The Qualification Realm! (1)

Keiren opened his eyes, only to discover that he was no longer in the Eternal Realm. Instead, his surroundings were that of a misty forest, with the fog so dense that everything beyond 20m turned into a white wall.

# Welcome to the Qualification Realm #

Keiren's eyes twitched as he got the System's notification. In a tone that was more a growl than anything else, he asked the air in front of him: "Are you bloody serious? Do you even have a smidgen of an idea as to what you've just done? HOW DARE YOU?"

Keiren was angrier than he had ever been before. His aura radiated this anger into the surrounding mist that seemed to turn red in color. His Battle Spirit manifested itself around him and Tribulation appeared in his hands. The trees beside him started to burn like matchsticks.

# Established Barrier of Equality. All summoning abilities are suppressed during your stay in the Qualification Realm. Good luck, Summoner. #

# Note: The Barrier of Equality suppresses everyone to the Adamant Stage. The Adamant is your absolute foundation. This means your skills, your experience, your knowledge, your body, your Battle Spirit stays the same, and you will be unable to use your cultivation to empower yourself. #

Just as Keiren was about to continue raging against the System, voices echoed through the clearing. They were celebrating.

"HAHAHAHA, we finally caught the traitor! The Emperor will reward us heavily when he comes back." A male voice spoke amidst the echoing laughter. "How dare this bitch refuse our Emperor's kind offer to use her as a breeding cow? Her audacity has to be punished. I'm sure she will appreciate his offer a lot more after a few days in the dungeon."

Multiple voices erupted in laughter, both male and female. "Maybe he will reward us with more than just material possessions. The mere thought of it makes me horny." A female voice sounded, it was filled with excitement and lust.

"You should take a look in a mirror, with your body and face it would be a miracle if you were worthy of his dog." The second female voice was laced with contempt and resentment.

More laughter echoed until it was suddenly cut short by a high-pitched scream.

# You've killed 1 mob enemy (+ 1 Qualification Point) #

The wall of fire that surrounded Keiren was split open by a bulky guy in heavy armor. He was armed with a big shield besides the heavy axe that he swung with one hand.

Parting the wall of fire revealed a group of 20 male and 9 female soldiers. A few steps to the side was the burned corpse of another female soldier. Behind them was a bulky horse that pulled a wagon with a crucified person on top of it. Suran Tarnum hung there badly mangled, with a sign spelling the word 'traitor' around their neck.

Ken was still angry, as those trees had done nothing to serve as a real outlet for his frustration. After seeing his Knight Commander crucified on a wagon labeled as traitor something just clicked in his head. A red light appeared in the depths of his eyes. A deep and humorless laughter resounded from Keiren.

The sea of flames that surrounded him began to turn and boil. The purple color of the flames vanished, and only red flames remained. The flames radiated the intense bloodlust and despair.

After slashing through the wall of purple fire, the soldiers looked at Keiren who stood at the center of the inferno. His crazy laughter reached their ears, and the purple flames turned blood-red. All this took merely one second but it caused a mental scar in all the soldiers present, further amplified by the dense bloodlust and despair that the flames emitted. All in all, Keiren looked like a demon that jumped straight out of hell.

Instantly, the soldiers behind the Leader drew their weapons as well. Every soldier was armed with Earth-grade weapons and armor. Their troop consisted of the Leader, 2 Knights, 2 Mages, 5 Archers, 10 Spearmen, and 10 Swordsmen.

The Leader turned toward a short redhead with an ugly scar in her face, "Gissy, if we take him down, I'm sure the Emperor will make you his personal cumdumpster, and fuck you daily."

The eyes of the short redhead brightened up and before anyone could stop her, she dashed forward and swung her sword at Keiren. Laughter followed her reckless assault. It might seem stupid to act like this with an unknown threat before them, because it was stupid and unnecessary.

Keiren looked at the short, ugly redhead that dashed in his direction, his blood was boiling. Without much consideration, he raised Tribulation into the air. Just as the redhead was in reach, Keiren took half a step forward and impaled the redhead's, red head.

"So many holes and so little skill, I wonder who allowed you to even wield a weapon." Keiren insulted her as he pulled his weapon out of the corpse. Before the corpse could hit the ground it burned in bright red flames and scattered into ash. Even her soul burned away until only a ball of white blue substance remained that entered Keirens body without him noticing.

# You've killed 1 mob enemy (+1 Qualification Point) #

After a second of silence, the others from her team dashed towards Keiren, while the Mages started to cast magic and the Archers prepared arrows to shoot at him. Logic would have suggested turning tail and run. Alas, cultivators had never been renowned for their brains.

Keiren took one deep breath. He ignored the useless and unintelligent remarks about his actions and gathered spiritual energy in his lungs. After the vanguard were in range, Keiren bent forward and sent a wave of blood-red Thunderfire into their faces.

The bodies of the 18 attackers in range were instantly incinerated. Only their souls remained burning before they followed the fate of their comrade and disappeared into Keirens body in the form of white blue wisps. The arrows that were sent out by the archers burned to nothingness.

# You've killed 18 mob enemies (+18 Qualification Points) #

Just as the fire gave back the vision of his enemies, the magic spells shot out. A human long Ice-Spear and a mini tornado rushed at Keiren. The Ice-spear didn't even make it halfway through, before melting and evaporating into nothingness. The tornado suffered a similar fate, and by the time it reached Keiren it was only able to ruffle his hair.

The surviving troop looked at the situation with horror in their eyes, especially since Keiren raised Tribulation and waved it horizontally. It was a simple slash, but the Spirit Weapon's innate power, coupled with his newly gained Glaive Martial Art, resulted in a 2-meter-long slash of Thunderfire that rushed at the knights at lightning speed. Still distracted, both knights were unable to parry the attack efficiently and get blasted into the next three.

The next wave of arrows descended on Keiren, but none of them were a threat as he incinerated them with ease, not realizing that the two knights that he sent three hugging were approaching him from behind. After the last arrow turned to dust without even reaching Keiren, one knight tried to sneak attack him.

The sound of whistling wind reached Keirens ear and he instantly ducked down, a sword swung by, taking some of Keirens hair as toll. Keiren was startled a bit by it, yet he still got enough awareness to raise Tribulation and pierce her into the knight's chest.

# You've killed 1 mob enemy (+10 Qualification Point) #

The second Knight, who was waiting for his chance, saw his fellow brother fall and attacked without paying attention to his surroundings and other teammates. Ready to impale Keiren's back he launched himself forward. Alas just as his sword was about to sink into Keiren's back a volley of arrows pierced his own back. The hand holding the sword lost its strength and the sword wasn't able to draw the blood of his enemy.

The Knight jumped into his own companions' attack efficiently saving Keiren's ass, instead of delivering the finishing blow. The remaining Soldiers were even more shaken now.

Keiren and the soldiers were around 10-15 meters apart from each other. The Mages were chanting another spell while the Archers reached for new arrows. Besides them was the leader, a bulky Man in heavy armor wielding a shield and an axe.

Shock, fear, and despair were the most prominent feelings that raced through the Leader's mind. Witnessing his troop getting decimated by a single person, with such ease, was a hard pill to swallow. So far, the only damage they had inflicted upon him was taking away some of his hair…

The man wanted to surrender, but would someone who had killed so many of them really let them go? The Leader had to be strong for his men, especially for the two female Mages he had in his squad. As such, he gritted his teeth and took one step forward.