The dining location was a restaurant that was specially built for the sect's disciples.
The meat used here was from all sorts of mutated beasts and demon beasts. They were very helpful to Gu masters.
Only people with a lot of primeval stones would come here to spend.
When the people inside saw Wan Qian and an unknown man enter the restaurant together and share a private room, they were all stunned.
Nothing special happened during the meal.
Fang Yuan also spoke very seriously about the bottleneck he felt in his cultivation realm.
Wan Qian answered from time to time.
The two of them discussed some areas that even she was confused about.
The meal was quickly finished, and both of them gained a lot.
Wan Qian looked at Fang Yuan with a strange emotion in her eyes. "I didn't expect that you had just stepped into the tenth layer of Foundation Establishment, but your understanding is unique. I never thought about many things, and the books never mentioned them."
"Senior's talent is already very high. To have such achievements at such a young age is one in a million. It's just that you have less experience in the secular world and don't have as much experience as me."
Fang Yuan chuckled. He had lived for two lifetimes and brought all the memories of his previous life with him. His only advantage was that his brain worked quickly and was not limited to the framework of this world.
Wan Qian smiled and gently held her hair. "I have some understanding in my heart and want to go back and enter closed-door cultivation. I might not be able to go to the competition tomorrow. Do your best."
Fang Yuan cupped his fists to send her off. "Senior, take care."
Wan Qian looked at him again and waved her hand before leaving the restaurant and walking towards the teleportation array.
In the afternoon, Fang Yuan did not want to cultivate anymore.
He had exhausted too much energy in the past few days and needed to rest urgently.
He returned to the courtyard and slept soundly.
The next day.
The sect competition officially began.
As it was the annual gathering of the Gu Immortal Sect, countless outer sect disciples paid attention to this grand trial every year.
Fang Yuan lined up like in a long line of people, preparing to enter.
On the square, there were rows upon rows of tables.
In the next three days, this was their trial ground.
On the tall sect building in front of them, countless experts came and looked down at the entire place, looking for the disciples they liked.
This was another way to enter the inner sect.
Even if there wasn't any outstanding performance in the assessment, as long as there was something that they the elders liked, outer sect disciples would be able to get the chance to become the inner sect elders' true disciples.
Many people were also here to show their strengths, and then find a suitable elder to be their disciple.
As for whether the elders would accept them or not, that was another matter.
The people participating in the grand examination moved forward slowly.
Every disciple who registered and verified their identity would be given a number plate.
With this number plate, they would be able to find the corresponding seats in the square.
Fang Yuan was given a number plate that was marked 15437, which was located in the middle.
This was a place that was very difficult to be noticed by the elders above.
Fang Yuan did not care. He only needed to complete the test to advance to the inner sect.
In front of the square, an old man with a long beard stood out.
"Today is a big day for the Gu Immortal Sect..."
His voice was loud and clear. As he looked at the young disciples, he started to talk about the Gu Immortal Sect's history and glorious achievements.
Fang Yuan was not interested in listening to these old stories. It was like a school opening ceremony, and that long and stinking speech would only make people sleepy and lose focus.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally heard the old man talk about the content of the competition.
"On the table in front of all of you, there is a box containing an Acid Ant Gu.
"The requirement of the first stage is to tame it, and for the second stage, it is to put it into your acupoints to nurture it.
"One day later, the ranking will be based on the level of nurturing, and all those who have not managed to tame theirs will be eliminated.
"Now, the competition begins!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the tens of thousands of disciples quickly took action and began to use their own methods to subdue their Acid Ant Gu.
Fang Yuan also opened the box in front of him and saw a young ant.
[Acid Ant Gu]
Level: Tier 1
Type: Attack
Quality: White Stone
Skill: [Corrosive Acid]
...
This round of trial was divided into two parts. One was to subdue the Gu worm, and the other was to cultivate the Gu worm.
Although it was only a stage one Gu worm in the larva stage, and it was only at the White Stone stage, there were still difficulties.
The time limit could filter out a large number of body refining stage disciples.
And the subsequent nurturing stage would test the disciples' talent.
Those with high talent naturally absorbed spirit essence faster than others, unless one had a deep foundation, and could continuously inject spirit essence into the Acid Ant Gu for a day and a night.
This was unrealistic, and even a fourth or fifth layer Foundation Establishment disciple couldn't do this.
This was a competition of endurance.
Whoever absorbed spirit essence faster had an advantage.
But this wasn't a challenge for Fang Yuan at all.
He didn't even need to use his strength to prove it.
He casually fed it a drop of liquid spirit essence, and the Acid Ant Gu obediently listened, allowing Fang Yuan to absorb it.
Sometimes, the power of money was more useful than a brute force.
After throwing it into his acupoints, the medicinal power that had not been completely absorbed and the blood lotus essence mixed together, swarming into the Acid Ant Gu's body.
In just fifteen minutes, a bell rang in Fang Yuan's mind.
[Ding, your Acid Ant Gu's level has increased. You have received the enhancement of the skill Acid!]
It had leveled up just like that?
Fang Yuan was a little surprised, but it did not matter if he thought about it carefully.
The quality of the Acid Ant Gu was low to begin with, and its level was only rank one, so the resources needed to level it up were very little.
Since he had already completed his goal, Fang Yuan raised his hand to signal for the examiner to come and examine it.
Soon, the examiner came to a conclusion.
"Disciple number 15437, Fang Yuan, has successfully tamed his Acid Ant Gu... rank two?"
The examiner's eyes showed a hint of shock, "This is impossible, could it be that I saw wrongly?"
Then, he did not believe it and checked again.
He still got the same result.
A few disciples who had just made their move and were still studying how to tame it looked at him in surprise.
We haven't even started, and you are already done?
The examiner was also in disbelief. He could not hold it in for a moment and said, "How about this, you give me the Gu worm, I will bring it to the elder to take a look, and I will give you the conclusion later?"
"Thank you." Fang Yuan handed the Acid Ant Gu to him in a neither servile nor overbearing manner.
The examiner left in a hurry and ran to the main hall of the sect building in front of the square.
He went upstairs and presented this Gu worm.
"Elders, a disciple only spent fifteen minutes to raise the Acid Ant Gu to rank two. I don't know if he fed it with a forbidden drug, but I can't make up my mind. Please take a look at it, elders and Sect Master."
"Oh?"
An old man with red hair and beard asked in suspicion. He took the Acid Ant Gu and sniffed it, "The smell of the medicine is very strong. It's the Scarlet Yang pill and wild essence pill produced in our sect. It should be the result of the medicine sinking into the acupoints after taking the pill and not dispersing."
"Could it be the result of using an evil cultivation technique to nourish it with blood Qi?"
Someone raised a question, then looked at the red-haired old man's expression and explained, "It's not that I don't trust Fourth Elder's judgment, it's just that 15 minutes is too fast."
Another elder looked at him and retracted his gaze, "There's no problem."
That person nodded slowly. "Since First Elder has said so, let's arrange the rankings according to the rules."
"Yes."
The examiner took back the Gu worm from the fourth elder and hurried downstairs.
At this time, the middle-aged man sitting in the main seat suddenly laughed lightly.
"This assessment is getting interesting."