Chapter 145 Falling Behind

At this moment, Huan Yin and Meng Li were both in their own spaces, constantly summoning materials floating in the void for identification under the gaze of the surrounding monks, and then those materials were transformed into books and sent back to their original places.

Huan Yin and Meng Li knew that their fight today might last until night, and they did not compete in speed, so they were not in a hurry, but tried to calm down and find their best state for identifying materials.

In the first 100,000 kinds of materials, Huan Yin and Meng Li seemed to have almost no difference. Not only were the materials recognized one by one, but the speed of the two was also getting faster and faster, and it seemed that they had found their state.

However, when the two had identified about 230,000 kinds of materials, Huan Yin suddenly stopped holding a material. This time, Huan Yin looked at the material in his hand for a long time, and in the end, he actually sent the material back to the void intact without turning it into a book.

At this moment, the monks watching outside the Nine-Layered Pagoda suddenly started to quarrel.

"He didn't recognize it! He didn't recognize that material just now!" A disciple from Yijian Peak was surprised.

"What's so strange about this? There are so many materials, one million. Do you think this young and weak foreign cultivator really has no limit? It's normal that he didn't recognize it." Another disciple from Yijian Peak answered.

"But Brother Meng recognized it just now. In this way, Huan Yin not only recognized one less material than him, but also lagged behind in speed. It may even affect his state of mind. Huan Yin is not good."

"I didn't think highly of this foreign cultivator named Huan Yin. It was just a coincidence that he rushed to the sixth level at once by relying on his previous accumulation. No matter how much he accumulated, he couldn't surpass Meng Li. After all, how long has he learned sword forging?"

Seeing this, Ji Cangqiong and the other cultivators were a little nervous, especially Ji Cangqiong. He sincerely hoped that Huan Yin would not be affected by not recognizing a material. After all, if Huan Yin really lost, his loss would be too huge.

The competition between Huan Yin and Meng Li was still going on. However, since Huan Yin failed to recognize a material just now, his speed was much slower than before, and he failed to recognize it many times in the process of identification.

The gap between Huan Yin and Meng Li made the cultivators outside who supported Meng Li cheer continuously, while the cultivators and the scattered cultivators who supported Huan Yin were speechless.

In the eyes of these onlookers, Huan Yin rushed to the sixth floor at a time, just to meet the requirements of passing each floor, so the total number of materials he identified was less than 200,000. But this time Meng Li wanted to compete with him for one million, and Huan Yin dared to accept it, which was too arrogant.

Three hours later, Meng Li had identified his 428,000th material. This time, he also looked at the material for a long time, but finally failed to recognize it and sent it back.

Ji Cangqiong was slightly relieved when he saw that Meng Li also didn't know it, thinking that maybe the ones Huan Yin didn't recognize were all in the front, and the ones Meng Li didn't recognize were not necessarily in the back. If that's the case, then Huan Yin still has a good chance.

However, in the subsequent identification, Ji Cangqiong's view was obviously wrong. Because Huan Yin's speed was still very slow, and the materials he didn't recognize were increasing, while Meng Li's speed was not affected at all, and the materials he didn't recognize only appeared once in a while.

"Senior Brother Meng is worthy of being the leader of the younger generation of weapon masters in our sect. His attainments in identifying materials have amazed all the elders. This Huan Yin was just lucky enough to be in the limelight once, and this time he finally showed his true colors." Some people have begun to ridicule Huan Yin.

Some casual cultivators couldn't stand it and shouted at the man: "Your true form is exposed? Go and try to break through the tower. I want to see how many you can recognize. My brother Huan has recognized at least 300,000 kinds of materials. What qualifications do you have to criticize him?"

"Humph, the world is so big, what's the big deal about a few casual cultivators with some skills? The number of weapon cultivators in the world is probably 10,000 times that of my Yijian Peak, but in the end, we are not the best in the world? A frog in the well, people are more refined than numbers." The man was relentless and retorted.

"Say it again..."

"Okay!" Ji Cangqiong interrupted the quarrel between the two: "The competition is not over yet, and the results are not yet revealed. It's useless to say more!"

In fact, Ji Cangqiong was also very nervous at this moment, because Huan probably had not recognized more than a hundred kinds of materials at this moment, and Meng Li was not only faster than him, but he had not recognized only 32 kinds of materials. This gap was really obvious.

"Don't you believe in fellow practitioner Huan?" Zhao Wo appeared beside Ji Cangqiong at some point and asked him with a smile.

Ji Cangqiong saw that it was his teacher, bowed to Zhao Wo, and whispered: "Master Zhao, Brother Huan is... not good."

Zhao Wo smiled slightly and said: "We have been with fellow practitioner Huan for several months. Although he is well-informed and knowledgeable, he is still too young, so it is normal that he is not as knowledgeable as Meng Li. After all, Meng Li is also very talented, and he has spent much more time learning to identify talents than fellow practitioner Huan."

Ji Cangqiong frowned and said: "Master Zhao, according to you, Brother Huan is probably going to lose?"

Zhao Wo smiled inscrutablely: "Lose? Since the first day I met fellow cultivator Huan, I have never seen him lose. He even surpassed Grandmaster Lan Yanzi. How can you think he will lose?"

Ji Cangqiong was confused by what Zhao Wo said, and said anxiously: "Master Zhao, please speak clearly."

"In addition to relying on daily memorization accumulation, what else can you rely on to recognize talents?" Zhao Wo did not directly answer Ji Cangqiong's question.

After hearing Zhao Wo's question, Ji Cangqiong was obviously lost in thought. After a while, his eyes opened wider and wider, revealing a look of surprise. He suddenly remembered that Huan Yin had just joined their loose cultivator alliance before, and when he defeated Zhao Wo, he even recognized the last bamboo king flower completely.

"It's recognition..." Ji Cangqiong spoke excitedly, but was stopped by Zhao Wo. Zhao Wo laughed: "Let's see. In fact, according to my understanding of fellow cultivator Huan, he probably didn't just meet the conditions to pass the assessment when he entered the first few levels of the tower. I think he must have passed after identifying all of them, because he is obsessed with tools."

Eight hours later, the sky was already pitch black. Suddenly, the light column representing the seventh level of the Nine-Layered Tower suddenly emitted a light several times brighter than before, and then Meng Li on the sky stood up, he straightened his Taoist robe with a smile on his face, and disappeared there.

Meng Li passed, and his name soon appeared in the blue light column. At this moment, Huan Yin still had about 100,000 materials to identify.

"There are a total of 999,812 kinds of materials, and Brother Meng has only failed to identify 188 kinds of materials. This is simply unbelievable! Brother Meng is indeed the best in our generation in identifying materials. I admire him, I admire him!"

"Brother Meng has won, he has already won. I have seen Huan Yin, and so far he has not identified 732 kinds of materials. He is doomed to lose!"

As soon as Meng Li finished, all the monks watching shouted like a pot of boiling water. Today, they witnessed Meng Li passing the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda, and even witnessed Meng Li identifying almost all the materials on the seventh floor. Such an achievement really amazed them.

Although Huan Yin has now identified more than 500,000 kinds of materials, the number of materials he has not recognized is too many compared to Meng Li, so these monks of Yijian Peak thought that Huan Yin was doomed to lose, even if he passed the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda, he still lost.

Soon, Meng Li walked out of the tower. Many of Meng Li's supporters quickly surrounded him, complimenting him repeatedly and telling him that he had won.

Meng Li bowed to these people and said loudly: "Thank you for your support, fellow disciples. Meng Li's achievements today are not my achievements alone, but the achievements of Yijianfeng. The sword-making of Yijianfeng is the orthodox in the world. As a weapon master of Yijianfeng, it is natural for me to win."

"Brother Meng is right. Our Yijianfeng sword-making is the best in the world. How can the outsiders compare with us? Huan Yin's previous achievements are simply not worth mentioning in front of Brother Meng today. Our Yijianfeng is the strongest!" Waves of echoes came out, one louder than the other, and they were deliberately shouted at Ji Cangqiong and other casual cultivators, obviously mocking.

Ji Cangqiong turned around and glanced at the somewhat disappointed casual cultivators behind him. They must have thought that Huan Yin had lost, so they were like this. However, Ji Cangqiong soon shouted loudly: "Fellow Daoists, as long as Brother Huan has not left the Nine-Layered Pagoda, he has not lost. You see, he is still persisting in the endless darkness. Don't you believe him?"

Zhao Wo also stood up and said to the scattered cultivators: "Although I am a weapon cultivator of Yijian Peak, I have to admit that Brother Huan's attainments in identifying talents are extraordinary, and Meng Li is not as good as him! So everyone, as Alliance Leader Ji said, the competition is not over yet, and the contestants have not given up yet, why are you discouraged?"

After listening to the two, the dim eyes of the scattered cultivators brightened up again. Although they may have forgotten Huan Yin's extraordinaryness, they always have an unexplained firm confidence in Huan Yin, because they have witnessed countless miracles in Huan Yin, even if Huan Yin is obviously behind now, they still believe in Huan Yin.

"We are here today, thanks to Brother Huan. Brothers, cheer up, the momentum of the scattered cultivators cannot lose! Brother Huan will not lose either!" Liang Bin shouted!

I finally wrote it and proofread it twice, and it's ready to be published. This is the first update of today. I appreciate your support! Please give me recommendation votes, monthly votes, and all kinds of support!