Just when everyone was feeling curious, Elder Bai Ting’s voice resounded, “As you can see, you can bind the jade pendant to yourself by injecting a small amount of spiritual energy into it. A seeded candidate’s jade pendant has four stars, while everyone else only has one star. If you want to become a disciple of the Sword Firmament Pavilion, you will need at least four stars by the time you exit the Firmament Realm.”
His explanation immediately caused an uproar from the crowd. It was only now that everyone knew how precious the status of a seeded candidate was. It was equivalent to not having to do anything. You would be able to join the Sword Firmament Pavilion as long as you made it out of the Firmament Realm.
“As for you guys,” Bai Ting paused briefly before he continued, “You guys need to hunt demonic beasts in the Firmament Realm and use the pendant to absorb the spiritual energy from their beast cores. The number of stars will gradually increase as you hunt. When you have gathered enough stars, there will be a surprise waiting for you when you exit the Firmament Realm. That also means that you will be eliminated if you don’t have four stars. Then again, it’s a different story if a ‘kind’ someone donated the stars to you.”
Someone kind? Li Wuyou and Lin Yun didn’t believe that. They knew that there was a hidden meaning to the Elder’s words.
Most cultivators here didn’t know each other, so who would be kind enough to donate stars? The number of stars represented strength, which no one would donate. So what Bai Ting meant was that they could snatch stars from other candidates, which means that the examination would be a brutal one. You would have to fight each other to avoid elimination.
Everyone had passed through layers of tests to stand here and none of them were stupid. They immediately understood the hidden meaning behind Bai Ting’s words. Many people’s faces changed. Some of them felt excited and started to plan how they should display their talent when they entered. Others were worried that they might not last through the examination.
“A swordsman must have courage. If you don’t have any courage, then you’re practically crippled. The Sword Firmament Pavilion doesn’t accept any cowards. This examination will be dangerous and even life-threatening. If anyone wants to give up, now’s a good time,” explained Bai Ting.
The commotion gradually simmered down. No one would give up after coming this far.
Bai Ting swept his glance around and spoke out, “Very well! Open the realm!” The few old men behind him suddenly got up and formed seals with their hands, releasing a powerful sword momentum that shot into the horizon.
Boom!
The thundercloud suddenly split apart as space ripped like it was paper.
“Go!” Bai Ting shouted.
Immediately after his voice fell, all the candidates began running towards the Firmament Realm. Their vision turned dark when they stepped in, but soon a vast forest appeared in front of them.
The surroundings were full of trees that stretched across the horizon. At the same time, a berserk wave of demonic beast aura permeated the forest.
“Walk through this forest and you’ll reach the exit. All of you have one month. One month from now, anyone who hasn’t collected four stars will be forcibly kicked out.” A Sword Firmament Pavilion’s Elder spoke out from the sky as he rode on a Sword Condor.
“There are no rules except that you can’t use Cosmic Treasures. If you search carefully in the forest, you might even come across great opportunities. Alright, the examination is starting now. Good luck, candidates.”
Whoosh!
Over a dozen Sword Condors disappeared into the forest along with that Elder. The forest was dark and you would probably feel the terror of it even before stepping in. The candidates weren’t fearless like the Elders, so they didn’t dare to step into the forest rashly. They began to find companions to travel with.
“Li Xiaotian!” Li Wuyou saw Li Xiaotian not far away and called out by habit.
Li Xiaotian had quite a few people gathered around him. All of them were seeded candidates who planned on traveling together. When Li Xiaotian heard Li Wuyou’s call, he turned around and replied awkwardly, “I’m sorry, but the team’s full, not to mention that we’re all seeded candidates. It might not be good for you to join us.”
Li Wuyou was briefly taken aback when he heard those words before he spoke out with sarcasm, “You’re already chasing us away before I even ask?”
Li Xiaotian’s face was really thick. If he wasn’t a seeded candidate under Xin Yan, Li Wuyou wouldn’t have cared about him. Li Xiaotian’s cultivation was only in the seventh stage of the Xiantian Realm. Among all the seeded candidates, his cultivation wasn’t exceptionally high.
“I’m sorry about it.” Li Xiaotian gave an embarrassed smile before leaving with his group. He looked as if he had just seen a plague, not wanting to get involved with Lin Yun and Li Wuyou.
“Bah, this bastard! I shouldn’t have called out to him.” Li Wuyou was furious when he saw this scene.
“I think Senior Sister Xin Yan told him to take care of us in the Firmament Pavilion, but he’s afraid that we’ll drag him down. Someone like him won’t dare to offend the Wang brothers, so he probably doesn’t want to have anything to do with us.” Lin Yun smiled.
“I know. But it’s just so infuriating! I was only saying hello!” replied Li Wuyou.
“Don’t worry about him,” said Lin Yun, “let’s go separately for now and meet up when we’re out of the Firmament Realm.”
“Isn’t it just Wang Yan? I’m someone who will become the greatest swordsman in the Great Qin Empire. So why would I be afraid of him?” Li Wuyou’s eyes flickered with determination as walked. Judging from his look, he had no intention of leaving Lin Yun behind.
“Oh, you.” Lin Yun smiled and followed behind.
Nearly nine thousand candidates entered the forest at the same time. Aside from candidates in the Profound Martial Realm, those in the Xiantian Realm chose to form a team. The smallest group had as few as three to five, while the largest had a dozen. Since they weren’t strong enough, they could only choose to form teams.
Lin Yun also started to estimate his own strength inwardly. He cultivated the Iris Sword Sutra, a cultivation technique that was passed down through ancient times. At the same time, he also knew the Heavenly Devourer Art, which allowed him to absorb Yin energy.
With his current foundation, he would only be stronger than those geniuses with clans backing them up. Back in the Azure Sun Realm, he had killed those Quasi-Profound Martial Realm cultivators easily. He might only be in the fifth orifice of the Xiantian Realm, but he had the Thunderblitz Battle Physique and incomplete sword intent. He wouldn’t be weaker than someone in the seventh orifice of the Xiantian Realm.
His only concern was that he had never fought with someone in the Profound Martial Realm, so he didn’t have any idea of the difference in their strength. Not long after they stepped into the forest, they ran into a sixth orifice demonic beast without any eyes. The two of them easily slaughtered it. Their jade pendants absorbed the spiritual energy, but there were hardly any changes to their pendants.
“Sixth orifice demonic beasts aren’t enough, but there aren’t many seventh orifice ones. Who knows how long it’ll take for us to accumulate four stars from hunting demonic beasts.” Li Wuyou sighed.
“Let’s rest for now. We’re only at the border of the forest, so don’t worry about it,” said Lin Yun.
“Alright.” Li Wuyou sat down and began cultivating. A short moment later, Lin Yun could hear sword cries coming from Li Wuyou. There was also faint starlight radiating from Li Wuyou, covering his body in the radiance.
Lin Yun looked at the sky before turning to Li Wuyou and fell into deep thought. Li Wuyou’s cultivation technique seems to have something to do with the stars in the sky. Lin Yun guessed that Li Wuyou’s background wasn’t simple.
Lin Yun didn’t sleep for the night. He got the Dragon Blooded Horse to guard Li Wuyou while he disappeared into the forest. When dawn approached, the candidates woke up from their sleep and continued their journey.
Li Wuyou also opened his eyes. He saw Lin Yun jumping down from a tree branch and throwing down a bunch of fruits. He even brought out a slice of meat that had been well wrapped from his interspatial ring.
“Where did you get this from?” Li Wuyou’s eyes lit up. He picked up a fruit and started munching. The fruit was refreshing and it opened up his pores. At the same time, Li Wuyou could also sense his cultivation improving.
“ Didn’t you listen to what that Elder said last night? As long as you look around, you can find opportunities lying around in the forest.” Lin Yun replied casually. He opened up the wrap and started making breakfast. The meat from demonic beasts contains strong vitality. Not only was it delicious after being roasted, but it also supplied ample energy. It was something that Lin Yun learned through experience.
“Woah! You really took the Elder’s words to heart.” Li Wuyou gnawed on the meat happily.
Lin Yun smiled. He didn’t say anything else because searching for these wasn’t the only thing he did last night. He even found a Profound Martial Realm demonic beast and used it as a sparring partner to gain a clear understanding of his current strength.
But not long after they started eating, their faces changed at the same time before returning to normal. Putting down the meat, Lin Yun wiped his mouth and smiled, “Are you afraid?”
“Why would I be afraid of them? Let’s play with them. It has been half a year since I fought after leaving home.” Li Wuyou laughed and licked his lips.
Both of them could sense something powerful staring at them.
“Let’s go!”
Li Wuyou and Lin Yun jumped at the same time and started jumping between branches in the forest. Not long after, a group of teenagers appeared where they left. The one leading the team was Wang Ning and the rest were the seeded candidates under Wang Yan. All of them were in the seventh stage of the Xiantian Realm.
“Those two retards still have the mood to eat when facing death?” Wang Ning kicked the meat that Lin Yun couldn’t finish.
“They couldn’t have gone far. We can still catch up to them,” said Leng Mo. He looked at the direction that Lin Yun and Li Wuyou left in.
It’s settled then. We’ll split up and chase after them!” Wang Ning roared. The team was immediately divided into two groups as they chased after Lin Yun and Li Wuyou under Wang Ning’s lead.