Assessment Concluded

"Cui Bai, you did well. You managed to kill a Black Rock Bear with your bare fists in a head-on clash. It looks like you've put in quite some effort."

"Now that you've passed the assessment, stand to the side and wait."

After hearing the Steward Disciple's report, Elder Ming learned how the disciple's assessment had gone and praised him.

The disciple named Cui Bai was overjoyed at this. Lu Ming could see that his body visibly relaxed after learning the result.

Clearly, the pressure he had been under these past few days had been immense.

"Thank you, Elder."

Suppressing his joy, he bowed and stood beside Lu Ming.

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

It was just that the demon beast he had hunted was quite ordinary.

Still, he had completed the requirements of the assessment, and under the Steward Disciple's supervision, he had not used outside assistance or any other cheating method.

Thus, he successfully stood beside Lu Ming and Cui Bai.

Another person emerged afterward. He, too, had participated in the assessment before. He was a female disciple, dressed in a neat and capable manner, and she had also successfully hunted a demon beast and passed the assessment.

The next to emerge was the disciple surnamed Qi. Like Lu Ming, this was his first time participating in the assessment, and he had succeeded as well.

However, he looked rather disheveled, and there was even a scrape on his face. Clearly, he had suffered quite a bit.

That left only three disciples inside, two of whom had participated before.

After another quarter of an hour, the only disciple who had never participated in the assessment came out. The result was clearly a failure.

Immediately afterward, another person emerged. He had failed, and his face was filled with extreme unwillingness.

It was only through the Steward Disciple's explanation that everyone learned the reason for his failure.

It turned out that he had fought with a demon beast for too long, attracting other demon beasts—and two of them at that.

Faced with the combined assault of three demon beasts, that Steward Disciple had nearly failed to keep him alive.

"Elder, could you give me one more chance? I could have succeeded this time. I was just unlucky."

That disciple knew he had already passed the age of seventeen and a half and would never have another chance to participate in the assessment, so he pleaded.

Elder Ming had intended to rebuke him, but at the last moment, he couldn't bear to. He said gently:

"The rules are what they are. If I make an exception for you today, it would be unfair to the disciples who were eliminated in the past."

"But..."

That disciple's eyes filled with tears. "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 who don't want to leave. But every year, I harden my heart. There's no other way."

At this point, his gaze turned stern again as he continued:

"You say you were unlucky, but in truth, your strength was still lacking. If you had dealt with your opponent faster, you wouldn't have been surrounded."

"Besides, you've already participated in the assessment twice, yet you still fell short. In the Hundred Beasts Garden, falling short means there's still someone to save your life. Outside, if you fall short, no one will save you."

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

"Especially before the assessment, I already told you that after becoming an inner sect disciple, you would face no shortage of danger. So don't blame me for not giving you a chance."

He was tactfully advising the disciple to withdraw. If his strength was not up to standard and he entered the inner sect, he might not live long. It would be better for him to return home.

"I understand. Thank you, Elder."

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

Everyone, including Lu Ming, watched as he slowly disappeared.

To be honest, this had shaken them deeply.

At present, only the final disciple undergoing the assessment remained inside the Hundred Beasts Garden, and by then, the incense stick was nearly burned away.

In the end, after the incense had completely burned out and quite some time had passed, the last person finally emerged. For some reason, he kept shouting the words "It's unfair!"

"What happened?"

Elder Ming frowned at the accompanying Steward Disciple. He clearly could not stand hearing the words "It's unfair."

The Steward Disciple was also extremely frustrated and hurriedly explained, "Reporting to you, Elder, this person is only good at movement techniques, so he kept running circles around the demon beast. When time ran out, I had to forcefully bring him out."

"Was what he said true?"

Elder Ming looked toward that disciple again.

When the disciple saw his expression, his neck shrank, but he still said indignantly:

"It is unfair! Not everyone is suited for combat. The sect can't only want disciples who are good at martial strength."

Everyone was stunned upon hearing this, and Elder Ming was no exception. However, he quickly recovered. Clearly, this was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. He merely asked the Steward Disciple accompanying him:

"How good is his movement technique, specifically?"

The Steward Disciple looked somewhat embarrassed and said:

"Reporting to you, Elder, when I said his movement technique was decent, I meant in comparison to his own overall strength. If compared with others, it's only slightly better than average."

"Impossible." That disciple immediately retorted.

The Steward Disciple did not argue.

Elder Ming felt somewhat displeased. He snorted coldly and ordered the disciple to demonstrate it. The result was indeed just as the Steward Disciple had said.

He practiced the Human-tier Mid-grade movement technique [Flying Cloud Steps], but his farthest leap extended only a little over sixty meters.

Regarding this distance, Elder Ming merely shook his head before asking Lu Ming to come out and demonstrate his movement technique.

Lu Ming's [Soaring Cloud Skill] was also Human-tier Mid-grade, but he had already trained it to perfection. With a light leap, he traveled more than eighty meters.

That was without circulating the inner qi of the Heavenly Blade. Otherwise, he would have gone even farther.

Seeing Lu Ming float lightly through the air, that disciple's eyes widened. "How can it be that far?"

Next, Elder Ming had the others who had passed the assessment demonstrate their movement techniques one by one.

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

That disciple naturally had nothing more to say.

"Hmph. Martial strength indeed cannot represent everything, but relying on movement technique alone clearly isn't enough either. In previous years, there were disciples like you, but they knew how to use their movement advantage to harry their opponents. You only know how to run and hide."

After comparing them, Elder Ming sternly reprimanded him: "What's more, your movement technique isn't particularly outstanding."

By then, that disciple had already lowered his head in shame.

"Normally, with this Elder's temper, I wouldn't waste so much time on you. But considering that you still have one chance to participate in the assessment, I'm giving you a warning, so you'll understand that whether in dealing with people or handling matters, you must settle your heart."

Elder Ming had truly taken great pains for his sake.

"All right, go."

Hearing this, that disciple naturally did not dare linger and hurriedly left.

Seeing this, Lu Ming and the others couldn't help shaking their heads. They felt that with the other party's impatience and restlessness, he probably wouldn't pass even the next opportunity.

Elder Ming did not take it to heart. Perhaps he had seen too much of this. Giving him a reminder was already the utmost kindness.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the Steward Disciples, then brought the five people who had passed the assessment to a Jade Tablet.

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

What they shared was that both were covered with jade plaques bearing names.

"These are all the names of the inner sect disciples. Some are still alive, while others have already died."

When he arrived there, Elder Ming's voice grew somewhat heavy. "The living are listed on this emerald-green Jade Tablet. The order of the names is also 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."

Upon hearing Elder Ming's words, all five of them couldn't help looking toward the names. At the six-hundred-and-seventh position, Lu Ming saw Chu Yunxiao's name.

Lu Ming had personally witnessed Chu Yunxiao's strength. Even when facing two people from the Demonic Cult alone, he had handled them with ease.

His strength could be said to be extremely formidable.

Yet someone of his caliber ranked only six-hundred-and-seventh. This was enough to show just how much weight the rankings on this Jade Tablet carried.

"I brought you here not mainly to look at this, but to look at this gray Jade Tablet. All the names on it belong to people whose deaths have already been confirmed."

"There are also some whose whereabouts have remained unknown for a long time. Those people are not listed here."

Elder Ming spoke again.

When everyone heard this and looked at those names, their hearts tightened. Death and cruelty had been laid bare before them, naked and unmistakable.

"So I brought you here to give you one more chance to choose. Do you still wish to join the inner sect?"