25: End of the selection

The fox demon was finally dead. This was Qin Yue's first time killing a demon, and his first actual combat.

After killing the fox demon, Qin Yue was exhausted, but he still dragged his weary body to finish off the fox demon first, and then slit the throats of the village chief's two sons.

If he said he would kill their whole Family, he would kill their whole Family. He couldn't be a person who went back on his word.

Qin Yue didn't want to defeat a powerful opponent only to capsize in the gutter.

Only after he had finished off everyone did Qin Yue sit down on a chair to rest.

Qin Yue felt a little regretful. The demon's flesh, blood, and fur were all treasures. His previous strike had greatly reduced the harvest from this demon kill.

Before Qin Yue could rest properly, he noticed his vision becoming increasingly blurry.

"What's going on?

Am I poisoned again?"

Qin Yue quickly used "Refining Food into Qi," but it had no effect.

Soon after, Qin Yue fainted. Before he lost consciousness, he saw everything in front of him slowly disappearing.

The chair, the house, the corpses, the fox demon, and even himself.

...

When Qin Yue fully regained consciousness, he found himself standing at the bottom of Holy Mountain's cliff, his hand still gripping the iron chain of Holy Mountain.

"What just happened?"

"How did I get down here?"

The experience of becoming a demon slayer and hunting demons in the mountain village was slowly fading like a dream. Qin Yue quickly closed his eyes and recalled, only then able to remember some details.

Qin Yue then summoned the System panel in his mind, and seeing the changes in Blood Qi and Cultivation Technique proficiency displayed on the panel, he confirmed that everything that had just happened was real.

Qin Yue opened his eyes and looked around. All the young men hanging on the iron chains were just like him, having just opened their eyes, with expressions of confusion.

With questions in his mind, Qin Yue let go of the iron chain and turned to see the examiner right behind him.

The examiner saw that they had all opened their eyes, opened the roster, and looked at them.

"Congratulations, you have completed the assessment. Now, I will announce the results:

Qin Yue, eighty points

Liang Xiaoyun, seventy-five points

Zhao Yunhe, seventy-five points

Zhao Yunhong, seventy points

...

...

"These are the scores for everyone's second round. Those who achieved a total score of eighty points or more, stand behind me and come with me shortly. Those with less than eighty points, stay where you are and wait for someone to pick you up."

Qin Yue had the highest total score among these young men, so he naturally walked behind the instructor. But in the end, only six people emerged from the crowd.

Over thirty people had disembarked from Qin Yue's carriage, and all of them had reached the Blood Qi Realm, but only six passed the assessment.

This terrifying elimination rate made Qin Yue feel a lingering fear. In the recent assessment, if he had been even a little careless or made a few wrong choices, he probably wouldn't have passed.

Seeing Qin Yue and the others step out, a young man suddenly shouted,

"Why did I only get sixty points? I already killed the monster! I'm not convinced!"

"Right, not convinced! Why!"

"Not convinced!"

"Not convinced!"

Being eliminated had already made these young men uncomfortable, and now with a leader, those eliminated youths all started shouting.

Seeing this scene, the examiner stomped his left foot heavily on the ground. An invisible, immense force surged forward along the ground, lifting all the young men who had shouted their discontent and throwing them against the Holy Mountain behind them.

"You have no right to be unconvinced. I am the examiner, and what I say goes.

Let me give you another piece of advice: demon slaying is never about the outcome. Every choice you make is more important than the result."

After speaking, he turned to face Qin Yue and the other six. "You six, follow me!"

With that, he walked into the valley, and Qin Yue and the six followed him, quickly disappearing into the darkness of the valley.

Starting from Holy Mountain, they walked about two kilometers along the mountain road before a wide gravel road appeared in front of them. The pebbles on the ground were packed very tightly, indicating that vehicles frequently traveled on it.

Seeing the gravel road before them, the examiner stopped, turned back, and said to Qin Yue and the other six:

"My name is Bo Lun. You can call me Senior Brother from now on.

It's still very far from the Holy Sect, and it would take ten days to walk there. Now I will teach you a set of long-distance running steps. You are all the elites I selected, so I believe you will master it quickly.

I'll only teach it once, so pay close attention. When we start running later, I won't wait for anyone who can't keep up."

After saying that, this Senior Brother Bo Lun began to explain a method of Blood Qi circulation called the "Blood Qi Circulation Method."

This method was not complicated; it mainly involved controlling the frequency of Blood Qi pulses and coordinating them with breathing and footwork.

Qin Yue tried to circulate his Blood Qi and took a few steps, succeeding on the first try without any hindrance. He opened the System panel and saw it display: "Blood Qi Circulation Method (Beginner) (1/100)."

This "Blood Qi Circulation Method" was very simple. He tried walking a few more steps and found that for about every ten steps, the Blood Qi Circulation Method would gain a point of proficiency.

This new Cultivation Technique was too easy to upgrade. If the Holy Sect was really as far as Senior Brother Bo Lun said, then by the time they ran to the Holy Sect, wouldn't this Cultivation Technique reach Perfection?

Senior Brother Bo Lun saw that Qin Yue and the other six had generally grasped how to use the Blood Qi Circulation Method, so he gathered them together, ready to set off.

At first, Senior Brother Bo Lun's speed was very slow. Because Qin Yue and the others had just learned it, they often made mistakes in circulating the Cultivation Technique.

Fortunately, this Cultivation Technique circulated gently, so even if they made a mistake, they wouldn't get injured. It would only cause their Blood Qi to become chaotic and their bodies to ache, requiring them to stop for a moment, calm their Blood Qi, and then continue.

Once they all became familiar with the Cultivation Technique, Senior Brother Bo Lun began to speed up.

Senior Brother Bo Lun was already tall, and his stride was large. Qin Yue and the other six struggled to keep up. This increase in speed required a faster frequency of Cultivation Technique circulation, leading to more opportunities for error, but everyone gritted their teeth and persevered; no one called out for a rest.

Of course, Qin Yue never made a mistake among them. It wasn't that Qin Yue's Aptitude was much better than theirs, but because he had activated the AFK System again.

Idling Cultivate the "Blood Qi Circulation Method" made every step Qin Yue took as precise as if measured by a ruler, and his Blood Qi circulation and breathing coordination complemented each other perfectly.

After running for over an hour like this, Senior Brother Bo Lun finally stopped and told them to take Blood Replenishing Powder before setting off again.

They finally stopped. Every young man lay on the ground, including Qin Yue.

Because his legs really hurt. He didn't feel it while idling, but now that he deactivated idling, his leg muscles trembled, and the sour, painful sensation was truly invigorating.

Although Qin Yue couldn't measure it, he felt that their running speed was something even a marathon champion from his previous life couldn't match.

Qin Yue and the others rested for about ten minutes, then all got up and began to eat the Blood Replenishing Powder, refining and absorbing it.

Qin Yue noticed that each Family had different ways of digesting Blood Replenishing Powder. Even he, Zhao Yunhe, and Zhao Yunhong, all belonging to the Zhao Family, had different Cultivation Techniques.

This filled Qin Yue with anticipation for the Holy Sect's Martial arts study. Since several Families belonged to the Holy Sect, he believed that the Holy Sect's Martial arts study would surely fulfill his fantasies about the Martial Dao.