Chapter 78 - Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods
Qin Nan executed his Mystical Eight Steps and advanced forward at an incredible speed with Chu Yun and Xiao Leng.
Huang Long let out a laugh before following them, his figure transforming into a cloud of blood.
Following this, Ling Zixiao and his group also collected their thoughts, and led the remaining genius disciples by moving out with their respective movement techniques.
As for the remaining new disciples, memorizing the map was not one of their concerns. Instead, they all followed the people in front who took off moments ago.
At that moment, if one were to look down from above, that person would see lots of people rushing forward at a crazy speed, like an avalanche.
Even the monsters with eighth-layer and ninth-layer Body Tempering Realm cultivations immediately fled for their lives after seeing the crowd, unlike their normal ferocious appearance.
In just a brief moment, the woods shook vigorously, and the ground trembled tremendously; the whole place was knocked out of order.
The location shown on the virtual map was not too far away; in just a while, the crowd had all arrived at the destination.
However, when the disciples saw the sight before them, everyone’s eyes were filled with astonishment.
Before them, a huge bamboo woods had appeared, with no sign of ending, like a sea of bamboos. Furthermore, every single bamboo was dark blue, with a wide circumference, like giant trees firing up into the sky. The bamboo leaves had an ancient and arcane feeling to them, as if they had experienced the vicissitudes of life.
One could easily tell that the bamboo woods were nothing ordinary.
Qin Nan quickly collected his thoughts and unleashed his Eyes of the Divine Battle Spirit to carefully inspect what was inside the bamboo woods.
However, something strange occurred; among the mysterious bamboo woods existed an arcane force, completely blocking Qin Nan’s view to take a look at what was inside.
This caused Qin Nan to frown his eyebrows; it was the first time his vision had been prohibited while using the Eyes of the Divine Battle Spirit.
Meanwhile, Ling Zixiao took a while observing the mysterious bamboo woods before him, before he let out a cry, “Could this be the Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods?”
His words immediately grabbed the attention of the crowd.
Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods? What the f**k is that?
In that instant, a voice with a complementing tone was heard, “That’s right. This Junior Brother is indeed wise, to know this bamboo woods to be the Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods.”
The sudden voice caused the crowd to feel uneasy, including both Huang Long and Ling Zixiao.
Seconds later, a young man walked out from the Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods at a slow pace. The young man wore a white robe, and his skin tone was pale, and this together with his sharp eyebrows, gave him a handsome appearance.
Furthermore, the aura emitted from the young man was terrifying, and unfathomable.
“Martial Emperor expert?”
Qin Nan squinted his eyes slightly; this young man who appeared out of nowhere possessed a cultivation of Martial Emperor, even though it was slightly weaker than Xiao Qingxue’s.
The young man walked out from the woods, and glanced at the crowd before he smilingly said, “To all Junior Disciples, my name is Xu Qian. I’m your Senior Brother. I was given the order from the five elders to come to this Island of Versatility specifically to test you all. Those who pass the test, will receive a certain amount of Blue Dragon Badges depending on their results.”
After hearing the words, the disciples came to a realization.
It seemed like the sect had long prepared this surprise, which served as the final test for the disciples.
“Pardon me, may I ask what the test is about?” Ling Zixiao stepped forward and asked in a respectful tone.
Xu Qian glanced at him before saying with a smile, “You must be Junior Brother Ling Zixiao right? The elders have mentioned you before; a super genius with a ninth-grade Huang ranked Martial Spirit, great potential. After the trials, if you have any queries about cultivation, feel free to look for me.”
After hearing the words, a hint of jealousy could be seen in the eyes of the other disciples.
Despite that, they would not dare to offend either side at that moment—they could only wait for the final test.
Ling Zixiao answered in a humble tone, “It is my pleasure.”
Xu Qian was quite satisfied with the humble attitude he presented; he then turned around facing the crowd and said, “Allow me to explain. The Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods is considered a precious material. Every bamboo here possesses the ability to seduce your thoughts. This seduction only works for cultivators below the Martial Emperor Realm. In other words, this test is simply to test your will and determination toward Martial Arts.”
Upon saying this, the smile on Xu Qian’s face disappeared as he continued, “The upcoming test is conducted by entering the Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods. The rules are simple; there are only two of them. Firstly, no Martial Skill is allowed within the Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods, but you are allowed to unleash your Martial Spirits. Secondly, the test will be focusing on the amount of steps you take forward. One would need a thousand step to pass through this Mind-Seducing Ancient Bamboo Woods. The results of the test are based on the ranking according to the amount of steps taken.”
Xu Qian then paused for a moment, allowing the crowd to digest the information.
After a long period, Xu Qian spoke again, “Now I’ll talk about the rewards. At the end of the test, the third ranked will receive one Blue Dragon Badge; the second, four Blue Dragon Badges; and the first will receive fifteen Blue Dragon Badges. That being said, if any of you are able to finish all one thousand steps, you will be given all the Blue Dragon Badges. Keep in mind that no one from the Mystic Spirit Sect has ever finished the one thousand steps; if any of you achieved that, you would be heavily rewarded by the sect.”
After hearing these words, the eyes of the disciples were ignited by flames of desire.
It was clear from Xu Qian’s words that this test was not about their cultivation base; it was more like a competition of their Martial Heart, which was relatively fair.
In other words, even a disciple with a mere cultivation of the fifth-layer Body Tempering Realm had a chance to obtain the twenty Blue Dragon Badges if his Martial Heart was firm enough to finish the one thousand steps.
Even if no one could finish the one thousand steps, the first place alone would receive fifteen Blue Dragon Badges, guaranteeing the first place in the Trial of Versatility!
However, Qin Nan, Huang Long, Ling Zixiao and the others remained calm compared to the excited disciples. They all felt like Xu Qian had yet to finish his explanation.
As they expected, Xu Qian after seeing the excitement on the disciples’ faces, calmly said, “By the way, I forgot to mention. If your will of Martial Arts is not solid enough, there is a chance your cultivation could go into a state of madness, causing your body to explode. In previous Trials of Versatility, there were quite an amount of geniuses who had achieved the eighth-layer and ninth-layer Body Tempering Realm who ended up dying here…”
After saying this, Xu Qian let out a cold grin before saying, “So, who’s first?”
The whole crowd became completely stationary, and a dead silence enveloped them!