"What?"
"Where is this?"
"Uhm…"
Voices sounded out beside, behind, to the front of Su Mei. Her senses acclimated to the environment, and she observed her surroundings. Firstly, she discovered that the number of individuals present was great, but in comparison to the utterly massive trillions before, there were less than a hundred thousand individuals present.
But the field of the coliseum they were in was incredibly huge and spacious, and the numbers present didn't cover a tenth of it despite being a fair distance apart from each other. Secondly, there were men, women, mostly humans, in the audience seats observing them with varied outfits. They numbered the thousands, and they observed with interest in their eyes.
The thirteen figures at the center platform that stood at the highest height, observing them, had auras that were completely unfathomable. They gave off feelings that exceeded the concept of mortals, touching upon a new realm of existence. Her pupils constricted slightly.
'Mystic Ascendants!' Her thoughts moved rapidly, and she soon calmed herself down.
The man at the lead, the one who announced their success in passing the first test, was extremely familiar!
"He's the face!" A youth exclaimed, causing the others to inspect the middle-aged man was handsome, with a trimmed stubble and short-tied ponytail. His beige robe was exquisite, and there was a strange symbol at the right side of his outfit. The symbol was a seven-colored diamond-shaped, and divided into four equivalent sections by straight white lines.
The lines were thin, but they had seven-colored runic symbols that were extremely lively. At the top and bottom of the diamond was a rotating spherical object that resembled a pill. The left had the character for 'Ever' and the right had the character for 'Lore'.
A concerned and strong-willed female shouted at those at the top: "Where's the rest of us?! What did you do to them?" She and her older brother had both written down 'Recruit' yet she couldn't sense his life aura. She feared the worst.
The others also realized their situation. Just a few moments ago, they were surrounded by trillions, now only less than a hundred thousand were present, and they had been shifted to a coliseum. It would be strange if they weren't concerned, but they were also fearful.
"Do you want to know?" A harsh, chilling female voice sounded out. It belonged to a dark-haired woman at the middle-aged man's right, at the third position. She was certainly a beauty, having a faint mature charm, but her eyes exuded a distinctly unfriendly coldness that sent chills down the spine. One could tell that she killed an unfathomable number of people, and with little hesitation.
The young woman felt her spine shrink, but her heart remained firm. She stepped forward, "Yes! Where's my brother?!"
The dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes, the temperature of the cold didn't dip, but it felt as if a blizzard had suddenly emerged, fierce and merciless. It was as if another word from the female would elicit the entirety of the woman's wrath.
"He's dead," she coldly spoke out. Her tone was indifferent, showing no concern for life.
The young woman went absentminded for a moment. Her world spun and she felt as if it was about to collapse. A malevolent emotion emerged in her heart, and her delicate face twisted in madness and rage. She didn't even think as she screamed in rage.
"AHHHH!" She punched out with the entirety of her cultivation base towards the highest platform. Her cultivation at the Sky Ruler Phase was completely unleashed, and even the astral force that was released via that fist, surging like a tidal wave towards the platform, contained hints of her vitality.
Her astral force pushed away the other youths. They instinctively protected themselves with astral wards, cursing the girl for her recklessness and temper. A few couldn't help but reveal a deriding sneer. Was this girl an idiot? What was a Sky Ruler Phase Cultivation going to do to these experts?
However, the young woman seemingly lost her mind as her dark brown eyes were coated in a sanguine desire to kill. A powerful Slaughter Intent gushed out, and she launched fist after fist. The crushing astral force reached the platform, smashing into a thin translucent membrane just short of reaching those thirteen figures.
The young woman didn't stop. She flew upwards and launched fist after fist, each containing traces of her vitality empowering her might.
Su Mei was startled by the sheer madness the young woman was exhibiting. What the hell was this? She realized this girl was an Ascendant, someone who was recruited by Xue Yifei.
"Your methods are impeccable," the middle-aged man with a short-tied ponytail remarked as he glanced at the dark-haired woman.
The dark-haired woman didn't show any reaction at the man's words, whether it was praise or an expression of displeasure. She waved her hand, and the raging screams of the young woman halted. She had lost consciousness. In the blink of an eye, the young woman vanished.
Then, the dark-haired woman swept her eyes across the bodies of the others. A glimmer of dissatisfaction flickered in her eyes, and she vanished as if she stepped into a Void Gate, leaving only twelve figures remaining.
The middle-aged man was unbothered by her actions, merely looking at the shocked gazes of those below. He calmly explained, "No one has been killed. That's just Exalted Truekill's test. To answer your concerns, there was a criteria of cultivation base relative to age and physique as the first test—only 93,452 of you passed. The rest have been sent to one of the three domains. If they wish to join a force, they'll still have the opportunity, but the testing will be more difficult.
"All of you, as long as you want, will be inducted to any of these fine forces as a member or disciple, as to what level of member or disciple, that'll depend on your ability and innate talent. However, the first hurdle has been passed." As the middle-aged man explained, they all finally understood.
A few felt regret for not asking the question of where their loved ones were first, being cautious and fearful to question these supremely powerful beings. If they had, perhaps they might have been taken away or noticed by those who stood at the highest platform.
Su Mei inspected the surroundings, wanting to see if she saw any familiar faces or sensed their auras. She discovered, to her shock, that she found quite a few auras familiar. There was Qing Qiumu, Na Xinyi, Long Tingyu, and Lin Ziyan. She didn't see Da Shan, Hong Ru, or Xiao Bing. Shockingly, she did find Mei Mei!
When she noted this, Su Mei was surprised to discover that everyone present was under the age of a hundred and eight years old! Be it Da Shan, Hong Ru, or Xiao Bing, they had been cultivating for over a hundred years, and not by a small amount.
Since the default Astral Core Realm lifespan was roughly a thousand years, usually reaching fifteen hundred years of age for the average peak Astral Core Realm cultivator, this was a shocking cutoff. They seemed to not care about battle prowess or foundation, because it was utterly impossible for Da Shan to not be selected if that was the case or many of the Ascendants.
The middle-aged man allowed them to digest before saying, "My name's San Luoyang, a Senior Member of the Everlore Association. Our Everlore Association is hosting this recruitment to provide you all with the opportunities to start anew, not be swept up in tragedy, and forge your new futures in the Aeternal Sky Starfield. To put it bluntly, this is your opportunity to prove your worth."
"….!" The youths gasped in shock. Everlore Association?! Was the King of Everlore alive in this starfield?!
