Rise of the Alchemy God

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The examiner was a demon nearly 2 meters tall, with a stocky build and well-defined muscles, fully exposed by his attire, which consisted solely of pieces of armor protecting his arms, chest, and legs.

He didn't wear any helmet, and it was clear that his armor wasn't complete.

Most likely, he didn't feel the need to fully equip himself for the examination of the new recruits.

That said, he was a demon at the third stage of the spiritual rank, making him one of the most powerful individuals at the moment, excluding the various team commanders present.

He had been assigned to the examination field for this time of the year, and initially, he was curious because he thought he might meet promising recruits who would become the future pillars of the demonic army.

But, to his great disappointment, this was not the case.

He hadn't expected much from the new recruits in the first place, knowing that almost none of them had likely seen any real battle experience. Therefore, he anticipated they would be very weak, both in terms of strength and combat techniques.

Unfortunately, his expectations were surpassed, and not in a good way.

In recent years, every time he examined new recruits, he had seen a decline in performance.

In the earlier years when he had been an examiner, at least the recruits could still show some low level of skill, but now it was as if they didn't even know how to hold a weapon properly, which clearly disappointed him.

So, whenever he saw a completely ignorant recruit, he would defeat them without hesitation.

He now knew that five minutes were wasted on them, so if he saw they had nothing to show, he would eliminate them without thinking twice, just as he had done with the last recruit who was sent flying by him.

Now, however, when he saw the next recruit step into the arena, he immediately noticed something.

'Not bad.'

Thanks to his long experience, he could determine a certain level of skill just from the posture and the way a person moved.

At that moment, just by examining how the recruit walked, he could tell they had some ability.

This made him a bit curious and, at the same time, a little hopeful.

He truly hoped this one wouldn't turn out to be another disappointment like the previous ones he had examined today.

Even the third-stage recruits were far from satisfying, so he still had some skepticism. That said,

30 seconds later...

Huh?

He, who only moments ago had been sure of a good fight with the other side, found himself sent flying by the other side with a single blow.

It might have seemed like only a few seconds had passed, but for an expert like him, that time was more than enough to make several moves, and indeed, that was the case.

Initially, he noticed the other side wasn't using a weapon, so to make things fairer, he decided to do the same, even lowering his cultivation to the peak of the second stage.

He expected the other side to attack, but to his surprise, unlike the other participants who rushed at him recklessly, this demon didn't.

Instead, they took a simple defensive position.

Seeing this, he was somewhat disappointed, especially since he could spot a few openings in the defense.

Thinking it was a good moment to expose these openings, he decided to attack.

One strike, then another, and another.

In less than five seconds, he delivered several blows, but to his surprise, none of them landed.

He realized that what he thought were openings turned out to be traps, and in fact, at the previous moment, he felt a slight sense of danger. So, he instinctively increased his strength to the third stage and tried to dodge, but even then, it wasn't enough.

The recruit didn't even give him time to understand where the attack was coming from before he felt a pain in his abdomen, and in the next moment, he was sent flying out of the arena.

This sequence of events was too sudden for him, and not only that, even the audience, who just a few seconds ago had been cheering for yet another participant to be beaten, found themselves speechless.

Then, as if to break the brief silence, an examiner at the first stage of the spiritual rank spoke:

"That recruit... just sent the examiner flying with a single blow?" he said, clearly astonished.

He had been able to watch the entire battle easily, so he was surprised because he had noticed how easily the recruit executed the attack while avoiding the examiner's strikes.

Just like him, other commanders nearby thought the same thing, and immediately, some of them decided to recruit this recruit.

Even Lin Yu, who was now in the audience, was cheering.

She knew Ethan was stronger than he let on, but seeing him send the examiner flying so easily still excited her.

As the crowd suddenly came alive, Ethan, who had just sent the examiner flying, had a grim expression on his face.

'How the hell did he not see the attack?' he thought.

He had drastically lowered his strength and speed, so he expected the other side to be able to see and resist his attacks, but that wasn't the case.

The examiner, though experienced, was still very inexperienced in Ethan's eyes, who easily blocked his attacks. Instinctively, he wanted to push him back, but he held back and prepared this weak attack in hopes that the other side would finally take advantage.

But to his surprise, the other party not only didn't avoid it, but took it head-on, ending up being thrown out of the arena.

Being thrown out of the arena meant an automatic defeat, so at this moment, he found himself unexpectedly being the winner of the sparring match.

Just as he thought that the demons here were too weak, he felt a sudden sensation as his gaze shifted in one direction.

There, positioned on the high wall of the examination area, was a female figure, who, at that moment, was looking directly at him.

***

Jing Xia, as soon as she felt that invisible sensation, immediately rushed toward the area from where it came.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Although the issue with the elven girl troubled her, this sudden event was something that caught her attention, especially because it involved her soul weapon.

This was a very powerful soul weapon, and in fact, for a long time, no one had been able to subdue it.

She, too, had encountered her fair share of difficulties in successfully controlling it.

And precisely because she had managed to control it successfully and had used it for decades now, she knew how formidable it was.

So, when she felt the reaction of the weapon to the aura she sensed from that direction, she grew curious.

She knew that whatever it was, if it had managed to get such a reaction from the weapon, it was most likely not something simple.

With her speed, she covered the distance between her and the location in no time, and in the blink of an eye, she was on the walls of the examination area for new recruits.

The fact that her weapon felt drawn to this place intrigued her even more, and now that she was here, she used the attraction her weapon was feeling to pinpoint the source of her reaction.

'Found it.' Discover stories at empire

Just as she managed to pinpoint the likely source of her weapon's reaction, her eyes caught sight of a certain figure in the crowd of participants watching.

And when she focused her sight on that figure, her eyes immediately narrowed.