Just then, the purple wooden door at the other end of the corridor opened, and a young man in white, around twenty years old, stepped out.
He had delicate features and fair skin, and looked rather scholarly and frail.
"You must be Mr. Gu? Everyone else is here. Only the Gu Family is missing. But only cultivators taking part in the challenge may enter, so please wait here for the results, Mr. Gu!"
The young man gave Naruto a friendly glance, then spoke politely to Boss Gu.
A quick scan revealed the young man's cultivation to Naruto. He was around the fourth or fifth level of the qi refining stage, about the same as Naruto appeared to be now.
Seeing this, Boss Gu could only give Naruto a hopeful look before murmuring his assent and stepping aside.
Naruto followed the young man through the wooden door with his usual calm expression, and the door immediately closed behind them.
"My surname is Wen. You can call me Wen Qiang, fellow Daoist. But you look rather unfamiliar. Are you a cultivator who recently arrived on Kuixing Island?"
Once he had led Naruto through the door, the young man turned back and asked with a smile.
"My name is Naruto. I only arrived on Kuixing Island last month!"
After practicing for some time, Naruto could finally speak the local language without much difficulty.
"Heh, I'm truly impressed! You dared to venture out into the world with your current cultivation. You're remarkably brave, fellow Daoist! I could never do that. I was born on this island, and I've never set foot outside Kuixing Island."
The young man spoke with some envy. Naruto gave a soft chuckle but did not respond.
The other man's cultivation was so low that he had failed to recognize Naruto