In the blink of an eye, another day passed.
Early the next morning, Zhou Hong and the others rose as usual and arrived at the foot of the Tai Gu Academy's mountain gate.
Today, only 10,500 people were participating in the assessment. Therefore, by the time Zhou Hong reached the foot of the mountain, only a few thousand people were waiting, a far cry from the sea of people on the previous morning.
Around nine in the morning, the assessment personnel from Tai Gu Academy descended the mountain punctually.
"Everyone, are you all here?" one of the assessment personnel shouted, scanning the crowd.
The onlookers exchanged glances, but no one spoke. Whether everyone was present was of no concern to them; fewer participants meant less competition.
"Today is the day of the formal assessment. If you pass today's assessment, you will officially enter Tai Gu Academy. As for the method of the formal assessment, I believe I don't need to elaborate further, as it is the same every year."
"The location for the formal assessment is within one of Tai Gu Academy's ancient barriers. However, many of you may not understand what kind of place this is. I deem it necessary to provide an introduction so that you can have a better understanding, as entering this barrier carries a risk to life."
"This ancient barrier was left behind by a powerful cultivator as a personal realm upon their ascension. A personal realm, in essence, is a space one carves out for oneself. However, due to its ancient nature, this barrier cannot withstand the entry of exceptionally powerful individuals, so only cultivators below the Golden Core stage are permitted to enter."
"Our assessment objective is to hunt as many demonic beasts within the barrier as possible and collect their beast cores. The more beast cores one obtains within a day, the higher their ranking."
"However, there are some more powerful demonic beasts that inhabit this ancient barrier, so please be as careful as possible."
At this moment, Zhou Hong, standing amidst the crowd, thought to himself, "Isn't this barrier very similar to my sub-world?"
As Zhou Hong pondered, a voice echoed in his mind: "It is completely different from your sub-world."
"Brother Jin Wu, you're awake."
"Yes, but I have merely awakened. I still require twenty days of recuperation. It has only been a little over ten days since I last controlled your body."
"Understood." Zhou Hong chuckled. He certainly wasn't expecting to cheat with the help of Hei An Jin Wu, but having someone to talk to was still nice now that he was awake.
"The barrier you mentioned, cultivators above the Mahayana stage can all create them themselves, but it's not on the same level as your sub-world. To put it simply, a barrier is merely a high-level storage space."
"Mhm, mhm."
Just then, an assessment personnel shouted, "Alright, everyone, please enter the ancient barrier in order. We wish you all a safe return."
With that, the assessment personnel immediately opened a seal that resembled the opening of a cloth bag.
Everyone walked through the bag-like opening. Strangely, though the opening appeared to be only one or two meters wide, upon reaching it, it felt like a grand gate over ten meters high.
A few minutes later, Zhou Hong and the others entered the barrier.
However, to Zhou Hong's surprise, the interior was pitch black.
"What's going on? It's completely dark, I can't see anything," Gu Dao Chen asked with bewilderment.
A young man nearby, who had been here before, sneered, "Idiot, is this your first time passing the elimination round? Barriers are inherently dark spaces. Did you expect sunlight here? That would be too heaven-defying."
"Oh, oh." Gu Dao Chen felt embarrassed. He had mistakenly thought a barrier would have a sky and ground.
Zhou Hong now understood why Hei An Jin Wu had said that a barrier was merely an advanced storage space and not on the same level as his sub-world.
Although Zhou Hong's sub-world did not have an independent sun, it could synchronize with the sun and moon outside. When the sun set outside, the sun in the sub-world also set.
"Zhou Hong, it's so dark, how are we supposed to hunt the demonic beasts here?" Jiang Cai Yue asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
"You all wait here for me. Don't go anywhere." Zhou Hong thought for a moment and decided to go out alone. After all, with Zhou Hong's strength, hunting more demonic beasts would be an easy task.
"You mean... we're not going to hunt demonic beasts?"
"Yes. I'll share some with you later, enough for you to pass."
"But...?"
"There's no 'but.' I'm leaving now. Wait for me."
Zhou Hong vanished into the darkness immediately, and the others could not see where he had gone.
Although it was so dark that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face, to Zhou Hong, it was as bright as day. This was because Zhou Hong could clearly see every inch of the place through the light from his sub-world.
Time flowed by, and soon, three hours had passed.
Zhou Hong had hunted over 500 demonic beasts.
"That should be enough," Zhou Hong murmured to himself.
Before entering, Zhou Hong had done some preliminary research. In past assessments, the top-ranked participant had hunted at most 100 demonic beasts. To pass the assessment, only five were needed, or even three. Su Dan Fiction Network.
With 500 beast cores now, each of his five companions would average 100.
However, there was still plenty of time, and Zhou Hong wasn't in a hurry to leave.
"Since this was a barrier created by a former Ascended cultivator, perhaps there are still some treasures left behind. Since I'm here, I should search thoroughly," Zhou Hong thought to himself.
At this moment, Hei An Jin Wu said, "Zhou Hong, walk forward. There's a well over there. The liquid in that well seems to be a very high-grade substance."
"Okay." Zhou Hong chuckled. With Hei An Jin Wu's presence, he could immediately discover any good items, saving him the trouble of searching.
Zhou Hong rushed forward and indeed saw a well. If not for Hei An Jin Wu, it would have been difficult for anyone to find it. Because it was so dark, even if someone stumbled upon it, they wouldn't be able to see what was inside the well and would assume it was ordinary water.
"As expected, the liquid inside is a very precious body-tempering potion," Hei An Jin Wu said.
"How should I use this?"
"Collect it first and place it in your sub-world. This body-tempering potion can strengthen our physical bodies and awaken intelligence. In your sub-world, you have so many ordinary Earthlings. If they soak in it every day, their bodies will gradually become stronger, and they will soon be able to enter the path of cultivation."
"Furthermore, your puppet artifacts can also be kept in the potion constantly to temper their bodies. In less than ten to half a month, your puppet artifacts can be upgraded from the late Nascent Soul stage to the early Out-of-Body stage. This substance is more effective when used on puppet artifacts than on human bodies."
"Mhm, mhm." Without a word, Zhou Hong immediately collected it into his sub-world.