As the world announcement appeared, every sect discovered that both the quality and quantity of the Demon Beasts surrounding their sect had plummeted by half!
"Evergreen Sect is badass! Tiancan Tudou is badass!"
"Boss, do you still need an accessory? I'm short, a loli, and I love hanging off people!"
"I thought I was done for in the first week, but the winding mountain path opened onto a whole new vista! I hereby unilaterally declare that our Stone Sword Sect is now a subsidiary sect of the Evergreen Sect!"
"Heh, the one above is such a simp. Lick boots all you want, and you'll end up with nothing! Boss Tiancan Tudou, look at me! I can t** or bottom!"
Of course, some sharp-eyed people could tell who had brought about the hardship of this first trial in their Sect World 999:
"Heh, a bunch of brainless idiots. Without the Evergreen Sect, our trial difficulty wouldn't have doubled in the first place! A bunch of dumbasses are still being kept in the dark and thanking them!"
But the moment this comment appeared, it drew mockery from countless bottom-tier sects:
"Heh, judging by that, the one above must be pretty high in the rankings, right? Not going to spare a thought for bottom-tier sects like ours?"
"Even if the trial difficulty doubled because the Evergreen Sect was too strong, the difficulty has now returned to normal, but our rewards for passing the trial have doubled!"
"Your big sects might turn your noses up at these trial rewards, but bottom-tier sects like ours desperately need them!"
"We'd rather have every future trial's difficulty double. With the trial rewards doubling every time too, we'll be able to go further!"
Quite a few sects abruptly saw the light. That was right: although this trial had been twice as difficult as usual, the rewards had doubled too!
Now the trial difficulty had returned to normal, but the rewards were still doubled. To them, this was a tremendous blessing!
As long as the Evergreen Sect could hold out in the future, they would gladly have the difficulty of every trial double!
And with the Evergreen Sect being the first to finish the trial and its difficulty halved, the higher-ranked sects also began attempting to clear it.
For ordinary sects, simply holding out for two hours counted as passing this trial.
But for the higher-ranked sects, they also needed to compete over their clear times. Killing or capturing those Demon Beasts was their choice.
Sect World, Evergreen Sect.
As the first to clear this trial, having also killed a Qi Refining Sixth Layer lord-class Demon Beast, the Evergreen Sect naturally earned the highest rating of SSS and deservedly ranked first.
The rewards Lin Feng received for the first week's trial were also exceptionally generous.
[Congratulations on killing a Qi Refining Sixth Layer lord-class Demon Beast. Rewards obtained: Blood Shadow Wolf King beast core ×1 (mid Qi Refining Stage), Wolf King pelts ×20, and 1 additional entry draw.] (Subsequent Entry System rewards will be written directly into the Sect World rewards.) [Congratulations on earning an SSS rating in this Demon Beast trial. Rewards: low-grade Spirit Stones ×10,000, low-tier Demon Beast inner cores ×30 (Early Qi Refining), low-grade yellow-tier healing pills, Clear Essence Pills ×50, mid-grade yellow-tier spirit grain seeds ×100 jin, and 5 additional entry draws.] [Congratulations on ranking first in this Demon Beast trial. Rewards obtained: mid-grade Spirit Stones ×1,000, low-grade Spirit Vein ×1, mid-grade yellow-tier Cultivation Method, "Wind-Splitting Claw" ×1, supreme-grade spirit jade blanks ×10, void spiritwood core ×1, and 5 additional entry draws.] [Low-grade Spirit Vein: once installed, increases the sect's Spiritual Qi concentration by 30% and can produce a certain quantity of low-grade Spirit Stones.]
The rewards were divided into three parts. The first came from killing the lord-class Demon Beast, the second from earning an SSS rating in this trial, and the third from ranking first in this trial.
It was worth mentioning that, besides Spirit Stones, the hard currency of the cultivation world, these rewards included many resources the Evergreen Sect urgently needed.
For example, healing pills, a low-grade Spirit Vein, and a new mid-grade yellow-tier Cultivation Method.
Even some of the supreme-grade spirit jade blanks and void spiritwood cores missing from the materials needed to build the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform had been awarded. This let Lin Feng see hope of completing the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform.
And apart from these resources that concerned Lin Feng, what satisfied him most were the rewards from the Entry System. This trial had given him 11 additional entry draws.
Adding the one targeted draw from the advanced entry pool that the system had awarded him for taking first place in the first week's disciple recruitment aptitude competition, Lin Feng now had a total of 12 entry draws.
But Lin Feng did not intend to use them immediately. He planned to wait until the second week's competition began; using them then would not be too late.
Only an hour after Lin Feng passed the Demon Beast invasion trial did the second sect to pass the Demon Beast trial appear, likewise triggering a server-wide announcement.
To everyone's surprise, however, the second sect to clear the trial was not the Daoxuan Sect but the Azure Luan Sect, which had also earned an S rating.
Sect World, outside the Daoxuan Sect.
Perfected Daoxuan, the Daoxuan Sect's sect master, was glaring in exasperation at the Qi Refining Second Layer Demon Beast that had just fallen before him.
With the help of their mountain-protecting formation, the Daoxuan Sect had also successfully killed all the Demon Beasts in this Demon Beast invasion trial. Not a single person in the sect had died; only a few had been seriously injured.
But they had fallen short by a few seconds again. Just as they were about to clear this trial, the server-wide announcement had sounded first.
This time, the Azure Luan Sect had beaten them to it.
Perfected Daoxuan's face was livid. Once was an accident, but having his place snatched twice in a row-where was he supposed to put his face as the second-largest sect in Sect World 999?
He did not want his Daoxuan Sect to become a laughingstock on other people's lips!
He could accept being unable to match the Evergreen Sect. They had stumbled into dogshit luck, bound themselves to some great sect of this world that had died out in High Antiquity, and could live off its legacy.
But what was going on with that Azure Luan Sect?
Perfected Daoxuan could not understand it, but when he looked at his third-place rewards and the rewards for likewise earning an S rating, a keen light shone in his eyes again.
A short while later, Lin Feng received two private messages.
One came from Fairy Qingluan, the Azure Luan Sect's sect master, and the other from Perfected Daoxuan, the Daoxuan Sect's sect master.
[Perfected Daoxuan: Little Brother Tudou, want supreme-grade spirit jade blanks? I have five that I have no use for at the moment. 1,000 mid-grade Spirit Stones apiece. Offer won't last!] [Fairy Qingluan: Lin Feng, I know it's you. Are you short of supreme-grade spirit jade blanks? Our Sect World's trading house marketplace won't have any in the near future. I just obtained six. Say the word if you want them. At cost: 100 mid-grade Spirit Stones apiece.]
Lin Feng first sighed at how a woman's intuition truly was terrifying beyond measure. He had only failed to resist showing off a little, and she had guessed it.
But then Lin Feng began cursing Perfected Daoxuan, the Daoxuan Sect's sect master. That fucking profiteer! He actually wanted to sell me a single supreme-grade spirit jade blank for 1,000 mid-grade Spirit Stones! Ten times Lin Wan'er's asking price! What a black-hearted bastard!
He's trying to bleed all my savings dry!
So Lin Feng immediately sent Perfected Daoxuan a private message:
[Tiancan Tudou: Perfected Daoxuan, right? Someone else is selling them for 100 mid-grade Spirit Stones, and you're charging 1,000? Just you wait. Don't let me run into you offline (smile).]