Chapter 9: Chaotic Spirit Valley

  "Ye Ming, come over quickly!" Elder Gao Zhuo coldly hummed.

  "This old devil..."

  Ye Ming's face remained unchanged, but he silently cursed in his heart as he slowly moved forward.

  As soon as the person approached, a commotion broke out among the group of disciples being assessed. Among them, Cang Fei burst out laughing and said: "Ye Ming, today you've really made a name for yourself! Not only do the disciples recognize you, but even the Dean recognizes you too! Haha, I'm truly envious of you!"

  Under Cang Fei's mocking gaze, Bian Jiang's assessment of his disciples was met with even more laughter!

  Ye Ming let out a soft sigh and slowly raised his gaze: "Cang Fei, it seems your bones are itching again!"

  The voice carried a hint of coldness, causing the crowd of disciples to pause in surprise, and then burst into even louder laughter. This usually low-key and honest Ye Ming actually threatened someone.

  Only Cang Fei's body trembled, especially when he saw Ye Ming's icy eyes. He immediately recalled the scene in the Misty Forest and stuttered a few times before daring not to speak again.

  Although having Chen Guo as a backing, thinking carefully about it, I seem to be completely no match for Ye Xiu!

  Assessment begins!

  Elder Gaozhuang waved his right hand, and mysterious characters floated out of his hand. At the edge of the square was a huge rock screen, which now rumbled open, revealing a winding path.

  "The key point of assessment is that you can fight alone or in a team of ten, but you must hold on for an hour!"

  The voice of Elder Gao Zhuo came out.

  Splash!

  A young disciple walked into the chaotic spirit valley, and those who knew each other formed a team of ten people. However, although this team seemed to have an advantage in numbers, it was not the case. The Fire Monkey was quite cunning, and when it saw that its opponent had more people, it would also gather its companions.

  So if you have the ability, it's better to travel alone.

  Ye Ming followed the crowd of young people into the Luansheng Valley, and as he looked around, a dense thicket of small paths appeared in front of him. In front of each path floated a spiritual symbol, with flashing numbers above it. At a glance, there were exactly ninety-nine paths.

  "Last time I entered through the ninth small path, today's assessment will enter again!"; Ye Ming walked familiarly towards the ninth small path, having been assessed four times, he was quite familiar with the rules of the assessment.

  After others have just disappeared from the small path, other assessment disciples also selected a small path one after another. Each small path can only accommodate ten people. Once there are ten people, the path will automatically close.

  At this moment, on the high platform, Gule Changeling waved his right hand, and a white spiritual symbol floated out, swaying in the wind. When it reached the center of the square, it exploded with a loud bang!

  In an instant, a mysterious starry sky map appeared on the square, with a large number of numbers on it, ranging from one to ninety-nine, and there were also many small stars twinkling.

  As soon as this picture came out, everyone's eyes were fixed on it, and everyone knew that this starry sky map was used to observe and test the disciples.

  Those tiny starlights represent the assessment of disciples, and the numbers from one to ninety-nine, they represent ninety-nine small paths, now it's just a matter of who can stay longer on the path.

  One hour is the assessment standard. If it's two hours, that's excellent. As for being able to last three hours, that's absolutely first-class!

  "Haha, Old You, I recall that disciple from the Confucian Academy's last assessment, he actually lasted for three quarters of an hour during the assessment. I wonder if anyone from your Gan Tang Academy has broken this record?!" Chi Yue Shan joked, "The assessments and competitions are basically the same among the nine academies, only with varying levels of difficulty."

  You Youyan shook his head: "Your disciple has already cultivated the spiritual technique to its peak, and can hold on for three hours, this is entirely possible. But my Gantang Academy doesn't have such a genius, at least not in this generation!"

  You Yan was straightforward, although it was a bit embarrassing, but it was indeed the truth.

  "Director, this is not necessarily the case. In this assessment of disciples, there is a little guy named Chen Guo who is an unpolished jade. He has already sensed the spiritual energy in all directions and is also said to have started practicing spiritual techniques. I'm afraid he may surprise us!"

  Wu Zuo had already walked back to her side and was smiling at this moment.

  "Really?"

  You Yan smiled faintly, although Gan Tang Academy had always been at the bottom, he was also very annoyed by the teasing of his old comrades around him.

  If Chen Guo is indeed as Elder Wu Zhuo said, then he can also add some prestige to Gan Ting Academy at that time!

  "It's here, last time I just came in and was eliminated immediately, this time, I must be able to get through!"

  Looking around at the dense forest, Ye Ming smiled faintly.

  He knew that the small paths in the Chaotic Spirit Valley were separate, but the forest was connected. As for the Forest King, Fire Explosion Monkey, these beasts were equivalent to the strength of the Spiritual Energy Third Realm. At present, he had reached the Spiritual Energy Fourth Realm and had cultivated the Hundred Fierce Fist to its peak. What was there to fear?

  At this time, footsteps sounded from behind, and the figures of nine young men appeared. After seeing Ye Ming, a few of them smiled faintly, and then ignored him again.

  "Lin Shixiong, your cultivation is the highest, why don't we have a test together?" One of the white-clothed girls said. At the initial stage of cultivation, it was difficult for them to see each other's true strength without displaying their spiritual power, because the spiritual energy in their bodies was too weak.

  However, the girl knew that Lin Shixiong had a strength of Ling Qi Sanjing Peak.

  "It's just a small effort!"

  One of the slender youths nodded proudly, he had already reached the peak of the third realm of spiritual energy, this assessment should not be difficult, under his nod, the faces of the other youths lit up with joy.

  Then the nine of them glanced at Ye Ming, and continued to move forward into the depths. From start to finish, no one asked Ye Ming anything. Perhaps in their hearts, they thought Ye Ming was too weak, and bringing him along would be a burden.

  Ye Ming didn't mind, stretched his body and headed in another direction.

  The assessment continued as before, and after a stick of incense had burned, in the mysterious starry sky map, a large number of stellar lights dimmed one after another. It was clear that the assessment had just begun not long ago, but many disciples had already failed.

  These disciples either have not reached the Three Realms of Spiritual Energy or have just entered the Three Realms of Spiritual Energy, with unstable cultivation.

  Lao You, I told you so, with poor qualifications, no matter how many times you take the exam, you won't pass. Look, this is just the beginning and over 500 people have already been eliminated! Chi Yue Shan shook his head and said.

  You Yan still gazed at the starry sky map, where the stars had two colors, red and blue. Red represented Huo Bao Hou, while blue represented the assessment of disciples.

  Although the blue starlight is constantly disappearing, there are also examples of red starlight colliding with blue starlight and then the red starlight fleeing in defeat. Apparently during the assessment, Huo Bao Hou was no match for the assessment disciple and fled in disarray.

  "Haha, after filtering out the mediocre ones, there will always be some with decent strength. Look at number 35, that little path, and also number 17 and so on, they're not weak at all!" Yu Yan said with a faint smile.

  Chi Yue Shan stroked his beard: "Defeating the Fire Explosion Monkey is nothing, it doesn't represent anything. What's important is to hold on for an hour, and those young disciples are vigorous and don't know how to conserve their strength. When their spiritual energy is exhausted, they will be in trouble!"

  Indeed, if the three Ling Qi realms were to go all out in a single battle, it's not impossible to defeat Huo Bao Hou. However, there aren't just one or two Huo Bao Hous in Luo Ling Valley. If they were to fight continuously, many of their fellow disciples' spiritual energy wouldn't be able to hold up.

  Yu Yan naturally knew this principle as well.

  Bang!

  In the forest, a two-meter-tall ape with all red hair fell to the ground. On its chest, there was a patch of charred blackness as if it had been burned by fire, and its breastbone was completely shattered.

  "Got it!"

  Five meters away from the ape, Ye Ming was slightly excited. Previously, he had fought against Huo Bao Hou and directly used the "Hundred Fierce Fist". As a result, with one chaotic punch, Huo Bao Hou was defeated.

  "I didn't bring my Hundred Raging Fists to its peak before, but just seventy moves, a perfect stage..."; Ye Ming rubbed his slightly reddened fists, and his confidence grew thicker.

  Three months of hard work have finally paid off.

  But Ye Ming quickly calmed down: "The duel between cultivators, actual combat is the most important, Huo Bao Hou is only at the third boundary of spiritual energy, I have reached the fourth boundary of spiritual energy, there's no need to use the 'Hundred Fierce Fist', relying on my physical strength alone, I can defeat it!"

  "Bullying the weak with strength, and still playing a trump card, I'm indeed too tender after all!"

  Ye Ming did not take pride in it, but instead evaluated it!

  The boundary returns to the boundary, but actual combat is another matter. After all, most demon beasts are brutal and tyrannical, with a surging demonic aura. For those with weak actual combat experience, facing them will give you a feeling of being frightened and flustered!

  Just like Cang Fei at first, he was evenly matched with himself, but because of his weak actual combat experience, he lost to himself.

  "It's just right to borrow Fire Monkey to enhance actual combat ability. 'Bai Lie Quan' is indeed a bit of an underuse against Fire Monkey."

  Ye Ming's mind rose with plans, just in time for practice!

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  In the forest, the explosive monkey's roar echoed, and Ye Ming's figure was extremely fast, constantly chasing after the explosive monkey to practice his skills, from being injured and escaping at first, to confronting the explosive monkey head-on!

  Wu Xiu's progress was slow, but his foundation was the most solid. His physical strength was also the strongest among cultivators of the same realm. As a result, Ye Ming began to suppress Huo Bao under constant actual combat!

  At least when facing the explosive monkey, he didn't feel any pressure!

  The assessment time slowly passed, and more and more disciples were eliminated. The Luansheng Valley was left with only over 200 people, and the remaining disciples, after experiencing a fierce battle, were now exhausted, hoping that time would pass quickly!

  Only Ye Ming forgot about time, fully immersing himself in actual combat!

  If the crowd in the square knew that this disciple who had failed four times was actually practicing with a Fire Blast Monkey, they would all be shocked speechless!