Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Shangguan Family’s Master unexpectedly replied with a smile. “We were fond of such a genius, and since it would be difficult for him to put his whole talent to use in the Situ Family, our Shangguan Family wanted to offer him a stage that was more suitable for him.”
Similar words were uttered by all of the factions in the other pillars as well. Madame Situ was astute and sharp, and she wore a smile as she beckoned to Su Yu warmly. “Mister Su, come here.”
The way she addressed him had subconsciously turned into ‘Mister Su.’ Since the Shao Family had already given up, then Su Yu felt no need to continue provoking them.
So, he said calmly, “The challenges will come to an end here. I will say it for the last time… Don’t offend me, or I will guarantee that you will stay forever in the testing grounds because of some unexpected accidents.”
Such an unveiled threat angered the Shao Family’s juniors, but they didn’t dare to retort. A moment ago, they had just threatened that they would kill the Situ Family’s daughter, Situ Yan, and now, Su Yu had just threatened that he would bury all of them amid the testing grounds!
The battles that had occurred just now made it clear that he really did possess the power to make good on his threats. Moreover, once they were on their own in the testing grounds, then it would impossible for any one of them to bear even two attacks from Su Yu.
When Su Yu heard Madame Situ calling him, he swiftly flew back to their pillar. Madame Situ started sizing up Su Yu once again enthusiastically, as his performance really had delighted her.
She had assumed that he just possessed a Level Four Fairy Realm power, yet he had managed to fight the Shao Family’s young master. As such, Madame Situ could now see boundless potential in him!
“Mister Su, thank you for your hard work, but why did you need to offend the Shao Family? Knowing the Shao Family’s Master’s character, that will bring you troubles later on.” As she spoke, Madame Situ’s fair finger picked up a white pill, which shone in the moonlight.
It had an intoxicating fragrance and there were three stripes on it. It was a precious third-grade spirit pill!
Su Yu was startled to see this, while Situ Yan, who was beside him, chuckled. “Eat it. This is a special Vital Energy recovering pill that is possessed by only our Situ Family. It was personally refined by my mother.” Madame Situ was also a primary alchemist.
Su Yu took the pill and swallowed it. Soon after, his body’s Vital Energy started recovering, and shortly, it reached its optimum state. The pill really had an excellent effect!
As he looked at the beautiful Madame Situ, Su Yu could guess what she was thinking. She had informed him she hoped that he would join the Situ Family to get their protection.
Not wanting her to worry, Su Yu could only tactfully reject her kind offer as he tried to ease her fears, “Senior, you don’t need to worry about me. I have a way of dealing with them, and I don’t really fear them.”
As long as he wasn’t hunted by an All Creation Old Monster, then Su Yu was confident that it would be easy for him to escape, even if he couldn’t defeat his opponent. A slight trace of disappointment appeared in Madame Situ’s pretty eyes, while she blamed herself inwardly because she hadn’t noticed Su Yu’s talent before now. If she had known that he had such astonishing talent, then even if she couldn’t rope him into joining the Situ Family, she could at least have tried to become closer to him.
“Since that’s the case, then please be careful, and if you have any trouble, then you can look for Yan’er in the outer sanctum. Although my Situ Family has admittedly declined, it still has some influence in the outer sanctum,” Madame Situ said.
Su Yu nodded, then returned to stand beside Yuan Yingying and Zi Xuan.
“Why are you meddling in other people’s business?” Zi Xuan was baffled. “My teacher informed me that, while traveling through the world, one must avoid meddling in other people’s business. Otherwise, he would end up dead!”
Su Yu replied with a question and a smile, “Then… Didn’t your teacher inform you that you should use countermeasures beforehand? It was obvious that the Shao Family wanted to target us, and if we didn’t show our power and deter them, then what awaited us in the future would only be endless trouble.”
As he looked at the Shao Family’s people, he found that there wasn’t anyone who dared to face his gaze. This made him even more confident that they would surely not dare to cause trouble for him later on.
Zi Xuan didn’t really understand his words. “It seems like you know many things.”
Su Yu chuckled. “If you ever have anything that you can’t understand, then you can just ask me.”
Zi Xuan tilted her head sideways, then nodded after she pondered his reply for a moment. “Okay.”
Elder Li, whose mood had improved, came over and praised him, “Lad, you were pretty good! I’m really looking forward to your performance in the next test.”
Madame Situ was somewhat delighted, as it was well-known in the outer sanctum how strict Elder Li was. Since he treated Su Yu in such a way, then it was obvious that he thought highly of him. As such, it seemed like there was a great chance that he would manage to properly protect Situ Yan.
On the Shao Family’s pillar, the Shao Family’s Master looked at them coldly as he asked in a soft voice, “Elder Tong, did you finish preparing it?”
Elder Tong felt somewhat humiliated as he looked at the delighted Elder Li. His expression became quite unsightly. After all, he had done his best to instigate a fight between them, yet in the end, the Shao Family’s people were too weak and ended up being beaten by the guy who wore a bamboo hat.
He looked with displeasure at Su Yu, before he transmitted his voice quietly, “Shao Family’s Master, you can be at ease. The other families won’t easily pass this test, so the number one place will surely belong to your Shao Family.”
The Shao Family’s Master’s expression relaxed when he heard him. They had already received news that the person who took first place in this test would get an additional generous reward, and even the inner sanctum disciples were tempted by such a reward. It was only because of the relationship of the Shao Family with some people in the inner sanctum that they had learned about such news beforehand.
…
Ding!
A bell sound reverberated through the vast outer courtyard, while an eagle flew above them. Its whole body emitted a powerful aura, which caused the blood of the Fairies to churn, while their expressions became grave.
“A Divine Master Realm’s demonic bird!” someone shouted. All of the people here were astonished.
There was a white-robed old woman standing atop the eagle’s head. She wore an amiable look and seemed quite nice, but the docile and giant eagle beneath her clearly knew how terrifying she was.
“The Outer Palace’s Lower Master,” someone exclaimed in a low voice, while respectful looks appeared on the faces of many families’ masters.
The Red Blood Palace was divided into an Outer Palace and an Inner Palace. The Outer Palace was where the outer sanctum disciples were cultivating, and the Red Blood Palace’s Master, Mo Tianxuan, had sent three Palace Masters to take charge of it. It had two Lower Masters and one Primary Master.
The cultivation of the three of them had already reached the late stage of the Divine Master Realm, and they possessed a great influence that could shake all of the factions besides the eighteen great factions. Even the overbearing Shao Family’s Master became solemn at this moment, as he didn’t dare be disrespectful.
The eagle landed on a giant boulder, while the envoys in the other pillar quickly flew to the old woman, then respectfully stood behind her.
“Hehe… This recruitment exam occurs just once every three years, so I hope that many excellent disciples will appear this year,” the Lower Palace Master said.
The expression of many families’ masters became odd when they heard her, as in the past ten years, not a single excellent disciple had appeared in the outsiders recruitment exam. Excellent disciples only appeared among the people that were recruited from the Red Blood Palace’s branch factions. It was even rumored that the Red Blood Palace planned to reduce outsider recruitment quotas, while increasing their branches’ quotas.
Many families became restless when they heard such news, as although it was just a rumor, if they couldn’t recommend any outstanding disciples, then it might probably really occur.
“Palace Master Kong Chan, we will not let you down.” Shao Yueming nodded.
Palace Master Kong Chan revealed a faint smile, then nodded.
One of the envoy elders then started announcing the test’s rules, “The first exam will be the hunt of the Fairy Confining Forest’s demonic beasts. It’s used to test whether your fighting prowess is adequate or not. You must kill a demonic beast, whose cultivation is higher than yours by a level or kill twenty demonic beasts that are at the same level as you. The time limit is three days, and all those who can’t return to the pillar in time will fail.”
The elder then added, “This test will have a points calculation as well. The hunt of the Level One Fairy Realm demonic beast will count as one point, the Level Two Fairy Realm demonic beast will count as 20 points, the Level Three Fairy Realm demonic beast will count as 40 points, the Level Four Fairy Realm demonic beast will be 100 points, and the Level Five Fairy Realm demonic beast will be 500 points.”
The elder glanced over the crowd, then said, “The points you accumulate will affect your overall ranking in the test, so I hope that you will remember to do your best. Also, it’s forbidden to kill each other in this test, and all those who violate this rule will be severely punished. You may now begin competing.”
All of the families’ juniors within the nine pillars then rushed into the Fairy Confining Forest. The nervous Madame Situ looked at Su Yu and said, “Mister Su, I will entrust my Situ Family to you.”
Su Yu nodded as he looked at Situ Yan and said, “I will protect her.”
He was making it clear that he was agreeing at that time to protect Situ Yan alone, not all of the Situ Family’s juniors. He didn’t have enough energy to take care of all of them.
Then, Su Yu, Yuan Yingying, Zi Xuan and Situ Yan all entered the forest together. Madame Situ looked at her family’s juniors and gave them a meaningful look, which they clearly understood meant for them to follow after Su Yu’s group closely. In this way, they would be safer.
After they entered the forest, Situ Yan looked at the surroundings, then said, “Brother Su, I have a map of the surroundings.” Situ Yan took an old map from her pocket. “It was given to me by my Situ Family’s elders, who once participated in the test. As it has been improved and corrected many times, it can now accurately describe where numerous demonic beasts are, as well as how strong they are.”
Su Yu took the map from her and started studying it. Situ Yan leaned closer to him, while pointing to several places with her fair fingers. Her sweet fragrance assaulted Su Yu’s nostrils, while her head leaned against Su Yu’s chest.
At some unknown time, Situ Yan had started calling him “Brother Su,” and she even stood with him intimately now. Seeing this, Yuan Yingying pouted and came closer to them.
“Su Yuxian, I will have a look at the surroundings. Let’s meet up again in three days.” Zi Xuan squinted her eyes as she spoke.
Su Yu knew what she was going to do. She wanted to check to see whether Su Yu was participating in the test.
“Take care of yourself,” Su Yu said.
Zi Xuan rolled her eyes at him. “You’re the one who should take of himself. Don’t die.”
Yuan Yingying and Situ Yan were bewildered when they saw her leaving. After all, they thought that she had been invited here specifically to protect Situ Yan. So, they had to wonder… Why would she leave?
Su Yu sighed. If she hadn’t left, then he would have had his hands tied and been unable to act freely. Even so, he knew that he must still be prudent, as an All Creation Old Monster’s senses were powerful.
“We are now just in the entryway of the forest. The Hundred Beast Valley is in the southwest direction, and it’s famous for the great number of demonic beasts within it, which are both strong and weak. As such, many participants will go there to hunt them,” Situ Yan said.
Su Yu nodded, then said, “Situ Yan, the pieces of information that you have provided are really important. Let’s go to the Hundred Beast Valley.”
They would need to travel for half a day to reach the Hundred Beast Valley, and the deeper they proceeded into the forest, the more they could feel the demonic energy flowing through the air, as well as the demonic beasts’ auras.
All of a sudden, a horned rabbit jumped out of the shrubbery in front of them. It had a Level One Fairy Realm cultivation, and if it was within the Zhenlong World, then it would surely be a great demon, which could shake the whole world. But, as it was in the Fairy Confining Forest, it was one of the weakest demonic beasts here.
Situ Yan’s eyes lit up. “A Demonic Horned Rabbit! Surely, it’s quite suitable for me.”
Situ Yan took a small bow, and when she was just about to take aim at the rabbit, an arrow traveled several miles and penetrated the Demonic Horned Rabbit, utterly destroying its body in an instant!
Swoosh!
An aloof woman stepped upon the leaves as she traveled here. It was clearly her that had just shot the fatal arrow.
She had a tall body and a bow in her back. She wore an ice-cold expression. She was the Shao Family’s genius woman, Shao Li!
