Coco opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but kept mum in the end. Looking around, she noticed that Lu Yin’s right arm was bleeding, “Oh, you’re injured.”
Lu Yin looked down and shrugged, “No worries, it’s just a nick.”
“Let me treat you,” she promptly replied, “Or you might get infected. The universe is filled with strange diseases that can take your life if you’re not careful.”
“It can’t be that bad,” he raised a brow.
“I’m not lying; any small wound might be the cause for someone to lose their life one day.” Coco said seriously.
Did doctors like scaring people? “Alright, will you treat me?”
“Of course!” Coco’s eyes lit up, and she suddenly seemed like a different person from before. Lu Yin suddenly had a bad premonition, and that came true as a three-meter-long syringe appeared in her hand the next second, stunning him and Lulu. The needle itself was a meter long and glinted coldly in the dark cave, the syringe filled with a strange green liquid that left him terrified. He felt his scalp go numb as he backed away subconsciously, “What are you doing?”
Coco hugged the syringe and looked at him excitedly, “Treatment. Let’s go, one poke and it’ll be fine!”
Lu Yin choked on his saliva and swiftly rejected, “No need, I can do it myself, you don’t have to treat me!”
Coco grew anxious, “Let me treat you, you won’t be able to heal completely yourself! There’ll be residual effects, and it will be too late if there are other pathological changes. Come on!”
He retreated a little more and insisted, “No need, I can do it myself.”
Coco tutted and looked at his shoulder unwillingly as the syringe vanished, “Oh.”
It was only then that Lulu managed to react, “That’s your innate gift?”
Coco returned to her timid and adorable self, nodding, “Mm, my innate gift can treat injuries, but no one lets me use it.”
Lu Yin rolled his eyes; that thing could pierce through him and end his life. Only an idiot would let her use that on them; it was far more terrifying than a sword.
“Your innate gift is really unique!” Lulu exclaimed, prompting a bashful chuckle.
The conversation was suddenly interrupted as a beast roared nearby and dashed into the distance. Lu Yin glanced outside and wondered how Schutz and the rest were faring on the Melder path. That brat Gerlaine was sensible enough to give up on the assessment, or he would’ve had another burden.
……
The Melder road faced a similar beast wave, and luck wasn’t on Gerbach’s side. He was injured at the very beginning by a mutant beast; if he hadn’t hidden well, he would have become food already. Yan Gang was in the same situation, so the two had basically failed already.
Far away, Tianming had blocked himself into a valley with a giant rock, successfully avoiding the beast wave. However, his luck was just as bad as Gerbach’s because he met someone he didn’t want to—SIlver Tiger, a young expert from the Grandtop Weave’s Nine Stacks Sect; the man was also his enemy.
Silver Tiger stared at Tianming excitedly, “I never thought I’d meet you here. I heard you became a Hall Master of Yu Academy? Congratulations.”
Tianming’s expression turned solemn, “I never thought I would meet you here, either. I can finally have my vengeance.”
Silver Tiger sneered, “Vengeance? What a joke. You’re just trash evicted by the Nine-Layered Gate; even trying to Learn the Nine Stacks, you only got to three. The Great Yu Empire actually accepted trash like you, I’ll help them clean up today.”
The youth then swatted towards Tianming, energy condensed within the strike. An apprehensive Tianming struck out and shockwaves cracked the earth thrice in a row. This was Three Stacks, but Tianming’s eyes narrowed in the next moment as he felt acute pain from his hand, “You actually understood the fourth stack!”
Silver Tiger laughed maniacally, “Trash like you will never be able to understand me. Fourth stack? I’ll show you desperation!”
Another wave of terrifying energy flooded forth, and the fifth stack broke Tianming’s right hand to strike his abdomen. He was sent crashing into the mountainside and spat out blood. Standing in place, Silver Tiger looked at him coldly, “You were trash then, and you’re still trash today. I’ll send you on your way.”
Tianming spat out blood and raised his left hand, forming a claw that howled in the void. Everything within a hundred meters was enveloped by the Skybeast Claw, and a dense bloodlust crushed the boulders and valley floor. Silver Tiger was stunned by the 43rd form of the Skybeast Claw, and failed to defend against the attack even as beast after flying beast crashed down from above. All creatures within a hundred meters were smashed apart, while his clothes were torn apart to reveal four deep wounds on his right shoulder. When he raised his head again, Tianming had vanished.
“You can’t escape!” Silver Tiger leapt up, but a shadow covered him as a giant hairy claw swept across and pierced his body. His body was turned into dust as only a head fell back into the valley; the last he saw was a heavily wounded Tianming hiding under the ruins of the mountain.
Tianming stared at the unresigned head that was glaring at him and smiled bitterly. He had enacted his vengeance, but his examination would end here. As for whether he would live, that depended on the will of the heavens.
……
The beast wave lasted an entire day, but that day was enough to feel like hell to the cultivators who participated in the examination. The beasts could appear to take their lives at any time, and each one was just as powerful as them. Even the stronger ones had to avoid the countless beasts, and they could only watch as their friends, family, and comrades perished. They could only shiver in a corner as the apocalypse raged outside.
When the wave ended, the suns were unsealed and scorched the earth once more. This time, this boiling heat was a warmth that replaced the cold, murderous winter. When Lu Yin’s trio walked out of the cavern, the smell of baked earth was compounded with the stench of blood.
Coco sniffed and turned pale, “Thousands of people must have died nearby.” There were many broken corpses even at the peak right below them.
This assessment was like purgatory, and it reminded Lu Yin of Earth’s evolutionary trial. How many people had turned into zombies in that one moment? How many had died in the mouths of mutant beasts? How many powerful students had been killed? The powerhouses of the universe were more concerned with cultivating strength than preserving life. The weak always fell prey.
At this point, the high temperatures could not dispel the cold in certain people’s hearts, like Raas. He had been completely frightened and barely escaped from the wave; all he wanted to do was return to the Great Yu Empire.
“Those who do not wish to continue the examination, yell ‘I give up!’ thrice. The rest will have to take three attacks, survival is not guaranteed,” a voice rumbled through the void, echoing through the ten paths and the heavens nearby. Those who heard it had a change in expressions. Were the three attacks unavoidable?
Three attacks? Lu Yin raised his head, while Coco shivered on the verge of tears.
“I give up, I give up, I give up!” a cry sounded from a mountain ledge below them, the young man screaming so loudly it was as if he was afraid he wouldn’t be heard.
“I give up, I give up, I give up!” someone else shouted soon after.
“I give up, I give up, I give up!” “I give up, I give up, I give up!” “I give up, I give up, I give up!”
The voices rang out from further and further along the path, but there were still many that refused to admit defeat. This assessment gathered the elites of various factions, and there were quite a few people who weren’t lacking in willpower. One young man right below the peak had already lost his right leg, but passion still burned in his eyes.
“Aren’t you going to give up, Coco?” Lulu asked.
Coco looked fearfully at the skies then shook her head, “I don’t want to. Master said that Windrift Hall has no cowards.”
Lu Yin glanced at her and was suddenly quite interested in this master. Meanwhile, the girl saw the man below the peak and grew eager once more, “He’s broken his leg, let me go treat him.”
“You’ll scare him,” Lulu stated.
Coco acted innocent, “I want to help him.”
“Let him go,” Lu Yin added.
Coco felt wronged but watched dazedly as everything went silent. Lu Yin and Lulu moved apart without explanation, staring at the heavens. This was a test where no one could help them; they had to make their own preparations and face the incoming strikes.
He breathed in deeply, feeling a strange sense of crisis as an invisible attack crashed down from the void. The force tore through the mountain peak as he dodged with the Flash, the feat replicated by Lulu who was nearby. On the other hand, Coco didn’t have such speed. Summoning her syringe once more, she placed it on her head and cowered. The invisible attack crashed down ferociously and sent her entire body a few meters underground, but when Lu Yin and Lulu looked over, she was perfectly fine. The syringe had blocked the attack.