Assessment Rewards

Ye Xingchen narrowed his eyes slightly, violet-gold light flowing deep within his pupils.

"The one in blue has excessive liver fire and unstable spiritual energy. One look tells me he's taken too many pills, leaving his foundation unsteady."

"That fatty on the left has a reversed dantian vortex. Something went wrong in his cultivation. He'll be coughing blood within three days."

"Tsk, that pair of Dao companions over there—the man is severely deficient in yang energy, while the woman is glowing with health... Dual cultivation?"

With only a glance, Ye Xingchen saw through the true circumstances of more than half the disciples present.

He discovered that the outer disciples were clearly divided into two factions.

One faction was dressed in splendid clothes, storage pouches hanging at their waists. Though the spiritual energy within them was disorderly, it made up for it in sheer quantity. They were clearly the "resource faction," built up with medicinal pills.

The other faction wore Daoist robes washed pale with age. Their spiritual energy was pure but thin, and they cultivated bitterly in the corners. They were the "talent faction," those without money who could only grind it out.

"The cultivation world is one enormous marketplace of fame and profit too," Ye Xingchen thought with emotion.

Just then, an immense pressure descended from the sky.

The once-noisy martial arts field fell silent in an instant. Every disciple's expression changed as they bowed in salute.

"Welcome, Transmission Elder!"

A streak of azure light descended from midair, transforming into a woman dressed in a dark green gown.

Her face was cold and beautiful, and her brows carried Killing Intent that commanded authority even without anger. She was Ye Zhiyu, the Transmission Elder responsible for instructing the outer sect.

Ye Zhiyu's gaze flashed like lightning as she swept it across the crowd.

When her gaze passed over Ye Xingchen, it paused faintly for half a second before moving away.

"The path of cultivation is like rowing a boat against the current: if you do not advance, you retreat."

"I know that some among you rely on the lingering protection of your Lineage, refusing to make progress and doing nothing but swallow pills. Others believe their talent to be exceptional and seek shortcuts in cultivation."

Ye Zhiyu's voice was not loud, yet it drilled clearly into everyone's ears, carrying bone-piercing chill.

"Let me tell you something."

"The sect has decided that, beginning this month, the outer sect assessment system will be reformed."

The entire field erupted into commotion.

In the past, outer sect assessments had mostly been a mere formality. As long as one's cultivation met the standard, one could muddle through. A reform? How would it be changed?

Ye Zhiyu raised one finger.

"One assessment every month."

"The bottom one hundred in the rankings will have all their resource allotments for that month deducted and will be responsible for cleaning the beast pens for one month."

A wave of miserable cries immediately rose from the crowd. The wealthy disciples who had piled up their cultivation with pills looked especially awful. Beast pens? Was that any place for people?

"Silence!"

Ye Zhiyu gave a cold shout, then cast out the true bombshell.

"Of course, where there is punishment, there must be reward."

"The top ten in this assessment will each receive ten Blood-Coagulating Pills, along with one opportunity to enter the Spirit Armament Pavilion and choose a high-grade Yellow-rank dharma artifact!"

Boom!

Those words were like a spark tossed into a powder keg, completely detonating the crowd.

"Ten Blood-Coagulating Pills?! Did I hear that right?"

"Heavens! One Blood-Coagulating Pill can sell for a thousand spirit stones on the black market. Ten pills means ten thousand spirit stones!"

"And high-grade Yellow-rank dharma artifacts? That's treatment reserved for inner sect disciples!"

Everyone's eyes turned red.

Whether from the resource faction or the talent faction, everyone began breathing heavily.

To outer disciples, this was a windfall great enough to change their fate!

And in the corner, Ye Xingchen's eyes were even redder than theirs.

But what he saw was neither medicinal pills nor dharma artifacts.

The calculator in his mind was jumping wildly.

"The energy contained in one Blood-Coagulating Pill should be worth around 500 Source Points when recycled by the system."

"Ten pills means five thousand Source Points!"

"And that dharma artifact too—if it can also be recycled..."

Ye Xingchen felt his heart pounding violently.

Ten thousand Source Points!

As long as he made the top ten, he could gather one-third of the progress needed for the second layer of Origin Heaven Art!

"These rewards are mine."

Ye Xingchen licked his somewhat dry lips, the greed in his eyes utterly undisguised.

What keeping a low profile? What lurking in the shadows?

Before absolute profit, all of that was bullshit.

Without money, what would he use to skip that damned cultivation progress?

Without money, what kind of immortality would he cultivate?

"However..."

Ye Zhiyu's tone abruptly shifted, and her gaze became incomparably sharp. "I just said it: this assessment will not judge cultivation level. It will judge actual combat."

"A high cultivation level does not mean strong combat power. Flowers raised in a greenhouse become demon beasts' rations the moment they reach the battlefield."

"What I want are swords capable of killing, not pretty vases!"

Those words undoubtedly poured a bucket of cold water over the spoiled heirs with unstable cultivation, yet they gave the impoverished disciples who had cultivated bitterly a glimpse of hope.

Actual combat!

That meant even if one's cultivation was one or two levels lower, there was still a chance to turn the tables through rich combat experience!

Yet upon hearing the words "actual combat," the blazing heat in Ye Xingchen's heart became like a punctured balloon, instantly losing half its air.

This is bad.

He suddenly realized an extremely serious problem.

Was Origin Heaven Art powerful?

Powerful. It touched upon laws, saw through all things, and could be called a divine support technique.

But... it had no offensive methods!

It was like being given a map-hack that revealed the entire battlefield, but no gun.

Once he stepped onto the arena, was he supposed to stare his opponent to death with wide eyes? Or tell them, "Brother, I see darkness upon your brow. Why not surrender?"

Ye Xingchen lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Apart from these eyes, the offensive spells he currently possessed were utterly nonexistent.

"This is going to be troublesome..."

Ye Xingchen frowned deeply. He had a max-level radar, but no missiles. How was he supposed to fight this battle?

As he pondered, a piercing voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Yo, isn't this our 'Origin Heaven Master'?"

Ye Xingchen turned his head and saw a young man in white robes looking at him with a mocking expression.

Zhao Kai.

He strode up to Ye Xingchen and deliberately raised his voice. "What? You heard there are rewards, and now you're tempted too?"

He looked Ye Xingchen up and down, the contempt in his eyes undisguised. "Ye Xingchen, a person should know his own limits."

"What can Origin Heaven Art do other than look at feng shui and find graves? Are you planning to go onstage and tell fortunes for the senior brothers?"

A burst of laughter immediately erupted around them.

"Hahaha, Senior Brother Zhao is right! He'll probably be knocked off before he even opens his mouth!"

"Tell fortunes? I think he should calculate how he's going to die!"

Zhao Kai was very satisfied with the feeling of trampling someone beneath him. He lightly patted Ye Xingchen's shoulder and lowered his voice.

"Take your senior brother's advice. Those rewards aren't something you can lay your hands on."

"Since you've cultivated those eyes, why not go find work at the Artifact Refining Hall? Help people see whether their furnace fire is burning strongly enough. You might even be able to scrape together a meal."

"Cultivating immortality? Actual combat?"

Zhao Kai gave a derisive laugh and turned to leave, tossing back a light, floating taunt.

"That's a man's game. It doesn't suit a fortune-telling charlatan like you."

Ye Xingchen stood where he was. He neither refuted him nor flew into a rage.

Zhao Kai's mockery—"Go to the Artifact Refining Hall... and see whether the furnace fire is strong enough?"—made Ye Xingchen's eyes light up.

That's right!

Why did he have to stubbornly fixate on fighting and killing?

What was artifact refining? It was purifying materials, controlling the heat, and inscribing formation patterns.

And in the eyes of someone who possessed Origin Heaven Divine Perception, the impurities inside materials were as clear as ink stains on white paper.

Changes in the fire's temperature were like visible waveforms.

As for formation patterns, weren't they just connect-the-dots puzzles?