Though only the top two would be selected, that didn't mean the others had no chance.
For all Outer Sect Disciples, breaking through to the Life Wheel Realm and becoming Inner Sect Disciples was a competition that spanned an entire cycle. A cycle lasted ten years. If they couldn't place in the top two of the annual merit contest, the merit system's assessment would stretch across the full decade. If they reached the sect's required merit threshold within those ten years, they could still be awarded an Infant Transformation Pill to help them break through to the Life Wheel Realm. Thus, every hunting expedition was extremely important to every Outer Sect Disciple.
By his reckoning, Xu Yi had yet to take part in a single hunting expedition since joining the sect, and ten months had already slipped by. That put him at a great disadvantage in accumulating merit. By all rights, he had almost no chance of contending for an Infant Transformation Pill during this cycle.
Xu Yi didn't see it that way, though. He had his eye on the hunting expedition the month after next, which would be the twelfth month. That marked the year-end tally, when Fenghua Hall on Yinghai Peak would select the two disciples with the highest merit and award them Infant Transformation Pills. He figured he could still turn things around.
If anyone else had known what he was thinking, they would have laughed themselves silly. To make up for twelve rounds of other people's effort with a single round of his own—what kind of lunatic notion was that?
Xu Yi couldn't control what others thought. Now that he had made up his mind, he would follow this path through to the end. For nearly half a month, he had shut himself away in the