"I couldn’t help but notice you staring earlier, eunuch. Do I have something on my face?" the man asked with a slight smile. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Xuan tilted his head. "You seem to have some seasoning on your teeth. You look like a pimp."

Hearing that, the man immediately checked his teeth, only to realize that Xuan had fooled him. A bit of rage boiled up inside him, but as someone who represented the Sun Sect, he had no room for anger.

Everyone was equal. Even though Xuan was a eunuch, that didn’t make him any less human.

"May the blessing of the Sun God wash over you."

"No thanks," Xuan replied. "On that note, what kind of powers do you have? I can’t feel much, but you do seem like someone who could cast fireballs from your eyes. Is that really what you do?"

Obviously, Xuan was bullshitting and just trying to get a reaction. He took inspiration from a certain superhero who drew power from the sun. Except even that superhero didn’t make the sun his whole personality like this man here.

"You’re correct," the man said.

Xuan raised a brow but didn’t say anything. Who knew that Xuan was somehow secretly a prophet?

"I can heal beings with my gaze, or I could burn their souls. Both happen in an instant, and you wouldn’t even realize what was happening until it was already too late."

With those words, the man turned his back to Xuan.

"Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my leave."

Although it did seem like he turned around to show his arrogance, he actually did so to showcase the jade slip that he already had. It was the same jade slip that meant no one could kill him, or rather, no one was allowed to even touch him.

Obviously, Xuan wasn’t in the mood to bootlick someone like that, but for the sake of good sportsmanship, he decided to play along.

"Good luck. Also, there really is something in your teeth."

The man didn’t fall for it a second time, and finally, he took his leave. Once his figure was no longer in sight, Xuan turned toward Yuelan, who had her arms crossed, looking pissed.

"What’s up?" he asked.

"It’s nothing. That guy just reminds me of someone I used to bully online," Yuelan replied with a groan. "Thinking back, I wasn’t exactly a very good person."

Xuan nodded. No shit. She was an arrogant woman from the very start. Except she was too introverted to actually show her arrogance.

Despite that, Xuan just ignored her yapping for the time being and gestured at the others, including Hanbi.

"Should we go ahead and start looking near the outskirts of the 100-kilometer radius?"

Hanbi shook her head. "There should be a lot in the very middle. Let’s look at the 50-kilometer radius instead."

With that, she took the lead, vanishing out of sight. Xuan and Yuelan followed along, whereas Sierra had other plans.

She waited for them to vanish out of sight. Then, she glanced at the fountain, approaching it slowly. It looked a little strange from the first moment she felt it, and she didn’t know what it was. It was hard to figure out too because of how many people there were.

But now, as she blindly stared at the fountain and eventually placed her hand on it, she quickly realized that this was nothing but an illusion. An illusion that not only fooled the eyes but also her senses.

And when she finally passed through the illusion and felt what was inside, she let out a sigh. There was a jade slip atop a pedestal, the same jade slip that one needed in order to pass the first part of the tournament. She had assumed it would be difficult to do, but clearly... the examiners’ plans were to trick them from the very start.

So of course, she went ahead and pocketed the jade slip, making sure it was invisible, since even in the worst-case scenario, they could pass now. Finally, she did a few stretches, and without wasting any more time, she sped up, catching up with Xuan and the others within just a few minutes.

They were at least 40 kilometers out now, and Xuan in particular could feel dozens of gazes on them. The others clearly waited for them to leave the start, aiming to ambush them.

Right as Xuan was prepared to duke it out, he suddenly spotted a black hole whirling around Yuelan’s fingers.

And once an innocent chuckle escaped her lips, she abruptly launched a black hole in the direction of where the most gazes were. The gazes immediately scrambled, trying to run away, but ever since the first moment they saw the black hole, it was already too late to dodge.

Before long, a large chunk of the forest was decimated, leaving nothing but rubble and debris behind. That, along with a few trickles of blood from the cultivators who thought that by cutting off their legs, they could move more freely.

In short, she dealt with the problem before it became a problem to begin with.

Xuan could only sigh, realizing that the odds of her becoming some Evil Saint were far higher than her becoming the Saint of Cooking.

Anyhow...

"Let’s stop here," Hanbi said, raising her arm as she glanced around. They were now in a completely open plain, which was filled to the brim with Spirit Beasts. Each one was at least at the Spirit Grandmaster Realm, and had they been a little weaker, they would’ve struggled with those Spirit Beasts.

Sadly for the examiners and the Spirit Beasts, this was a piece of cake.

And yet, the moment Xuan and the others made a move to eliminate the Spirit Beasts, a beam of light suddenly descended from the sky, burning every single one of the Spirit Beasts before they could even realize what was happening.

Once again, an annoying face descended from the sky. That face, the annoying sun man from before.

Just this time, his eyes were locked onto Xuan and the others as though he wanted to kill them.

Right...

The loophole in the rules was that while this man did have a pendant and no one could kill him, he could kill anyone he wanted.

So yep.

Xuan and the others were definitely going to be hunted after they killed this man.