Chapter 1174: Assessment

At the core of the Mystic Sky Sect, in the depths of the 100,000 Big Mountains.

A luxurious flying boat slowly descended from the sky. Jianjia and Zhang Suixian, who had met Ou Yangming in the starry sky, came down from the boat.

They had left by a flying boat when they arrived at the Zhenwu Continent, whereas Ou Yangming had delayed some time in Beishan City. Logically speaking, they should have arrived here long ago.

Indeed, they had encountered some trouble along the way.

In a beautiful courtyard, there was an old man sitting upright. He looked at Jianjia with a doting gaze. Beside the old man were Chu Jingyun and the others who were chasing the jade badge. Chu Jingyun’s expression was serious at this moment.

“Suixian, the appearance of Ancient Demons is a big matter. Are you sure you didn’t see it wrongly?” The old man looked at Zhang Suixian as he asked in a gentle tone.

Zhang Suixian’s expression was grave, and he answered in a deep voice, “Great Elder Wang, I definitely wasn’t mistaken. The few that appeared in Zhongzhou City must be Ancient Demons. I’ve read about them in the Heavenly Star Mansion. Those Ancient Demons are very rampant. Many villages near Zhongzhou City have been attacked by them. It was because of this that my trip was delayed.”

Jianjia’s face was red. She also said, “Grandpa Wang, it’s all thanks to Uncle Zhang this time. You don’t know how miserable the villagers there were. Many people were eaten alive by those demons.”

The old man’s white eyebrows were tightly knitted together. He seemed to be recalling something. After a moment, he asked, “There’s an Ancient Demon Ruins near Zhongzhou City. Could it be that the Ancient Demons there have come out?”

Ancient Demons were bloodthirsty and fierce, and they fed on humans. It was very rare in the Great Wide World nowadays. Even if they existed, they were all hidden in harsh environments. They knew that once they were discovered, they would be suppressed by human powerhouses.

Zhang Suixian continued, “Those Ancient Demons are very bold. In terms of style, they’re very different from the ones in the Great Wide World today. I also suspect that they came out from the ruins.”

He sounded cautious because this was a major event. The ancient ruins in Zhouzhou’s main city had suppressed countless Ancient Demons. If they had all come out, perhaps it would not be a big deal to the Zhenwu Continent. As long as strong warriors were mobilized, they could be suppressed. Nonetheless, to Zhouzhou’s main city and the nearby cities, it would undoubtedly be a great disaster.

“Jingyun, immediately go to Zhouzhou’s main city to investigate this matter. If you discover any abnormalities in the ancient ruins, report to me immediately. If you encounter Ancient Demons, do not show mercy. Do not let the foundation of the Humans be damaged.”

“Yes, elder.” Chu Jingyun’s eyes shone brightly.

With that, Chu Jingyun and a few direct disciples left.

Only the old man, Jianjia, and Zhang Suixian were left in the courtyard. Zhang Suixian said, “Great Elder Wang, on the way from the Heavenly Star Mansion to the Zhenwu Continent, we met a genius.”

“Oh?” The old man had a strange look in his eyes. He wanted to know who could be regarded as a genius by his son’s capable subordinate.

Half a month passed by slowly. Ou Yangming had been in the Mystic Sky Sect for a whole month.

In order to learn alchemy, Ou Yangming would go to the big mountain every few days. The mountain was rich in species, and there were plenty of spiritual herbs.

Every time he entered the big mountain, he would gain a lot.

Not to mention returning with a full load, it could at least support his alchemy needs.

Ou Yangming studied diligently according to the experiences and pill formulas in the Truth of Alchemy. During the one month, nearly 1,000 pills were refined by him. Not only that but there were also more than 100 types of pills.

100 types of pills were quite a lot. There was still quite a big gap from the tens of thousands of pills recorded in the Truth of Alchemy, but Ou Yangming had surpassed the vast majority of alchemists.

At least in the outer sect’s Pill Refinement Department, there was definitely no one who could surpass Ou Yangming in the understanding of pills.

The Obtuse Tortoise’s body had grown a lot, and it had even broken through to become a middle-grade spirit beast. As Ou Yangming’s experimental subject, it could be considered very lucky. It had eaten so many medicinal pills and so far, there had not been any adverse reactions.

Ou Yangming would make it eat a few of the red pills every 2 days. The tortoise’s speed was frighteningly fast at this moment, so much so that even a Venerable One might not be able to catch up to it.

If outsiders were to know about this, they would probably be so shocked that their jaws would drop. Even the fastest middle-grade spirit beast could not be faster than a Venerable One.

The gap between high levels was not something that talent could make up for. Who knew, the Obtuse Tortoise had done it. This fellow was also a breed that was known for its slow speed.

As such, Ou Yangming was surprised by the effect of the red medicinal pills. If he kept feeding the tortoise this kind of medicinal pill, how fast would it be when it broke through to become a Venerable One? By then, even a Ruler would not be able to compare to it. What if it was nurtured to become a Ruler? Then…

Ou Yangming did not dare to imagine this. If everything went smoothly, the tortoise would become a Ruler. He reckoned that even the Nine-sworded Ruler and the others might not be able to catch up to it.

This was simply a perfect mount. Despite that, when Ou Yangming thought of himself riding on an ugly tortoise to travel through the myriad worlds, he felt that the scene would be quite out of place.

The Obtuse Tortoise stole a glance at Ou Yangming. ‘What’s this demon planning?

‘Could it be that he saw that I’ve gained weight and wants to eat me soon…” The tortoise, which was suffering from persecution paranoia, had thoughts of escaping every minute.

Nevertheless, because of Ou Yangming’s warning, it did not dare to leave. Being able to eat pills every day was also very comfortable. If it was not worried about being eaten, it would be willing to live like this for the rest of its life.

“From now on, I’ll call you Swift Tortoise.” Ou Yangming ignored the tortoise’s objection and changed its name. This name was more in line with its condition at the moment.

‘Today is the day of the assessment. I have to report early,’ Ou Yangming thought to himself.

After coming to the Mystic Sky Sect for a full month, Ou Yangming also welcomed his first assessment. The content of this assessment was one’s knowledge of various spiritual medicines.

If one wanted to pass the assessment, one had to do more homework this month. At the very least, one had to read the spiritual medicines manual a few times.

Ou Yangming did not care. His understanding of alchemy was far greater than that of an outer sect alchemist. A small assessment was a joke to him.

After an hour, Ou Yangming arrived at the place of the assessment.

The venue was the open space in front of Steward Mo’s bamboo house. There were already many people there. They were all new outer sect disciples who had recently entered the sect.

Among the crowd, Ou Yangming spotted the Bai family’s brothers. Their faces were pale, and their bodies were exhausted. He did not know what was going on.

The 2 brothers also saw Ou Yangming. Their eyes were filled with hatred. They could not have related the incident of them going crazy to the young fellow, but they still had not forgotten that he had injured them.

When they went crazy that time, they had destroyed hundreds of Qi-replenishing Pills. In the end, they were beaten up by the Law Enforcement Department’s disciples and chased away by the alchemists. They were sent to the most tiring place in the outer sect, which was the Firewood Mountain.

The Firewood Mountain had the least number of outer sect disciples because no one was willing to go there. The outer sect disciples there only had one task, and that was to continuously chop firewood. It would be a mistake to say that it was effortless for Spiritualists to chop firewood. The Mystic Sky Sect used professional wood to refine pills. Their density was similar to that of fine iron. It would be difficult to chop them down, not to mention that the disciples need to process the chopped firewood into sections every day.

It had only been half a month, but the brothers were already exhausted as if they had fallen from heaven to hell.

Ou Yangming did not pay any attention to them. As compared to their schemes against him, his counterattack was already very merciful.

It would be fine if they knew what was good for them, but Ou Yangming would not be polite to them if they did not know their place and still wanted to scheme against him.

After a while, Song Qingshan walked over from afar.

He looked much better than the brothers. The Spirit Beast Mountain was similar to the Spiritual Medicines Mountain. The disciples there were very free and looked after low-level spirit beasts.

Some of those spirit beasts would be used as mounts while some would be directly used as food. Song Qingshan kept pigs there.

“Brother Ou…”

After seeing Ou Yangming, Song Qingshan laughed bitterly. He had no way to avoid their meeting, so he could only brace himself and greet the young fellow.

As compared to Ou Yangming, who was addicted to alchemy, Song Qingshan was very clear about what happened in the outer sect.

He knew the miserable state of the Bai family’s brothers. The brothers were considered extremely unlucky. First, they were beaten to death by the people from the Law Enforcement Department, then they were arranged to work the hardest on the Firewood Mountain. It was said that they would be punished for failing to complete the mission every day. This made Song Qingshan feel much better.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that he had not chosen the Pill Refinement Department.

There were not many people in the open space, only 100 or so. These people were selected from other places, and they were the same batch of disciples as Ou Yangming and the others.

It was noon when Steward Mo slowly walked out of the bamboo house. These outer sect disciples had been left outside for more than 2 hours, but no one complained. Even if they were unhappy, they did not dare to show it.

This one month was enough to wipe out the arrogance of most people. It made them understand that this was a place where the hierarchy was strict.

If one offended an elder among the outer sect disciples, one would not end well. If one angered the outer sect’s steward, the Bai family’s brothers would be the best example.

Steward Mo’s gaze flashed across the crowd, and he nodded in satisfaction.

He said, “This is your first assessment in the Mystic Sky Sect’s outer sect. I won’t say much about its importance. There’ll be rewards for passing the assessment and severe punishment for failing.”

Steward Mo deliberately emphasized the word “punishment”. The surrounding outer sect disciples from the Law Enforcement Department all had solemn expressions on their faces. Their cold gazes filled the air.

The Bai family’s brothers shivered. They were fearful of the word.

Steward Mo said indifferently, “The assessment’s very simple. I’ll take out 1,000 low-grade spiritual herbs. You just need to carefully identify them. If you can identify more than 900 types of them, you’ll be considered excellent; if you can identify 800 types, you’re considered good; if you can identify 700 types of them, you pass; if you can only identify less than 700 types of them, you fail.”

After explaining the rules, the disciples of the Law Enforcement Department carried dozens of bamboo rafts with fresh spiritual herbs placed on them.