"It must be Yan Chen. He’s always been number one in the Seven Profound Sect."

"Han Yu isn’t bad either..."

While the people outside watched with rapt attention, a sudden change occurred within the Heaven-Filling Array Map.

SWISH!

Just as the elites from the various peaks and families made their presence known to gather their fellow disciples, jet-black shadows suddenly burst from the cracks in the crumbling ruins—and even from the Cultivators’ own shadows. They were like phantoms, their sharp claws glinting with a cold, venomous light as they silently lunged at the Cultivators.

SWOOSH!

Many Cultivators hadn’t anticipated the sudden attack. As such, they naturally had no defenses up.

As a result, many Cultivators were struck down:

SQUELCH—

CRACK!

The dull thud of blades piercing chests and the crisp snap of breaking bones echoed one after another through the dilapidated town. Some had their heads rolling on the ground before they could even react; others had their hearts pierced by claws the moment they sensed something was wrong. In but an instant, more than half of the Cultivators who had revealed their positions were dead or injured.

?!

"There are monsters!"

"*Cough, cough,* how is this possible..."

The sudden deaths left many in disbelief. In their minds, things weren’t supposed to happen this way.

"Why are such powerful monsters appearing now? Aren’t they supposed to show up after dusk, or even at midnight?"

"It’s fake! The intelligence the sect gave us is fake!"

Faulty information was indeed fatal. The upper echelons of the Seven Profound Sect had just taught Zhong Ming and the other new disciples an extremely unforgettable lesson.

The large number of deaths also caused some changes to the rankings on the celestial screen.

[First Place, Bright Stone Peak, Points: -800]

[Second Place, Longxi Peak, Points: -1100]

[Third Place, The Three Great Families, Points: -2100]

[Fourth Place, Little Bamboo Peak, Points: -2700]

[Fifth Place, Molten Fire Peak, Points: -3100]

[Sixth Place, Dharma Seal Peak, Points: -3600]

[Seventh Place, Cuixiang Mountain, Points: -4200]

[Eighth Place, Profound Stone Peak, Points: -4300]

’There are even negative numbers... Disciples who die prematurely have points deducted. And from the looks of it, a single death deducts at least 100 points.’

The sudden turn of events made Zhong Ming’s eyes narrow.

At the same time, a monster emerged silently from the shadow behind him, thrusting a cold blade toward his back. The monster’s attack was so fast it nearly left an afterimage.

Fortunately, Zhong Ming’s five senses were extremely sharp.

Although caught off guard, he still sensed the danger, which caused a "PLINK!"—the clear sound of a water droplet—to suddenly resound within his Divine Soul and spread out into the world.

[Bright Mirror Stilled Water - Ripples]

This time, the special rippling droplet did more than just allow Zhong Ming to perceive the breath of all things around him in his Heart Soul.

Through the Ripples of Water, his Divine Soul connected with the monster’s Heart Soul for an instant, forcing the creature to directly face the essence of Zhong Ming’s spirit.

ROAR!

Within Zhong Ming’s Sea of Consciousness, an endless Gale and Torrential Rain howled between heaven and earth. The roar of a Flood Dragon boomed like a Thunderbolt, and its immense draconic might bore down like Mount Tai, placing the shadow monster’s Divine Soul under extreme pressure. As a result, its body paused for a fraction of a second.

[Spirit Stream Finger - Ripples, Blocking!]

And for Zhong Ming, that single moment was more than enough.

SWISH!

As a droplet of water shot out and struck the shadow monster between the eyes, a terrifying power immediately erupted from within its body.

SHRED!

Sharp Sword Qi shredded the shadow monster to pieces from the inside out. At the same time, on the celestial screen, Longxi Peak’s points increased by 100.

However, this did not put Zhong Ming at ease. On the contrary, his expression became incredibly solemn.

’The situation has changed... The information the sect provided us beforehand was wrong.’

’—Are they trying to teach us that anything can happen when we’re out on a mission?’

Zhong Ming actually understood the sect’s intentions in doing this.

Whether they joined the Demon Suppression Bureau or stayed in the sect, Cultivators like Zhong Ming could never focus solely on cultivation.

They had to go on missions.

Although both the Demon Suppression Bureau’s missions and the sect’s external assignments would provide them with some intelligence, the complexity of reality meant this information could never be one hundred percent accurate.

Perhaps the reconnaissance was inaccurate, or a Demon suddenly advanced in power, or perhaps someone was lurking in the shadows, "fishing" by deliberately concealing crucial information.

Under such circumstances, if disciples like Zhong Ming completely trusted the information provided by the sect and failed to raise their own guard, they could face a fatal crisis.

As he thought of this, Zhong Ming’s expression faltered for a moment:

’If I’m not mistaken, the previous Sword Dao Seed from Longxi Peak might have died during his training because he blindly trusted the sect’s intelligence.’

Right now, the sect’s deliberate misdirection had caused heavy casualties among the disciples who entered the Heaven-Filling Map. But in the end, this was only an assessment with no real danger to their lives. Because of this, Zhong Ming wasn’t too angry.

He was even quite grateful.

’A moment ago, I had also let my guard down. Thinking that the Demonic Fiends at the start of the Heaven-Filling Array Map wouldn’t be strong, I didn’t activate my Longxi Magical Robe or my Bright Mirror Stilled Water - Ripples in order to conserve energy. It was only because the shadow monster wasn’t that strong; otherwise, I might have been assassinated despite all my power—’

’Wait, even if the monster had stabbed me, it couldn’t have killed me!’

’With the Qi Circulation trait, my Magical Power is like a net, forming layers of protection inside my body. Plus, I have the Flow of Water. The force of an enemy’s attack would flow through the protective net of Magical Power and be distributed across my entire body... Because of this dispersal, an enemy could never pierce my heart—even if they aimed for it—unless their power reached a certain threshold.’