Chapter 154: Chapter 145: Handstand
The crowd was chatting, while the tug-of-war over there was still ongoing, with no winner or loser in sight.
Zhou Leng looked over and asked, "Was it like this before?"
"Yeah, the same. They couldn’t decide the winner, and in the end, everyone just charged forward, and nobody got through."
Zhou Leng didn’t want to just sit around and waste time.
After a brief thought, he used the Demonized Watch to send a message to Molten Hammer.
Molten Hammer looked twice and said, "Do you and Zhang Xinglie think you can do it?"
"Winning or losing doesn’t matter. I just don’t want to sit around doing nothing."
"Alright!"
Molten Hammer squeezed into the crowd and shouted for encouragement.
After a while, Molten Hammer shouted, "Can you guys do it or not? Dilly-dallying around, weaklings!"
The crowd all threw white eyes at Molten Hammer.
Molten Hammer kept shouting, "Folks, Old Grandfather’s treasure is about to close. We’re just butting heads like stupid beastmen, and in the end, there will be no winner. I think, why not try a smarter method so the beastmen won’t laugh at us for being dumb."
"So, do you have a good idea?" The dwarves all asked.
Even the two wrestling stopped.
Molten Hammer said, "I just thought of a really smart and particularly difficult method. Even if the beastmen saw it, they would praise us loudly and have to accept it."
"Well, go ahead and say it!"
Molten Hammer laughed, "We can all compete by doing handstands."
"Bah!"
"Idiot..."
The dwarves jeered.
Molten Hammer wasn’t in a hurry. He raised his right index finger and continued shouting, "Handstands, but with just one index finger, no bending, no using Anger Blood or True Qi! If you can’t hold it and fall, you lose qualification. The last twenty to persist can advance, how about it?"
"Single finger handstand?"
"Seems not too hard."
"Try it with your finger not bending."
"But humans seem to be out of luck, our dwarf bodies... more refined, easier."
"Molten Hammer is smart, casting out all the humans. I agree!"
"I agree too!"
"All dwarves should agree."
Soon, all the dwarves were shouting in agreement. The humans were few and had no choice but to comply.
Molten Hammer glanced at Zhou Leng, then turned his head back, puffed up, and said, "Alright, now everyone do a handstand with both hands. I will count to three, and after that, switch to a single finger handstand. If your finger bends or you fall, you fail. The first ones to fall can referee and supervise others. Everyone be honest, no cheating."
"No, no..."
"Everyone first put down the things you’re carrying," Molten Hammer said while removing his weapons.
Everyone else also began placing down their belongings.
"Ready... Double hand handstand!"
Molten Hammer shouted, and everyone flipped over into handstands.
Everyone present was a cultivator and easily managed it, all looking calm.
"Now begin, single-hand index finger handstand!"
With Molten Hammer’s second shout, everyone slowly attempted the single finger handstand.
Just a second later, someone suddenly shouted.
"Ow, no, no..."
Thud, that person fell to the ground.
"I told you it wasn’t simple!"
"Molten Hammer truly has brains, this is way more fun than boring tug-of-war, we can even try this when we return to the tribe."
"Doing this really trains balance. If you’re not at the Late Stage of Body Refining, forget it."
A bunch of dwarves competed noisily, making all kinds of shouts and calls.
One after another failed.
"Hey, making the finger straight is really hard."
"I can’t master the balance."
"Hard, hard, hard..."
"Your finger is bent, hurry up and admit defeat, stop pretending..."
"You’ve triggered Anger Blood, think we didn’t notice? Get down!"
Zhou Leng looked at the rest of the team, except for Ban Chui who was shaky, the others were all very steady.
Zhang Xinglie was focused and easily kept his fingers, arms, and body straight.
Before long, Ban Chui fell and said, "I can’t do it."
The other four dwarves laughed and mocked while Ban Chui blushed and stayed silent.
Time passed second by second, and in the end, more than forty people managed to maintain the posture, still with no winner.
Zhou Leng gave Molten Hammer a look.
Handstanding, Molten Hammer understood and turned his head, looking around.
One by one, dwarves or humans stood like straight cylinders of wood planted in the ground.
He shouted loudly, "Didn’t expect, our dwarves are so amazing, still no winner. The Dwarf Race, really strong."
"Don’t brag, there are still humans. Only four humans left? Hm, we dwarves are indeed strong."
The dwarves looked around, only Zhou Leng, Zhang Xinglie, Lou Fei Qiong, and Jax continued the single finger handstand.
The defeated Body Refinement experts shook their heads helplessly.
Mark at the Late Stage of Body Refining also failed, and as he looked at the four still handstanding, he sighed in his heart.
Many of them had superior combat skills than these four.
But they either had bodies that were too bulky, or focused too much on certain martial arts or fighting styles, resulting in relatively poor overall body coordination.
Or they hadn’t laid firm foundations, which didn’t much matter during battles but got magnified in such obscure contests.
Essentially, their bodies hadn’t been refined to the extreme to perform various limit-breaking actions.
Single finger handstand seems pure.
In actuality, it tests strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, and other body qualities, none of which could be excluded.
Jax, with dry blonde hair, remained in a single finger handstand, calm and relaxed, truly honorable for Eagle Alliance’s top student at Pulin Martial Arts Academy.
He was just a sophomore.
He even had the energy to wave at Mark with his left hand.
Mark immediately walked over, squatted down, and slightly lowered his head.
Jax whispered, "I underestimated those two people. I suspect they are likely here for the secret trials that only a few tycoons know about. You stay in Dragon Country and investigate these two. Once you confirm they are participating in the Giant Trial, notify me immediately."
Mark asked softly, "Do you want to..." then made a slicing motion with his right hand.
Jax shook his head and said, "Wait for now. These two managed to get out of prison and are under the protection of General Julu. Even if their background isn’t with the Martial Clan of Dragon Country, it’s not far off. It’s okay to mess with ordinary people in Dragon Country, but messing with those from big powers is difficult."
"Don’t worry, I will investigate thoroughly."
Not far away, Molten Hammer shouted loudly, "Since we’re all experts here, and there’s no clear winner, let’s increase the difficulty. Do you dare?"
"What’s there to be afraid of!"
"Come on, however you want to play, we’ll follow!"
"Make it intense; I’m almost falling asleep, it’s too easy."
Molten Hammer said, "Alright, then use your index finger as a leg, with the knuckle as the knee, for one-finger squats, one by one, until only twenty are left standing. Dare you?"
"This difficulty is quite high."
"Fun, fun! It seems simple but is actually extremely difficult. I’m in."
"Since we can’t tell the winner like this, let’s have one-finger squats!"
"Let’s go, Molten Hammer, count us in, who’s afraid, who’s raised by a Tentacle Beast."
"Come!"
Molten Hammer shouted loudly, "Good. Begin, one... ouch..."
After Molten Hammer spoke, he bent his finger and couldn’t straighten it, losing balance and falling to the ground.
For a moment, many people gasped softly.
Just the first one-finger squat, and seven people failed.
"Is it really this hard?"
Many who had failed early on were amazed; those seven dwarves were well-known body refinement experts in the Dwarf world.
Both Molten Hammer and Malt Beer fell to the ground.
Molten Hammer walked while shouting, "Next, two!"
The remaining people did one-finger squats again.
This time, many people’s bodies trembled, and only after standing upright did they remain still.
"Three!"
"Four... five!"
Three dwarves fell.
When they reached 22, Jax from the Trup Tycoon fell to the ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat, looking at the remaining three humans.
At 27, Lou Fei Qiong couldn’t hold on and sat on the ground, looking at Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie.
All the humans were watching Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie.
Behind Tu Rong, cold sweat poured down, wishing he could go back in time and break his own legs.
The potential of this Zhou Leng was terrifying. He surpassed the experts trained by the tycoon and martial clan, rising rapidly to compete with the top of the national rankings.
Zhao Le had long known Zhang Xinglie’s strength, so he was not surprised.
He stared at Zhou Leng.
He never expected that not only could Zhou Leng pronounce Divine Text, but his physical strength was also frighteningly strong.
As Molten Hammer kept counting, when they reached 50, the twenty-first person fell.
Molten Hammer shouted loudly, "There are still 20 people left..."
A dwarf standing on his hands exclaimed, "Continue! I want to see who can do the most one-finger squats."
Molten Hammer laughed, "Good, everyone watch together!"
The crowd instantly grew interested and started shouting.
"51..." At first, the shouting was sparse.
As time passed, more people failed.
"107..." the number of people counting grew.
On the field, only 9 people remained.
humans, 7 dwarves.
"313, 314, 315, 316..." many people shouted numbers.
Another dwarf fell, lying on the ground, breathing heavily.
Only five people remained.
Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie were impressively among them.
The crowd excitedly watched the five people.
The five were no longer as relaxed as before, their whole bodies sweaty, each with a flushed face, breathing heavily.
Molten Hammer suddenly shouted, "Good! The top five have been decided, this trial is over. These five, collectively known as the Five Heroes of Old Grandfather Mountain, let’s give them a round of applause!"
Everyone was momentarily stunned; some were dissatisfied, some confused, but they all applauded.
Some people vaguely understood Molten Hammer’s reasoning.
If it were a normal contest, winning or losing wouldn’t matter.
But this is Old Grandfather Mountain, the tomb of the Mountain Melting Furnace; if a human truly takes first place, where would the dwarves’ faces go?
Besides, the dwarves were willing to let humans participate in the treasure hunt, so humans shouldn’t outshine the host too much.
"Great!" Zhang Xinglie always said his emotional intelligence was low, yet he was the first to land on the ground.
Zhou Leng followed him down.
The other three dwarves descended in succession.
The five people first stretched their whole bodies, then used Anger Blood or Qi Blood to relieve the fatigue and damage.
The dwarves looked at Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie with a different gaze than before.
"No wonder General Julu valued them."
"Molten Hammer, what’s the story with these two?"
Molten Hammer laughed and said, "One is a top student at Yunhua, the number one academy for the Human Race, the other is known as the Demon Lawnmower, having killed untold numbers of Demons in Demon City, even several demigod-descended beastmen."
"No wonder..."
Soon, the rest ended their rest.
Molten Hammer said, "Please, the friends who ranked in the top twenty, ascend the steps and attempt to reach the Old Grandfather Platform in order."
"I’ll go first." A quick-tempered dwarf shouted and rushed forward hurriedly.
The others slowly walked forward.
All the others followed behind, slowly ascending, keeping a distance from the top twenty.