The effect was indeed very good.
At least now, the attention of the entire venue was almost entirely focused on the pair of master and servant.
Those in the venue who were unaware of the identity of Baili Fengzhi were even more astonished by her very respectful demeanor.
"Could this woman be merely his guard? Or a servant?"
"Such a peerless genius, she might become an invincible figure right below a Great Cultivator, and yet she’s just a subordinate?"
"How could such a talented and beautiful woman willingly be subservient to others?"
"What exactly is the background of this gentleman?"
For a moment, those unaware couldn’t help but speculate about Lin Yue’s identity.
Lin Yue didn’t mind being so high-profile.
With his current situation, being low-key or famous didn’t make much difference, as the high-ranking figures of Di Hong City had long known his identity.
It was just that he had not yet gone to the palace to acknowledge his identity as a Prince.
As for attracting trouble?
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What a joke.
So many formidable Princes were destined to be his enemies, only hindered by the rules and the protection of Duke Heng for the time being.
No matter how high his profile, what greater storm could he attract than the Princes?
What he needed to do now was to speedily enhance his own abilities under the protection of Duke Heng, find ways to prolong Duke Heng’s life, and seek more protection.
"The first phase of the basic examination has ended."
Grandmaster An’s gaze swept over the crowd and said, "A total of eighty-four people passed the first level of the examination, and only eight passed the second level. Excluding the members of Tianxia Building, only you eight are qualified to participate in the Inner Hall examination on the ninth day of next month."
Exempting the members of Tianxia Building from the test, out of the three hundred and forty-eight participants present, ninety-two people passed the first phase of the examination.
This passing rate was indeed quite low.
It should be noted that all Martial Cultivators who dared to participate in the examination had some confidence in themselves.
However, it turned out that most were merely blindly overconfident.
"You ninety-two, may participate in the second item of the basic examination."
After the remaining two hundred and more people had stepped aside, Grandmaster An looked towards the ninety-two who had passed and said, "The second item of the basic examination is to test your movement technique."
Grandmaster An once again remotely pointed at the floating, strange Treasure Mirror.
The Treasure Mirror flipped slightly and immediately released a huge Barrier, which rapidly transformed and contracted in the air, forming a winding Barrier corridor, like a maze, landing on the open ground.
This maze was quite vast, occupying several hundred yards in area, almost taking up more than half of the space in front of Ancestor Hall.
"As you can see,"
Grandmaster An said, "Inside this Barrier is a maze. What you need to do is to pass through this maze as quickly as possible, however... every thirty yards into the maze corridor, it splits into three paths."
Three paths?
The crowd couldn’t help but listen more attentively.
Grandmaster An looked at the crowd and said:
"The left path, from entrance to exit, is fifteen hundred yards long."
"The middle path, from entrance to exit, is one thousand yards long."
"The right path, from entrance to exit, is five hundred yards long."
The many examiners were momentarily stunned.
Three paths within the maze, and the lengths differed so much?
"The three paths vary in length and difficulty,"
Grandmaster An said, "The left path is the longest, a full fifteen hundred yards but with only five turns. The middle path is neither long nor short, containing eighteen turns, while the right path, though only five hundred yards in length, is extremely intricate, not only changing in left-right direction but also in elevation."
Upon hearing this, people realized the true meaning of this test.
The three paths, in fact, corresponded to three types of movement techniques.
The first path, being the longest with fewer twists, was suitable for those with fast straight-line speeds but less versatility.
The second path, neither long nor short and with some twists, was suitable for those with decent speed and flexibility.
The third path, being only five hundred yards but extremely intricate, was entirely suited for those particularly skilled in versatile and changeable techniques.
Which movement technique was superior?
It was hard to say, as each had its advantages and suited different scenarios.
Thus, setting up this kind of test in Ancestor Hall was also fairer, allowing different movement techniques to have advantages.
Overall, the three maze routes were of similar difficulty.
"You may observe."
Grandmaster An waved his sleeve, and two objects appeared suspended in mid-air.
They were two transparent hourglasses, one labeled ’Outer Hall’, the other ’Inner Hall’.
However, the sand inside the hourglasses emitted a dim golden glow, the one labeled ’Outer Hall’ containing a greater quantity of sand, while the other, ’Inner Hall’, had about half as much.
"Inside these two hourglasses is Star Dust Sand,"
Grandmaster An said, "Star Sand naturally attracts the earth’s magnetism and falls at an extremely alarming speed. Despite appearing to have so much sand, it will quickly flow into the container below."
He scanned the crowd, "Before all the sand in the hourglasses has fallen through, those who can traverse the maze will pass the second item of the basic examination, and the labels on the two hourglasses, ’Outer Hall’ and ’Inner Hall’, represent two levels of the examination’s difficulty. You must traverse the maze before the time in the ’Inner Hall’ hourglass runs out in order to participate in the Inner Hall examination on the ninth of next month."
People understood.
Two hourglasses, corresponding to two standards.
Just like within the first examination, breaking through twenty layers of Barrier only qualified for the Outer Hall, but breaking through ninety-nine layers qualified to participate in the Inner Hall examination.