The first hour passed.
The over a hundred thousand people participating in this disciple recruitment test had been reduced to half! In but a short hour!
Tragic screams resounded from all around the Prairie of Death, occasionally interjected by intermittent cries for help, even the heart-wrenching roars of those unwilling to die.
The soil beneath their feet had turned bright red now, becoming sticky and squishy, yet the horde of demonic beasts was still rushing in endlessly through the space gates, their numbers increasing by the second.
The several Elders in charge of the assessment watched the carnage below indifferently.
Huang Xiaolong surveyed his surrounding after his palm struck another demonic beast that was pouncing toward him, shaking his head at the miserable state of the surrounding cultivators. Whether it was in the Divine World or in the lower realm, the weak were fated to become prey to the strong.
Regardless of identity, only one's own power ensured their continual survival.
Two hours passed.
The halved number of participants on the Prairie of Death was halved yet again, leaving only a quarter still alive. Most of them possessed the strength of a late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm, but under the continuous attacks from the demonic beast horde, once they exhausted themselves, these people ended up in the bellies of the beasts just like those before them.
By the time half a day was gone, only a tenth of the participants were still alive.
One-tenth of them, scattered loosely on the Prairie of Death while the number of demonic beasts continuously multiplied.
The remaining people fell into despair, looking at the torn limbs and dead bodies around them while more and more beasts surrounded them.
Not far from Huang Xiaolong, Zhu Wanchen was holding a long spear in one hand, weaving in and out between demonic beasts. Every time his long spear attacked, a beast would be seen tumbling to the ground. His long hair fluttered about, looking confident and in control.
Watching Zhu Wanchen’s performance, the several Elders above couldn’t resist uttering a few more words of praise.
Zhu Wanchen who had been shuttling with ease while killing demonic beasts spotted Huang Xiaolong. Watching him send every demonic beast that came to him flying with a single finger, palm, or punch, Zhu Wanchen sneered in disdain.
Although the level of strength Huang Xiaolong displayed surprised him, he didn’t really see it as attention-worthy. Zhu Wanchen was confident that, with his talent, it was only a matter of a days until he broke through to the Heavenly God Realm.
At that time, all Huang Xiaolong could do is look at his back, the gap between them would only grow larger.
Right at this time, Huang Xiaolong happened to turn in Zhu Wanchen’s direction, their gazes colliding in midair.
Looking at Zhu Wanchen’s sharp momentum with his long spear, Huang Xiaolong remained indifferent outwardly while thinking it was a pity that the assessment rules prohibited the participants from attacking each other or their qualifications would be revoked. If not…
The day soon came to an end.
At this point, a mere thousand participants survived, but even so, they were barely hanging on. Some were burdened by grave injuries, others didn’t fare that well either.
These people had banded together in a large group, hoping to survive through borrowing each other’s strength. And the obvious strong pillar of hope was Zhu Wanchen, hence there was quite a large number of people in his proximity. Quite a few had also witnessed Huang Xiaolong’s prowess as well and had tried to inch as close to him as possible.
Huang Xiaolong did not refuse those who tried to stay close to him, wanting to borrow his strength to ensure their own survival, but then again, he also did not deliberately help them. In his eyes, it all depended on themselves, whether they could survive until the end or not.
About two days later, the number of participants still breathing on the Prairie of Death dwindled down to exactly one hundred.
The same Barbarian God Sect Elder finally closed the space gates above the winding blood river, swiftly dealing with the remaining demonic beasts below in the blink of an eye. He subsequently brought the one hundred survivors who passed the assessment, Huang Xiaolong included, out from the Prairie of Death, arriving at a great hall.
The Elder, named Huang Xiaoming, looked at the participants who had successfully passed and nodded with satisfaction, “Congratulations to you all here for passing the Barbarian God Sect’s disciple recruitment exam. From today onward, you are all part of our Barbarian God Sect!”
The moment Huang Xiaoming finished the announcement, the disciples broke out in a cheer, whereas Huang Xiaolong merely gave a reluctant smile.
“Alright, settle down. Now hand in your jade talismans, we will tabulate the points and organize the assessment ranking results.” A female Elder spoke.
While on the Prairie of Death, the jade talismans given out during their registration would record the number of demonic beasts they had killed, thus the ranking would be set according to how many beasts each disciple had killed. Disciples in the top ten would receive additional rewards from the Barbarian God Sect.
Hearing this, Zhu Wanchen was the first to step up and hand in his jade talisman.
That Elder’s divine sense swept over Zhu Wanchen’s jade talisman and her eyes widened slightly in surprise. She took a second glance at Zhu Wanchen before announcing, “Demonic beasts killed: 63,215!”
All the disciples in the great hall sucked in a breath of cold air at that figure.
63,215 demonic beasts!
The disciples who had obtained the top place in the Barbarian God Sect’s past assessments generally managed to kill between forty to fifty thousand demonic beasts! It had been a very long time since any disciple broke the sixty thousand range record.
In the previous disciple recruitment assessment, that disciple who obtained the first place only managed to kill around forty-one thousand demonic beasts!
The other Elders also showed a touch of surprise on their faces hearing the result.
“Looks like this assessment’s first place is none other than Zhu Wanchen!”
“Rumors say he has a top rank ten godhead, such a talent is rare even in the whole Vientiane world surface, it’s granted he wins the first place!”
Some disciples started whispering amongst themselves after recovering from their shock, envy and admiration on their faces.
These whispers did not escape Zhu Wanchen’s ears, contributing to the complacent expression on his face.
“Next.” A moment later, the Elder ordered, pointing at a random disciple.
That disciple stepped forward, handing his jade talisman to the Barbarian God Sect Elder.
“Demonic beasts killed: 26,512!” The Elder announced after her divine sense swept over the jade talisman.
In general, disciples who successfully passed the assessment would have killed at least twenty thousand demonic beasts, so this particular disciple’s result did not come as a surprise.
Following that, the participants went up one after another, handing in their jade talisman to the Elder.
More than ninety disciples had handed in their jade talismans, yet Zhu Wanchen remained in the top spot. In the second place was a female disciple named Liu Bing, with over forty-two thousand demonic beasts killed.
At this point, everyone was certain that Zhu Wanchen had an iron grip on the first place.
Another female disciple handed in her jade talisman, her kill count fell into the general range between twenty thousand to thirty thousand.
Finally, when there were still three disciples left, Huang Xiaolong stepped up, handing in his jade talisman to the Elder.
Initially, when the Elder received Huang Xiaolong’s jade talisman, she had a mild expression on her face, but that quickly changed as her divine sense swept over it. The Elder dazed for a moment, then her mouth was slightly agape with a disbelieving expression.
Watching the wonderful expression of the Elder, the surrounding disciples became very curious.
Elder Huang Xiaoming’s smooth forehead wrinkled slightly as he approached her side, “Elder Jiang Yan, what is the matter?”
Jiang Yan did not answer him, instead, she passed Huang Xiaolong’s jade talisman straight to Huang Xiaoming. Bemused, Huang Xiaoming took the jade talisman, his divine sense made a quick sweep over it. He too was dazed for a second, then his gaze shifted back and forth between Huang Xiaolong and the jade talisman in his hand.
This drew the rest of the Barbarian God Sect Elders to their side.
“63,216?!” One of the Elders blurted out.
“What? A kill count of 63,216?!”
“How can that be? Who is he? The number of demonic beasts he killed is actually higher than Zhu Wanchen! And what kind of coincidence is that, it’s just one more than Zhu Wanchen!”
The disciples were stirred, their faces showed amazement as well as disbelief.
Zhu Wanchen’s face distorted into an ugly grim expression the instant he heard Huang Xiaolong’s result, shrieking loudly, “Impossible! There must be a problem with his jade talisman, he did something to it. Right that must be it!”