Chapter 1075 – Entering the Sect
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“Welcome, everyone. I am the host for this entrance examination. My last name is White, so you may call me Senior-apprentice Brother White. All of you have waited for a long time already. I won’t mince words. First, those of you below 20 years of age who have a recommendation letter from a sixth-grade martial family or above may directly go and stand over there; you have passed.”
The blue-clothed youth surnamed White languidly said. As he finished speaking, several Xiantian realm martial artists glanced at each other, happily standing out. They were two men and two women, all of them in their teens. They also seemed a bit puerile.
These four were all at the early Xiantian and middle Xiantian realm. Their families were influences that were subordinate to Carefree Island and they had the qualifications to be recommended to join Carefree Island. Although they knew that crossing the threshold with their family’s recommendation wouldn’t be a problem, they were still happy to be given such preferential treatment.
As everyone looked at these four geniuses, everyone, especially those wandering martial artists, revealed looks of envy. They were young, they were talented, and they had now even joined a large sect; their future was limitless. In the future it wouldn’t be any problem for them to step into the Divine Transformation realm. They even had hopes of reaching the Divine Lord realm. This was far from what the other examinees could compare with.
The blue-clothed youth turned to everyone else and continued to say, “Alright then. Everyone else, follow me to the martial field!”
The blue-clothed youth turned and walked away with everyone quietly following behind. Before long, they arrived at a large square area. This was the so-called martial field. There was a large arena here as well as a giant protective array formation that surrounded the arena so people didn’t have to be careful of their every move.
And on this side of the martial field, there was a black palace. The gates of this black palace were carved with all sorts of tiny and mysterious runes. It was unknown just what was inside.
“You may start the examination now. The content of the examination is simple. That is… to defeat a red desolate ogre puppet!”
“A red desolate ogre? What is that?” Some wandering cultivators were startled upon hearing this. A faint foreboding feeling filled their chests, but as for what this red desolate ogre was, none of them knew.
“Hehe, this red desolate ogre is one of the types of creatures that live within the Red Desolate Mystic Realm. Their nature is cruel and brutal and their strength is immense. They love to pick up humans and rip them apart, limb by limb. The Red Desolate Mystic Realm is considered a great portion of the source of my Carefree Island’s resources. Many of Carefree Island’s alchemy and refining materials come from there! Every time a disciple of my Carefree Island enters the Red Desolate Mystic Realm and kills a red desolate ogre, they bring back the corpse so that they can be made into red desolate ogre puppets! Their body is as hard as divine iron and they do not know exhaustion, fear, sadness, or pain. They are all bloody killers, bred for battle. When you fight them you had all best be careful. Although I will step in to save your lives if need be, sometimes I cannot act in time and you will be seriously wounded. Breaking an arm or a leg here is highly likely!”
The blue-clothed youth wasn’t trying to needlessly scare people. During every entrance examination there would always be people who would be severely wounded. These examiners wouldn’t save someone until the very last moment.
“Okay. We’re going to start now. You fellows will come up one at a time. I will arrange a corresponding red desolate ogre puppet as your opponent according to your cultivation! If you can defeat it or persist for an incense stick of time then you pass. Otherwise, you fail!”
“You, come out to the martial field!”
The blue-clothed youth pointed to the martial artist closest to him. And behind the blue-clothed youth, another disciple pushed open the gates to the black palace. Inside was pitch black darkness. Then, a pair of bright red eyes lit up, like two red lanterns at night.
With a terrifying roar, a 10 foot tall red desolate ogre puppet rushed out. This puppet was wrapped up in chains and its muscles were as hard and tight as black rock. Its fangs were half a foot long and sharp claws glinted on its hands!
“Red Desolate Mystic Realm, red desolate ogre…” Lin Ming looked at the ogre puppet. Without a doubt, the Red Desolate Mystic Realm was a mystic realm similar to the God Beast Mystic Realm, but the beings living inside each of them were completely different. The mystic realm demons in the God Beast Mystic Realm were existences of energy, and these red desolate ogres clearly had physical bodies.
Rahh!
The ogre puppet rushed forwards like a bolt of lightning. In an instant, it rushed towards the martial artist in front.
Hu – !
That martial artist was indeed shocked at the start. But for him to grow to this point, he had experienced a number of life and death battles in his time. He regained his wits and grasped a thick saber. He slashed down and a brilliant saber light cut towards the ogre puppet!
Peng!
The ogre puppet suddenly brought down its claws, crushing the saber light. Then, without slowing down, it seemed to teleport behind the martial artist’s body and thrust a palm out!
The speed was far too quick. The martial artist simply wasn’t able to respond. With only a loud clapping sound, the martial artist’s protective true essence was smashed apart and he was sent flying away vomiting blood.
“Fail!”
The blue-clothed youth expressionlessly said. Beside him, another Divine Sea martial artist rang a small bell and whispered a few incantations. The originally bloodthirsty ogre puppet that was chasing after the martial artist to rip him apart suddenly stopped. Its eyes glazed over as it returned to the black palace in complete obedience.
“Next!” The blue-clothed youth pointed towards a second person. He looked over this person’s cultivation and then without further ado another ogre puppet came out from the black palace!
Although these ogre puppets followed a different cultivation from humans, Lin Ming could faintly feel that these ogre puppets were around three small boundaries higher than their human opponents. It wasn’t any surprise that those martial artists found them so difficult to contend with.
Without any suspense, the second person failed!
Third person, fail!
Fourth person, fail!
Gradually, those martial artists that hadn’t yet gone up began to pale. The visual impact these ogre puppets left behind on them was too shocking. They were incomparably cruel and savage, and every time they struck they would cause their opponents to vomit blood! The martial artists wavered, unnerved. They knew their own abilities and realized that lasting against these ogre puppets was extremely difficult.
Even those several Xiantian young men and women who had entered Carefree Island due to recommendations from their families began to look sick and pale. They secretly estimated the strength of these ogre puppets in their hearts and they discovered that it would be a great hurdle to last an incense stick of time against them, much less defeat them. Trying to defeat these monsters would simply be a joke.
After seeing so many people try and fail, a middle Divine Sea disciple said with a sound transmission, “Senior-apprentice Brother White, isn’t this a bit too difficult? The ogre puppets you choose are around three small boundaries higher than the disciples themselves. Weren’t we short on manpower to enter the divergent world mystic realm, and thus we were ordered from above to lower the standards and allow more disciples in?”
“Junior-apprentice Brother, that is because you don’t understand how human nature works. If they pass then they will be the same as us Carefree Island disciples. If we then send them on dangerous missions, they will not be happy nor willing. However, if they fail this examination they will be disappointed in their hearts. As long as we tell them that they can become official disciples by going into a divergent world mystic realm to complete some gathering task then they will all scramble to go, even if there is a great chance that their lives will be in danger.”
“So that’s how it is! Indeed, that makes sense. But this sort of method… it seems a bit villainous.” The previously speaking disciple said, looking a bit sorry.
The blue-clothed youth glared at the disciple and coldly said, “Our Carefree Island is not some charity house. There are no free lunches in this world. If they want harvests, they naturally must pay the price! Because the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain have been joining forces to suppress us these past years, the central island isn’t much better off. The reserves of resources have been dwindling. If this continues then it will be impossible to make ends meet!”
“Ah… Senior-apprentice Brother’s teachings are correct. I spoke out of turn.” The disciple quickly said. It was clear that this blue-clothed youth was greatly respected.
As these examiners spokes with true essence sound transmissions, several more martial artists were eliminated. But, there were those among these people that were able to last for over 10 breaths of time. The blue-clothed youth paid special attention to these people. After this examination was over, he would offer to bring them into the sect. Of course, the premise of that was if they were willing to go to the divergent world mystic realm.
“Eh? Isn’t that the son of the peak sixth-grade martial family, the Zheng Family’s Zheng Shuang? He wasn’t recommended by the Zheng Family?”
When a white-clothed youth with a heroic aura stepped on the martial field with a sword in hand, there was immediately a disciple who recognized him.
“He probably has confidence in his own strength. He wants to undergo the examination himself. Zheng Shuang’s fame has spread quite far. That sword in his hand, that’s a high-grade saint artifact. A peak sixth-grade family is truly wealthy!”
As several disciples spoke, Zheng Shuang had already started fighting with the ogre puppet. Facing an enemy that was several small boundaries higher than him, Zheng Shuang decided to adopt an evasive and defensive type of swordplay. This choice wasn’t bad, however the ogre puppet was not only strong, it was also quick.
The ogre puppet was like a fierce and violent beast. It instantly rushed to Zheng Shuang’s side, smashing down with its chain-twined body!
Bang!
The ground of the martial field exploded. Zheng Shuang was sent flying back by the explosive shock waves. However, just as his protective true essence was on the verge of bursting apart, he abruptly changed angle in mid air and slashed out with his sword!
“Sword Setting Mountains and Rivers!”
The angle of this sword strike was extremely tricky. The ogre puppet failed to dodge and the sword strike cut through its shoulder. But in that moment, Zheng Shuang felt as if his sword was stuck in a block of divine iron. The sword entered three inches into the ogre puppet’s body before being stuck in the muscles, unable to move any further.
The ogre puppet howled with rage. It brought its claw crashing down.
Zheng Shuang was alarmed. He wanted to pull back his sword and retreat, but no matter how he pulled, the sword wouldn’t come out. His complexion changed and he abandoned his sword. But in that moment, his protective true essence and clothes tore apart, and five bloody gashes were left on his shoulder!
Without the high-grade saint artifact, Zheng Shuang definitely had no ability to directly contend with the ogre puppet. He switched to a medium-grade saint artifact sword and constantly flit around. Finally, although he was struck several more times, he managed to last for an incense stick of time.
“Time is over! Qualified!”
The blue-clothed youth wasn’t surprised. He had actually seen Zheng Shuang before and had expected this result. Although the examination was difficult, there couldn’t be not a single person who qualified. Otherwise it would just be too unsightly a result.
“This Zheng Shuang is quite good. But, among the wandering martial artists there’s also one that seems quite fierce. He should be able to qualify too.” The blue-clothed youth turned his eyes to Lin Ming. In his opinion, Lin Ming’s foundation was extremely solid!
“You, come up for the examination.”
The blue-clothed youth said to Lin Ming. Lin Ming’s thoughts stirred. According to the ongoing order it would still be a while until it was his turn. He didn’t think the examiner would suddenly jump to him.
Lin Ming was certainly glad to be able to go on ahead of time. He didn’t go straight to the martial field. Instead, he turned to the blue-clothed youth and asked, “Senior-apprentice Brother, before this examination starts I have a matter I would like to ask you.”
“Mm?” The blue-clothed youth said, frowning. “What is it? Speak quickly.”
“I would like to ask, in Carefree Island, what rank disciple has the right to request an audience with the Island Master, and to become such a disciple, what sort of result do I need to achieve in this examination?”
Lin Ming slowly asked. But, the blue-clothed youth was actually shocked. This question was completely against his expectations.