Cave age

In front of the stone wall, people watched as Long Chen's figure disappeared, everyone staring intently at that cave entrance.

However, the cave entrance was terrifyingly quiet, without a single sound coming from within, causing everyone to look at each other in confusion.

"He couldn't have just died like that, right? How could there be no sound at all?" someone couldn't help but wonder, as over a dozen breaths of time had already passed.

When others entered the caves, they would start fighting within less than two breaths, with constant explosions.

"That can't be right. Even if he died, he should have let out a scream," someone else interjected.

Tu Fang looked at the cave entrance, a trace of helplessness appearing in his eyes. He could have prevented this, but recalling the Sect Leader's instructions before entering seclusion, he chose to keep his mouth shut.

"It seems that cave hasn't been visited for some years! And if I recall correctly, that cave is the deepest one," Tu Fang sighed inwardly.

What felt strange to everyone was that there was still no movement from Long Chen's side. What they didn't know was that Long Chen was already fighting the ghost corpse, but unfortunately, it was too deep inside, and the special stone walls muffled some of the sounds, preventing them from being heard outside.

"Someone is coming out."

Someone exclaimed, because they noticed the sounds inside one of the caves had ceased, and a figure was slowly walking out.

"It's Tang Waner."

Her long hair hung loose, and there were bloodstains in many places on her body. She looked heartbreakingly pitiful yet moving; it was indeed Tang Waner.

At this moment, Tang Waner's pretty face was pale, but there was a hint of determination in her beautiful eyes that hadn't been there before. She held a severed head in her hand and slowly stood at the entrance of the cave.

"That's great!"

The people on Tang Waner's side cheered loudly, and several young girls wept with joy. Qing Yu covered her cheeks with her hands, already sobbing uncontrollably.

Very rarely, a smile appeared on Tu Fang's serious face. A Core Disciple had been born.

Tang Waner flew down from the cliff, and someone immediately came over to hand her a Nameplate and take away the head in her hand. She didn't need to make any arrangements herself; this was the treatment of a Core Disciple.

Tang Waner stroked the Nameplate with her jade hand, her heart filled with pride. She had finally taken that step relying on her own perseverance. From this moment on, her Soul underwent a transformation.

All of this was thanks to that bastard's reminder. A smile appeared on Tang Waner's face. Amidst the surrounding congratulations, she went to look for that figure, only to find she couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where is Long Chen?" Tang Waner asked.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, and Qing Yu said, "He is still undergoing the assessment."

"Which assessment did he choose?" Tang Waner felt a jolt in her heart, not knowing why.

"It's… Core level," Qing Yu sighed.

"That bastard."

Tang Waner's pretty face turned pale. She had just passed the Core-level assessment, so she understood the strength of the Evil Path corpses inside better than anyone.

Tang Waner had brushed shoulders with death several times. In the end, she had given her all, yet it was still a war of attrition. Ultimately, she had relied entirely on her strong will to persevere and kill her opponent.

As the number one Genius of her Family, she had possessed so many life-saving measures, and she had used almost all of them to achieve a narrow victory. With Long Chen going there, the hope of him surviving was too slim.

Tang Waner stomped her feet in anger, biting her cherry lips, and tears couldn't help but fall: "That bastard, why does he have to be so disobedient?"

Thinking of this, Tang Waner felt a wave of grievance. Qing Yu gently pulled Tang Waner into her arms and whispered comfortingly, "Don't worry, Long Chen is not a reckless person; he will come out alive."

"Hmph, him? I reckon his bones aren't even left. You guys should just mourn…"

Among Qi Xin's forces, a man who had obtained the status of an Inner Sect Disciple sneered coldly. However, before he could finish his sentence, his vision blurred, and a figure appeared before him. A wind blade was pressed against his neck, cutting off his words.

"Say that again?"

Tang Waner stared at the man, gritting her teeth, killing intent filling her beautiful eyes. The wind blade pressed against his neck. Since the wind blade was not a real weapon but formed from the power of wind, it couldn't be controlled with such precision, and the edge of the blade had already cut into the man's skin, with blood slowly trickling down.

The man was terrified, his face turning pale. At this moment, Tang Waner was like a beautiful god of death, about to pass judgment on him.

"Waner."

Qing Yu was startled and grabbed Tang Waner. Killing was not allowed here; otherwise, there would be severe punishment.

"Bastard, listen to me. You'd better pray that Long Chen is fine. Otherwise, if anything happens to him, I will tear you to pieces," Tang Waner said coldly, pushing away the guy who was scared out of his wits.

The man sat on the ground, completely stunned by fear, and was helped to the side to rest by his companions.

Tang Waner took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in her heart, and looked at the cave Long Chen had chosen: Long Chen, you must come back!

A quarter of an hour later, Lei Qianshang and Yue Zifeng appeared. They were also covered in wounds, but they had both passed.

Following them, Ye Zhiqiu's figure also appeared. Ye Zhiqiu's white clothes were almost entirely stained red with blood, but her pretty face remained cold, with only a hint of deeply hidden exhaustion in her eyes.

The three returned to their respective teams one after another and received a hero's welcome. After returning to her team, Ye Zhiqiu glanced at Tang Waner: "Where is Long Chen?"

Tang Waner sighed and told Ye Zhiqiu that Long Chen was in one of the caves.

Ye Zhiqiu comforted her: "Don't worry, Long Chen will be fine. I have always had a feeling that Long Chen's strength exceeds our imagination."

Tang Waner just nodded, taking Ye Zhiqiu's words as comfort. Without seeing Long Chen's figure, she couldn't set her heart at ease, feeling a hollow, uncomfortable sensation in her chest.

Usually, when facing Long Chen, this guy could always make her half-dead with anger with a single sentence, but when he wasn't around, Tang Waner always felt as if something was missing.

Suddenly, people looked up at the stone wall, because the stone wall, which had been rumbling loudly just a moment ago, suddenly became quiet.

"Qi Xin has come out too."

The person was none other than Qi Xin, but at this moment, Qi Xin's appearance was tragic. His robes were stained with blood, one arm was broken and hung in segments, and there was a long gash on his face with raw flesh exposed, looking quite terrifying.

However, he was holding a head in his hand; clearly, he had also succeeded. The people under Qi Xin cheered endlessly.

After coming down, Qi Xin immediately swallowed a Medicinal Pill to treat his wounds. His injuries were too severe; he was the most miserable among the major factions.

There was no help for it; his water-based power didn't pose much of a threat to the corpses. They simply didn't fear the crushing force of water, leaving him with nowhere to apply his strength, causing him to suffer a great loss.

Now that all five monster-level Geniuses had passed the Core-level assessment, Elder Tu Fang's heart was completely at ease.

However, everyone was still looking at the stone wall; the cave where Long Chen was still showed no signs of movement.

Tu Fang sighed, turned his head, and said to an Elder: "Elder Li Qi, the records for the annual assessment are compiled by you, right?"

"Yes," an old man nodded and said.

"Then you know the Cave Age of the caves they were assessed in, right?" Tu Fang asked.

The old man nodded, produced a notebook from his hand, and read: "The Cave Age for Lei Qianshang's assessment was 317 years.

Ye Zhiqiu's was 365 years, Yue Zifeng's was 396 years, Qi Xin's was 298 years, and Tang Waner's was 478 years."

Upon hearing this, the crowd couldn't help but be confused. What is Cave Age? What kind of thing is that? Does it refer to the time spent digging the cave?

Tu Fang said to the crowd: "You do not know, the Evil Path corpses you challenged actually have the Souls of powerful experts sealed within their bodies. These Souls can control the corpses to fight.

And the Souls within these corpses can cultivate. As time passes, their Souls will begin to become stronger, and their combat power will also increase.

Although they are corpses of the same strength, the length of time the Souls have been in the bodies is different, so their combat power is also different.

When the corpses used for battle are sealed in the caves, the time starts being counted, which is also known as the Cave Age.

The higher the Cave Age, the stronger the Soul inside, and the higher the combat power of the corpse. The Outer Sect assessment uses lower-grade corpses, and the Souls sealed inside are also lower-grade Souls.

The Cave Age of these Souls is basically between ten and thirty years. For the Inner Sect Disciple assessment, the corpses and Souls are a grade higher, and the Cave Age is increased to between fifty and one hundred years.

Therefore, with the same combat power, some people pass easily, while others die inside; this is a matter of luck."

Hearing this, many people were in an uproar. No wonder they felt that some people who were clearly stronger than themselves hadn't passed.

"To become a powerful expert, besides talent, perseverance, and wisdom, luck is also very important. People with bad luck are destined to never become powerful experts.

The Core-level assessment is the same, but the Cave Age is between two hundred and five hundred years.

However, what's different from before is that those corpses are refined from the bodies of Evil Path experts and are incomparably tough.

And sealed within their bodies are the Souls of notoriously evil Elder-level experts of the Evil Path; some are even stronger than us old guys.

Most importantly, because they were Evil Path cultivators, their Soul power is exceptionally strong, and they retain powerful combat awareness.

Although the corpse limits their true combat power, even so, they are still terrifyingly powerful," Tu Fang said.

Hearing this, the people here finally understood what kind of powerful opponents these monster-level Geniuses were fighting. No wonder that even with their formidable combat power, they emerged in such a tragic state, and Qi Xin had almost fallen.

Qi Xin's face turned green as he listened. Isn't this a slap in the face? He challenged the lowest Cave Age, yet he was the most miserable. Is he being used as a negative example?

Everyone looked at the several Core Disciples, their hearts filled with awe. Especially for Tang Waner, they felt even more admiration; she should be the number one among the monsters.

Tang Waner suddenly asked: "Elder, I would like to ask, what is the Cave Age of the cave Long Chen is challenging?"

The old man holding the notebook nodded, glanced at the cave on the stone wall, and then began to search in the notebook.

When he saw the number, he couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise:

"How is this possible?"