62: Chapter 62 Craftsmanship Assessment

Great Wei Year 3140, the first day of the fifth month, highly auspicious.

Magistrate Sun Nanyu came to the center of the arena, took out his Shuinan County official seal from his Storage Pouch, and pressed it onto the center of the arena. This time, the arena was evenly divided into ten spaces, each covering one hundred square meters, enough for every Martial Artist participating in the Crafting Assessment to display their talents.

"Candidates participating in the Crafting Assessment, gather at the front," Magistrate Sun Nanyu said.

Hearing Magistrate Sun Nanyu's words, seventeen Martial Artists gathered from three sides of the arena to the front, standing respectfully before Magistrate Sun Nanyu.

In this world, strength is respected. Before a three-star Martial Ancestor like Magistrate Sun Nanyu, even those from the Cangjiang Ye Clan did not dare to cause trouble.

Otherwise, if Magistrate Sun Nanyu found them displeasing and they suffered, they would have to endure it themselves; their Family would not stand up for them.

Among the seventeen, eight were from the Cangjiang Ye Clan. Besides Ye Yisong, Ye Jiekang, Ye Jiehua, and Ye Jieyang, there were four uncles of the 'Jie' generation who had mastered a crafting art.

Three were from the Shuinan Ye Clan: Ye Jiejing, Ye Jielu, and Ye Jieshu.

There were two from the Shuinan Li Clan, Li Yuan and Li Ji; two from the Shuinan Zhao Clan, Zhao Wentao and Zhao Wenbing; and two others, Miss Shi Yu and Zhou Shi.

Out of the remaining eighty-three people from the top one hundred in the martial competition, except for a few who were crippled and had not yet recovered, unable to participate in the Crafting Assessment, the others were not qualified to participate.

Martial Artists who had not truly become first-rank crafters could not participate in the Crafting Assessment; coming would only be embarrassing.

This was the time to see the foundation of each Family—whether the Family had a crafting Legacy compatible with the Martial Artist's talent, and whether resources were sufficient to satisfy the clan members' martial cultivation while also having Spirit Stones to spend on crafting arts.

From these seventeen Martial Artists participating in the Crafting Assessment, it could be seen that the strength of the Cangjiang Ye Clan was far ahead, leading by a wide margin.

For Martial Artists from declining Families, or even Loose Cultivators, wanting to practice martial arts while also studying a crafting art was extremely difficult.

There were not many Loose Cultivators who made it into the top one hundred of the Shuinan County Martial Examination, but there were a few dozen.

This showed that these people had decent strength among their peers and possessed a certain level of competitiveness.

However, only Zhou Shi and Zhao Sanjian, the two strongest, had studied a crafting art. While there were talent limitations, it was mostly because they couldn't afford the Spirit Stones.

Not to mention Zhao Sanjian, that unlucky guy who was eliminated in the first round and was currently watching Ye Yisong on the arena with a pout.

He would probably be depressed again after returning.

"Since everyone has arrived, the Shuinan County Martial Examination Crafting Assessment will begin immediately," Magistrate Sun Nanyu said, looking at his political achievements.

Magistrate Sun Nanyu briefly explained the rules of the Crafting Assessment:

"The Crafting Assessment will be in groups of ten, with one person per space, so as not to disturb each other; each person has a total of ten days to complete their work."

"Each person must provide their own Materials. After inspection and approval, you may begin refining or cultivating your Materials."

"After refining or cultivating is complete, the work must be submitted to the Shuinan County government office to be kept on file and cannot be taken back."

The rules for the Crafting Assessment were very simple: the space was provided, the time was provided, and the Materials were self-provided. If you failed to refine or Cultivate, you could only say that you were a fake and had not mastered the crafting art at all.

Only the third rule was a bit of a trap; even though it was your own Materials, you had to hand them over to the government office hosting the Martial Examination.

They called it "keeping on file for inspection," but in reality, it was embezzlement.

Things that could be detected by the System in ten minutes didn't need to be kept on file for inspection.

Among the seventeen, eight were Talisman Makers, four were Artifact Refiners, two were Alchemists, and three were Spirit Planters.

Shuinan County was a small place after all. Even Cangjiang Prefecture, in the context of Great Wei, could only be considered a small place, so the secondary studies were all traditional crafting arts.

It was rumored that in the provincial capital, besides these traditional crafting arts, one could see many miraculous crafting arts in the Crafting Assessment.

For example, Beast Tamers who could control the Yao Race, Spirit Chefs who could create dishes comparable to a barrier-breaking pill without the side effects of pill toxins, and Curse Masters who could kill from a thousand miles away, etc.

Because there were not many people, the competition could be finished in two groups, so Magistrate Sun Nanyu did not hold a draw for the seventeen people and directly arranged the order of the Crafting Assessment.

Eight Talisman Makers and two Alchemists were in the first group; four Artifact Refiners and three Spirit Planters were in the second group.

It was easier for Talisman Makers, Alchemists, and Artifact Refiners to prepare the Materials for the upcoming assessment, and the inspection of Materials was also simpler; Spirit Planters were relatively more troublesome, as they had to prepare their own spirit soil and evergreen liquid to accelerate the growth of spirit plants.

Therefore, Magistrate Sun Nanyu arranged the three Spirit Planters in the second group, allowing them to prepare their Materials in advance so as not to delay the assessment time.

The Yao Beasts in the Weishui River had been quiet these past few days, which was very abnormal. Magistrate Sun Nanyu wanted to finish the Martial Examination quickly and go to the Weishui River to investigate personally.

The uneasy feeling Ye Yisong had at the beginning had not dissipated even now; instead, it was becoming stronger.

Hearing that he was assigned to the first group, he thought about finishing the task quickly and returning to his father, Ye Jiesheng. Only beside Ye Jiesheng would that uneasy feeling gradually calm down.

The ten people took out their Talisman or Alchemy Materials, placed them on the open space belonging to their own area, and waited for Magistrate Sun Nanyu's inspection.

Magistrate Sun Nanyu's Divine Sense swept across every square, nodded, and said, "Begin."

Upon receiving the order, everyone began to process the Materials in front of them.

Some were making Talisman paper, some were extracting herbs; everyone was sweating profusely, but they were orderly and unhurriedly carrying out every step.

Ye Yisong chose the second-rank Talisman he was most familiar with—the Great Fireball Talisman. The Talisman technique taught by Ye Jiexin did not require making Talisman paper, but instead ingeniously carved inscriptions directly onto selected Materials.

Looking around, he found nothing unusual, and the uneasy feeling in his heart subsided a lot. Ye Yisong stopped worrying about accidents, picked up the second-rank withered vine on the table, observed the grain of the branch, chose a direction, and started working.

Seeing that all ten had started, the Martial Artists watching the fun under the arena began to discuss, commenting on the ten people above, from whispering at first to arguing loudly about different opinions.

It was a lively scene, and everyone watched with great interest.

"Ye Yisong's martial cultivation is so strong, I wonder how his Talisman level is."

"In my opinion, he was the last to start making it, which shows his level is extremely high; he doesn't even consider whether the time is sufficient."

"What does that prove? Why don't you say his Talisman level is extremely low, and he didn't dare to start for a long time for fear of losing face?"

"Exactly, exactly. This guy is used to sucking up to the Ye Family, as if the Ye Family would think highly of him. Keep dreaming."

"Idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot?" A Martial Artist under the arena was scolded, grabbed the collar of the Martial Artist who cursed, and wanted to reason with him properly.

"Look for yourself. If you aren't an idiot, who is?"

This Martial Artist did not break free from the hand grabbing his collar, pointed far away to the figure of Ye Yisong on the arena, and mocked again.