Open up and break into another world

"Wei Hai should be able to easily pass the first and second levels! He might even have a chance at the third level!" Elder Li, who was in charge of the assessment, said casually.

Elder Li even felt a stirring of appreciation for talent as he spoke.

"I've been handling trivial matters for the sect for decades, it's about time I took in a disciple to inherit my mantle!" Elder Li pondered, wondering if he should take Wei Hai as a personal disciple and pass on his legacy if Wei Hai proved to have extraordinary talent.

The other disciples participating in the assessment were somewhat envious when they heard Elder Li's evaluation of Wei Hai. However, they were genuinely convinced of Wei Hai's strength—after all, Wei Hai was one of the few at the mid-stage of the Initial Realm in this assessment; moreover, Wei Hai was still very young, only seventeen years old.

As expected, at the first level of the Five Elements Pagoda, Wei Hai simply said, "Break!"

He formed a sword with his two fingers, and as the sword light flashed, he easily defeated his Inner Training Peak opponent and directly advanced to the second level.

"Too strong!"

Because Wei Hai had made his battles public, the scene of him effortlessly defeating his opponents with every move naturally caught the eyes of other geniuses.

"Just a sword formed with two fingers! He defeated an Inner Training Peak expert with just the external release of Initial Qi—truly worthy of being a master at the mid-stage of the Initial Realm!"

"Indeed powerful, I can't compare! Wei Hai's casual strike is probably equal to my full-force attack!" A genius at the early stage of the Initial Realm said with emotion.

"Wei Hai should be the top disciple of this year's recruitment!"

"With Wei Hai's talent, he will definitely shine brightly after entering the sect! In the future, he might even become a high-ranking member of the sect; I must build a good relationship with him now!"

Seeing Wei Hai easily pass the first level, many geniuses were both shocked and pondered how to build a good relationship with Wei Hai.

After all, it is very important for a disciple with mediocre strength to have a powerful backer in the sect.

After the shock, everyone's attention refocused on Wei Hai.

At this time, Wei Hai had already reached the second level of the Five Elements Pagoda. A faint, wicked smile hung on the corner of his mouth; clearly, he was confident of winning this battle on the second level.

However, what Wei Hai didn't know was that outside the Five Elements Pagoda, a faint, wicked smile also hung on the corner of Xu Ming's mouth.

Whoosh!

As soon as he stepped onto the second level, Wei Hai revealed a bronze-colored sword in his hand. After all, the opponents on the second level were also at the Initial Realm; although Wei Hai was confident, he didn't dare to be careless—he still wanted to conserve some energy to challenge the third level!

"How many moves will Wei Hai need to defeat the opponent on the second level?"

"It's just an opponent at the early stage of the Initial Realm, it shouldn't be too difficult, right!"

"I guess it will be more than thirty moves—Wei Hai definitely won't use his full strength, but will save his energy to challenge the third level!"

Just as the watching geniuses were discussing, Wei Hai struck with his sword.

Powerful Initial Qi erupted from the sword's edge, and the momentum was very turbulent.

But for some reason…

The geniuses and experts watching outside the Five Elements Pagoda felt that Wei Hai's sword was a bit off. It seemed… somewhat weak!

That's right, the feeling of being "weak."

Elder Li also frowned slightly: "Why is Wei Hai's sword so weak in momentum?"

Elder Li didn't understand!

Clang—

The two swords collided, and both sides retreated at the same time.

But what was astonishing was—Wei Hai retreated seven steps, while his opponent only retreated three steps!

What did this mean?

It meant that Wei Hai's strength was inferior to the opponent at the early stage of the Initial Realm in front of him!

"How is this possible!?"

Outside the Five Elements Pagoda, everyone was shocked.

A mid-stage Initial Realm expert not only failed to gain an advantage in a head-on collision with an early-stage Initial Realm expert but was actually at a disadvantage?

"Wei Hai must have been careless!"

"Yes! He must have underestimated his opponent too much!"

The geniuses and experts outside the Five Elements Pagoda all thought.

"How is this possible…" The most shocked was undoubtedly Wei Hai himself—he knew best how much strength he had used in this sword strike! Although it hadn't reached the level of "full strength," he had used seven-tenths of his power; logically speaking, he should have been able to easily force his opponent back! How could he have been forced back by his opponent instead?

"Hehe!" Xu Ming secretly chuckled twice in his heart—when Wei Hai struck with his sword, the power of this sword had been weakened by him! Moreover, Xu Ming had deliberately made it obvious to outsiders that Wei Hai was very weak; only Wei Hai himself didn't know what was happening.

"Again!!" Wei Hai certainly didn't think that he would be inferior to an early-stage Initial Realm expert; suppressing his shocked mood, he attacked his opponent again.

Boom—

This time, Wei Hai had already used ninety percent of his strength!

However… in the eyes of Elder Li, Hong Lingge, Jiang Bi, and others, Wei Hai's sword was still very weak.

Boom—

Sure enough, this time, Wei Hai directly retreated more than ten steps before stabilizing his body; while his opponent only retreated three steps.

"Indeed very weak!" Elder Li's voice carried a hint of doubt, "Could it be… that Wei Hai was too eager for quick success and didn't polish his foundation well before forcibly breaking through to the mid-stage of the Initial Realm, resulting in an unstable foundation?"

In Elder Li's opinion, only this explanation could explain why Wei Hai, who was clearly at the mid-stage of the Initial Realm, couldn't even defeat an ordinary opponent at the early stage of the Initial Realm.

"Alas… what a pity for a piece of unpolished jade!" Elder Li shook his head and sighed inwardly.

One must know that an unstable foundation is a great taboo on the path of cultivation! Even if one spends ten or twenty times the time to re-polish the foundation, one may not be able to do it well!

An unstable foundation ruins one's life!

At this time, Elder Li had directly given up the idea of taking Wei Hai as a personal disciple! After all, with the strength Wei Hai was currently displaying, he was not qualified to be his personal disciple at all.

Of course, Wei Hai didn't think that his foundation was unstable; after all, he had definitely cultivated steadily to the mid-stage of the Initial Realm!

In Wei Hai's opinion, since it wasn't his problem, then it must be the opponent's problem!

"The opponent on the second level is too strong!" Wei Hai couldn't help but exclaim.

Too strong?

Wei Hai's exclamation naturally caused Elder Li to sneer—how could a very ordinary early-stage Initial Realm opponent be too strong?

"It's not that your opponent is too strong, it's that you are too weak!" Elder Li's voice sounded faintly.

Of course, Wei Hai was in the midst of the assessment and couldn't hear Elder Li's words.