Suddenly, a murmur spread across the individuals, even though their voices were lower than a whisper. However, due to his enhanced hearing senses, Ryuk could clearly hear them as not everyone but a few of them looked in his direction, given that he was the last one to arrive here.
“Isn’t that Yao Lian? Are they from the Wei family?” One of the individuals among the crowd was able to recognize Yao Lian and the family to which they belonged, making a few more look in their direction considering that they belonged to one of the major families in Upper Town.
“What? Someone from Upper Town? But why is it only a foundational establishment?”
“Has the Wei family fallen this low after losing their prodigal heir?”
“Tch, it appears Upper Town will be shamed due to the Wei family.”
One after another, various whispers began to circulate, exposing their true nature. These murmurs stemmed from the reality that the newly arrived man was only at the foundational establishment realm, while others pondered how the family had degraded to such a state after losing their prodigious heir, Liu Wei, in an accident a few years prior.
But mostly the murmurs were made by individuals from Middle town, as all those who had arrived later, after the event that had just occurred outside with Suin Heme, were the only ones busy in conversation or glancing towards the individuals who had arrived from the Wei family.
Others were looking towards that same young man with several tattoos and wearing completely different attire than the natives of Jade Dominion, appearing far more intimidating now that he had killed Suin Heme.
Though the clash lasted no more than five minutes, those moments were overwhelmingly one-sided, akin to a child striking a mountain as that man accompanying the nine-tailed fox played with Suin Heme, eventually dissipating him into a mist of blood.
‘What is that?’ Ryuk ignored the murmurs and glanced towards the center where a very huge green pillar, appearing to be made of jade or a similar green gemstone, stood.
Above all else, it seemed to be imbued with dense internal energy, providing it strength and visible hardness that was evident from the surrounding pressure.
[Host, the constitution of that slab contains a mixture of serpentine and jade.]
[Do you want me to analyze it?]
‘Yes,’ Ryuk could feel that the slab, which appeared more than 10 feet in height and 3 meters thick, was really heavy, making him curious to know what it might be for.
[Analyzing…..]
[Host, it appears the stone slab contains a very thick and dense amount of internal energy, providing it strength to endure a force equivalent to that of an asteroid.]
‘I see,’ Ryuk calmly nodded as he moved forward, accompanied by Yao Lian and Esme, while three horses followed behind them, slightly causing a few of the individuals to glance in their direction; but it was momentary since animals were allowed, nor did it matter to them.
“Welcome, aspiring cultivators! Today marks the beginning of your entrance examination. You will face the first stage by striking the Slab of Judgment with all your might. To qualify, you must score high enough to be selected by it. Let us see what each of you can achieve!” Suddenly, a voice resonated throughout the place, echoing as most of the individuals shifted in that direction, where an old man wearing a Hanfu stood with both his hands behind him while announcing with closed eyes. His internal energy enhanced his voice, making it reverberate throughout the place.
“Finally! I will make sure to score the highest!”
“Hope it can withstand my punch!”
“Imagine it crumbling with just my finger touch.”
One after another, several voices started to respond, mixed with different kinds of voices that held different opinions regarding this particular test.
“What if he punched it?” One of them inquired to his teammates, mostly those from Middletown who were present at that time, glancing in the direction of a woman standing with her unique features—nine tails, furry ears, a black robe, and a white long katana blade in both hands.
Mostly, they were looking in that direction, given that the tattooed man who had killed Suin Heme was also standing near that woman, making them tremble in fear as they felt that all they would need was one seat.
“D-doesn’t matter. If we can qualify in this round and the upcoming ones, we can just go for 3rd or 4th position,” one of them stammered, suggesting the possibility of getting a 3rd or 4th position if he considered that 1st or 2nd is secured by those two people from the Jun family.
“Y-yes, we can at least take 3rd position,” Finally, a small wave of assurance moved throughout the place, while their pride and ego had already reached a point where they did not trust winning or getting even first position, except for the candidates from other major families who had arrived afterward and just heard the news, so they were cautious of his presence but not completely fearful of Lucas.
“What? Are they idiots?” Hearing those words from the individuals who had arrived from Upper Town or who had just entered the gate, the outer disciples observing everything felt like laughing, seeing how they were even considering the possibility of securing a top 10 position.
“Leave them, they are being delusional,” one of the female disciples, standing while observing the outsiders with her narrowed gaze, ignored their murmurs, not caring as she calmly observed and searched for those who appeared somewhat strong enough, but assured that this qualifying round would give them an idea about who were the ones to be considered a threat.
“The candidates from the Lower Town have arrived on the platform!” the Elder announced once again, standing tall and looking towards everyone.
‘?!?’
“F-for Reaall…..!!!”
Seeing the surprised reactions from all the other individuals, the disciples from the outer pavilion mused, knowing well about everything.
For normal individuals, it may seem that the elder is giving chances to lower town in a weak-to-strong manner just because he promotes equality and hates discrimination.
But in truth, if checked from lower town to middle then upper, it will give an advantage to outer disciples to observe each of the candidates since the ones who qualify need to quickly move to the next round.
So, if it starts from outer disciples, then they will need to leave this place, making them unable to observe the strength of their opponents.
Hence, using the privilege of being in the Outer Pavilion, the Outer Elder always gave this particular advantage to each of them by making the series of qualifying rounds start from opposite order.
“What!? For real! They are going to give chances to lower town first!”
“Indeed, it seems true that elders don’t discriminate, as they have decided to choose and start the qualifying round from Lower Town candidates.”
“How generous.”
“But will there be any candidates from Lower Town this time?” one of the individuals inquired, feeling that the chances of someone from Lower Town being very low considering how one needs to move to Middletown using their identity and then to Upper Town taking the ships to arrive at this place, making all of this impossible for those who have a criminal background with no identification and are poor.
“I-I am coming,” out of nowhere, a faint voice emerged from the crowd. A young woman, looking emaciated with a pale face and dark circles under her eyes, approached the slab slowly. Her hair was disheveled, giving her a ghostly appearance, and she wore a simple hanfu as she moved at a slow pace towards the platform.
