CHAPTER 13: Thirty-Five Minutes

CHAPTER 13: Thirty-Five Minutes

.

After ten minutes passed, Sun Hao, who was ready to retrieve Ethan at any moment, stayed there waiting.

He waited one minute, then two, and then three.

After another two minutes, he started to get irritated.

The fact that Ethan hadn't fainted after the first 10 minutes was already good, but 15?

This was something he hadn't expected, especially because from the calm expression on his face, Sun Hao could tell that Ethan could keep going for a while longer.

"Well, this is unexpected," he thought as he looked at Ethan.

"It seems he'll join the group that lasted almost double the time in the illusion," he told himself, recalling that only 23 people had passed the trial by lasting almost 20 minutes.

This group of people could be considered decent, as they were a notch above the regular disciples of the sect.

Indeed, recruits were divided into groups in the third trial.

Depending on how long they lasted in the illusion, they would enter one of these groups:

The 10-minute group, which was the lowest group, barely able to pass the trial, and this group consisted of the majority of the participants.

The 20-minute group, which had passed the trial with decent results, comprised only 45% of the participants.

The 30-minute group was considered good. This group was even smaller, with only 20% of the participants.

Then there was the 40-minute group, considered excellent, with only 3 people who had lasted up to this point.

These individuals were highly sought after by various sects, as they had a bright future ahead of them, provided they survived to the end.

And finally, there was the group of talents that appeared only occasionally over the years.

It was the 50-minute group. Those who reached and surpassed this point were considered true ranked geniuses.

In the history of the Phoenix Sect, only 5 individuals had reached this point. One of them was the sect master, who had set the record of 64 minutes, a record that had remained for more than two decades.

Another person who reached this category was Xian Hua, who lasted for 55 minutes, becoming one of the sect's emerging talents.

And this year, a new person had been added to this list, even managing to mark 61 minutes.

It was certain that this person would almost certainly become a core disciple of the sect.

Indeed, everyone started as external disciples and then climbed the hierarchy, but there were exceptions to this rule.

For those who had lasted more than 45 minutes and had only passed 2 of the three trials, they could have the chance to become internal disciples of the sect.

Instead, those who had passed all three trials would definitely become internal disciples.

Therefore, Sun Hao couldn't wait to interact with these 4 disciples.

After the first 20 minutes passed, there was finally a slight change in Ethan's expression.

Seeing this, Sun Hao prepared to intervene at any moment, but once again, the minutes passed, and nothing happened.

At this point, even the other four internal disciples couldn't help but glance at Ethan.

"It seems we'll have another good one this year," said one of them.

"Maybe, but there are still three minutes left. He might give in before then," said another.

But even after three minutes, Ethan didn't give in.

"Okay, you were right, but let's see how long he can last from here on. I bet he won't last more than another 3 minutes," said the second one who spoke.

"3 minutes? Nah, he can definitely last at least another 5 minutes," replied the first.

"You guys are giving him too much credit. He got a bit lucky and nothing more. He surely won't last more than another 2 minutes," said a third.

And so, a betting competition started among the four disciples who had come with Sun Hao, who, hearing them, couldn't help but shake his head.

"These idiots," he thought, but he wasn't entirely in disagreement with them. Getting to this point was already good enough for this participant.

Although he believed Ethan wouldn't last much longer, he didn't want to say it for sure.

He had learned his lesson and wouldn't make the same mistake of standing there like an idiot waiting for Ethan to give in to the illusion.

Too bad for him that he was wrong once again.

After about 36 minutes, Ethan's body finally fell to the ground.

Since no one had prepared to catch him this time, he fell unconscious directly onto the floor.

Sun Hao and the other four internal disciples, seeing this, didn't move immediately.

They looked at this scene with frowns, thinking that maybe their imagination was playing tricks on them.

Then, as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown on them, they all snapped out of their stupor and quickly rushed to Ethan to help him.

"Damn it, hurry up," shouted Sun Hao.

They all moved so fast it seemed as if they had teleported.

If Ethan were awake and had witnessed this scene, he would probably have asked them to teach him this technique.

Fortunately for them, he was not conscious at the moment.

All five arrived in a flash next to Ethan.

They were so taken by surprise that they forgot that only two people were needed to carry him to the infirmary.

Not that they could be blamed for this.

All five knew how dangerous this test could become for a person if they weren't helped in time.

In recent years, there hadn't been any cases of people being mentally injured by this trial precisely because the sect took this test very seriously and made sure that no one got hurt.

If someone was treated immediately after the trial, then there were no problems, but if not, then it would be a problem.

Sun Hao hoped that their little delay hadn't caused any issues because otherwise, they would be severely punished by the sect for not doing their job well, not to mention the fact that they would become the laughingstock in the eyes of the other internal disciples.

But, neither Sun Hao nor his companions, in their hurry, noticed one thing.

That Ethan was not convulsing.

When a person ended the trial and didn't fall to the ground convulsing, it meant only two things:

Either the trauma sustained was such that it forced the subject into unconsciousness, which would pose serious risks since the body would stop any form of protection against the trauma;

Or that the person had managed to exit the illusion.