Liu Wuxie passed the booklet to He Yingwu, intending for them to face the assessment together and watch each other's backs.
As night descended, they returned to the inn. When Liu Wuxie entered his room, he didn't cultivate immediately. Instead, he brooded over the afternoon's events. The unrestrained arrogance of mere bodyguards revealed the astral domain's brutal truth, a world where the strong devoured the weak.
What unsettled him most was that even planet lords sent their children to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Though they possessed boundless resources, they still entrusted their heirs to the sect. The reason was apparent: only away from parental protection could these youths temper themselves through hardships unreachable at home.
Liu Wuxie shook his head, casting aside the thought. His goal was singular—to join the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Only then could he set his greater plans into motion.
The night passed quietly.
After a night of cultivation, Liu Wuxie felt his foundation temper further, leaving him only a step away from the eighth-level Heaven Profound Realm.
At dawn, a knock sounded. He Yingwu entered with food, worry etched on his face.
"Wuxie, I scouted around," he reported. "This year's assessment is harsh. Only two thousand spots exist, yet a hundred thousand people applied, and ninety percent are already at the Transcendent Realm."
Both men, still bound to the Heaven Profound Realm, faced daunting odds.
"And so?" Liu Wuxie asked calmly.
"I know what you mean," Liu Wuxie interrupted, "but I must join the Heavenly Dragon Sect no matter how difficult it is." He strode to the table and began eating.
This trial felt trivial compared to the hell they had endured on Anlu Star.
Back on the True Martial Continent, Liu Wuxie had been the star of every assessment. In the mortal world, the cultivation world, and even the Central Plains, he had always shone brightest in every trial.
Once they finished eating, the two left the inn. Time was tight, and they couldn't risk missing the assessment.
The journey from Mount Dragon City to the Heavenly Dragon Sect took a day on foot or two hours by flight. Two hours later, they followed the endless stream of people toward the mountains. The Heavenly Dragon Sect lay deep within the Dragon Expanse Mountain Range, a place said to have once been home to the dragon clan.
"I heard from a disciple inside that those who perform well in the assessment will be rewarded handsomely," a youth ahead of them roared.
"I've heard that too," another chimed in. "The top three will even receive fifth-grade pills."
Fifth-grade pills came in many varieties. Some merely enhanced cultivation, while others were heaven-defying enough to raise a Transcendent Realm cultivator by an entire level.
The crowd buzzed with excitement at the mention of such rewards. Eyes blazed with greed and ambition. Even Liu Wuxie's eyes lit up. If he could obtain a fifth-grade pill, he would be able to make his breakthrough to the eighth-level Heaven Profound Realm.
By the next day, they arrived at the designated site, a vast natural valley excavated wide enough to hold a hundred thousand people.
The crowd dispersed to secure resting spots. With two days before the assessment, there was no need to rush.
"Wuxie, let's go over there," He Yingwu suggested. As part of the first arrivals, they knew the valley would only grow more crowded with each passing hour.
But Liu Wuxie did not spend those days in idleness. He devoted his time to studying the various forces of Indigo Bamboo Star aside from the Heavenly Dragon Sect. He familiarized himself with powers such as the Grand Unity Sect, the Profound Azure Gate, and the Nine Dragon Palace—all forces comparable to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. The number of second-tier factions was beyond counting, so numerous that even he could hardly keep track.
Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu walked south and came upon a massive boulder. From atop it, they could survey half the mountain range and even glimpse structures belonging to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Standing there, Liu Wuxie felt his state of mind open wide, as though the world itself had broadened before him.
"Wuxie, doesn't something feel strange about that range?" He Yingwu asked. His gaze stretched toward the endless mountains, a faint unease prickling at him.
"That's where the True Martial Continent broke away,” Liu Wuxie said. He had already noticed the absence of something vital within the vast mountain range stretching for millions of miles.
Tens of thousands of years had passed, yet faint traces of that cataclysmic battle still lingered.
"How could that be?" He Yingwu frowned. "The True Martial Continent is enormous, and this mountain range is only about the size of the Central Plains."
It wasn't that he didn't believe Liu Wuxie, but he found it baffling.
"That's because the True Martial Continent birthed world force,” Liu Wuxie explained. Some truths were too vast to explain, and He Yingwu wouldn't understand even if Liu Wuxie tried.
"You mean it broke away from the astral domain to become an independent world? And if it keeps expanding, it could evolve into a planet and return to the astral domain?" He Yingwu asked. His recent studies had sharpened him; though still behind Liu Wuxie, he was no longer the ignorant youth he once had been.
Once born, the world force drove expansion. Planets themselves had lifespans. The Indigo Bamboo Star grew each year, though most never noticed. Some worlds, lacking resources, instead shrank until they withered into dead stars.
Even Liu Wuxie hadn't known that the True Martial Continent had given birth to a world force until he entered the astral domain. Only then did he sense the bond between his power and his homeland. That was when he realized the True Martial Continent had detached completely, forming its laws.
Once experts discovered such a continent, countless them would rush to occupy it, each vying to become its planet lord. Whoever succeeded would control the world itself, drawing endless power from its world force.
To fight a planet lord meant facing not only the individual but also the might of the world itself. That was how Liu Wuxie had managed to slay the Azure Nether Crocodile—the True Martial Continent had lent him its strength. Its acknowledgment gave him the chance to become its planet lord.
But Liu Wuxie had no interest in such a title. His only concern was his family and friends. What worried him most was whether the True Martial Continent could endure. Like the Sacred Ground, it might collapse within ten years.
"Get lost! That boulder is ours!" a harsh voice suddenly interrupted their thoughts.
Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu turned to see a burly youth standing below with two companions at his side. All three glared up at them, demanding they move. The spot was remote, with little to offer but its broad view—yet clearly, these three coveted it.
"Fuck off,” Liu Wuxie said coldly, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. He and He Yingwu had bothered no one, and yet these fools dared to drive them away.
The three were only at the third-level Transcendent Realm, but even so, their cultivation surpassed Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu's. To outsiders, two Heaven Profound Realm cultivators attempting this assessment looked suicidal.
"Senior Brother Ai, this brat told us to get lost! He's courting death!" the two lackeys snarled, cracking their knuckles. They had set their sights on this vantage point to overlook the entire Dragon Expanse Mountain Range.
"Brat, you have three breaths to get down," the leader sneered, "or we'll sell you at the slave market."
At the word "slave," killing intent surged from Liu Wuxie. The scars of Anlu Star remained etched in his soul.
Around them, no one spared the quarrel a glance. Fights were common before assessments and seldom worth notice.
"I don't want trouble,” Liu Wuxie growled, clenching his fists. "But get lost before I lose my temper."
Keeping a low profile did not mean weakness. His battle of wits with the Immortal Slaughter Palace was proof of that.
But his warning only made the three bolder.
"Drag him down!" the leader barked.
The two lackeys lunged forward, their figures leaving afterimages as they reached for Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu.
Before their hands could touch, an enormous footprint smashed down on them. Both crashed to the ground, coughing blood with eyes wide in disbelief. They hadn't expected Liu Wuxie to retaliate, let alone strike with such force.
Liu Wuxie had restrained himself. Had he not, they would be corpses. His body rivaled cultivators of the Transcendent Realm, and even those at higher levels would struggle to survive a single punch from him.
"Ai Shan! Kill them!" the two lackeys screamed. Their senior brother's strength was far above their own, and only he could avenge their humiliation.
Ai Shan's fury blazed. He strode toward Liu Wuxie in a rage. But Liu Wuxie leapt down from the boulder to meet him head-on.