Assessment Complete

"Cui Bai, you did well. To face a Black Rock Bear head-on and kill it beneath your fists—you must have put in quite some effort."

"You have now passed the assessment. Stand to one side and wait."

After hearing the report from the steward disciple, Elder Ming learned of this disciple's assessment and praised him.

The disciple named Cui Bai was delighted upon hearing this. Lu Ming could see that after learning the result, Cui Bai's body visibly relaxed.

Clearly, he had been under tremendous pressure during this time.

"Thank you, Elder."

Suppressing his joy, he bowed and went to stand beside Lu Ming.

The assessment continued. Soon, another disciple emerged. He had also participated in the assessment before, and this time, he succeeded.

The demonic beast he had hunted was rather ordinary.

But he had completed the assessment requirements, and under the steward disciple's supervision, he had not used outside assistance or any other cheating methods.

Thus, he successfully joined Lu Ming and Cui Bai.

Another person came out next. He had participated in the assessment before as well—a female disciple dressed in a neat, capable manner. She had also successfully hunted a demonic beast and passed the assessment.

The disciple surnamed Qi came out after her. Like Lu Ming, it was his first time taking the assessment, and he had succeeded as well.

However, he looked bedraggled, with a scrape on his face. Clearly, he had suffered quite a bit.

That meant only three assessment disciples remained inside, two of whom had participated before.

A little while later, the only disciple who had never taken the assessment emerged. The result was clearly a failure.

Close on his heels, another person came out. He had not succeeded, and his expression was filled with unwillingness.

Only through the steward disciple's explanation did everyone learn why he had failed.

It turned out that he had tangled with a demonic beast for too long and drawn the attention of other demonic beasts—two of them at once.

Faced with the siege of three demonic beasts, the steward disciple had nearly failed to save his life.

"Elder, can you give me another chance? I could have succeeded this time. My luck was just bad."

The disciple knew he was already past seventeen and a half and would never again have the chance to take the assessment, so he pleaded.

Elder Ming had initially wanted to rebuke him, but in the end, he could not bear to do so and said gently:

"The rules are the rules. If I made an exception for you today, it would be unfair to all the disciples who were eliminated before."

"But..."

Tears filled the disciple's eyes. "But I don't want to go back like this."

The scene fell silent. No one spoke, or perhaps no one knew what to say.

Elder Ming sighed. "Every year, there are people unwilling to leave, but every year, I must harden my heart like iron and stone. It cannot be helped."

As he spoke, his gaze grew stern once more, and he continued:

"You say your luck was bad, but in truth, your strength was insufficient. If you had dealt with your opponent faster, you would not have been surrounded."

"Moreover, you have already taken the assessment twice, yet you still fall short. In the Hundred Beasts Garden, falling short means someone can still save your life. Outside, if you fall short, no one will save you."

After hearing this, the disciple lowered his head even farther.

"Especially since I told you before the assessment that becoming an Inner Sect disciple does not mean facing few dangers. So do not blame me for refusing to give you another chance."

He was tactfully advising him to withdraw. If someone whose strength failed to meet the standard entered the Inner Sect, he might not live long. It would be better to return home.

"I understand. Thank you, Elder."

The disciple no longer insisted. After taking a deep breath, he bowed to Elder Ming and then left.

Everyone, Lu Ming included, watched as he gradually disappeared.

To be honest, it had deeply affected them.

Only the final assessment disciple remained in the Hundred Beasts Garden, and by then, the incense stick was nearly burned out.

In the end, after the incense had completely burned away and quite some time had passed, the last person finally emerged. For some reason, he kept shouting the words, "Unfair!"

"What happened?"

Elder Ming frowned at the steward disciple following him. Clearly, he could not stand hearing the word "unfair."

The steward disciple was also quite frustrated and quickly explained, "Reporting to Elder, this man's movement technique is merely decent, so he kept circling around with the demonic beast until time ran out. Only then did I forcibly bring him out."

"Is that true?"

Elder Ming turned to look at the disciple again.

When the disciple saw his expression, he shrank his neck back, yet still protested stubbornly:

"It is unfair. Not everyone is suited for combat. The sect cannot only want disciples who are good at fighting."

Everyone was taken aback, Elder Ming included. But he quickly recovered. Clearly, this was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. He merely asked the steward disciple beside him:

"How good exactly is his movement technique?"

"Reporting to Elder, when I said his movement technique was decent, I meant compared to his own overall strength. Compared with others, it is only slightly better than average."

"Impossible." The disciple immediately retorted.

The steward disciple did not argue with him.

Elder Ming was somewhat displeased. With a cold snort, he told him to demonstrate it. The result was indeed as the steward disciple had said.

He used the human-tier mid-grade movement technique, Flying Cloud Steps, and his farthest step covered only a little over sixty meters.

Elder Ming merely shook his head at that distance, then told Lu Ming to come out and demonstrate his own movement technique.

Lu Ming's Cloud Soaring Skill was also human-tier mid-grade, but he had cultivated it to the utmost limit. With a light leap, he crossed more than eighty meters.

That was without activating Heavenly Blade Inner Energy. Otherwise, he would have gone even farther.

Seeing Lu Ming drift lightly through the air, the disciple's eyes bulged. "How could he go so far?"

Elder Ming then had the others who had passed the assessment display their movement techniques one by one.

In the end, even Cui Bai, who primarily cultivated external techniques, could leap more than sixty meters in a single step.

Naturally, the disciple had nothing more to say.

"Hmph. Martial strength indeed cannot represent everything, but movement technique alone is clearly not enough either. In previous years, there were disciples like you, but they knew how to use their movement technique advantage to fight while maneuvering. You only know how to blindly evade."

After making the comparisons, Elder Ming harshly criticized him. "What is more, your movement technique is not particularly outstanding either."

The disciple had long since lowered his head in shame.

"By this elder's usual temperament, I would not waste so much time on you. But considering that you still have one more chance to take the assessment, I will give you a warning and let you understand that whether in conduct or in doing things, you must settle your heart."

Elder Ming had truly gone to great lengths for him.

"Alright, go!"

The disciple naturally did not dare remain any longer. He hurried away.

Seeing this, Lu Ming and the others could not help shaking their heads. With such a restless and impetuous temperament, he likely would not pass even his next chance.

Elder Ming did not take it to heart. Perhaps he had seen too much of it already. Offering a reminder was the utmost of his benevolence and duty.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the steward disciples, then led the five people who had passed the assessment to a Jade Tablet.

This Jade Tablet was divided into two sections. One was emerald green, while the other was grayish white.

What they had in common was that both were covered with jade plaques bearing names.

"These are all the names of Inner Sect disciples. Some are still alive, while some have already died."

When they arrived here, Elder Ming's voice became somewhat heavy. "The emerald-green Jade Tablet is for those who are alive, and the order of the names upon it is their ranking in strength."

"This ranking is updated once every three years during the Inner Sect Grand Competition. Those who remain near the bottom will be punished, and may even be expelled from the Inner Sect."

Hearing Elder Ming's words, the five could not help looking toward the names. Lu Ming spotted Chu Yunxiao's name at six hundred and seventh place.

He had witnessed Chu Yunxiao's strength before. Chu Yunxiao had faced two members of the Demonic Cult alone and still handled them with effortless ease.

It could be said that his strength was formidable.

Yet such a person ranked only six hundred and seventh, which was enough to show the weight carried by the Jade Tablet's rankings.

"I brought you here now not primarily to look at that, but at this gray Jade Tablet. The names on it all belong to people whose deaths have been confirmed."

"And there are others who have vanished without a trace. Those people are not listed here."

Elder Ming spoke again.

When everyone saw those names, their hearts could not help tightening. Death and cruelty had been laid bare before them.

"So I brought you here because I want to give you one more chance to choose: do you still wish to join the Inner Sect?"