Monk Hao didn’t rush to agree, but observed first.

Ao Pan, stooping like an old ape, moved slowly forward.

His posture was leisurely, yet he still maintained the leading position. He had already acquired five bronze artifacts.

However, his most skilled weapon, the bronze whip, was too worn and no longer in use.

He primarily used a bronze staff.

Ao Pan’s martial arts foundation was profound, allowing him to wield all eighteen types of weapons.

In second place was Tie Zheng.

This Golden Core-level martial cultivator was in the process of acquiring his fifth bronze artifact.

Surrounding him were four weapons: a bronze saber, sword, spear, and scythe.

They cooperated seamlessly, advancing and retreating with ease, occasionally unleashing combo attacks or combined strikes.

Tie Zheng, wearing a bronze beast-face mask, demonstrated mastery in divine sense manipulation that was no less than that of aメカ修士 of the same cultivation level!

Lu Zeng was in third place.

Wielding a bronze spear, he had just begun battling his fifth bronze saber.

He rotated through four other weapons, including a bronze hammer.

The bronze saber’s sword art had reached a state where form transcended form. It suddenly cut across, seemingly unremarkable, yet it found a flaw in Lu Zeng’s defense.

He could only sigh, release his bronze spear, and roll to avoid the blade.

He clutched his hands as if holding something, and struck at the bronze saber.

In that instant, the bronze hammer, which had been floating beside him, actively placed itself into his hand.

He didn’t hit the saber, but he forced it back.

Monk Hao found this scene quite interesting: “Tie Zheng, as a Golden Core-level martial cultivator, uses Xuan Bing Jia like a Mecha Cultivator. And Lu Zeng, as a Mecha Cultivator, fights in close combat like a martial cultivator.”

“Their roles seem reversed, but in reality, both of them are consciously training themselves, honing their weaknesses.”

“They are both preparing for the third stage.”

The top three positions were occupied by three Golden Core-level cultivators, which fully reflected the significance of cultivation level.

Becoming a Golden Core was a qualitative change, bringing comprehensive improvements to a cultivator.

The fourth place was held by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Zhang Wang-xing smiled, full of confidence: “Come, let me see what the fourth bronze artifact is?”

Relying on the “Flesh and Blood Metamorphosis Scripture,” he didn’t engage in a normal clash. Instead, he used his bizarre and ever-changing physical advantages to directly restrain the bronze artifact.

This perfectly countered the effectiveness of the Xuan Bing Jia.

After all, the Xuan Bing Jia in the previous rounds primarily engaged in close-range combat.

Only from the sixth artifact onwards would the Xuan Bing Jia unleash spell-like attacks.

Zhang Wang-xing fully utilized his strengths, skillfully outsmarting his opponents three times in a row, greatly boosting his confidence.

“I can counter the first five Xuan Bing Jia. The real challenge is the sixth one!” He was brimming with ambition.

Zhang Wang-xing was also aware of the intelligence regarding the Nine-layered Xuan Bing Jia Minor Trial.

His strategy was to quickly refine the first five Xuan Bing Jia, allowing his strength to surge, and then fight the sixth Xuan Bing Jia with all his might.

Since he entered the Xingyun Minor Trial, everything had unfolded as he envisioned.

Now it was the fourth Xuan Bing Jia.

A massive bronze mace appeared before Zhang Wang-xing’s eyes.

“So thick…” Zhang Wang-xing’s eye twitched, a difficult expression on his face.

The bronze mace sensed Zhang Wang-xing and slowly pressed towards him.

Zhang Wang-xing gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and bared his chest: “Come on, hit me!”

The next moment, the bronze mace struck Zhang Wang-xing with full force.

Blood splattered, flesh deformed like mud, rapidly surging to cover the mace.

The mace sharply withdrew, pulling back countless fragments of flesh and broken skin.

The intense pain made Zhang Wang-xing grimace, sweating profusely.

He forced himself, spread his arms, and threw himself onto the mace.

“Become one with me!” Zhang Wang-xing roared.

The mace, naturally unwilling, continuously thrashed and smashed, inflicting a series of massive injuries on Zhang Wang-xing!

“I…”

“You…”

“Turns out… the mace also counters me!”

Zhang Wang-xing twisted in agony, hissing with sharp intakes of breath, but he could only continue to persevere.

Below Zhang Wang-xing, in fifth place, was not Ban Ji, but Xiu Zai Jiang.

Surrounding him were bronze sabers, swords, and so on, each Xuan Bing Jia showing signs of corrosion on its surface.

As Monk Hao observed Xiu Zai Jiang, his brows instinctively furrowed.

He disliked the man to his core. In fact, this wasn’t just his personal prejudice; almost all cultivators in Xuan Jia Dong held a similar aversion to Xiu Zai Jiang.

“This person possesses a low-grade talent that allows him to corrode other objects.”

“The formations within the cave are difficult to restrain his talent, so he also took a shortcut—by corroding bronze artifacts, he greatly reduced the difficulty of subduing them.”

“That’s why this person is among the top ranks.”

The Xingyun Minor Trial of the Nine-layered Xuan Bing Jia was intended to promote the Xuan Bing Jia, encourage more people to use it, and forge closer ties between excellent cultivators and Xuan Jia Dong.

However, Xiu Zai Jiang’s actions of damaging the Xuan Bing Jia went against the purpose of Xuan Jia Dong’s event. This was why everyone felt a hidden dislike for him.

Finally, it was Ban Ji’s turn for sixth place.

Monk Hao saw Ban Ji, alone, wielding a mace and a flail, occasionally using flying knives, fighting against a nunchaku.

He watched for a few moments, then let out a laugh.

“Ban Ji’s use of these weapons clearly shows traces of saber and sword techniques.”

“I think I understand now.”

“Why they wanted me to manipulate things behind the scenes, to arrange bronze sabers and swords for him.”

Monk Hao looked back again, a peculiar expression crossing his face.

He noticed that the top five cultivators all had either a saber or a sword, or both. But when it came to Ban Ji, he didn’t have even one.

“These bronze weapons are arranged by the formation, allocated randomly.”

“Sabers and swords are the most common, so there are also the most of them.”

“Ban Ji has diligently practiced saber and sword techniques, yet he hasn’t encountered a single one. More importantly, the bronze artifacts he has obtained are not even decent.”

“If he had something like a jian or an axe, he could at least勉强 use saber and sword techniques. But he doesn’t even have those. How unlucky can one be?”

Monk Hao observed the battle.

Watching Ban Ji use flying knives, a flail, and a mace against the nunchaku, the peculiar expression on his face deepened slightly.

“Let me see, what is his fifth bronze artifact?”

Monk Hao used his authority to secretly check the subsequent sequence.

“Uh… it’s a shield.”

And after that… still no sabers or swords!

“Has this kid done something truly outrageous to incur divine wrath?” Monk Hao even felt a bit of sympathy for Ban Ji.

Ban Ji wielded his weapons, but what he was performing were sword and saber techniques. This made his fighting style seem incongruous, every movement seemingly crying out: “I want a saber and sword, I want a saber and sword!”

Ban Ji had practiced other weapons too, but the problem was that almost all the time he dedicated to martial arts was focused on sabers and swords.

In the heat of battle, he didn’t have time to think much, and his body unconsciously executed saber and sword techniques.

There was simply no other way; he had practiced them too thoroughly!

Monk Hao mused: “However, Ban Ji only needs to wait for a while to enter the third stage.”

“In the third stage, he will at least receive a blank Xuan Bing Jia.”

“He also primarily cultivates the Upper Dantian, and his divine sense is abundant, so with his foundation, there’s a high probability he’ll obtain two. This means he will eventually get a saber and a sword.”

“The Ban family wants me to secretly assist him, likely to ensure he gets good results in the second stage.”

“The more bronze artifacts one acquires in the second stage, the better the final result in the third stage tends to be.”

“Only by collecting all nine is one qualified to claim the top prize of Xuan Jia Dong.”

“I understand. The Ban family wants Ban Ji to get the top prize, to help him catch up with the first wave of geniuses and join their ranks.”

Thinking of geniuses, Monk Hao skipped past the seventh and eighth places, his gaze instinctively jumping to Ning Zhuo on the other side.

Ning Zhuo was currently wielding a saber and sword, engaged in a bitter struggle with a pair of gauntlets.

Monk Hao instantly saw that Ning Zhuo was at a disadvantage and thought to himself: “Our Xingyun Minor Trial here counts five in the second stage. Once a certain number of cultivators acquire five Xuan Bing Jia, the third stage will automatically begin, and those with less than five will be eliminated.”

“At Ning Zhuo’s current pace, he probably won’t make it in time.”

“To be able to learn and trial simultaneously, he’s very ambitious.”

Monk Hao then reconsidered: “However, if he truly intends to intercept Ban Ji, given his strength, this might be the only way. After all, in the third stage, the formation still prohibits cultivators from using other methods, only these Xuan Bing Jia and physical abilities.”

“This means that Ning Zhuo is actually very confident that he can ‘sharpen his spear before battle,’ and after he learns successfully, he can stop Ban Ji.”

“Such confidence… this might be the difference between genius cultivators and us ordinary people.”

Monk Hao collected his thoughts, secretly transmitted a divine sense message, and formally agreed: “Okay. I can help with this.”

“However…” a peculiar expression crossed his face.

He had just checked once and found that almost all cultivators had either a saber or a sword, or both. There weren’t many sabers and swords left, and all of them were more or less special in nature.

Some of the Xuan Bing Jia recorded in Xuan Jia Dong originated from their own forging, while others came from the feedback of countless cultivators.

If the Xuan Bing Jia they returned were of high value, Xuan Jia Dong would also offer other treasures as compensation.

In every Xingyun Minor Trial, Xuan Jia Dong would give out many Xuan Bing Jia. But every year, cultivators would return here to fulfill their promises, offering their forged Xuan Bing Jia back to Xuan Jia Dong.

The grand formation would randomly select some Xuan Bing Jia from the armory and deploy them as opponents for the cultivators participating in the minor trial.

The remaining Xuan Bing Jia were basically more specialized and could not be deployed at will.

“These sabers and swords are generally very powerful; even Golden Core cultivators struggle against them. If they are arranged for Ban Ji, can he withstand them?”

“Actually, the bronze shield he is about to face is of very high quality. This Xingyun Minor Trial’s second stage only has this one shield. Shield-type Xuan Bing Jia are often very helpful in the third stage.”

Monk Hao thought about it and decided there was no need to tell Ban Jie, as it would only increase the time and potential complications.

He immediately took action in secret, using his authority to mobilize the grand formation, quietly inserting two bronze sabers and swords into the original sequence, and incidentally scrambling all the bronze artifacts that everyone was originally supposed to face.

Monk Hao was not worried.

Achieving this level of manipulation was actually within the tacit approval of the higher-ups.

After all, the higher-ups were also human and had descendants and friends to look after. This level of favoritism was just right; even if exposed, the price Monk Hao would pay would not be too great.

Ning Zhuo’s saber swept diagonally, and his sword tip thrust straight. One left, one right, one rigid, one soft, attacking the gauntlets simultaneously.

The bronze gauntlets struck first despite starting later. The left fist drew an extremely precise, short arc, avoiding the saber’s edge.

Ning Zhuo immediately changed his move, altering the diagonal sweep to a downward chop. However, the bronze gauntlet landed precisely on the point where the bronze saber’s force changed.

With a dull clang, Ning Zhuo’s saber momentum dissipated.

Ning Zhuo’s right sword attack was grazed by the other bronze gauntlet, which used skillful leverage to deflect the bronze sword outwards, causing the sword tip to miss.

With both direct clashes and subtle deflections and pulls, the bronze gauntlets, alternating between hard and soft, heavy and light, suppressed Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo frowned, finding it quite tricky.

He had changed his attacks multiple times, but the bronze gauntlets were only “flustered and at a loss” initially, then quickly “adapted” and re-suppressed Ning Zhuo.

This made Ning Zhuo feel a strange illusion, as if the bronze gauntlets were controlled by someone, but the controller was entirely transparent and invisible to the naked eye.

But Ning Zhuo also knew this was just an illusion.

“This is a higher realm of martial arts!”

“The previous bronze sword and saber were merely at the apprentice level. The sword only had basic moves, the saber was stronger, possessing not only basic saber techniques but also combos and small routines.”

“But with the bronze gauntlets, the martial arts realm has transcended the apprentice level, reaching the artisan level.”

“The bronze gauntlets not only skillfully master various move combinations but can also adapt their moves on the fly based on the opponent, meaning my actions.”

“A martial apprentice merely practices on their own, focusing on making each move standard, proficient, and combining them.”

“A martial artisan, however, incorporates a certain level of tactical thinking, perceiving the opponent, and engaging in tactical sparring.”

“I understand, so that’s how it is.”

Ning Zhuo, using the “Burning Boat Soul Crossing Technique,” acquired many life experiences, including a vast amount of tactical sparring.

Ning Zhuo reviewed what he knew and learned new insights, understanding profoundly.

He himself was capable of improvising, capable of interweaving reality and illusion, and a flexible and autonomous individual. The bronze gauntlets before him were essentially teaching him hand in hand.

He wasn’t a beginner either; it was more like a revival or re-learning.

Therefore, he mastered it incredibly quickly.

“Take this blade and sword combined strike!” Ning Zhuo, with a saber in his left hand and a sword in his right, unleashed the “Breaking Waves and Pointing Stars” technique.

The bronze saber executed three layers of wave-breaking slashes, while the bronze sword provided continuous thrusts, knocking down one of the bronze gauntlets.

Ning Zhuo could have pressed his advantage, but he stopped in place, allowing the bronze gauntlet to float back and regroup.

After dozens more breaths of battle, Ning Zhuo completed his setup and suddenly unleashed the “Entangling Silk Collapsing Mountain” technique.

The bronze gauntlets struggled, unable to resist, and one was chopped to the ground by the bronze sword.

Ning Zhuo once again spared the gauntlets, stopping motionless, allowing them to attack again.

After several more rounds of offense and defense, Ning Zhuo completed his setup again.

Saber and sword combined strike – “Dividing Water and Scooping Moon”!

Clang, clang, clang…

The saber and sword were like a sudden storm, striking the bronze gauntlets with a series of crisp sounds, while simultaneously generating a large amount of sparks.

The bronze gauntlets couldn’t resist and were both knocked down.

This time, Ning Zhuo held nothing back. He immediately discarded his saber and sword, grabbing with both hands, pressing down on the back of the gauntlets, and quickly refining and subduing them for his own use.

Several cultivators who witnessed this scene widened their eyes slightly.

Their least favored third-style combined saber and sword attack actually had the greatest power in real combat!

“Time to speed up.” Ning Zhuo estimated the time, put away the gauntlets, and continued his journey.

Soon, he encountered the fourth Xuan Bing Jia – a bronze shield.