The arrival of Fang Han's group disturbed the disciples practicing in the Inner Hall.
Some stopped what they were doing, sizing up the new faces with great interest.
"Oh? Is it time for new recruits to join the hall again?"
Others were so immersed in their Cultivation that they'd forgotten the date, only looking up in realization to mutter.
"Tch, only eight? This batch seems pretty mediocre."
A young man with his arms crossed swept his gaze over Fang Han and the others, a slight curl on his lips. His voice, neither loud nor soft, carried clearly to their ears.
The indifference and faint disdain in his words were like cold water, dampening the excitement they felt upon entering the Inner Hall.
"Follow me."
Elder Fang Yuan didn't stop the discussion. In his view, while the young man's words were harsh, they were also the truth.
In previous years, more than ten disciples would typically pass the assessment to enter the Inner Hall. With only eight this time, it was indeed a poor harvest.
He led Fang Han's group of eight through a long corridor to a spacious courtyard deep within the Inner Hall.
In the center of the courtyard stood a massive Jade Stele.
The entire stele had a warm, jade-white luster. It was over ten feet tall and several feet wide.
Set into the ground, its surface was as smooth as a mirror, a subtle glow flowing across it in the faint light of dawn.
An indescribable aura faintly emanated from it.
"This is the Martial Arts Stele."
Elder Fang Yuan's voice rang out in the silent courtyard.
'The Martial Arts Stele?'
Fang Han sized up the Jade Stele before him.
The massive Jade Stele before him—its material, its luster, the peculiar aura it emitted—was completely different from any "stele" he had known in either of his lives.
It was more like a flawless jade artifact, possessing a strange, otherworldly beauty.
"This stele is indestructible."
Elder Fang Yuan continued, his gaze landing on the polished surface.
"What is truly miraculous is its ability to sense the Power of Attack, record its strength, and determine a ranking."
'It can record Attack Power and rank it automatically?'
A storm of shock raged in Fang Han's mind.
'Is this Jade Stele truly something that can exist in the Martial Arts World?'
'If it isn't from the Martial Arts World, then where did it come from?'
Countless questions instantly flooded his mind as his eyes remained fixed on the mirror-smooth jade surface, which flowed with a mysterious light.
At that moment, fifty-three faintly glowing names were clearly visible on the stele's surface, listed from top to bottom.
'Those must be the rankings left by the other Inner Hall disciples.'
'Before today, the Inner Hall must have had a total of fifty-three disciples.'
"Touch the stele and write your name on it. Then, using your most proficient Martial Technique, strike it with all your might. The stele will then display your ranking."
Elder Fang Yuan's voice interrupted Fang Han's thoughts.
"Come forward and leave your records. Who wants to go first?"
"I'll go first!"
Among the eight, a slender disciple named Fang Lin stepped forward without hesitation.
The reason he was so eager was that he had been the first among the eight to break through to the Flesh Refining Realm, making his strength the undisputed best of the group.
Looking at the Jade Stele before him, he pressed his finger against its cold surface.
HUMMM—
A strange thing happened. It felt as if his finger wasn't touching hard jade, but an "LCD screen."
As he wrote with his finger, faint ripples spread across the surface of the Jade Stele, and his name, "Fang Lin," clearly materialized.
He then sank into a horse stance, let out a low shout, and unleashed a Fist Technique, smashing his fist violently against the Jade Stele.
THUD!
With a muffled thud, the Jade Stele remained completely unscathed, its surface only flashing faintly with light.
The next moment, behind the two words "Fang Lin," smaller words appeared.
"Fifty-fourth."
This meant his Attack Power ranked fifty-fourth on the Jade Stele.
Fang Lin moved aside, and the other disciples came forward for their turn. The second, the third... The testing proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Each person wrote their name on the stele and attacked with all their might using their most proficient Martial Technique.
As new entrants to the Inner Hall with shallow foundations, their ranks unsurprisingly filled the bottom of the Jade Stele.
The last person was Fang Han.
He composed himself, suppressing his shock and curiosity about the mysterious Jade Stele, and walked forward.
As his finger touched the stele's surface, a bone-chilling cold spread up his arm.
Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he moved his finger and wrote his name on the Jade Stele—"Fang Han."
While his handwriting wasn't beautiful, it was at least neat.
His chosen Martial Technique was Swordsmanship, so he took a Fine Iron Sword from the weapon rack nearby.
He channeled the condensed power he had gained after breaking through to the Flesh Refining Realm and achieving Skin and Flesh Integration, then executed the Qingfeng Swordsmanship.
Concentrating all his strength, he slashed at the Jade Stele.
CLANG—!
The Fine Iron Sword struck the Jade Stele squarely, emitting a deep, solid thud.
The Jade Stele flashed faintly, and in the next moment, smaller words appeared behind the two words "Fang Han."
"Fifty-ninth."
Fang Han's gaze fell upon the ranking, and he paused for a moment.
With the original 53 disciples plus their group of 8, there were now sixty-one names on the Jade Stele.
Surprisingly, despite being the last to break through to the Flesh Refining Realm, he wasn't in last place. Instead, he had surpassed two others, ranking third from the bottom.
'The twofold Root Bone enhancement actually let me catch up so quickly!'
Fang Han was filled with an indescribable sense of pleasant surprise.
The twofold Root Bone enhancement had boosted his Cultivation speed even more than he had anticipated, allowing him to catch up to two of the others so quickly.
This result not only surprised Fang Han himself; the other seven who had just finished their tests all turned to stare at him in unison, their gazes filled with astonishment.
"Fifty-ninth? Wasn't... wasn't he the last one to break through?"
One disciple couldn't help but whisper in astonishment, his face a mask of disbelief.
"What... what's going on? Fang Tao and Fang Chen broke through to Flesh Refining before him, so how did they end up at the bottom?"
Among the eight, the faces of Fang Tao and Fang Chen instantly turned crimson.
Their gazes toward Fang Han were filled with shock and resentment; the "Sixtieth" and "Sixty-first" rankings were as jarring as needles to their eyes.
The way the others looked at Fang Han changed as well.
"Looks like I misjudged him. This Fang Han... he's got something."
Only Fang Lin, the undisputed number one among the eight, remained relatively composed, though even he was a little surprised.
He had already advanced from the Early Stage of Flesh Refining to the Middle Stage, and he wasn't far from breaking through to the Late Stage of Flesh Refining.
With such a wide gap between them, he didn't believe Fang Han could ever catch up to him.
"Alright. Now that you've all completed your combat power test on the Martial Arts Stele, follow me to the supply distribution office to receive your rewards and monthly stipends."
Elder Fang Yuan's expression remained calm as he watched all eight disciples complete their combat power tests.
Among the eight, only Fang Lin's combat power was even remotely worthy of his attention, and just barely at that.
In previous years, it wasn't uncommon for new disciples to have already reached the Late Stage of Flesh Refining upon entering the Inner Hall.
There were even those who had already reached the Refining Tendons realm upon entry.
With the strongest among them performing only at Fang Lin's level, he was genuinely disappointed in this new batch of disciples.