/*unedited*/

The clamoring and discussion have already attracted too much attention to those outside cultivators who have lined up to take the crafting exam.

In front of them, they can see a young beautiful woman without any spiritual undulation, which made the onlooker show complex emotions and reactions. There are those who showed jeering laugh at her and there are those who showed an admiring expression at her bravery to face the challenge. They didn't know where she got her courage to enter this prestige edifice which only cultivators can enter.

"Kick them out! Kick them out!"

"How dare a mere mortal be here! She should not be permitted."

"This is a shame to us cultivators, how dare she, kill her!"

"If the craftsman a.s.sociation will accept this trash, then this would be the shame of the craftsman a.s.sociation."

Shouted some of the cultivators in anger, but still, no one dared make a move for fear of offending the craftsman a.s.sociation.

Craftsmen are revered individual in the cultivation land, as they possess the ability to craft artifacts that can greatly boost the power of an individual cultivator.

In the five large kingdoms of the great empire of Xi there exist five great craftsmen a.s.sociation. They are named such to which city they belonged. In the great city of Wu, the craftsmen a.s.sociation in this city is called Wu craftsman a.s.sociation. As the great city boosted its expertise when it comes to formation and military tactics, most of the craftsmen in this city are proficient in an array formation.

The middle-aged man wearing a purple robe, smile at the young woman in front of him and nods his head towards s.h.i.+n Jiao.

He didn't mind the jeering and the shouting of the people around them. He is a respectable craftsman from the a.s.sociation and didn't bother with those ordinary people.

But the confidence that the young woman in front of him made him think twice in judging her as a mere lowly mortal.

So he decided to try the waters and asked if the young woman can truly be worthy to take the crafting examination.

"Please present your identification slab…" he said towards the young woman.

Ai Ji didn't bother with all the people around her, she didn't even care about those venomous gazes she receives.

When she was about to step forward and present her identification slab, a cold voice suddenly appears behind her.

"Step aside mortal trash. This is not your place to loiter around. Go back and stay at home." The cold voice said.

When s.h.i.+n Jiao turns his head, he saw the familiar face of a middle-aged man. He was the man who looks down on Ai Ji when they were lining up in the queue.

Guang Lubai cold snorted as he walks pa.s.s s.h.i.+n Jiao and Ai Ji. Following behind him is his daughter with a helpless expression on her face. She turns her gaze towards, s.h.i.+n Jiao and Ai Ji with an apologetic look on her face.

s.h.i.+n Jiao wanted to react but upon seeing the girl following her father with a humble expression, he just heaves a helpless sigh.

"At least the daughter is more sensible than the father." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought.

Guang Lubai, escorted his daughter in front while Meng Lobai showed her identification plate to the middle-aged man.

The man just nodded and Meng Lubai enters the room. After his daughter was able to get in, Guan Lubai turns around and face s.h.i.+n Jiao and Ai Ji. Then with a scoff on his expression, he lifted his hand was about to push Ai Ji. But before he could touch her, s.h.i.+n Jiao suddenly made a move and grab his wrist.

"Even though you're a senior does not warrant you to oppress my student." s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a cold tone.

He has put up with this farce for a time and it has already ticked him. Though he prefers to keep a low profile, however, if such a bully appears, he didn't mind teaching him a lesson.

Surprised by the strength the young man has exerted, Guan Lubai could not even move his hand from s.h.i.+n Jiao's grip. Though s.h.i.+n Jiao is just in the gold core realm, his pure strength and physique are already at the peak of the gold core realm. He just needed some resources so that he can improve his physique and reach the threshold of the infant soul forming realm. He has been doing this for a long time now, but still, he is unable to improve yet.

"What are you doing? Let go of my hand! If you don't I will cripple you." Guang Lubai shouted.

The onlookers are curiously looking at the drama happening in front of them. They too never would have thought that the frail-looking young man in front has the strength to hold Guang Lubai. What they could not understand is that s.h.i.+n Jiao is actually only in the primary-stages of the gold core realm while his opponent is already at the late-stages and a well-known head of the Lubai family, but still unable to extract himself from the young man.

The murmuring of the people made Guang Lubai's face turn red in shame.

"You ignorant brat, let me show you who you are dealing with." Guan Lubai shouted as he suddenly made his Qi surge towards his hands.

The strong Qi suddenly envelops his wrist covering it with his raging Qi.

"That young man's hand is toast; he dares hold a hand of a cultivator without any protection."

"I agree, he wanted to be a craftsman but fail to protect his hands, how can he take the exam now?"

"That's what he gets for being too full of himself."

The people murmured as they watch the ongoing contest of strength between the two.

When s.h.i.+n Jiao saw the Qi enveloping the arm of Guang Lubai, he didn't even budge or loosen his metal-like grip. Deep in his heart, he sneers at the futile attempt of the middle-aged man. So what if he uses his Qi, can he escape his grip? His physique is not that weak, that even if Guang Lubai makes his gold core explode he would not be harmed.

So how can a small amount of Qi affect him?

"Young man, your days as a craftsman is over. This is the result of your foolishness. Don't blame me for being impolite." Guang Lubai said as he showed a sinister grin on his face.

He wanted to waste s.h.i.+n Jiao's hand for offending him and shaming him in the public. As the head of a family, he could not tolerate being shamed by some random stranger. For that, the young man should pay.

Upon seeing the expression on the middle-aged man, s.h.i.+n Jiao showed a calm expression, and slowly put some strength on his grip.

Meanwhile, Ai Ji is now showing a concerned look on her beautiful youthful face as she saw the glowing arm of the haughty middle-aged man. She is still unaware of her master's strength hence she is not sure if her young master can withstand that power.

Gripping the long hem of her robe, she quietly wished for her master to win this contest of strength and power.

The middle-aged man in purple robe quietly watches the show with amazement clearly written in his eyes. Though he acts like a normal craftsman employee and helper of the a.s.sociation, yet in truth, he is one of the elders in the a.s.sociation. He believes that he can find some talented young lad today, and he is willing to wait and see.

Since he became an elder, he seldom takes in people to train in crafting. And even now, he only has two disciples. And both of them have been a well-known figure in the kingdom of Wu. His two disciples were even able to surpa.s.s him in crafting. But he didn't mind as his goal is to teach and impart his knowledge in crafting.

As he watches, his keen eye can clearly see what's going on. With his cultivation in the middle-stages of the infant soul realm, he was able to feel the rippling energy in s.h.i.+n Jiao's hand. And right now he is looking at this exchange with interest.

"This brat is very smart and a quick observer. I never would have thought that he would be able to gauge his opponent's strength and negate it this way. But how did he know how to use this much force? Is he sure that if he does this he can control the Qi and nullify the effect of the other's strength?" the man thought.

Everyone around them are now expecting that s.h.i.+n Jiao's hand would suffer some wound or even break because of the pressure from the Qi of a gold core realm expert.

"Tsk, tsk… He is too bra.s.s and too proud to not let go. Now his future as a craftsman is finished. Sigh… young people nowadays truly knows no fear."

"You are right. He didn't know the immensity of heaven and the vastness of the land, that's the reason why I think he did that…"

"He would suffer in the hand of Senior Lubai. I know that the man is truly a tyrant. Sigh… Poor young lad."

On a far corner, stood two old men wearing white robes, the emblem on their robes signifies that they were elders of the craftsman a.s.sociation.

While everyone has their own opinion about what's going to happen next, s.h.i.+n Jiao suddenly frowns. Then all of a sudden his expression changed.

CRACK!!!