Chapter 4

On the way.

The footprints on the road became more scattered.

It seemed that some people were distracted by something.

Thus, Zheng Tuo became even more cautious and continued to follow the most numerous footprints.

Thus, he walked for half a day.

Suddenly!

The alarm talisman on his body trembled, emitting a "beep, beep, beep" sound.

Zheng Tuo immediately stopped his steps.

The range of the alarm talisman was 500 meters, and it would sound an alarm if any creature appeared.

At the same time, his nose敏锐地捕捉到一股淡淡的血腥味。

The smell of blood came from ahead, very faint, and could hardly be detected without careful sniffing.

In this ghostly primeval forest, the smell of blood was clearly not a good omen.

After a moment's thought, Zheng Tuo decisively chose to retreat.

Although he didn't know what had happened ahead, the presence of blood was definitely not a good sign.

To be cautious, retreating was the wisest choice.

Zheng Tuo spent half a day retracing his steps.

He took out his notebook and crossed out one of the six paths, indicating that this path was impassable.

Wasting a whole day.

Zheng Tuo was not very anxious; instead, he was very confident in his decision.

With six paths, removing one wrong path increased his chances of success.

When all the wrong paths were eliminated, success would become much easier.

As the sky grew dark, Zheng Tuo prepared to return to the safe house to rest.

Wait!

No, the safe house had already been used once, and long-term residence would leave the occupant's aura.

Although he had ten concealment talismans to cover the aura, he was still not reassured.

Spending a little time, he opened a new safe house.

After setting up the surrounding explosive talismans and alarm talismans, he finally entered to rest.

Resting well, he would continue exploring new paths the next day.

—

In the main hall of Luoxian Sect.

The five peak masters looked at the ancient bronze mirror and expressed their opinions.

"This batch of new disciples is indeed very good. Despite the many temptations set up in the assessment, so many people successfully resisted, which is not easy, not easy."

Yun Qianli nodded, giving positive feedback to this batch of new disciples.

"I don't think so. Look, thousands of people were still lured by the traps and lost their qualifications."

Yun Ding pointed at the ancient bronze mirror.

Among them, many people discovered various spiritual items during their journey.

Greedily, they thought they could claim them for themselves, but they didn't know that these were all part of their test.

All those who released a greedy aura would lose the qualification to join Luoxian Sect.

Luoxian Sect was a cultivation sect, and what it needed most was cohesion.

Everyone must work together, moving in the same direction to make the sect more prosperous.

A prosperous sect would provide them with more resources.

With more resources, they could advance to higher realms and become even stronger.

So, don't think that the entrance assessment is just a simple test.

Every detail has been carefully considered.

"Yun Ding, what do you mean? Why do you always like to oppose me? How about we have a little competition before the new disciples' competition?"

Yun Qianli was very dissatisfied with Yun Ding's constant opposition.

Xian Ding Peak and Qianren Peak were the two largest main peaks with the most disciples.

The disciples under them often sparred, creating a long-standing rivalry.

"Sure! I just refined a magical treasure and was worried about who could help me consecrate it. Since you want to be the good guy, I'll oblige you."

Yun Ding, with his bad temper, immediately retorted.

As they spoke, the discussion about the new disciples' assessment turned into a discussion about a fight.

"Enough, enough, both of you, calm down. We didn't call you here to fight. We called you here to select outstanding disciples to contribute to Luoxian Sect's future. If you two keep fooling around, this year's new disciples' quotas will all go to the other three peaks."

Yun Yangzi couldn't help but scold the two.

Both had exceptional talent and had been competing since they started cultivation.

They had competed from new disciples to peak masters.

Now, due to their high status, they had fewer conflicts.

Instead, the disciples under their peaks often had conflicts, which gave the deputy sect leader a headache but also a sense of relief.

A sect needed constant friction and conflict.

No one would yield to each other, growing in competition and breaking through in trials.

If a sect was dead silent, it was not far from true death.

Yun Ding and Yun Qianli, though dissatisfied, dared not say anything.

The reason might be that even together, they couldn't beat Yun Yangzi.

Otherwise, they would have caused chaos long ago.

"Interesting!"

Hongniang, who had been silent, spoke softly, drawing the attention of the others.

"Little sister, what did you find?" Yun Ding asked.

Hongniang smiled faintly, and the myriad flowers bowed, the colorful clouds lowered their brows.

"Nothing much, just marveling that this batch indeed has a few special little ones."

Hongniang said this but couldn't help but look at the ancient bronze mirror.

A small red dot nearly detached from the edge of the mirror.

If not observed carefully, it might be mistaken for dirt.

But if observed closely, it was indeed a participant in the assessment.

This participant was just too slow, too far behind the main group.

—

Morning sunlight bathed the earth.

Zheng Tuo, following his usual routine, got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, used the toilet, and had breakfast.

After completing a set of radio calisthenics, he took out his notebook.

He chose the second path, which was more frequently used.

Prepared, he set out.

Half a day later.

Zheng Tuo stopped at a large river with rapid currents ahead.

First, he couldn't swim.

Second, he didn't know the depth of the water.

Third, there might be powerful beasts in the river.

So, the most likely scenario was:

He, who couldn't swim, would mistakenly enter deep water, struggle, and be killed by a beast.

Dangerous.

Too dangerous.

Retreat.

Back to the starting point.

He took out his notebook and marked the second wrong path.

The rest was the same as the previous day.

Move, lay mines, sleep.

The next day.

He set out according to the third path in his notebook.

Half a day later.

Ahead appeared a swamp filled with miasma.

Just a swamp would be bad enough, but there was also miasma. How shameless.

Danger level: red.

Retreat.

Six paths, three impassable.

For this, Zheng Tuo was not discouraged because there were still three left.

The next path was not smooth.

The fourth path.

Zheng Tuo had only walked for three hours when he heard intense fighting sounds and mysterious beast roars.

Without taking a single step closer, Zheng Tuo decisively gave up.

The assessment had been going on for over a week, and someone was still lingering nearby, indicating how weak they were.

Helping the weak was just asking for trouble.

How many great leaders had been killed because they helped the weak.

The strong have their survival rules, and the weak have their survival methods.

No one had stipulated that the strong must help the weak.

Not to mention whether you could help.

Even if you could, did you ask the weak how they felt?

They might enjoy being bullied.

Give up the fourth path.

Zheng Tuo embarked on the fifth path.

This time, it seemed he had chosen the right path.

He walked for three full days without sensing any danger.

The land was flat, allowing him to move freely.

But Zheng Tuo couldn't be happy because he had a lingering question in his mind.

That was... where the sixth path led.

To curb this thought,

During the three days of travel, he deliberately marked the surrounding trees.

To prevent the fifth path from being dangerous and forgetting the way back.

However, it seemed that this group was very strong.

Along the way, he saw many signs of battles.

Based on his analysis, the battles were very easy.

This indicated that this group was very strong.

Otherwise, he would have given up long ago and checked the sixth path.

Since the other party was very strong, following them was clearly the safest method.

With this thought, another three days passed.

Trouble still appeared.