A Martial God's Bloodline

After two elimination rounds, the remaining one hundred people would then be bestowed the status of outer disciples.

It was practically the main goal for some distant descendants!

"These guys look pretty good this year, much better than in previous years."

Up in the stands, several elders conversed with each other softly. Within any clan, the clan's continued prosperity depended on a steady nurturing of clan children. The responsibility of elders was to discover those people who were useful to the family!

"They're decent, but there aren't any truly surprising ones yet."

An elder shook his head in apparent dissatisfaction.

"The Third Elder's son is pretty good. If I remember correctly, he's not even eighteen this year but has already reached Level Seven. Although it hasn't been long since his breakthrough, it's still quite an achievement!"

Smugness appeared on Li Huangran's face upon hearing that! Li Xuan, his son, seemed to have made quite a reputation. Judging from the previous test, he was the only one to reach such heights as Level Seven.

"Speaking of which, that young boy from arena six just now, he looks familiar."

Someone uttered those words, causing Li Huangran's face to turn sullen at once.

"Old Nine, how can you be so forgetful when you're still young? That kid is Second Brother's child. I didn't expect him to grow up so much!"

A loud voice proclaimed so suddenly that it caught everyone else's attention.

"It's really him?"

Evidently, most of the clan elders were not aware of Li Ye's return. Only then did they notice a thin and slightly absent-minded boy in the midst of the hundred-strong crowd.

Down below, ten people from each of the ten groups have emerged after the earlier face-off. They watched as a clan elder stepped forward and swept his august gaze past everyone there. He said, "You are the pride of our clan. In the coming year, you are all allowed to remain within the clan as disciples. Of course, this year's competition isn't over yet. Next, you will compete for your respective rankings. Those who make the top thirty can become inner disciples and enjoy higher-level treatment! If you manage to enter the top ten, the clan will treat you as a steward and even give you the opportunity to step foot into the martial arts pavilion and choose a battle technique! "

Martial arts pavilion! Choice of a battle technique!

Li Ye's eyes lit up instantly. A good combat technique enabled even the weaker ones to become stronger. With those battle skills, the weak could become strong, and the strong would only become stronger!

Even some ordinary Yellow Rank Primary and Yellow Rank Intermediate skills were enough to make many people jealous!

"I didn't expect they'd be allowed to enter Martial Pavilion! I heard that clan elders were the only ones who could go in and out at will. Even inner disciples are only allowed to enter once, provided they made a tremendous contribution before that!"

As soon as that condition was revealed, many people became excited. Even Li Xuan, a young master of the main family, was extremely envious of it! After all, there was always a limit to the battle skills that they could inherit from their ancestors! The only way to select the most suitable one for oneself was to personally enter the pavilion.

"Excuse me, Elder. If the top ten people can enter the martial arts pavilion, then what about the top three!"

Someone posed the question and piqued everyone's interest.

Xiao Bailian looked at the person. It was a fairly ordinary teenager about fifteen- or sixteen-years-old and had a baby face. His memories then recalled who the teen was.

The questioner was Li Yu, one of the more prominent distant descendants. Having reached Level Five before the age of seventeen, he could be considered one of the Li clan's outstanding prodigies.

"Good question!" The elder smiled slightly but did not keep everyone else in suspense. Instead, he went on to say, "As encouragement for you to work harder, the patriarch specifically approved the top three to stay in our martial arts pavilion for three days! They can choose up to three battle techniques for themselves! They will be recommended to the Supreme Head Elder and become the Supreme Head Elder's nominal disciple!"

Wow! As soon as word got out, it was as though thunder had struck Li Ye and everyone else there!

"A three-day stay at the martial arts pavilion? A choice of three battle skills?! Becoming a nominal disciple of the Supreme Head Elder?"

Those bombshells, made everyone incredibly breathless!

Li Xuan's body was even heating up at that moment. A terrifying vigor was emanating from him! A few people were forced to back off, faintly hinting at his ability to compete with those up in the stands for the title of the three prodigies!

Li Ye may be excited, but he also felt a coldness in his heart. While the elder proclaimed that the patriarch gave his approval, Li Ye clearly remembered that the patriarch was still his father, Li Kainian! Li Kainian was still the patriarch even if he had disappeared for more than ten years!

As of then, the Li clan only has a substitute patriarch! Not the actual patriarch!

Glancing across the stands, he did not see the figures of the Head Elder and the substitute patriarch. For them perhaps, the event going on below simply did not warrant their attention.

"I didn't expect the rewards to be so generous! Let's not even talk about being able to stay in our martial arts pavilion for three days. Having the opportunity to choose three battle techniques is already crazy enough! You can even be the Supreme Head Elder's nominal disciple! My goodness! Such a pity that I'm not good enough. Otherwise, I'd fight for that too!"

"Yeah, our Supreme Head Elder is the number one master within Wu Prefecture City! He's even entered the Innate Sovereign Level! Simply being his nominal disciples makes you infinitely better than the inner disciples!"

"Don't dream about it. The first three spots are already taken. It's obviously going to a contest between those three prodigies alone. Of course, there's still a lot of hope for Young Master Li Xuan. He's already at Level Seven, after all. He has what it takes to wrestle for the top three! "

The last person was obviously trying to flatter Li Xuan covertly. Li Xuan's pleased look became even more obvious.

Nevertheless, his face turned indiscernibly sullen upon noticing Li Ye's, but he recalibrated his emotions and smiled kindly.

"Hypocrite!" Li Ye snorted slightly to himself. Li Xuan was more hypocritical than the father.

Li Ye was not interested in becoming the Supreme Head Elder's nominal disciple, but he was intrigued with the martial arts pavilion.

"Relying on the cultivation methods from the Lunar Dream Heart Sutra allows me to cultivate much faster than ordinary people, but I'm still lagging behind in my combat skills. The Dream Heart Sutra can only assist the illusionary technique of a vampire's bloodpupils. I need to learn at least one or two proper battle techniques!"

Within the world of bloodsoul, good battle techniques were a pain to find. They were generally procured by great clans and powerful sects, making it difficult for ordinary people to obtain.

With such a good opportunity before him, Li Ye would certainly not give up.

He still remembered Li Yue's Hidden Black Palm. It was sufficient for a Level Seven cultivator to fight on an even level with a Level Eight cultivator! The Hidden Black Palm was Yellow Rank Advanced battle technique!

At that moment, the weakest out of the last hundred that remained had achieved Level Four at the barest minimum. If the level of cultivation was considered on its own, Li Ye did not stand out and would be categorized among the bottom rung.

However, he believed that his abilities would propel him to the top thirty without a problem. As for the top ten, he was about eighty percent confident! The only thing that was challenging for him was to break into the top three!

"The ten strongest among you have the right to challenge the clan's three prodigies! Everyone has one chance!"

The elder who explained their predicament smiled slightly after speaking and stepped back to make way for a huge arena.

On hearing that, Li Ye became excited. "In other words, we have to rank among the strongest ten out of this one hundred before being qualified to challenge the three prodigies for the tpp three?"

The fierce competition began very soon.

"I'll go first!"

A teenager with scholar-like appearances jumped directly into the arena and glanced proudly at everyone. He then asked, "Anyone dares to challenge me!"

"Me!"

Someone then jumped suddenly onto the arena. The two started battling immediately. They exchanged blows without hesitation!

However, Li Ye clearly knew that the two were merely appetizers for that round. Two peak Level Four cultivators could only progress so far.

Sure enough, both were soon eliminated. Gradually, all Level Fours were defeated once. Only those above Level Five had unbeaten victories.

At the same time, Li Ye saw thirty guys and girls who looked a year or two older than them on the other side. They were watching indifferently.

"Are those inner disciples?"

Li Ye appeared to have remembered that there was no limit to the number of outer disciples, but the quota for inner disciples was always set at thirty. The exception was those who reached twenty-five years of age—they would then go on to be Stewards.

In other words, Li Ye and a hundred others must battle the top thirty and succeed in challenging them. Then, they could become one of the inner disciples and finally challenge the three prodigies to be the top three strongest of all the descendants!

Boom!

A Level Five young man flew off the arena after receiving a single punch! Li Ye took a closer look and noticed that the person still inside the arena was Li Datou. There was a broad smile on his face, but that smile was everyone's worst nightmare.

He defeated countless people swiftly, then pointed at one of the thirty inner disciples!

"I challenge you!"

Wow! Li Datou became the first person to begin challenging the inner disciples. It did not come as a surprise though, as he had successfully brushed aside ten people and deserved the chance to challenge them!

According to clan rules, the new batch of outer disciples can challenge any one of the inner disciples, provided they win ten matches in a row!

The inner disciple at the other end of Li Datou's finger suddenly pulled a long face. Traces of gloominess flickered in his eyes, as if a little displeased. 

Li Ye looked over. The person ranked rather low amongst the inner disciples at twenty-sixth place. Said ranking was directly proportional to their respective strengths, so the person's weakness was relatively evident.

Nevertheless, that particular disciple was at peak Level Six! He was rather unhappy after the peak Level Four Li Datou challenged him.

"Don't blame me then. You're the one who asked for it!"

A frightening surge of vigor erupted from his body instantly!

老九 – translated as Old Nine, probably in reference to the person being older (老 = old) and the nine in the family to be born (九 = nine). However, there is some uncertainty surrounding this as the continuation of the speech suggests that this person—whose true identity is as yet unknown—is not old.This occurred some chapters ago as well (1.007), but as with that chapter, we retain the original raw because the person being referred to is not as clear as with other errors.