"Huu..." Gang Xin concentrated his thoughts. He needed to have a sense of urgency, and also had to execute his action very well.
Only by doing so might he have a chance at surviving; and being better than all the other players.
However, he shouldn't rush things in the name of being faster. After all, haste makes waste.
When people rush, they were more bound to make mistakes.
'Thankfully, my plan had already set in motion' Gang Xin thought.
...
'Why are they so slow?' because of the environment in here, he couldn't even cultivate efficiently. He had to deal with the thin qi in the air.
Of course, because he was knowledgeable in how qi was manipulated and in which paths they should go, along with the fact that his cultivation technique was top tier, he still progressed very fast compared to others.
He was like a sink that was greedily sucking in water. In half a day's time, the already thin qi had become even thinner due to Gang Xin's cultivation.
'In a few hours, I might just have to spend the night here' and just as he thought that, a clansman knocked on the door.
"Get out. Your trial will be beginning after this" the metal clanging of keys sounded as they door creaked open.
"Finally. Sigh..." Gang Xin sighed out a breath of relief, and got out.
He was guided by two other clansmen until he reached a grandeur wooden door.
On it, it wrote "Trial and Honesty come in pair". And even higher than that were the words "Blood is thicker than Water".
Creak...
The two clansmen pushed open the door as Gang Xin entered a large hall.
As the previous host had never been to this place before, Gang Xin took in the view with surprise.
The discipline hall had deliberately been made so that the person being judged would feel inferiourity and a sense of pressure just from being there.
It had the floor level, where the judged were needed to be knelt at, and the slightly higher level, where the spectators would sit, and then the highest - where the judges, or in most cases - judge would sit on.
Currently, there were 3 judges, which was definitely unusual. After all, 3 judges meant 3 elders inside the clan. One of them was even Elder Soo.
Usually, one judge and one assistant would be enough for the entire process.
Even the assistant seemed surprised at this. And he slightly tensed up as a result.
"State your names, and parents" the judge's assistant said loudly.
In response, Gang Xin stated slightly loud "My name is Gang Xin. And my parents are the deceased Gang Min and Gang Hue."
"What's your current affiliation?" he once again asked.
"The Gang Academy" the affiliation was the part a clansman had joined. Usually, they only decide when they reach 18, and their affiliation would be independant until then.
However, due to him being an orphan, he had to get by living on the Academy's food and resources. Thus, he was affiliated to the Academy when he was young.
Originally, he had to sweep the floor and do miscellaneous tasks to pay for those fees, but recently, he had been able to use his cultivation and gain them instead.
Because he was talented and participated in certain competitions, he even received extra resources. Thus boosting his cultivation even more.
"Now, I will be stating the rules the defendant breached:
Violence against fellow clansman. The defendant in question, Gang Xin, has not only attacked the victim Gang Tu unjustly, he has also broken his right arm and crushed the fingers. In the end, he even burnt off all the hair on Gang Tu's head, shaming him.
Another thing worthy of mention is that the defendant has shaved off his own hair, and is thus rejecting clan identity.
Now, the defendant may justify himself."
The assistant said loudly and clearly. His words crisp, and on point. He had stated the crimes like a robot, but had unknowingly involved his emotions as he stated the last point.
He was expressing discontent and unhappiness with Gang Xin's baldy head more than the previous crime of violence against fellow clansman.
In response, Gang Xin said while shaking his head slightly.
Right now, he was on both his knees.
"I have nothing to say for the former. As for the last part, it was not intentional shaving, esteemed judges. It was because of Lu Ming that I was on the brink of life and death, but however was able to heal safely.
It was all because of the sudden affinity with fire qi I felt, that my body made an extreme recovery. Yet along that, all my hair had also burned off.
Although my cultivation hasn't yet recovered to the peak of initial stage yet, I believe it will not take long."
Hearing his words, the assistant's brows twitched slightly. After all, Gang Xin had not explained the more severe crime, and instead explain the reason for his bald head.
This would undoubtedly result in a harsher punishment.
After all, even though he himself felt disgusted by the bald head like a monk's, rather than the violence, the rules stated that the bald head won't receive much punishment compared to the other one.
Was he trying to score points with the judges and gain their sympathy?
However, he did also feel curiousity towards the 'sudden affinity with fire qi' Gang Xin mentioned. In truth, his baldy head didn't look like it resulted from shaving.
At this moment, the judge sitting in the middle said loudly "Affinity with fire qi? Can you prove that? If you can't, your crime will worsen by several degrees because of mischief and dishonesty within the Discipline Hall."
The two other elders also felt their interest peaking in Gang Xin.
Gang Xin knew he had to prove himself right now. The feasibility of whether his plan would work was dependant on what he was about to do.
"Huuu...." Gang Xin exhaled loudly, and then took a deep breath.
As seriousness came over his face, he stood up, and raised his right arm at an angle of 45 degrees. His palm then closed shut crisply, as his left arm also did the exact same - just in the other direction.
Then, the elders slightly began to feel a movement of qi in the air.
To be specific - it was fire qi.
Their brows had risen up in curiousity, and slight shock.
And then, Gang Xin opened both of his palms, before positioning them in a clawing motion. It was like how dogs dug in sand and dirt.
Then, the two claws neared each other and closed their distance, before connecting like lego.
PUFFF
The sound of explosion came out, as a small radius of fire had come around the connected palms of Gang Xin.
Gang Xin's forehead was now sweating profusely. It was very hard to do this simple motion. After all, he had to utilize the Sealing Body and the Mind technique very subtly, without letting the judges discover it was just a fuse - that he wasn't talented at all, and that he was just performing a very rare and top tier alchemy technique.
Fortunately, his cultivation in Undying Phoenix allowed him to also raise his affinity with fire qi.
However, his results should be extraordinary.
After all, the previously indifferent assistant had opened his mouth, enough to fit an egg inside. As for the judges, they also had slightly shocked expressions, except they had controlled it very well.
Even Elder Soo had bigger eyes than usual.
Although it wasn't really uncommon for Form Fighters to be able to control qi in the air, and that such cases wasn't an isolated event, they were all powerful Form Fighters.
They all had cultivation of late stage, meaning higher than 8 stars.
The only exceptions to these were the talented geniuses who were blessed with qi. One such case was even the genius of the Yu family, the Ice Fairy Yu Qia.
Her existence had even threatened the city lord Kue family's position.
However, the assistant then heard something incredulous.
'The Punishment Pavillion?! What? Why would they assign such severe punishment to such a genius?'