Chapter 534: Shocking the Crowd
"There are actually so many survivors?"
Lan Yichen was startled at first, but he quickly understood the reason.
There had originally been ten cultivators at the 4th and 5th levels of Earthly Core Realm within the Cloudchain Mountain Range, including someone like Feng Sha, whose strength was infinitely close to the 6th level of Earthly Core Realm. Under normal circumstances, the mortality rate of this mission should have been extremely high, and very few people should have survived.
However, this time, on the third day of the mission, Feng Sha, the strongest member of the Seventeen Cloudchain Strongholds, had been killed by Li Yun. Not only that, but out of the ten remaining 4th and 5th level Earthly Core Realm experts, eight had been killed by Li Yun alone. Under such circumstances, the pressure faced by the other examinees had naturally been greatly reduced.
It was precisely because of this that the survival rate of the mission was unexpectedly high, allowing more than a hundred people to return alive.
"Eh? That kid at the 4th level of Mortal Core Realm actually came out alive too?"
"This kid’s luck is really good. To be at the 4th level of Mortal Core Realm and still walk out of the Cloudchain Mountain Range alive, he must have been blessed by fortune."
"Speaking of which, the danger of this mission was much lower than I imagined. They said there were ten enemies at the 4th and 5th levels of Earthly Core Realm, but during the entire ten days, I did not encounter even one of them."
"Oh? You did not encounter any either? I thought I was the only lucky one."
While Lan Yichen was surprised by the number of survivors, those who had arrived at the assembly point earlier were also surprised that Li Yun had survived. After all, on the surface, Li Yun was merely a cultivator at the 4th level of Mortal Core Realm.
However, after only a few remarks, the topic of conversation shifted from Li Yun to the mission itself.
On the contrary, the three deacons of the Golden Dragon Hall glanced at Li Yun with faces full of shock, though none of them said anything.
Li Yun did not care about their reactions. He found a place to sit down and quietly waited for everyone to arrive.
In the blink of an eye, another half hour passed. Dozens more cultivators returned one after another, and Chen Haoyan and Chen Jiaolan were among them.
Upon seeing Li Yun, the Chen siblings immediately revealed excited expressions. However, after Li Yun glanced at them coldly, they ultimately stayed away with sheepish faces.
"Alright, time is up."
Suddenly, one of the Golden Dragon Hall deacons spoke. His face was expressionless, and his voice was cold. "This mission ends here. Any cultivator who has not come out by now will be treated as having failed."
"Furthermore, everyone present, take out your tokens and display your battle merit points. The top ten in battle merit points will become Golden Dragon Guards, while everyone else will be eliminated."
As the cold voice of the Golden Dragon Hall deacon fell, Li Yun and the more than one hundred cultivators present all flipped their wrists and took out their tokens. Immediately, light bloomed from the tokens, and numbers began to appear one by one.
Among all those tokens, Li Yun’s token was especially conspicuous.
If the light from the others’ tokens was like weak candlelight swaying in the wind, then the light from Li Yun’s token was like a small sun. It was incredibly brilliant, and its radiance was even stronger than the combined light of everyone else’s tokens.
On that token, a number was clearly displayed.
One thousand three hundred and fifty-seven.
"How is that possible?"
"How can a cultivator at the 4th level of Mortal Core Realm have so many battle merit points? He cheated. He must have cheated."
"Exactly. Only cheating can explain why he has so many battle merit points. Has the Golden Dragon Guard assessment not always claimed to be the fairest? Since such a blatant act of cheating has occurred, the Golden Dragon Hall must provide an explanation."
For a moment, the crowd fell into an uproar.
Previously, they had merely thought that Li Yun was lucky and were surprised that he could survive as a 4th level Mortal Core Realm cultivator. But now, after seeing Li Yun’s battle merit count, their hearts were filled with disbelief, shock, anger, and jealousy.
For a mere kid at the 4th level of Mortal Core Realm to obtain so many battle merit points, there had to be something strange going on.
More importantly, if they allowed a 4th level Mortal Core Realm cultivator to surpass them and successfully become a Golden Dragon Guard, where could they possibly put their faces?
Slap!
At that moment, Chen Haoyan suddenly jumped up and slapped the face of the person who had been shouting the loudest. Then, he sneered and said, "Explanation? I will explain your damn ghost."
Smack!
Chen Haoyan’s slap was merciless, and the sound was exceptionally loud and crisp. In an instant, the entire scene fell silent.
The crowd looked at Chen Haoyan in shock and disbelief. At a time like this, in front of the three Golden Dragon Hall deacons, he actually dared to strike someone openly.
"You dare hit me?"
The cultivator who had been slapped by Chen Haoyan was instantly furious. With a roar, he threw a punch toward Chen Haoyan.
This person was a 1st level Earthly Core Realm cultivator, and his strength could be considered decent within that stage. His sudden enraged strike carried quite a bit of momentum.
Bang!
However, Chen Haoyan only sneered coldly and struck out with another palm. This time, he directly knocked the cultivator to the ground.
Although Chen Haoyan was only at the Half-Step Earthly Core Realm, he was a powerhouse ranked within the top thirty of the Spirit Ranking. His strength could be considered elite even among 1st level Earthly Core Realm cultivators, so dealing with an ordinary cultivator at that level was naturally not a problem.
"If even I am not his match, you actually dare to suspect Brother Li Yun of cheating?"
He glanced at the man with utter disdain and sneered. "Even I am far from being Brother Li Yun’s opponent. Do you think someone with Brother Li Yun’s strength needs to cheat?"
"Frog in a well."
Chen Jiaolan curled her lip and spat out those four words mockingly. She gave the man a disdainful look, then turned her gaze away as if sparing him another glance would dirty her eyes.