Chapter 3710 — Departing the Stage One After Another

Otherwise—a deficiency in either strength or will—and there is no hope of scoring high in a trial like this. Only in this way, too, can the newcomer assessment reveal its true meaning, and the preciousness of every single point.

One must understand that every point earned in the newcomer assessment is filed away in the Tri-Layer Pavilion's archives, and every point shapes the Tri-Layer Pavilion's estimation of each newcomer. A high or low score decides not only whether one can seize the advantage in the assessment immediately at hand, but also the treatment one will receive in the future, after entering the Tri-Layer Pavilion.

After all, even for the Tri-Layer Pavilion, the finest cultivation resources are finite. When the time comes, will those resources go to the dregs with low scores and weakness in every regard, or to the geniuses with high scores and strength in every regard? The answer is plain at a glance.

This much was clear not only to Wei Zhao but to every newcomer present, and so none of them dared slacken in the slightest; all had to give their utmost. To do otherwise was to lose far more than a starting line—it was to lose one's entire cultivation career to come.

Once the trial officially began, one by one the newcomers of the Tri-Layer Pavilion set their respective mental techniques running at full power to resist the oppressive force, bracing themselves as though before a great enemy and holding nothing back, fearful that a single moment's negligence would cost them the contest. Yet the performance of a few among them was plainly far more relaxed than the rest.

Kang Jingming, Zhong Yongliang, Meng Zhou, and Wei Zhao—all four without exception were experts at the early Foundation Establishment stage or above, their strength a full cut above that of the other newcomers who had not yet succeeded in Foundation Establishment, and so they handled the pressure with far greater ease.

After all, setting aside the question of mental fortitude on the spiritual plane, these four possessed formidable strength and an inherent advantage far beyond the others. Were everyone's will of a single measure, they would without question be the last ones standing.

And among the four, Wei Zhao was the most at ease by far—not only because he was a peak early-stage Foundation Establishment expert a cut above the other three, but above all because he had the jade pendant's space at his back, from which he could replenish at any moment the true qi draining from his body.

That is to say, had this been like the summit of the hidden clans in the secular world, a matter of sheer physical pressure alone, he could have sat here as long as he pleased; the true qi in his body would never run dry.

This time, however, an additional and far more refined layer had been added: spiritual oppression. For Wei Zhao, this was an entirely new trial. Even so, he remained far more composed than the others—by the same logic, his reserves were more abundant than everyone else's combined.

With no need to fear the depletion of his true qi, he had only to devote himself wholly to withstanding the trial of spiritual oppression. This was the greatest advantage Wei Zhao held over everyone else present.

As for will—remember, this was a man who had fought his way up from the secular world. Whether rising or falling, he remained calm as ever, and always grew stronger the stronger his foe; never once did he flinch. Would such a will lose out to anyone else? Nonsense.

Yet while Wei Zhao could remain at ease, the others present had neither his reserves nor his iron will. After holding out only a short while, fine beads of sweat began to emerge on the newcomers' brows, sliding down bit by bit—the mark of strain already setting in.

One must understand that for cultivators who had reached the level of great consummation of the Heaven Rank, even the most violent exertion or the fiercest heat around them could never produce the fatigue of ordinary mortals—not so long as the true qi within them had not run dry.

And once such fatigue appeared, it meant that their present condition was not far removed from that of a frail ordinary mortal.

Sure enough, after only half an incense stick's time, the first to withdraw appeared—a newcomer from the Azure Cloud Pavilion. A mere half stick had passed, yet by the time he stepped off the platform his legs were trembling and he was soaked through with his own sweat.

He turned his head for one unwilling look back, but in the end could only hang his head in dejection and shuffle with heavy steps over to the rest area at the side.

Failing to last a full incense stick meant his time-limit score for this assessment was zero; being the first to withdraw meant his ranking score was a single point. Add the two together, and his score for the first stage of the assessment came to a pitiful single point.

This was already the lowest score theoretically obtainable. Even had the others wished for a lower one, there was no way to get it.

Yet no matter how unwilling he was, the result of a single point was settled. Both Meng Jueming and that long-suffering senior brother, the two managing senior brothers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, had already entered it into the record, and afterward it would be handed to Kang Jingming, the newcomer steward, to be announced in unified fashion. There was no possibility of change.

Were he given another chance now, even knowing he would become a shameful laughingstock, he could only grit his teeth and make the same choice. After all, to keep forcing himself to remain inside, overestimating his own strength, would not only win him no further points—it might well cost him his life. That was no joke.

With the first precedent set, a second and then a third quickly followed. By the time Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng ordered the second incense stick lit, a third of the places on the field already stood empty. In other words, a third of the Tri-Layer Pavilion's newcomers had failed to last even a single stick's time and could only choose to withdraw.

This bore out a line from the notice board: in the six stages of the newcomer assessment, every single point is hard-won.

And to this moment, Wei Zhao remained utterly at ease, feeling no obvious pressure at all. Though thanks to the spiritual oppression a trace of mental fatigue had begun to show, it had not affected the circulation of true qi within his body, which in turn lightened the pressure on Wei Zhao himself, sparing him the vicious cycle of mind and body dragging each other down.

Every newcomer, Wei Zhao included, knew perfectly well that once such a vicious cycle set in, one's elimination was not far off.

When the second incense stick was lit outside the field, many newcomers within plainly breathed a sigh of relief, and before long they began to withdraw one after another.

This torment of twofold oppression was truly more than any ordinary person could endure. To hold out a full incense stick's time and earn the five-point time-limit score was, for them, already a thoroughly satisfying result.

Since they knew full well there was no hope of lasting until the second incense stick burned down, then rather than stubbornly clinging on in hopes of that one ranking point, it was better to withdraw cleanly—at least then they need not risk their lives.

And by the time the third incense stick was lit, all the Tri-Layer Pavilion newcomers remaining on the field together numbered no more than ten.