Lin Yi frowned and lifted his left hand to steady his trembling right hand, which he roughly knew was shaking for a reason.
Since he was always deliberately controlling his strength, Lin Yi subconsciously wanted to squeeze harder, and although he tried to restrain himself mentally, this resulted in his fingers maintaining a stiff posture.
Of course, there were times he did not restrain himself. When it was Ning Rongrong's turn, Lin Yi couldn't help but give a firm squeeze, which scared the girl so much that she fell straight to the ground. Lin Yi had no choice but to lie to her, saying it was to test her health condition, explaining that an unhealthy person would feel pain when squeezed. This frightened Ning Rongrong into immediately asserting that she wasn't in pain and that she had merely been startled.
About a minute into the sorting process, Lin Yi suddenly remembered he had a System. He smacked his forehead and delegated the task of ranking five hundred people to the System.
The System proved to be more efficient than manual labor, taking only three seconds to sort the scores of the five hundred people on the panel before Lin Yi, even identifying who belonged to the first, second, and third classes of prizes.
Only then did Lin Yi step out of the room and came outside.
The atmosphere was calm until the five hundred women saw Lin Yi come out. It was like a spark falling on gasoline, instantly igniting the mood of everyone present.
They all opened their mouths to ask about the results, and the clamor of five hundred voices almost burst Lin Yi's eardrums. He suddenly found it hard to imagine how ancient emperors managed with three thousand beauties in their harems; they would probably die from the noise before exhaustion.
Lin Yi put his index finger to his lips with a serious expression and made a shushing gesture. After everyone quieted down, he pointed to one of the space passages and said, "Go there. I'll hand out the awards over there."
The main attackers among the women knew that this passage led to the attack scene and didn't hesitate to head in that direction, but the rest of the four hundred plus competitors were a bit confused, not knowing where the passage led. Seeing other women walking towards it, they followed suit.
At the attack site.
Everyone watched as beautiful women emerged from the passage, displaying surprised expressions. They had waited so long they thought Lin Yi must have already sent the prizes at Martial Soul Hall.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Lin Yi, who was the last one, suddenly realized there was one woman who hadn't headed towards the passage—it was Bi Bidong.
Seeing Bi Bidong, he couldn't help but recall the selection process with her, which was the most unexpected moment for Lin Yi.
Like with Gu Yuena, Bi Bidong's examination also included a "taste" procedure, and during the touching part, Bi Bidong had already started to act strangely. However, Lin Yi hadn't noticed until she suddenly let out a loud yell during the "taste" procedure, her body wriggling back and forth like a fish before she knelt to the ground.
The next moment disconcerted Lin Yi the most. Bi Bidong somehow managed to replicate a Huangguoshu waterfall scene, and only when Lin Yi walked a full circle around her to her back did he realize that Bi Bidong had gone commando for the competition—luckily, she was still wearing a skirt, otherwise Lin Yi would have had to find her some clothes to change into.
Seeing Bi Bidong's innocent gaze, Lin Yi could only grit his teeth and finish scoring. After she left, he spent quite a while drying the floor before calling the next competitor in.
"Why aren't you going over?"
Lin Yi looked at Bi Bidong helplessly, the images that had just resurfaced were sure to stay in his memory for a lifetime.
At that moment, Bi Bidong seemed too embarrassed to face Lin Yi, her face blushing as she said, "I have to go back, it's happening again... otherwise, I'll embarrass myself at the scene."
Lin Yi could only nod, "Alright then, you're on the winners' list. Have Qian Renxue claim it for you later."
"Okay! Thank you, Senior!"
The competition had been a mess, but Bi Bidong was still grateful to Lin Yi for the award. She bowed quickly before hurrying toward her own room.
Lin Yi entered the passageway where 499 women were already standing below the stands, but many of them seemed to know the attackers and even started to greet them.
"Are you really my royal father..."
Princess Xue Ke approached the beggar Emperor Xueye and couldn't help but ask; her father had not only become younger, but now he even took a liking to dressing like a beggar—Xue Ke really couldn't understand. However, seeing that Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo were both standing by his side, she had no choice but to believe that this was her father.
Xueye also felt somewhat embarrassed to admit it when he suddenly seemed to think of something and exclaimed, "You actually participated too?!"
Xue Ke's cheeks turned red as she nodded and said, "Yes, I finally saw Mr. Lin Yi..."
"Right, father, that really isn't my royal brother, is it?"
Xue Ke pointed at Qian Renxue and asked.
Emperor Xueye twitched the corner of his mouth: "She's joining in the competition, what do you think..."
"Sword Grandfather, Bone Grandfather! Where's my dad?!"
Ning Rongrong had been circling Chen Xin and Gu Rong several times to no avail in finding her father. She accidentally bumped into a loli next to her and quickly apologized, "Sorry."
This cute looking loli was even smaller than her, she just lowered her head and replied, "It's okay," then squatted down to play with some mud, seeming completely detached from the world.
Chen Xin and Gu Rong exchanged a glance, and faced with Ning Rongrong's questioning, they could only pretend, "The Sect Master is sleeping in the inn; he hasn't been resting well these past few days, so we didn't dare to disturb him."
Ning Rongrong frowned, "Why is dad sleeping again."
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing approached Dai Ben and performed a bow, "Zhu Qing pays respect to Your Majesty."
Zhu Yun watched her sister, and although she had now freed herself from the royal constraints, the estrangement between her and her sister was still too deep, and now, she didn't even have an opportunity to speak.
Dai Ben nodded with a smile, "Mm, no need for formalities, Zhu Qing actually came to participate too, do you have confidence in winning a prize?"
Zhu Zhuqing shook her head, "I'm not sure. All I know is that Senior Lin Yi has always been complimenting me... How many points I'll get, I don't know."
Zhu Yun glanced at her younger sister's bosom and couldn't help but twitch her mouth.
At this moment, Lin Yi started to announce the names of the third-place winners, a total of twenty people.
Qian Renxue immediately became nervous; it was her first time participating, and she didn't know if she had made a good impression on Lin Yi.
As the third-place names were read out, Qian Renxue didn't hear her own and felt both nervous and relieved. With only 15 left, it meant being in the top fifteen out of five hundred.
Those who won third place showed ecstatic expressions; they had already considered themselves the most beautiful women in the world before coming here. However, after seeing the others, they realized there were even more beautiful people in the world, some so beautiful they didn't seem mortal. So, they lowered their expectations and thought it would be good enough to win any prize.
And indeed, they ranked among the top 40 most beautiful women on the continent and certainly had the right to be proud.