Zhang Yuchen muttered under his breath:
"Good thing I'm not in a major sect. This kind of elimination system is brutal!"
It was brutal, but Mao Jing was one of the finest disciples that very system had produced.
The second trial began shortly afterward. Tiezizi of the Laoshan Sect stepped up, a middle-aged man of around fifty.
He was sturdy and dark-skinned, with a fierce look about him.
As soon as he took the stage, he said:
"Young friends of Bixia Temple, I, Tiezizi, will set the task for the second trial..."
Dozens more Bixia Temple disciples stepped onto the stage.
Their auras were not particularly strong either, but they all had some cultivation.
Passing this assessment would let them apply for permission to leave the mountain and gain experience on their own, though their time outside would be very limited.
A quick glance told me there were over forty of them.
Meanwhile, Mao Jing continued his introductions:
"Tiezizi of Laoshan has a fairly high cultivation level. He specializes in talisman arts."
I nodded. I remembered that Feng Shuang, captain of the Third Investigation Section, seemed to be from the Laoshan Sect too.
The Laoshan Sect was a very famous Daoist sect in this region.
Among ordinary people, Laoshan's Daoist priests were almost as well known as those of Maoshan.
Once all the Bixia Temple disciples had taken the stage,
Tiezizi swept his gaze over them and said:
"The task I have set today is to gaze at a talisman!"
"G-gaze at a talisman?"
"Gaze at a talisman? What's there to look at?"
Many of them were puzzled.
But I instantly understood what Daoist Tiezizi meant. There were many kinds of talismans.
Some attacked and banished evil, some gathered energy and drew objects toward them, and others confused the mind.