The colossal dragon leaned its head down, letting the woman descend. Her feet lifted to touch the ground, and at the moment of contact, the dragon crumbled down onto the ground. The woman controlled the dragon’s remains to create an enormous dome that blocked the sun and sealed the examinees in.

As the dome closed atop, the last bit of light was also gone, the darkness had taken over, matching the visions of the knocked-out examinees. Her fingers moved as the ground worked like a treadmill to move around the unconscious bodies. After they took their place, she snapped her finger, and encapsulating each in a small pavilion sculpted out of the earth.

Her senses penetrated the ground. She located a natural water source trapped underneath. She clenched her hand and motioned upwards, the water lifted towards the ground. While she couldn't control water as an earth cultivator, she could push it around using earth.

The water spread towards each earth pavilion and sat inside buckets that had materialized under her control.

After spreading her senses and making sure everything was done correctly, the ground beneath opened its maw, and swallowed her whole.

...

Alcan's eye fluttered open. Despite having fallen unconscious, his head wasn't hurting. He felt as if he had woken up from a dream. "Just a Rank 2 cultivator's aura is enough to knock me out." He was in awe of such power. Its convenience of not relying on any external factors was a great boon.

His eyes wandered around him. Apart from four walls, a ceiling, a bed and a bucket of water, there was nothing else. "It sure is an abrupt start." He cracked his neck, got into a comfortable position, and started cultivating.

This was the strategy he had come up with, cultivating to 4th layer before acting. "I'm just on the bring of 4th layer. I don't have to go out and seek water since they will eventually wander here." His hand went to check if the poison vials he had brought on him were still there. His plan? Build a fortress and cultivate to 4th layer.

...

A man woke up. He quickly gathered his bearings thanks to his 7th cultivation. He was Damien, the only Rank 0 High cultivator in the entire trial. Damien wore clothes made of luxurious materials, signaling his wealthy background. Clearly, his cultivation wasn't simply and result of talent and hard work but also immense resources.

His confidence was evident from his actions. He stalled for no time and went outside. The earth pavilions had no doors. He could see the opposite pavilion's insides the moment he took outside.

He walked towards the entrance. Inside was a young man with an unassuming look. Nothing stood out about him expect his 5th layer cultivation. He beamed with joy at seeing Damien. "Damien! It's great we grouped up so early." He was one of the people around Damien before the exam began.

Damien nodded, his pearly white teeth showed themselves. "I'm indeed lucky to have met you so early." He walked towards him in steady steps. After a certain proximity, the young man took a few steps back. He had realized what was happening. He was a target.

He lunged towards Damien, his element, wind, covered his fist. The cutting rotation of the wind, coupled with the strength of the punch, would kill most in a single strike.

Swirl. Damien's bare hand held his fist. He wasn't utilizing any qi. He held the punch with his body's strength.

He clenched his hand. Crack. The young man's entire hand broke. However, he knew this was a life and death situation and punched with his other fist, ignoring any pain. This time it was even more humiliating, as Damien didn't even bother blocking the punch. The punch connected with his jaw, causing the young man's hand to break from the impact. As for Damien's jaw, it remained in perfect condition.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Shit. He has a body refinement technique." The young man tried to escape, but Damien didn't let his hand go. Damien twisted his torso and launched forth a punch that delved through the air. The punch launched the young man towards the opposite wall, but he couldn't go beyond an arm's length due to Damien still holding onto him.

Dislocating his arm as a result, but the torture didn't stop here. It had only begun. A fury of punched, landed on his body. He had long lost consciousness, but Damien continued till his brain peeked from his skull. Only after making sure he was dead did he take his water bucket and left.

The moment he stepped outside, his gaze met with an old man's. His body was letting out 6th layer aura. The old man looked back at him behind his cloak, his eyes barely visible beneath the shadow.

Sparks of tension rose between them. It was clear neither of them had good intentions.

Damien nodded at the old man. In return, he received a nod back. They both knew fighting would bring them nothing. If they fought, the winner wouldn't be certain. Damien had his 7th layer cultivation and body refinement. While the old man had a weaker cultivation at 6th layer, but many tricks up his sleeve that came with experience.

Damien put his hand on his heart, said. "I wish you luck, Old Joe."

Old Joe responded with the same gesture and replied. "I wish you great luck as well, Young Master Damien. " His voice was like metal wires rubbing against each other, each word felt forced.

They went their separate ways. Neither wanted to start a fight, as the reward for ten remaining survivors and a two survivors was the same. Only in the case you survived all on your own, you would get a special reward.

While it might seem valid for Damien to aim for being the sole survivor. He knew if he even killed a single 6th layer cultivation, the rest would gang up on him. Him being the strongest threat also made him the most watched target.

...

A man with blue eyes leaned against a pavilion's outer wall. He smashed his head to it repeatedly out of boredom. "Are you sure he didn't die, Yasaf? We could be waiting for nothing."

The man he was addressing, Yasaf, was more relaxed. He read the tiny text of the booklet in his hands. It was a book about alchemy. He lifted his head from the booklet and said. "We can leave if he doesn't arrive until the next day. There is no need to rush it, Zarek. With our cultivation, we are on the upper echelons amongst the examinees."

They were both 5th layer cultivators, two layers above Alcan. Their original plan was to meet up at the 47th building in the row.

A man with a tall build came running towards them. Neither of their danger alarms rang as it was the guy they were waiting for.

"You finally decided to make it? What could have taken this long, Aren?" Zarek, the impatient one, asked. Despite having his guard down, signaling close trust, his tone wasn't friendly at all.

Aren look apologetic. He ignored Zarek and addressed Yasaf, who hadn't even spoken yet. "Apologies, I have run across a few 3rd layer cultivators on the road who had grouped up." He was wiping his bloodied hands onto a reddened white cloth. After he was done, he threw it aside and looked towards Yasaf.

Zarek laughed, not minding being ignored. "You got attacked by a bunch of low tier cultivators?" He wiped the tears that had formed on his eyes from laughter. "Sigh, these low tier cultivators never cease to amaze me. What do you think, Yasaf?"

"I think.." Yasaf closed the booklet and put it in his pocket. He gave it a few securing taps and said. "You should focus on the mission ahead rather than belittling other cultivation with your measly 5th layer cultivation."

Aren's eyes shone when he heard of a mission. He immediately inquired. "What is the mission this time, boss?" The mission always gave immense returns. One of the main reasons they made it to 5th layer.

Yasaf spoke while opening a certain page of his booklet. "This is our target this time. He is a 3rd layer cultivator, a recently advanced one at that. We are killing him for his talent, not power. It should be easy as long as we locate him." There was a sketch of Alcan's face on the page.

...

2 Days Later - In Front of Alcan's Earth Pavilion -

Three men stood, dumbfounded. They could see Alcan sitting, cultivating in inside the earth pavilion. They had been searching for him for the past 2 days. Never had it occurred to them a 3rd layer cultivator would dare stay in his earth pavilion.

Zarek slapped the back of the Aren's head. "I told you we should look for him in the pavilion's right? What did you say?" He mimicked Aren's speaking mannerisms. "He can't be there, he is only at 3rd layer."

Alcan sensed their arrival due to the loud noises they made. His eyes fluttered open as 4th layer aura spread from his body. "I was expecting guests, but not three of them." His water source had already finished and if someone didn't find him, he would have had to find them. "Let's see If I'm in luck or not." A smile spread across his lips.