Chapter 143: The Trial Concludes
Originally, almost all of the disciples planned to stay within the forbidden land for as long as possible. Even though they hadn't been told the grading criteria, anyone could see that there were only a few potential ways to increase their ranking within a trial like this. The most obvious choices were to stay in the forbidden land for longer, or to hunt demonic beasts.
Some people opted to hunt as many beasts as they could manage in as short a period of time as possible, whilst others wanted to stay in the forbidden land for as long as possible. A few ambitious fellows such as Yu Xan aimed to do both of these things.
However, after two days in the forbidden land, these dreams were cut short. Now, almost everyone merely wanted to pass the trial, surviving this ordeal whilst maintaining their position as core sect disciples.
Of course, Yu Xan was still clinging onto lofty aspirations. Towards the end of the third day, this matter came to light, causing an argument to break out.
Yu Xan argued that, since none of them had failed during the third day, they should all try their best to remain within the forbidden land for as long as possible.
Dan Shi saw everyone's reluctance to go ahead with this idea, but also their unwillingness to outright refuse Yu Xan. Dan Shi took charge, telling Yu Xan that he was being selfish, endangering others just so that he could increase his own personal ranking.
After much internal deliberation, Yu Xan sighed and unexpectedly gave in.
When Yaan saw this group of six heading towards the forbidden land entrance gate after the three-day period was over, he breathed out a sigh of relief. Really, this result was outside of his expectations, causing his opinion of Yu Xan to change slightly, though not by much.
'Yu Xan is prideful to a ridiculous degree, he naturally wanted to obtain a higher ranking. However, he also aims to become a strong leader, so he won't neglect the group. Wait, but he could still…'
Yaan's eyes widened when at the last second, Yu Xan stopped. The other five had exited the forbidden land, but Yu Xan remained within.
"Ah!" Ji Tulia and Shia both turned back, stunned to see Yu Xan smiling at them.
"Everyone, I will see you again later on." He only said this, then turned around, before walking back into the depths of the forbidden land!
Yaan could only sigh.
During the remainder of the third day, there were multiple close calls. Almost everyone was doing their utmost to return to the entrance gate, but their journeys were not without issue.
Four more disciples, after nearly losing their lives, were forced to concede defeat by shattering their Crystal Shield Beads.
By the end of the third day, 12 disciples in total had been defeated by the survival trial. Nine disciples, including the five from Yu Xan's group, managed to pass the trial, exiting the forbidden land.
As for those who remained within…
Yu Xan.
Ji Suzu.
Hian.
Yaan was not overly worried about Ji Suzu, though he did wonder exactly how long this concealment method of hers would last, and for how long she would continue sleeping…anyway, she was well hidden, whilst her location was quite safe to begin with, so she was unlikely to encounter any problems for now.
Yu Xan, after going out alone, found himself engaging in battle after battle, until he finally seemed to realise that he needed to hide himself.
He hated that he was taking Elder Yaan's advice. He hated admitting that the person who had humiliated him time and time again was actually right all along, but the truth was too obvious…
If he continued to fight out in the open like this, he would inevitably fail the test!
Seeing Yu Xan changing his tactics and gradually adapting to this new method over the following two days, made many of the elders feel impressed.
"Yu Xan has grown." Elder Renn commented
"Indeed, he's a very prideful young man, but that's to be expected, he is my brother's son after all. To think that he would change like this in such a short period of time…" Yu Shen showed a complex expression. He cast a glance at Yaan before sighing.
Yaan remained silent.
Actually, Yu Xan had been staying quite close to the forbidden land's exit gate. This was surprisingly smart, so Yaan actually wasn't overly concerned.
Right now, he was watching Hian.
'This guy…why is he still running?'
Yaan's eye twitched. Hian had been running for four days straight, he was actually approaching the inner circle at this point!
The fourth and the fifth days passed by. Yaan became increasingly worried as Hian encroached into the inner circle's border. However, luckily, it seemed that Hian himself had finally noticed this.
BANG!
The ground beneath Hian's feet exploded as a lightning bolt descended from above, coming eerily close to destroying his body entirely. Hian screamed out in fright. He finally stopped his long run and looking around properly for the first time.
"T-this…! I-I-I e-entered th-the i-i-inner c-c-c-circle?! Sh-shit! B-back! G-g-go b-back!"
He stuttered even more than usual, before immediately turning around and running once again, now in the opposite direction and with a very pale expression.
Seeing this, Yaan let out a sigh of relief.
Near to the end of the fifth day, Yu Xan encountered difficulty. He met with a horde of beasts, ranging from Rank 1 to Rank 3. After being beaten to a pitiful state, he finally made his escape and exited from the forbidden land.
When he found out that two others still remained within the forbidden land, he clenched his teeth tightly, unable to accept this. However, when the truth was right in front of him, what else could he do but wait?
Actually, Yu Xan's result was very good right now, since he had stayed within the forbidden land for longer than almost everyone else, whilst he had also killed the most beasts.
Yaan had never doubted that Yu Xan would perform well. His worry was that Yu Xan would perform well, up until the moment that he got himself killed. Now that Yu Xan had returned, one of his biggest worries dissipated and the pressure was relieved significantly.
Now, with only two people remaining in the forbidden land, the attention shifted onto Hian.
Each day, Hian ran. He did not stop running unless he was confronted by a demonic beast.
At first, the spectating elders somewhat disdained Hian's actions in this trial, until they truly paid attention to him.
He travelled quickly, but exceedingly quietly. He did not leave behind any traces of his presence, making it difficult for any beasts to track him. As he moved, he was difficult for beasts to discover, meaning that he encountered dangerous situations far less often than others.
Especially considering the distance that he had travelled, it was actually very impressive.
Even more impressive was Hian's instinct for danger. He seemed to be able to sense the presence of danger far earlier than he should be capable of. Whenever a demonic beast came even remotely close, he would lash out violently and with his full strength, killing it quickly and without holding anything back. As soon as he was done with the fight, he moved on.
Like this, nine days into the survival trial, Hian finally returned to the entrance gate. When he calculated how long he had been in the forbidden land, he paled slightly, then quickly left.
When Hian made his way into the crowd of the other successful core disciples, he received some strange looks. There was some incredulity, some surprise, and some envy. Towards these looks, Hian laughed awkwardly, scratched his head, then quickly tried to blend into the crowd.
Now, only Ji Suzu remained.
"So…" One of the elders looked at Sect Master Brase uncertainly. Brase laughed wryly and gave a helpless shrug, knowing what this person wanted to ask.
"Apologies everyone, but I have no idea how long this girl is planning to sleep…Elder Ji Luna, do you perhaps recognise the technique that she used?"
At this point, Elder Ji Luna sighed. A trace of melancholy could be heard in this sigh…
"I indeed know this technique…it is my sister's technique, I had no idea that my niece had already mastered it to this degree…"
A few of the elders were slightly startled. It was clear to everyone that Ji Suzu and Ji Tulia did not have any sort of positive relationship, but it turned out that they were actually cousins?
Yaan was even more surprised. Ji Suzu, the girl renowned in his class for being an outcast within the Ji Clan, was actually the niece of Ji Luna?
But Ji Luna was the daughter of the current Ji Clan patriarch! Meaning…
'Ji Suzu is part of the Ji Clan main lineage, and the granddaughter of patriarch? Both she and Ji Tulia are grandchildren of the patriarch, why is their treatment so different?'
Although Yaan wondered this, he supposed it didn't really matter. There were too many individuals with complex backgrounds and relationships in a large sect like the Fragment Sect. Trying to understand them all would give someone a migraine.
After a long moment of silence, Ji Luna sighed again and said:
"This technique, when used to this level, should last for around 30 days."
"I see." Brase nodded. "Then we will wait for 30 days. Everyone, if you are busy or have other matters to attend to, do feel free to leave. The main event is now over, I'm sure that everyone is clear of the outcome."
After some discussion, most of the elders decided to leave. Their impression of Yaan had improved and they gave him warm smiles and pleasant parting words. Some were still bitter that he had beaten up and endangered the lives of their relatives, but for the most part, the animosity had dissipated.
The main reason for them all leaving was because they realised that in 30 days time, it was entirely possible that Ji Suzu might use her technique once again…
She did. Twice.
Yaan was unable to depart, but nobody would be willing to simply stare down blankly for 90 days. As such, he, Keasal and Ji Luna, the only elders who bothered to stick around for this long, sat down to cultivate until Ji Suzu finally emerged from under the rock.
During this time, Yaan decided to investigate the golden elixir which had been absorbed into his body. He still did not fully understand this elixir, but he was able to slowly understand some of its mysteries over these passing days.
He confirmed his previous guess - the elixir was accelerating the healing of his dantian!
The restoration of Yaan's dantian was proceeding far more slowly than he had originally expected. The damage was simply too severe, whilst the dantian was very complex and required an extended period of time to heal properly.
However, one month into this cultivation session, Yaan watched joyously as the regeneration of his dantian finally reached completion!
Finally, his dantian had recovered! Unfortunately, Yaan was still completely unable to cultivate Innate Qi due to the Vital Core within his physical body. He would need to regress his vital cultivation first if he wanted to step onto the path of Qi refining once again.
When Ji Suzu finally emerged, Brase returned. He was unable to hang around for these 90 days. As the sect master, he naturally had other duties to attend to.
"Haha, this girl…" Brase looked down and laughed oddly. Ji Luna wore a forced smile, whilst Keasal looked intrigued.
Ji Suzu was a natural beauty, but her good looks were ruined by her ever-vacant gaze and her tired expression, not to mention her usually dishevelled hair. Right now, all of these things looked even worse than usual, plus, she was covered in dirt.
A cultivator at the Qi Temple Realm could easily clean themselves using numerous methods, but she didn't seem to notice the dirt, or perhaps she just didn't care.
Ji Suzu looked quite tired as she ran, but she forced herself to remain alert and on guard. She seemed to have quite good luck, because she didn't encounter any beast groups with Rank 3 beasts during her return journey.
The moment Ji Suzu exited the forbidden land, Yaan heaved a sigh of relief, feeling like a great pressure had been removed from his chest. Even when he found himself in life and death situations, Yaan didn't feel this uncomfortable, because at least in those situations he could rely on himself. Throughout this trial, he was forced to place his life in the hands of others, which was exceedingly uncomfortable for someone so self-reliant like Yaan.
He smiled gladly, but in the next moment, he froze.
A familiar voice appeared in his mind…
'Come to Fragment Peak.'
His teacher had summoned him once again.
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