactical games.
Ning Zhuo refreshed old insights and new learnings, comprehending deeply.
He himself could also perform in real time, capable of integrating the real and the abstract, was flexible and had autonomy. The bronze boxing gloves in front of him were equivalent to teaching him hand-in-hand.
It wasn’t that he was a beginner, more like reviving and re-learning.
Consequently, he mastered it extremely swiftly.
"Take my sword and saber combination!" Ning Zhuo attacked using the Wave-breaking Star-pointing Style with his left blade and right sword.
The bronze knife shattered waves in three layers, while the bronze sword assisted with consecutive thrusts, knocking one of the bronze boxing gloves down.
Ning Zhuo could have pursued the victory, but he halted, allowing the bronze boxing gloves to fly back into position and regroup.
After battling for dozens of breaths, Ning Zhuo completed his setup and suddenly performed the Silk-Twining Mountain-Shatter Stance.
The bronze boxing gloves were overwhelmed, among them one was chopped to the ground by the bronze sword.
Ning Zhuo let the boxing gloves off again, stopped moving, letting them attack once more.
Another few rounds of attack and defense, Ning Zhuo completed his setup again.
Sword and saber combination - Water Dividing Moon Raising!
Clang clang clang...
The sword and saber were like a tempest and torrential rain, striking the bronze boxing gloves, making serial cracking sounds and shooting forth a burst of sparks.
The bronze boxing gloves couldn’t hold back and were both knocked down.
This time Ning Zhuo didn’t hold back, immediately abandoning the sword and saber, grabbing both gloves and swiftly refining them, claiming them for personal use.
A few cultivators witnessing this scene slightly widened their eyes.
Their least optimistic third form blade-sword combined strike actually had the greatest power in actual combat!
"Need to speed up." Ning Zhuo estimated time, put away the boxing gloves, and continued on.
Soon, he encountered the fourth mysterious armor—a bronze shield.