"Stop your nonsense!" Elder Tang finally interrupted the candidates. "I'll announce the results now. Fifteen people are disqualified. Zhi Yue, Liao Ming, Xu Biao, Li Kongzi, ..." He kept calling each name.
All of them were commoners, and all among the candidates who had never tried the entrance examination before.
Seeing their dejection, Ren Chao said loudly. "Brothers! Sisters! All of you are young, you can always try next year. I'm sure you will eventually get in the sect! Myself, I failed two times during the Assessment Stone trial. As long as you keep a strong heart, you can make it!"
His speech had a strange effect on everyone. It almost seemed as if he was boasting of failing twice at the very first trial. But, how many times did he try to get into the sect?
Even Sun Liao was speechless. He realized that trying to fight this big guy with words was meaningless. Apparently, nothing could break his morale. He was just too dense for words to have any effect.
Elder Tang cleared his throat. Considering the many times he had tried out the entrance examination, Elder Tang was becoming very familiar with the hearty Ren Chao, maybe a little fond of him too. Strangely, Elder Tang was a little sad today because Ren Chao would be 20 year old next year. If he did not succeed today, he would never join the Wubei Sect. To be accurate, Ren Chao had tried six times. The first two times, he really was too young and he failed because of his cultivation level.
Elder Tang was really rooting for him to succeed this time, but he would never alter the examination results to help him either.
The four elders then discussed between themselves for a short time, before facing the candidates again.
"Your ratings are done:
Chen Guo - 56 points
Sun Liao - 52 points
Mei Hua - 49 points
Zhao Qing - 47 points
Tian Lan - 46 points
Ren Chao - 45 points
Xin Chen - 45 points
Zhi Wang - 44 points
Li Gui - 44 points
Xin Xiong - 42 points"
Elder Tang announced the ten first candidates. Then, Elder Lin, Elder Lü and Elder Wang announced the following candidates.
"You will understand the use of your points as we continue the examination. Follow us."
Once again, the candidates were lead to another location. This time it looked like a large well, but when they looked inside, it was shallow. It was a circular room made from stone that was dug in the ground. In the center of the room was engraved a complicated circle. Cao Yun had little experience with those, but he knew that this was an array formation.
"This is the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation. This is the first part of the second trial. As I said, the second trial is in three parts and each one has a minimum achievement to advance to the next. There will be no demonstration this time."
Elder Wang took over. "This array formation is meant to test out your fighting ability. Inside the array formation, the flow of your Qi will be highly limited. Your cultivation will be limited to 3rd-grade Mortal, as if your Vessels and Meridians were all closed. Then, every minute, a 1-core demonic beast will appear. By the end, eight 1-core demonic beasts will surround you. You must defeat at least two of these demonic beasts to advance further."
There was some commotion among the candidates, especially the commoners. If their cultivation was limited, then they could only rely on their weapons. But nobles were sure to have better ones. They even had better armors and maybe many other artifacts to help them out. Strangely, Ren Chao and some other commoners said nothing. They already knew about this trial and they had no objection.
Elder Lin took over. "Of course, any external help is forbidden. No weapon, no armor, no artifact of any kind."
This time, the commotion was among the nobles. In this trial, no matter their status, they would have the exact same strength. Of course, nobles had better martial arts but given their low cultivation, they weren't that different from those of commoners.
Elder Lü concluded. "This trial will only test your ability in a fight. Of course, the beasts are not real. These are apparitions generated by the array itself. They can inflict pain but no wound of any kind."
-
The first one to enter the array formation was the lowest ranked candidate, Luo Xing. He was a 15-year-old commoner with a 3rd-grade Mortal cultivation. In the first trial he only got 32 points. Pretty afraid and nervous, he stood in the center of the array formation.
Elder Tang put a blue stone in some kind of hole atop some pedestal. All of a sudden the array formation lit up. Luo Xing tried to calm his mind, when a beast jumped out of nowhere right in his back.
The beast looked like a blue phantom of a Sun Catching Vicious Tiger, a 1-core demonic beast. The beast almost looked like a tiger, but it was bigger and it had a mane that shined like the sun at noon.
Luo Xing turned over and tried to kick the beast right in its head. The lion easily dodged and pounced on the boy, its claws dug deep in his chest. As the boy was screaming "Help! Help! Save me!", his head was devoured by the Sun Catching Vicious Tiger.
As soon as it happened, the image of the beast disappeared and no wound was visible on Luo Xing. However, he was still sweating and shaking. Even though the wounds were not real, the pain was perfectly accurate. He really felt as though a tiger had eaten his face.
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Elder Tang was merciless and shouted. "Candidate Luo Xing, disqualified! Next!"
The next candidates got inside the array formation one after the other.
They discovered that the demonic beasts were random. There were only eight different beasts, but the order of their apparition changed each time.
Many of the first candidates, who were commoners, failed. Some of the nobles failed as well. As the rank of the candidates became higher, they achieved good results, killing two or three beasts before being 'killed' themselves.
Sadly, some people with a good rank were eliminated. Some failed to kill the first beast before the apparition of the second one and were unable to fight them both at the same time.
Finally, the first candidate of the top 10 got in. He killed four beasts before his elimination.
After some more candidates, it was Ren Chao's turn. He quickly dispatched the beasts one after the other. His physical strength was insane and he only needed one hit each time. However, he still sustained some blows and with the accumulated fatigue, the sixth beast put him down.
"Incredible! Last year I was killed by the second one! Ha, ha, ha! This year, I'll really succeed!"
Everyone got silent. He kept boasting about his past failures.
-
All the candidates of the top ten were victorious, only Sun Liao and Cao Yun remained.
"Fellow Cultivator Chen, how many beasts do you think you can kill before being eliminated?"
"Fellow Cultivator Sun, my abilities are nothing much. But I do not think that mere 1-core demonic beasts could fell me."
"Oh? Then you think that you can take all eight of them? So let's make another bet!" Sun Liao turned toward Elder Tang. "Elder, if I fail in killing all eight of the beasts, I will consider it my loss." As he talked, he watched Cao Yun intently. "With such meager accomplishments, I would have no face to show in the sect."
Unknown to him, all the candidates, including the nobles, got very annoyed with Sun Liao. After all, none of them had killed all eight of the beasts and he was boasting before even trying.
Elder Tang was being annoyed as well. "Nonsense! If you want to quit, just say so. Do you get in or do you quit?"
Sun Liao got flustered after being admonished by the elder. "I'll get it, I'll get in." Before going in the array formation, Sun Liao turned back and saw the gloomy faces of his fellow candidates. He especially saw the girls' faces...
In the sky, once again, Chief Elder Suxian got ridiculed by Chief Elder Luoming. "He really is like you, Brother Suxian! Learn from his mistakes my friend. Think before you speak!"
Sun Liao stood in the middle of the array formation and a Crimson Lion-Stag appeared.
The young boy easily dodged its charge and kicked its side. The beast was violently sent against the wall and exploded into millions of light particles. They danced in the air before going back into the circle engraved in the rock. Sun Liao smiled to the audience as he waited for the next beast. He was expecting cheers but none ever came. More than martial arts, Sun Liao excelled in the art of turning people against him.
-
Sun Liao was eventually fighting against the eighth beast. He only started to have some difficulties with the last two beasts as he had dispatched the first ones with a single strike each time. As the fight went on, he had underestimated how weakened he would be with his cultivation suppressed.
If he had not said such nonsense before going in, Sun Liao would have given up by now. His body was hurting everywhere and his mind was exhausted. Arrogance and pride were the only things keeping him going. Despite his harsh words, the candidates were now a little eager to see him succeed.
The fight took more than 3 minutes, but in the end, Sun Liao killed the last beast, a Golden Horn Buffalo. Exhausted, he literally dropped to the floor as the circle's light faded away. Some sect disciples had to get down into the stone room to take him out. He had no wounds but his stamina was gone. Coming from a rich family, he had many healing pills so he took one out and quickly restored his health. He had to be in perfect condition because he really wanted to watch Cao Yun's humiliation.
In the array formation, he had left a little surprise.
-
"You think my brother Chen can't equal your results? He will kill the eight beasts even faster than you did! Go on, Brother!"
Once again, Cao Yun did not know how to react with this Ren Chao fellow.
"Then, please let me show you my meager talent."
He got into the room and walked to the center of the circle. His intent was stronger now and he felt that something was a bit off when he looked at Sun Liao's face. As Elder Tang activated the array formation, Cao Yun focused on the energy circulating through the circle. It seemed that it was taking a slightly different path.
All of a sudden, it was not one but eight demonic beasts that appeared all around Cao Yun.
"What's going on?!" Everyone was surprised, except for Sun Liao.
You want to outshine me? Let's see how you deal with this. Even if you're not eliminated because the array formation is deemed defective, you'll humiliate yourself by cowering in a corner.
-
Up in the sky, the chief elders stopped their quarrel.
"Brother Suxian, this candidate of yours is too much!" Chief Elder Luoming was furious. "I understand why you like him. He's an expert in array formation?"
"Yes, Brother Luoming. He is..."
"But I must say that his character is deeply lacking!" Chief Elder Luoming's eyes were full of rage as he stared at his friend.
"He's young, that's all! No harm intended, really." In reality, Chief Elder Suxian was also enraged by this attitude, but he did not want to admit it right now. "Brother, let's stop the array formation for now, okay?"
"No, let him take care of it!" The melodious voice of Xiao Xuefeng surprised everyone.
"Miss Xiao, with a 3rd-grade Mortal cultivation, I'm afraid he won't be able to kill even two beasts."
"He could be lucky enough to get one, but two..."
"Let's stop the array formation. This Sun Liao messed with it, so this round does not count. We'll restart it again. Do not worry, we won't disqualify your candidate!"
"Miss Xiao is right, let him deal with it." This time it was the old woman who spoke.
"Sister Baishen, you too?!" Dejected, Chief Elder Luoming gave up. "Fine, I'll just warn Elder Tang. If Chen Guo fails, we'll just relaunch the trial."
He sent a telepathic message to Elder Tang. Elder Tang knew that some chief elders were watching the trial and he was going crazy. He really did no know how to handle this. When he heard the order of Chief Elder Luoming, he was even more worried. They were going to let the trial go on?!
In the array formation, Cao Yun was faced with eight demonic beasts. Some of which he knew firsthand, Crimson Lion-Stag, Gray-Beak Storm Eagle, Carnivorous Hammer-Gorilla. Others he had seen during the trial, Sun Catching Vicious Tiger, Black Two-Headed Wolf, Long-Billed Shelled Crow, Rainbow Feather Cobra and Golden Horn Buffalo.
What was going on?! Cao Yun remembered the strange feeling he had when looking at Sun Liao's face. He had probably tampered with it. Cao Yun knew almost nothing about array formations so he did not know what he had done to it.
Right now, he was convinced that the elder was going to cancel the trial but Elder Tang did nothing and let it go on. Did it mean that he really had to fight under these conditions?!
Cao Yun had no more time to think about it! He circulated his mind cultivation to focus all of his intent. With his Perfection achievement in Yi the Earth Intent, Cao Yun was able to simultaneously focus on all eight of the beasts at once. None of their moves was secret to him. These beast apparitions were so realistic that he could even sense their breathing and the tension in their muscles.
His intent was very strong, but by focusing it this much, he could not keep it up for too long.
The beasts were not real, they were created by the array formation, so there was no chance to pit them against each other. Cao Yun had to fight them all, and they just started to act!