Chapter 40

40

After taking the jade pendants, Wei Qing stopped paying attention to the sneaky man. In his opinion, he only needed to obtain the jade pendants. He didn't care about what happened to the sneaky man after that.

The sneaky man swallowed his anger and left. He intended to return to the forest before trying his luck once more. He didn't dare cross the river valley. After all, one didn't need a brain to know that he wouldn't be able to provoke the people who managed to pass Wei Qing and enter the river valley. Now, his only hope would be to steal as many jade pendants as he could before passing the river valley after Wei Qing left.

After all, Wei Qing wasn't like him. The sneaky man only wanted to muddle a pass for this part of the assessment. However, Wei Qing definitely wanted to try and obtain this year's top place. No matter what, he wouldn't want to give up first place for this assessment. Thus, after he collected enough jade pendants, it was certain he would leave this place.

After the sneaky man left, Wei Qing leapt up. He stepped onto the protruding parts of the mountain before easily landing on the very top. Then, Wei Qing sat down in a lotus position before quietly waiting for his next prey to arrive......

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Xu ZiYan was currently cautiously crouching in a cluster of short shrubs with Xu ZiRong. With the shrubs shielding them from view, he observed the black-clothed cultivator's actions. This person was currently standing beside a small creek in the distance.

This small creek was the only source of water in the area. As for why they were hiding there, Xu ZiYan believed that although the candidates and their senior-apprentice brothers and sisters definitely brought enough drinking water in their inter-spatial bags, they probably didn't bring any bathing water.

That's right, Xu ZiYan was being very bold as he decided to hunt down a black-clothed cultivator. He believed that with Ye Gui's words, these older senior-apprentice brothers and sisters made him their target as well.

Since they already wanted to deal with him, then they couldn't blame him for making a move. The prey and the hunter. If one wasn't careful, their roles could switch without any warning.

Xu ZiYan's current smile looked exceptionally sinister. The Xu ZiRong who had made it a habit of paying attention to his big brother's mood no matter the time or place immediately caught this wicked smile. He instantly quivered once. For an unknown reason, Xu ZiRong felt a bit excited as he believed that this kind of big brother seemed to be even more delicious than usual......

No, that wouldn't do! This was the big brother who loved him! If he sucked away all of Xu ZiYan's blood, who would love him in the future?

Xu ZiRong had no other choice but to repeatedly remind himself just how important Xu ZiYan was to him. However, as his body developed and he grew older, Xu ZiRong began to increasingly feel that his older brother produced an attractive smell —— one that made him more and more thirsty......

As he secretly swallowed the bead of blood he had previously hidden, Xu ZiRong's eyes darkened. The refined essence blood from those low-level spiritual beasts had a smaller effect on him as time passed. If he wished to continue cultivating the Blood Heart Sea Sutra, he had to either slaughter a cultivator with the same cultivation as himself, or hunt stronger spiritual beasts.

Xu ZiYan had concentrated all of his attention on that black-clothed cultivator. Just a few moments ago, when he and Xu ZiRong passed through an area with red berries, this idea suddenly popped into his mind.

In general, this assessment had been more or less the same as the one in the original Xu ZiYan's memories. Although there had been a few minor incidents that were unique to this time's assessment, things didn't deviate too far.

With the help of Xu ZiRong's Wood Element martial techniques, he set up many traps. These traps wouldn't hurt anyone. However, they were capable of spraying red berry juice onto the people who walked into them.

Because the traps had all been made out of vines, there wouldn't be any spiritual energy fluctuations. If one was walking in the forest, it was easy for anybody to walk into them if they weren't careful enough. After being hit by the juice, perhaps the exam candidates and the senior-apprentice brothers wouldn't do anything about it. However, Xu ZiYan believed that those senior-apprentice sisters absolutely wouldn't tolerate themselves walking around covered in such dirty berry juice.

As he guarded the only water source and idly waited for opportunities, Xu ZiYan crouched there for about the time it took to burn one incense stick and yup, a black-clothed cultivator appeared.

That person was very thin. As they were wearing a mask and the standard black clothes the other black-clothed cultivators all wore, it wasn't possible to tell whether they were male or female. However, following his previous theory, Xu ZiYan was ninety-percent sure that this person was female, especially since they were so concerned with their state of cleanliness.

This black-clothed cultivator appeared with a mask soaked in red berry juice. It wasn't hard to guess that they had most likely tried to stop the trap from springing onto them. However, they probably didn't know that these red berries would explode the moment one touched them. Thus, they still fell into their trap.

Xu ZiYan was very careful. He believed that these senior-apprentice brothers and sisters of his would follow the rules and wouldn't use power beyond the Qi Condensation Stage. However, a person's strength didn't only include one's cultivation level. Their combat skills, weapons, and even their luck could be considered their strengths.

Xu ZiYan didn't want to gamble on his luck. Therefore, even though he had confidence that he could win against this black-clothed cultivator, he still shamelessly joined hands with Xu ZiRong to bring them down.

Just when that black-clothed cultivator leaned down to wash their hands and face, two thin vines began silently extending toward them from a short shrub. Although Xu ZiRong could also produce vines directly at that cultivator's feet, the close distance would most likely alert them. This was why he chose to create vines by his side before making them slowly crawl over there.

Unfortunately, this time Xu ZiRong had really underestimated this person. The moment that vine touched the black-clothed cultivator's ankle, they suddenly leapt away and brandished their sword. With an effortless swing, they chopped those two thin vines into pieces.

"A sneak attack?" With a smiling intent in their eyes, the black-clothed cultivator stared at the short shrubs.

Seeing this, Xu ZiRong slowly stood up before smiling bashfully. "Big sister found out......"

The black-clothed cultivator did not seem to have expected that the one who had ambushed them would be such an adorable and lovely child. Although the mask covered their face, a trace of gentleness flitted through their eyes.

Xu ZiRong mentally curled his lip. The Blood Devil Lord expressed that after so many years of acting cute, playing this kind of role again really didn't make him feel pressured. ╮(╯_╰)╭

That black-clothed cultivator smiled. "How did you know I'm a big sister?"

Xu ZiRong poked his fingers together. "I...... Big brother told me. He said, if they come over here to wash up, then they have to be a big sister."

"Oh?" The black-clothed cultivator seemed to be quite interested as she continued to question him. "Then, where's your big brother?"

Xu ZiRong slowly raised his head, before revealing a sweet smile.

The black-clothed senior-apprentice sister instinctively realized something was wrong. She detected a burst of wind passing her. Then, she saw the Xu ZiRong in front of her open his mouth before casually throwing out four words. "He's right beside you."

The black-clothed cultivator's face changed dramatically. Her figure flashed as she prepared to dodge immediately. However, a ray of lightning approached all too quickly. In addition, the two vines she had chopped up suddenly trembled before new sprouts grew from the ends and wrapped around her feet. Although they were quite weak since Xu ZiRong didn't have much time, they were still more than enough to stop her for a brief moment.

"Senior-apprentice sister, pardon us for this offense." Xu ZiYan smiled as he stared at the person who had to unfortunately meet his lightning attack head-on. She sprawled on the ground as her body became completely numb. Even though she was wearing a mask, Xu ZiYan could still feel her rage and burning anger.

A bit embarrassed, Xu ZiYan rubbed the back of his head. In the modern times, he considered himself to be somewhat gentlemanly. However, trying to be a gentleman now was the same as happily courting death.

"Senior-apprentice sister, you see......" Xu ZiYan crouched down and started to talk to the black-clothed cultivator. He raised his hand and gestured for the woman to hand over her jade pendant. Just in case, Xu ZiRong controlled the vines and wrapped her up into a zongzi.

That black-clothed senior-apprentice sister gritted her teeth and glared at these two brothers. In her heart, she had already cursed these two half to death.

"It's in my boot." Xu ZiYan didn't know what kind of spiritual artefact these senior-apprentice brothers and sisters used, but her voice was raspy and hoarse, making it impossible to tell whether she was male or female.

Xu ZiYan beamed a bright smile at this senior-apprentice sister and gave her a salute. "Thank you senior-apprentice senior!" After saying that, however, he didn't make a move to take out the jade pendant. Instead, he gave Xu ZiRong a meaningful glance.

Xu ZiRong controlled a vine to carefully probe into the black-clothed cultivator's boots. Finally, he was victorious as a green jade pendant rolled out.

When she saw how careful these two brothers were, the black-clothed cultivator couldn't help herself from cursing them again in her heart. The amulet hidden in her boots no longer had the chance to activate. Instead, she could only helplessly watch these two guys bundle her up like a zongzi before leaving in a self-assured manner.

"Two little bastards!" After the two of them left, the black-clothed cultivator cursed out loud. Using some strength, she disintegrated those vines binding her and then scattered the remnants onto the ground.

"Ha ha ha, Xue Yan, you also fell into a trap!" Another black-clothed cultivator who was very tall and burly leapt off a treetop and landed beside the other cultivator. Then, they reached out to support them.

"Watching the lively show was quite entertaining for you, right?" The black-clothed person called Xue Yan couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You didn't even think about coming down and helping me?"

The burly cultivator laughed again. "That kid is quite clever. Didn't you see how careful he was when he was collecting your jade pendant? If I came down, perhaps I'll have an ending like yours."

Xue Yan snorted instead of saying anything. Then, unable to restrain her smile, she laughed out loud. "These two stinky brats are really quite vigilant."

The burly black-clothed cultivator was quite cheerful as well. "Right? These two kids are really interesting. It looks like this batch of new seedlings are all very good. I reckon those Martial Uncles and Martial Ancestors are going to fight over them until heads are rolling again."

Xue Yan smiled slightly. "I heard there's also a Wei Qing in this batch. Is he from the Wei Family?"

The burly cultivator frowned slightly. "That's right. He's precisely the kid who looks very puffed up and arrogant. However, it seems like he already left."

"He left?" Xue Yan paused for a moment. "Whose jade pendant did he snatch?"

"I don't know," the burly cultivator spread out both of their hands helplessly.

Xue Yan rolled her eyes at that cultivator again. "I don't want to continue talking to a guy like you. I already lost my jade pendant, so I'm leaving first."

In response, the burly cultivator waved their hand at her before disappearing into the forest.

Xue Yan helplessly shook her head before muttering to herself, "Ah, this is really shameful. Don't tell me I was the first one who got robbed of their jade pendant?"

In reality——

She really wasn't.

"I don't know if you're a senior-apprentice brother or a senior-apprentice sister, but, thank you for your jade pendant." The lovely and adorable little girl smiled as she raised the jade pendant in her hand.

The black-clothed cultivator sprawled on the ground had no other choice but to smile bitterly.

The little girl waved her hand. From the black-clothed cultivator's body, a small and dark-green snake slithered out. This was precisely the little snake named Bi Yun.

The little girl smiled at the black-clothed cultivator once more. "I don't know if you're a senior-apprentice brother or a senior-apprentice sister, but you don't have to worry. Bi Yun only used his least venomous poison. With only some time and effort, you could force the poison out of your body."

When she finished talking, the little girl hid the snake into her sleeves before skipping away happily.

The black-clothed cultivator sprawled on the ground slowly sat up. Their body flashed a green light before a black liquid began shooting out from their hands. When it dripped onto the ground, the ground began sizzling as the liquid corroded the dirt.

The black-clothed cultivator gently shook their head. "This batch of disciples are really...... Heh heh, perhaps it will be quite lively next year." When they finished talking, they casually patted the dirt off their butt before leisurely walking toward the forest.

At the same time——

"Ha ha ha! This senior-apprentice brother, you've fallen into my trap!!" Xiahou Lian smiled at the black-clothed cultivator who was currently hanging upside-down from a tree branch. Then, she gave him a cheerful wave.

That black-clothed cultivator's face was filled with black lines. They casually threw out something green. Then, they quickly cut the vines wrapped around their feet before immediately disappearing.