Pristine Way Sect, Martial Arena Plaza, within the Illusion Formation.
As Nate Moore woke up, more and more people started breaking out of the illusion and regaining consciousness. Some screamed and collapsed, others fainted on the spot.
Regardless of whether they collapsed or fainted, their fate was elimination.
One hour later.
When the Illusion Formation faded, any candidate who hadn't awakened within the hour, or who had been frightened into collapsing or fainting, was eliminated.
In the end, after the second round, the group of nearly ten thousand was reduced to just over four thousand.
"Let's go!"
The black-and-white-robed elders who had been chatting outside the Illusion Formation flickered and vanished.
The middle-aged man in the mysterious-bird robe called out loudly again, "Now, please follow me to the final round of assessment. As long as you pass this test, you’ll become an outer disciple of the Pristine Way Sect!"
A quarter of an hour later, led by the mysterious-bird-robed man, over four thousand candidates arrived at the edge of a mountain forest.
He pointed at the forest and said, "This is called the Trial Forest. There are eight thousand second-tier Demonic Beasts inside. Your task is to kill one Demonic Beast, obtain its monster core, and stay in the Trial Forest for one night. If you come out tomorrow morning and can hand in a monster core, you pass. Let me remind you, the whole Trial Forest is shrouded by a grand formation, so once you enter, you can’t leave early. If anyone wants to withdraw, say so now; otherwise, once inside, your life or death is up to fate!"
"Anyone want to back out?"
Not a single person stepped forward to withdraw.
"Good! You’ve got guts. I hope you all make it out alive. Activate the formation!"
Boom!
As soon as he finished speaking, ten glowing gates appeared before the crowd.
"Line up and enter—one at a time!"
Ian Song and Nate Moore entered through the ninth light gate.
After stepping in, the two were teleported to different locations within the Trial Forest.
Just as Ian Song was about to leave, a flash of movement revealed a young woman appearing several meters away.
The young woman was of average appearance, but her cultivation was impressive—she had reached Qi-Refining tier five.
"Hey, miss, want to team up?" Ian Song called out to her.
"What’s your cultivation level?" she asked.
"Qi-Refining tier three!" Ian Song replied with a smile.
"Qi-Refining tier five!"
The young woman said this proudly, then immediately used her movement technique to dash off in the opposite direction from Ian Song, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Damn! She totally looked down on me!"
Ian Song couldn't help but roll his eyes.
The Trial Forest was vast. Ian wandered through it at random and didn't encounter another candidate.
Suddenly...
A burst of wind, and a flowery shadow leapt from the tree, its sharp claws flashing toward Ian Song's face.
Heh, did you really think I hadn't noticed you?
Ian Song sneered, raised his fist, and struck out. Violent true qi surged from his dantian, erupting at his fist and forming a fiery-red punch.
Bang!
A flower leopard was sent flying, landing several meters away, lifeless.
Ian Song walked over unhurriedly, drew the dagger at his waist, and sliced open the leopard's belly, extracting a stone-like object.
This was the leopard's monster core, containing most of its demonic energy. A second-tier monster core was worth at least a hundred taels of silver.
Monster cores can't be absorbed directly—they must be processed by a pharmacist before being used for cultivation.
Here's an introduction to demonic beast rank divisions: First-tier beasts are equivalent to Body-Refining martial artists; second-tier to Qi-Refining; third-tier to Masters; fourth-tier to Grandmasters. Once a beast reaches fourth-tier, it can take human form and is then known as the Demon Race.
On Darkwing Star, demonic beasts are found everywhere—whether in the Demon Domain or in territories controlled by the Human Race.
In fact, there aren’t that many demonic beasts in the Demon Domain itself.
Even though the territory occupied by the Demon Race is much larger than that of the humans, their strength doesn’t actually match up.
That’s because so few demons are able to take human form. Rumor has it, their population has never surpassed one hundred thousand.
But how many humans are there?
There are several billion.
The Devil Race also has a large population, but compared to the human race, which is especially good at multiplying, it’s much less—just over three billion.
It’s precisely because humans reproduce quickly and in such large numbers that, after every great Human–Devil war, they’re able to recover so fast.
Back to the main story.
Once Ian Song had taken the leopard’s monster core, he’d technically completed the mission.
So, Ian decided to do something more interesting.
He found a small stream nearby, skinned and cleaned the leopard, then gathered some dry wood and started a campfire by the water.
Ian was always confident in his cooking skills.
In less than half an hour, the small leopard was roasted to a golden brown. Even without any seasoning, it gave off a mouthwatering aroma.
Because demonic beasts constantly absorb the essence of heaven and earth, their meat is especially tender. Second-tier beasts taste even better.
He skillfully sprinkled salt, chili, cumin, and other spices on the meat, making the fragrance even richer.
"What's that smell?"
A hundred meters upstream, another candidate was crouched by the creek drinking water. Suddenly, an incredibly delicious aroma wafted over, making his already hungry stomach rumble.
"Smells like barbecue!"
Evan Lin greedily inhaled the fragrant air, then quietly dashed downstream using his movement technique.
Soon, Evan spotted a young man crouched by a blazing campfire, turning roasted meat. The irresistible aroma came from the golden leopard in his hands.
He hadn’t eaten in over four hours, so when he saw the roasted leopard meat, his eyes practically turned green with hunger.
"Hey, friend, can you sell me half of your roast? I’ll pay twenty taels of silver!" Evan walked over, staring eagerly at the meat in Ian’s hands.
"Not for sale," Ian replied calmly.
"How about I pay more—thirty taels?" Evan swallowed hard.
"Still not selling, but I’ll share." Ian simply tore off half the leopard meat and tossed it to him.
(Chapter not finished—please click next page to continue reading!)
"Ah, thank you!"
Evan gratefully accepted the meat and started wolfing it down. Just one bite and he was hooked—the flavor was unreal, easily the best barbecue he'd ever tasted.
Soon, Evan had polished off his half of the leopard. Unable to resist, he glanced at the remaining meat in Ian’s hands.
"Friend, my name’s Evan Lin. How should I address you?"
"Leon Huang," Ian said, taking a bite of barbecue.
"Where are you from?" Evan continued.
"New Dawn City. And you?"
"I’m from Dongyan City!"
The two of them chatted casually and quickly became friendly.
After a while, Evan said a bit shyly, "Brother Huang, could you roast some more meat? I’m still not full!"
"Sure, just catch another demonic beast and I’ll cook it for you," Ian replied cheerfully.
"Alright, wait here—I’ll go get one now!"
Afraid Ian might change his mind, Evan dashed into the woods and disappeared. Ian wasn’t worried about his safety; at Qi-Refining tier five, Evan would be fine as long as he didn’t run into a late-stage second-tier beast. Ian figured there couldn’t be many of those in the Trial Forest anyway.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the Trial Forest, Victor Wu had gathered over a dozen candidates around him, all at Qi-Refining tier four or five.
Victor pulled out a sketch of Leon Huang’s face and announced loudly, "Everyone, this is the guy. If you spot him, I’ll pay five thousand taels of silver. If you catch him and bring him to me alive, I’ll pay ten thousand!"
Hearing that capturing Leon Huang could earn them ten thousand taels, the candidates’ eyes lit up.
Ten thousand taels is enough to buy two bottles of second-grade mystic pills. With those, they could advance a realm—maybe even two.
To all my readers on mobile, Mosquito is asking for a few monthly votes—every 150 new votes, I’ll post an extra chapter!