Chapter 496: The Arrival of Danger

Zhang Lie smiled bitterly. "The inner court assessment for Gale Light Academy, while its specific content changes every year, generally follows a few formats. And this survival assessment is undoubtedly the hardest of them all."

"In most cases, the survival assessment involves throwing all of your year’s candidates into a secret realm or a dangerous mountain range and making you complete specific missions. During this process, not only will there be dangers from the wilderness itself, but Gale Light Academy will also select a group of inner court disciples to obstruct and sabotage your missions."

"The inner court disciples of Gale Light Academy are all incredibly powerful. The weakest among them are much stronger than Chu Jian. It’s already difficult for you to complete the missions on your own, and with a group like that causing trouble, the chances of success are less than one in ten."

"I’ve looked into the final round of Gale Light Academy’s inner court assessments from the past dozen or so years. There have been three survival assessments in that time. In those three years, the number of students who successfully passed and entered the inner court could be counted on one hand."

"No more than five?" Zhang Lie’s words left Luo Cheng, who was standing to the side, dumbfounded. "If a single assessment results in fewer than five people joining the inner court, what’s the point of having it?"

Zhang Lie shook his head and smiled bitterly. "You’ll have to ask Gale Light Academy that. How would I know what they’re thinking? Actually, with other types of assessments, there are plenty of successful candidates. For example, there have been six years with one-on-one arena elimination tournaments. The year with the fewest successful candidates still had ten students join the inner court. But for the survival assessment, the most successful year only had five."

"And that’s not all. The other assessments don’t involve any risk to your life, but this survival assessment does."

"I’ve checked the statistics. In the inner court selection assessments over the past ten-plus years, a total of four people have died. Three of them died during the survival assessment."

"What?" Luo Cheng was utterly shocked. "People actually die in this survival assessment?"

Zhang Lie pursed his lips. "Why would that be impossible? The survival assessment places all the students in a dangerous mountain range. Although academy instructors will be accompanying them, accidents can still happen in the mountains. If an accident occurs and the instructors can’t rescue them in time, people will naturally die."

Luo Cheng was still in disbelief, muttering, "But since it’s an assessment, wouldn’t the Gale Light Academy instructors eliminate all the threats that could endanger the students’ lives?"

Luo Cheng’s thinking was perfectly normal. After all, the disciples who qualified for the inner court selection were no ordinary individuals.

For example, in the mountains, an ordinary Tier Six Demon Beast might cause trouble for the students or force them into a desperate retreat, but it would be difficult for one to actually kill them, especially with academy instructors nearby for protection.

Only a Tier Seven Demon King could possibly kill a candidate before the instructors had time to intervene.

With Gale Light Academy’s power, clearing the dangers from this mountain range shouldn’t be an impossible task.

"I’ve thought about that too." Zhang Lie frowned. "Based on my analysis, the Gale Light Academy instructors do indeed clear out the threats within the assessment area beforehand. But in the wild, accidents are a normal occurrence. No matter how powerful Gale Light Academy is, they can’t eliminate every single possibility of an accident."

"Let me give you a simple example. Of the three people who died in past survival assessments, one of them had just escaped the pursuit of a Tier Six Demon Beast. Just as he was about to recover from his injuries and make a comeback, he accidentally stumbled into the cave of a Tier Five Demon Beast. That beast just so happened to use poison. The student was already severely injured and didn’t even have time to react before he was dead."

"What killed him was just a Tier Five Demon Beast."

"And you can’t expect the academy instructors to clear out every single Tier Five Demon Beast from the mountain range, can you? If they did that, what would be the point of a survival assessment?"

"Perhaps this is just part of Gale Light Academy’s tradition for cultivating the strong."

Zhang Lie’s words left Luo Cheng speechless.

Through Zhang Lie’s explanation, Ye Xuan finally understood the difficulty of this survival assessment.

There was a risk of death, and the pass rate was extremely low.

However, at least a few people managed to pass each time.

’Five, is it?’ He smiled faintly. Even if there was only one spot, he was confident he would be the one to claim it.

At that moment, the crowd around the martial arts arena was beginning to disperse.

"Heh, this year’s inner court assessment is really interesting. Now we just have to wait three days and see how the survival assessment turns out."

Lu Jun and the others seated in the judges’ area stood up, smiling and chatting amongst themselves as they prepared to leave.

But just then, the gazes of several instructors froze, their brows knitting together.

The next moment, they all raised their heads and looked toward the distant horizon.

Below.

Ye Xuan, who had started to walk away, also paused. He looked up at the distant sky, his brow furrowed.

"Young Master Ye, what’s wrong? What are you looking at?"

Luo Cheng and Zhang Lie asked in confusion, both looking up in surprise.

The sky above was clear for thousands of miles, washed clean like a flawless pane of sapphire glass.

But suddenly...

A bank of clouds suddenly churned in the distance. A powerful current of air fluctuated violently, and the sea of clouds surged forward like a tidal wave.

Immediately after, a series of ear-piercing sounds of something tearing through the air echoed between heaven and earth.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Several streaks of light, containing astonishing auras, swept in from the distant horizon. They were accompanied by a booming shout.

"Everyone from Gale Light Academy, I, Duan of the Profound Mystery Sect, have come to pay a visit with my fellow Supreme Elders."

The rolling sound wave blotted out the sky, echoing over Gale Light Academy. The clear voice continuously entered every student’s ears, shaking them to the core.

"So powerful."

"Supreme Elders from the Profound Mystery Sect?"

Everyone’s hearts trembled. Looking up, they saw five figures hovering in the air above Gale Light Academy. The five figures were like five War Gods, each unscrupulously unleashing their strongest pressure. Their terrifying auras were like those of five Demon Gods emerging from primordial times, weighing down on everyone’s hearts.

The leader was dressed in a cyan martial robe embroidered with seven-colored golden threads at the edges. His hair was done up in a topknot, and a longsword hung from his waist, giving him an incredibly dashing appearance.

The Profound Power around him formed a cyan vortex that swirled about his body, making him seem like a celestial being, not of the mortal world.

He had a cold and detached expression, but a faint smile played on his lips. His eyes, as brilliant as stars, gazed calmly forward.

Beside him, four other figures were split to his left and right. They all had different demeanors, but the one thing they had in common was the aura they emanated—it was like Mount Tai crashing down, towering high in the sky.

On one side, a man in a white robe had a battle saber hanging from his waist. His temperament was chillingly cold. Around him, snowflakes drifted, forming tiny snow tornados that continuously appeared and dissipated.

His face was pale, but his expression was utterly frigid, like eternal ice. His eyes, in particular, held not a single trace of emotion, making it impossible for anyone to look down on him.

Just by looking at him, a bone-chilling cold was born in everyone’s hearts, freezing them to the marrow.

The person next to him, however, was his complete opposite.

This person wore a black martial robe and a black conical hat. Streaks of black light flickered in and out of existence around him, like dissipating smoke and clouds.

A nauseatingly evil aura constantly radiated from him, inspiring fear in all who felt it.

On the other side of the leading man in the cyan robe, a massive, bluish-black creature flapped its wings, creating intense black vortexes in the air around it.

This bluish-black behemoth was over ten meters long and three to four meters wide, with a ferocious appearance.

Its body was covered in a dense layer of Scale Armor, but its wings were strangely covered in downy feathers, giving it a bizarre look. Its pair of red-and-black eyes stared eerily at the people below.

On the monster’s back stood a man in a cyan robe, his garments fluttering in the wind.

It was the mutated Demon Beast, Kuidi. Although this Demon Beast was only at Tier Six Peak, its aura was no less than that of a typical Tier Seven Demon King.

Legend had it that Kuidi’s ancestors possessed the bloodline of the Hellhound. Once its bloodline awakened, it could transform into a demonic fiend and bring destruction to all living things.

"What a terrifying Demon Beast."

The hearts of the crowd shook violently. They stared blankly at the mutated Kuidi that blotted out a large patch of the sky, its swirling demonic aura suffocating.

And next to Kuidi was an old man in a black martial robe.

He had an aged face, and his pair of sinister, ruthless eyes were locked onto Ye Xuan in the crowd, erupting with a murderous intent as vast as the ocean.

"Crazy Battle!"

Ye Xuan’s expression hardened as he muttered the name under his breath.

At this very moment, the gazes of many students instantly focused on Ye Xuan.

Everyone had heard about the matter between Ye Xuan and the Profound Mystery Sect. Now that several of the Profound Mystery Sect’s top experts had arrived together, could it have something to do with this Xuan Ye!

Five great Martial King experts. On the Dream Realm Plain, this was enough power to sweep over an entire region. It was, without a doubt, a breathtaking scene.

In an instant, everyone’s hearts were in their throats as they looked toward Lu Jun and the others in the judges’ area.

The gazes of Lu Jun and the others were incredibly grim.

Duan Tianlang, Vice Sect Master of the Profound Mystery Sect.

Leng Wuji, Supreme Elder of the Profound Mystery Sect.

Evil Kill, Supreme Elder of the Profound Mystery Sect.

Zhou Zhanlun, Supreme Elder of the Profound Mystery Sect.

Crazy Battle, Supreme Elder of the Profound Mystery Sect.

Any one of these five, appearing on their own, was enough to intimidate one of the great powers of the Dream Realm Plain.

Now, all five had come together, and their target was clearly Gale Light Academy. One could only imagine their intentions.

"Instructors of Gale Light Academy, I, Duan, have taken the liberty of coming here with my sect members. I hope you will not take offense."

Duan Tianlang, dressed in his cyan robes, descended from the sky with a smile. A grin played on his lips, and he looked majestic and imposing. As his voice faded, the five great experts landed simultaneously on the martial arts arena, their presence extraordinary.

He glanced at the many students around him and smiled faintly. "It seems I have arrived at an inopportune time. Today appears to be the day of your esteemed academy’s grand competition. As the number one academy on the Dream Realm Plain, Gale Light Academy’s disciples must surely be exceptionally talented and astonishingly powerful. What a pity. It seems my companions and I arrived too late to witness what must have been an earth-shattering duel. Truly a shame."