Ye Fei showed no signs of nervousness, remaining perfectly calm.
The other two, however, became visibly tense.
"Dongfang Yu, third place!"
With a swift sound, the words fell, and the expression of the man wearing the jade crown immediately darkened. He was clearly dissatisfied with the result.
The man in the black brocade robe merely glanced at him before shifting his gaze. He then proceeded to announce the second place, which was the woman dressed in tight-fitting attire.
"Alright, now I will announce the first place of this freshman enrollment assessment!"
Everyone already had a good idea, and their gazes converged on Ye Fei. In response to the surrounding eager gazes, Ye Fei remained as placid as an ancient well. Seeing Ye Fei so composed, the man in the black brocade robe was even more pleased.
"First place, Ye Fei!"
"He has killed a total of eighty Flying Iron Bulls!"
"He has also broken the record for all previous freshman enrollment assessments!"
The already fervent gazes of the crowd now burned even hotter. Eighty heads, what kind of concept was that! Thinking of the meager five they had slain, they felt like weeping without tears, while also resolving in their hearts to cultivate even harder.
After handing the three tokens, which represented inner disciples, to the three individuals, the man in the black brocade robe then leisurely departed, leaving two disciples to answer everyone's questions.
"Ye Fei, congratulations!" Yuan Shuang revealed a rare smile at this moment.
"Congratulations to you too!" After further pleasantries, Ye Fei and Yuan Shuang headed directly to his courtyard. After finding their respective accommodations, they returned to their own small courtyards to rest. This freshman enrollment assessment had left Ye Fei utterly exhausted, especially with his current injuries. As soon as he returned to his small courtyard, he immediately took another recovery pill and began to meditate and cultivate to heal his injuries.
As he was halfway through his cultivation, the bottleneck within his body shattered with a crack. His aura began to surge. Peak Qi Refining Layer Eight. Early Qi Refining Layer Nine. Ye Fei only stopped after breaking through two consecutive layers.
He slept soundly. The next day, after Ye Fei had prepared everything, he put on the uniform of the Xuan Tian Sword Sect and headed towards Sword Forging Peak, following the instructions on his nameplate. By the time he arrived, the grand characters "Sword Forging Hall" were hung high, and many disciples were already diligently forging swords.
"Are you new?" A man dressed in a white brocade robe, embroidered with three sword patterns, approached Ye Fei and asked.
"Yes!" Ye Fei replied neither subserviently nor arrogantly.
"Perfect, we have a disciple in the Sword Forging Hall who is injured, you can take his place!" Ye Fei did not object but instead observed meticulously. The man with the three sword patterns then stood aside and began to instruct Ye Fei. The work in the Sword Forging Hall was quite similar to artifact refining, with only slight differences in the procedures.
"Senior Brother, I understand!" While the man was still rambling on, Ye Fei's head began to buzz, and he directly interrupted him.
"What?"
"You understand already?"
"Impossible!" The man with the three sword patterns embroidered on his robe exclaimed in shock.
"Since you don't believe me, let me try!" In fact, the most crucial aspect of sword forging was the control of temperature and the casting of the sword body, which were not difficult matters for Ye Fei, who was already skilled in artifact refining. The senior brother looked at Ye Fei several times. Seeing that his expression was unchanged, he intended to curb his arrogance, as he had seen too many such prodigies! He himself had been like this on his first day.
"Alright, then you try now!" The senior brother directly called to a junior brother nearby, throwing the forging hammer and other tools to Ye Fei in a rush. At that moment, the junior brother had just completed the first step of sword forging. All the metal materials had already been thrown into the sword forging pool. The firestones at the bottom of the pool were burning intensely. However, Ye Fei noticed a very obvious problem at a glance: there were simply too few sword forging pools here, only a little over ten. But his current focus was on completing the task at hand. Due to Ye Fei's experience in artifact refining, he found it quite effortless as soon as he started. The senior brother, seeing Ye Fei's proficient movements, couldn't help but be surprised. It seemed this kid indeed had some skills.
While everyone was watching Ye Fei forge swords, a commotion suddenly arose at the entrance.
"Why are you here? We don't welcome you!" The disciple guarding the entrance shouted.
"You, a junior disciple, dare to block us? I think you're asking for a beating!"
"Hurry and move aside, don't block Young Master Long's path!" Another slightly hoarse and very arrogant voice rang out. The junior disciple was directly pushed aside, and then more than ten people swaggered into the courtyard of the Sword Forging Hall as if no one were there.
"Long, what are you doing here? We, the second Sword Forging Hall, don't welcome you!" The senior brother, who had been intently observing Ye Fei's progress, was naturally displeased when suddenly interrupted. His expression worsened even further upon seeing that the visitor was from the first Sword Forging Hall.
"What, Di Ming, you don't welcome me?"
"I heard that the second Sword Forging Hall has received several new disciples, so I hurried over to take a look!" The single-lidded Young Master Long said with a smile, giving off a feeling of a smiling tiger. He swept his gaze across the people in the second Sword Forging Hall, then fixed his attention on Ye Fei. At this moment, Ye Fei had just completed the first step and was about to proceed to the second. Following behind Young Master Long was none other than Dongfang Yu, who had previously secured third place in the freshman enrollment assessment. He cast a jealous glance at Ye Fei, then stepped forward a few paces and whispered a few words into Young Master Long's ear subserviently. Young Master Long then turned his gaze back to Ye Fei.
"You are that first place from the freshman enrollment assessment?"
"Such low cultivation?" His dismissive gaze shot directly at Ye Fei. With a bang, Ye Fei put down the forging hammer in his hand and said casually, "It's me, do you have any advice?" The senior brother with the three sword patterns, Di Ming, directly stepped in front of Ye Fei, displeased.
"Your first Sword Forging Hall has already become the head of the Sword Forging Halls, what else do you want!"
"If you push us too far, our second Sword Forging Hall is not to be trifled with!" Thinking of the current predicament of the second Sword Forging Hall, Di Ming felt immense pain.