Chapter 11681 — Careful, Brother Di
It came down to the same old saying: being weak is the original sin.
Only this time, the weak one was Di Liankong.
Wei Zhao's lips curved: "Careful, Brother Di."
And with that, he unleashed a furious storm of attacks.
Everyone around them felt their eyelids twitch wildly in unison.
This rhythm of attack and defense was a full order of magnitude faster than Di Liankong's had been moments ago!
And to think they had assumed Wei Zhao's foundation was limited—he had been concealing his true ability all along, biding his time to play the pig and eat the tiger!
Di Liankong's complaints came thick and fast.
He truly could not keep up with Wei Zhao's tempo of attack and defense; after only a few exchanges, his outermost layer of True Mandate was battered away outright, leaving him with just four layers.
Yet Wei Zhao still showed no intention of stopping.
Di Liankong looked to Instructor Song, but the instructor gave not the slightest sign of calling a halt either.
Di Liankong wanted to weep but had no tears.
A few breaths later, Di Liankong lost another layer of True Mandate, and still Wei Zhao did not stop.
The onlookers watched, their hair standing on end.
Wei Zhao seemed gentle enough, but he was evidently a ruthless character to the marrow of his bones. From the look of things, if Instructor Song never called a halt, Wei Zhao was genuinely prepared to beat Di Liankong to death!
What would happen once every layer of True Mandate was stripped away—the jade talisman had not said, but one need not think hard to know it would be nothing pleasant.
The essence of True Mandate concretization was to gather all of one's life essence into a single place.
This raised one's defense by more than a single level, true enough, but it also amounted to exposing one's life essence directly to the outside. Once that life essence was struck away entirely, the outcome could well be imagined.
Another layer of True Mandate was struck away before their very eyes, leaving only two, and now Di Liankong truly could not even cry.
He could only gaze imploringly at Instructor Song.
He had pulled a petty trick right under the man's nose, and the man was deliberately targeting him for it—that much he could understand.
But surely there had to be a limit?
Three layers of True Mandate gone was not enough—did the man really have to let Wei Zhao beat him to death?
One thing, however, he had forgotten.
Instructor Song had not sentenced him to be beaten one-sidedly; he was perfectly free to strike back. Had he been able to turn the tables and pin Wei Zhao down in a beating, Instructor Song's attitude would be exactly the same as it was now.
Unfortunately, Di Liankong simply did not have the strength—and whose fault was that?
As Wei Zhao's strikes grew ever more seasoned and vicious, the onlookers could not help but feel a chill run through them.
Were they in Di Liankong's place, they would likely be dead men by now—after all, they had no five layers of True Mandate to fall back on.
From the look of it, it was not merely Wei Zhao who was ruthless; this one-armed instructor in the painted-face mask was far more ruthless still!
No one stepped forward to intervene.
Not only did the candidates present fall into collective silence—even the Heavenly Dao Academy's senior ranks, watching this scene from the Academic Affairs Headquarters tower, showed not the slightest inclination to step in.
Di Xuanwang gnashed his teeth.
"That damned one-armed bastard!"
Di Liankong was not the first choice he had recommended, but he was nonetheless an important piece Di Xuanwang had set his sights on. If the man were eliminated just like this, all his painstaking effort would be wasted.
Even so, he dared not make the slightest move.
The instructor held sole authority over the trial's content, and during the trial no outside force might interfere—such was the iron law of the Heavenly Dao Academy.
Anyone who violated it would pay a tremendous price; that was no joke.
If Di Xuanwang truly dared to act, then it would not be merely Di Liankong who was eliminated—he himself would be hard-pressed to save his own skin!
At last, when Di Liankong had only a single layer of True Mandate left, Instructor Song spoke: "That will do."
Wei Zhao withdrew his hand at once.
Given his temperament, since the man had shown him face, he would naturally return the courtesy.
Besides, the other party was an instructor, after all.
Everyone present breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Though Di Liankong's presence was no small competitive threat to them, compared with the man being beaten to death outright, the present outcome was far easier to stomach.
At least the pressure would not be so great.
Even so, looking at Wei Zhao—so harmless-seeming now that he had stopped—they still felt an immense pressure bearing down on them, unseen.
Not only did he possess ten layers of True Mandate, he had also been the first to master the method of combining inner and outer. This was merely the first stage of the trial, and already the gap between them was visible to the naked eye.
Instructor Song swept his gaze over the crowd: "Anyone else want to challenge him?"
The crowd exchanged glances, and for a time no one answered.
Though they were all heaven's favored talents from every realm, each with his eyes set high above his head, none willing to yield to another.
Even Wei Zhao's display, at most, could only instill in them a bit more wariness—it was not enough to truly frighten them.
That said, with Di Liankong's example fresh before their eyes, no one would lightly step into the ring before finding a targeted way to counter him.
After all, no one wanted to serve themselves up as a dish for Wei Zhao.
Instructor Song continued: "There is a benefit. Whoever beats him gets first choice."
As he spoke, ten jade talismans arrayed themselves in the air before him.
"Every student must submit their own research before graduating from the Heavenly Dao Academy. These are the results of your seniors."
Hearing this, Wei Zhao's expression turned rather strange.
A graduation thesis, then?
The Heavenly Dao Academy's rules were rather modern.
Instructor Song said: "These ten I have selected will all help you quickly grasp the knack of combining inner and outer."
At a single sentence, everyone's eyes lit up.
"But their research inclinations differ. Whether you can pick the one best suited to you depends on your own judgment."
"Right now the first choice belongs to Wei Zhao. If any of you are unconvinced, go and take it."
"Come at him one by one, or all at once—I have no objection either way."
The crowd's thoughts immediately stirred to life.
For no reason at all, they would not voluntarily serve themselves up as dishes for Wei Zhao—but once the matter of first choice was involved, that was another story.
In theory, since these results were being brought out for the trial, it meant they were all basically of the same grade; there would not be any obvious disparity.
Otherwise it would go against the original purpose of the trial selection.
But as Instructor Song had said, the key with this sort of thing was still whether it suited you.
Once you chose a result that suited you, everything thereafter would be twice as effective with half the effort; choose wrongly, and it would be half the result for twice the effort. That difference alone might directly decide whether you could remain in the Heavenly Dao Academy.
Yet looking at the calm-faced Wei Zhao, then at the ashen-faced Di Liankong, everyone's hearts chilled halfway through once more.
After all, the vast majority of them had only one or two layers of True Mandate—they could afford no margin for error whatsoever.
Even if they truly all rushed him at once, if Wei Zhao fixed his sights on them and struck with a heavy hand, no one could bear the consequences.