Chapter 5: Trial

"Elder, could it be that..."

The old man shook his head. "I will see."

To others, that was as good as confirmation.

The old man have a special position within the sect, a unique existence.

Taking in a disciple means passing that title on. Beside, the old man have never taken an initiative to start a conversation before. It could be seen that he regards the boy highly.

The first round of assessment went smoothly. Feng Xin emerged at the top.

They were then led to receive their rewards.

As the champion, Feng Xin received the most and gained plenty of privileges. He could choose to bring two weapons and a set of armor. They give him a bag of provisions as well as medications for various kinds of injuries. All of which could increase his survival.

Feng Xin judged from this preparation that the following round would be the real assessment.

He cultivated and rested early. Sun came and the outer disciples gathered once again. A row of inner disciples were waiting across them.

Among them, only Feng Xin and Guan Zhen was provided free provisions as well as high quality protective gears. It seemed like the first assessment was only to determine which individuals are worth investing into.

"These seniors will lead you to the assessment site."

An instructor said and assigned each batch to a particular senior. Feng Xin along with other outer disciples were assinged to a lanky youth.

"I am Bai Qi. Lets get along." The senior was not a person who likes to talk.

At the instructor's signal, they begun to travel to the north direction.

The the south was a forest, the Twisted Grove. The north was also a sea of trees, there were villages situated in this areas ruled by the sect. This was also the territory of the inner sect dusciples.

It took them a few days to reach their destination. They saw tents and temporary structures. People wearing the inner sect uniform could be seen walking around.

"So it's that time again huh."

A man came to them and said. He greeted the seniors leadeing them.

"Welcome juniors. This is the site of the assessment."

Everyoe was nervous. They listemed with great attention.

"Some of you must have known what lies in the North of our Bloodshadow Demon Sect."

"It is none other than the Seven Great Sects who calls themselves righteous." The man had a sneer when he said those words.

"In short, you will be participating in the war. Your goal is to kill at least two of those vegies and survive. The more you kill, the better the rewards at the end. Just make sure you bring their heads. Just up ahead is the war zone. It is a real meat grinder where our sect and ther sect send disicples to compete with each other. You will easily encounter some of them once you get far enough."

"Dont go too near to their camp though, and be careful of Demon Beasts."

"The test will end after a week."

The inner sect disciples that were there to supervised them urged them to prepare. They were about to set out.

Feng Xin thought for a while before asking for an empty sack to contain his future spoils. Then he headed out himself, rejecting anyone who tried to invite him. Joining them will expose his sword art.

As for the mission, he already had a grasp of his enemies' strength. The most useful thing in the library were the biographies written by the disciples. They detailed their encounters, this includes the test as well.

The Seven Great Sects only allows inner sect disciples of their own factions to participate in the war. This means that it would be a match between outer sect disciples against the other side's inner sect disciples.

It was also because of this reason that although the members of Bloodshadow Demon sect was lesser in number, they were stronger. They have gone to several wars each year, seen blood and corpses, before reaching what they are right now.

As for the Seven Great Sects who nurture their disciples protectively, even outer sect disciples of the Bloodshadow Demon sect can outmatch them. Still, the experienced ones cannot be underestimated.

Rather than calling it a war, it was more like a place to cultivate disciples. The Seven Great Sect and the evil sect seem to have reached a tacit agreement on this, because unless it was an emergency, they would not send the stronger disciples above Martial Apprentice level to get involved. Otherwise it might really turn into a full blown war.

The trees were dense and close to each other. The light that was allowed by the leaves were minimal. It was gloomy. The terrain was uneven, simply trying to adjust one's body while walking was tiring.

After a day of simply being held in suspense, Feng Xin have finally seen the enemies. They wore white robes, they laughed and talked as they walk. Their leader was a young man. His relaxed face was a sign of his confidence. The other youths fawned upon him, desperate to curry favor.

Feng Xin have tested the effectiveness of the his Shadow Sword Qi to the inner sect disciples. He let the string float in front of their faces. They have not shown any signs of having noticed it. Feng Xin even dared to let the strings loop around Bai Qi, and although the later became vigilant, he was unable to find the invisible strings.

Hence he was confident of killing anyone in the Martial Apprentice Realm.

Feng Xin activated Shadow Concealment. The long string crawled out from his skin and slowly made its way through the trees. It reached the group in a second and circled their necks.

"Stop." The leader called out. His eyes turned grave as he scanned the surroundings. He noticed the silhouette of Feng Xin hidden in the darkness. He wanted to shout to warn his team to prepare for battle, but no sound came out of his mouth.

His eyes saw the shocked expression of his group as they stared at him. He wondered why his vision seem to be shifting.

Thud!

The head falling to the ground was similar to the sound of their hearts beating against their chests. Their breathing sped up and their eyes were scanning the surroundings.

They huddled together and eyed the vicinity for the invisible assailant.

'Could it be a Martial Warrior?'

They thought of various possibilities, but only this one was reasonable. How could a Martial Apprentice behead someone without being noticed?

Feng Xin did not wait for them to form an answer. He willed the string to tighten. Blood flowed out of their necks. Their head fell to the ground, dying the soil red.

Feng Xin collected the severed heads. Their eyes were still wide open and flies were already trying to get close.

He hanged the heads on a tree in order to drain the blood.

He would have wanted to submerge his spoils in the spider acid to quickly dissolve the the flesh an make them more presentable. He did not do so because if he brought out a skull, the instructor may not accept it.

Instead, he poured a juice which he obtained from the brain shaped fruit.

At first, he did not know what they were used for. His scientific brain could not come into terms with that so he did some unspeakable things to animals and humans alike. He found out that the juice was very effective in preserving corpses and masking the smell of decay. It could even repel flies.

Otherwise, if he left the heads alone for too long, they would be covered in flies.

After doing this, Feng Xin approached the bodies that were still warm. He pierced their chest and dug out their hearts. Blood was dripped from his hands.

One reason why Bloodshadow Demon sect was known as an evil sect, aside from the sinister name, was because their means of cultivating their martial arts require blood essence.

His Blood Rupturing Palm and Blood Sword Qi in particular, requires the use of blood essence to nurture. The psychopath Cai Shun also have a technique that can convert blood essence into poison.

The only way for a blood essence to completely escape the control of their owner is by death. This requires a lot of killing, which the orthodox cults disdain.

Feng Xin harvested only the heart in which blood essence was the purest and the most concentrated. He had no interest for the low quality ones.

He refined the blood essence from the hearts, and merged it with his Blood Sword Qi. Blood Sword Qi lengthened, it improved his control and the potency of the poison. A light wound from it could cause death in the span of a week if left untreated.

Feng completely refined the blood essence and stood up. When he turned to his hanged heads, he froze.

A red eyed monkey stared back at him. It held a head in its hand. It was not just one monkey, several of them were playing the heads like they were toys.

With a blank face, Feng Xin waved his hands. Unleashing the invisible Shadow Qi in one hand and the Blood Qi on the other.

The monkeys only saw the red string slashing toward their faces. They tried to avoid it by jumping, only to get bisected by the invisible sword Qi. Their organs spilled on the ground, their human like faces displayed confusion even after they died.

One of the monkeys survived and dashed off. It carried a head with it while screaming.

Feng Xin put the heads to his sack before giving chase. His speed was fast. He leaped from tree to tree with ease and caught up with the mischievous monkey.

The animal refused to surrender. It kept the severed head with it as it ran. Their shuffling figure were like blurs as they passed through shrubs and vines. The ruckus they made attracted the attention of several people.

Feng Xin was cursing in his mind, though his face remained impassive. This perverse monkey refused to let go of the head no matter what. Was there a need to cause this much trouble, for just a single head?

Feng Xin was once again enlightened. The people were all bunch of maniacs. Even demon beasts adopted their attitudes. Perhaps only he, a person from a sophisticated culture, was considered normal.

Although his speed was indeed faster, he was no much for the agile demon beast who have roamed this forest since birth.

The monkey's shrill cry attracted the attention of several demon beast who joined the fray. Once they got close to Feng Xin, they would drop down into cleanly cut pieces.

After a few minutes of arduous pursuit. Feng Xin cornered the monkey into a river. The current were strong in the middle.

The monkey turned around. It saw the expressionless face of Feng Xin. It's expression was like one who is constipated. There were tears on its eyes as it whimpered. Like a child begging for their parent's leniency after doing wrong.

Feng Xin have none of those. He picked up the head that have gone through a lot. It had turned cold and stiff. After he put it on his sack, his OCD demands were fulfilled.

It was Feng Xin's habit to keep track of corpses. He would not mind if he purposely allowed it to be taken, but if he kept it, no one should take it.

As he prepared to dice the pervert monkey into fine little pieces, a high pitched voice came from the side.

"Who are you?!"

Feng Xin turned his head. A naked girl appeared from the bank. Her soft black hair were currently wet. It stuck into her white and tender skin. She held a cloth with one hand to cover herself and a sword on the other.

Feng Xin was distracted only for a while. The monkey have taken this small time to go through him and escape in the jungle.

Feng Xin was a bit frustrated because of this. However, he did not have a time to deal with the animal now. Perhaps he could track it down later. He would only rest in peace after he diced that monkey with his own hands.

After noticing that a man intruded while she was bathing, the girl, Lou Yan, felt indignant. She wanted to teach a lesson to the peeping tom.

However, she noticed the robe he was wearing. Bloodshadow Demon Sect!

She was shocked as she did not expect one of them to reach this place.

'What were the patrols doing?!' She screamed in her mind but she immediately poise her sword to strike.

"Insolent! How dare you intrude on White Lotus sect territory! Did you think you can leave here alive?!"

The moment Feng Xin turn around and face her, Lou Yan felt her fighting spirit melt down to nothing. Her ears seem to be unable to hear any sound. Her mind was overcame with trepidation.

She instinctively backed away. This was probably the wisest choice she had made in her life, though she was unaware of it.

She immediately took a seal and crushed it, informing her fellow sect disciples of her location.

She was a veteran, a Martial Apprentice at stage 8. She was probably the strongest in her current batch. Even after two years of participating in this war, she had never met someone who could scare her with a mere glance.

"Y-you, what are you?!" She could have rushed forward and bash Feng Xin's head to pieces with her superior cultivation. She did not do so, her instinct that have been honed through life and death situations warned her.

'Bloodshadow Demon Sect, what kind of monster did they make this time.'

The emotionless eyes that stared back at her was certainly nothing like human. It was dark and void, as though she was looking at a mere empty flesh without a soul.