Like countless big and small sects within the Heavenly continent, today was the annual recruitment of disciples for the Black Lotus Academy. However, unlike the Four Giant of Righteous Sects, there wasn't an ocean of people outside their mountain gate. Even though the Black Lotus Academy was the only giant academy on the heavenly continent, it was still an academy with an evil reputation that was shunned by the masses.
Nonetheless, despite of that, there's still many people that were in love with Black Lotus Academy strict system and method of training. As such, in front of their mountain gate, there were still at least ten thousand people waiting to take their assessment in order to become disciples of the Black Lotus Academy.
The Black Lotus Academy wasn't always an evil academy but was labeled as one over the years due to its unique system and reputation. The uniqueness of the Black Lotus Academy can be seen through the ruthless competition between disciples. In Black Lotus Academy, the strong are like a kings, while the weak are eliminated. Inside the Black Lotus Academy, the law of the jungle is actively followed by everyone.
All of the other sects or academies, whether righteous or evil, did an aptitude test to see how high the talents of the examinees were before they were even allowed to take the test of the sect; depending on how high one's aptitude was, some were even exempted from taking the test and were directly admitted to the sect. However, the Black Lotus Academy was different. The Black Lotus Academy never attached importance to such a thing.
The academy had only one requirement: you have to be at the age of seventeen or eighteen to take part of the exam. And the exam was very simple yet cruel: they gave a token to each examinee and dumped all of the examinees into the deepest part of the demon beast's forest in the back of the academy for seven days and asked them to fight to take as many tokens as possible with whatever method they chose until there were only two hundred people who held the token. and then They can be an outer court disciple of the Black Lotus Academy.
Not only that, the elders of the Black Lotus Academy had also laid down many illusions array within certain parts of the forest as well. The Examinees would be shown realistic illusions.
For example, one could find himself trapped in a sea of fire. The body would feel as if it were actually entrapped, and the mind would clearly feel the pain. The higher the level, the stronger the illusion would be.
It was a way for the Black Lotus Academy to not only check one's survival ability but also one's willpower. The illusion array was in places where demon beasts couldn't venture. It was so that the examinees won't be attack by demon beasts once fell into the illusion array.
The exam was extremely hard, cruel, and dangerous, which is why not many people dared to join Black Lotus Academy. However, those that were able to survive and enter the Black Lotus Academy weren't small and soft characters. They were all dragons among men. Furthermore, because of their system, they have produced a plethora of powerhouses whose names have shook the heavenly continent over the years.
...........
At this moment, the sun had just risen from the horizon, but there was already a long queue of people at the foot of a mountain at the Black Lotus Academy. All the powerful noble families as well as royal families under the reign of the Black Lotus Academy were already competing to send their children to the Black Lotus Academy. All in the hope that their children would pass the test and finally become the disciple of the Black Lotus Academy which was one of the five giants of the Heavenly Continet. The Black Lotus Academy only recruits disciples once a year, so no one was willing to miss this chance.
After a few hours of waiting, an elder of the Black Lotus Academy eventually appeared before the waiting crowd. The elder was a middle-aged man and was not particularly eye-catching. He wore a plain black robe with the emblem of the Black Lotus Academy engraved on his chest. The elder look more like a poor beggar with his messy long hair rather than a powerful elder of the Black Lotus Academy, which was one of the most powerful organizations within the heavenly continent. However, no one dared to look down on him after seeing his eyes. They were especially sharp, like the eyes of an eagle.
Whoever his gaze fell upon, they felt as if they were being eyed by a poisonous snake; their whole body felt a sudden chill. He had a cold aura, a clear sign of ruthlessness. The cold killing intent emanating from his body demonstrated that he was not a character to mess with.
The elder scanned all of the people in front of him before he said coldly, "Welcome to all of you to the annual recruitment of my Black Lotus Academy." I am sure that all of you are already aware of our method of recruitment, so I don't need to explain everything again. "Now, I will lead you all to the examination site."
"Not a bad school," Zack thought as he stared at the elder while joining others walking to the examination site.
After half an hour of walking, the elder stopped in front of a primitive forest, which was filled with a milky gray mist. This kind of mist was extremely thick, making it difficult for people on the outside to see the inside.
The elders and examinees were greeted by a dark atmosphere as they stood at the mouth of the forest! The examinees couldn't help but feel a chill as they listened to the violent roars and wails of the demon beast that rang out from within the forest.
The elder looked at the examinees as he pointed at the grey mist forest with a light devilish smile on his face and said, "This is the exam site." Anyone who can survive in that forest for seven days can become a disciple of my Black Lotus Academy.
"You can use any means at your disposal, your strength, wisdom, tricks, and even murder." As long as you can stay alive for seven days, you are the disciple of my Black Lotus Academy."
"Also, for those who do not wish to participate in the exam, this is your last chance to back out."
While the elder spoke, he looked at the people behind him. Seeing that none of them flinched and even had a resolute look on their faces, he couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
" Good." He added
"A word of advice to all of you: inside that forest there's a black mountain filled with dead trees and animal bones. No matter what happens, don't ever go on top of that mountain. In fact, as soon as you saw that black mountain, run as fast as you can away from it. Said the elder.
"Was there a powerful beast that occupied that mountain?" one of the examinees couldn't help but ask with a worried look on his face.
Just like humans, demon beasts were ranked from 1st to the 7th rank, which was similar to humans. Martial Apprentice Realm, Martial Warrior Realm, Martial Master Realm, Martial Grandmaster Realm, Martial King Realm, Martial Emperor Realm, and Martial Saint Realm were the 7 rank of human cultivation. Furthermore, each stage was divided into four minor realms: initial, middle, late, and peak.
All of them were just in the Martial Apprentice realm; if there was a powerful demon beast inside that forest that could kill them, then what was the point of taking the examination? It would just be suicide for them. From what they heard from their families and friends that had already passed the exam, the most powerful demon beasts in the exam site were in Peak stage of the martial apprentice realm.
Seeing the look of worry on their faces, the elder already knew what they were thinking.
"You don't have to worry; there are no powerful demon beasts above the Martial Apprentice realm inside the forest." "As long as you guys don't go on to the black mountain." reassured the elder.
"OK, begin!"
As the elder gave the order, among the tens of thousands of people present, hundreds of them rushed into the forest as fast as they could, while some stayed behind because they knew that the focus was not on who could get inside the forest first or run faster but on staying alive and still take the token as many as they can from other examinees.