"That's true, with a talent on Zhu Wanchen's level, he'll surely reach the Ancient God Realm in the future!" Another Barbarian God Sect Elder nodded in agreement with a big smile on his face.
"The Sect Chief has gone to the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield. Upon his return, I believe he will definitely accept that Zhu Wanchen as his personal disciple!"
"There are still ten months left before the Sect Chief can make it back to the sect, just in time for the Submerging Dragon Ranking Battle that happens once every three years. By that time, Zhu Wanchen's cultivation would have advanced to Heavenly God Realm, and he would become the likeliest person to obtain the top place in the ranking battle, proving he's a dragon amongst men. It is only justified that the Sect Chief receives such a talented personal disciple!"
After leaving the square, Huang Xiaolong tried getting a room in the inns close by, but they were all fully occupied. He only managed to rent a small courtyard in a corner of the city.
His courtyard was slightly run-down, but it didn't bother Huang Xiaolong. After all, it was only a temporary accommodation.
Despite the far 0ff location of his courtyard, not to mention its shabby state, the rent was still considerably expensive for the current Huang Xiaolong, costing him more than ten shenbi daily.
The one hundred shenbi reward Tie Qianyuan gave him had been spent long ago. It was fortunate there was still Tie Chengdong and the others' little amount of wealth, which was enough to last for a while.
Huang Xiaolong looked inside the spatial rings, at the scattered shenbi that barely added up to five hundred in number, a bitter smile emerging on his face. He did not foresee there would be a day when he too would be troubled by the lack of money.
But his situation would improve once he broke through to the Heavenly God Realm. At that time, he should be able to condense the pure spiritual energy into divine stones, which he would then exchange for shenbi.
Huang Xiaolong arranged a simple barrier around his small courtyard and subsequently took out all the heavenly god grade divine pellets from the spatial rings he gathered, swallowing them all. Though he had 'fed' a large portion of them to the lightning beast egg, there were still some left.
Inside a comfortable hall in a different city, the Lin Family Fort Lord Lin Chaoqun and his son, Lin Sheng, were seated below a middle-aged man in a respectful manner.
This middle-aged man was the very same cousin who was an inner disciple of the Barbarian God Sect, Chen Jinzhi.
"We'll have to trouble elder cousin Jinzhi in regards to Lin Sheng's assessment." Lin Chaoqun said to Chen Jinzhi with a grateful expression.
Chen Jinzhi waved his hand lightly, saying, "I can't help him much during the assessment, it will still depend on his own talent and strength, but Lin Sheng's talent and strength are quite good. He has a high chance of passing the sect's assessment."
Lin Sheng quickly stood up hearing that, "Many thanks, Uncle."
Chen Jinzhi went on to say, "That Huang Xiaolong you have mentioned, if he really passes the assessment and enters the sect, I have my ways of having him die while performing some outer disciple task!"
Lin Chaoqun was overjoyed, "I thank elder cousin Jinzhi."
Chen Jinzhi broke into a wide smile, "With our relationship, there's no need for such courtesy."
Seven days passed in a jiff.
During these seven days, Huang Xiaolong cultivated at night, while while during the day he had taken up to practicing his Asura Sword Skills again. He also spent an afternoon in the nearby restaurant.
By the end of the seventh day, his cultivation that had been inching closer to peak late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm finally pierced through the barrier.
When dawn arrived, so did the day of the assessment!
Huang Xiaolong walked out from his room, basked in the sunlight shining through the opened doors, then inhaled deeply and exited the yard. He was headed straight to the assessment square.
Over an hour later when he reached the square, it was already packed with a large crowd.
Soon after, the Barbarian God Sect Elder in charge of the assessment also arrived, after which he activated the transmission array on the square, transferring Huang Xiaolong and the other registered disciples to a place named the Prairie of Death.
The people who registered in other cities were also sent to the Prairie of Death, all gathered in one location.
When all the registered disciples were transferred, the Barbarian God Sect would be releasing a myriad of demonic beasts onto the prairie. Left to fend for themselves in this mass stampede of demonic beasts, one hundred disciples who managed to survive until the end were considered as having passed the assessment, officially becoming a Barbarian God Sect disciple!
The strength of those demonic beasts was between early Tenth Order to peak late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm.
As the transmission array light disappeared, the scenery in front of Huang Xiaolong changed, arriving at a stretch of open plains.
The instant he arrived, he smelled a thick scent of blood in the air, so strong that it was nauseating.
The Barbarian God Sect recruited a new batch of disciple every ten years, when close to a hundred thousand disciples would arrive in this Prairie of Death for their assessment.
Every ten years, the blood of tens of thousands drenched the soil of this land.
The color of grass on this prairie was red like blood. The soil, sand, and rocks on the ground were also red, a deep palpitating red.
This was the epitome of hell on earth.
In all directions, one could see a great river that wound around the prairie. The water of this river was also crimson.
Most of the cultivators present had previously experienced killing, hence they possessed quite the tenacious mindset, but even so, their faces were pallid. Some were already shaking before the assessment began.
Although they had known about this prior to registering, that at least eighty percent of the people here would die in the Prairie of Death, it was human nature to think of themselves as unique, the lucky ones. Now that they were standing on the blood prairie, all thoughts of luck were extinguished.
A few people sorely regretted coming here and were clamoring to withdraw, wanting to leave.
Huang Xiaolong surveyed his surrounding, no emotions on his face.
About fifteen minutes later, all the cultivators who had registered, over a hundred thousand of them, had been transferred to the Prairie of Death.
When the transfer ended, the several Elders standing high in the air above the prairie nodded at each other, indicating they could begin. One of them announced, "The assessment begins!" Both of his hands subsequently moved in the air, opening several space gates. These gateways were located above the river winding around the prairie.
Once the space gates were opened, countless demonic beasts rushed out akin to a great flood toward Huang Xiaolong the rest.
Barely a second later, tragic screams resounded on the prairie.
The killing had begun.
The weaker cultivators were ripped apart by the demonic beasts and entered the beasts' bellies in the blink of an eye.
"Everyone attack together and rush out!" A family disciple shouted loudly.
"That's right, we can carve out a path of blood together and escape!" More and more disciples shouted in agreement.
During the assessment, the Barbarian God Sect also allowed disciples to run; as long as they crossed the blood river, the demonic beasts wouldn't attack them anymore. However, if they left the Prairie of Death, they would be disqualified.
The problem was, these demonic beasts were rushing out from the space gates above the blood river. The water's edge was filled with a large number of demonic beasts, crossing the river was easier said than done.
Standing in the midst of the flustered crowd of disciples, Huang Xiaolong saw a tiger-like demonic beast lunging at him. He lifted a finger, easily piercing a hole through the demonic beast's skull.
In order to avoid consuming his godforce, Huang Xiaolong chose not to take the initiative to attack, only attacking to defend himself when there were demonic beasts pouncing on him. Even so, it didn't take long for the corpses of demonic beasts to pile high as a mountain in his proximity.
Seeing this, a sliver of divine fire flew out from Huang Xiaolong, turning them to ash.