Chapter 723 – Unfair Second Round
Because of the overwhelming number of players and the local cultivators, the first examination would take days to complete. With nothing to do, Chase excused himself as he had Miaomiao's mission to complete.
On the other hand, Miaomiao was interested in the players. He stayed behind, observing the abilities of players and local cultivators.
While he was spectating the scene, Raoul mustered his courage and talked to Miaomiao.
"Sir, my name is Raoul. I'm a rogue cultivator, and I wish to ask for your guidance!"
Miaomiao had already noticed Raoul. He simply glanced at him, "What can I do for you?"
"I wish to become useful to you. Could I serve you like how the other gentleman did?"
Raoul was wise with words. He didn't directly ask Miaomiao for a quest, but he chose to offer his service instead.
"You're taking the sect's assessment exam, and you might not have enough free time to help me. Do you know that once you become a disciple of Celestial Sword Sect, you cannot leave the sect until you're permitted to do so?"
"… I'm sorry. I was too ignorant," Raoul never heard of the rules before. He simply came here, thinking that he could join an NPC organization in this event.
"Don't apologize. No one is omniscient and omnipotent in this universe, even gods. We all are always stupid in the eyes of someone else. Anyway, it's not like that I lack resources, but I always lack manpower. You see. The task that I gave that boy might bring him harm. I'm worried that that good boy might face difficulties along the way while he is trying to complete my assignment. How about you go and protect him for me?"
Ding
Suddenly, a quest screen appeared before Raoul. The objective was to protect Chase from hostile players and local cultivators, who might aim to snatch the quest item.
Raoul inwardly grinned as he managed to bait a quest from Miaomiao. He politely bowed.
"No one can harm that person. Leave it to me!"
"Good."
Miaomiao brought out the low-grade weapon that Chase didn't take and tossed it to Raoul.
"That is your advanced payment. If Chase were to fail this task, you will hold responsibility for it!"
Suddenly, Raoul sensed a chill running down his spine. An intense killing intent suffocated him to the point that his knees turned into jelly.
Afraid that Miaomiao might kill him, Raoul excused himself and fled with the low-grade sword.
When Raoul was gone, Mao Hao whispered to Miaomiao.
"Is it alright to give him a low-grade weapon so easily?"
Miaomiao chuckled, "I secretly placed a tracking mark on that sword. If he doesn't sell it, I can track it and get it back."
"Wow. You're so smart, young master!"
Miaomiao's nose was so pointy that he almost forgot about his previous life's blunders and stupid moments. He managed to reel in his inflated ego and came back to his senses.
.
As words of mouth spread that any player could take the Celestial Sword Sect's assessment test, more players rushed to the testing ground to join the local event.
Late afternoon of the same day, the number of participants rose from 50,000 to 100,000! The majority of the newcomers were players, who had learned about the events from a forum or live stream of other players.
The expressions of the elders and disciples on the platforms were brightened when they saw so many candidates. More elders and deacons came out to create ten more platforms for others to take their turns.
Still, more people kept flocking here. Candidates, who had already taken their turn, remained behind as they were waiting to take another assessment test. Although many players temporarily left, 70% of the test takers either spectated or searched for quests around here. A few bored players that had already taken the test created their little PVP ground to challenge other players for fun as well.
Meanwhile, Miaomiao was bored as the players were too weak, and their movements were robotic. He turned around and whispered to Mao Hao.
"Come fetch me when the first round is over. I'm heading back to the clan and rest."
Mao Hao also whispered, "Don't you want to watch them some more, young master? We can give random quests to these otherworlders and get some PACT while we're at it."
"To be honest, I already have a thousand tokens. You guys can stay here and order them to find us rare herbs and offer them spirit stones at half of the market price as quest rewards."
"Oh! You're a genius, young master! I never thought of that!"
"Don't overdo it, though. The other clansmen will start copying you and ruin the business."
"Of course. We'll do it like a limited-time sale promotion!"
Miaomiao and Mao Hao's group laughed. Then, the young master returned to his clan.
.
When Miaomiao returned to his room, Xiong Zhenzhen was in the middle of doing the chore. She had just finished changing the bed sheet and greeted Miaomiao.
"Master, how come you return so fast? Did you fail the exam?"
Miaomiao poked Xiong Zhenzhen's forehead with his finger, "Silly girl! The test is going to take several days because of the otherworlders. There are at least 100,000 people out there, and the second round won't start any time soon. I'm here to take a nap and rest."
Like an old man, Miaomiao hopped on the bed and took a nap, recharging his mental strength.
.
Seven days later, Mao Hao returned to fetch Miaomiao as the first round was over.
Miaomiao returned to the sect's exam ground. Then, he discovered a massive crowd of over 500,000 players gathering here. As expected, many players had heard about the event and came here to take part in it.
Because of the endless sea of people, Miaomiao had no place to stand on the ground. He and his bodyguards had to keep floating in the air, waiting for the second round to start.
Hovering over the sect's main gate was the leaderboard of the first round. Miaomiao was ranked first.
However, there was a name that Miaomiao knew well.
Tang Ting, 100 Points
'Oh? She's here?'
Miaomiao looked around, but he couldn't find Tang Ting among the 500,000 people below. He sighed and stopped searching for now. After all, they would meet eventually.
Aside from Tang Ting and Miaomiao, Chase's rank was 3rd. Raoul got pushed back to 10th place as his friends came in for the fun and got higher scores. Still, nobody managed to score higher than 80 points. As a result, Chase became the center of attention of all players.
Miaomiao gazed at the city. Unlike before, the Celestial Sword Sect mobilized most of their disciples to maintain order. 10,000 outer disciples and 500 inner disciples had been stationing around 500 platforms, quickening the process.
At noon, the last player got their turn. The three elders reappeared and declared the ending of the first round.
"Congratulations to the candidates who passed the first round. As for the enthusiastic cultivators that didn't pass, don't be disheartened. As long as you pass three of the next four exams, we will accept you into our sect."
The elders had already scanned through the result of all candidates. Out of 500,000 people here, only 150,000 people passed the first round. He could have disqualified the rest, but he wanted to give them a chance so that their sect could obtain more free laborers.
"The next round will be dangerous. Everybody here will have to withstand the killing intent of an elder and maintain their consciousness for one incense stick of time. Let us demonstrate how it is done. I need 100 volunteers to take the examination first!"
The players frowned as they didn't know what kind of test it was. They looked around, not moving from the spot and waiting for others to be their lab rats.
On the other hand, Miaomiao and local cultivators never showed fear. They got on the platform in front of the elder, allowing their cultivation strength to be suppressed to the first stage once more.
Surprisingly, Chase and Raoul were among them.
When Chase and Raoul saw Miaomiao, they rushed to his sides.
"Sir! I have delivered the ring to Young Miss Tang. She also wanted me to bring his letter to you!" Chase handed a paper to Miaomiao right away.
Miaomiao picked it up and skimmed through the letter. It was a short message.
'Let's compete, husband. If I get a higher score than you, you and I will have sex. If you beat me, I'll let you have sex with me!'
Miaomiao facepalmed. Either the result, they would have sex anyway.
He burnt the letter and shoved another bag of spirit stones to Chase. He then turned to Raoul.
The tall player gave a report as well, "We got ambushed by several groups of thieves, but we made it through."
Chase nodded, "Sir, without him and his friends, I would have died thousand times over. I can't believe they're after your ring, sir!"
Miaomiao raised his brows and chuckled. He also gave Raoul a pouch of spirit stones as well.
"Well done, both of you. Well, I don't have anything I need at the moment. Let's chat after we finish this exam."
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Miaomiao fiddled with his system menu with his Qi and gave them an additional reward.
DING
<Mao Miaomiao has acknowledged your sincerity. His favorability toward you has increased.>
<Current Favorability: 1 Star.>
Chase and Raoul noticed the system notifications. They looked at each other and hi-fived.
'Oh, they become friends? Good for you. Games are supposed to be fun, and this is how a multi-player game should be.'
While they were chatting and waiting for the trial to begin, more than a hundred cultivators came up on the stage.
The elders reinforced the barrier and stopped more cultivators from getting on the platform. He slowly descended, but he hovered over the 130 people on the stage.
"I'm about to do something dangerous. If you think you can't handle it anymore, you can give up and save your life. If you die or become crippled during the assessment exam, we shall hold no responsible!"
No cultivator stepped down from the ring as they came prepared. Even Chase and Raoul weren't intimidated since they still treated this world as a digital game world.
"Light the incense stick! I'll begin!"
One of the outer disciples brought out an incense stick and lit the tip. At that moment, the barrier of the platform turned red.
"!!!"
All cultivators on the platform suddenly gulped as they sensed a sharp killing intent from the elder. The skins on their neck and arms showed red marks as if they had been cut several times.
Raoul and Chase had it worse. They hallucinated and saw themselves being killed. Both men screamed and fell on their butts.
Many talented swordsmen stood their ground. They hallucinated as well, but they fought against the illusion with their imaginary sword skills in their mind. Some of them managed to repel the illusion attacks, but more than half of them were cut by the elder's illusions.
Miaomiao, on the other hand, pursed his lips. The illusion of the elders instantly vanished as soon as it hit him. Moreover, the pressuring chilling air was a joke compared to a sage's killing intent before the great reset.
Although Miaomiao could easily dispel the illusion, he left it alone as he didn't want to injure the elder. After all, forcefully canceling the illusion would cause backlash damage to the caster.
A minute passed by. 35 of the cultivators fell unconscious as their brains believed that they were killed for real. The majority of cultivators sweated profusely while they knitted their brows. Chase and Raoul's eyes were bleeding, but they kept holding on with their willpower.
Standing out from the crowd, Miaomiao yawned and fiddled with his system screen, drafting random quests for the future. He ignored the killing intent of a nascent soul cultivator as if he was a game-addicted teenager, who was ignoring his parents' nagging.
After 5 minutes, the test was over.
Miaomiao looked around and found the aftermath of a tragedy. Out of 132 local cultivators, 20 were still conscious. 50 of them passed out while the rest stopped breathing and had been taken to the city's hospital.
He glanced at Chase and Raoul, wondering if they were still alive.
Betraying his expectation, Chase was still here. However, blood kept coming out from his orifices. As for Raoul, he was turned into a corpse, and his body dissipated into sparkles of light.
"Poor dude."
When the killing intent pressure was over, Chase collapsed to the ground. His HP bar flashed as he only had less than 10 HP left.
Miaomiao opened his system inventory and splashed a few drops of Unified Element Water on Chase. Then, the HP bar was recovered by half.
Seeing that Chase was out of danger, Miaomiao walked around and checked the life force of other young cultivators. He healed the critically injured candidates and helped the sect's disciples carry the people out.
The celestial Sword Sect's disciples clamored and gazed at Miaomiao in admiration. Some of them saluted him, showing respect to the genius son of the sect master.
As for the elder, he couldn't stop smiling. He praised Miaomiao.
"This round of examination is the borderline between a mediocre swordsman and a sword saint. Only those who can overcome the impossible can pass with a flying mark. In this round, Young Master Mao Miaomiao got the perfect score again. Congratulations, Young Master Mao!"
The scoreboard had been updated.
100 Points, Mao Miaomiao
75 Points, Chase
11 Points, Raoul
Miaomiao glanced at his score while he carried an unconscious local cultivator to a nearby infirmary tent. He inwardly disapproved of this method as it was not a fair test - Only war veterans who had experienced life-and-death situations could come out unharmed.
'99% of people here will fail this one. But, hey. This kid is doing well. Should I raise him as a disciple?'
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺