72: Chapter 72 The Final Selection, the Temple Opens

A kind of anticipation she hadn't felt in a long time grew in her heart.

She looked forward to her next confrontation with Wang Lin.

Over the next few days, she wouldn't go looking for Wang Lin.

She would stay inside the Holy Court's practice grounds.

Practicing Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword over and over again.

From morning to night, from night to morning, until those movements melded into her bones, until those arcs became her instinct, until even if ten thousand arrows were shot at her simultaneously, she could block them one by one.

By that time, she would go find him.

...

For the next few days, Wang Lin lived quite peacefully.

That crazy woman didn't come looking for him, perhaps scared off by his last sentence.

On the morning of the fifth day, Wang Lin was woken up by a feeling of chest tightness.

He smelled a strange odor.

It was the stench of something slowly fermenting in the shadows.

He rolled out of bed, walked to the window, and pulled back the curtain.

The world outside had changed.

The fog was more than ten times thicker than before, thick like a layer of dense cotton wool, wrapping the entire camp inside it.

Sounds drifted from the distant fog, intermittent and unclear.

It sounded like muttering.

Just then, the bracelet on his wrist vibrated.

He looked down, and a line of text lit up on the bracelet—a message from the Twelve Zodiacs:

"All candidates, assemble at the original camp immediately."

"Those who fail to arrive on time will be considered to have automatically forfeited their qualification for the selection."

Wang Lin stared at the text for a few seconds, then closed the window and pushed the door open.

The original camp was in an open space, not far from the inn, a fifteen-minute walk away.

When Wang Lin arrived, quite a few people were already standing in the open space.

He stood on the periphery of the crowd and scanned them.

The selection team of two or three hundred people was now reduced to only sixty or seventy.

The Twelve Zodiacs' selection had always been like this.

Only those who survived were qualified to stand here.

Whispers rose from various corners of the crowd:

"Is that Wang Lin?"

"Which one? The one in dark clothes?"

"The one who killed a LV5 as a LV2? He doesn't look like it..."

"That's him! Didn't you watch that arena match? He took down the LV5 Zhou Ying all by himself!"

"I heard he has someone from Dark Blade backing him..."

...

Wang Lin ignored those voices.

He walked to the middle of the crowd, found an empty spot to stand, and closed his eyes.

Just as he was resting with his eyes closed, a crisp voice emerged from the crowd:

"Brother Wang Lin!"

Wang Lin opened his eyes and saw a young girl squeezing out of the crowd, skipping toward him.

She was fifteen or sixteen, wearing a ponytail.

Wang Lin recognized her.

She was the girl he had met outside the camp before.

At the time, a man had tried to rob her, but she had killed him instead.

Upon seeing Wang Lin, she immediately changed her expression.

Her eyes were red, her lips trembled slightly, and she curled up, looking pitiful and helpless.

She had approached Wang Lin with that exact expression.

That acting—Wang Lin had almost believed it.

If not for the coldness he saw in her eyes, he might have truly been fooled by her.

Wang Lin thought she had been eliminated long ago; after all, you couldn't reach the end relying on acting.

"Brother Wang Lin!" She had already run up to Wang Lin, her face filled with excitement and adoration,

"Is it really you? I thought I was seeing things!"

Wang Lin looked down at her without speaking.

"I went to watch the match a few days ago!"

"Brother Wang Lin, you were so amazing, it made my heart go thump, thump, thump!"

As she spoke, she made an exaggerated "heart racing" expression.

Wang Lin was silent for two seconds, then asked, "What is your name?"

Her eyes brightened: "My name is Su Tang. Tang as in candy."

Wang Lin nodded and said nothing more.

Su Tang didn't leave.

She stood right beside Wang Lin, quiet and still, like a kitten that had finally found its nest.

Wang Lin didn't chase her away; with so many people here, he wasn't afraid of her pulling any tricks.

At this moment, a man in a black uniform walked out of the fog.

A silver Twelve Zodiacs badge was pinned to his collar.

He walked to the center of the crowd, turned around, and faced the sixty or seventy candidates.

Everyone fell silent, their gazes landing in unison on this man.

"I am the chief instructor for this selection, codenamed 'Xingtian'."

"Now, I will tell you what has happened outside."

He raised his hand and pointed toward the direction of the distant Mist Forest.

"Deep within the Mist Forest, a temple has emerged."

"Temples are usually hidden in the deepest parts of the fog, and no one can find them."

"Only at specific times do they reveal themselves."

"Now is that time."

A low murmur rippled through the crowd.

The word "temple" had circulated in the camp for a long time, but very few people had seen one with their own eyes.

It was said that every temple was a treasure vault, containing weapons, cultivation techniques, potions, and even forbidden artifacts left behind by the Old World.

It was said that some temples contained cultivation chambers; staying inside for one day was equivalent to a year of cultivation outside.

But these were all legends, because very few people who went inside ever came out alive.

"Temples also have levels," Xingtian continued,

"The higher the level, the stricter the entry requirements, and the higher the quality of the treasures inside."

"Some temples require LV8 or higher to enter, some require LV5, and some require LV1."

"It depends on the specifications of the temple."

"Your levels range from LV2 to LV4. Whether or not you can enter depends on the rules of this temple."

"The rules aren't set by people; they are set by the temple itself."

"If it lets you in, you can enter; if it doesn't let you in, you won't be able to get in even if you smash the door to pieces."

"If your level meets the temple's requirements,"

"then, once you go inside, you have only one task: walk out of there alive."

These words were light, but everyone understood the weight behind those five words.

Not winning, not obtaining treasures, not completing missions, just surviving.

This meant that the things inside the temple were more terrifying than they had imagined.

"No matter what method you use," Xingtian said,

"whether you hide, find teammates, or play dead, as long as you can walk out of the temple alive, you pass."

Some in the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, but many more turned even paler.

Because Xingtian hadn't finished speaking.

"As for the things inside... they all belong to you personally."

"Cores, cultivation techniques, potions, weapons..."

"Whatever you get, it's yours."

"The Twelve Zodiacs will not take a single cent from you."

Some people's eyes lit up, Xingtian continued:

"Of course, if you want to sell them to the Twelve Zodiacs, we will buy them at market price."

"That is the rule, honest and fair. But there is one thing I must make clear..."