Xiu Qiyu gritted his teeth and charged in. Sure enough, the remaining dozens of shadowy figures had been weakened by a third. Using his sword steps, he struck once and then quickly slipped away. After secretly killing twenty people, Xiu Qiyu conjured a giant sword and dismissed the remaining remnants as trash.

A flash of white light appeared, and this time Xiu Qiyu was facing a full 128 people. Even with Xiu Qiyu's domineering and powerful nature, he couldn't help but cough up three liters of blood at this moment.

This is illogical. He almost wiped out sixty-four of them just now, and now the number has doubled. Luckily, his strength is only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm. If it were a full one hundred and twenty-eight late-stage Golden Core cultivators, he would have just given up. As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn.

Fortunately, after passing each level, a warm white light would replenish his injuries and depleted true energy.

"Should I withdraw from the assessment?"

Xiu Qiyu thought about it and still chose no. He hadn't reached his limit yet, and he wanted to know exactly how far he could go.

Soon, the shadowy figures rushed over, as if he were their father's killer. Xiu Qiyu was quickly surrounded by them. This sudden increase in pressure, more than tenfold, did not make him feel despair; instead, a sense of pride rose within him.

With so many shadowy figures attacking together, Xiu Qiyu realized that killing any one of them individually would be extremely difficult. Sometimes, he would have to suffer several minor injuries to kill just one. At this rate, before he could kill all the shadowy figures, he might very well die from his injuries.

He had considered using ice swords, but his current skill level was limited, and he could only condense no more than thirty ice swords at a time. However, there were hundreds of shadowy figures here, and they might very well break his hairpin directly.

For a time, Xiu Qiyu was caught in a fierce battle and was almost wiped out several times.

At this moment, Ye Xiruo was sitting on a magnificent flying warship, exchanging alchemy insights with her senior brother and Yingxun.

Although the eldest brother and Yingxun practiced different techniques, they ultimately reached the same goal in alchemy, and Ye Xiruo also benefited greatly from it.

However, Ye Xiruo's face quickly turned as pale as paper, and she looked like she was about to collapse.

Zishu and Yingxun worked together seamlessly. Zishu placed his jade-white hand directly on Ye Xiruo's back, and pure wood-elemental true energy continuously flowed into Ye Xiruo's body, repairing the unseen injuries.

Yingxun poured out an eighth-grade healing pill and put it into Ye Xiruo's mouth. With the careful cooperation of the two, Ye Xiruo's condition finally did not worsen.

Zishu and Yingxun both breathed a sigh of relief. This time, it was the two of them who would protect Ye Xiruo as she went to the medicinal spring to cultivate. If anything went wrong along the way, the two of them would definitely be turned into human skins and hung at the gate of the Pill King Hall by Jingli.

Although Ye Xiruo's face was still pale, her injuries had indeed stabilized and she only needed to recuperate slowly.

Zishu has already instructed the servants to prepare a medicinal meal.

Needless to say, it was Xiu Qiyu's doing that Junior Sister's condition was his doing. He had initially thought that the guy had even helped her increase her strength, but considering her injuries, Zishu wanted nothing more than to grab his sword and hack Xiu Qiyu to pieces. Luckily, he and Yingxun were with her today; otherwise, if she had been in grave danger, she probably wouldn't be alive after all this.

"Thank you both, senior brothers."

"You'd better hope that guy doesn't fall into my hands," Zishu sneered.

"Isn't it normal for Brother Xiu Qi to encounter danger in the Ancient Domain? Senior Brother, don't be angry. Here are five jars of spirit wine."

"No, eight jars." Give two jars to Yingxun, at least that'll be considered a contribution.

"Deal." The senior brother was also concerned about her.

"When Xiu Qiyu returns, our Pill King Hall is going to hold a denunciation meeting." Zishu quickly put away the spirit wine and said slowly.

"The merits and demerits cancel each other out, it can't be that bad!" Ye Xiruo's eyes widened.

"Do the math. You only advanced from the early to late Foundation Establishment stage, something you could do by soaking in a medicinal spring for a few days. But you vomited blood at the apprenticeship ceremony and almost died. And what happened just now? Do you think we're stupid? Can't we do math?" Zishu sneered, not at all stupid or cute. ╭(╯^╰)╮

"I absolutely didn't mean that." Ye Xiruo covered her face. She wasn't too worried about being injured; she had her master and senior brothers looking after her, so nothing would happen. But Xiu Qiyu was all alone, and she only hoped that he could return safely.

"Please be gentle with your hands."

"Of course we won't kill or maim anyone." Otherwise, it would be our junior sister who suffers. That damned Xiu Qiyu.

Xiu Qiyu felt some strength returning to his body, and his icy face darkened even more. Needless to say, Xiao Yezi had once again shared the damage for him. Now, only fifty shadowy figures remained before him, and in his rage, Xiu Qiyu quickly hacked them to pieces. Of course, he only vented a small portion of his anger.

With a flash of white light, his injuries miraculously healed.

This time, no dark figures appeared before him again. In truth, if more than two hundred dark figures had appeared before him, he would have given up without hesitation. No matter how good the inherited cultivation technique, one must be alive to obtain it. If he were to implicate Xiao Yezi again because of him, he himself would not be able to forgive himself.

"The final hurdle: should we give up on the assessment?"

Xiu Qiyu twitched her lips: "No?" This voice had appeared nine times already; she wondered what the situation was like for the others.

In fact, everyone else is currently in the main hall, waiting for Xiu Qiyu, who has not yet been teleported out.

They exchanged a glance and shook their heads. The assessment was truly inhuman; it left no chance of survival whatsoever. Those shadowy figures had extremely strong regenerative abilities and were incredibly agile. Unless they were killed in one blow, they could quickly recover and continue attacking. They were practically unkillable cockroaches!

Xu Ling had to give up on the fourth level. Her cultivation technique wasn't particularly strong offensively, focusing more on support abilities. Seeing the row of early-stage Golden Core cultivators standing opposite her, she didn't hesitate to quit. The voice was right after all: never push yourself; it could kill you.

Kong Qingqiu was severely injured on the fifth level and had no choice but to give up. The assessment was still somewhat humane; as long as one chose to forgo the rewards from previous assessments, they could be teleported out. Teleportation meant failure in the assessment.

So, those candidates who were courting death were those who were unwilling to give up the generous rewards, and also couldn't defeat the shadowy figure, ultimately getting ganged up on and killed. (To be continued.)