"How could this happen?" Evan Yang found that the other two cultivation pills were fine, but only the pill in his hand had a problem. Alarmed, he took out another pill and watched as it quickly lost its luster just like before, finally fading away completely.
Just as Evan was cursing himself for taking out the pill and causing it to dissipate, a familiar cold sensation rose from within his body. "Could it be...?" He thought of a possibility, quickly used the Inner-Viewing Technique to check his internal state, and sure enough, found that the Heaven‑Cold Seed had cracked further, now shining with an even brighter green light.
"Did the Heaven‑Cold Seed really absorb the pill's essence?" Evan muttered as he closed the box.
To confirm his suspicion, Evan tried cultivating the third layer of the Rising Sun Scripture. It went smoothly—the green mist from the Heaven‑Cold Seed was much stronger than before, easily suppressing his boiling blood, as if he'd received a surge of energy.
"I was just worried those herbs were useless, but who would've thought saving someone today would bring me such pills." Evan said in delight. He didn't know exactly what these three cultivation pills were for, but at least they were extremely important for his current cultivation.
He also recalled the scene of the woman bathing earlier. Whenever he thought of her, Evan's blood seemed to boil uncontrollably, but thankfully the Heaven‑Cold Seed suppressed it. "Damn, just thinking about a woman does this," Evan cursed at his own blood.
After scolding himself, Evan gathered his thoughts and prepared to return to the sect. Having been gone all night, he suspected Logan Luo might be looking for him to vent his anger—but the memory of the revived herb field put him in unusually good spirits.
When Evan returned to his quarters, he found it empty. After circling the area near his compound, he realized even Logan Luo was nowhere to be seen. "Where did everyone go?" Evan wondered, curious at the absence of people.
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him: "Kid, you finally came back."
"Logan Luo, you scared me!" Evan instinctively jumped back. Seeing it was Logan, he muttered in annoyance.
"I just harvested your herbs and turned them in. Heh, not bad—this time you actually managed to revive those herbs. I have no idea how you did it." Logan Luo said as he came closer, making Evan feel a little uneasy.
"Logan, I'm a bit tired. I'll go rest now." Evan had finished his task and didn't want to spend more time with Logan Luo.
But Logan Luo coughed a few times and said, "Just now the sect summoned all disciples. Even though you're not officially an outer disciple, you've helped cultivate a lot of herbs over the years, so you should come too."
It was the first time Evan had heard Logan Luo speak so politely, and it made him feel awkward. He looked at Logan strangely. "Logan, are you sick or something?"
"Sick? You brat, I'm just being reasonable for once and you say that to me? Hurry up and come with me." Logan Luo said, thick-skinned as ever.
In the end, Evan had no choice but to follow Logan Luo to a large square, where many disciples were gathered. Evan noticed that the robes at the front were a different color from his own, making it easy to distinguish them—the ones at the front were the sect's future prospects, while those at the back, like Evan, were just nominal outer disciples.
"Just stand here and don't move." After giving Evan a few instructions, Logan Luo walked into the crowd, heading to the front of the outer disciples, and started chatting with a few others.
"Those must be stewards too," Evan thought, noticing that Logan Luo's robe matched those of the others. Seeing them stand at the front of the outer disciples, he guessed their status.
While Evan was guessing, an elder stepped forward from the front. It was Elder Victor Wu. After surveying the crowd, he said, "I've gathered everyone here today for two important matters."
Everyone was curious what could be important enough to gather the whole sect. Such assemblies were rare, unless there was some major event. Could there really be two big matters today? The disciples wondered to themselves.
"The first matter is that we've received word—disciples from the Holy Sect of the Northern Great Plain have arrived in our Eastern Continent. So everyone needs to stay alert and guard against surprise attacks," Elder Victor Wu said solemnly.
Holy Sect of the Northern Great Plain? Isn't that a famous holy land where all the disciples are exceptionally strong? Why would they come here? Everyone was curious, and the crowd stirred restlessly.
"Quiet! The higher-ups will handle that matter. There's something even more important to discuss now," Elder Victor Wu quickly calmed the crowd.
"Could there really be something even more important?" the crowd wondered.
"The Tri‑Annual Sect Trial is about to begin again. I'm sure you all know what that means," Elder Victor Wu said, stroking his long beard.
The Tri‑Annual Sect Trial? That's the only fair chance for outer disciples to enter the inner sect, and for inner disciples to be chosen as personal disciples by the elders. No one could forget that—instantly the crowd erupted in excitement, completely overshadowing the earlier news.
Elder Victor Wu continued, "This time will be a bit different—the sect will divide the grounds. Disciples below the sixth layer of Qi‑Refining will be in one area, and those above the sixth layer in another."
What about Foundation‑Building? Evan wondered, but then realized most elders were already at the Foundation‑Building stage. Any disciple who reached that level would be a key prospect and certainly wouldn't be standing here with the younger disciples.
"So I'll lead the disciples above the sixth layer of Qi‑Refining. Those below will be led by Elder Lee," Elder Victor Wu said, pointing to Elder Lee standing behind him.
From here, everyone was divided into two teams by strength. Evan hadn't reached the sixth layer of Qi‑Refining and was also just a nominal outer disciple, so he naturally joined Elder Lee's group. He also spotted some familiar faces—Tiger Sun and Joel Qiao.
Seeing Joel Qiao's expression, Evan couldn't help but wonder, "I wonder what this trial is really meant to test."
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Originally, Joel Qiao was uncomfortable being assigned here—he entered later and his cultivation was clearly not on par with the inner disciples. He was troubled, but when he saw Evan standing nearby, he thought in shock, "Impossible!"
Evan wasn't worried about Joel Qiao trying anything—there were too many people around. He just smiled faintly, which startled Joel. But Joel was always scheming, and soon calmed himself, cursing inwardly, "Damn it, I have to finish him off this time. If I don't, and they blame me, I'll be kicked out of the inner sect again."
Now wasn't the time for personal grudges. Elder Lee had already led everyone to the designated area and said, "You can roam within a ten‑li radius here. Don't go beyond the boundary—the outer area isn't safe for you yet."
Someone asked curiously, "Elder Lee, how can we become inner disciples?"
"There are many spirit beasts here. Like us, they cultivate—the longer they train, the stronger they become. You'll be ranked by the highest‑level spirit beast you manage to hunt, and those who do well will be admitted to the inner sect," Elder Lee explained, accustomed to such questions.
"Spirit beasts? Are there really spirit beasts?" Some disciples exclaimed in disbelief. Having never left the Rising Sun Sect, they didn't know what spirit beasts looked like. Even those who had seen them before didn't know the name. Thanks to years of sect training, many had reached several layers of Qi‑Refining, but still lacked real experience.
Spirit beasts are a kind of creature, recorded since ancient times. They have their own innate abilities and can cultivate. When a spirit beast trains for many years, it forms a beast core—its spiritual source. If it loses the core, it's deprived of countless years of cultivation. So spirit beasts treat those who steal their beast cores as enemies. The higher the beast's level, the greater the risk in trying to take its core.
The elders of the Rising Sun Sect know this, so they've divided the area by strength. Most people won't die—unless someone unlucky encounters a high‑level spirit beast, in which case they'll have to call for help from an elder.
"You all should understand spirit beasts by now. Go hunt them. If you run into any danger, come toward me," Elder Lee said to the excited disciples.
Hearing Elder Lee's command, everyone was eager to kill a few spirit beasts and earn a chance to enter the inner sect. This was the opportunity they'd hoped for, so they quickly scattered into the designated areas.
Evan noticed where Joel Qiao was heading. Before leaving, Joel gestured with his fingers, as if to say, 'If you want answers, follow me.'
Having reached the third layer of Qi‑Refining and mastered the Spark Technique, Evan wasn't afraid of Joel Qiao. He wanted to test his own strength, but just as he was about to leave, Tiger Sun called out, "Han, let's go together."
"No need. I'm just going to take a look—it shouldn't be a problem." Evan didn't want to trouble Tiger Sun and preferred to handle things himself.
Tiger Sun was eager to hunt spirit beasts. Seeing Evan wanted to go alone, he replied, "Alright, I'm off. If you run into danger, hurry back to Elder Lee."
After saying goodbye, Tiger Sun left, leaving Evan alone with Elder Lee watching over him.
"Elder Lee, I'm going now," Evan said. Elder Lee knew Evan couldn't cultivate, but didn't want to deny him the right to participate. Even here, Evan deserved a chance to survive. Elder Lee nodded and handed Evan a talisman, saying, "This is a teleportation talisman. It lets you teleport a short distance up to five times. Keep it with you, and if anything happens, come to me quickly."
"Thank you," Evan said, moved.
"Go on." Elder Lee patted Evan's shoulder. Evan nodded and left.
"What a pity," Elder Lee sighed helplessly, then closed his eyes to meditate.
After leaving, Evan soon spotted Joel Qiao waiting ahead with a mocking smile. As Evan approached, Joel sneered, "Kid, I didn't expect you to have such a long life."
"Thanks to you," Evan replied coolly.
"You should have just stayed with Elder Lee, but you insisted on coming out. Now let's see who can protect you," Joel Qiao said, intent on making sure Evan wouldn't survive—he wanted to kill him.
Seeing Joel Qiao's ruthlessness, Evan readied himself and said, "Today, it's either you die or I do."