The succubus, despite its entire body being on fire, did not seem to really care and simply maintained its pace. Everyone thought that the spell was useless against it.
But a few seconds later…
Still wrapped in flame, it suddenly collapsed onto the ground and crumbled into a pile of sand with sparks splattering all around. A moment ago, it was still a ferocious figure. But now, it was nothing.
“So… it’s effective?”
“They aren’t so formidable, after all…”
“Let me try!”
The extremely effective first blow boosted everyone’s morale.
The Flying Flower Flame, being one of the entry-level Fire Techniques, was nothing new for many candidates. It was only that if they were to cast it, the spell would have been much less powerful than Fei Nian’s.
But everyone was standing on top of the fortress wall. They had at least six meters of elevation and the succubi moved very slowly, so they could relax and slowly cast their spell. The security gave them a lot of confidence. With that, many of them could, in fact, cast spells more smoothly with a calm mind.
Fei Nian didn’t stay there. He immediately went to the north wall. Clearly, his main focus was only to demonstrate to the other candidates how to defeat the evil spirits and motivate them to do the same.
“He actually did a very good job,” Xia Fan said approvingly. Although the two were considered rivals, Xia Fan had to admit that it was an impressive feat, especially in the eyes of the examiners.
“It’s only a Fire Technique, and he still took so long. That’s nothing impressive!” Seeing that the succubus wasn’t much of a threat, Zhang Yan also became proactive. “I can do the same with my arrows.”
He drew out his iron arrow and bow and unleashed shots on the succubi further away.
This time, he was actually not boasting. Although the succubi would only be defeated after several hits, Zhang Yan was a speedy archer. The time taken to cast a spell was ample for him to kill one with arrows. So, his efficiency was indeed on par with Fei Nian’s.
The others followed and launched their counter-attacks against the succubi. The battle at the west wall quickly heated up. Literally.
So many Fire Techniques were cast that the whole place smelled like barbecue. Although succubi came wave after wave, none could even touch the wall.
With this strategy, lasting through the night was a piece of cake.
“The Night of Great Desolation? Just like this?” someone said.
“Don’t drop your guard! In the past, this would be a catastrophe for people within a thousand miles.”
“But that was the past! Not only did the fury of the evil spirit fade, but the spells have also significantly improved in the past 100 years!”
Many agreed.
“That’s right! That’s right! Even without this wall, I don’t think these slowpokes can catch me!”
“After all, the records the established families have are from decades ago. It’s normal to have errors.
“If we know this earlier, I’m not even going to help build the fortress! Even a campfire will be sufficient!”
There was a burst of laughter on the western wall.
Xia Fan didn’t really care about what they said. He even laughed along. As long as he could pass the exam, the process wouldn’t matter to him. However, when he looked at Luo Tang, he found that the latter looked terribly grave.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t everything going well now? It’s better to stand on the wall to deal with the evil spirits than to nestle under a dry well, right?”
She didn’t reply immediately. After a brief moment of silence, she said, “Your strategy is good, but I have been wondering why Luo Qingqing emphasized so much on keeping the battlefield well lit. She even pointed out that ‘with no light, the succubi will become very formidable’. What will actually happen when it’s pitch dark?”
“You don’t know?” Xia Fan asked curiously, “Aren’t you also a member of the Luo Family? You surely have learned roughly the same thing as Qingqing.”
Luo Tang gave him a puzzled look. “Who told you that? Luo Qingqing is the prodigy of the You State. Why will she be put in the same classroom as us? Yes, we’re a big family and we have a lot of resources. But we’re also too big for everyone to be nurtured equally. Even the Privy Council can’t do that!”
Well, now he seemed to have even less common sense. Xia Fan cleared his throat to cover his awkwardness before finally asking, “Uh… then, what did you find out? Why are you so worried?”
Luo Tang threw back a question at him. “The place where we found the skeleton pile is five miles farther than the location you mentioned. How long do you think it will take to get to Qing Shan Town if the succubi travel so slowly?”
It was obvious.
Even mystics needed almost a full day to traverse on foot. If the succubi were so slow, they would possibly need around five days. No! More than that. They couldn’t travel in the day, so it would be twice the time taken!
“But they don’t have to come from the dead, do they? It’s not like they’re earthbound spirits.” Xia Fan thought aloud. “Since the Night of Great Desolation is fueled by the fury of evil spirits, can’t they just casually pop out anywhere?”
“Ca… casually?” Luo Tang tried very hard to keep her seriousness. It was a ridiculous choice of word. “Forget it, I will give that one to you. Look over there.”
She stretched out her finger and pointed at a house in the northwest.
Situated at the end of the street, it was pretty far away from the fortress, so they didn’t demolish the whole thing and left a few brick walls one-story high. It was positioned in such a way that their torchlight cast a long stretch of shadow behind it.
Xia Fan squinted his eyes and stared for a while before he could see into the darkness.
When he saw what was happening, he could feel the hair on his back stand up…
Zooming across in the shadow were succubi. Their movements were the same but appeared like they were in fast motion. Only when they entered the illuminated areas did they return to their normal speed.
No! The fast motion was actually their normal speed!
The beams of light from the torches were like nails pinning them down onto the ground.
Xia Fan instantly understood Luo Tang’s concerns.
Their advantage was based entirely on the flickering torchlight. And as the Night of Great Desolation continued, the darkness would only encroach further into their light. If they lost the protection from the light, the candidates could hardly pull out a single spell before the succubi reached them. If the evil spirits were to break into their defense, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He now finally understood why Yong Country had been so devastated by a single Night of Great Desolation.
In the era without electricity, no matter how prosperous the city was, it would still return to darkness the moment the sun set. Faced against succubus’s agility, ordinary people couldn’t even react. Remote villages were especially vulnerable. Oil lamps and candles weren’t even necessities. No one would have a stock of them. In such a situation, the result would be certain destruction!
In other words, the more underdeveloped society was the stronger these evil spirits.
As for now, Xia Fan could only hope that each group would take good care of their torches.
…
“And you call this the most difficult exam site? The last time, thirty percent of the candidates died and the Privy Council had to admit its misjudgment? But now, it looks so easy!”
On top of a house in the outskirts of Qing Shan Town, the two members of the examination supervisory team and the examiner stood in the spooky breeze and looked at the glow at the center of all the action. Their figures seemed to be concealed by the night, and it was hard to spot them even from a close distance. Succubi often zoomed past their location, but none noticed their existence.
The first to speak up was still the short man. Since receiving the news that the wooden kite had been burned and all the candidates were forced to stay behind, he had requested to examine the performance of the candidates up close. However, it was clear to Shen Chun that the man was only interested in that candidate named Xia Fan.
Honestly, Shen Chun was also surprised that things would suddenly turn out this way. What happened on the sixth day almost dazzled him. Xia Fan might have even changed Shen Chun’s perception of how candidates usually were. Xian Fan was very determined to achieve his objective, even if it risked angering the Luo Family. Afterward, Xian Fan also demonstrated his strategizing and negotiation skills with his interactions with the Luo Family and how he convinced the other candidates to help him rebuild the town that the Privy Council had constructed for this occasion. All the dramatic changes were rooted back to this single person — Xia Fan.
If he didn’t know Xia Fan’s background, Shen Chun might have even come to the conclusion that there was an established Xia Family out there.
From Ba Xingtian’s excitement and approving expression, one could tell that there wasn’t an exam with so many ups and downs in a long while.
Only this short man still seemed to have some dissatisfaction. “I originally thought a whole bunch of evil spirits would at least keep their hands busy for a while. But look at it now, that Xia Fan doesn’t even seem to have made a move?”
“The Mountain Tilting Formation is supposed to be on a different level. He’s the one that shaped it this way.” Ba Xingtian stroked his beard with satisfaction and said, “The Privy Council had also designed several examinations that required collaboration to pass, but the results were always unsatisfactory. The candidates never collaborated. His shrewdness, decisiveness, and understanding of others’ psychology make him one of a kind. If you can make others do it for you, why do it yourself? There are already many people in the Privy Council who are brilliant with spells and talismans.”
“That’s true, but you must keep in mind that the thing I do is very perilous. One often finds himself in a critical situation. Strategizing and talking is not enough!”
The contextless comment raised Shen Chun’s curiosity, but Ba Xingtian gave him a stern glare. He knew that it wasn’t for him to ask.
But he was sure about one thing…
This short man was probably not simply an inspector.
His identity must be much more complicated.
But what puzzled Shen Chun was that the man just talked about his perilous missions nonchalantly. As if he had in fact enjoyed them.
“It’s not hard to test them.” Ba Xingtian fished out a strange looking talisman. It wasn’t drawn with cinnabar, but with purple ink. It even glowed lively in the dark. “The examiner has the authority to control and adjust the examination process, and adding some difficulty is naturally included in it. ”
The talisman turned into a plume of ash and scattered in the air. The fog in the distance instantly thickened. Immediately after, ten succubi that had just emerged no longer advanced in the direction of the town, but merged into one figure. A gigantic figure several times their original sizes!