Not long after, Nate Moore arrived as well. Although he tried to look calm, a hint of nervousness showed in his eyes.
"Don’t worry. You’re already at Qi-Refining tier five. Passing the assessment will be easy!" Ian Song whispered to reassure him.
"Mm!" Nate nodded vigorously, clenching his fists. "I’m definitely going to pass!"
Even though Ian was protecting him now and Victor Wu couldn’t do anything to him, he didn’t really like depending on someone else.
Another half an hour went by.
Victor Wu arrived at the Martial Arena Plaza with four youths, scanning the crowd before heading straight for Ian.
"Don’t even think about passing the entrance assessment, you two!" Victor said coldly.
"Scram!" Ian raised a middle finger at Victor.
Victor didn’t know exactly what the gesture meant, but he could tell it was definitely an insult.
Still, he knew when to hold back. With a cold voice, he said, "Enjoy your arrogance while you can, brat. You’ll regret it soon enough!"
Watching Victor leave with his group, Nate couldn’t help but show a trace of worry.
"Relax, he’s just a jumping clown. Not worth worrying about!" Ian told Nate, then closed his eyes to rest.
More and more people filled the Martial Arena Plaza.
After two hours, the true qi testing finally ended.
A middle-aged man in a mysterious-bird robe appeared at the front of the plaza.
"Now, we begin the first round of the assessment. Next, we’ll activate the plaza’s formation. As long as you can stand inside for one hour without falling, you’ll pass!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a light curtain rose over the Martial Arena Plaza, enveloping nearly twenty thousand candidates.
Instantly, everyone felt their bodies grow heavy; some even staggered and nearly collapsed.
It turned out that the gravity inside the light curtain had suddenly doubled.
Quick-witted candidates hurriedly circulated their true qi to counteract the gravity. Sure enough, as their energy flowed, the discomfort gradually faded.
"Interesting—a Gravity Trial Formation!"
Ian’s eyes flashed as he glanced at the candidates circulating their true qi. He shook his head inwardly: the test lasts an entire hour. At double gravity, even body-refining martial artists could last that long.
So the gravity would definitely keep increasing. Using true qi to resist now would only waste energy. When the gravity got much stronger later, those who burned their reserves early would suffer the most.
Just as Ian predicted, about five minutes later, the formation’s light flashed and the gravity inside instantly doubled again, reaching roughly four times normal.
Caught off guard, dozens of people crashed to the ground.
"Eliminated!"
The middle-aged man in the mysterious-bird robe outside the formation reached in and grabbed the fallen candidates, pulling them out.
Seeing this, almost everyone felt a chill. They hadn’t expected eliminations to come so quickly.
At the same time, those who used true qi from the start realized their energy was draining even faster now.
Some quick thinkers immediately stopped using true qi and relied on their bodies to resist the gravity. The rest, hoping for luck, kept using their energy.
Boom!
Another five minutes passed, and the gravity inside the formation doubled again, reaching about eight times normal.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
This time, at least two hundred people collapsed and were pulled out by the examiner.
The eightfold gravity lasted for a quarter of an hour. Those who used true qi from the start ran dry and dropped one after another, eliminating dozens more.
The gravity shifted again, though not by much—just another twofold increase.
Still, hundreds more couldn’t endure and were eliminated.
In less than half an hour, nearly a thousand people had been knocked out. The Pristine Way Sect’s entrance assessment was truly brutal.
The gravity kept climbing. When it reached twenty times normal, more and more people collapsed to the ground.
By the end, nearly ten thousand people had been eliminated in the first round—a fifty percent knockout rate.
"Rest for half an hour. The second round of the assessment will begin soon!"
As soon as the gravity examiner finished speaking, everyone couldn’t help but sit cross-legged to recover their true qi.
Ian didn’t want to stand out too much, so he also sat down and pretended to recover his energy.
Half an hour later, the second round of the assessment began.
The first round was the Gravity Trial Formation; the second round was the Illusion Trial Formation.
If the first round tested endurance and reaction, then the second round tested mental strength.
A martial artist without a strong heart will never achieve great things.
When the Illusion Trial descended, Ian realized he’d lost sight of everyone else and was now standing in a mountain valley.
Roar!
A thunderous beast roar echoed, and a ferocious demonic beast—tens of meters tall, covered in steel-like scales—appeared before him, its deep-set eyes locked on him.
"Such a low-level illusion!"
Ian curled his lip in disdain.
He casually slapped his palm forward, and the seemingly fierce beast vanished into mist.
Inside an illusion, your power is only as strong as your mind allows. If you see yourself as just a Qi-Refining tier one, you’ll be devoured to the bone by this illusory beast.
But if you imagine yourself as a Grandmaster or higher, you can destroy the beast with a single slap.
Of course, this illusion was just too basic, which is why Ian saw through it so easily.
Several more demonic beasts appeared, but Ian dispatched them all with ease.
The illusion shattered, and he cleared the assessment.
At some point, several middle-aged and elderly men in various robes had gathered outside the Martial Arena Plaza.
"This kid’s mental strength is impressive—he escaped the illusion so quickly!"
A black-robed elder glanced at Ian, his tone full of praise as he spoke to the white-robed elder beside him.
"It’s a pity his cultivation is a bit lacking—only Qi-Refining tier three." The white-robed elder nodded in agreement, but his voice carried a hint of regret.
After the first round of eliminations, there were few tier-one cultivators left; most were tier two or three, with a handful at tier four or five.
So Ian, at tier three, didn’t really stand out.
Ian glanced around and saw everyone else standing with eyes shut, their faces twisted in fear or panic. A few looked steadier—like Nate, not far away, who was holding it together.
A moment later, Nate opened his eyes, meaning he had cleared the second round too.
Outside the formation, the white-robed elder’s gaze fell on Nate. "He’s not bad either—looks about fifteen or sixteen, but already at Qi-Refining tier five. A promising seedling!"
"What, thinking of taking him as a disciple?" the black-robed elder teased.
The white-robed elder smiled. "He’s not qualified yet. Let’s see—if he becomes a core disciple within three years, I’ll take him."
"Heh, you’d better hurry. Once he’s a core disciple, you won’t be the only one wanting him!" the black-robed elder joked.
The white-robed elder looked at him in mild suspicion. "Duanmu, are you pushing me to take the boy because you’ve got your eye on an even better seedling and don’t want competition?"
"Stop being so paranoid. If you don’t want him, I’ll take him!" the black-robed elder retorted. As he spoke, he couldn’t help but recall the letter from New Dawn City, thinking to himself that the boy really was extraordinary.