After saying this, the distant, dangerous peak and waterfall that had been glowing with golden light slowly disappeared into darkness. Thus, the last trace of light in the entire map faded away, and the battlefield became eerie.

Zanxing looked into the distance—not a single person in sight. It seemed that to prevent disciples from forming teams, the map had randomly distributed everyone to different locations from the start.

This was somewhat terrifying.

There was no sun here, nor moon. Time seemed frozen at the moment just before nightfall arrived—the sky was neither fully dark nor bright, creating a gloomy, eerie battlefield evening.

Zanxing pondered for a moment, carefully stored away the departure talisman, then pulled out another talisman from her bosom and stuck it to her chest.

Instantly, the surroundings immediately brightened. In the deep forest, indistinct light points appeared—some bright, some dim. Some as small as fireflies, others as large as cart buckets.

After watching for a while, Zanxing headed toward where the small light points were.

Outside the competition stage, Xuan Lingzi, who was peering through the Clear Heart Mirror at the assessment situation inside the Xumi Jiezi Map, nearly dropped his teacup, pointing at the mirror and exclaiming: “How can she have a Torch Eye Talisman?”

Cui Yufu, who had been petting a cat nearby, immediately stood up and rushed over upon hearing this, shouting: “Where? Where’s the Torch Eye Talisman?”

Torch Eye, also called Wisdom Eye, was one of the five eyes in Buddhism—a superior eye of wisdom capable of seeing the past and future. This Torch Eye Talisman was a new talisman that Cui Yufu had developed. Though it couldn’t provide the ability to see the past and future, ordinary people who stuck this talisman on themselves could see the nearby yuanli flow.

However, this talisman wasn’t very useful and was quite niche. Cui Yufu couldn’t include it in the sect’s teaching materials, so he separately compiled a book called “Drawing Talismans Well: Fresh and Interesting Cold Talisman Techniques and Tips” and placed it in the library.

This book had been in the library for at least five years, and not a single person had borrowed it. Presumably, no one had looked at it either, yet now a Torch Eye Talisman was brazenly stuck on Zanxing’s chest.

“When did she practice talismans without you knowing?” Xuan Lingzi said in exasperation: “Did you leak the questions to her?”

“What questions did I leak?” Cui Yufu angrily replied: “I didn’t even know the Torch Eye Talisman could be used this way!”

It wasn’t surprising for candidates entering the Xumi Jiezi Map to carry various pills and talismans. The examination venue had its own rules that would automatically judge whether carried items would have a huge impact on assessment results; they would automatically become ineffective after entering the venue. For example, talismans with great destructive power. Ordinary healing pills and some auxiliary talismans wouldn’t be restricted. This was also to encourage candidates to study pill-making and talisman courses seriously and not neglect any subjects.

But attending regular classes was one thing—no one had thought that Zanxing would go to the library and read Cui Yufu’s obscure books.

She had too much free time.

This way, Zanxing would have unique advantages in this assessment. Others might inadvertently encounter high-level demon cultivators from the start, fail to defeat them, and be eliminated early. But Zanxing could judge through yuanli light points, choose the most suitable opponents for herself, and leisurely accumulate yuanli unhurriedly until the competition ended.

“Just opportunistic tricks.” Yueqin had always been rigid. Seeing this, she snorted coldly: “Only those with insufficient strength would think of such unorthodox methods.”

“I think this little girl is quite clever.” Yueguang Daoren chuckled lightly: “At least, successfully practicing a Torch Eye Talisman isn’t easy either.”

“Junior Brother, why aren’t you saying anything?” Zhao Mayi asked Gu Baiying with a smile: “What’s your opinion?”

Gu Baiying said lazily: “A blind cat catching a dead mouse—what’s there to see?”

Inside the Xumi Jiezi Map, Zanxing was putting away her iron staff. On the ground lay the corpse of a four-eared demon wolf. The slain four-eared demon wolf turned into a wisp of green smoke, and streams of yuanli flowed into Zanxing’s body. Without looking, she knew that on the ranking stone outside, her rank had moved forward again.

This Torch Eye Talisman was very useful. Zanxing avoided all oversized yuanli clusters and chose mid-level demon cultivators to fight—those with strength comparable to her own. Not only that, after previously reading “Drawing Talismans Well: Fresh and Interesting Cold Talisman Techniques and Tips,” Zanxing had drawn all the interesting talismans in it and brought them along. These talismans were indeed quite obscure with limited uses, but when combined with other books, they became very useful.

For example, one of the “Silencing Talismans” was very effective when used on four-eared demon wolves. This demon beast had no eyes but four ears, attacking people entirely by using its ears to capture the direction of sounds. Though its cultivation was equivalent to a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, once the Silencing Talisman was used, the four-eared demon wolf became like a blind creature that could be easily slain.

Knowledge was power. Zanxing secretly resolved that when she returned, she would read “Drawing Talismans Well” several more times.

Meanwhile, the other disciples in the Xumi Jiezi Map were also fighting demon cultivators everywhere.

When the ranking stone in front of the competition stage updated rankings for the first time, some disciples who couldn’t hold on crushed their departure talismans, voluntarily leaving and ending their inner sect assessment.

Zi Luo looked at the names on the ranking stone and pondered: “Currently, setting aside the older disciples, among the newly entered inner sect disciples, Hua Yue ranks first. After all, he’s already formed his Golden Core—ordinary demon cultivators are no match for him.”

“Tian Fangfang is also quite good.” Li Danshu watched the burly man in the Clear Heart Mirror who knocked down a demon cultivator with one axe blow, praising: “She’s quite fierce, seemingly possessing monstrous strength. With just the ‘Dragon-Slaying Formula,’ she’s cultivated several points of dragon-slaying momentum.”

“What about that Mu Cengxiao?” Zhao Mayi asked: “I heard he chose the incomplete scroll ‘Five Elements God-Breaking Technique.’ It was fine at first, but when cultivating the latter half, because pages were missing and he couldn’t cultivate successfully, he’d be at a great disadvantage.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about him,” Yueguang Daoren smiled. “This young man is no worse than Hua Yue.”

In the Clear Heart Mirror, a wheat-skinned youth holding a golden blade was chopping off a demon thrall’s head. His blade seemed to burn with raging flames. As soon as the demon thrall’s head was severed, green blood flowed out. When it poured onto the flames on the blade, not only did it not extinguish the flames, but it made them burn even more fiercely.

“He can already skillfully use the power of the five elements.” Yueguang Daoren smiled slightly: “In my opinion, this child’s future is limitless.”

If Zanxing could hear what Yueguang Daoren was saying now, she would laugh three times. Mu Cengxiao was the male protagonist—forget one Hua Yue, even a hundred Hua Yues combined wouldn’t be his match.

“Ying’er girl,” Li Danshu asked with a smile, “Among this batch of new disciples, who do you favor most?”

The great beauty Meng Ying, who in the original work would have been attracted by Mu Cengxiao, now had eyes only for one person. She looked at the Clear Heart Mirror and said lightly, “I don’t care about others. I only care about… Yang Zanxing.”

Yang Zanxing herself, who was being cared for by the great beauty, was currently sitting under a tree, resting, looking quite leisurely. If this weren’t an examination venue, others might think she had come for a spring outing.

Other assessment disciples were naturally racing against time to farm monsters and gain points, because they didn’t have Torch Eye Talismans. Sometimes, when disciples encountered demon cultivators, people would even compete for them. Zanxing was different—she chose her challenges selectively. When tired from fighting, she would pull out some yuanli pills from her bosom to chew and eat.

The pills from pill-making class that Mimi couldn’t finish eating had been tossed into her Qiankun Bag and brought into the examination venue. Though these yuanli pills could replenish yuanli, they only restored a little at a time, but it was better than nothing.

While eating, she heard voices from the grass ahead. Zanxing paused, crawled over, parted a corner of the grass, and saw two people standing ahead.

Both wore gauze robes—one was a young man, the other a young woman. They seemed not to know each other, as the male disciple asked: “Miss, why are you here?”

The young woman appeared to be an inner sect disciple too, leaning askew under a tree with one hand supporting her knee, saying softly: “I just encountered a demon cultivator and couldn’t defeat it… I escaped here and sprained my ankle.” She raised her head, revealing a pitiful face, speaking somewhat embarrassedly: “Senior Brother, please don’t laugh at me.”

She was very beautiful, with a palm-sized face and pale skin. Her eyes seemed to contain pools of water, and her long hair draped over her shoulders. Like a startled fawn, she was particularly pitiable.

The young disciple was caught off guard and stared blankly. After a moment, he came to his senses and said with a red face: “I won’t laugh at you. Let me help you up.”

With that, the male disciple helped the young woman up. After just one step, she nearly fell, mumbling: “I’m sorry… I don’t think I can walk anymore.”

At such a time, even a woman would show tender care—the male disciple stammered: “Then… then I’ll carry you on my back.”

Zanxing watched helplessly as the male disciple carried the young woman on his back. From the woman’s back, a light point faintly emanated, about the size of a kickball—a formidable opponent.

Zanxing: “…”

She ultimately felt some compassion and stood up to follow, wanting to pick up something to throw and warn the junior brother. Unexpectedly, the junior brother was quite charming, asking the woman on his back: “Miss, I haven’t seen you in the sect before. What’s your name?”

“I’m called Xiao Shuang.” The woman said while slowly turning her neck. Her long hair was slightly blown by the wind, revealing behind her black hair another fierce, evil ghost face.

Zanxing’s breath caught in her throat—she nearly fell to her knees.

Xiao Shuang—so it was a Double-Headed Asura.

This demon cultivator had even given herself such a distinctive name.