True Martial World - Chapter 969: Badly Battered

No one expected that Shui Ningshuang's assessment would directly give an opportunity to everyone who was present. Just the thought of entering a Divine Lord's herb garden to pluck herbs was exciting.

About nine thousand warriors impatiently stood in front of the Door of Misty Rain. They were waiting for Shui Ningshuang to give the go ahead.

A look of excitement flashed in Black Tiger's eyes as he prepared himself. At that moment, he noticed Yi Yun, who wasn't standing very far from him. He could not help but reveal a sneer. "Number one genius of the Luo clan? I wonder if your speed will still be as slow as a tortoise."

"Bro, in a while, we brothers will charge right in front. If I'm not wrong, there is one ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower at most. If we are too slow, there won't be any left!" Bear Two said.

"That's right! However, be careful of any unexpected dangers. The herb garden is most likely not that simple with traps along the way."

Just as Black Tiger finished speaking, Shui Ningshuang nodded her head slightly and said, "You can begin."

Charge!

Fighting spirit burned in the eyes of Black Tiger, Bear Two, and many other assessees. They charged out like arrows that left a bowstring!

Everyone knew very well that Fairy Ningshuang's assessment was not that simple. Many of them had activated their Fey race bloodlines, which caused them to shimmer in a divine light. Behind many people were the phantom images of their ancestors. Instantly, Brocade Spring Court looked like thousands of Fey were galloping in a spectacular stampede!

Black Tiger and Bear Two was rushing right in front of the crowd!

But just as they reached the Door of Misty Rain...

"Boom!"

A loud explosion echoed aro as the duo slammed into an invisible light curtain. The duo's bodies shook violently as they rebounded off the light curtain.

Black Tiger and Bear Two flew backward at a speed much faster than when they were charging at the door. They slammed heavily into the ground!

"Peng! Peng!"

With two dull thuds, the duo crashed into the ground. Their faces faced the sky, but Black Tiger's face was covered in blood. He had been running at full speed and he had protruded his head right in front. It was his face that slammed into the invisible light curtain and so even his nose had been flattened.

As for Bear Two, his condition was worse. He had fractured seven or eight ribs and his body was convulsing as he foamed at his mouth.

After Black Tiger and Bear Two, there were about a hundred more people who slammed into the light curtain just like them. The impacts left them badly battered as they wailed in pain.

It was the ones that had charged slightly slower who managed to slow down when they took warning from the failures of others. They had escaped the outcome of slamming into the wall of light.

As for Yi Yun, the crowd had already charged forward and were sent flying back, but he did not even take a step forward ever since Fairy Ningshuang declared the start of the assessment.

After a long while, Bear Two and Black Tiger managed to catch their breaths.

They struggled to get up and they could hardly stand straight. Their heads were hurting and they felt dizzy.

"What the heck!?"

"Fuck, we got tricked. To think that there is such a trap set up in the Divine Lord herb garden. The lot of us who were the first to step on the mine suffered a great deal, while those cowards at the back managed to gain an advantage."

As Black Tiger touched his bloodied face, he noticed that Yi Yun was not far from them. Yi Yun had been standing there all along, like he was an outsider witnessing all that was happening.

Black Tiger and Bear Tiger looked at Yi Yun, and in return, Yi Yun looked at the pair of brothers in trouble.

Yi Yun did not conceal his gaze. The way that he looked at Black Tiger and Bear Two was like he was looking at a a pair of retards.

They only had brawn over brains. They were shallow and ignorant, but they thought highly of themselves, so who else could be blamed?

In fact, Yi Yun had long noticed the thick energy that gathered in front of the Door of Misty Rain with his energy vision. As long as anyone attempted to rush in, the energy would immediately condense together and become as unassailable as divine metal. In addition, the energy light curtain could even reflect energy. It would return how ever much energy was used to slammed into it. This was the reason why many people ended up in such tragic states when they slammed into it.

"That punk!" Black Tiger and Bear Two were furious. They had suffered serious injuries after bouncing back from their charge, but Yi Yun found much amusement in watching them on the side.

"How is it skill to be standing on the side watching? If you have the guts, go on and charge at it. How shameless is he to mock us when he cowers behind like a tortoise!" Black Tiger cursed unhappily.

At that moment, a beam of light flashed. Chi Zhuiyun had walked in front of the Door of Misty Rain.

He was dressed in red and he stood straight in a towering and magnificent manner. All his energy began to gathering on his spear.

"Oh, Chi Zhuiyun?"

Just as everyone was surprised, Chi Zhuiyun suddenly thrust his spear out!

The thrusting of the spear made it seem like hell had descended on the mortal realm. Wraiths wailed as a gigantic Shura devil appeared behind Chi Zhuiyun.

War Demon Form — Shura!

"Boom!"

With a loud explosion, visible ripples appeared in the void in front of Chi Zhuiyun. The light curtain was reverberating!

Everyone finally realized that it was a pale blue light curtain. It was like a water membrane. And now, Chi Zhuiyun's stab has caused a tear in the curtain of light!

Chi Zhuiyun's eyes were focused as his body flashed. He had already entered the light curtain!

At the next moment, he had stepped through the Door of Misty Rain!

"He entered the Divine Lord herb garden!"

Everyone stared with widened eyes. Chi Zhuiyun had managed to use his powerful attack to rip the light curtain apart, allowing him to gain entry through the Door of Misty Rain!

His attack was way too sick!

"I can enter as well!"

In a split second, a small-built Fey sprang out of the crowd. With a machete in hand, he immediately followed Chi Zhuiyun's footsteps.

"Dang!"

He slashed at the light curtain that Chi Zhuiyun had just attacked. He had an ingenious plan. He believed that the part of the light curtain that Chi Zhuiyun had just ripped apart was likely to remain unstable. By attacking the same spot, there was a higher chance of tearing the light curtain open.

However…

"Whew!"

His blade beam was rebounded, slashing straight back at his chest.

'"Puah!"

The small-built warrior spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward and crashed heavily into the ground.

He had failed!

Everyone was stunned. Chi Zhuiyun had succeeded with a single attack. The guy had attacked the same spot but ended up in such a situation?

"I know him. He is Yuchi Long from the Oracle Fey Kingdom's Yuchi family. He is definitely one of the top figures of the southeastern zone of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, but who knew that the gap between him and Chi Zhuiyun would be so large!?" Someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

In the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Chi Zhuiyun had made his public appearance a decade ago. Although he was famous, there were very few people who had a chance to really fight with Chi Zhuiyun. Without an actual fight, there was no way to understand Chi Zhuiyun's formidability.

A year ago, Chi Zhuiyun had swept through the Luo clan but was eventually defeated by Yi Yun. This had greatly reduced the halo around Chi Zhuiyun, which also resulted in some members of the Oracle Fey Kingdom thinking that Chi Zhuiyun was just that and nothing more. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

But today, they had witnessed and got a deep understanding of how much more inferior the famous Yuchi Long from the southeastern zone was when he was compared to Chi Zhuiyun.

Upon seeing this scene, many people could not help but cast their gazes on Yi Yun.

Chi Zhuiyun was already so powerful, but he was still defeated by Yi Yun's hand. Then, what was Yi Yun's strength? How strong was he?

True Martial World - Chapter 968: Divine Lord Herb Garden

Upon hearing the Oracle Fey Kingdom king's question, Song Wuchen's heart fell into turmoil.

With things coming to this point, he was already unsure about what to do. The assessment that he had prepared was not suitable for about ten thousand people. Did he have to do another test of the Nine Palatial Array?

Disregarding the fact that he was already too embarrassed to use the Nine Palatial Array again, even if he used it, what would happen if the problem reemerged? He might as well slam his head against a surface till he dies.

Who was it that cracked my Nine Palatial Array? Could it really be the warriors that participated in the assessment, such as… Yi Yun!?

Tens of thousands of people had their eyes focused on Song Wuchen. Song Wuchen did not heed the thoughts that these lowly warriors had of him, but... Felicitous Rain Lord!

Song Wuchen knew very well that on the floating island, Felicitous Rain Lord could see him. Felicitous Rain Lord was waiting to see what he would do, making him even more anxious as his palms broke out in sweat. Without the support of the Demon Defying Bead, he did not have any arrays that could test ten thousand people at once.

The only option that he had was to send everyone to the desolate plains and group them together in a battle royale. However, that was a simple and crude. Furthermore, it would not be a fair assessment. It would obviously not please the Felicitous Rain Lord.

At that moment, a rustling sound was heard.

Like misty rain that drifted past, a misty drizzle enveloped the towering tree's hall. A white-dressed female appeared above the square.

Shui Ningshuang!

The person most trusted by Felicitous Rain Lord after she began following him tens of thousands of years ago.

"Martial Aunt Ningshuang… "

Song Wuchen hurriedly stood up and saluted her. Song Wuchen felt nervous upon seeing her at that moment. It was obvious that Shui Ningshuang was displeased with the assessment that he presided over.

"The next assessment's topic shall be given by me!" Shui Ningshuang said.

Her words caused Song Wuchen's heart to sink.

He gaped but eventually, he did not say a word.

Shui Ningshuang was giving the next topic that was going to be assessed?

Many warriors who were present looked at Shui Ningshuang, and her gaze had unintentionally landed on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was inconspicuous with about ten thousand warriors present, so although the others did not know that Shui Ningshuang was focusing on Yi Yun, Yi Yun himself knew.

He stroked his chin. He knew that the process of him cracking the array had mostly likely been seen by Shui Ningshuang.

He was not afraid that the secret of the Purple Crystal would be exposed. The Purple Crystal far exceeded the martial realms of this world. No one would be able to detect it.

If they could not detect the Purple Crystal, then everything would come down to Yi Yun himself.

Since he wanted to become a personal disciple, he definitely needed to show the extraordinary worth of himself. There was no reason to continue hiding his strength.

"Since the first round is as such, everyone can be considered to have passed. As for the second round… "

As Shui Ningshuang spoke, she snapped her fingers.

"Whew!"

A faint light tore through the void after it shot out from Shui Ningshuang's fingertip. It accelerated before becoming a big door.

"Boom!"

The door landed on the ground and it stood in front of everyone.

The door was hundreds of feet wide, and more than ten stories high. It was massive.

People could see the misty rain inside the door. There were mountains that could be barely made out through the rain, with lush grass and an endless sea of flowers.

A door that led to another world!

"This is the Door of Misty Rain. It's a Divine Lord herb garden that I am in charge of. Past the Door of Misty Rain is an independent world. My assessment is for everyone to enter the Door of Misty Rain, and pluck a flower from the ground. Coming out of it again would be considered a pass!"

Divine Lord herb garden?

Plucking flowers?

The warriors present were all extremely excited when they heard this. It was a Divine Lord herb garden!

The thought of being able to enter a Divine Lord's herb garden was invigorating. Furthermore, the details of the assessment were rather fresh!

Plucking flowers inside the Door of Misty Rain sounded extremely simple, but people knew that the assessment set by Shui Ningshuang was definitely not as simple as it sounded on the surface. There was probably some tricks to the Door of Misty Rain.

However, that only made it more interesting. If anyone could complete it, it would be meaningless as well.

"Haha, plucking flowers. May I ask Fairy Ningshuang if simply plucking a flower is a pass, are there other means of grading?" Black Tiger asked loudly.

Previously, the shorter the amount of time taken to clear the Nine Palatial Array, the better the results were.

As for plucking flowers, the Door of Misty Rain was just in front of them. The flowerbeds were not very far either. Charging in to pluck a flower before returning was something that could be completed if one had the ability. The amount that it took wouldn't differ greatly amongst people. It would not illustrate the disparity in his result from others.

"Grading?" Fairy Ningshuang smiled. "The flowers closest to the Door of Misty Rain are known as Seven Heart Flowers. The flower takes a thousand years to sprout, a thousand years to grow, and a thousand years to form its bud. After that, it would grow one additional petal every thousand years, for a total period of ten thousand years. If you can return with a Seven Heart Flower, it would be considered to be a perfect grade. However, even if you fail to pluck a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, that's fine. Just bringing back a bud would be considered a pass!"

When Fairy Ningshuang said this, everyone looked at the Door of Misty Rain.

Through the blurry mist of rain, people saw flowers on the bed of grass as expected. The number of petals varied.

The ones closest to the Door of Misty Rain were only flower buds, and the deeper it was, the more petals the flowers had.

However, it was already considered quite a number for a flower to bloom four or five petals. Six petals were extremely rare and they were usually in the deepest depths of the misty rain. They would not be seen clearly.

As for the seven-petal flowers, they were nowhere to be found.

"Are there seven-petaled flowers?"

Black Tiger craned his neck to take a look. He wanted to find a flower ahead of time so that he could lock onto a target when he entered the Door of Misty Rain and pluck it in one fell swoop!

Even if it was too difficult, preventing him from plucking it, he could bring a five or six petal flower on his way back.

Black Tiger's question made the elders in the towering tree's hall frown.

A legendary figure of the World Margin Sect said, "Although the lifespan of the Seven Heart Flower isn't considered to be long, with it being ten thousand years at most, it is extremely precious. It has gathered the worldly essence, and most Seven Heart Flower would wither before they fully bloomed. The number that can grow to an age of ten thousand years is one in ten thousand. It is a top holy herb, and it has amazing effects for Dao Manifestation realm warriors in their breakthroughs to Dao Palace, as well as Heaven Ascension realm warriors in their breakthroughs to Dao Manifestation.

"Kid, do you think a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower is cabbage that can be found anywhere on the streets? That you can find it without much work!?" The elder grunted, clearly annoyed about a burly man who had little knowledge like Black Tiger.

It was unknown how Black Tiger managed to be at the forefront during the first assessment.

Upon hearing the elder's words, everyone's eyes lit up. Many of the people present were at the Heaven Ascension realm. If a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower was helpful in their manifestation of the Dao, it would be an absolute treasure.

At that moment, Shui Ningshuang said with a smile, "The Seven Heart Flower that you pluck will belong to you, even if it is a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower! Of course, it will depend on your own circumstances if you have one or not."

Shui Ningshuang's statement made the warriors present excited.

The Seven Heart Flower that they plucked would be theirs!

The value of the herbs in the Divine Lord herb garden was beyond doubt. Furthermore, the World Margin Sect elder had just mentioned the miraculous effects of the Seven Heart Flower.

Fey like Black Tiger and Bear Two, who came from tribes, were extremely eager. As tribes that were far away from the central cities, they were most lacking in herbal treasures. The Divine Lord herb garden was truly timely.

True Martial World - Chapter 967: Abnormal Eyes

The feeling of estrangement was a result of the complete destruction of Song Wuchen's mental imprints in the Demon Defying Bead. Now with the Demon Defying Bead in hand, Song Wuchen probed it with his perception. The Demon Defying Bead was not his, so he spent a very long time trying to figure out what had happened. The twelve energy nodes had completely shattered!

This…

Song Wuchen was astounded. Every energy node had traces of the energy being destroyed remaining. He had a feeling that it was destroyed by mortal means, but who could have the ability to destroy his energy nodes?

Song Wuchen was incensed. He would definitely make the person pay a heavy price if he knew who had done it!

"Could it be Tian Xun? Or is it Mi Liu?"

Song Wuchen's initial suspects were not the warriors that had participated in the assessment, he suspected his fellow martial brothers. Under Felicitous Rain Lord, it was not uncommon for the in-name disciples to have their own conflicts.

It was possible that someone knew that he would be presiding over the assessment and that he wanted to demonstrate his prowess, so the person deliberately sabotaged him?

But on further thought, Felicitous Rain Lord was watching. Who had the ability to pull wool over the Felicitous Rain Lord's eyes and tamper with the assessment?

Was it really a participant that did it?

Song Wuchen found it unbelievable. A group of disciples who were mostly at the Heaven Ascension realm, and some at the Dao Manifestation realm, were just riff-raff. None of them had that sort of ability!

At that moment, many people were in flurries of discussion as they talked about the assessment.

Song Wuchen sat on a seat of honor in the towering tree's hall, but he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

He had previously made a boast, but the outcome was disastrous. His face had figuratively swollen.

He cast his eyes across all the disciples that cleared the level before his gaze landed on Yi Yun.

"Could it be him? He is only at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, so how was he able to crack my array!?"

At that moment, Yi Yun was freely floating mid-air as he quietly regulated his breathing. The cracking of the array did not consume too much of Yi Yun's energy, as all he needed to do was find the energy nodes and sever them.

After severing the energy nodes, Yi Yun leisurely cleared the remaining eight palatial halls. By the time he came out, most of the participants had already come out. Yi Yun did not stand out when he appeared in the raining beams of light.

Although he was keeping a low profile, there were people who paid him special attention.

"Are you Yi Yun?"

Two stout males appeared in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun snapped out of his meditation and opened his eyes.

The two of them had beast fur covering them. It was not uncommon to have half-beast appearances amongst members of the Fey race.

"I'm Black Tiger, and he's my brother, Bear Two!" One of the men said. Kid Tiger was his nickname in the tribe, and it naturally didn't sound as imposing as Black Tiger when it was said in a formal setting.

Yi Yun's eyebrows pricked up. The two had released their aura and they had surging killing intent. They were definitely not here to greet him.

"Rumors say that you are the number one genius of the Luo clan, but it seems that your speed at clearing the array wasn't that fast either!"

Black Tiger's first words had an aggressive tone.

He and Bear Two were amongst the first few to clear the Nine Palatial Array, so he was obviously feeling very confident.

Although people later believed that something had gone wrong with the Nine Palatial Array, there were no problems with the first few levels after all. By being the first few to come out of the array, it was also a proof of their strength. This made Bear Two and Black Tiger turn smug.

"I heard that you defeated Chi Zhuiyun?" Bear Two said with a low, muffled voice. "Chi Zhuiyun is called the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, but it's only a title. Don't think that you have swept through the Oracle Fey Kingdom by simply defeating Chi Zhuiyun!"

Yi Yun was amused when he heard Bear Two's words. He knew that many geniuses were proud and they also felt proud of their family clans or factions. They were naturally indignant about the claim that the Oracle Fey Kingdom had been swept clean by Yi Yun alone.

If he had not cracked the Nine Palatial Array, it might have been a problem for the duo to even come out of it. However, the world was large, so there was bound to be people that had an exaggerated opinion of their own abilities. And such kind of people could even be the majority.

"The assessment has only just begun. We will have a chance to compete with you." Black Tiger declared his challenge against Yi Yun before he turned and walked away.

…

Simultaneously, on a floating island outside the royal capital, Felicitous Rain Lord was paying attention to the entire situation. He gave a rare chuckle.

"That young guy is rather interesting!"

As the owner of the Demon Defying Bead, Felicitous Rain Lord naturally saw the entire process of Yi Yun cracking the array.

"Divine Lord, what method did Yi Yun use to crack the array?" Fairy Ningshuang had also seen the entire process. It was true that Song Wuchen's control of the Demon Defying Bead was inadequate, but the energy nodes were still situated in really hidden spots. However, the twelve energy nodes were still found by Yi Yun and they were all destroyed.

This act astonished Fairy Ningshuang greatly. Even Dao Manifestation perfection realm geniuses had no chance of cracking it, let alone a Heaven Ascension realm warrior.

"That child might have some special talent. I can sense that he has very keen senses when it comes to the perception of energy! In Wuchen's array, due to some imperfect initializations, there were residual energy trajectories. Yi Yun followed these energy trajectories precisely and he finally reached the energy nodes."

With Felicitous Rain Lord's cultivation level, he could easily sense the distribution of the energy nodes and the energy trajectories. As such, he understood how Yi Yun had cracked the array.

"For him to have such keen perception of energy, could he be born with abnormal eyes?"

In a martial world, some people possessed special physical traits, such as abnormal eyes. They could see laws and the trajectories of energy.

People who possessed such special traits were extremely few in number, with very few historical records describing them. Even well-read people did not understand much about these people who were born with extraordinary physical traits.

Furthermore, people with extraordinary traits did not necessarily have martial talent. People who could see flow trajectories of energy might not be able to absorb the energy. Their ability to learn and perceive was not necessarily high. These factors caused the extremely few number of people to eventually be lost in the crowd, and vanish in the vestiges of time.

And those with impressive talent and possessing extraordinary traits were truly the blessed children of the heavens. They were particularly rare.

"Divine Lord, if Yi Yun really was born with an abnormal trait, he is truly an extremely rare prodigy considering his martial talent."

"It's still too early to say. The way he cracked the array is but a trick after all, and it was not done with his own strength and interpretive perception. I want to see what his limit is, and what his understanding of the Dao is."

As Felicitous Rain Lord spoke, Shui Ningshuang could clearly see the look of anticipation in his eyes. It was truly not easy to make Felicitous Rain Lord, who had extremely high standards, reveal such an expression. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

…

At the moment, in the towering tree's main hall.

"Young Master Wuchen, what do we do now?" The Oracle Fey Kingdom king asked a probing question.

He could tell that the assessment had fallen into disarray. Song Wuchen had suffered quite a setback.

Supposedly, the assessment after this demanded a small group of people, with a test of Dao Domain for example. It would require each person to showcase their Dao Domain one after another. But now, with nearly ten thousand people present, no one knew how long it would take if they all lined up.

True Martial World - Chapter 966: Hidden Geniuses

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi had seen Song Wuchen's Nine Palatial Array. It was absolutely impossible to clear it in such a short period of time!

However, the other members of the audience did not care about this.

"Someone cleared! He cleared it so fast!"

"What a genius!"

People shouted excitedly. However, as these people were shouting, there were even more people who were dumbfounded. They looked at the long-haired youth that had suddenly appeared, and the first thing on their minds was — who the heck is he?

There were many geniuses in the alliance, but not every one of them were known by everyone like Yi Yun or Chi Zhuiyun.

Nearly no one knew who the person that had appeared was.

"Hmph! You don't know him? I'm not afraid to tell you that he is my sworn brother! At a young age, he showed unparalleled talent. Later on, he went deep into the mountains and became the disciple of an erudite master. He remained unseen for years, and his strength is definitely top in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. It's beyond your imaginations!"

At that moment, a youth jumped out and said those words. He looked like he was a strutting rooster after a victory.

Everyone looked at the fellow who came out to posture in a daze.

Now, who was this guy?

The guy was wearing a tiny hat and his clothes were beast hides. There was a family clan emblem that no one knew about on his clothes. It was obvious that he came from some tiny tribal clan from some nook and cranny.

How could such a person like that know a 'top' genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom?

Everyone found it unbelievable.

However, it was not uncommon for some peerless geniuses to have friends at the grassroots level in his youth. It was common to have legends of how a peerless hero would stand up for his friends that were being bullied in his youth.

But at that moment, another beam of light flashed and another person who cleared the assessment appeared!

The person looked even more handsome. He was dressed in white robes and he held a fan in his hand. He was even slowly flapping his fan. Although he had cleared the Nine Palatial Array, he looked energetic and clear-minded. He did not look drained at all, and he gave off an impressive vibe.

"Another passed, and it was done so easily."

"It is another unfamiliar face. However, it seems like he's also from the Oracle Fey Kingdom. I never knew that we had so many hidden geniuses in the Oracle Fey Kingdom!"

"Indeed. It seems like these people had remained hidden and do not like to compete for fame and wealth. But now, with Felicitous Rain Lord taking in a disciple, it's truly a rare opportunity, so all of them are beginning to make their appearances."

A few scions argued and at that moment, they saw another few beams of light flash. Three consecutive people appeared in Brocade Spring Court after having cleared the array!

This…

Everyone faltered in shock.

There were really too many hidden geniuses.

However, it was apparent that these people were not from the Oracle Fey Kingdom, so it was expected. The other factions in the alliance were bound to have hidden geniuses as well.

But following that…

Sha! Sha! Sha!

Beams of light flashed one after another like it was raining. In the blink of an eye, there were more than twenty geniuses!

Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw this scene. Who knew that there were so many geniuses in the world. They were truly frogs in the well to believe that the world only had geniuses like Yi Yun, Chi Zhuiyun, and Luo Huo'er. From the looks of it, they were short-sighted. Each era has men of talent, leading in what they did for hundreds of years.

"Hahaha! It's Kid Tiger of my Black Tiger Tribal Clan! That kid has extraordinary talent. He could lift a 500-kilogram rock at the age of three. Today, he has indeed given me a big and pleasant surprise. There is hope for the rise of my Black Tiger Tribal Clan!" A stout old man said with a mighty roar.

He looked extremely excited. As for the ’Kid Tiger’ he was referring to, it was a person with a silly look. The fur had yet to shed from his body, making him look like a beast-man. As for being able to lift five hundred kilograms at the age of three… that training method sure was simple…

This guy… was also some hidden genius?

Many people looked each other in the eyes. They were somewhat dumbfounded. One really couldn't judge a book by its cover.

"Congratulations as well. My White Bear Tribal Clan's Bear Two has succeeded as well. When the younger generation grows up, as fellow tribal brothers, we will march forward hand in hand!" Another stout elder said.

The Bear Two he mentioned was covered in yellow fur, making him have a brotherly resemblance of the person known as 'Kid Tiger'.

A white bear and a black tiger. What the hell? Can you tribal clans name your people in a better manner?

In fact, the White Bear and Black Tiger tribal clans were not completely unknown. They were considered to be two of the bigger tribal clans in the wild tribal clans of the Oracle Fey Kingdom. However, they were incomparable to the large family clans. Everyone believed that people from Fey tribal clans would never be able to catch up to people from large family clans that were situated in the capital. But now, from the looks of it, these tribal clans were not to be underestimated. The probability of them producing geniuses was low, but they had the numbers, so it was also possible for a talent to rise up from a tribal clan.

And following that, beams of light began bursting out one after another. Every light beam revealed a young person who had cleared the array. One after another, they appeared like mushrooms appearing after a rain. There were so many people that it was easy to lose count.

"One, two, three, four… a hundred and eighty-one, a hundred and eighty-two… " Someone casually counted as he stared with widened eyes.

Wasn't the difficulty of the assessment said to be very high? Wasn't it previously said that the first round of assessments would eliminate 99%? Why did so many people manage to clear the array?

"Two hundred and thirty-six, two hundred and thirty-seven… "

The headcount was still rising. As people were counting on one side, there would be people descending on the other side like rustling leaves. Those counting failed to keep up with the number of people descending.

Soon, the headcount broke three hundred!

People were astonished. But at that moment, many people felt that something was amiss.

It was said that it would take three days for the first person to clear the assessment, but there were more than three hundred people clearing it in eight hours?

However, there were people immersed in the joy of clearing the assessment, especially the trial-takers themselves. There were relatives and friends who excitedly spoke amongst themselves.

"Brother Bai, you passed as well!"

"Hahaha, same to you. Congratulations Brother Yuchi. The last time I met you, I knew that you aren't ordinary."

"Eh, isn't that Brother Li? It looks like he cleared it as well. Let's go and congratulate him."

There were no end to such dialogs.

At the moment, the headcount had already exceeded eight hundred!

There was no decrease in the number of beams of light that descended from the Demon Defying Bead. Instead, they were increasing in number to the point of the beams of light forming a contiguous beam that was so blinding that people could not open their eyes.

"What's going on?"

In the hall in the towering tree, many members of the upper echelon were agape. Even if the assessment relaxed in its difficulty, there was no way that everyone would be able to clear the array together, right?

Furthermore, they even saw some wondrous existences amongst the participants who cleared the assessment. The Kid Tiger and Bear Two from before could be ignored, because they saw a ten year old girl. She had two tiny hair stumps on her head and she had shimmering eyes. She looked extremely innocent, with her only missing a cotton candy in her hand to perfect her look.

Although they guessed that the assessment would adjust its difficulty according to the trial-taker's age, it was completely unacceptable that such a harmless young girl could clear the first round.

This was definitely not what a normal assessment should look like.

Many people could not help but look at Song Wuchen. He was the examiner of the first round, and the entire Nine Palatial Array was created by him. They realized that Song Wuchen's face seemed to have grown moss. It could not be any greener.

Because at that moment, there was already more than two thousand people that had cleared the Nine Palatial Array.

Actually, he knew that there was a problem when the first person came out of the Nine Palatial Array in eight hours.

When his mental imprints collapsed, he was unable to probe the situation inside the Demon Defying Bead. Now, he knew that his mental imprints had not collapsed because it was too tough on him to control the Demon Defying Bead. Instead, something strange had happened to the connection between the array formation and the Demon Defying Bead. This resulted in the collapse of his mental imprints that were not stable to begin with.

What the hell happened?

At that moment, Song Wuchen was like a burning chicken. He wished that he could charge up and block the Demon Defying Bead!

If a few hundred people appeared, he could have brushed the matter aside and increased the difficulty of the next round.

But now, with the numbers quickly approaching four thousand, half of the participants had already cleared the first level. There was bound to be more later.

How could he brush this aside? Felicitous Rain Lord was still watching!

"Damn it! What's going on!"

Song Wuchen clenched his teeth. He had tested his Nine Palatial Array several times!

It was true that he could not control the Demon Defying Bead, but as long as the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead were interfaced, there would not be any problems even if he ignored it. How could the present situation happen?

Song Wuchen did not think of the possibility that the interface was destroyed by someone. He did not believe that anyone had the ability to do so.

"Hmm… Young Master Wuchen… " The Oracle Fey Kingdom king spoke in a probing manner, "There's already more than seven thousand people… Uh… it's over eight thousand. Do you think that we should end the first round of assessment and quickly begin the second round?"

The number of people that participated in the Divine Lord's disciple recruitment numbered about nine thousand people. And previously, Song Wuchen had said that more than 99% would be eliminated and that it would take the first person three days to clear it. He even said that there would be only about ten people who would clear the trial after four or five days, but now, after eight hours, there were already over eight thousand people. Was this still an elimination?

Even if there was, it would probably number in the dozens. How unlucky would they be to be eliminated?

Although the Oracle Fey Kingdom king knew that Song Wuchen was like a volcano ready to explode, he could not help but speak up. This couldn't go on any longer. The people below were already creating a din. Even the silliest person could tell that something was amiss. There was talk going around.

"I know!" Song Wuchen said through clenched teeth.

He had failed miserably during the first round of assessment, so what else could he say!?

"Demon Defying Bead, come!"

At that moment, Song Wuchen managed to barely summon the Demon Defying Bead back using a pathetic new imprint that he placed on it.

With the Demon Defying Bead in hand, he felt the coldness of the Demon Defying Bead. Song Wuchen's face turned extremely surly.

Previously, while presiding over the assessment, he had even fantasized of the tiny hope that his master would give the Demon Defying Bead to him after the assessment. He was adept at array formations, so the Demon Defying Bead would greatly benefit him.

But now, Song Wuchen could only feel a limitless estrangement from the bead in his hand.

True Martial World - Chapter 965: Something’s not right

"Ka-cha!"

Yi Yun had completely destroyed the twelfth energy node in the Nine Palatial Array.

As a result, although the Nine Palatial Array was still in its original state, its strength was greatly reduced without the Demon Defying Bead's support.

And at that moment, Song Wuchen, who was sitting in a palatial hall in the towering tree, felt that something was amiss.

"The Demon Defying Bead… "

Song Wuchen looked at the Demon Defying Bead and he felt troubled.

Song Wuchen had previously claimed that the Demon Defying Bead was a treasure bestowed unto him by the Felicitous Rain Lord. It gave others the impression that the Demon Defying Bead had been given to him. But in fact, Song Wuchen was just an in-name disciple, so how could a treasure at the Divine Lord level be really given to him? It was just lent to him.

The Demon Defying Bead had mental imprints in it that belonged to the Felicitous Rain Lord. In order to control the Demon Defying Bead, Song Wuchen had recently infused his own mental imprints into the Demon Defying Bead. It was not very stable, and his control of the Demon Defying Bead was extremely weak.

With Yi Yun severing the energy nodes between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead, his mental imprints had suddenly collapsed. This left him momentarily baffled. He obviously refused to believe that an examinee would deliberately destroy his mental imprint. He believed that it was a result of him being able to barely control the Demon Defying Bead.

"Young Master Wuchen, what's the matter?" The Oracle Fey Kingdom's king asked as he noticed that something was amiss with Song Wuchen's expression.

"Nothing much," Song Wuchen said as he waved his hands. "Just a tiny mental imprint in the Demon Defying Bead was weakened. In a while, I'll place a few more mental imprints, so I can have more control over the assessment."

How was it possible for Song Wuchen to tell others that his mental imprints had collapsed? He had done it at such a large scale, so if there were suddenly any problems, wouldn't he be embarrassing himself?

"I see. Young Master Wuchen has been controlling a treasure at the Divine Lord level, so it's only normal for the mental imprint to weaken after a period of time." The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said with a smile. He knew how to read the cues from the countenance of others.

Placing additional mental imprints in the Demon Defying Bead was not an easy task. Song Wuchen began to producing dozens of seals, but only a tiny number of his mental imprints managed to seep into the bead.

And at that moment, the difficulty of the Nine Palatial Array had turned nearly trivial. With about nine thousand people attempting to crack an array formation that was created by a Dao Manifestation realm warrior, there was already not enough strength for the array formation to hold itself together!

Instantly, all the participants in the assessment felt energized. They gathered all their energy and began forging ahead. Many people even began running.

One palatial hall after another was left behind them.

"So it's a psychological battle. The beginning is very difficult, but once it's cleared, the later stages become trivial."

A participant was very pleased with his performance.

"I made my first public appearance after intense training, but Master said that I'm too weak and that Chi Zhuiyun is many times stronger than me. He thought that I would suffer a setback if I were to be eliminated in the beginning. Ha! I already said that it was impossible for me to be eliminated in the beginning. I really should let Master have a look at this. I’m already at the eighth hall. I'm indeed a genius. The trial is very easy!" A young man confidently muttered to himself.

In the vast world, there were all sorts of people. Although Chi Zhuiyun was publicly considered to be the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, it did not mean that every young warrior was convinced of his strength. There were always people who believed that they were the strongest and that they would be able to trample on Chi Zhuiyun once they made their public appearance. Now, with the ease of clearing the array increasing, they were convinced of their viewpoints.

Soon, quite a number of people had reached the ninth palatial hall.

They initially believed that as the last hall of the Nine Palatial Halls, there would be some difficulty to it, but they were surprised to find that the ninth hall was the easiest!

...

At that moment, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was eating spirit fruits outside the Nine Palatial Array as he looked at Song Wuchen.

"Young Master Wuchen, there's no need to rush the mental imprints. The assessment has only gone on for eight hours." The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said deliberately when he noticed that Song Wuchen was struggling to condense mental imprints.

"It's fine." Song Wuchen frowned. After his mental imprint had collapsed, he did not know what was happening inside the Demon Defying Bead either. However, he believed that the Nine Palatial Array was interfaced with the Demon Defying Bead, so even if certain nodes were not stable, the twelve nodes combined would reduce any possibility of error. It was likely that the assessment would continue on as expected.

"In a while, when a new mental imprint is established, I'll definitely increase the difficulty greatly and make those fellows suffer." Song Wuchen secretly thought to himself as he wished to vent the anger in his heart.

He knew that Felicitous Rain Lord was most likely watching the in-name disciple recruitment with his perception. As the owner of the Demon Defying Bead, Felicitous Rain Lord definitely knew about the mental imprint collapsing in the Demon Defying Bead.

This would affect Felicitous Rain Lord's impression of him!

As an in-name disciple for so many years, he had always been yearning to be promoted to a personal disciple. If he failed to run the assessment properly, how could he be promoted to a personal disciple?

Song Wuchen took a deep breath and said, "Eight hours isn't too short either. It's better that I recreate imprints. The first assessment would last about three to five days. I cannot let the assessment period exceed my control."

"Hahaha, Young Master Wuchen is truly a serious person. By saying that, I'm truly worried, afraid that my Oracle Fey Kingdom's disciples will have terrible results!" The Oracle Fey Kingdom king joked. And at that moment, the hovering Demon Defying Bead suddenly emitted a faint beam of light.

"Oh? What happened?"

In Brocade Spring Court, many people saw this scene.

"Could it be that someone has cleared the array?"

"How can that be possible!? Didn't you hear what Young Master Wuchen said? It's extremely difficult to clear the Nine Palatial Array and it would take at least three days before the first participant would clear it!"

"It might be Yi Yun or Chi Zhuiyun since it might be possible for them to clear it ahead of time… " A disciple whispered.

And at that moment, Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were in the crowd as well. Upon hearing that person's statement, they sneered, "Chi Zhuiyun? Yi Yun? Hmph, with their strength, they are only relatively stronger in the alliance. Amongst Master's disciples, they are nothing at all! They are facing an increased difficulty in the Nine Palatial Array. It would be Senior Brother going easy on them if they can successfully clear it in five days. Clear it ahead of time? Stop dreaming!" noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi detested Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun to begin with. Upon hearing someone tout the two of them, they could not help but pass off snide remarks.

When the people around them heard this, they were stunned. So it turned out that Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun were facing higher difficulties?

Before they could say anything, the flickering light from the Demon Defying Bead suddenly grew more intense.

"Oh? That is… " Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were puzzled as well. They did not notice that up in the hall in the towering tree, there was an extremely ugly expression on Song Wuchen's face.

Swish!

A beam of light burst down from the Demon Defying Bead as a figure appeared!

The person wore a long robe and he held a three-foot-long sword. His black hair was fluttering in the beam of light, making him look distinguished.

The first person to clear the Demon Defying Bead had appeared!

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were immediately left dumbfounded. It had only been eight hours, so how could that be possible!?

True Martial World - Chapter 964: Destroying Energy Nodes

"Isn't this assessment too difficult? That was just the first level, I've only cleared one palatial hall and I'm already overwhelmed. Could there be nine palatial halls… ?"

Many of the participants were not stupid. By connecting the dots, the Nine Palatial Array's name easily told them that the palatial halls were connected one after another.

The difficulty of their assessment was naturally easier than Yi Yun's, but it was still not easy to pass.

This was an array formation created by Song Wuchen after all. So how could he let all these people easily clear his array?

"The difficulty is too high. Few will definitely pass it. It was said that this array formation was created by Song Wuchen himself. An array formation that tests nine thousand people while being powered by one person is still able to eliminate so many people. Is this the strength of an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord… ?"

Many people had such thoughts in mind and they felt disheartened. The gap between them was too large.

If a Divine Lord's in-name disciple was so powerful, they could forget about becoming a Divine Lord's in-name disciple.

The nine thousand participants were struggling through each palatial palace.

The weaker ones were even stuck in the first palatial hall, with no means of escaping.

The stronger ones had already reached the fourth or fifth palatial hall. Although their energies were greatly drained, they were still struggling to forge ahead.

All of them realized that it was not possible to finish the Nine Palatial Array in a short period of time. They even had to rest midway so they could recover their energy before continuing.

In that case, it was impossible to finish it in less than three or four days.

People like Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue were stronger, but as they were given special treatment by Song Wuchen, they had only reached the third palatial hall. They were not the fastest.

By then, it was nearing dusk outside the Nine Palatial Array. As the sun slowly set, it dyed the sky red, making the surroundings more beautiful and gorgeous.

The palace maids of the Oracle Fey Kingdom were serving exquisite fruits and wine to the Oracle Fey Kingdom's king, Song Wuchen, Tian Xun and others.

These fruits were supreme-grade spirit fruits grown in Brocade Spring Court. They were sweet and delicious, and they were abundant in energy, allowing them to benefit one's cultivation level.

As for the wine, it was brewed from spirit fruits and had a bold flavor, and it could be described as ambrosia.

Song Wuchen plucked a grape as he watched the Demon Defying Bead float mid-air while it enveloped Brocade Spring Court. He began to savor the fruit's flesh that melted the moment it entered his mouth.

Such an assessment gave him a feeling that he was twiddling talented peers around his fingers.

He reveled in such a feeling and he was very pleased with the effects of the Nine Palatial Array.

"Young Master Wuchen, the first round of assessment has already lasted for six hours. How long more will it take?" The Oracle Fey Kingdom's king asked.

"At least three days. If the first person to clear the assessment does it in three days, that person will be extremely talented."

By saying it in this manner, although it seemed like he was praising the talent of the person that was going to exit the array formation at that time, he was actually praising himself.

"Hahaha, Young Master Wuchen is truly a master of arrays. This Nine Palatial Array is truly exquisite." The Oracle Fey Kingdom's king complimented. He was hoping that as Song Wuchen presided over the assessment, he would spare the disciples of the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Song Wuchen smiled slightly as he calmly accepted the compliments. He said nonchalantly, "Let's hope that I wasn't being too harsh. I was originally planning that it would be best if about ten to twenty people are able to clear this round of assessment. If I had set the difficulty to be higher, it wouldn't look too good if only seven or eight people came out."

"Seven or eight people… " The Oracle Fey Kingdom king gave a dry laugh. If there were so few people, the only people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom that could have any hope were Chi Zhuiyun and Demon Girl. Even Demon Girl might be eliminated.

...

At that moment, in the Nine Palatial Array.

Yi Yun was strolling through the void and in his energy vision, he could clearly see the energy flow between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead.

The Demon Defying Bead was a Divine Lord level treasure after all. With Song Wuchen's cultivation level, he was definitely finding it tough to power the Demon Defying Bead even if he could!

Just like a five or six-year-old child using a hammer as a weapon, although they would be more powerful than a child's fists, it would be extremely demanding when lifting the hammer. If they were not careful, they might even hurt themselves.

Now, Song Wuchen was in such a state. Therefore, the interface between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead was not considered to be perfect. There were several flaws and rough edges!

Yi Yun could clearly discern these with his energy vision.

At the moment, Yi Yun had already traversed through the spatial corridor. He did not even take a step through the second door to the palatial hall.

"Oh? There is an energy node here!"

Yi Yun's figure shuttled through the spatial turbulence and suddenly, he came to a stop in front of the void. The void seemed to be normal, but Yi Yun knew that there was a secret behind it.

"Whew!"

Yi Yun moved his hands like lightning.

With an explosive crack, the void was ripped open by Yi Yun. The energy node, that wasn't very stable to begin with, immediately tore apart!

"The fourth point." Yi Yun muttered to himself.

He had previously estimated that there were twelve points that connected the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead. When the connections were mostly severed, the Nine Palatial Array would lose most of its power.

This was analogous to two armies fighting at a fortress on top of a cliff. The fortress was impregnable, but if the cliff was destroyed, the fortress on the cliff would be taken down automatically.

"Here, the fifth point!"

Yi Yun took action once again.

"Boom!"

The fifth energy node shattered as the Nine Palatial Array's energy weakened once more.

Following that —

The sixth point! The seventh point!

Yi Yun was destroying an energy node every fifteen minutes, quickly severing the connection between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead.

And this led to the Nine Palatial Array becoming weaker.

Not only was the Nine Palatial Array facing Yi Yun becoming weaker, the nine thousand participants immediately faced such a situation as the energy nodes were shattered!

"Oh? Why does the assessment suddenly feel easier?"

A participant, who had struggled to complete the third palatial hall while feeling exhausted to the point of giving up, suddenly realized that the difficulty of the array formation was decreasing.

This made him catch his breath and revive hope in him. "Is this my imagination?"

He found it quite incredulous until he somehow cleared the fourth hall in a baffling manner. Even he did not know what had happened.

"So that's the case. It was only difficult in the beginning. As long as I survived the first few, it will become easier later on!"

There were many people like this disciple who suddenly realized the drop in difficulty.

"It's becoming easier. The difficulty of the fifth hall was already halved, but the sixth hall is actually easier than the fifth?"

"I feel like I'm about to clear it. Haha, I shouldn't have sold myself short in the past. I'm indeed a genius. Even if I can't compare with a crazy existence like Yi Yun, I'm at least someone in the alliance!" Another participant that was disheartened to the point of giving up regained his confidence.

True Martial World - Chapter 963: Nine Palatial Array

Yi Yun arrived in front of the large door and he looked up. On the door, there were runes of all shapes and sizes. Instantly, the runes flew off the bronze door like a flock of birds and swarmed Yi Yun.

The runes did not take on the shape of Ancient Fey or anything similar. They maintained their most primitive forms as they surrounded Yi Yun, like they wanted to tear Yi Yun to pieces.

"These are all runic patterns and they combine together into something like a maze. But as long as the flaws in it can be discovered, it can slowly be cracked open."

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun gently tapped the runic patterns as ripples began appearing. Yi Yun was searching for a way to crack the array formation.

With Yi Yun's taps, the flying runic patterns came to a stop, and after five minutes, the core rune was destroyed by Yi Yun, shattering the entire array formation.

"Rumble!"

The bronze door opened, giving him access, but Yi Yun frowned slightly.

The assessment was part of Felicitous Rain Lord's in-name disciple recruitment. From the beginning, Yi Yun did not care about the spot of an in-name disciple. If he could only become an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord, he would rather stay in the Luo clan.

But now, the difficulty of the assessment was so high?

This was just the first obstacle in the first assessment. It did not pose any problems for him, but many others would probably be eliminated immediately.

As Yi Yun had such thoughts in mind, he walked into the palatial hall behind the bronze door.

Upon entering the palatial hall, all sorts of chaotic scenes inundated his mind.

An illusion array!

Yi Yun was very familiar with such scenes.

An illusion array not only resulted in simple confusion, it could also kill people, trap them to their deaths, or even completely wear down a warrior's will. The terrifying highlight of an illusion array was that even if one struggled to snap out of the illusions or realize that one was stuck in an illusion array, they would still not be able to avoid the effects, eventually failing to extricate themselves from the situation. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

As for Yi Yun, this problem obviously did not exist. He immediately produced his Sword of the Will from his soul sea.

Kacha! The world in front of him shattered completely. Before the illusions even appeared, they were already diced into fragments.

Having cultivated in the Primordial Space for eighteen years, Yi Yun's mental mind had already undergone a transformation. His will had evolved, producing a Sword of the Will. It was not difficult for him to crack an illusion array at all.

However, this was only for Yi Yun. Through that attack, Yi Yun managed to probe the strength of the illusion array as well. He knew very well that if it were any other person, even if it were warriors at Nongyue or Ye Yi's level, they would probably spend quite a bit of time in it.

The difficulty of the assessment was higher than he expected.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun walked out of the palace, and after that, it was a void of nothingness. Immediately following that, the space around him began to cave in towards him. Soon, it formed a long corridor, and at the end of the corridor, there was another large bronze door!

It was almost an identical scene, and Yi Yun immediately understood what had happened.

Demon Defying Bead, Nine Palatial Array!

He must have finished one of the palatial halls, and if he wasn't wrong, there were nine such palatial halls, thus giving it its name.

To complete the array, he needed to go through all nine palatial halls.

Previously, Song Wuchen had mentioned that he himself created the Nine Palatial Array.

Song Wuchen was using an array that he created to test all of the elites present!

If the Nine Palatial Array truly had nine palatial halls, Yi Yun felt that he would be silly to really trudge through each level.

They were both members of the younger generation and Song Wuchen was only an in-name disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord, one that Yi Yun wouldn't have troubles becoming. Did the other nine thousand people, including himself, have to clear level after level of the array formation of Song Wuchen’s own creation, according to his wishes?

Yi Yun did not like being staged unless it was an elder of his.

Then, was it possible to crack the Nine Palatial Array in one fell swoop instead of clearing one palatial hall after another?

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun arrived in front of the second palatial hall's door.

The runes on the door were even stronger and more complex than the first.

"Oh? This difficulty… "

Yi Yun's eyebrows pricked up. He reckoned that the second palatial hall's difficulty was 30% higher than the first!

If this trend persisted, the third palatial hall would have its difficulty rise by another 30%, and by the ninth palatial hall, the difficulty would have increased multifold.

Then, it would not be easy to crack the array formation of the nine palatial halls, even for Yi Yun.

Even if he could crack it, it would consume a great deal of energy, time and stamina.

"Finishing the nine palatial halls will probably take a day or two. To think that the first assessment by Song Wuchen would last so long, and that's for me. If the others are experiencing the same difficulty, the number of people that can clear this level will probably be countable with one's fingers, ignoring the time and effort to do so."

"Could it be that the others are experiencing a difficulty different from mine, or does Song Wuchen plan on using one round of assessment to select the in-name disciple?"

As Yi Yun pondered over the matter, he frowned.

He did not wish to waste one or two days of energy and effort to crack Song Wuchen's array formation.

Song Wuchen was just at the Dao Manifestation realm. How profound could an array formation, that he created, be?

Yi Yun had seen the Pure Yang Sword Palace's array formations, the God Advent Tower's array formations, as well as the world created by the long-haired man in the Fey God Stone.

There were so many profound array formations, Dao patterns, and laws that Yi Yun did not have the time to ponder over, so how could it be possible for him to willingly waste time researching Song Wuchen's array formation? Furthermore, if he expended his stamina and became Felicitous Rain Lord's in-name disciple, it would affect his performance when he challenged the right to be Felicitous Rain Lord's personal disciple.

It was best to crack the array formation once and for all!

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun was in no hurry to enter the second palatial hall. He began to follow the path towards the second door.

On careful thought, with about nine thousand people undertaking the assessment, even if a large number of them were trying to fish in troubled waters, or they were riff-raff that lacked any true strength, the number was still a force to be reckoned with. There were also people like Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue. How could Song Wuchen alone, with his Dao Manifestation realm cultivation level, be able to use an array formation to maintain an assessment for nine thousand people?

Even if Song Wuchen was an array formation master, due to the limitations of his cultivation level and nine thousand people trying to simultaneously crack his array, it would have cracked with a simple prod from everyone! For it not to crack, then it could only be the…

Demon Defying Bead!

Yi Yun finally understood the situation. The Demon Defying Bead was a treasure bestowed to Song Wuchen by Felicitous Rain Lord. Yi Yun was able to use the God Advent Tower to withstand Daoist You Ming's strike, so it was not surprising that Song Wuchen could use the Demon Defying Bead to test nine thousand people with an array formation simultaneously.

"I just need to sever the connection between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead."

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun closed his eyes and he activated his energy vision.

Instantly, the runic patterns around him disappeared. In Yi Yun's vision, there were only the flow trajectories of Origins energy. He began to search the chaotic energy for the energy nodes between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead...