Chapter 45: Annual Examination (5)

When the exam began, the mind of 20 disciples was transported to different isolated realms. They were enclosed rooms, which were similar to Miaomiao's system space, but they were less advanced and smaller in size.

Each disciple faced their heart devils and hidden desire.

Nie Ping was sent to a place where treasures and gold coins were abundant, but those gold coins transformed into a giant monster. He was killed after he withstood the monster's wrath for three minutes without being able to retaliate. His final score was meagerly 102 points as he failed to overcome his fear.

Wei Feng faced a giant demon, an Oni Lord. He almost managed to kill it, but he died because he ran out of Qi and stamina. His final score was a bit better than his peers, 125.

Silver Phoenix's disciples went against perverted cultivators, but they did well taking down one heart devil each. Their average scores were not different than Wei Feng.

Mountain Goose's disciples also had a hard time confronting their inner greed. Some were seduced and killed by beautiful women. Some obtained valuable treasures, but they were killed by traps or monsters. Most of them didn't last three minutes as the space exploited their inner desire to create undefeatable enemies. Only talented cultivators could overcome them. Still, all of them managed to cross the 100 point threshold, showing their dignity as outer disciples.

This test was the most difficult exam for arrogant cultivators. Their scores were pathetic that Jia Shan and Xu Xiuying wanted to drag them from the stage and scold them.

Kang Yan gazed at her score and compared it to Miaomiao's.

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[Evaluation - Kang Yan]

Surviving Time: 2.23 Minutes

Heart Devil(s) Defeated: 1

Total Score: 143

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'Xu Miao has two kills. That's 2x multiplier... But I only have one. Had I fought better and killed the second illusion, I should have scored 286 instead of 143.'

This wasn't Kang Yang's first time taking this exam. It was her third time already.

The first time was when she tried her luck at this place when she was only 15. However, her score was only 55, which failed this test.

Fortunately, the Xu Clan's scouted her and recruited her into the sect nonetheless. She climbed up and became one of the top outer disciples after many years of hard work.

Kang Yan took the same test last year, and she got 120 points, which was a large improvement from the first trial. Even this time, she improved her score a bit, but it was still a lot inferior to Miaomiao's inhumane score.

'His fear is his mother and that steel monster. If he can kill his mother's illusion, then he is worthy to be called a genius.'

Kang Yan admitted defeat wholeheartedly after she had witnessed Miaomiao's performance over and over again. She could no longer call him a wastrel anymore.

Thinking of the past events when she insulted him, Kang Yan was ashamed.

'I deserve it. This is karma.'

Kang Yan gave up trying to fight against Miaomiao again. She accepted her fate as his future pet. Although she could imagine what he would do to her, the virgin girl never lamented over her past mistakes.

Instead, Kang Yan's instinctively looked forward to becoming his toy. She still remembered the weird pleasurable sensation when Miaomiao spanked and squeezed her butt. Without realizing it, she drooled.

...

Spectators were in awe and astonished when they found out that Miaomiao's heart devils were his mother and a weird truck.

This wasn't the first time that the heart devil trial was used to scan the candidates. Many noble clansmen had seen it many times in the past, and they knew what to expect.

Test takers who desired wealth or material objects usually encounter spaces, which was filled with gold coins, spirit stones, or treasures. Those who sought fame were always sent to strange arenas, where millions of spectators were cheering for him. For glutton examinees, their spaces had nothing but luxurious food.

Depending on their inner desire, the space environment would reflect it.

When the spectators saw that Miaomiao's space had nothing but his enemy, they approved of his character. It showed that Miaomiao wasn't into wealth or fame.

However, his enemy's appearance revealed his hidden heart devil. The naked opponent and its behavior revealed Miaomiao's inner desire, his lust.

Still, the illusion of Xu Xiuying confused onlookers. If Miaomiao was a lustful beast, the space environment should have been multiple attractive women as his sideline audience. But in this case, only Xu Xiuying came out.

It gave them another hypothesis that Miaomiao might be afraid of his mother, or he might have an incestuous desire.

The hidden desire of Miaomiao wasn't as surprising as his abilities to cope with the illusion's power. The space usually copied the test taker's impression of the heart devil, so the clone of a 6th stage cultivator should have killed Miaomiao in an instant. Yet, Miaomiao survived for a long time, and he managed to defeat it.

Everyone was in awe that Miaomiao managed to defeat the illusion of a much stronger foe, and it was a clone of a master.

While the disciples admired Miaomiao's performance, the deep thinkers, Qi Hong, Qi Ning, and Xu Xiuying had a different opinion.

Qi Hong believed that Miaomiao feared of his mother, but he didn't have the right idea of how strong a 6th stage cultivator was. Therefore, the clone came out weak and naked.

Qi Ning concluded that Miaomiao was a pervert bastard that desired every woman including his mother. Similar to Qi Hong's insight, Qi Ning also believed that Miaomiao had never seen the real strength of a 6th stage cultivator before, which was why the clone was too weak.

As for Xu Xiuying, who was aware that Miaomiao wasn't her real son, she figured that Miaomiao wanted her body, but he was still afraid of her power. Because of such a discovery, she had an inspiration.

'You're a naughty, naughty boy, Mao Miaomiao. Well, if you desire me that much, I might as well raise you to be my pet.'

Xu Xiuying covered her mouth with her robe sleeve. She pretended to cough, but she secretly licked her dried lips and swallowed her saliva. She got on the stage and stood behind him, waiting for his return.

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= Present =

"So, I'm your greatest fear? You little shit, why was I naked? Why did the illusion try to fuck you?"

Xu Xiuying immediately interrogated Miaomiao to make sure if he really desired her.

"I used to have a nightmare that you were one of my wives and you killed me. I never thought that I had to face your illusion there."

Miaomiao attempted to avoid the question, but Xu Xiuying saw through his lie easily with her eye artifact.

'Ah, my adorable golden goose. You're too cute for your own good. I guess I need to give you a bit of motivation.'

Xu Xiuying snorted, but she patted his head. However, she secretly transferred several refined spirit stones into his spatial ring.

[If you rank first in the final ranking, I'll make your dream come true. I'll let you use my body for a night, and I won't use my dual-cultivation technique on you.]

Xu Xiuying left him a private message via MeChat App.

When Miaomiao saw the text, his rooster got hard. As Xu Xiuying had planned, he got fired up.

Seeing her adopted son's reaction, Xu Xiuying was satisfied.

'Naughty, naughty boy. This is good. If he's into me that much, I can use my charm to enslave him. Eh, there's a problem that the heart devil image is too weak, and he killed my clone without hesitation. I should spar with him and show him the real strength of a 6th stage cultivator. Once he witnesses my strength, he won't dare to defy my authority, and it should be easier to control him.'

...

Meanwhile, Miaomiao had another inspiration. As he had been planning to break free from Xu Xiuying's influence in the future, he asked the system if his plan was plausible.

'How many dual cultivation sessions do I need to mind-break Xu Xiuying? Can I break her with my dual cultivation skill?'

[[Ding]]

[[Breaking a 1st stage or 2nd stage cultivator requires more than 3 sessions a day.]]

[[Breaking a 3rd stage cultivator requires more than 5 sessions a day.]]

[[Breaking a 4th stage cultivator requires more than 50 sessions a day.]]

[[Breaking a 5th stage cultivator requires more than 500 sessions a day.]]

[[Breaking a 6th stage cultivator requires more than 5,000 sessions a day.]]

Miaomiao's eyes almost slipped out of the sockets. The requirement was too high, and it was impossible to have sex with someone over 5,000 times a day.

'Why is it so high!?'

[[Your cultivation base is insufficient to control stronger partners. Please complete more quests and increase your cultivation base to reduce the requirements.]]

Miaomiao was disappointed. He had no choice but to abort the plan.

'I guess I have to stay in that whore house for a while. Well, as long as they don't plan to cross me, I don't mind acting as one of their goons.'

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The crowd cheered when all disciples managed to defeat their heart devils and returned alive.

"Oh, that doesn't seem dangerous! They've managed to come out unharmed, right? We should be able to pass this test as well."

"The minimum requirement is 100 points, but most disciples' performance sucks. Do you think we can pass?"

"That's easy. It's only heart devils. The stronger you are, the stronger the heart devils. Those guys are strong, so they met tough foes. We should be fine."

Many first-time examinees thought that this exam was safe and easy, judging from the result of the outer disciples. They disregarded the threat of Jian Meng without realizing the truth behind the test.

In reality, all the disciples should have died. However, the arrays healed all of their wounds and pulled them back before the deathblow due to the special treatment.

No sect wanted their precious disciples to die in a show.

Jian Meng and others didn't tell anyone. These arrays wouldn't protect the person who had committed serious crimes. This type of test-takers would die in the spaces for real.

It was a trap, which was the main reason for the high mortality rate.

Many eager candidates queued to take the exam right away. All first-timers gathered in front of the stage, waiting to be called.

On the other hand, Xie Tian, Wei Yuan, and Qing Zhong didn't move. Knowing that the test would take hours before they could take their turn, the three elites closed their eyes and rested, gathering strength to get the best score.

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= 12 Hours later =

The second trial took a long time as the trio had expected. Out of 8000 passed candidates from the first round, 6,000 examinees managed to take the test.

Also, casualties occurred. Among the test-takers, many ex-criminals mixed in. Over a thousand candidates died in the illusion realm, and their real bodies died along with their souls.

The death of these candidates frightened many test-takers who passed the first round. A thousand of them forfeited without taking the test.

Because of the leavers, Xie Tian, Wei Yuan, and Qing Zhong got their turns sooner. The three elites got onto the stage last, and all eyes focused on Xie Tian, the top scorer of the first round.

Xie Tian didn't say anything. He sat on the array, and let his conscience enter the space. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a blank room, similar to Miaomiao's room.

He slowly stood up and looked at the emerging shadowy figure.

It was Jiang Lan's clone, and she came out naked!

Xie Tian flinched when he saw his crush as his opponent.

'Is this my heart devil? Jiang Lan?'

The clone coyly smiled at Xie Tian, seducing him, "Come here, little Tian. Let your sister see you up close."

"..."

Xie Tian circulated his Qi and prepared for combat. He didn't fall for his ex's seduction.

...

A few minutes later, Xie Tian was sent back after suffering a fatal injury from the second opponent. He managed to defeat Jiang Lan and the second clone, but he wasn't in a state of challenging the third heart devil.

Still, the identity of Xie Tian's second heart devil shocked the crowd.

His second heart devil was

Xu Miao.