Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky.

Cain's method was the simplest and most brutal—the dark golden light from his fingertips spread to the carving knife in his hand, directly enhancing the knife's power through his soul force, and he just went for it.

Kong Tianxu finally opened his eyes. Completing the assessment was not difficult for him; what he was considering was how well he could do it.

If it were in his usual style, he could have just done something that was passable, but Grandpa clearly took it very seriously, even inviting Elder Ye from the ancestral hall.

Since that's the case, let's make a big splash this time.

His energy and spirit had reached their peak during the simple breathing adjustment. Kong Tianxu's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he pinched out a piece of metal. The extreme low temperature of over minus 150 degrees Celsius penetrated the metal, instantly destroying its internal structure to a great extent, making it most suitable for carving.

He aimed the tip of his carving knife, imbued with the power of wind and thunder, at a corner of the metal block, a smile playing on his lips.

A cube has six faces.

The moment Xu Tianzhen heard Ye Yulin announce the start, she immediately began to act. She didn't particularly like Soul Masters, but that didn't mean she lacked talent in Soul Master creation. On the contrary, her talent for Soul Masters was quite outstanding.

You can see from her carvings that the moment she begins to wield the knife, her mind becomes extremely focused, her movements are fluid and graceful, precise yet agile.

The high-temperature power of the Sun Martial Soul adhered to the tip of the blade, and with a few quick strokes, the hole was already partially formed, so skillfully that it seemed as if there was no need to think about the choice of where to strike.

Hehe, after practicing so many times, the effect is still very obvious, she thought to herself with secret pride.

As the only princess most favored by Xu Guoyi, she naturally had the opportunity to learn about the entrance examination from her father in advance. In order to beat the genius from Grandpa Kong's family, she had been preparing for several months.

Just as Xu Tianzhen was smugly preparing to look down on Kong Tianxu's carving progress, which was undoubtedly far behind her own, the scene before her eyes widened her eyes—

Kong Tianxu stroked a piece of metal that was the hardest and least suitable for drilling, lightly touched it with his carving knife, and then began to wield it like a storm!

Chapter 33 Laughing at the Mortal World: This boy's talent is no less than mine!

At the same time, another pair of eyes were also watching this scene.

"Dream, haven't you finished reading yet? Quickly show me, how far has that guy named Tianxu gotten in his carving?"

On a low slope far from the first-year teaching building, Xiao Hongchen anxiously spoke to his younger sister, who was hogging the only level-five telescopic soul tool they owned.

Meng Hongchen waved to her brother and said:

"Wait a minute, I haven't seen enough yet. Grandpa didn't say that the junior from Grand Tutor's family was so handsome. By the way, brother, did your class use this kind of assessment method back then? I seem to remember that I only had to trace a blueprint of a level one soul tool and that was it?"

Xiao Hongchen couldn't do anything about her. Their reconnaissance plan to impersonate teaching assistants in the first year had just begun when Lin Jiayi caught them red-handed, leaving them to slink away and hide here to spy.

“It’s normal that they are different. Class One selects the group with the greatest uncertainty and potential in terms of Soul Guidance Masters, so the assessment content is naturally different. Sister, you have a high talent for Soul Guidance Tools, but in order to match the poisonous ability of your Martial Soul, the types of Soul Guidance Tools that are suitable for you are very limited, so you went to Class Two.”

Seeing that Meng Hongchen did not respond, Xiao Hongchen continued speaking to herself:

"But even among all the assessments in Class One, this test of specialized carving techniques is the most difficult. It is only used when a genius like me enters the school."

"Because this assessment not only tests the Soul Master's carving skills and Martial Soul abilities, but also requires the Soul Master to have a thorough understanding of the properties of various metal alloys. How to choose the most suitable metal for a certain carving method, and how to combine one's own Martial Soul abilities to complete the carving as quickly as possible, are all great tests of the Soul Master's eyesight and abilities."

"And your brother me, back then, completed the carving of all six pieces of metal just before the quarter-hour period ended. Although there were some errors in one of the carvings, it was still the best result in the more than three thousand years of our Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, and it tied for first place with another senior who completed the carving perfectly one second over time."

"If our little brother Tianxu can complete more than three carvings within the time limit, I will reluctantly acknowledge that he is qualified to stand on the same platform as me."

Xiao Hongchen finished speaking with a smug look, waiting for his sister's exclamation. However, Meng Hongchen suddenly turned her head in surprise, as if she had seen something unbelievable, and asked the smug Xiao Hongchen:

"Brother, how long did it take you to carve the first one?"

"Two minutes? What's wrong with that? I started with the simplest but most soul-power-consuming method: drilling thirty holes."

Meng Hongchen quickly turned around to confirm, and murmured as if in a dream:

"But he seems to be almost finished carving the first one."

"What?!" Xiao Hongchen's voice was sharp with surprise as he snatched the telescope and looked over.

……

The lightning element at the tip of the blade had dissipated, transforming into the more controllable fire element. Kong Tianxu stared intently at the metal block, his solidified mental energy evenly controlling the output of his soul power.

Drilling a hole isn't just about drilling through; it's about ensuring that the hole is uniform in size, perfectly round, and without any flaws to be considered a success.

One by one, small red dots were quickly and evenly applied to the hard metal. The metal, which had already been subjected to extreme ice, suffered further damage to its structure after being etched.

At this point, it would be much easier for him to activate the wind element and use the carving knife to penetrate and make holes. With his elemental control and the stability of his hand movements, there was no need to worry about missing the mark.

That being said, it was by no means easy. In his relentless pursuit of speed, the ordinary carving knife, made of fine steel, left countless afterimages in his wake.

While ensuring that the carving knife in his hand does not break, he also needs to output soul power to the maximum extent, and while taking speed into account, he also has to constantly change the soul power attribute to achieve the best carving effect.

Fine beads of sweat had already appeared on Kong Tianxu's forehead. In this state of complete immersion in the process, his energy and spirit had reached their peak.

He even felt that his spiritual power, nurtured by the divine retribution, was subtly influencing his spiritual sea in this state, allowing it to be further sublimated.

While his mental strength had always far surpassed that of his peers, it was still somewhat lacking compared to his ridiculously strong physique. Although the Heavenly Punishment was subtly enhancing his mental strength, he had never been able to fully control this power.

After all, he couldn't control his mental power with the same meticulous precision as a spirit-type soul master. If it weren't for the vastness of the mental sea opened up by his two super martial souls, he wouldn't even be able to store this gradually accumulating mental energy.

At this moment, with his mental power exerting meticulous control and influence over various elemental attributes, his mental power further integrated with his body. He quickly entered a state of unity between mind and body, causing his mental power to circulate rapidly and fully merge with his previous insights, leading to the sublimation process he was witnessing.

Although Xu Tianzhen didn't follow the whole process, she was closer to Kong Tianxu and saw more details. In her eyes, Kong Tianxu's work wasn't sculpting at all; it was more like carelessly smearing paint on a metal surface.

Amidst the flying metal shavings, he effortlessly executed a specialized technique that would be time-consuming and laborious in the eyes of countless geniuses.

She stared in disbelief as Kong Tianxu placed the first piece of metal, which he had already carved, back into the compartment. The thirty identical holes on the top side were evenly distributed, and his right hand, which held the carving knife, was as smooth and lustrous as jade.

It's hard to imagine that such a single hand could unleash such terrifying speed.

She even vaguely sensed that the dazzling flashes of light seemed to have passed through more than just the metal side.

How long did it take him? Xu Tianzhen looked at the small clockwork soul tool on his wrist.

Just one minute had passed since Ye Yulin announced the start.

Kong Tianxu put the carving knife back in its place and did not continue carving the other five pieces of metal. After completing the carving of the first piece of metal at an unprecedented speed, he actually closed his eyes and began to meditate.

The consumption of soul power wasn't excessive, but the consumption of mental energy was causing him to feel slightly fatigued. Moreover, in that previous state of mind-body unity, he seemed to have vaguely grasped something.

At this moment, the students were all busy working on the metal blocks in their hands, so apart from Xu Tianzhen and Cain next to them, no one really noticed that Kong Tianxu had finished a carving and started to rest.

Chapter 34: Intermittent? Concealing one's talents? Anxiety about gains and losses?

Haha, you've been showing off your skills so much you've run out of soul power!

Seeing Kong Tianxu's appearance, Xu Tianzhen immediately guessed that the other party was trying to overpower her, which was why he was using his own soul power to quickly make a hole at any cost.

Because the seventh-level Soul Master who specifically taught her carving skills suppressed his own Soul Power to the Soul Master stage to demonstrate his full-speed performance to her, which took about a minute.

Even if she went all out, she couldn't reach the same speed, but this assessment was a comprehensive evaluation of all six skills, and she hadn't lost yet!

Thinking of this, the naive princess immediately turned her gaze back to her carving, and with a flick of her wrist and full concentration, her speed was even faster than before.

Ye Yulin's eyes were fixed on Kong Tianxu from beginning to end. Her expression changed rapidly from admiration to doubt, as if she had discovered something but was not sure.

Seeing that Kong Tianxu had put down the carving knife and was clearly exhausted, he wondered if the burst of energy just now had been too intense, causing his soul power to become somewhat intermittent.

However, someone trained by Confucius shouldn't be so reckless. Could it be that he's hiding his true abilities?

He wanted to probe the metal block inside the tray, but his mental energy was refracted as soon as it touched the lead tray and was completely blocked. He could only think about it silently in his mind, and his brows began to furrow unconsciously.

This was the first time this had been seen by the imperial high command, especially by the old guys in the Hall of Worship. Kong Lao had specially set up this stage for him. Could this kid be so clueless?

Time passed second by second, and Xu Tianzhen had taken out the fifth piece of metal from the six compartments and started carving. With the support of his powerful soul power, Cain was also slowly and accurately engraving the patterns on the surface of the metal in his hand. It seemed that completing at least one piece before the time ran out was no problem.

But Kong Tianxu remained motionless, as if he were asleep. In the tray in front of him, apart from the first piece of the hardest metal, there were no signs of cutting.

At this point, more than 75 percent of the hourglass had already been lost in a quarter of an hour.

"Time's up!" Without any delay, Ye Yulin announced the end of the assessment the moment the last grain of sand rolled down the hourglass.

"Phew—it's done."

Xu Tianzhen wiped the sweat from her forehead. This time she performed exceptionally well, surpassing her previous best of four pieces, and successfully carved the fifth piece in the last little bit of time.

She turned to look at the tray beside her, and it was still exactly the same as before, untouched. She couldn't help but look at Kong Tianxu in surprise; he really hadn't continued carving after finishing one piece.

Are you so afraid of losing to me that you stopped after only completing the most basic assessment?

Xu Tianzhen felt somewhat disappointed. Although she seemed carefree, she was actually very thoughtful, and it was impossible for her not to have expectations for this fiancé chosen by her father.

However, it seems that while the opponent may be highly talented, they may not possess the composure and resilience to face victory and defeat with equanimity.

Kong Tianxu had no idea what she was thinking. After waking up from deep meditation, his energy and spirit soared to a new peak.

Yes, in just less than a quarter of an hour, he entered a deep meditation that is something that ordinary soul masters can only dream of.

His mental energy had long since recovered, and the mental energy released by Tianqian Zhi'an was further integrating with his body, causing the silver sea of ​​his mind to expand considerably.

If it was a lake before, it now finally has some resemblance to the ocean. At the same time, the bottleneck in soul power also feels loose.

Kong Tianxu was pleasantly surprised that an entrance exam could improve his mental strength. He felt a surge of joy from this unexpected surprise and returned a bright smile when he noticed Xu Tianzhen's strange gaze.

Still laughing! Xu Tianzhen turned her face away angrily, not wanting to talk to him, but that handsome face lingered in her mind for a long time.

Sigh, my husband is just a pretty face.

Cain brushed aside her slightly damp bangs; her soul power had been significantly depleted this time. The dark gold three-headed bat king's metal attribute greatly enhanced the sharpness of the carving knife, but unfortunately, her foundation was too poor, so she had to expend considerable effort.

Of course, she still had some spare capacity given her soul power level, but she didn't attempt to carve a second piece. She was very clear about her own position; passing was enough, and there was no need to stand out.

Seeing Kong Tianxu and Xu Tianzhen interacting intimately, she lowered her head in disappointment. Although she had expected this scene, she still felt a pang of sadness in her heart. Her slender fingers twisted around the hem of her clothes, unconsciously tightening their grip.

In the end...

A similarly slender hand reached out and completely enveloped her slightly cool palm, its warmth carrying a hint of undeniable dominance.

Without even looking, she knew whose hand it belonged to. Her dim eyes lit up instantly, and she gently raised the corners of her lips, revealing a pair of cute little tiger teeth.

Nothing has changed.

Kong Tianxu almost instinctively leveled the water, then looked at the podium. Ye Yulin had already begun reading out some names; according to Kong Tianxu's observation, these should all be students who had failed the assessment.

Not all students are as fast as he is, so fast that they can't be seen clearly. As a titled Douluo, Ye Yulin had already figured out the level of most people.

"Liu Wenjun, Tang Shiyan, Han Fuqun..." Sure enough, after Ye Yulin read out dozens of names in one breath, his emotionless voice rang out again: "You have been eliminated. Go to the Academic Affairs Office to accept reassignment or drop out of school."

Kong Tianxu looked around and found that the civilian student he was paying attention to was still sitting steadily in his seat.

Moreover, if he remembered correctly, although the other party was only a Great Soul Master, he had completed the carving of two pieces of metal, which increased his interest in this commoner genius.

Those whose names were called turned pale and reluctantly walked out, while others lingered in place. But soon several teachers came over, collected everyone's trays, and forcibly dragged away those who refused to leave.

Ye Yulin watched all of this indifferently, but her gaze subtly followed the movement of Kong Tianxu's tray.

Under his intimidating presence, the entire process was silent, and no one dared to utter a word of questioning.