Chapter 3786 Mirror Abyss
Ten people flew out from the Flying Dragon Sect. Among them, there were young men, middle-aged men, old men, a beautiful young woman, and two old women. One of the old men, who stood in the lead, looked at the crowd before he said loudly, “Everyone, welcome to the Flying Dragon Sect. I’m Yin Ping Yi, an inner elder of the Flying Dragon Sect. I’m sure most of you are here to partic.i.p.ate in our sect’s entrance examination or came to accompany the partic.i.p.ants. Following this, we’ll conduct the first test. Those who pa.s.sed the first test will then be allowed to partic.i.p.ate in the entrance examination.”
Yin Ping Yi paused for a moment before he continued to say, “Next, we’ll start with the test for those who wish to become inner disciples of the Flying Dragon Sect. There’s only one requirement for the partic.i.p.ants: all partic.i.p.ants have to be below the age of 10,000.”
Everyone present naturally already knew about this.
Yin Ping Yi said, “The test for inner disciples will be divided into three rounds. The first round is for disciples between the age of 8,000 and 10,000 years old. The top 600 partic.i.p.ants will be considered to have pa.s.sed the test. The second round is for those between the age of 5,000 and 8,000 years old. Those in the top 1,000 will pa.s.s the test. Finally, the third round is for those under the age of 5,000, and those who ranked in the top 100 would be considered to have pa.s.sed the
test.”
Everyone was aware of this since it was the same as the previous times.
“Only 200 partic.i.p.ants will be selected among those under the age of 5,000 because those who are too young are generally not very strong. Rather than wasting the Flying Dragon Sect’s resources to cultivate these prodigies, it’s best to leave to lord-rank forces to nurture them first before they join our Flying Dragon Sect,” Yin Ping Yi said bluntly.
Linghu Ren Jie had spoken to Duan Ling Tian about this before. The Flying Dragon Sect would naturally prefer the lord-rank forces to nurture the prodigies rather than wasting their own resources to do so. After all, these prodigies would end up joining the Flying Dragon Sect anyway.
Moreover, it was also more beneficial for most of the prodigies. After all, when they had yet to grow into their full potential, the resources they were given at a lord-rank force would be much better than those at the Flying Dragon Sect.
Descendants of high-ranking officials from major lord-rank forces would be given the best resources in their respective forces. If they joined the Flying Dragon Sect as an inner disciple, their resources in the Flying Dragon Sect might be the same as those they received from their respective force. However, for those who become outer disciples of the Flying Dragon Sect, their resources in the Flying Dragon Sect would be far inferior to what they received from their respective forces.
This was one of the reasons why Murong Yin Yue, the Third Young Miss of the Murong clan, would have to return to the Murong clan if she failed to become an inner disciple of the Flying Dragon Sect. It was not an option for her to stay in the Flying Dragon Sect as an outer disciple. Once she had gotten stronger, she could try to enter the Flying Dragon Sect as an inner disciple again.
Although Murong Yin Yue’s brother was a White Dragon Elder in the Flying Dragon Sect, in terms of resources, he would not be able to give her preferential treatment.
At this time, Yin Ping Yi said, “Those from lord-rank forces, please step forward.” Duan Ling Tian, the members of the Linghu clan, and the others from various lord-rank forces stepped forward one after another.
Those who were unrelated hurriedly stepped aside to make way. Although they felt resentful that those from the lord-rank forces were given special privileges, they naturally did not dare to complain. Moreover, most of the lord-rank forces here were affiliated with the emperor-rank Flying Dragon Sect. Such was the way of the world, after all.
Yin Ping Yi swept his gaze across those from the lord-rank forces as he said, “Now, can the young geniuses between the age of 8,000 and 10,000 please step forward?”
A group of people, including Du Po Jun, obediently stepped forward.
Duan Ling Tian was surprised when he saw Hua Tian Du was not among the people who stepped forward. ‘Hua Tian Du is younger than 8,000 years old?’
After all, according to Hou Qing Ning, Hua Tian Du’s strength was comparable to that of Du Po Jun even if he was not as strong as Yang Qian Ye, the Young Master of the 10,000 Devils Sect.
As though he could read Duan Ling Tian’s thoughts, Hou Qing Ning said through Voice Transmission, “Hua Tian Du is only a little over 6,000 years old.”
“Hou Qing Ning, don’t you think you’re paying too much attention to me? If you’re so free, you should spend it chatting with the Third Young Miss of the Murong clan,” Duan Ling Tian said through Voice Transmission.
Upon hearing this, Hou Qing Ning glanced at Murong Yin Yue with a guilty expression on his face.
At this moment, Murong Yin Yue’s attention was focused on the young geniuses who had stepped forward. Then, she said to Hou Qing Ning, surprised, “There are actually more than 500 partic.i.p.ants from various lord-rank forces between the age of 8,000 and 10,000!”
There were almost 600 partic.i.p.ants who stepped forward. Since there were 19 lord-rank forces present, this meant that each lord-rank force had about 30 partic.i.p.ants. Considering the partic.i.p.ants of the other age groups, each lord-rank force brought about 100 partic.i.p.ants here. Moreover, this number did not include those who were not from lord-rank forces.
There were the most partic.i.p.ants in the 8,000-to-10,000-year-old age group.
Yin Ping Yi said loudly, “I’ll activate a Formation compa.s.s now to create an abyss. All you have to do is descend to the bottom of the abyss and leave the abyss after that. The other partic.i.p.ants in your age group who aren’t from lord-rank forces will also be entering the abyss at the same time to compete with you.”
Yin Ping Yi’s volume increased as he continued to say, “Although most of you are familiar with the test, I’m sure there are some who are clueless as well. So, I’ll go over the details once. The goal is to leave the abyss created by the Formation. Apart from killing, you can do whatever you want in there. You can stop your compet.i.tors from leaving the abyss or you can help another partic.i.p.ant to leave the abyss. Those from lord-rank forces will definitely join forces so I advise those who are not from lord-rank forces to join forces as well. Otherwise, it’d be difficult for you to pa.s.s the test. Remember, only 600 partic.i.p.ants will be selected, and there are nearly 600 partic.i.p.ants from the lord-rank forces.”
Yin Ping Yi was clearly giving a reminder to those who did not belong to lord-rank forces.
These people’s expressions turned grave as soon as they heard Yin Ping Yi’s words.
“I will now open the abyss. The partic.i.p.ants in the first age group have 15 minutes to enter the abyss. For those who plan to cheat and join the younger age groups, let me remind you that your bone age will be tested later. If you’re caught cheating, you’ll be executed on the spot.”
Bone age was a sure way to determine one’s age in the Realms of G.o.ds. Although some Divine Pills could conceal one’s bone age, one could only increase one’s bone age, not the other way around.
For example, Duan Ling Tian was only slightly over 700 years old. However, the Divine Pill he consumed raised his bone age by another 2,000 years old. Hence, if he were tested, people would find him to be about 2,700 years old.
Duan Ling Tian had deliberately increased his age because he did not want to attract too much attention. With his current strength, if people found out about his real age, it would shock the entire Eastern Ridge Mansion. In the history of the Eastern Ridge Mansion, there was no one like him.
Meanwhile, after Yin Ping Yi finished speaking, those who planned to cheat broke out in cold sweat immediately and dismissed their thoughts to cheat. Most of them were not from lord-rank forces since those from the lord-rank forces were already aware of the bone age test.
When Yin Ping Yi opened the abyss with the Formation compa.s.s, a mirror-like wall fell from the sky. The entrance of the abyss was on the mirror-like wall.
“You can enter now.”
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Subsequently, the partic.i.p.ants, regardless of whether they were sectless cultivators or from lord-rank or king-rank forces, leaped into the mirror abyss one after another.
Duan Ling Tian and the others, who remained outside, saw that the partic.i.p.ants who had reached the bottom of the mirror abyss looked as small as ants.
‘I thought it won’t take long for me to leave since the abyss didn’t look that deep earlier. Looks are really deceiving,’ Duan Ling Tian thought to himself. Then, he was reminded of the test that inner disciples who were advanced G.o.ds had to take during the core disciple a.s.sessment in the Hidden Fog Sect.