One step… Two steps… Three steps. Su Yu continued on until he had taken nine steps.
The people looked fixedly at the scene in shock. Finally, he reached the 39th step, which was something that rarely occurred in an outsider recruitment test. In fact, the last time it had happened was already a hundred years ago!
At this moment, many families were jealous, yet full of expectations. They were jealous of the Situ family’s luck, and they were full of expectations for Su Yu’s next performance.
They had already heard that the Red Blood Palace wanted to reduce outsiders’ recruitment quotas, and Su Yu’s current performance might alleviate his pressure and provide them a window of sorts back into it.
Palace Master Hua laughed heartily. “I wasn’t mistaken! This lad had excellent talent.”
Su Yu stood blankly at the 39th step. This was because he had just discovered that there was a phantom image at the 40th step! It seemed like it belonged to a man, but its facial features were quite fuzzy.
“That was the last man to reach the 40th step. It happened five months ago, and it was accomplished by the outer sanctum’s Yang Feiliu. If Su Yu can reach the 40th step, then his phantom image will replace Yang Feiliu’s.” Shangguan Qinger’s eyes flickered. “Once he reaches it, he will also get some special privileges in the outer sanctum.”
Su Yu stopped for a moment before he took a step forward, which caused the phantom image to shatter, while a fuzzy phantom image of Su Yu appeared in its place. Su Yu was startled by this, but continued on. At that moment, an astonishing pressure descended upon him.
Crack!
A cracking sound was emitted from his bones, as if they couldn’t bear the pressure any longer, while a faint pain transmitted from his soul. A grimace of pain appeared on Su Yu’s face for just a moment, while joy and delight welled up in his heart.
By passing through the past 40 steps, his soul had become more stable and firm. The more he walked forward on the steps, the greater his soul was tempered.
As he realized this, excitement appeared on his face as he took another step forward. Such a scene shocked everyone, and they couldn’t help but marvel aloud…
“Is he some kind of monster? He’s already at the 40th step, yet he can still continue walking forward!”
“He’s already at the 40th step, which means that his potential and talent is among the outer sanctum’s elite grade.”
Madame Situ’s eyes shone with a resplendent radiance. Mere words were already incapable of describing how shocked she was.
A satisfied smile appeared on Palace Master Kong Chan’s face. “The Situ family has rendered us a great service by recommending him. As such, its jurisdiction rights will be extended by 40 years, and it will also be awarded 20 additional Body Consolidating Root Nourishing Pills, as well as a fifth-grade Divine Nourishment Pill.”
A Divine Nourishment Pill? The pupils of the Shangguan Family’s Master couldn’t help but contract upon hearing this. They could ignore the prolonging of the jurisdiction rights, as well as the bestowal of the body Consolidating Root Nourishing Pills, but the Divine Nourishment Pill shocked all of the families’ masters greatly. Even the Divine Master envoys were affected by this news, and their whole bodies trembled, while excitement appeared in their eyes.
The face of Elder Li, who had already completed his mission and returned, was filled with envy, and he cupped his hands at Madame Situ. “Madame, congratulations. Your cultivation will surely advance further. It’s really enviable.”
Madame Situ’s whole body trembled as she thought about the Divine Nourishment Pill. Elixirs, which were effective to Fairies, were called spirit elixirs, while those that were effective to Divine Masters were called mysterious elixirs. The Divine Nourishment Pill could be considered a middle-grade mysterious pill, and it was of great help to people at the peak of the early or middle stages of the Divine Master Realm.
As Madame Situ was a Level Three Divine Master, the strengthening and purification effects of the Divine Nourishment Pill could help her become much stronger! Such a pill couldn’t be found on the market, nor could a better elixir at the same grade be found. Moreover, it was still a fifth-grade Divine Nourishment Pill!
Madame Situ was greatly overjoyed by such unexpected good news. In fact, she felt like she just might faint!
Shangguan Yunque’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch, and he looked at his father with a sympathizing gaze. He didn’t rejoice for his misfortune any longer, as he knew how much his father had spent in the past years to get a Divine Nourishment Pill, yet he still hadn’t obtained one. He knew that his father must be quite sad at such a moment.
After four hours had passed, Su Yu had managed to reach the 45th step. From the 40th step onward, he would find a phantom image at each step, and they were all the images of the last person to reach those steps.
As Su Yu progressed forward, he would annihilate more phantom images, leaving his own in their place. After eight hours had passed, Su Yu had managed to reach the 49th.
His whole body was drenched in sweat, while his bones seemed like they would collapse. It seemed like he had already reached his limit.
However, even though this was the case, Su Yu was still delighted, as he could clearly feel that both his soul power and body had become stronger. If he could advance even further, then they would surely achieve even greater progress!
Everyone descended into silence, as they all wanted to know whether Su Yu could continue and reach the 50th step. If he did, then it meant that he had devilish grade talent and would get the same status as the four great demons in the outer sanctum!
Palace Master Hua chuckled. “Even among the inner sanctum’s disciples, only the elite grade disciples could reach the 50th step. It seems like our outer sanctum just may get another new demon-like talented youth today!”
Delight was apparent on Palace Master Kong Chan’s face, but soon, her expression became grave. “This lad’s talent isn’t limited to just this. However, if he continues to proceed, then the inner sanctum’s old men may come and take him in advance into the inner sanctum, which would keep us from making up for our losses.”
When he heard this, Palace Master Hua’s expression became grave as well. “Let’s just hope that this lad knows when to stop. If he doesn’t, then we can’t stop him from joining the inner sanctum if the inner sanctum’s people come here, especially if he wants to join them.”
As Su Yu raised his head, he saw another phantom image standing on the 50th step. This one seemed like the phantom image of a child.
Su Yu shook his head and proceeded forward, while the child afterimage was shattered, then immediately replaced by Su Yu’s afterimage. He had finally reached the 50th step.
All of the people held their breaths until they almost suffocated at such a moment, and they looked on in disbelief. Another Demon was officially born!
At that moment, Su Yu suffered a great pressure, which caused a cracking sound to be transmitted from his body, while his soul fluctuated greatly. He was already close to his limit, but he was still capable of taking several additional steps.
Su Yu raised his head and looked at the 10 steps that were before him. Unlike the past 10 steps, there weren’t more than four phantom images, including Su Yu’s, that were present from the 50th to the 60th steps. Specifically, there was one on the 50th, the 52nd, and the 53rd steps, as well as a tall woman’s phantom image on the 57th step.
Su Yu inwardly weighed his abilities at this moment. Since he had the Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron’s help, his soul could bear the pressure without a problem, while for his fleshly body, he could still use the First Dragon Body, which he still hadn’t used until now. Thus, if he clenched his teeth, and persisted, then he should still be capable of shattering that woman’s phantom image on the 57th step.
But, as he looked at the people on the ground, whose faces were all filled with shock, Su Yu decided to give up on such an idea. After all, his fleshly body and soul had already been tempered enough, so he had achieved his goal. Moreover, he had already attracted enough attention, so he figured that he should conclude things here.
After all, he had decided that he must keep a low-profile since he had just joined the sanctum. Su Yu didn’t yet know that his performance in the Carp Leaping over the Dragon Gate test had already made him quite famous, so it would be impossible for him to keep a low-profile.
Su Yu tapped the ground with the tip of his toe as he went through the heavy water, then flew back to the ground. Such a scene startled the people with discerning eyes. When the other people were leaving the Carp Leaping over the Dragon Gate, most of them were extremely exhausted, even Shao Li.
However, the fact that Su Yu was capable of passing through the heavy water forcefully showed that he still had some energy left and was still capable of proceeding forward. This clearly revealed that this lad must have hidden part of his potential all this time!
Palace Master Kong Chan and Palace Master Hua relaxed slightly as they glanced at each other. Then, they both looked at Su Yu. They figured that his temperament should be quite steady now, since he had managed to stop in time and hide part of his potential.
Palace Master Kong Chan stood up and smiled as she looked at Madame Situ and said, “Madame Situ, you recommended an extremely excellent lad to us, and you also rendered a great service to our Red Blood Palace’s outer sanctum. You will be awarded a sixth-grade Divine Nourishment Pill, and the Situ family’s test recruitment quota will also be doubled, meaning that it will now be allowed to recommend 40 people each time.”
She then added, “I hope that you will continue recommending such talented people as Su Yuxian to our outer sanctum in the future.”
The expression of many families’ masters changed when they heard these rewards. After all, she didn’t get just a fifth-grade Divine Nourishment Pill, but she also got another sixth-grade one! Even someone, who had just reached the Level Three Divine Master Realm could reach the Level Four Divine Master Realm and become a middle stage Divine Master with the help of such rewards, let alone Madame Situ, who had been at the peak of the Level Three Divine Master Realm for a long time!
They all knew that Madame Situ would now join the ranks of middle-stage Divine Masters and become an existence equal to Shao Yueming! What caused their expressions to become even more unsightly was the fact that the Situ family had received an increase in their recommendation quotas, which were already one-fold greater than their own.
This meant that there would be many talented youths joining the Situ family for the quotas. Moreover, the Situ Family’s reputation would become even greater because they had managed to recommend a demon-grade genius, which meant that they would be able to attract even more geniuses to them from now on!
Such a matter would bring great benefits to the Situ family in the future. Thus, the recommendation of just a single genius had changed a whole family’s future.
It seemed outrageous at first, yet this was precisely the Red Blood Palace’s goal! It was only in such a way that the factions that were governed by them would become more diligent in recommending talented youths to them.
Madame Situ was overcome with happiness, and she felt like she would faint. Even though she was the mistress of a great family, she still couldn’t help but feel excited.
She hadn’t let down her husband, and she had fulfilled his wish! As such, the Situ family would probably grow rapidly under her leadership! It was all thanks to the masked great sir, who had brought such a powerful demon-grade genius to her!
Only the Shangguan Family’s Master was depressed at such a moment, and he constantly sighed.
“Father, since matters have developed to this point, then all regrets are useless now.” Shangguan Yunque tried to console him in a soft voice, “If something is destined to be yours, then it will come to you all by itself. Otherwise, trying to get it by force will just be pointless and futile.”
It seemed like the Shangguan Family’s Master had aged by more than 10 years in an instant. “I’m already too old, and I have become incapable of judging people properly. Yunque, you should try to get closer to Su Yu, as his future achievements will surely not be any lower than yours.”
“Understood,” Shangguan Yunque said.
As such, a shocking and astonishing exam had officially come to an end. Su Yu, an astonishing devilish genius had appeared and managed to reach the 50th step of the Carp Leaping over the Dragon Gate test with a cultivation that was just at the Level One Fairy Realm! This had caused quite a sensation.
“If we count his results in the Fairy Confining Forest, then Su Yu is entirely worthy of being awarded first place.” Palace Master Kong Chan’s face was filled with delight.
Swoosh!
At this moment, Shao Yueming, who had been in the Fairy Confining Forest, finally returned. He held two Shao Family’s junior, who were taking their last breaths.
His eyes were flushed and were filled with grief and anger. After he had searched most of the forest, he had only found the dismembered corpses of his family’s juniors. Then, he had finally found two lucky juniors, who had managed to evade the demonic beasts that were left over from the Beast Tide.
Everyone else, including Shao Lingjian, had died. There wasn’t even a corpse left behind by Shao Lingjian!
The people all stared at each other, while they took some pleasure in his misfortune. It seemed like just three of the Shao family’s people had managed to survive, which meant that their current situation was even more miserable than that of the Lin family’s, whose juniors had suffered the brunt of the Beast Tide.
“Palace Masters, I have a matter to report to you, and I hope that you can seek justice for my Shao family’s deceased members,” he said.
