Examination Plans

Yaan wanted nothing more than to understand the various mysteries surrounding his life, but right now, he could not accomplish this desire.

He was too weak.

He was so weak that he was at the complete mercy of a single immortal. He was so vastly overpowered that he couldn't even put up a trace of resistance against that person. In fact, he had no choice but to go along with the white-haired immortal's whims.

It now seemed very likely that this person was actually testing him. So long as Yaan passed this test, he should be safe…

Of course, Yaan wouldn't place his trust in this hopeful thought. However, it was one more assurance for his survival if he proved his worth to the Fragment Sect's Immortal Ancestor. Yaan would definitely prefer to leave and run away from this place at the first possible opportunity, but it was unknown if and when such a chance would even arise. For now, his best course of action was to ensure that the white-haired immortal was satisfied with his actions and abilities.

Which meant…

"Elder Yaan, why are we being forced to attend this class everyday now?"

"Elder Yaan, is it true that the survival test in the Fragment Forbidden Land has been approved by Lord Immortal Ancestor?"

"Elder Yaan, I…"

"…"

Yaan sighed to himself in self-pity. Who could have expected that things would turn out this way? In a way, he had created difficulties for himself by issuing this survival test in the Fragment Forbidden Land. Now, not only did he need to teach this class everyday, but he also needed to make sure that the disciples actually became capable enough to keep their lives in two and a half months time!

That said, Yaan considered the possibility that the white-haired immortal would have made his life difficult in one way or another, regardless of his actions. That person wanted to test him, so of course Yaan was not going to have a peaceful time, no matter what.

Still though, when facing this class of arrogant young masters and misses, he really felt like his future was bleak.

"Silence." Yaan released a small portion of his aura to immediately silence the class.

He didn't release his killing intent again, as doing so always carried some small risk. If an elder happened to witness this, he might be questioned about why he possessed such thick killing intent. Even so, the disciples were scared thoroughly the last time he released his killing intent, to the extent that even just experiencing his aura was enough to remind them of that pressure.

"Yes, it is true." Yaan confirmed. "Until the date of the survival exam in 70 days time, you will attend this class for six hours everyday. This is an order passed down by the Immortal Ancestor, my teacher. Any issues?"

Everyone remained silent. When they first met this Elder Yaan, many were not aware of his identity as the third disciple of the sect's Immortal Ancestor. Now, however, this had been made common knowledge in the core sect, there was nobody who didn't know about this matter.

Nobody would argue against the immortal powerhouse who stood behind the Fragment Sect. In the eyes of these disciples, and really the Southern Continent in general, immortals were legendary beings, they would be lucky to even meet one such being a single time in their life.

Truthfully, this wasn't a wrong way of thinking. After all, there were only seven publicly recognised immortals in the entire Southern Continent! Whether there were immortals hidden from the general public was another matter entirely.

For most cultivators at the Foundation Step, meeting an immortal was simply an impossible dream, even for those at the Origin Soul Realm. Immortals were so far removed in terms of power and lifespan from these lower cultivators that they didn't even involve themselves in the matters of their own sect members. Really, to an immortal, the value of a sect lay in three major areas: trade, the maintenance of formations and lands, and nurturing potential future immortals.

A Foundation Step cultivator was only worth taking note of if they had the potential to become an immortal. Even then, due to the terrible success rate in overcoming Nirvana, even those immortal seedlings were not worth putting in much effort for, unless of course they were a direct descendent of the immortal, or the immortal cared for them for some other reason.

So, when Yaan confirmed that their sect's sole immortal had decreed that this survival trial was really happening, nobody dared to speak out about it, not even Yu Xan. In fact, Yu Xan no longer showed his previous indignation towards the idea of the survival test, but instead looked fired up!

The difference between some new elder forcing them to enter a survival test, and the sect's Immortal Ancestor arranging this glamorous exam to take place, was a huge difference! If this was arranged by the Immortal Ancestor, there would be plentiful rewards, not to mention honour!

"Elder Yaan, how exactly are we being judged in this exam?" Before Yu Xan could ask, someone else stepped forwards and aired the question that was on everyone's minds. This person was called Dan Shi, he was the second ranked student in the class, and naturally, he hated Yu Xan to death. This was not just because of their positions within the core sect, but also because the Yu Clan had been suppressing the Dan Clan for hundreds of years now.

Of the eight clans, whilst they were all similar in strength on the surface, there were some differences. The Yu Clan was the strongest, both in terms of their overall strength and their economic prowess, whilst the Dan Clan was near to the bottom in both regards. It was largely due to Yu Clan's suppression that they were unable to get out of this situation, so members of the Dan Clan all viewed the Yu Clan with distaste.

Yaan glanced at Dan Shi and pondered for a moment.

He had considered this matter since speaking to the white-haired immortal a few days earlier.

Originally, he only threw out the 'survival test' casually and without putting any thought into it, he never expected it to actually happen. Now though, Yaan needed to plan things carefully.

There were a few matters to consider.

Firstly, he needed to ensure that nobody died. This was his main priority, and really, his only priority. Since the test had gained some attention, Yaan also needed to arrange the scoring system appropriately…

Generally speaking, all tests within the sect were accompanied by a final ranking, with a reward for each ranking. Yaan had already approached Sect Master Brase to discuss this, as he obviously wasn't going to pay these disciples out of his own pocket. Not only that, but Yaan had no idea what sorts of rewards would typically be given for this type of trial, so he left this matter to the sect master who was more experienced.

"The test will take place in the Fragment Forbidden Land's outer circle. There will be nothing to stop you from entering the inner circle, but if you do wander into the inner circle, you will almost certainly die, so stay in the outer circle." Yaan began, looking across the group as he spoke.

He saw a few relieved faces, whilst others only nodded, having expected this.

In the Southern Continent, a forbidden land referred to a known region of danger. Be it the environment itself, lawless places, or regions filled with beasts, all forbidden regions were dangerous and not properly governed by the Xuqi Sect. If someone entered a forbidden region and died, the matter might not even be investigated, unless the person in question was important and worth investigating.

Typically, only stronger core disciples and elders entered the Fragment Forbidden Land. This was a secluded region within the core sect, located on the other side of the four coloured mountain peaks, where there were no public sect areas and only a few secluded abodes of various reclusive elders.

Most of the Fragment Sect elders possessed Origin Soul Realm cultivation bases, but even for them, entering the Fragment Forbidden Land was filled with risks. This only referred to the inner circle and core circle however, the outer circle carried no danger for people at their level.

The Fragment Forbidden Land had two keys dangers; demonic beasts and an unforgiving environment. In the inner and core circles, the environment was so inhospitable that sometimes, the ground beneath your feet could explode suddenly, or terrifying lightning could strike down without any warning.

In the outer circle, the danger was limited to demonic beasts, which were at most Rank 4, whilst the majority were Rank 1, 2 and 3.

Whilst sending Qi Temple Realm disciples into a place with Rank 4 demonic beasts sounded crazy to many on the righteous path, Yaan himself had once done something very similar. After the devastation of the Heavenly Path Sect, he was forced to venture alone into the dark forest with 2-Star Realm cultivation. He encountered a couple of Rank 3 beasts during the months he spent in the dark forest, but he managed to survive by hiding and being careful.

He was only a child at that time, so these disciples who were mostly in their thirties and forties should be fine, right…?

"How will we be graded?" Yu Xan stepped forwards, standing beside the discontent Dan Shi as he asked directly. As Yaan looked into this young man's eyes which gleamed with excitement towards the prospect of honour and reward, he started to doubt his own hopes.

He had a very simple and well thought out response to this question.

"Work it out yourselves."

Seeing the blank reception, Yaan sighed. These sheltered youths were not very intelligent…

"This is a survival test. Is there ever a clear cut answer when it comes to surviving on your own in an unfamiliar situation? If you want to excel, then work out how to do so. This is also part of the test. So long as you pay close attention to my training, you should be able to figure it out."

His response sent the disciples into thought, making Yaan feel pleased that he had successfully implemented this phase of his plan which the sect master was uncertain about, but Yaan insisted on going forwards with.

He didn't want these disciples to die in the test, however, there needed to be a grading system in place. At its core, the test was to survive for three days in the outer circle, and so long as they achieved this, they would pass. But then, how would they be ranked amongst themselves?

The two possible choices were either to kill beasts or to survive for longer in the outer circle in order to accumulate further merit. If he implemented and stated either one of these options, then everyone would be forced to focus on that one goal. Some people would be suited to one option, others to the other option.

For this reason, they would be graded based upon both criteria, but Yaan did not want them to know this.

Yaan could tell them that their performance would be graded based upon both of these things, but if he truly did that, these overconfident youths would certainly do their best to kill as many beasts as possible whilst remaining in the wilderness for as long as possible.

In this scenario, the chance of death increased.

However, if Yaan only told them that the grading needed to be worked out for themselves, they would likely decide on the route that suited them best. Like this, everyone would play to their own strengths. Even if they had their suspicions that they were being tested both on their duration and kill count, would they really take the additional risks to improve both scores without knowing for sure that this was the case?

Well, maybe they would, but Yaan still believed that doing it like this was the best choice.

With no clear objective actually stated, the disciples would be less tempted to continue braving the danger of the forbidden land after the minimum three days had passed by.

Some disciples might even leave as soon as the three days were up, telling themselves that this was the best way to survive and thus the best way to score highly on the test. They would be wrong in this completely reasonable assumption, but why would Yaan care about that?

Hopefully, none of these disciples would die. If any of these 25 youths lost their lives when the trial began, then Yaan's life would also be forfeit…