However, there were also some minor geniuses who could withstand the effects of the mist and successfully reach its center to face her.
The strength of these minor geniuses was decent enough to trade a few blows with her.
Although they ultimately fell by her hand, it still consumed a fair amount of her energy.
Hua Jian wasn’t an iron man who never got tired. After keeping the Magic Mist active and fighting for an entire day, she definitely needed a night of rest to recover her stamina.
‘It’s a pity there isn’t a good place to rest nearby. I can’t exactly go full Umaru Doma…’
In a classic game Hua Jian had once played, if you couldn’t find a place to stay at night, you could simply dig a hole three blocks deep and fill the top one to bury yourself for the night.
Normal people certainly couldn’t use this method, but for a Cultivator—especially for her—it worked perfectly.
If one wanted to be safe from ambushes, underground was indeed the best choice.
Given the knowledge and power of Spirit Master Realm Cultivators, most would never suspect that something was buried beneath their feet.
With that thought, Hua Jian reached her hand toward a relatively flat patch of soil.
Her colorful Spiritual Power condensed into Vines, which quickly constructed a small pit large enough for her to fit inside.
After Hua Jian leaped in, she scattered a handful of seeds over her head.
Under the stimulation of her Spiritual Power, the seeds sprouted instantly, sealing the opening above her.
The Spiritual Civet didn’t return to her side. Instead, it climbed a nearby large tree to rest.
It was much safer up there than with Hua Jian; usually, no Cultivator would directly attack it.
But looking at the scene now… it really did look like some rare treasure of the Secret Realm.
A cluster of multicolored flowers grew in the center of the Magic Mist, guarded by a Spirit Beast.
Wasn’t this the standard setup for a treasure?
If a bold Cultivator were lured in and then had their ankle grabbed by a hand emerging from the ground while trying to pick the flowers, it would certainly be interesting.
……
“Is this the treasure you spoke of? Are you trying to trick me?”
A group of people stopped at the edge of the Magic Mist. The tallest Cultivator among them looked at the bruised and trembling man in his party, his tone menacing.
“Brother Niubeng, I’m not lying! Look at the difference between this place and everywhere else. There’s definitely a rare treasure here!”
The man, who looked like he had been beaten, quickly begged for mercy. He had been forced to lead them here.
The tall Cultivator’s name was Niubeng. He had originally been ranked among the top ten geniuses, but unfortunately, his rank was low, and in recent months, he had been pushed off the list by new geniuses.
But even though his name had left the list, his strength remained. After the Ascension Gathering officially began, he, as a member of the Justice Swordsman faction, quickly found a few companions and led them toward the meeting point.
On the way, he had happened to run into this Cultivator. As luck would have it, this guy was from Ji Caiyue’s side.
Since the two factions had met, a fight was inevitable. The opponent was alone, so Niubeng easily cornered the unlucky guy and gave him a sound thrashing.
If the guy hadn’t shouted at the last moment that he knew where a treasure was, Niubeng would have probably kicked him out of the Secret Realm right then.
“You have a point. Go, walk in front. If you try anything, I’ll kill you!” Niubeng pushed the injured Cultivator, forcing him to act as a human shield.
Before entering the range of the mist, he ordered everyone to swallow an Antidote Pill to avoid being poisoned by the suspicious vapor.
Upon stepping into the Magic Mist, Niubeng found his vision severely obstructed. His five senses gradually became dull, especially his sense of smell, which was completely overwhelmed by a cloyingly sweet Flower Fragrance.
The forest was silent. Only the rustling footsteps of their group as they went deeper broke the quiet, making it feel exceptionally eerie.
Even the bold Niubeng felt a prickle of fear and wanted to turn back.
But the thought of a significant treasure hidden within made him brave again.
Since this was a Saint Sect examination, surely they wouldn’t place such a deadly trap in the Outer Region of the Secret Realm.
‘Who would put a boss that can kill a Cultivator in one punch right at the spawn point?’
With that thought, Niubeng continued deeper into the mist.
“Brother Niubeng, something feels wrong…” The subordinates followed closely behind Niubeng, their faces pale from the eerie atmosphere.
“Yeah, this mist is too strong. Even the Antidote Pills aren’t doing much.”
“Maybe we should just leave…”
The few of them whispered among themselves, causing Niubeng to look annoyed.
He turned his head, intending to scold them, but his expression instantly turned to one of horror.
‘Wait, someone is missing!’
The person who was supposed to be at the very back of the group had vanished without a sound.
“Where is the last man? Who saw him?”
Before his subordinates could answer, a piercing scream erupted from the distance. Soon after, a flash of white light flickered through the mist and vanished.
There was no need to look for the poor guy anymore. He was now perfectly safe outside the realm.
“Hey, you—!” Niubeng glared furiously at the Cultivator who had led them here, only for his pupils to shrink again.
The man’s body had twisted into a bizarre, distorted shape. He looked like a puppet being controlled by an unseen force, wearing a smile that was creepy to the extreme.
Wooden branches began to sprout from his body, tearing through his human shell. Soon, a horrifying monster stood before them.
The monster let out a hiss and lunged straight at Niubeng.
Niubeng suppressed his fear and surged his Spiritual Power. As yellowish rock encrusted his body, he finally felt a sliver of safety.
He took a deep breath, clenched his right fist, and threw a powerful punch just as the monster reached him, striking it square in the head.
Though the monster looked terrifying, its strength seemed pathetic. Under his full-power punch, it offered no resistance and shattered into several pieces.
“Is that all…?” Before Niubeng could breathe a sigh of relief, voices of terror came from behind him.
“Brother Niubeng, why did you kill him?”
“And we aren’t missing anyone…”
“Didn’t he turn into a monster?” Niubeng froze, turning back to his subordinates in confusion. “One, two, three, four… damn it!”
Not a single person was missing!
The subordinates looked at each other. They had only seen Niubeng suddenly lash out and kill the guide who was leading them.
Before Niubeng struck, the guide had been trying to explain that he didn’t know what was going on with the mist.
Before he could finish, Niubeng’s punch landed, knocking the defenseless guide out of the Secret Realm.
“This place is haunted!” Niubeng’s eyes widened as he turned his head back. There were no fragments where the monster’s remains should have been.
‘Was it a hallucination? Have I already fallen victim to the mist?’
Niubeng forced himself to stay calm. He couldn’t afford to be reckless; the lives of the whole squad were in his hands.
If they kept going, they would likely be completely lost in the mist. Niubeng gritted his teeth and made a decision. “Retreat!”
He wasn’t alone; he was leading a team. If the whole squad was wiped out because of his poor judgment, his score would be ruined.
Getting knocked out on the first day while dragging an entire squad down with him? The point deduction would be massive.
For the sake of his future, Niubeng felt it was better to rethink his plan. Perhaps they could find a way to deal with the mist nearby.
‘The Saint Sect wouldn’t set an impossible task here, right?’
Convincing himself of this, Niubeng led his subordinates in a grand “strategic repositioning.”
Until he was fully prepared, he would never set foot in this mist again.
…….
“Very rational. Although the initial choice was impulsive, it is not too late to retreat when faced with difficulty.”
The scenes within the Secret Realm were reflected in a silver mirror. Several Saint Sect Venerables sat around the images, whispering about everything happening inside.
These images were captured by hidden Spirit Tools placed in the sky and sent here, allowing the Venerables to evaluate the performance of the Cultivators from every angle.
They evaluated not only the examinees but also the disciples who had already joined and were acting as examiners.
Among them, the Venerables’ greatest focus was undoubtedly the genius disciple whom two Venerables had personally fought over.
Throughout the entire day, their gazes had rarely left her.
As for the other geniuses, they let the Neimen Disciples under them handle the evaluations.
This was a long-standing tradition of the Ascension Gathering.
The Venerables had limited energy and only focused on the top-tier geniuses.
The slightly weaker Cultivators were left to the Neimen Disciples they had brought from the sect.
Generally, the scores given by these disciples didn’t deviate much.
Those who should be accepted were, and those who shouldn’t were filtered out.
After all, most disciples recruited through the Ascension Gathering would only become Waimen Disciples.
Entering the Neimen required passing even more rigorous internal examinations.
“However, regarding this child’s bonus points, have you decided how to judge them?” the Venerable from the Jian Sect asked with a frown.
Normally, knocking an opponent out of the Secret Realm granted points. But a certain girl’s combat strength was a bit too overwhelming. If they gave her points for defeat, wouldn’t she end up with a ridiculous score just by “fishing fry”?
“In my opinion, unless she defeats famous geniuses or clears the trials we’ve set, we shouldn’t give her points for these kills.”
The Venerable from the Tiandao Sect sat with arms crossed, looking at the screen’s Magic Mist with a bit of jealousy.
“Besides, two of you already gave her talent scores high enough for her to enter the Neimen directly.”
The Tiandao Sect’s representative was currently in a state of “broken jar,” knowing that even if Hua Jian didn’t join the Jade Pool or Wanling Sect, she wouldn’t fall to the Tiandao Sect anyway.
He felt no pressure being the “bad guy” here.
The reason was also simple: bullying the weak was not what the Saint Sect advocated.
Since Hua Jian was so strong, she should be challenging the strong. What was the point of fry-fishing?
‘It’s already good enough that we aren’t deducting points!’
“Fine, I have no objection,” Fenghua Venerable snorted, not refusing the suggestion.
The points gained from fighting one another were ultimately the smaller portion. The real points were in the center of the Secret Realm and the sudden events.
If someone performed exceptionally in those events, the points gained would be far more than what could be earned from fishing for fry.
“I have no objection either.” Lingcaifeng’s Master glared at Fenghua Venerable, her eyes full of anger.
She was still furious with Fenghua Venerable. If Fenghua Venerable hadn’t interfered, would she have been placed under house arrest?
Fenghua Venerable had basically dragged her down with her, as if saying: ‘If I can’t have Hua Jian, then you don’t get to enjoy her early either.’
“You two should stop bickering. What’s the point?” The Venerable from Penglai acted as the mediator, as he was the only one who could handle the job.
The Tiandao Sect was good at starting conflicts, and the Jian Sect… don’t expect those blockheads to be smart about anything other than their swords.
Now that the two sects who usually mediated were fighting, he was the only one left to balance things out.
Was he jealous of Hua Jian? Of course he was. But he also understood that she wouldn’t end up in his hands, so he remained calm.
“At dawn tomorrow, the invasion plan should begin. Are all preparations ready?” He worked hard to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“Naturally. I hope these little ones don’t only know how to fight their own. Otherwise, they’ll have a hard time once they join the sect,” Fenghua Venerable said coldly, her eyes narrowing.
The Right Path didn’t need disciples who only knew how to fight their own people.
The ‘Demonic Path Invasion’ was, of course, a trial for the geniuses.
Soon, the ranked geniuses would feel the malice of the Saint Sect.
The Saint Sect Disciples playing the Demonic Path would find them as if they had X-ray vision, giving them a massive surprise.
“By the way, Lingcai, why did you use your connections to sneak someone into the Demonic Path team?”
“I was just doing a favor for someone. If you want to know, go ask Wudu.” Lingcaifeng’s Master was too lazy to answer Fenghua Venerable’s question. It wasn’t as if she knew what that person was thinking.
Letting her newly recruited little disciple participate in this activity—wasn’t she afraid the kid’s Dao heart would shatter?
That kid was a Direct Disciple, but he was much younger than the Cultivators in the Secret Realm.
His strength wasn’t that high yet, and he wasn’t even guaranteed to win against those geniuses.
If he ran into Hua Jian, he’d probably be captured with one hand.
“If a genius gets defeated by that little kid, how should we calculate the point deduction?” the Jian Sect Venerable finally spoke up.
Clearly, his attitude toward the sudden entry of a certain Direct Disciple was also complicated.
Winning gets no reward—the elder should win against the younger. But losing carries a penalty—shouldn’t an elder be punished for losing to someone younger?
But the point deduction couldn’t be too harsh…
“Calculate it normally,” the Tiandao Sect Venerable chimed in irritably.
“Anyone who can be defeated by that kid needs to go back and practice harder. Instead of worrying about that, how do you plan to handle those suspected Demonic Path members who snuck in?”
The Demonic Path would certainly not miss this Ascension Gathering; all the Saint Sect Venerables knew this.
But this time, the Demonic Path had hidden itself exceptionally well.
Even though the Hudaosi had been working so hard that sparks were flying, they had only found a few suspected Demonic Path Cultivators.
They still lacked the ironclad evidence to truly convict them, and among them were even a few ranked geniuses.
They couldn’t just arrest them and torture them before the gathering started, could they?
If they wronged innocent people, it would be a disaster.
“Let the ‘Demonic Path’ test them. It’s simple, isn’t it?”
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