As the spear approached, Jin's arm did not even move nor did he himself flinch. With his arms forward and straight, he waited. He waited. Until the spear tip had crossed over his own spear and right at this moment, he used all his strength to push upward. It redirected the powerful piercing spear over his head.

While the disciple was still in his forward motion and surprised by the unexpected redirection, Jin proceeded to send his left hand backwards and right hand downward making both turn in a circular motion. The tip of his spear that was pointed straight East was now going down quickly pointing North-East. It was a diagonal downward slash with the spear tip. And it hit. Or rather, slashed.

Blood erupted while the disciple screamed. But this was far from the end as Jin's spear was now vertically parallel to the disk. And it meant that both his hands were at the same height with the momentum of the slash ending. And so, it was time to push forward using the stance he took with his feet. Just like his opponent, he was now in the forward stance. But contrary to his opponents, his own spear was already on the poor disciple's stomach.

Even though the disciple, in pain, tried to move back, it was far too late. He was pierced through. Once. Then, twice. Then, thrice. Then...Until he no longer moved and flopped down on the disk with angry and disbelief in his eyes. All the way until the end, he never thought he could die during this testing. He had been an elite...And died like that.

Jin took the corpse and threw it down along with both spears. Then, he asked for a fourth opponent under the cheers of the crowd and the complicated stares of the sect members. They believed a few injuries would happen on their side but a death? It was very unexpected.

That did not mean that it could not happen or should not happen. All the child born inside the sect were considered as children of the sect and not really children of their own parents. It was one of the sect rules to make sure of the obedience of the future generations. The disciple’s parents…It was the sect itself. As such, their backing was both the strongest and weakest.

No one would come after Jin for killing the kid. Because the kids here had no families but the sect itself and the sect itself acknowledged their possibility of being killed here during this assessment.

They did think it unlikely to happen but should it happen, it was fine. Because it meant an even stronger disciple to join them!

To the sect, it was not quantity but quality that mattered. At the very least, at the level of the Pavilion, as the best sect in the Empire, they lacked not quantity and neither quality. And since they could pick, the higher-ups picked quality.

The death of a judge did not mean one less strong future warrior but a new even stronger warrior joining them.

They saw it as a trade.

Because to the entity that was the sect, the disciples were a kind of ‘resources’ and every resource was expandable.

…

The next one to go up would need to be prepared to risk his own future too. This was the message that seemed to be conveyed through Jin’s actions.

It wasn't though.

Jin understood the opponent's mentality. A childish arrogance that would never admit defeat... Overconfident idiots are always a pain to deal with. In such cases, it is better to completely end them at once so they never try to go after you again.

It was a kid? So what? Did this kid not try to kill him? Should he have been spared because of his age? Of course not. If he could kill an enemy, he would. Age and gender meant nothing to him. He would not go after the innocent and the just but the dangerous and sinful ones? He would not hesitate.

He was used to having to kill opponents.

As a martial master, many of his battles were to the death back in the days. He had once fought against a similar minded man as that kid but spared him in his past life. That same man sent dozens of armed people to track and hunt him down, forcing him into difficult death battles that ended up with him having to fight that same man to the death again.

In the end, he saw it as ending a problem before it occurred. Prevent the disaster instead of trying to heal the wounds after the damage was done.

A message? There was none. He just wanted to dodge any potential future threats... That's not how it was interpreted by the others though.

Did it matter to him? Not at all.

…

Still, another kid got up on the disk, ready to fight. He had a sword and so Jin requested one. While he was being handed one, his opponent bowed and spoke: " I wish solely for a spar, brother. Please, do take my sword move. If you are able to defend, I will consider it your victory "

The youth in front of him was smart. It made Jin frown.

To many, this might seem like him doing Jin a favor but the reality was far different. This kid was a witty coward. He wanted to attack and be the only one to. He wanted Jin to endanger his life while his remained safe. After all, during a spar, with the defending role, there shouldn't be any reasons to fight back.

Did he take Jin for a fool?

While the elders under nodded at the youth and the crowd cheered, Jin had a very cold expression on his face as he told him: "You want me to face danger but refuse to do so as well? Coward, prepare yourself. You take my move"

Everyone was flabbergasted.

Did this guy just turn around and misunderstand the offer of his fellow disciple? Did he consider ...Wait. As they pondered, it began to make more and more sense. Why would he allow someone to attack and not fight back after? As their thoughts began to get there, boo'ing began to be heard.

The shrewd disciple's face crumpled and he coldly glared at Jin as he spat "Suit yourself"

Then the battle began.

However, it ended just as fast.

As the kid was running towards Jin, Jin threw his sword with all his might towards his opponent. Out of reflex, the disciple focused on the object flying at high-speed towards himself. Jin kept running forward though. While the disciple stopped to parry the revolving sword, Jin had arrived and went for a knee attack to the groin.

The disciple, unfortunately for him, was unable to block that second move from the stance he just used to save himself from the sword.

He ended up being hit in the nuts savagely.

He let go of his sword as he bent over grasping them. Jin picked the opponent's sword and beheaded him while he was in a crooked position grabbing his nuts.

While arrogant ones were a pain to give mercy to as they would attack again, shrewd ones were worse. Not only would they attack but they would do it indirectly, scheming here and there. Jin had a very deep hate towards this type of men in his past life and wasn't going to let himself fall prey to some more here. But more than anything, he looked down onto all those who did not hesitate to attack and did their best to never defend.

If one was ready to kill, he had to be prepared to be killed too!

Once again, he killed an opponent and that made it his fourth victory. One more victory and he would be sent directly to enter the inner sect. Entering the inner sect while having no cultivation at all was a feat never before seen and everyone here thought that it was very likely to happen...

And no one cared that the shrewd disciple had died.