Chapter 60:
This girl's cultivation level was only at the first stage of the Profound realm. She was no match for Deacon "Zhao Yan" who was at the Return to the Truth realm, as a result, she was directly swept dozens of feet away and smashed into a house in Lin'an town with a scream. Her life and death were unknown.
"Lord Deacon, don't be angry!"
His sudden move frightened the remaining disciples, their eyes were full of disbelief and fear.
Since arriving at the Lin'an town, the deacon's temperament had changed. As if he was a completely different person from what he had been, there was no longer any trace of his previous kindness.
"Help Zhao Mu to collect all the spirit fields, spirit grasses, spirit grains, and spirit rice in the town, and take 80% of them as spirit tax."
As soon as Ji Yuenian's words fell, the disciples scurried away, and no one dared to stay there even a minute.
"Lord Deacon, I beg you, there is not much spiritual grain left in the town. If you take away 80%, we will all starve to death!" The Lin'an town's guard trembled on the roof, his eyes full of despair.
Ji Yuenian glanced at him, but found some clues on the guard's face.
The grief on his face didn't look phoney. The grass and trees in Lin'an town were even more real.
The most important thing was that his psychic flame actually had a phantom in the shrine acupoint! If he was in the illusion, the psychic flame would not manifest at all. Is the illusion in this fourth level really so miraculous?
Or maybe... This is no illusion at all!
Inside the Chaoxia Hall.
Peak Master Xingyuan, Li Shixuan, was looking at "Zhao Yan" who was possessed by Ji Yuenian through the light curtain. At this time, seeing a thoughtful look on Zhao Yan's face, a smile formed on his lips, and he said to himself: "This disciple is really smart. Although I helped him retain his memory, it is not easy to see through the illusions and discern the reality behind."
In reality, the fourth level entrance examination was never an illusion, but rather a technique of twin spirit enchantment performed by an exceptionally precious treasure. Which temporarily attached the soul of the participant to the disciple who had been arranged by this treasure in advance. When the disciples woke up, they could directly complete the examination based on the temporary memory infusion!
This time, the person who opened this treasure happened to be Li Shixuan, the Peak Master Xingyuan. Therefore, he could secretly protect Ji Yuenian's memory and let him enchant "Zhao Yan" with his memory intact and not be blinded by the spiritual light of this treasure.
After realizing that this place wasn't an illusion through the abnormality of the psychic flame, Ji Yuenian couldn't help but sigh at the profound heritage of the Taiyu Holy Sect.
The entrance examination cost too much. The art of enchanting two disciples out of tens of thousands of people consumed countless resources. It was the only way of picking disciples who were loyal to the sect that abided the sect rules.
In this way, everything that happened in Lin'an town was true, but it was just that he didn't know which ancient city ruled this town.
The townspeople were afraid of the dense black-armored stone worms on the ground and didn't dare to climb down from the roof. They only watched Zhao Mu and Chu Lun and others who brought out all the spirit valley spirit objects. They gathered them all in the center of the town.
After one incense stick.
"Lord Deacon, the stocktaking has been completed."
Chu Lun stepped forward, pointing at the large pile of spirit grain and spirit materials in the center of the platform: "In the past ten years, Lin'an Town has harvested 75 stalks of spirit-enhancing grass, 68 jins of Yang spirit rice, 5 stalks of spirit-gathering grass, and 140 jins of Yi Qi rice. As for Heling grass... not a single one."
Zhao Mu's face was unsightly, and he arched his hand towards Ji Yuenian and said, "Cousin-uncle, the Lin'an townspeople have been deceiving us too much! They dare use the sect's spiritual tax as ration!"
Ji Yuenian pondered for a moment and asked the Lin'an town's guard: "Town's guard, let me ask you. The Heling Grass is the only kind of entry-level spiritual grass given by the upper clan, and you were specially instructed to take good care of it. It stands to reason that after ten years there should've been at least ten plants in production. But, why is there not a single stalk of Heling Grass here?"
Zhao Mu from the side snared: "The Heling Grass is an entry-level spirit grass, these black-armored stone worms won't approach it! Don't use the insect disaster as an excuse!"
The Lin'an town's guard had a bitter expression on his face and remained silent for a long time before slowly opening his mouth and said, "I'll tell you, sir. During the previous insect plague, several townspeople were bitten by the black-armored stone insects, and they struggled to escape. However, their body was severely damaged. I saw that a few of them were too young, so I took off the few Heling Grass plants and fed them."
"You're unscrupulous!" Zhao Mu's face turned into the shade of a pig's liver. "Even if these spirit objects are added up, they would not amount much in currency, but they are all sect's belongings. What qualifications do you have to misappropriate them without permission!"
The Lin'an town's guard was frightened by him and could no longer stand up. He slipped on a tile, slumped down on the roof, and fell into the sea of black beetles.
Ten minutes later, the old man's flesh and blood had completely disappeared, leaving only a pile of white bone on the ground.
Ji Yuenian frowned slightly, asked, "The commoners under the sect's rule have arbitrarily used an entry-level elixir; the Heling Grass. How do you deal with it within the sect's rules?"
Zhao Mu said angrily, "Reporting to uncle, we should kill them all to set an example."
Heling grass wasn't valuable, even ten of them couldn't be exchanged for one prime stone, but the sect rules were ruthless, the laws were like the heavens. As long as the sect's possessions were tampered, it was a capital crime, and there was never any leeway.
Since he entered the Taiyu Holy Sect, he had to abide by its regulations, and Ji Yuenian was very clear about this.
And he also knew very well that there were countless eyes, even the entire Luoxia Mountains, were looking at his every move through the light curtain in the Chaoxia Hall.
No mistake can be made.
"Zhao Mu, Chu Lun." Ji Yuenian looked like an old man, and he said in a deep voice, flicking his sleeves.
"The disciple is here!"
"Everyone in this Lin'an town will be disposed of according to the sect's rules."
"This... is!"
After a stick of incense.
"Lord Deacon, what about Hong Ying?" Chu Lun stepped forward, holding a dying girl in red in his hand.
It was the female disciple who had violated the law not long ago.
Ji Yuenian glanced at him indifferently, but did not respond, but turned to Zhao Mu and asked, "Who asked you to collect everything?"
Zhao Mu held a storage ring in his hand, his gaze slightly stunned, said: "Cousin-uncle, there are no people left in the Lin'an town. There is no point..."
"Leave 20%," Ji Yuenian said, "The sect only needs 80% of the spiritual tax, and the rest will not be taken."
Zhao Mu bowed his head and replied, "Yes, Cousin-uncle."
Just as Zhao Mu put 20% of the spirit materials back into the center of the stone platform of Lin'an town, which was dead, a brilliant incandescent white light coalesced from the sky and enveloped Ji Yuenian.
A few moments later, this bright white halo disappeared into the void, and Deacon "Zhao Yan" slowly came to his senses.
"Cousin-uncle, what happened to you?" Zhao Mu stepped forward and looked concerned.
Zhao Yan shook his head, knowing in his heart that the disciple who participated in the assessment had been released from his spiritual possession, so he didn't say much and just smiled, "Nothing."
But after seeing the dying girl in red, Zhao Yan's expression changed dramatically, he stepped forward and held her in his arms, and asked anxiously, "Who did this?"
When Zhao Mu, Chu Lun and the others heard this, they looked at each other in confusion.
Luoxia Hall.
Ji Yuenian opened his eyes, and what he saw was numerous light curtains traversing the nine stone platforms!
This was the overall ranking of the entrance examination!
At the same time, countless gazes were directed at Ji Yuenian, and countless comments were heard!
"Fourth level evaluation: Excellent!!"
"This disciple's performance in the illusionary realm has no flaws at all, it was perfect!"
"This is the first time I've heard of such an evaluation within the examination!"
"Generally, the disciples are either low grade: low, mediocre, and---occasionally--upper grades. However, this Ji Yuenian's "excellent" is really..."
"Ji Yuenian will definitely be ranked first!"
As the disciples walked out from the light gate one after another, the vast list that stretched across the sky also changed slightly, with tens of thousands of names scrolling on it in a dense mass.
"It's out! It's coming out! Look!"
"First!!!"
"Sure enough!"
Countless people looked towards the top of the list.
At the top, a line of blazing golden characters appeared distorted, attracting the attention of hundreds of thousands of people in the Luoxia Mountains.
"The first place in the entrance examination, Ji Yuenian."
On the right side of it, there were dozens of small words densely marked.
"Ji Yuenian, from the 18th city of Taichu, Tong Xuan Heart Ghost bloodline, Grade 4 Heart Fire Sequence; Upper Profound realm."
"First level evaluation: Extremely Active."
"Second level evaluation: Superior Bloodline."
"Third level evaluation: 300th step."
"Fourth level evaluation: Excellent."