"Strike my clone with your strongest attack. If you can destroy it with a single move, I’ll accept you into my team."
Murmurs broke out louder than ever.
...
"Isn’t this test too easy?"
"I have a sister attending the Black Paradise sect. She told me clones break with a single touch."
"What is he planning?"
...
Li Roh could hear what the crowd was saying, but he didn’t pay them any mind. He had never seen a clone before, but he certainly wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass.
’His soul... it’s burning more intensely,’ Xiao Fang thought in shock.
Xiao Fang had never observed someone’s soul during a fight before, so he couldn’t tell if this was a normal occurrence or not.
Li Roh didn’t waste any time preparing a strike.
Watching him get into the proper stance for his technique. Xiao Fang recognized immediately because he used to watch Li Lian practice it while they were in the Outer Court together.
The crowd watched in curious suspense.
...
"What technique do you think he’s going to use?"
"He’s too young, he’ll likely perform a basic technique like the [ Gentle Fist ]."
"I thought that too, but his stance isn’t right."
"If you ask me, it simply seems as if he still hasn’t mastered the basics."
...
Xiao Fang ignored their words. Though he was unfamiliar with the technique, he could tell that Li Roh’s bandaged arms were not merely for show.
Everyone knew that the [ Gentle Fist ] technique was a signature Li Clansmen’s Refinement Realm technique—but it was only the first of three levels. What they all failed to consider was whether or not a Refinement realm cultivator like Li Roh could execute a Core realm technique.
Li Roh subtly adjusted his stance, drawing his Body Qi inward and forcing it through his meridians.
"Break!"
His hair and robes whipped violently as Qi erupted from his body. His aura surged, his physical strength climbing to the peak of the refinement realm.
[ Gate of Awakening ]
In the next instant, Li Roh vanished.
The air trembled as his body flashed forward, and a single fist shot out with terrifying intensity.
Xiao Fang smirked, ’He’s quick.’
[ Exploding Fist ]
BOOM.
Li Roh’s fist didn’t simply strike the clone—it detonated on contact.
A violent shockwave tore across the ground, blasting dust into the air. The stone beneath Li Roh’s feet fractured as he was hurled backward, boots scraping as he struggled to remain standing.
And yet—
Through the swirling dust, he could still see the clone’s silhouette.
Unmoved.
"...What?"
Li Roh froze, disbelief flashing across his face. Agonizing pain surged through his arms as blood soaked into the bandages, the backlash of the technique tearing through his body.
’It didn’t break...?’
’How can a clone be this strong?’ he thought bitterly.
Xiao Fang didn’t appear much older than him, yet it seemed as if the gap between them was insurmountable.
What Li Roh didn’t know was that the clone possessed a base strength equivalent to that of a Profound Realm cultivator. A Core-Realm technique, wielded by a Refinement-Realm cultivator, wouldn’t be enough to destroy it.
However, Xiao Fang noticed something no one else did.
Li Roh’s attack wasn’t purely physical—unintentionally, a fragment of his soul power had been consumed as well.
Because the clone possessed no soul, the technique had failed to exert its full effect. Had Xiao Fang himself taken the blow head-on, it would have undoubtedly moved him.
As the dust gradually settled, the crowd’s eyes widened.
The clone still stood intact.
...
"Did he fail?"
"How is that possible?"
"I can’t decide what’s more shocking—the fact that Li Roh used a Core-Realm technique, or that it didn’t even leave a mark?"
"If the clone is this strong... just how powerful is Captain Fang himself?"
...
The murmurs pulled Xiao Fang from his thoughts.
Even if the boy had technically failed the test, Xiao Fang’s interest had already been piqued. Li Roh’s soul was worth observing further.
Before the dust could fully clear, Xiao Fang allowed a faint crack to appear on the clone’s chest.
Li Roh’s eyes widened.
The crowd held its breath as the crack rapidly spread, fractures racing across the clone’s body until it finally collapsed, dissolving into streams of Qi that scattered into the air.
"I... did it?" Li Roh muttered in disbelief.
Then his voice rose.
"I did it!"
He thrust a fist into the air, unable to contain his excitement.
The soldiers watching felt his emotion ripple through them. It invigorated the ranks. Not only had Li Roh passed a captain’s test despite his age—he was the first Refinement-Realm cultivator to do so.
Xiao Fang raised a hand.
"Step forward."
Li Roh hurried toward him before dropping to one knee, cupping his fists respectfully.
Seeing this, many of the soldiers couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride for the young cultivator.
Xiao Fang looked down at him, expression calm.
"Tell me," he said evenly, "why do you want to fight in this war?"
The courtyard fell silent.
Li Roh’s gaze remained steady, but his fists slowly clenched at his sides.
"To carry out my father’s will."
A ripple of murmurs spread through the crowd. It was a strange answer ing from him. Li Roh was known as an illegitimate child—never publicly acknowledged, never spoken of as family. For someone like him to speak of his father with such resolve felt... out of place.
But Li Roh remembered the truth.
"Before I ever became a cultivator," he said, voice low, "I watched my entire family die—one by one."
His brows drew together, as if the memory itself cut into him.
"During the last great beast wave, my father found me hiding like a coward," Li Roh continued. "He stood in front of me alone. With his last breath, he told me to live—to bee someone he could be proud of."
He lifted his head.
"So even if I die protecting this clan," Li Roh said, "I will not be afraid."
Xiao Fang nodded once.
"Then you’ll be my first."
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