No Coin, No Medicine, No Entry

The clinking and jingling of coins continued to echo throughout the room.

The two envoys from the Immortal Sect walked among the examinees, picking the round-bellied green cicadas from their bodies as if they were harvesting melons and fruits.

This scene not only stunned the candidates present, but also left the surrounding family and relatives bewildered, their faces immediately showing anger.

The dojo masters, on the other hand, all remained calm. Some frowned as they watched the scene unfold, but none of them showed any intention of stopping it.

Even if some of their younger disciples were indignant and wanted to curse aloud, they were immediately and sternly stopped by the masters of the martial arts school.

"Shut up!"

In the silence, darkness fell.

The onlookers on the outermost edge of the market only knew that there were shimmering blue lights that flew up and landed on the group of examinees, but they did not know that the examinees, who had a bright future in their eyes, were being treated like Blood Ghost and having their blood drained.

The onlookers just kept discussing it:

"What are those blue lights? Are Law Technique?"

"This method of eliminating people is the first time I've ever seen it."

In the end, even with their incredibly fast hands, the two envoys from the Immortal Sect in the arena couldn't remove the green talismans from the numerous examinees.

The saturated bloodworms detached themselves from behind the examinee and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Some of the bloodworms, having sucked their fill, exploded into a bloody mess when they fell to the ground.

One after another, the green caterpillars fell to the ground in dense clusters.

Finally, a plop sound rang out.

One of the test takers couldn't hold on any longer. His body felt weak, his eyes darkened, and he suddenly felt dizzy. He could no longer endure it and collapsed to the ground.

As soon as one of them fell to the ground, the green venomous creatures on its body did not scatter with a crash, but continued to lie on them and suck their blood.

Upon seeing this, the two envoys from the Immortal Sect stepped forward and kicked the fallen examinee out of the range of the Qingfu insect swarm.

They kept shouting, "Eliminate one!"

"Those who know him, quickly carry him away."

These words reached the ears of the other candidates, causing many to tense up, realizing that falling to the ground meant failure in the Spring Examination.

This caused many candidates who were also feeling dizzy to suppress their discomfort and continue to persevere on stage; it also made some candidates who wanted to feign illness quickly abandon their plans.

After eliminating twenty or thirty people in succession, the rate at which the remaining candidates were eliminated suddenly slowed down.

And for a full quarter of an hour, not a single examinee collapsed.

Seeing this, the two envoys from the Immortal Sect chatted amongst themselves. "Tsk, this method is truly excellent. Those with weak foundations are immediately weeded out."

"Anyone who temporarily took medicine to break through, appearing to be at the third tribulation but actually suffering from Qi and Blood deficiency, or those who pretended to be at the third tribulation, are already among those people. This number is normal now."

The two of them chatted and laughed, completely disregarding the examinees, their families, the museum owner, and others.

Among the test takers.

Fang Shu continued to hold on. Although he was far from being completely exhausted, continuing like this could damage even his very foundation.

Furthermore, once the time limit is exceeded, if others choose to weaken their foundation and continue to persevere, while he does not, he will be outshone and directly eliminated.

He thought to himself, "Is this a selection process, or just a way to extract oil?"

If those two messengers don't know when to stop, someone might be whipped to death today.

In his gloomy mood, Fang Shu was nothing more than a "fish on a chopping board," completely at the mercy of others, with no way to stop him.

He had repeatedly tried to sever his Qi and Blood, preventing the green worms from drawing his blood, and even attempted to use the poisonous blood within his body to kill them.

But no matter what he did, it only caused fluctuations in his Qi and Blood, making the bloodworms even more excited!

Fortunately, this continued for several more quarters of an hour. When a layer of Greenfly Blood Coins had accumulated on the ground, the female envoy of the Immortal Sect, still standing firmly on the high platform, spoke:

That's enough.

These words clearly reached the ears of the people within a radius of thirty feet. Fang Shu and the others were overjoyed, and even the masters of those martial arts schools relaxed.

Only the two Immortal Sect envoys who released the insects showed hesitation on their faces and said:

"Fellow Daoist Zong, this blood money is different from ordinary blood money; it is Three-Tribulation Blood Coins, also known as 'Hundred-Value Coins.'"

"Fellow Daoist, do not be anxious. There are still forty-seven examinees left. Only a small fraction have been eliminated!"

Clang!

A cold glint seemed to flash across the high platform.

The composed Immortal cultivator opened her eyes, sized up the two envoys from the Immortal Sect, and said calmly, "Fellow Daoists, should I repeat myself?"

The two envoys from the Immortal Sect froze. They immediately bowed to the Immortal cultivator of the sect and then chose to Hand Seals or play the flute.

Buzzing.

The green bloodworms that had just landed on Fang Shu and the others detached themselves from their bodies, then split into two and burrowed into the waists of the two Immortal Sect envoys.

After being drained of their lifeblood for so long, the examinees finally emerged from their worm-eaten bodies, their faces deathly pale.

Many people felt a sudden sense of relief, their legs began to tremble, their Qi and Blood were severely depleted, and quite a few candidates even collapsed to the ground, sweating profusely.

Fang Shu Shuchu was among them, and he was no exception; his face was pale and his limbs felt weak.

In stark contrast to them were the two envoys from the Immortal Sect, who were busily sweeping up the Greenfly Blood Coins from the ground and putting it into three large vats.

The two men couldn't hide their glee at all.

Just as someone recovered and was about to bow and thank the woman surnamed Zong on the high platform, they noticed that the two envoys from the Immortal Sect were respectfully holding up the large vat containing the most blood money to the woman surnamed Zong.

The other party showed no politeness whatsoever, and with a flick of his sleeve, he pocketed all the blood money from the vat.

This action silenced all the candidates.

Before everyone could calm down, the envoy from the Immortal Sect, having collected the money, took out a giant bell ten feet tall and placed it in the center of the arena with a thud.

They shouted:

"Those who can still get up, rise and ring the bell. This bronze bell is specially made by the sect; it can be rung with just three zhang of Qi and Blood, to prevent unqualified individuals from infiltrating the sect."

But upon hearing this, even the weak and powerless examinees erupted in curses.

"Damn it! We've just suffered a great loss of Qi and Blood; how can we possibly move this giant bell?"

"May I ask, esteemed immortals, are you deliberately making things difficult for us?"

Many people stared at the two with resentment, as if they wanted to devour each other.

Fang Shu was among them, equally shivering, but he remained silent.

Soon, many people turned their attention to the immortal surnamed Immortal cultivator, hoping that he would come forward to uphold justice again.

However, the woman surnamed Zong was already sitting cross-legged in meditation. She didn't even glance at the crowd again, letting her two "subordinates" do as they pleased.

Amidst the commotion, an envoy from the Immortal Sect sneered:

Whether your knocking makes a sound or not is your business.

In any case, only those who ring the gong in 45 minutes will be officially selected.

After saying that, the two men, like the woman surnamed Zong, closed their eyes slightly, too lazy to pay attention to the others.

At this moment, the dojo leaders outside the arena finally intervened.

But they only dared to whisper, "Quickly regulate your breathing, take the medicine and refine it."

As one examinee after another realized that the two envoys from the Immortal Sect had not forbidden them from taking the medicine, they quickly stopped cursing and instead chose to sit cross-legged and swallow the medicine in their hands.

Some people didn't have enough medicine on them, or didn't have any with them at all, so they simply asked their relatives and friends outside the arena for some, and the two Immortal Sect envoys didn't stop them.

Soon enough, some candidates stepped forward to try, but the first group all failed.

It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that someone regained most of their strength, mustered all their Qi and Blood, and struck the bell, finally producing the first resounding "dong".

The other person was overjoyed and, under the direction of the two Immortal Sect, quickly stood to one side.

However, the first candidate to ring the bell still had a flushed face afterward, clearly indicating that he had taken some kind of potent medicine.

Fang Shu did not take any potent or dangerous medicine.

He only took the Flesh Lingzhi Treasure Medicine, and fortunately, the medicine was effective. Within a quarter of an hour, his Qi and Blood were fully restored, but his body was still a little weak.

In a little over fifteen minutes, he successfully rang the giant bell and stood among the crowd of people passing through, his face slightly relieved.

Half an hour later, the remaining candidates all looked anxious.

These people were either poor and didn't carry any high-quality medicine, or they had been sucked too much blood and even the most precious medicine couldn't repair them in a short time.

The foundation and the starting point are all on full display at this moment.

So some candidates shamelessly begged others for medicine, extremely obsequious, not only making grand promises but even kneeling down and kowtowing.

However, both the examinees and the library owners remained indifferent, never daring to aid the enemy at this crucial moment.

In an instant, the remaining people became extremely agitated, and cries of resentment and lamentation filled the air.

"It's all your fault, why didn't you bring the medicine?"

"Father, your son is unfilial; we have no choice but to accept our fate..."

Some of them, seeing that the medicine was running out, even shouted in agitation:

"No? Then hurry up and give me some milk!"