The next day, as dawn broke, three deafening bells rang out in the Burning Lamp Academy, waking everyone, including Wang Hao. Led by Liu Jinlin, he arrived at the West Courtyard Martial Arts Arena.
In the center of the martial arts arena, on a seven-zhang-high stone platform, stood ten powerful cultivators. One of them was an old man wearing a golden robe, while the other nine were all wearing silver robes.
There were also many young men and women dressed in various styles around them. They were obviously disciples who had come to participate in the competition. Their numbers far exceeded Wang Hao's expectations.
Liu Jinlin, standing beside him, said in a low voice, "The Ran Deng Academy has a strict hierarchy. People of different ranks wear different clothes. Only elders can wear silver robes. As for golden robe elders... in the entire West Academy, only the West Academy Master can wear golden robes."
Wang Hao nodded and asked, "If I enter the Burning Lamp Academy, what color robe will I wear?"
"Plain clothes and white robes," Liu Jinlin said with a smile.
At this moment, the headmaster of the West Academy stood on a seven-zhang-high platform, his long robe radiating a dazzling golden light, just like a blazing sun, so bright that many disciples couldn't even open their eyes.
Clearly, the golden robe worn by the West Courtyard Master is more than just a piece of clothing.
The head of the West Academy swept his gaze across the entire room, exuding a powerful aura, and said, "This time, there are a total of 1,636 people participating in the exam."
"Your strengths range from the Spiritual Awareness Realm to the early Qi Refining stage, but those who can stand here are all geniuses. Realm cannot completely bind you; the exam is divided into two rounds."
"The first round is hunting ferocious beasts, the second round is conquering the battle tower, and finally, the top 120 people will become the outer palace students of the West Courtyard of the Burning Lamp Academy. Next, Elder Shangren will read out the specific examination rules to everyone."
After saying this, the head of the West Courtyard withdrew.
On the stone platform, Elder Shangren bowed to the head of the West Courtyard, then stepped forward and looked around.
"We are recruiting exceptionally talented geniuses, so even if your cultivation level is a little low, as long as your talent is strong enough, you have a good chance of passing the exam."
Elder Shangren paused for a moment, then continued, "In half an hour, the east gate of the ancient city will open, and you will enter the Twin Peaks Mountain Range in turn. This is a pre-designated area."
"The Twin Peaks Mountain Range surrounds the Ancient City of the Netherworld, forming a natural barrier that has blocked the invasion of many ferocious beasts. All the ferocious beasts above the mid-stage of Qi Refining in that area have been cleared out in advance, so there is no danger to their lives."
"In the first round, you must hunt savage beasts. A cultivator at the Spiritual Awareness Realm must hunt five low-grade second-tier ferocious beasts to pass the first round of the test."
"A cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining must hunt down ten low-grade second-tier ferocious beasts to pass the first round of testing."
"Cultivators at the peak of the early stage of Qi Refining must hunt down twenty second-tier low-grade ferocious beasts to pass the first round of testing."
"One second-tier mid-level ferocious beast is equivalent to five second-tier low-level ferocious beasts, and one second-tier high-level ferocious beast is equivalent to twenty-five second-tier low-level ferocious beasts."
Second-tier low-grade ferocious beasts are equivalent to cultivators between the Great Perfection of the Spiritual Awareness Realm and the early stage of Qi Refining. Although these ferocious beasts have powerful physical bodies, most of them have not yet awakened their intelligence.
As for the second-tier mid-level and high-level ferocious beasts, they are comparable to cultivators at the peak of the early stage of Qi Refining and the middle stage of Qi Refining, and they have developed a trace of intelligence, making them somewhat dangerous.
Elder Shangren announced the exam rules from above, and the young cultivators below all began to whisper among themselves.
A woman at the peak of the Spiritual Awareness Realm smiled and said, "Just hunting five low-grade second-tier ferocious beasts is enough to pass the first round of the test. It's too easy!"
Another young man sneered, "You're making it too easy for you. Although these ferocious beasts haven't developed intelligence, you still can't hurt them without a suitable weapon."
Upon hearing this, many people around felt dejected. For many of them, let alone weapons, even the money to travel to Tianxing was obtained through loans.
Elder Shangren continued to read out the rules: "Before entering the Twin Peaks Mountains, everyone will receive a Azure Dragon Ball. If you encounter any danger to your life, simply crush the Azure Dragon Ball."
"The rescue team from the Burning Lamp Academy will arrive as soon as possible. Of course, once you crush the Azure Dragon Ball, it means you have given up the academy exam."
"The exam will last for three days. If you haven't hunted enough ferocious beasts by then, you will be eliminated."
"Now, I declare that the academy examinations have officially begun."
Everyone received a fist-sized Azure Dragon Ball, which was said to contain Azure Dragon Smoke. Once the ball was crushed, the Azure Dragon Smoke would burst out and rise a thousand meters high.
An elder in silver robes led the group to the east gate of the ancient city. The group looked at the massive stone gate, which was over a thousand meters high, and their eyes were filled with shock.
"Now, you can choose to enter the Twin Peaks Mountains alone to complete the academy exam, or you can choose to pair up and enter the Twin Peaks Mountains together to complete the exam."
When two people enter the Twin Peaks Mountains together, they can indeed share the burden when encountering danger. However, you must also be wary of your teammate, lest he stab you in the back.
Therefore, if you don't want to form a team, then don't. But if you do form a team, you must choose the most trustworthy people.
However, we all come from different parts of the country, and many of us didn't know each other before. Who can trust others?
“I choose to enter the Twin Peaks Mountain Range alone!” said a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining.
Clearly, he doesn't trust anyone.
In the end, most people chose to enter alone, including Wang Hao. After all, he was new to Tianxing and unfamiliar with the place, so it was safer for him to be in his own team.
"By the way, you might encounter disciples from other academies in the Twin Peaks area. They are also participating in the entrance competition, so you'd better be careful. This competition is not safe."
The silver-robed elder's words made all the young disciples present take the matter seriously. It seemed that the relationship between the various academies was not so harmonious.
The 1,636 young cultivators vanished like sand thrown into the ocean in a short time.
At the same time, on the other side of the Twin Peaks Mountains, many young martial artists also poured in. They were all disciples from the other five academies who came to take the exam, and Shi Mengqi was among them.
Not far from her stood a young man named Li Xing, who stared at Shi Mengqi, who was entering the Twin Peaks Mountains alone, and sneered, "Listen up, everyone."
"We have two missions this time. The first is to capture that woman and present her to Young Master Li Xu. The second is to go to the examination area of the Burning Lamp Academy."
"Find a brat named Wang Hao, whether he's alive or dead, but we must find him alive or dead. These are the two things Young Master Li Xu specifically instructed us to do. If we can capture Wang Hao alive..."
"Then Young Master Li Xu will reward you with a low-grade magic weapon. You'd better not kill that woman, otherwise none of you will be able to bear the consequences if the young master blames you."
Upon hearing Li Xing's words, all the martial artists from the Li family around him revealed cold smiles.
At this moment, Wang Hao wandered through the dense forest for a long time without encountering a single ferocious beast, which made him wonder if he was going in the wrong direction.
However, at that moment, his ears twitched slightly, and with a whoosh, his figure transformed into a white afterimage, flying away and covering a distance of more than thirty feet.
"Whoosh!"
Wang Hao's arm twitched, and a sword light flashed in his hand, stabbing fiercely into the ground.
From underground, a ferocious beast let out a miserable cry.
A fountain of blood gushed up from the ground.
Wang Hao moved swiftly, dodging the blood, and then stomped his foot on the ground, channeling spiritual energy into the earth through his foot. With a loud bang, the earth and rocks cracked, and the corpse of an armored man-eating rat the size of a washbasin was shaken out of the ground.
The whole process happened in the blink of an eye.
The sword was drawn, thrust, and sheathed in one fluid motion, without any fancy moves or unnecessary delays.
The Armored Man-Eating Rat is a second-tier, low-level ferocious beast. Its entire body is covered in scales, and its teeth are three inches long and as sharp as blades. Because of its enormous appetite, it can devour a living person at once, hence the name "Man-Eating Rat".
If it were on Earth, it would be a giant rat, but on Tianxing, it mutated and became a man-eating rat, after all, the true energy on Tianxing is very rich.
These man-eating rats are quite powerful. Even a martial artist in the early stage of the Profound Realm would probably be caught off guard before the armored man-eating rats could sneak up from underground and bite off both of their legs.
If a martial artist or cultivator has both legs bitten off, they are basically doomed and have no chance of escaping.
Wang Hao's sword pierced the carotid artery of the armored man-eating rat with extreme precision. Here, he did not use the Yin-Yang Profound Iron Sword Embryo, but rather the third-tier magic weapon, the Purple Cloud Sword.
“There should be the spiritual flesh that Old Liu mentioned inside this man-eating rat.” Wang Hao chuckled, first gouging out one of the man-eating rat’s eyeballs as evidence of its killing.
Then, a small piece of spirit flesh, about the size of a walnut, was dug out from the body of the armored man-eating rat.
That piece of spiritual flesh weighed only one or two ounces. It was pure white, crystal clear, and had no bloody smell at all. Instead, it emitted a faint fragrance.
Spiritual flesh is a special type of meat unique to celestial beasts, containing extremely pure true energy. According to Liu Jinlin's guess, it is found within the bodies of powerful celestial beasts.
The spiritual flesh they contained was very likely to contain mysterious factors, that is, spiritual energy, so Wang Hao directly consumed the spiritual flesh and quickly digested it completely.
This piece of spiritual flesh was of average quality, but it was a great tonic for his martial arts cultivation at the early stage of the Yellow Realm, allowing him to break through directly to the middle stage of the Yellow Realm, and even his spirit became very vigorous.
Although the forest was large, Wang Hao's five senses were very strong, far exceeding those of ordinary people. Hearing the sounds of fighting in the east, he rushed over at a speed of forty meters per second.
He quickly caught up with a young martial artist.
Wang Hao looked up and saw a young martial artist wearing a white robe with the character "Li" embroidered on his chest fighting a low-grade second-tier ferocious beast.
Judging from his strength, he should be a martial artist at the peak of the mid-stage of the Profound Realm. The battle ended quickly. The Li family martial artist severed the neck of the second-tier low-grade ferocious beast, the Silver Dragon Lion, with a single slash and gouged out its two eyeballs.
The young martial artist from the Li family, holding two eyeballs, looked pleased and muttered to himself, "I've collected two more eyes. With this silver dragon lion, I've now killed three second-tier low-grade ferocious beasts."
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he quickly retracted the two savage beast eyeballs, raised his low-grade magic weapon-level battle sword, and said in a deep voice, "Who goes there? Why don't you come out immediately?"
Wang Hao slowly walked out from behind the tree.
The martial artist from the Li family, upon seeing Wang Hao, revealed a look of wild joy and laughed loudly, "Wang Hao? Haha! This is wonderful! I never expected my luck to be so good."
"You're so happy to see me?" Wang Hao said with a smile.
"Wang Hao, you don't know yet, do you? The young master has already said that as long as you can kill him and bring your head, you can exchange it for a low-grade magic weapon."
"Now you know how valuable your head is, right? Now you know why I'm so excited, right?" The Li family disciple laughed wildly.
Wang Hao frowned slightly and said, "Are you so confident that you can kill me?"
The Li family warrior laughed even louder and said, "According to the intelligence records, it took you a lot of effort to kill Chief Steward Li, but if I were to face him, he would definitely be defeated within a hundred moves."
"Besides, I am a martial artist at the peak of the mid-stage of the Profound Realm. What do you have to fight me with?"
Wang Hao laughed and said, "Since that's the case, then let's fight!"
"You're not going to run? Since you're so confident, then I'll show you just how strong the peak of the mid-stage Profound Realm really is!"
The Li family warrior channeled his true energy into the battle blade in his hand, causing a layer of crimson flames to emanate from the blade.
He swung his sword, and a wave of heat surged from the blade, swirling up the fallen leaves on the ground.
"Sizzle!"
The fallen leaves spontaneously combusted, like a rain of fire suspended in the void.
The fiery leaves gathered together, forming a fire dragon that surged towards Wang Hao.
With one hand behind his back, Wang Hao gathered a thick layer of spiritual energy in the palm of his other hand and struck out, creating an invisible wave of energy.
"Nine layers of overlapping waves".
Affected by the force of the palm strike, the fallen leaves on the ground also flew up and swirled in the air. Hundreds and thousands of leaves, like a sea of trees, surged towards the opposite side.
"Bang!"
Two powerful forces collided, creating a violent clash.
All the leaves turned to dust.
The Li family warrior staggered back more than ten steps before barely managing to steady himself. It was as if he had been struck in the chest by a sledgehammer, causing his blood to churn and resulting in serious internal injuries.
In contrast, Wang Hao remained standing in the same spot, seemingly unperturbed, with not even the hem of his clothes damaged.
"How is this possible? How could someone who cultivates a useless technique become so powerful?" The martial artist from the Li family clutched his chest, staring incredulously at Wang Hao standing opposite him.
Wang Hao smiled noncommittally, too lazy to say more, and slowly approached with the Purple Cloud Sword in hand.
The Li family's martial artist's expression changed. Knowing he was no match, he immediately used a movement technique, stomping his feet on the ground and suddenly rushing out at a speed of 32 meters per second.
But Wang Hao was faster and quickly caught up with him, pointing a finger at the third bone of the warrior's spine.
"Bang!"
The martial artist screamed in agony, his body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground.
"You...you destroyed my Zhongtian Meridian..." The martial artist lay on the ground, trembling all over, staring at Wang Hao with resentment.
If a martial artist's central meridian is destroyed, then his cultivation will never improve again, making him practically a cripple.
"puff."
Wang Hao swung his sword and beheaded the martial artist. Bright red blood gushed from his neck. He then bent down and pulled a box containing a beast's eye from the corpse.
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