The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#151 - It must be a duplicate name.

The middle-aged man, who seemed to be an instructor, shook his head. "Everyone participating in the assessment will come to this room once it's over. I haven't seen the friend you mentioned, named Lu Jing. It seems he's still in the assessment."

Yang Tao nodded and respectfully bowed to the middle-aged instructor.

Then, the middle-aged man spoke again, "Alright, give me your wooden tag."

As he spoke, he picked up a writing brush from the side, dipped it in the ink from the inkstone, and wrote Yang Tao's name on the blank space on the back of the wooden tag.

He then handed the wooden tag back, and at the same time, he instructed, "This is your identity certificate for joining the Sitianjian. It will be useful for many purposes in the future, so don't lose it."

"What happens if I lose it?" Yang Tao couldn't help but ask.

"We'll issue another one."

However, he was still quite polite. Upon hearing the question, he cupped his fist and said, "Huizhou, Guan Pingping, the White Horse Silver Spear." However, his tone was quite arrogant.

Yang Tao's reaction was very satisfying to him. Upon hearing his self-introduction, he immediately became excited, "The Guan family of Huizhou! The Guan family of Huizhou, famous in the Jianghu for their Nineteen Heavy Spears?!"

"When I was very young, my father told me that when it comes to the exquisite art of spear techniques in this world, no one can compare to the Guan family's Heavy Spears. My Iron Spear Sect's Dragon-Tiger Overlord Spear is far inferior. Old Master Guan Xiaoyun is the greatest spear master in the world. I wonder if Old Master Guan is your…"

"My grandfather," Guan Pingping said proudly.

"Brother Guan's family is truly remarkable!" Yang Tao gasped.

Guan Pingping originally had some hostility in his heart when he saw that Yang Tao also used a spear, but seeing that Yang Tao was so sensible, he didn't want to make things difficult for him. After a pause, he said.

"Brother Yang, don't you know? The reason it's so lively up ahead is because the Qingyun Ranking and the Tianji Ranking are being updated today. Brother Yang has come at the right time. Why don't we take a look together? Perhaps Brother Yang's name is also on the list."

Upon hearing this, Yang Tao repeatedly waved his hand, "I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough. I'm new to the Jianghu and have no reputation at all. How could I possibly be on the list? But Brother Guan, you are likely to be on the list. And Lu Jing, the young hero I met earlier, should also be on the list."

Guan Pingping thought so too. He had been coveting the Qingyun Ranking for a long time. Three years ago, his name was not on that list, which had already made Guan Pingping quite indignant.

Now that another three years had passed, he had been working hard and felt that with his martial arts, he should be on the list this time no matter what.

As for Lu Jing, whom Yang Tao mentioned, Guan Pingping had also heard of him. He vaguely remembered that this person had defeated Yama's Xiao two years ago, but then he had become silent again.

Huizhou was some distance from Wujiang City, Guan Pingping and Lu Jing had never met, and he didn't know much about Lu Jing.

But he felt that a single battle didn't really prove anything. After all, luck played a big part in a single battle. There had been many examples of the weak defeating the strong before.

And the fact that Lu Jing had not had any amazing achievements since then also proved from the side that there was a lot of exaggeration in that battle.

On the contrary, Guan Pingping himself had really been in the limelight several times in the past two years, wiping out bandits in the clouds, fighting the Yinshan Twins alone, and helping the Weiyuan Escort Agency recover the lost silver.

Now, no matter who in Huizhou saw him, they would give him a thumbs up and call him a young hero.

So, Guan Pingping, full of confidence, pulled Yang Tao to squeeze to the front of the Qingyun Ranking.

The two of them looked down from the top of the list, and the first thing they saw was Wei Zixian's name.

Yang Tao wondered, "Why has the number one person on the Qingyun Ranking changed? I remember that in the previous issues, it was always the female hero Yan of the Yunshui Jingci Pavilion."

"The Qingyun Ranking records young talents under the age of twenty-five. Of course, there is no problem with the age of the female hero Yan, but she had already entered the first-class realm more than two years ago, so she should have gone to the Tianji Ranking, which specializes in recording first-class masters."

Even Guan Pingping, who was as proud as he was, was convinced when he spoke of Yan Yun, simply because Yan Yun had been too radiant since her debut, so that others who competed with her could not even feel jealous.

Guan Pingping was also one of them, sighing as he continued to look down.

Sure enough, as expected, there was no name of Lu Jing on it, but Guan Pingping's face gradually sank, because he also failed to find his own name on it.

Until his gaze moved down again, he saw two extremely glaring words in the forty-ninth place.

—Yang Tao.

It must be the same name, it must be the same name.

Guan Pingping muttered in his heart, and then couldn't wait to look at the notes below.

I saw that under the name, a line of small characters was written.

Yang Tao, seventeen, from Liuzhou, the third generation successor of the Iron Spear Sect.

Weapon: Refined Iron Spear, nine feet four inches long, weighing seventy-six catties, four taels and two qian.

Martial arts: Dragon-Tiger Overlord Spear, minor success, internal skill Dragon-Tiger Art, second-rate realm, light skill Iron Crane Step, minor success.

Comment: A rare spear talent, who entered the second-rate realm at the age of seventeen, with unlimited potential.

Guan Pingping only felt a mouthful of old blood rushing to his heart, almost spurting out.

How is this possible?!

This country bumpkin who looks silly and hasn't seen the world, and whose master is from a small sect that no one has heard of, can actually be on the list? And he's already in the second-rate realm.

And he, who is also a spear user, comes from the number one spear family in the world, and a famous young talent in Huizhou, is actually inferior to this country bumpkin?

Is there any justice in this world!

And even more unjust things were waiting for him later. After Guan Pingping read the entire Qingyun Ranking, he still couldn't find his own name.

He felt a whirl of dizziness all over his body and almost fell to the ground.

While he was in a trance, he heard several exclamations from the Tianji Ranking, "What the hell? There are actually two first-class masters under the age of twenty on the Tianji Ranking. The first, Yan Yun, is okay, but who is this Lu Jing?!"