First hearing about evil spirits

After hearing Long Chen's words, Tang Waner simply could not believe her ears, but she understood in an instant that Long Chen was acting up again.

Tang Waner covered her cherry lips with her jade hand and giggled, "Then congratulations, your ideal has been realized; you are now an out-and-out scoundrel."

As Tang Waner spoke, her beautiful eyes rippled with emotion, and her pretty face was filled with a smile, like pear blossoms in full bloom, stunningly beautiful.

Long Chen could not help but stare blankly; this Tang Waner was truly beautiful, on par with Chu Yao. Long Chen shook his head and said,

"It is not as simple as you think. What I want to become is a new type of four-virtue scoundrel: one with ideals, cultivation, integrity, and depth. Although this goal is a bit distant, I believe that with my diligence and tireless efforts, I will succeed one day." Long Chen looked at the sky, his eyes filled with yearning.

Tang Waner laughed until her fragrant shoulders shook continuously. She lightly hit Long Chen and chided, "You are not allowed to make me laugh."

After all, there were too many people here. Although the two were hiding in a corner, they would still be seen by many. Tang Waner could only try her best to hold back, but Long Chen, that guy, kept trying to tease her. What was most hateful was that no matter what Long Chen said, he kept a straight face, making it hard for people to hold back their laughter.

"I am not teasing you; I am speaking the truth. You cannot understand, and I do not blame you. After all, you are still young." Long Chen sighed, feigning the feeling of someone standing at the heights, feeling the cold.

"Tch, stop acting like a little adult. What month were you born in? You are probably not even older than me." Tang Waner glanced at Long Chen and said.

Long Chen looked at Tang Waner, swept his gaze over her graceful figure, hesitated for a moment, and said, "This depends on where you are comparing."

Tang Waner's pretty face instantly turned as red as an apple. Her beautiful eyes filled with fury, and she wished she could beat Long Chen up. "Scoundrel, do you want to die? How can you say such rogue words?"

Long Chen felt a wave of emotion; the branch Sect was much more interesting than he had expected. Teasing beauties every day made time not so hard to endure.

It was just that he did not know how Chu Yao was doing. Did she need to pass an assessment to enter the Tianmu Palace? Once things settled down here, he had to go check on her immediately. He always felt that Chu Yao was too honest and was afraid she would be wronged.

While Long Chen was deep in thought, a commotion suddenly broke out in the surrounding crowd. Long Chen hurriedly looked up and saw more than a dozen old men walking toward the stone wall.

Those old men were all wearing gray robes and had stern faces, but their eyes flashed with sharp light, making people afraid to meet their gaze.

The aura on their bodies was extremely immense. Although it was not being released, it gave people the feeling of a volcano; once it erupted, it would destroy the heavens and the earth.

"These are all Elder-level figures in the branch Sect. It is said that they are all Bone Forging Realm experts." Tang Waner looked at those people and explained to Long Chen.

Long Chen nodded. No wonder they were so formidable. The experts within a Sect and the experts in the secular world were completely different concepts; there was no comparison.

After those old men arrived, they glanced at the crowd indifferently and said nothing. In front of the stone wall, there was a huge flight of steps, ten zhang high. Everyone flew up, sat cross-legged on the stone steps, and closed their eyes without speaking.

Long Chen felt strange in his heart. Just as he was wondering what these old men were doing, a figure descended from the sky and landed on the stone steps.

As soon as that person appeared, Long Chen immediately recognized that the person was Elder Tu Fang, who had given him the registration invitation.

Once Elder Tu Fang arrived, those dozen or so old men immediately stood up and bowed to Tu Fang. Tu Fang returned the salute, and then those people sat back down. Throughout the process, not a single person spoke.

There was not a sound in the entire place, and the atmosphere was so tense that it was almost suffocating. The arrival of Tu Fang signaled that the final assessment was about to begin.

"Those who have not collected the full set of Nameplates, step back one hundred zhang."

Tu Fang spoke, his voice like a great bell, filled with majesty, resounding back and forth in front of the stone wall.

As his voice fell, the people who had originally gathered in the front immediately retreated like a tide, leaving only three thousand people behind.

Long Chen was shocked. Wasn't the elimination rate three-quarters? Why were there so few people left?

With three out of four people being eliminated, calculating that way, out of over thirty thousand people, there should have been over seven thousand people who could collect the full set of Nameplates.

Immediately, Long Chen thought of a problem: if some people's Nameplates were lost or damaged, or if they were killed by Demonic Beasts, that would mean an entire set of Nameplates had disappeared.

It was also possible, just as Senior Brother Wan said, that some people became selfish. Since they could not complete the mission anyway, they would simply give up and destroy the Nameplates. If they could not go, it would be fine to drag three others down with them.

If these reasons were taken into account, the remaining number of people could be understood. Over thirty thousand people, and only over three thousand remained; this elimination rate was too terrifying.

Tu Fang looked at the remaining people and nodded. He swept his gaze across the crowd before continuing:

"The next assessment will be hosted by me. You can see that behind me, there are over nine thousand caves; that is the place where you will be assessed."

Tu Fang pointed to the cliff behind him. Following Tu Fang's action, the old men who had been closing their eyes slowly opened them.

In front of where they were sitting cross-legged, a stone pillar slowly rose, reaching a height of one zhang and the thickness of a water vat. It was covered in strange patterns, filled with an ancient aura.

Once the stone pillar appeared, all the old men stretched out their large hands and slapped the stone pillar, injecting a massive force into it.

The patterns on the stone pillar began to slowly glow under the hands of those old men, as if they had come alive.

"Hum"

When all the patterns on the light pillars lit up, the entire stone cliff let out a loud rumble, the ground trembled, and a terrifying pressure radiated out, as if it were about to crush people into meat patties.

That was a type of Soul pressure, coming from the depths of a person's Soul, making people feel awe and fear. Everyone could not help but step back a few paces; that was an instinct.

However, six people did not retreat and remained standing in place, like towering ancient cypresses. They were Tang Waner, Ye Zhiqiu, Lei Qianshang, Qi Xin, Yue Zifeng, and the last person was Long Chen.

Tu Fang looked at these six people and could not help but nod. This time, six experts appeared simultaneously. If other regions also produced so many, the rise of the Xuantian Branch Sect would be unstoppable.

"Click, click, click…"

With the shaking of the cliff, the stone doors that had originally closed over those caves slowly rose, just like a demon opening its eyes. An extremely evil aura wafted over, making one's bones feel cold.

Those caves were pitch black inside, and one could not see the situation within. However, the light emitted by the stone pillars illuminated the cave entrances, allowing people to see some symbols above each entrance.

"These caves are your final trial grounds. The trial is divided into three levels: Outer Sect, Inner Sect, and Core."

Tu Fang pointed to the thousands of caves behind him and said, "You can see that the caves here are actually different in size. The five thousand eight hundred and seventy-six caves on the lowest level are for the Outer Sect level assessment. As long as you pass, you will become an Outer Sect Disciple of the branch Sect."

Long Chen only then noticed that if one looked closely at the caves on the stone wall, they were actually divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The sizes of the caves were also different, though the difference was not very large. If not for Tu Fang's reminder, it would have been hard to tell.

"The three thousand and ninety-six caves in the middle are for the Inner Sect level assessment. Similarly, as long as you pass the assessment, you will be an Inner Sect Disciple."

"And the one hundred and eighty-seven caves at the very top are for the Core level assessment. If you want to become a Core Disciple, you must pass that stage," Tu Fang said, looking at the crowd.

Everyone looked at those caves with eager eyes, filled with anticipation. Passing the test meant becoming a true Disciple of the Xuantian Branch Sect.

In the assessment map, many people had already obtained quite a few benefits, so their desire to enter the Xuantian Branch Sect became even more urgent.

"However, before the assessment, I need to tell you a story. You must listen carefully, because this concerns your future life and death." Tu Fang swept a glance over the crowd and said with a solemn face.

The words "life and death" were like two great hammers, striking hard into people's hearts. Many people already felt that breathing was becoming difficult.

In their Family, they were precious treasures held high above others, but here, they had become weeds, no longer the protagonists.

Especially when many people saw with their own eyes the Geniuses same as them dying miserably inside the assessment map, they were simply scared out of their wits, feeling for the first time that death was so close to them.

Watching everyone hold their breath and listen, Tu Fang nodded and continued: "You are all descendants of prominent families, gathered with thousands of favors. You have outstanding aptitude and extraordinary talent, and your Family places great expectations on you."

"However, after such a long assessment, have you not realized that you are actually just a bunch of trash?"

Tu Fang's words were very cold, devoid of any emotion, and did not carry a shred of mockery. It was as if he were stating a fact, which made many people's faces fill with anger, as they felt this was an insult to them.

"In the face of death, have you been timid? Have you been hesitant? Have you thought about giving up? If you have, then do not deny it; you are a piece of trash."

"The Demonic Beasts in the assessment map ahead were specially arranged by the branch Sect. There are many Second Rank Demonic Beasts. Under normal circumstances, as long as you display eighty percent of your combat power, you can easily kill them."

"But the result disappointed me greatly. In the previous assessment, a total of one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven people died at the hands of small Second Rank Demonic Beasts. If you say you are not trash, then what are you?"

"Facing Second Rank Demonic Beasts, without the protection of experts, you were afraid. When your lives were threatened, you could not even display half of your combat power. If you are not trash, what are you?"

Tu Fang's words caused most people to lower their heads. They were indeed as Tu Fang said; when facing life-and-death threats, they were indeed too afraid to display their full combat power. Some people had escaped death and still had lingering fears to this day.

"Do not give me any excuses, saying that your Family's training for you was not enough, or that they controlled you too much. The reason why experts can become experts is because they try every possible method to make themselves stronger, while the weak simply do not have the opportunity to make excuses, because they are all dead." Tu Fang looked at those people whose eyes still held defiance and said coldly.

Listening to Tu Fang's words, Tang Waner secretly glanced at Long Chen, who was looking at the sky with a blank expression, and wondered why the tone of the two people's speech was so similar.

"I am telling you this to sound a warning bell for you. Cultivation is a path with no retreat; if you are afraid of death, then hurry up and leave."

"Because what you are facing today is just child's play, because your future enemies will be ten thousand times more terrifying than this."

"They are what we call — — Evil Spirits!"