...
"That's all?"
Xun Shi breathes in sharply, a cold sweat all over his body, his face is pale, like the face of a man who just experienced death.
He looks around, all of the other recently-admitted disciples seem to also be awakening from a state of death.
He looks towards the Spear Peak. Li Huan is just as shocked as him, visibly trembling while looking at his hands.
Xun Shi stands up, slowly turning towards the sect leader.
The sect leader, Gao Yong, is currently seated on a throne, sipping on tea calmly, like nothing even happened. "Really, that's all?"
Xun Shi proceeds to look at his surroundings, everything is perfectly fine—the ceiling is intact, the red carpet unmoving. It's like it was all a dream... like it was all an—
"...illusion! It was all an illusion!"
Xun Shi stutters out, subconsciously turning towards the sect leader again.
The sect leader smiles.
"That's right, my child."
He stands up from his stone throne, robes billowing and arms behind his back, looking like a true sect master.
"S-so nothing really happened?"
Xun Shi exasperated.
The sect leader starts walking down from his throne.
"Nothing ever happens."
The other disciples still need time to recover, seeing as they all just experienced death for the first time.
Sect leader Gao Yong presses his hands against the cold stone ground, a rumble sounds out before a twig grows from a crack in the stone.
CRK
The twig grows before Xun Shi's very eyes, turning into twisted dark staff, with a drooping leaf at the end.
He raises the staff with two hands, slamming it down softly onto the stone ground.
A bright green circle weaves into existence around the slam point, then starts growing and expanding, covering every disciple in its area of effect.
Every disciple feels like they're floating, the memories of the illusion quickly getting tossed into the back of their memories.
...
"Wah, I thought I died!"
Zi Rougang hugs Zuo Lingxing, both of them crying. All of these newer disciples, after all, are 12-13 years of age.
...
Dong Shui heaves a deep breath, looking at his friends. Then they all go in for a group hug.
Feng Zhi, the tallest out of all the new disciples, touches at the spot where the stone spike penetrated his stomach.
"Woah... it's like... I can still feel it, like a phantom pain."
Dong Shui smiles.
"Same here." He flexes his left arm. "I could've swore that dog bit my arm off..."
...
Xuan Wu blinks.
Out of every disciple, he's the one with the least of a reaction.
That was because he knew all along...
...
Xuan Wu's eyebrow raises as he hears a system notification.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[An Illusion is in effect, would you like to remove it?]
"Ah, I see."
Xuan Wu looks at the surrounding chaos with a smirk.
"You idiots, this is obviously all an illusion!"
Xuan Wu laughs, pondering.
"Why not take this time to explore the sect?"
He dashes towards the exit of the pagoda while the sect is still in disorder.
The sect grounds are currently on fire, with chaos raging at every corner. Demonic beasts and demonic disciples rush towards the ceremonial pagoda.
Xuan Wu runs right past them, without them even noticing.
"I guess this is a planned illusion."
Looking around, he dashes towards a distant short mountain.
...
Arriving at the short mountain, Xuan Wu takes time to explore it, before eventually finding a cave.
"Hm? Is this a secret area?"
Stepping inside a cave, it feels damp, like being inside of a body of water.
It's warm... but cold at the same time.
Reaching further into the cave, Xuan Wu takes a look at a skeleton seated there, all alone, in this damp and dark cave. A single light illuminates the skeleton.
He reaches further, wanting to touch the skeleton.
"You aren't supposed to be here."
The skeleton snaps its head up, looking straight at Xuan Wu.
...
"So there's a secret area? And a creepy old skeleton?"
Xuan Wu rubs his hands together.
"Hehe, treasures, although I could get anything with my Cheat System, it's better to work hard for something, so you don't get bored quickly."
Xuan Wu looks towards the sect leader as he continues talking.
"As you all know, this was all a test, an illusion. It was meant to test your response to an immediate attack."
Sect leader Gao Yong nods at Xun Shi and Liu Huan, seeing as they took a leadership position in the chaos.
Xun Shi and Liu Huan get visibly excited, obtaining praise from the sect leader.
"The three tests of whirlwind. You may have heard of them before, you may have not."
The crowd whispers.
"The three tests of whirlwind? Never heard of them before."
"Same... is sect leader talking about the test we just went through?"
"This...! I've heard of them before, my father explained it briefly to me, but next exposed what was contained in them." A fatty named Ziu Wang brags about it.
The crowd abruptly quiets down with a raise of one of the supreme elder's hands.
The sect leader continues walking down.
He puts one finger up. "The first, cultivation talent. We use a talent stone to discover which one of youse has a spiritual root, then use the spiritual crystal at the sect examinations to evaluate your spirit root score and talent."
He puts another finger up
"The second, was supreme elder Peng Tao's coercion."
Sect leader Gao Yong nods towards a scary-looking supreme elder, with long white eyebrows and a messy beard. The supreme elder nods back.
"It was a test of your willpower, seeing how easily you submit to threats."
He nods to Xun Shi and Liu Huan once again.
Now, Xun Shi and Liu Huan can brag to their kids when they get old all the time.
...
"You know, the great sect leader once praised us two times. TWO TIMES! And you know how powerful he was?"
Xun Shi and Liu Huan's kids jaw's drop at their grandparents, with Liu Huan and Xun Shi both laughing.
...
The sect leader puts the final finger up, making a "three" finger sign.
"And finally, the third test. I was a test of loyalty, seeing how you would do in a moment of chaos. Under supreme elder Hao Yan's illusion, everything feels extremely realistic."
He nods towards the other supreme elder, Hao Yan.
"Now..."
A total of seven disciples get lifted by tree branches out of nowhere, and get thrown towards the front.
"Mind explaining yourselves?"
A collection of gasps ring out.
"These must be the traitors! Yeah, I know that guy, he started kissing the demonic forces feet!"
Fatty Wang angrily points a finger at one of the kneeling traitors.
The supposed one who tried to 'kiss the demonic forces feet' tries to explain himself.
"I- You know I didn't—"
The sect leader responds in a solemn voice.
"Harbouring bad intentions, betraying to another sect, it's all wrong."
He starts walking in circles around them.
He glares angrily at the seven apprehended disciples, each one's blood running cold, faces as pale as snow.
"But."
He stops.
"I understand you. You were fighting a losing battle, of course you would try to side with the enemy forces."
He strokes his long beard.
"But, this... is still unacceptable."
One of the apprehended disciples, Cheng Lian, tries to argue.
"I-We're sorry sect leader, I know what we did was unacceptable, and we take full accountability of that, if you would just let us have another chance..."
The sect leader pauses, considering her words.
The kneeling disciples all gasp, turning towards Cheng Lian and fawning over her.
"Senior sister, you're my senior sister now!"
"What a great lady, you see, my brother is a rich man, maybe I could get you guys into contact?"
"If we really escape this predicament, I'll throw the biggest party for you!"
Cheng Lian smirks to herself. She has blonde hair, wearing tight fitting black clothing, with a knife strapped to her waist, looking like an assassin.
"Hmm... Cheng Lian, a girl from an assassin clan. Of course her first instinct would be to betray the sect... but stabbing a fellow disciple? Not even the others resorted to that."
The sect leader ponders to himself.
"Well, you're all free to go. You do have a strike against you though, so leave with caution."
He waves his right arm, and each apprehended disciple stands up, obviously happy.
"Thank you so much, senior sister!"
The other 7 continue fawning over Chen Lian, even as they walk down the stairs to their respective peaks.
Fatty Wang eyes the 'feet kissing traitor', his narrow eyes narrowing even further. "I'll get you sooner or later, you traitor. His fat jiggles as he sharply turns his head and crosses his arms, like a cute tsundere girl.
Xuan Wu strokes his chin, looking at the system panel that just popped up.
"Interesting..."
[Detected seal deeply implanted into your soul, would you like to eradicate it?]