After 5 seconds, the sound of a gong resounded throughout the hall. The faces of the youths who had arrived shortly afterward fell greatly, aware that they had failed to make the cut. Grand Elder Tuo Fan wiped some blood from his lips with a handkerchief and cleared his throat.
“Of 189 candidates, 133 passed and 56 failed. Those who failed shall vacate the area and go to the Punishment Hall for two tasks to redeem yourself!”
The failures once again left while panting from tiredness from their recent exertion, feeling terrible that they had ended up lacking a few fractions of a second. Still, they steeled their resolve to cultivate and train harder henceforth!
“Alright, the next event is the Test of Endurance. Here, you will each stand before a Sect Deacon and receive a blow from them at the same level of cultivation as yourself. You pass if you manage to endure 5 full power blows unprotected. You’re free to give up at any time and you’ll also fail if you pass out.” Grand Elder Tuo Fan revealed as 132 Sect Deacons who were at the Qi Condensation Realm and above smiled as they arranged themselves before each disciple.
The youths braced themselves for pain, circulating their respective Cultivation Methods. As for Eva, she remained aloof, as Grand Elder Tuo Fan himself came forth to act as her examiner.
“Little Ancestor, please forgive my rudeness, but I will not hold back out of respect for your station.” Grand Elder Tuo Fan warned solemnly.
Eva simply nodded nonchalantly.
The signal was given and then, as one, the Sect Deacons struck forth with palm attacks, whereas the Grand Elder simply flicked out a finger. The lads reacted to the strike differently. Those with studier Martial Spirits fared better, while those with weaker ones suffered a lot. To their credit, not a single one fainted, and nobody gave up.
As for Eva, she did not show any outward reaction to the attack that struck her, making Grand Elder Tuo Fan nod in approval. He had truly not held back, using the full power of a Blood Pulsation Realm brat at level 1.
“Increase the power by one realm.” Eva requested calmly, shocking the Grand Elder. He was silent for a while, but smiled and nodded.
The next strike came, and this time some youths spat out blood straight up, clutching their bodies with pain, yet they stayed strong. Eva took the strike without any reaction once more, which made the Grand Elder show a pleased smile, since this had been the full power of a Bone Cleansing level 1.
“One more realm.” Eva asked again, which Tuo Fan obliged.
The third strike was meted out, and this time even those with defensive Martial Spirits coughed out blood and fell to their knees. It was here that some weaker ones passed out right away. As for Eva, she still remained unfazed.
“One more realm.”
“Are you sure? That would be an attack at the Qi Condensation Realm. Strikes backed by Qi are completely different from pure body strength strikes.” Tuo Fan warned her seriously.
“I wish to see my limits.” Eva answered simply.
Tuo Fan took in a deep breath and nodded. He understood that this Little Ancestor was serious about this, and as the Grand Elder he would not chicken out!
The fourth strike!
This time, many lads directly collapsed to the ground, unable to stand up for a while, their legs shaky and their lips red with blood. The amount who passed out vastly increased.
Tuo Fan unleashed a blow that was coated with Qi Energy, right into Eva’s abdomen. This time, Eva moved a little, taking a step back, but did not cry out nor spit blood.
However, her brows did furrow as she felt some pain from that, equivalent to if someone had lightly slapped your stomach with their backhand.
“One more realm.” Eva requested, convinced that this was not her limit.
Tuo Fan also obliged, as he too sensed that Eva had not suffered too much from that. As such, the fifth and final blow was sent out!
The lads who had held on till now were all floored, desperately trying to stay awake, while others had already taken a step into the abyss of darkness. Eva was knocked back five steps, and she frowned as blood trickled from the side of her mouth.
This time, she felt the blow, like a full-powered blow from one normal person to another in the stomach. This should be the theoretical limit, as this would normally have floored Eva if not for her high pain tolerance.
The Grand Elder released a breath of relief and marveled at Eva’s fortitude. This pair of Little Ancestors were truly something else!
“The Test of Endurance is over. Of 133 candidates, 46 passed and 87 failed. Those who failed shall vacate the area and go to the Punishment Hall for one task to redeem yourself.” Tuo Fan announced as a female Elder hovered over the crowd and manifested her Martial Spirit, a giant tree, which radiated life force and geniality.
All those who passed out, as well as those who had been injured and were suffering suddenly felt like they had swallowed a senzu bean, instantly reverting to normal. Those who had failed left sadly while rubbing their stomach, shocked that the pain was gone, while those who had held out sighed deeply.
It hadn’t been easy to get here!
“Now that you lot are left, it’s time for the final preliminary test, the Mental test! Sit down in a lotus potion and fortify your mind and willpower, for it will be tested heavily through killing intent! Those who can last an entire minute shall pass!”
The youths showed solemn expressions as they sat down and did all they could to secure their minds. Tuo Fan observed them silently for a while before nodding.
He closed his eyes and meditated for a second before opening them again. This time, his eyes were bloodshot and his expression was colder than ice.
Before any of the youths could formulate a thought or opinion towards this, they were hit with a wave of icy fire that burned at their brains like oil meeting heated metal.
There was no time to scream or call out for help. There was no chance to forfeit or even beg for mercy. Immediately, all the youths became rigid like poles as their eyes became bloodshot, their temples throbbed with veins and their teeth clenched tighter than two magnets.
Some fainted right away, slumping over like a sack of potatoes, with more joining in with each second. By the time 10 seconds had passed, their number had been cut in half.
Eva by the side was simply relaxed and unbothered, looking bored even. This being a Test of the Mind, even with Control and her Light Angel Inheritance sealed, it was a joke.
She had three partitions of her brain for three different personalities, not to mention there was the mass of killing intent and cruelty called Riveting Night. If Eva released even a wisp of Riveting Night’s killing intent, all the Elders and Grand Elders would shit their pants.
Eva was more interested in how the others did, so she watched as they fought on. The next one dropped at the 30-second mark, followed by one at 37, 45, 53, and 58.
The moment the gong released them of this heavy burden, those remaining were already on the verge of collapse, yet they had managed to hold out through sheer willpower. Seeing this, the Grand Elder nodded with satisfaction.
“Of the 46 who participated in this round, 18 passed and 28 failed. Those who failed shall not suffer any tasks, instead for the period of one month, you’ll be granted access to the Hall of Spirits to fortify your Mental realm.” Tuo Fan revealed.
The 28 who failed were carried away to be treated while the 18 who remained sighed with fatigue. Another female Elder manifested her Martial Spirit which was a strangely shaped mushroom. It released a blue mist that wafted into the ears and noses of all candidates, refreshing their minds and eliminating all fatigue.
They felt fresh and chipper, as if they had just woken up from getting a full night’s sleep.
“Due to the nature of how many of your remain in the end, 4 of you will fight each other in a single round to decide who fights in the round of 16. Those who did the poorest will be paired in these semi-preliminaries.”
As Tuo Fan explained, an arena was set up and cleaned for the upcoming matches as the Elders seated themselves around to watch. The matches soon got underway.
The four weakest faced each other in 1v1 matches, and the winner of that match joined the round of 16 as a participant. So now, the tournament brackets looked like a typical round of 16 matches.
Eva was the last match for the first round, and when she came up, she decimated her opponent with one strike, despite them having a Grade 12 Peng Martial Spirit which boasted wind element speed that was crazy.
In the round of 8, Eva faced off a Grade 12 Kun Martial Spirit holder, who was slippery as an eel due to their Water element’s elasticity. However, a blow from Eva with her Light Energy directly sent them flying.
(Author’s Note: She isn’t using her bloodline in any way, this is pure cultivation and Martial Spirit stuff.)
In the quarter-final, Eva met a Grade 12 Flame Qilin user. This fight was still a piece of cake for her, though she actually needed two strikes to end it. It couldn’t be helped, the Qilin was only one rank below the Phoenix, so the gap was not that big.
Were it not for the greatness of the Phoenix Rebirth Mantra, this fight would have been very even given the constraints Eva had placed on herself.
In the semi-final, Eva faced off against a Grade 12 Titan Behemoth user, and his defense and strength were out of this world. He was a core disciple with an elite Cultivation Method and the Second Elder was his direct master.
His strength was at Bone Cleansing Realm level 8 but with his good cultivation and powerful Martial Spirit, he was like a Flesh Hardening Realm level 1 cultivator.
He was unable to harm Eva with her skill and speed, and even when she was struck, she took no damage, but her own offensive capability struggled to break through the lad’s defense without adding in her bloodline.
It took Eva about 15 seconds to ditch him, and even then, she had to unleash a Kiran-level attack rush barrage to pummel the fellow into unconsciousness.
Jolyne…*cough*, Eva waited on stage for her final opponent, who happened to be a girl who was accepted by another prominent Elder. She was the top core disciple of this batch, and her name was Lin Jialuo.
She was quite pretty and sensual for her age, pretty well-developed. Eva eyed her plaintively and shook her head. This lass was good, but she fell short of Eva’s standards, which were even higher than Draco’s.
Lin Jialou greeted Eva respectfully before showing off her peak Grade 12 Drakon Martial Spirit, which was part of the Draconic family, in between a Drake and an Amphiptere.
Intrigued, Eva for the first time manifested her Light Phoenix Martial Spirit before engaging Lin Jialou in combat. The two clashed on stage, looking to be about equal, which shocked the onlookers.
The Elders however, nodded with satisfaction. This batch was good, because for this Lin Jialou lass to survive blows from the Young Ancestor, when Eva was seemingly playing around, could only be called superb.
However, the lass was suppressed by Eva from the beginning, despite showing great martial skill and technique. She was nothing to Eva who made a blade of light by mixing her cultivation realm with her dagger technique, which manifested its own Ethereal Energy.
Eva took the win with relative ease and stood atop the stage calmly, her magnificence and beauty awing all the lads below. It was estimated that more than 80% of the boys and girls fell in love with Eva at this moment.
Grand Elder Tuo Fan rubbed his beard with a smile and came forward. “The combat block is over, and the winner is our Little Ancestor Eva! Second place goes to Lin Jialou, third place to Ketu Xia, fourth…”
“Now, will the top ten winners gather here to receive your prize?”
