The young boy stared at the scene before him in astonishment. He had thought the person pursuing him was incredibly powerful, only to see them effortlessly killed by the individual standing there.
"So strong! Who are you?" the boy asked.
The person smiled and replied, "I'm just an ordinary cultivator from the Xuanmen."
This person was, in fact, Ye Fan.
Hearing this, the boy recalled how the evil cultivator had reacted with shock upon hearing the name "Xuanmen," confirming that it was indeed a formidable cultivation sect.
Just as the boy was about to say more, a massive object flew towards them from a distance.
Anyone from Long Guo would recognize this as a hover platform. It was constructed from a hover engine and a flat panel, and it utilized autonomous driving technology, responding to voice commands. Of course, it also had a steering wheel and other controls. However, the steering wheel was currently retracted beneath the hover panel, capable of being deployed when needed.
The decision to retract the steering wheel was purely for show. In this cultivation world, such a hover platform would appear like a magical artifact, perfect for impressing ordinary people.
Lin Dong was on board the hover platform.
"Descend!" Lin Dong commanded.
The hover platform slowly lowered. It was two meters by four meters in size. As it descended, the canopy of a tree obstructed its path, and the hovercraft simply crushed it.
The hover platform stopped about ten centimeters above the ground.
"Ye Fan, you caught him," Lin Dong said.
"Of course. Capturing him was easy," Ye Fan replied.
With a pull, Ye Fan tossed the evil cultivator onto the hover platform.
Ye Fan then boarded the platform himself.
The hover platform ascended and then headed north, leaving the area.
The boy watched the hover platform depart, having mistaken it for a magical artifact of the cultivation world, as he had no knowledge of such technology.
Shortly after the hover platform left, several ordinary people happened to pass by the boy.
Seeing the boy in such a pitiful state, they exclaimed, "Young man, what happened to you?"
They kindly approached him and shared some of their food.
The boy accepted without hesitation and began to eat.
After consuming a good portion, he felt much better.
Once he was full, the group asked, "Young man, are you satisfied with the food and water?"
The boy nodded and said, "Thank you for your food and water."
"Then let's continue our journey. Young man, otherwise, we'll be late," they said.
The boy asked in confusion, "Continue our journey? Late for what?"
The group exchanged glances and then asked, "Young man, aren't you heading there too?"
"Where? Where are you going? What are you talking about?" the boy asked, bewildered.
"Of course, we're going to participate in the Xuanmen disciple recruitment examination."
Upon hearing this, the boy's heart leaped with joy. So, Xuanmen was recruiting disciples! The events that had just transpired had already shown him the power of Xuanmen.
He immediately decided to participate in the examination and join the sect.
"Is Xuanmen really recruiting disciples? How can I participate in the Xuanmen disciple recruitment examination?" he asked.
"You participate by going to Xuanmen. As long as we reach Xuanmen, we can take the sect's disciple recruitment examination."
"Where is it? Where is Xuanmen?"
One of the individuals produced a flyer for the Xuanmen disciple recruitment examination and handed it to the boy.
"Look, there's a map on it."
The boy took the map and examined it. It clearly marked the location of Xuanmen.
He observed the markings on the map. The instructions were quite simple. Anyone who could read would know that heading north would lead them to Xuanmen.
The boy pointed to the text and said, "The writing on this paper indicates the location of Xuanmen. You know where it is based on this."
The others shook their heads. "How could we possibly recognize these characters? Xuanmen used a magical artifact to tell us. That artifact could even speak, which amazed us all."
Another person added, "They said it was called a 'radio broadcast'."
Hearing this, the boy's good impression of Xuanmen grew even stronger. They even cared for ordinary people who couldn't read.
"I want to participate in the Xuanmen disciple recruitment examination too," the boy declared.
"Then let's go together!"
The boy joined their group, and they set off towards Xuanmen.
...
Ten days passed quickly. The date for the Xuanmen disciple recruitment examination had finally arrived.
More than three hundred people had gathered at the sect's mountain gate to participate in the recruitment selection.
Su Han looked at the attendees and remarked, "There are only a little over three hundred people. Even smaller sects have over a thousand applicants. It seems Xuanmen isn't famous enough!"
The first round of assessment began promptly.
The initial test was for cultivation talent. The sect had acquired a large quantity of high-grade spirit stones in a phantom palace. A single high-grade spirit stone could power the talent testing array for the spirit stone talent testing array for a considerable time. Therefore, Xuanmen generously began with a test of cultivation talent. If one lacked cultivation talent, there was no point in wasting time, as Xuanmen currently possessed no spiritual items that could alter talent to improve ordinary individuals.
"Spirit root not ranked."
"Spirit root rank one."
"Spirit root rank three."
Those with unranked spirit roots were immediately eliminated.
Spirit roots of other ranks were scored directly based on their grade.
The second and third tests would also involve scoring, and in the end, disciples would be admitted based on their comprehensive scores.
The boy was among those undergoing the spirit root test.
As they queued, it was finally the turn of the ordinary people who had accompanied the boy.
"Spirit root not ranked!"
"Spirit root not ranked!"
"Spirit root rank one!"
"Spirit root not ranked!"
Of the people who had come with the boy, only one had achieved a rank one spirit root. The others were eliminated for having unranked spirit roots.
Finally, it was the boy's turn.
He placed his hand on the talent stone. A blinding light erupted.
The person responsible for announcing the results gasped in shock at the radiance and declared, "Huang Jiancheng! Gold spirit root, rank six!"
The highest rank previously seen was rank three. A rank six spirit root was truly astonishing.
The first round of assessment concluded quickly. The number of applicants had been reduced from over three hundred to one hundred. This indicated that the innate talent of the participants was not very high. Even those with rank one spirit roots had passed the first round. And Huang Jiancheng had the highest spirit root grade. The second-highest was a rank four spirit root.