"An Honored Guest Minister of the Holy Sect, a Foundation Establishment Great Demon—Ling Master!"

Among the Outer Mansion Disciples, there were some who were well-informed. Upon seeing the powerfully imposing, black-robed man with his distinct brows, they immediately recognized his origins.

"So... he’s just an Honored Guest Minister of the Holy Sect..." Upon hearing this, disciples like Shen Fan, who had backers in the Inner Mansion, had a flicker of barely perceptible contempt and understanding in their eyes.

Others might be clueless, but they knew the inside story.

The so-called "Honored Guest Minister" title was merely the last shred of dignity the Holy Sect afforded to these Great Demons who had been captured alive and reduced to servitude.

After all, excessively demeaning the Foundation Establishment Realm would make the Masters lose face as well.

Ling Master’s eyes—sharp as a hawk’s, long, narrow, and slightly upturned—indifferently swept over the dense crowd below.

A boundless pressure unique to the Foundation Establishment Realm crashed down like an invisible mountain!

The air seemed to freeze in an instant. The thousand-plus disciples felt their shoulders sink, their breath catching in their throats.

In front of Bixue Hall, a dead silence fell, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Today, I am here by order to preside over this Outer Mansion assessment. The content of this assessment is: the Mirage Thousand Faces Realm!

You can check your Taixu Jade Orders for the specific details.

The assessment will officially begin in one hour.

There are no restrictions on life or death in this assessment. Those who wish to withdraw may leave on their own. For them, this assessment will be recorded as ’Bottom Stream’!"

Seeing that the crowd had fallen silent, Ling Master slowly announced the rules and content of the assessment.

Only after he finished speaking did the heavy pressure recede slightly.

The Mirage Thousand Faces Realm...

Standing in the middle of the crowd, Qi Yun, dressed in a plain gray-white robe, seemed extraordinarily ordinary. If you tossed him into a crowd, you’d forget him in the blink of an eye.

Hearing Ling Master announce the content of the assessment, Qi Yun, just like everyone around him, took out his Taixu Jade Order to check the specific details.

[Assessment Topic: Mirage Thousand Faces Realm]

[Content: All disciples will be randomly thrown into the Mirage Thousand Faces Realm, a labyrinthine world of immense scale, constructed from countless enormous, mirror-smooth ’Mirage Qi Crystal Walls.’ The crystal walls themselves will slowly move and reconfigure, reflecting distorted light, shadows, and images of certain areas. The maze’s passages are complex, with a great many forks.]

[Objective: Deep within the maze, there are nine portals. Each portal requires a unique ’Crystal Key’ to be opened. There are nine Crystal Keys in total, scattered and hidden throughout the maze. The Crystal Keys themselves emit a unique, illusory light fluctuation, but this is interfered with by the surrounding mirage qi, making them difficult to pinpoint from a distance.]

[Within the ten-day time limit, find a ’Crystal Key’ and open a portal to leave the Mirage Realm.]

[Only those who successfully open a portal will be considered to have passed the assessment.]

The content of the assessment seemed very simple.

To summarize, it was nothing more than finding a key in the maze called the Mirage Thousand Faces Realm, opening a portal, and thus passing the assessment.

But as the Holy Sect’s year-end assessment for its Outer Mansion Disciples, everyone present knew that this seemingly ordinary and simple test surely concealed deadly dangers. It was just a matter of who could spot them and who couldn’t.

’It’s a trap!’

With just a glance at the assessment details on the Taixu Jade Order, Qi Yun could already see the tricks and traps within.

He had already come to understand what kind of organization the Holy Sect was.

’Even the entrance trial was full of smoke and mirrors, tricks and deceit.’

’If this Outer Mansion assessment were really this simple, the only possibility would be that the Holy Sect’s Sect Leader had been possessed.’

’Nine Crystal Keys, nine portals... Only those who successfully open a portal will be considered to have passed the assessment.’

’The answer is already written on the face of the riddle.’

’It’s just that for this so-called assessment, there must be some crucial information not revealed in the Taixu Jade Order.’

’And you can’t completely trust the information that *is* in the Taixu Jade Order, either.’

’Given the precedent set by the entrance trial, heavens knows how much of this is true and how much is false.’ His gaze shifted slightly. Qi Yun put away his Taixu Jade Token and stood his ground, silent once more.

Soon, after learning the specifics of the assessment, a portion of the Outer Mansion Disciples began to voluntarily retreat. The originally dense crowd split cleanly, forming a large group and a small one.

Most of the people in the retreating group were at the Qi Refining First Layer, with a few at the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Although their cultivation was weak, their judgment was not. They had discerned the hidden dangers within this seemingly ordinary assessment.

In any case, only after being ranked as ’Bottom Stream’ for two consecutive years would they be thrown into the ’Talent Market’.

It was better to play it safe, preserve their lives, and try again next year. It wouldn’t be too late.

And they weren’t the only ones who thought this way; a good two or three hundred people had the same idea.

Ling Master stood before the hall with his hands behind his back, taking it all in. His eyes were as indifferent as ice, without a ripple of emotion. He didn’t say a word, merely giving a casual wave of his hand, signaling that the withdrawing disciples could leave.

"The time has come." Ling Master’s cold voice rang out again. "The rest of you, enter the hall!"

He stepped aside, clearing the way to Bixue Hall’s massive, heavy doors. Forming a hand seal with one hand, his fingers moved in a blur of phantasmal motion.

With a flick of his sleeve, a dazzling, jade-green ray of divine light shot out, striking the hall doors with perfect accuracy!

RUMBLE—

The heavy hall doors slowly swung inward!

Behind the doors was not a grand hall, but a rapidly spinning void vortex, glowing with an eerie green light.

A tide of air roared out from it. Through the vortex, one could faintly glimpse the boundless, crystalline maze world beyond, refracting a mesmerizing halo of light!

The crowd began to surge forward. The Outer Mansion Disciples, their faces a mixture of nervousness, determination, and greed, ascended the stone steps one by one and walked toward the unknown vortex entrance.

Qi Yun was swept forward by the flow of people.

The person in front of him paused for a moment. Pushed from behind by the crowd, Qi Yun stumbled, and the tip of his foot landed squarely on the person’s heel.

"HISS!"

The person who was stepped on sucked in a sharp breath, his brows knitting together as he spun around, clearly displeased.

But when faced with Qi Yun, who was standing right behind him, his gaze slid past as smoothly as flowing water, as if nothing was there at all.

After scanning the area several times, his eyes finally locked onto a sturdy disciple next to Qi Yun who was just about to take a step.

"Are you blind? You stepped on your dad’s foot!" Glaring fiercely at the man who was about to walk forward, the man who’d been stepped on started cursing.

The accused man first looked bewildered, his eyes wide as he scanned his surroundings. Then, he immediately understood:

"Me? Stepped on you? I’ll step on your mother’s—"

Just as a conflict was about to erupt, the two men rolled up their sleeves and glared at each other furiously.

At that very moment, a gaze—ice-cold, imposing, silent, and terrifying—descended upon them.

The two of them instantly felt as if they’d been plunged into an ice cave. They froze, all their anger forcibly suppressed. After shooting each other a resentful glare, they gave up the fight and trudged forward dejectedly.

Meanwhile, the true instigator of this farce had already walked ahead of them. Hearing the abruptly halted conflict behind him, the corner of Qi Yun’s mouth curved into a barely perceptible arc.

’Version 6.0 really is something else!’

...

So, what do you guys think of Qi Yun’s appearance?~