With a quick sweep, Li Yan estimated that there were twenty formations here.
Yet there were only five teams on their side. The Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Realm cultivators, perhaps because of their greater numbers, had been divided into several more teams, greatly speeding up the assessment.
But Li Yan and the others had no time to watch anyone else. The white-robed cultivator ahead had already begun announcing the rules.
"Your assessment is very simple. It will take place in the formation behind you. In a moment, I will give each of you a green rune. It is actually a specially refined storage space.
"Do not let the green rune move more than a foot away from your body. Once the formation can no longer sense it, you will be sent out of the assessment formation and immediately deemed to have failed.
"So keep this green rune safe, but do not put it inside a storage space. That would cut off its connection with the formation, and you would likewise be sent out.
"More small golden runes will appear in the air inside the formation. Your task is simple: bring those golden runes under your control, then store them in your green rune.
"The entire assessment lasts one hour. Anyone who collects fifty golden runes will pass.
"If you collect more runes than that by the end, it will demonstrate that you are stronger.
"After you enter the inner valley, you will receive better cultivation conditions in various respects. You may even catch an elder's eye and ascend to heaven in a single step.
"If someone takes the green rune in your possession during that hour, not only will all the golden runes stored inside fall into their hands,
"but the cultivator who held it will also be instantly