Chapter 363 - 171: Breaking the 3 Limits, Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe, So What? Before Me... You Must Also Bow Your Head

Chapter 363: Chapter 171: Breaking the 3 Limits, Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe, So What? Before Me... You Must Also Bow Your Head

The five great records of the Jiangyin Prefecture Courtyard!

They were divided into Archery, Horsemanship, Weaponry, Martial Arts, and Divine Soul.

The Great Archery Hunt!

Beast Taming and Horsemanship!

Magical Combat of Skills!

Martial Dao Cultivation!

Divine Soul Cultivation!

The first three were matters of skill. To be ranked in them, one had to participate in the spring and autumn hunts or don armor and weapons to win arena competitions.

However, when it came to Martial Dao and Divine Soul Cultivation, determining who was superior... was extremely simple.

It was just like the two Dao Steles—the Martial Stele and the Divine Stele—that stood at the entrance of the Jiangyin Prefecture Courtyard, used to test and screen whether candidates were qualified to become Prefecture Students.

Within the Mansion Courtyard stood two towering structures: the Climbing Martial Arts Tower and the Ascension Divine Tower.

Their purpose was to imprint the Martial Dao phantoms of the many Prefecture Students.

Legend had it that every Prefecture Student who entered the Climbing Martial Arts Tower or the Ascension Divine Tower would compete against the phantoms left behind by their peers and even the sages of past generations.

The deeper one’s foundation and the higher one’s potential, the greater the phenomenon they could trigger!

At the same time, they could also receive the gifts left behind by the Divine Essence of past generations, which was of immense benefit to their own cultivation!

The one who went the furthest would become the leader, occupying one of the top positions in the courtyard and earning the right to represent the Mansion Courtyard in the Prefecture Official Examination!

This was why so many prodigies flocked to the Mansion Courtyard.

It was the bedrock of the Great Xuan’s rule, established over nine hundred years ago in every major prefecture. It was created to select Prefecture Officials and appoint Dukes and Marquises, serving as a way to gather all the Martial Heroes under the heavens.

The hidden benefits were, of course, innumerable.

Therefore, as long as you were outstanding enough to enter the Mansion Courtyard, your chances of becoming a Grandmaster in this lifetime would increase dramatically!

Among the various prefectures, the Jiangyin Prefecture Courtyard hadn’t produced any peerless geniuses in decades.

But even so, anyone who could secure a top spot within the prefecture was by no means mediocre!

Even if they couldn’t surpass the prodigies of the past and could only dominate their own generation, they had to be talents who had transcended the County and Prefecture levels. At the very least, they had to have broken the Three Limits; otherwise, they simply wouldn’t be good enough!

Take Chen Zhi, for example. He was from the Fishing Trade and was the current Leader of the Climbing Martial Arts Tower.

A few decades ago, he might not have been considered remarkable, but in the current generation, he was undoubtedly number one.

But then he saw Gao Ye stride calmly and confidently into the Climbing Martial Arts Tower.

Only a short while later, a pillar of light shot up ninety feet, causing a huge commotion and shattering his own record. Chen Zhi’s expression instantly turned grim.

’He... he actually caused the Climbing Martial Arts Tower to project a ninety-foot Martial Dao phenomenon?’

Chen Zhi muttered to himself. Even though he already held this Young Lord from a Noble Clan in high regard, seeing this with his own eyes still made his chest tighten with resentment.

"Chen Zhi’s record... shattered just like that?"

"How is that possible? A year ago, didn’t Chen Leader shatter the Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe and break through the Three Limits?"

"He broke the Three Limits, achieved physical Perfection, and his Martial Dao phenomenon reached eighty-eight feet!"

"This arrogant youth, radiating an untamed aura, who is he?"

"To think he could best Chen Zhi and add another two feet to his record?"

"So there are differences even among those who have broken the Three Limits!"

"I haven’t heard of anyone reaching ninety feet in the Climbing Martial Arts Tower in a long time... That has to rank pretty high in the all-time records of the Jiangyin Prefecture Courtyard, right?"

The Prefecture Students who had been drawn by the Martial Dao phenomenon of the Climbing Martial Arts Tower didn’t fully grasp what was happening, but they knew it was something incredible. The sight caused quite a stir among them.

And as those who knew his background began to explain, and word about ’Gao Ye’ started to spread...

The ’senior Prefecture Students’—veterans who had been at the Mansion Courtyard for a year or two, some even nearing graduation, who knew all about the hidden talents and inner workings of the place—were even more astonished:

"He’s only been here a day and he’s already surpassed one of the Courtyard Leaders, someone who’s broken the Three Limits?"

"Is he aiming to be number one in the entire Mansion Courtyard?"

The concept of the ’Five Gate Leaders’ of the Jiangyin Prefecture Courtyard was actually derived from the fact that there were only five seats available for each prefecture in the Prefecture Official Examination.

Typically,

if no single, overwhelmingly dominant figure emerged to suppress their peers, the top positions were generally held by Prefecture Students with the best family backgrounds and the highest cultivation.

In a way, these five individuals formed an alliance of convenience.

They held a firm grip on the ’Five Gate Leader’ positions, preventing newcomers from having a chance to usurp them. During the Prefecture Official Examination, they would band together for mutual support, hoping to secure a Prefecture Official Merit.

But...

with Gao Ye’s forceful arrival in the Prefecture City, all of that was shattered.

However, scions of prominent families like Chen Zhi had received word early on. They knew this ’Young Lord’ was likely coming to the Mansion Courtyard to compete with them, the local prodigies, for opportunities.

But as the saying goes, even a mighty dragon is no match for a serpent in its own lair.

’I thought he would lay low for a while before trying to take one of the Leader positions in preparation for the Prefecture Examination after the spring.

’But I never expected him to be so impatient.

’On his very first day at the Mansion Courtyard, he used the essence from a Martial Saint’s ’Transformation’ initiation and marched right up to the Climbing Martial Arts Tower in front of everyone. He was making a huge spectacle of it!

’It was as if he was afraid people *wouldn’t* know he was here to make a name for himself today.

’But of all the people to pick a fight with, he just had to come after my title!’

Chen Zhi gritted his teeth in frustration.

’Just because I’m the Leader of the Climbing Martial Arts Tower doesn’t mean my Martial Dao attainments are the absolute best in the Mansion Courtyard.

’It’s just that the other four leaders held the other top spots, and since everyone wanted allies for the future Prefecture Examination, we all had a tacit understanding. We each took a position and they simply hadn’t competed with me for it.’