No way, you are already dead and you still care about this?
What kind of genius thought process is that!
Elder Hu frowned and said, "There will be stipends, but not many. With the massive wealth of your Yan Clan, you probably look down on them. All right, get ready. There is half an incense stick of time left before the assessment begins, and you are free to form teams."
As his voice fell, the candidates began to move around.
Except for Yan Xiaoyi, everyone else quickly found teammates.
Elder Hu looked at her in astonishment and asked, "You're not teaming up with anyone?"
Yan Xiaoyi put both hands behind her back and said in a deep voice, "The strong (cheaters) do not need teammates."
Trash System: "I must say, you really know how to put on a show!"
Yan Xiaoyi: "You flatter me, you flatter me!"
"Fine, since you are so confident, I shall wait and see." Elder Hu said no more, calculated that the time was about right, and announced the start of the assessment.
The candidates were full of enthusiasm, eager as if they were about to enter the bridal chamber.
Yan Xiaoyi was a sensible child, neither fighting nor scrambling, and with great benevolence, she shielded everyone behind her.
When there's danger, you charge ahead; what loyal and righteous good brothers.
After pretending to wander around with the main group for a while, she found a chance to sneak away.
System: "What do you mean? Playing hide-and-seek here?"
"Hehe~" Yan Xiaoyi did not answer, but with a grin, she pulled out the CEO suit's ultimate weapon—the Ruyi Golden-Hoop Ladle.
Since this thing worked on the same principle as the Ruyi Jingu Bang, reaching the fruit on the tree opposite should be a piece of cake.
Taking objects from a distance—she would bring a dimensionality reduction strike directly to these natives.
"My God! You're cheating again!" The System couldn't help complaining.
"Don't put it so crudely! This is called making the best use of everything!"
Yan Xiaoyi stroked the golden Dung Ladle in her hand and sighed, "Since life has shortcuts, why smash your head into a bloody mess? We're not masochists."
System: Heh heh~ Such brilliant logic!
After wandering around for a long time, she finally found a piece of prime geomantic land to lurk in.
After a while, Yan Xiaoyi looked around stealthily and dropped her voice to a whisper: "Hey, System, nobody is noticing me, right?"
System: "No. Your cultivation is the lowest in the entire venue, and your reputation is ruined. Just looking at you would be an insult to them."
Yan Xiaoyi: Well said! Don't you ever say it again!
Taking a deep breath and getting ready, she began her remote nesting doll plan.
Several Old Men were currently sitting high up, sipping tea and discussing:
"The difficulty this time is several times greater than the last. Who knows how many people will make it through in the end."
"Hard to say, but I did notice a few good saplings. With proper cultivation, they could amount to something in the future."
"Sigh! This batch is far worse than the previous one!... Especially Leng Qingxue from the last batch; I'm afraid no one will surpass her even after thousands of years!"
"Whoosh~" Everyone's attention was focused on the candidates struggling through the trial. No one noticed that in a dark corner, a dung ladle stretched out infinitely, hooked a fruit, and rapidly retracted, repeating this over and over...
A quarter of an hour passed, and the fruit in front of Yan Xiaoyi had reached over a hundred.
She picked one up casually and weighed it in her hand: "Hmm, that's about enough. As long as I'm not at the bottom, I should keep a low profile."
System was speechless: "Is there any possibility that you are already being extremely high-profile? Since the founding of the Cold Moon Sect, the highest record has only been around fifty!"
"Is that so? Then I mustn't be too flamboyant. I'll keep about fifty and throw away the rest." With that, she picked the smallest ones and tossed them into the mountain stream.
System: You really are a piece of work!
Although the fruit was just a prop and couldn't be eaten, to those who worked so hard in the trial, it was a treasure!
A prodigal waste, truly living up to your reputation.
The time was still early. Yan Xiaoyi yawned and began to rest her eyes.
I don't know how much time passed before she was awakened by a ringing sound resembling an alarm clock.
The System's urging voice came: "Still sleeping! The assessment time is almost up!"
"Gosh! Then why didn't you wake me up earlier!" Yan Xiaoyi leaped up instantly and bolted in a panic toward the location of the Old Men.
*
"Sigh~" Seeing that time was running out, Elder Hu glanced at the crowd and let out a soft sigh.
As expected, he had overestimated her after all!
The difficulty of this assessment was no match for previous ones. Even with a team it was hard to pass, let alone alone.
"Time..."
Just as he was about to announce the end of the assessment, a voice rang out: "Hey~ wait just a moment! I'm here!"
Seeing the figure running toward them, the scene instantly erupted into a commotion:
"It's Yan Xiaoyi!"
"If I remember correctly, she was operating alone, right? She actually came back completely unscathed! To have such strength, I've underestimated her."
"Strength? I think not! She probably found some place to hide and didn't go through the trial at all! After all, she is notoriously cowardly and afraid of death."
Most people agreed with the last statement.
Seeing that she had no injuries on her body and her attire was relatively neat, they became even more convinced of this.
"Huf, huf~" Panting heavily, Yan Xiaoyi arrived before Elder Hu and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I finally made it in time!"
"Hmm, as long as you're alive." Elder Hu's thoughts coincided with most people's, and he hadn't expected her to achieve anything.
The next second, right before his eyes, Yan Xiaoyi inverted her Storage Bag and gave it a shake: "There! The fruits of my labor!"
"Clatter, rattle~" Bright red fruits tumbled all over the ground.
The scene fell into instant silence.
Are you kidding me?
We worked our fingers to the bone, almost losing our lives, and we barely managed to pick a few.
She pulls out such a huge pile just like that!
Did she raid the fruit's nest?
"Uh~" Elder Hu was the first to react. He swallowed hard and asked incredulously, "Did you... pick all of these?"
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"What are you saying? Could I possibly have robbed someone else's? Hurry up and count them."
Elder Hu took a deep breath, swept his divine sense across the ground, and announced in a deep voice: "Yan Xiaoyi has picked a total of fifty-five spiritual fruits for the assessment! In this assessment, she ranks first! And... she has broken the record!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present looked at her as if she were a monster.
They muttered inwardly: Could this still be the legendary Yan Xiaoyi? The discrepancy is simply too huge!
Could it be that she was just playing the pig to eat the tiger?
"All right, the second round of the assessment is over! Those who passed, in three days you will face the third round of the assessment—climbing the Cloud-Climbing Ladder! You may all return and prepare!... Hmm, Yan Xiaoyi, stay behind."
What does this mean? Could he have discovered something?
Although Yan Xiaoyi felt a tiny flutter of panic in her heart, on the surface she remained calm. She smiled sweetly at the Old Man: "I wonder if Elder has any business keeping me alone?"
Elder Hu looked at her with deep eyes: "How did you manage to pick so many fruits without a single scratch?"
It seemed he hadn't caught her in the act.
That being the case, the stone in Yan Xiaoyi's heart dropped. She blinked at him and smiled mysteriously: "Why don't you guess!"
Elder Hu: "..." Guess my foot! Do you take me for a three-year-old child? I'm not playing this boring game with you!
Seeing that she was unwilling to speak, Elder Hu didn't press further and waved his hand to dismiss her.
Watching the bouncing figure retreating into the distance, he muttered softly to himself, "Could it be that she was really hiding her true abilities before? Well... I'll just wait to see her performance in three days before making a final judgment!"