You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?

"Old rules."

Lin Yue stood on the pavilion, looking at the many geniuses in the square below, and said, "Our Ancestor Hall is the sacred place of the Human Clan. We absolutely cannot allow the Eternal Night Demon Clan to infiltrate. Therefore, before the assessment begins, we must first verify your identities."

He flipped his hand to take out a greenish fruit, and an exotic fragrance immediately spread around.

This was a fruit prepared for him in advance by the Ancestor Hall, used to feed the Ancient Strange Beast 'Dixi,' also known as the Spirit Venerable of the Ancestor Hall.

It was a Holy Beast, though its strength was average, it was very good at distinguishing between the Human Clan and the Demon Clan.

"Spirit Venerable."

Lin Yue called out, his voice spreading out.

"Roar..."

Shortly after, a beastly roar came from deep within the Ancestor Hall, and a mass of multicolored mist flew out from the depths of the hall, landing on the open ground of the square.

Within the dense mist, a creature several zhang high could be vaguely seen. It had a silhouette like a deer or a horse, but it was not clear.

Lin Yue threw the fruit in his hand towards the Spirit Venerable, saying, "Please, Spirit Venerable, discern if there are any Eternal Night demons among these examiners."

As the greenish fruit fell into the purple-red mist, it was immediately swallowed by the Spirit Venerable in one gulp.

"Roar..."

The Spirit Venerable let out a satisfied roar, and then two blazing eyes lit up within the purple-red mist, as the Spirit Venerable's gigantic eyes scrutinized the 173 candidates for the Inner Hall on the open ground, spreading a terrible intimidation.

After a moment, all the examiners had been checked once by the Spirit Venerable.

The Spirit Venerable turned its head to Lin Yue, growled low, shook its head, and then flew back into the depths of the Ancestor Hall.

"Nothing found?"

Lin Yue nodded slightly, though he was not surprised.

According to the secrets he received yesterday, these external Martial Cultivator geniuses were indeed from outside the Human Clan.

However, the various forces were somewhat puzzled.

They really weren't from the Demon Clan, but where did these geniuses come from?

"Since there's no problem, let the Inner Hall assessment begin."

Lin Yue looked at the examiners below and said, "The Inner Hall assessment of the Ancestor Hall is a life-and-death battle. The array of the Ancestor Hall will only protect your life when you are on the brink of death."

"The rules for each round of life-and-death battles are the same."

"First, if the Ancestor Hall array is triggered to save you when nearly dead, it is regarded as elimination."

"Second, if you do not wish to suffer serious injuries, voluntarily admitting defeat is also considered elimination."

"Third, the use of True Treasures, Heavenly Rank Talismans, and any external objects beyond the Four Symbols category is prohibited in life-and-death battles and will also result in elimination if used."

After Lin Yue finished explaining the rules for the life-and-death battles, he said, "As always, the opponent for the first round of life-and-death battles is a puppet driven by the Martial Arts Soul of an Inner Hall Elder. The realm of the Inner Hall Elder is not yet Perfect, and the power and speed of the Puppet Body are only equivalent to those of a Martial Cultivator who has just entered the Four Symbols."

As Lin Yue's words fell, a long-haired woman flew out from the depths of the Ancestor Hall, surprisingly an Inner Hall Elder.

Grandmaster An, who was in charge of the assessment back then, had improved his strength and was thus not suitable to be the examiner for the first round of life-and-death battles now.

"Your Highness." The long-haired woman respectfully bowed.

Lin Yue nodded indifferently, "Begin."

"Yes."

The long-haired woman immediately waved her hand, and from her fingertips flew a Daoist Talisman, which began frantically gathering an enormous amount of Essence, forming a Daoist Talisman Avatar.

Subsequently, a phantom image appeared on the long-haired woman's body, which was clearly the Martial Arts Soul, and then merged into the Daoist Talisman Avatar.

"One at a time."

Lin Yue's voice resounded across the square, "Before the hourglass runs out, the life-and-death battle must be concluded."

...

One by one, the examiners began to step forward.

The difficulty of this first round of life-and-death battles was not high, roughly equivalent to the first layer of Tianxia Building.

In past years, generally less than thirty percent of participants passed the first round of life-and-death battles.

However, after the more than 170 participants attempted the first round of life-and-death battles, over half surprisingly passed.

This was mainly due to the more than one hundred external Martial Cultivator geniuses, who were evidently much stronger, with eighty percent of them possessing exceptionally strong powers and being very young, not even thirty years old.

This made the many onlookers even more astonished, finding it hard to believe.

Lin Yue remained very calm.

Even a Martial Saint's guidance could greatly enhance the strength of those Martial Cultivators with decent talent and comprehension.

Not to mention, these people were suspected to have been instructed by the Demon God.

Recalling that he himself had been guided by the Human Ancestor for just one year back then, wouldn't it be quite normal for these people to have such performances with the guidance of a Martial God level?

However...

He was somewhat puzzled. Their goal was to find the remains of the Human Ancestor and recapture the Heavenly Martial Divine Cauldron, yet they came to the Ancestor Hall?

The Heavenly Martial Divine Cauldron was in the Imperial Palace, and the remains of the Human Ancestor had already been missing for a long time.

There had to be some kind of purpose... Lin Yue pondered silently, watching the life-and-death battles below.

The first round of life-and-death battles ended, leaving 139 people.

The second round of life-and-death battles ended, leaving 97 people.

The third round of life-and-death battles ended, leaving 55 people.

Among these 55 people, 54 were external Martial Cultivator geniuses.

As was commonly seen in past years, the Great Yong's native Martial Cultivator geniuses mostly fell in this third round.

The pride on the faces of those external Martial Cultivator geniuses was almost visibly apparent.

They did not regard the talents of Great Yong at all.

The fourth round of life-and-death battles ended, leaving 26 people.

The fifth round of life-and-death battles ended, leaving only 7 people!

The difficulty of the fifth round of life-and-death battles was equivalent to facing the third layer of Tianxia Building, which was at a level unbeaten below that of a Great Cultivator.