Shun Long was shocked to find out that he had only won the 4th place.
Based on his estimations, unless the 3 geniuses from the other 3 sects didn't head in the inner region at all and only hunted for sect points in the outer region, they shouldn't have been able to gather more points than him.
Lan Hong however, looked at Hui Zhong with a mix of both anger and disdain as he said
''You really have the face to speak? Old man, I definitely didn't expect you to be so shameless. You actually had the disciples of your sect hand their survival points to your grandson and you still think that your family has any face left ?''
Hui Zhong wasn't angered at all by Grand Elder Lan Hong's insults. Instead he looked at him gloatingly as he said
''This is called strategy old Lan. What do you know? If you were smart enough, you would have done the same as well as the rest of us.''
Shun Long finally understood what had happened.
''Master, these people are too shameless!'' Little Black felt indignation for Shun Long.
Shun Long however simply shook his head as he responded to him
''Although you could call them unfair or shameless, the fault still lies with the 'floating cloud sect'. After all, for the other 3 sects to do the same thing under the 'floating cloud sect's' nose is truly shameful for them. However, I do feel that it's a pity that I can't get my hands on that rank 3 'Blood Vermilion fruit'.''
The 'Blood Vermilion Fruit' would have really helped Shun Long advance in his cultivation by quite a bit.
Grand Elder Lan Hong looked at the group of the 'floating cloud sect' and said
''We will wait here for 2 more days. If no disciple shows up after these 2 days, we will assume that they have died inside and will return back to the 'floating cloud city'.''
After hearing Lan Hong's command, the disciples set up camp outside the Demonic Mountain region.
However, it seemed as if Shun Long was really among the last people that had left the region. In the next 2 days, very few disciples actually showed up, and Grand Elder Lan Hong summoned everyone to return back to the 'floating cloud sect'.
''I expected less than 10.000 disciples to come back alive from this 'outer sect examination'. I guess they are lucky that we had to cancel it ahead of time, or there would definitely have been more than just 20.000 that died this time.'' Elder Zhu was chatting with Elder Lu as they were heading back to the 'floating cloud sect'.
Their return journey was just as peaceful as the first one and 7 days later, they had arrived outside the 'floating cloud city'.
The people inside the city were startled to see the huge group of new disciples returning back to the sect.
Usually, the 'outer sect examination' was extremely bloody and only half of the disciples that set out would return alive. However, this year should have been even bloodier as it was the 'joint sect exam' between the 4 sects. And yet, more than half of the disciples had returned back alive, and most importantly, ahead of time.
Not even a month had passed since the Grand Elder's group had set out. And yet they had already returned back to the sect. Something must have definitely happened.
The disciples inside the Demonic Mountain region that participated in the sect exam, had also asked the Grand Elder why they were called out prematurely, but the Elder simply didn't answer.
After entering the city, Elder Lu Cheng called for the disciples to disperse while he had Shun Long, Guan Hong, and a female disciple called Fen Liqing that was also at the peak of rank 3 in earth grade, to come to the administration building with him to obtain their rewards.
Following the Grand Elder and the other 2 Elders, Shun Long soon arrived in front of the huge 'Administration Building'. Inside, the disciples hurriedly bowed to the Grand Elder who directly asked to meet Administrator Feng.
A middle-aged man could be seen running from the distance, as he soon arrived in front of the Grand Elder and politely greeted
''Greetings to the Grand Elder.''
The Grand Elder, Lan Hong nodded his head at Administrator Feng who looked at him puzzledly, obviously wondering why they had returned back to the sect so soon when he said
''Xiao Feng, give them the prizes for the top 3. First place is Shun Long, second place is Guan Hong and third place is Fen Liqing.'' Lan Hong said as he introduced the disciples to Administrator Feng one by one.
It seemed that neither Lu Cheng, nor Administrator Feng whom Shun Long had met in the past realized who he was.
Administrator Feng handed Shun Long and the rest a silver ring, that was identical to his own. This was a spatial ring that only people with status could have in the sect. After transferring the sect points to their sect jades, Administrator Feng also handed 100 spirit stones to Shun Long as he said in an envious tone
''Haa, 100 spirit stones is really not a small sum.''
Shun Long nodded his head at Administrator Feng without really paying much attention to his words when Grand Elder Lan Hong suddenly ordered them to leave as he had some matters to discuss with Administrator Feng.
Not just Shun Long and the rest, the entire 3rd floor of the 'Administration Building' was quickly cleared from all the disciples. Only the Grand Elder, the Administrator and the 2 Elders were left inside.
As they left the building, Guan Hong turned his head at Shun Long and said
''I don't know where you came from or how you gathered so many sect points, but I have my eye on you now. You better not become a laughingstock and forfeit when I challenge you in the arena in the upcoming days.''
Shun Long looked at Guan Hong inquiringly, but Guan Hong simply snorted and left. Fen Liqing also cupped her fists at Shun Long before she went on her own way.
Shun Long then, decided to rent a room in the most expensive pavilion inside the 'outer city', the
'Mystifying Fragrance pavilion'.