Chapter 1 Time Flies

Time began to flow rapidly, and Ye Chu Xiao returned to reality.

A Dao rhythm aura also naturally dissipated in the golden clock.

Holding the knife with both hands, Ye Chu Xiao imitated Yan Po's way of drawing the knife. With a slash, the blade light flew out, cutting through a chair, but he felt that the strength used was wrong, which seemed awkward, and the power was not as good as usual.

"Just now, the strength I used was not right. Although Yan Po's knife technique is wide open and close, his power is extremely restrained. In fact, if it is not a group battle, in close-quarters combat, restraining and concentrating powerful power, and releasing it in a small space, is the best."

After understanding, when Ye Chu Xiao wielded the knife, he no longer only pursued strength, but also trained his control.

When practicing the knife, he went all out, but the knife only fell halfway.

After practicing like this for two days, Ye Chu Xiao bought a lot of tofu and placed it on the table, wielding the knife at the tofu.

At first, when the knife fell, even before it arrived, the knife wind still tore the tofu apart, blasting it into碎渣 (suì zhā, shattered pieces).

After a period of training, Ye Chu Xiao gradually grasped the strength, and could evenly cut the tofu without hurting the table at all.

After that, Ye Chu Xiao changed his training method, placing small stones on the tofu, striving to split the stones with one strike without hurting the tofu at all.

Practicing the knife like this, time passed unknowingly, and the day of the competition arrived.

It was still the square on the first floor of the dungeon, with two bronze one-eyed beasts standing in the north and south, supporting a barrier.

Inside the barrier, all cultivators can fully exert their cultivation without being suppressed by the Prison Suppressing Artifact.

The officials of the Ministry of Justice sat on the high platform, visually separated from the square-formation jailers, looking down at the many jailers from above.

This time, even Bai Tou Biao was no longer qualified to stand out alone, forming a separate row, but stood with the many jailers, showing that his identity was, in fact, not much different from ordinary jailers.

There was no lengthy pre-competition speech; showing off in front of a group of jailers was clearly not the pleasure of those Ministry of Justice officials. With the Minister of Justice, who only sent a paper doll substitute, nodding slightly.

An official from the Ministry of Justice, holding a document, said: "Now the competition begins. Two people per group, after reciting the names, step forward and fight. Anyone who is not on duty and does not show up will be automatically dismissed and never employed again."

Then they began to call names.

"Zhang Da Kai! Xu Bu Tong!" The Ministry of Justice official read these two names three times, and seeing no one respond, he crossed these two names off the Ministry of Justice jailer files.

The so-called jailer competition, selecting talented people, is certainly the purpose, but clearing the roster and eliminating jailers who do not exist in reality is also one of the purposes.

The Ministry of Justice official continued to recite names, and after calling out hundreds of names, still no one stepped forward.

This competition had just begun, and it fell into an awkward crisis that had not been anticipated before.

Not only the jailer formation, but also those Ministry of Justice officials sitting on the high platform could not sit still. Those with guilty consciences felt like they had nails in their buttocks, fidgeting uneasily.

Everyone was drawing a salary for an empty position, and they all thought that the number of empty positions had to be... not too high.

But they didn't expect that, right from the start, they would be slapped in the face.

The high-ranking Ministry of Justice officials, at this time, because of the awkwardness and unease in their hearts, became like monkeys in hats.

The paper doll incarnation of the Minister of Justice swept his gaze over the crowd, seeing the different expressions of the people, but did not get angry.

Having such an awkward situation was clearly intentionally facilitated by the Minister of Justice.

The purpose was to knock on the heads of his subordinates.

"Wu Shan, Liu Qing Feng!" Finally, the deathly silence was broken.

Two jailers left the team and stood below the high platform, in front of the jailer formation.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Wu Shan was a formation cultivator, while Liu Qing Feng was a sword cultivator.

The two faced each other, cupped their fists in salute, and Liu Qing Feng instantly summoned his flying sword, shooting it towards Wu Shan.

Liu Qing Feng's flying sword was not made of metal, but a wooden sword. For poor sword cultivators without much wealth, carving flying swords from aged peach or jujube wood is a cheap alternative. Of course, a wooden sword is, after all, just a wooden sword; for a real sword cultivator, it is like a toy.

But once given extremely fast speed, even a wooden sword cannot be underestimated.

However, Liu Qing Feng's cultivation is not high. Once the flying sword is shot, it is often difficult to retrieve, or he is unable to strike many times. At this time, he is attacking strongly, with the intention of taking the enemy by surprise and quickly defeating him.

Obviously, Wu Shan was prepared. Formation flags were scattered, creating a simple illusion formation around him.

Three phantoms appeared, sharing the risk.

Liu Qing Feng gambled on the wrong real body, and the sword missed. Wu Shan immediately waved the formation flags, trapping Liu Qing Feng.

Simply holding a Fiery Flames Talisman in front of Liu Qing Feng, Liu Qing Feng was helpless and could only admit defeat.

"Wu Shan wins! Reward, five taels of silver." The Ministry of Justice official in charge of the competition shouted.

The most basic silver reward only shows that Wu Shan was not valued even if he won.

His methods can only be said to be mediocre.

Moreover, the previous long list of ‘false names’ had clearly consumed a lot of expectations.

Wu Shan and Liu Qing Feng, the winner and loser, both returned to the queue dejectedly.

Next, the competition continued.

The Ministry of Justice official began to call names faster.

Calling out the names of the first three groups of people at once, and then starting to fight together.

Even if the three groups of people fighting will accidentally ‘mix’ together, it doesn't matter.

This is not a competition that demands fairness.

Rather, it is a process of testing the abilities of the jailers.

Sudden accidents can better show the abilities of an excellent jailer.

Of course, so far, all chaotic battles have ended in a ‘sloppy’ manner. There are basically no winners; they are all losers.

The general strength and ability of the Ministry of Justice jailers is truly trash.

There are no hidden dragons and crouching tigers; everyone is realistically trash.

It is completely a chicken-pecking-at-each-other situation.

In comparison, Wu Shan and Liu Qing Feng, who played first, can be considered elites.

At least they still have formation flags and flying swords.

Many jailers have no main combat methods at all. During the competition, they actually took out gongs, drums, sheng pipes, silk cloths, combs, seeds, and other items to show off their skills, which made people's scalps tingle.

Admittedly, many cultivators who follow the path of oddities can use household items, musical instruments, plants, etc., to exert extraordinary power, but more generally speaking, it is not suitable as a means of combat; it is several levels weaker.

The faces of the many officials of the Ministry of Justice had turned as black as charcoal.

The paper doll incarnation of the Minister of Justice had even been rendered red, clearly wanting to vent his anger.

It should be known that, from the official level, the Ministry of Justice jailers are also a combat sequence, and generally only those cultivators with actual combat capabilities are allowed to be recruited.

Such as sword cultivators, martial cultivators, law cultivators, curse cultivators, and so on.

But right now, there are embroidery officers, agricultural officers, musicians, and other non-combat sequences mixed in, completely filling the ranks with inferior goods.

"The next group: Ye Chu Xiao, Wu Ting, Ma Shao Kang, Li Fu, Wang Bu Yi, Xu Biao."

Six names were called, but only five people stepped forward.

Clearly, one of them is a non-existent person.

And many gazes are focused on Xu Biao.

Because Xu Biao is Bai Tou Biao.

The former head of the Ministry of Justice dungeon jailers.