“Well, has Xiaohu returned yet?”
Having chatted with Li Feng for a while, Su Mo looked around and did not see Niu Xiaohu.
“No!”
Li Feng shook his head, furrowed his brows, and asked, “Did something happen to him?”
Su Mo was silent. Since Niu Xiaohu was not powerful, he was worried that something terrible happened to him.
Just at that moment, a sturdy figure rushed out of the woods, and it was Niu Xiaohu himself.
Exhausted as Niu Xiaohu was, his eyes brightened with excitement.
“Lv 9 Qi Cultivation Realm!”
Su Mo was surprised. He could sense a strong fluctuating breath inside Niu Xiaohu’s body. This fluctuating breath caused the air surrounding him to flow, which indicated that he had just broken through his realm and could not control himself well.
“Senior Su Mo and Li Feng, I’m back!”
Niu Xiaohu approached them with a smile.
“Well done, Xiaohu! You’ve broken through your cultivation over just three days.” Su Mo gently smile.
“Haha! I happened to obtain a Spiritual Herb on my way back; thus, I’ve broken through my cultivation!”
Niu Xiaohu revealed an innocent smile, looked at the pale Li Feng, and then said in surprise, “Senior Li Feng, you’re… you’re injured!”
“Haha! I’m fine! It’s just a scratch.”
Li Feng brightly smiled and did not want to lose face in front of Niu Xiaohu.
“That’s good!”
Niu Xiaohu nodded his head.
When they talked with each other, most of the disciples had gradually returned.
Yan Qi, Feng Zilan, and the other disciples returned together. They fixed their eyes on Su Mo in unison the minute they got out of the woods. Each of them wore a darkened face and gritted their teeth as if they desperately wanted to eat Su Mo alive.
The rest of the disciples’ expressions were unintelligible.
“Senior Su Mo, Li Feng, Yan Qi, and the other people seem to have been staring at me just now!”
Standing beside Su Mo, Niu Xiaohu scratched his head with a confused look. He said in confusion, “Judging from their expressions, they seem to have a grudge against me. But I’ve never offended them!”
“Haha! Xiaohu, you must see it’s a mistake. Ignore them!” Su Mo said with a gentle smile.
The person who Yan Qi and the others hated was him, not Niu Xiaohu.
Li Feng arched his eyebrows for he had felt the strong killing desire in their eyes.
Having glanced at Su Mo, Li Feng fell into thoughts.
After nearly one hour, all the disciples had returned.
“Elder Wang, how many disciples have returned?”
Having looked around, Elder Wei asked the elder in the blue robe beside him.
“Elder Wei, 500 disciples have attended the trial test, 447 of whom have returned. However, 53 disciples haven’t shown up.”
The elder in the blue robe used his Spiritual Thought to count all the disciples present and then respectfully replied.
“As in previous years, 10% of the disciples are dead.”
Elder Wei nodded his head with an indifferent expression. He did not show any mercy for the dead disciples.
Gale Island needed elites so it would not be pitiful if mediocre disciples were killed.
Moreover, being killed in such a simple trial test would only show these disciples’ incapabilities.
“Fine! Since time’s up, let’s go back to Gale Island!”
Elder Wei said again and was about to make an announcement.
“Elder Wei, Wu Kui hasn’t returned yet, neither have the two disciples of the Spiritual Martial Realm,” the square-faced elder suddenly said in confusion.
“Really?”
Hearing this, Elder Wei inspected all the disciples present and did not find Wu Kui or the other two. His brows instantly furrowed.
“Since they’re powerful, they wouldn’t be killed in Qingyuan Island. In thirty minutes, we’ll go back if they still haven’t returned,” Elder Wei said after some thoughts.
Elder Wei would never make such a decision for the regular disciples. Moreover, the regular disciples were also not qualified to make elders wait for them.
However, Wu Kui was different. He had a Martial Soul of the Rank 8 Human Class, so he would certainly enter the inner gate, even probably become a core disciple.
Wu Kui with a Martial Soul of the Rank 8 Human Class would at least become an outer elder in the future.
Therefore, Elder Wei attached more importance to him.
Time flew by, and 30 minutes passed.
“Elder Liu and Elder Zhao, you go to the island and search for them. I’ll take the rest to the sect.”
After giving this order, Elder Wei turned around and announced. “Now then, all the disciples gather up, board the ship, and return to Gale Island.”
All the disciples boarded the ship again and backtracked at his order.
It was almost dusk when they returned to Gale Island. Once again, they gathered together on the square.
On the square was a wooden desk, 10 meters long and five meters wide. A dozen elders were seated behind the desk.
“Well! Now, whoever thinks that he’ll have a good ranking, you can step forward and pour out your Demonic Cores!”
Elder Wei was seated in the middle of them and loudly shouted.
At that moment, Elder Wei continuously looked at the disciples present, his brightened eyes full of mixed feelings.
Elder Zhao and Elder Liu had already returned.
They soon discovered Wu Kui. Because they were powerful and could fly in the air, they had returned to the sect earlier than the disciples who took the ship.
Wu Kui was found dead with his head decapitated.
They had found the bodies of Wu Kui and another Spiritual Martial Realm disciple on the way to the demon cave.
They had also found many corpses inside the cave but Demonic Insects had gnawed the corpses into bones.
The corpses inside the cave were probably bitten to death by Demonic Insects, but Wu Kui and another disciple were apparently killed in one strike by a person.
Elder Wei wondered who could be capable of killing them.
“Is it Luo Qianfan?”
“Or Yan Qi? Cao Yuan?”
“Or anyone else?”
Elder Wei was not enraged by Wu Kui’s death. Instead, he was greatly curious to know who killed them.
Now that the person was able to kill two Spiritual Martial Realm geniuses, he must be more powerful than them.
Since he was that powerful, his trial test ranking must be in the front row. By then, he would naturally reveal his identity.
Elder Wei had expectations in his heart.
Hearing what Elder Wei said, the new disciples stepped forward one by one and took out their own Demonic Cores.
The elders would score them by the levels and number of their Demonic Cores.
Speaking of the numbers, some had dozens of Demonic Cores while some had only several Demonic Cores.
A Demonic Core of Class 7 Lv 1 was counted as one point, a Class 8 Lv 1 as two points, one Class 9 Lv 1 as four points, and a Demonic Core of Class 1 Lv 2 as eight points.
Soon, more than 200 disciples had been scored.
At that time, Cao Yuan, one of the five geniuses, stepped forward. After he waved his sleeve, a pile of Demonic Cores appeared on the desk.
“Geeze! Senior Cao Yuan has obtained so many Demonic Cores!”
“Great! With so many Demonic Cores, Senior Cao Yuan would probably be the champion.”
“I doubt it. Other disciples of the Spiritual Martial Realm must also have many Demonic Cores.”
As soon as Cao Yuan took out the Demonic Cores, the crowd instantly exclaimed and then burst into a discussion.
Nearly 300 Demonic Cores were piled in front of Cao Yuan.
Standing in the crowd, Su Mo felt surprised. He had plundered all of Cao Yuan’s Demonic Cores yesterday, but within one day, Cao Yuan had obtained so many more.
Unknown to Su Mo, after exiting the demon cave, Cao Yuan drove his followers to loot Demonic Cores for him so he could acquire many Demonic Cores in one day.
The elders soon counted Cao Yuan’s Demonic Cores. Cao Yuan then put them away and strode off.
Confronted with others’ surprising and admiring expressions, Cao Yuan felt bitter instead of proud in his heart.
As far as he was concerned, he would absolutely miss the championship even if he had nearly 300 Demonic Cores.
Turning his head around and looking at Su Mo, Cao Yuan felt resentful in his heart.