The assessment continued.

Soon after, the first round of challenges between the cyan plate and yellow plate holders was done.

In the Tao Village side, Tao Qingyuan and Tao Jin both kept their yellow plates.

Tao Qingyuan easily won his match.

His talent was almost comparable to Tan Fengying.

Other than Xu Ning's unique strength, Tao Qingyuan and Tan Fengying were the top newcomers.

However, since Tan Fengying had lost his yellow plate, and had no chance to challenge someone again, he was stuck with a cyan plate.

Unlike Tao Qingyuan, Tao Jin's battle was hard-fought.

When facing the challenger, Tao Jin had a clear advantage on paper.

However, during the actual fight, Tao Jin seemed very timid when fighting against her opponent. She was not decisive in her attacks. If it weren't due to her strength, she would have been defeated.

Soon after, the second round began.

This time, Tao Jin was challenged instantly.

Her poor performance when she was challenged in the first round was witnessed by other cyan plate holders.

A newcomer from Song Village challenged Tao Jin. She was also a girl, named Song Qingwei.

"Tao Jin."

"Song Qingwei."

The two stood facing each other with their weapons.

After Tao Jin made the first move, the two began to fight.

"Tao Jin looks impatient…"

Xu Ning watched the fight between the two. "Her mental state seems a bit chaotic."

The longer the fight went on, the more passive Tao Jin was.

According to Xu Ning's inference, Tao Jin and Song Qingwei's strengths should be similar.

However, Tao Jin had reached the inner enrichment realm long ago, while Song Qingwei had advanced only recently. Comparatively, Tao Jin had the advantage.

Tao Jin wanted to quickly pressure her opponent. She attacked aggressively, without any preliminary moves, as if she was anxious to quickly defeat the opponent.

She looked emotional.

And her opponent Song Qingwei was clearly aware of this.

She was not in a hurry to gain an advantage. She just continued to pull back and defend against Tao Jin's assault.

Tao Jin looked fierce, but the more her opponent defended, the more anxious she became. And soon, she started making several mistakes in her fight.

Song Qingwei was still clear-headed, so after noticing Tao Jin's mistakes, she quickly counter-attacked.

On several occasions, Tao Jin felt highly pressured.

"If this goes on, she will lose…"

Tao Qingyuan stared at the two closely.

He frowned and looked worried.

Once Tao Jin was at a disadvantage, it was impossible for her to calmly deal with the situation.

'I can't lose!'

Tao Jin's mental state had completely fallen out of balance.

Tao Jin felt that she was on the verge of defeat.

'I've been receiving attention since I was a child. Everyone in the Tao Village said that I am a genius, just like Tao Qingyuan. They said that I will definitely become a martial arts master in the future.'

The more she fought, the more thoughts were running through Tao Jin's mind. 'If I lose now, then others will think I am nothing. They will say that my previous martial arts achievements are all because of my grandpa…'

'I can't lose… I can't embarrass my grandpa…'

Thoughts of 'I can't lose' echoed in Tao Jin's mind.

Her movements also began to break down.

'She's going to lose.'

Xu Ning and Tao Qingyuan were thinking the same thing.

Sure enough, Tao Jin made another mistake during her assault.

Seeing this, Song Qingwei's eyes lit up, and the stick in her hand struck Tao Jin's wrist.

Tao Jin was in pain, and her posture collapsed.

Song Qingwei seized the opportunity again and hit Tao Jin's abdomen with the top of the stick.

Tao Jin didn't have time to defend, and she was pushed out of the arena.

The side of the Tao Village went silent.

The side of the Song Village started to cheer.

Song Qingwei had a smile on her face.

"Winner!"

Song Qingwei bowed towards Tao Jin before returning to the cheering crowd.

"I lost…"

Tao Jin stood up.

She looked at Song Qingwei's direction. She was stunned.

Her clothes were worn out, and her wrists and arms were bruised, but she didn't seem to be aware of this.

"Tao Jin…"

After seeing this, Tao Qingyuan quickly went over to support Tao Jin.

Tao Jin tilted her head slightly, glanced at him, and looked at the Tao Village crowd.

Everyone stared at her with looks of surprise, disappointment, and ridicule in their eyes.

Tao Jin recognized all of these expressions.

"Get off."

Tao Jin flung Tao Qingyuan's hand away.

She walked through the crowd and left the school field.

Tao Jin walked past Xu Ning at the back of the crowd.

Xu Ning wanted to say something, but realized that he did not have a close relationship with her, so he remained silent.

"Tao Jin…"

Tao Qingyuan looked at Tao Jin walking away with a worried look on his face.

The two of them have been receiving attention ever since they began practicing martial arts; they had practically grown up together.

Tao Qingyuan was concerned about his partner.

'I just hope that she can calm down and stop caring about other people's opinion, and understand that she's practicing martial arts for herself. If she can realize this from this experience, then the loss would be worth it.'

Tao Qingyuan sighed.

On the stage.

"It seems that the mental states of some newcomers are still very fragile."

Wei Changqing watched Tao Jin's performance.

However, although he spoke critically, his tone was calm.

"Tao Jin is the granddaughter of Tao Village's Tao Jingxing."

Qu Dayou said, "She probably was the favorite one ever since she was a child, and has had an easy life. But now that she's encountering difficulties, she's beginning to struggle. Just now, she clearly had the advantage, but she lost her composure and her chance of coming back."

"So she's Tao Jingxing's granddaughter… She's considered the future of Tao Village then…"

Wei Changqing said.

He seemed to have thought of something as he sighed.

"Family… It is both an honor and a burden."

Wei Changqing felt emotional.

…

Another hour passed by.

The assessment was now over.

On the Tao Village's side, Xu Ning and Tao Qingyuan received their yellow plates.

Generally speaking, there were not many changes.

After everyone received their new colored plates, the crowd began to disperse.

Those who were promoted were in high spirits.

And those who were demoted had already left the school field, just like Tao Jin.

"Xu Ning, come here."

Everyone started to leave, but Qu Dayou stopped Xu Ning.

Everyone in the field looked at Xu Ning enviously.

Qu Duwei's concern and respect for Xu Ning was obvious to all.

"You've met Master Wei before."

Xu Ning was in front of Wei Changqing and Qu Dayou.

"Xu Ning, how did you manage to cross two realms in three months?"

Qu Dayou seemed to be in a good mood. "Are you spending all your time at the guard station practicing martial arts?"

Qu Dayou said in a teasing tone.

"I've been taking my tasks seriously. I've just gotten lucky recently and made a few breakthroughs."

Xu Ning replied.

"Xu Ning, it seems like you're quite talented."

This time, Wei Changqing was the one talking. Although he was the top-ranked person in Kangyun County, he was quite approachable.

"I've seen many outstanding young talents at Yunying City, and you're not far behind them."

Wei Changqing continued, "I just hope you can cherish your talents and maintain your current state. If you can maintain this progress, the spot at the Source Faction belongs to you."

Xu Ning couldn't believe that Wei Changqing was making him a promise like that…

"Yunying City, Source Faction, that is the real holy land of martial arts in State Feiyun."

Wei Changqing stood up and patted Xu Ning's shoulder. "By the way, now that you've been promoted to the qi realm, you're eligible for the lieutenant position at Maple Lane…"

"Qu Duwei, we're at the end of month right now, and Xu Ning is now officially appointed as a lieutenant, so might as well give him this month's prize."

Wei Changqing said to Qu Dayou.

"Understood, master."

"This month's prize?"

Xu Ning was confused.

Obviously, this was one of the benefits of being a lieutenant.