“We need to get out of here as soon as possible. Can you walk?” asked Xia Fan as he returned to Luo Qingqing.
The strike earlier on had used up almost all of his Qi. What he wanted to do the most at the moment was to lie down and rest for a while. However, Xia Fan knew that the battle had yet to end, and the roofs on both sides of the city wall had already been set on fire. The place would soon be engulfed by fire. So, he had to evacuate before that.
Luo Qingqing tried a few times but was unable to stand up. From her expression, the black rope should have hurt her quite badly.
“I’ll lend you a hand.” Xia Fan reached out. If it was before, he would have bent down to carry her. “Don’t worry, no one will see us here.”
Luo Qingqing froze and wanted to smile, but she suddenly pulled the wound. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Do you really treat me as a stubborn fool? As compared to this, the second half of the sentence is more likely to lead to a misunderstanding! So what if someone saw us helping each other, we’re just fighting together!”
Then, she held Xia Fan’s hand and pulled herself up.
“Ugh…” Xia Fan didn’t know how to react. He felt as though he had never said anything right in front of Luo Qingqing before.
“Let’s go. Didn’t you say we should leave this place as soon as possible?” Luo Qingqing hurried him.
“Watch your step.” He shook his head helplessly and helped her as they walked carefully towards the bottom of the ruins.
As compared to the huge gap in speed when climbing, this time, both of them moved at equal speeds.
The only improvement was the fire behind them. At least, the succubi wouldn’t be able to attack them.
Halfway up, Xia Fan suddenly realized that the shouts and spell chanting above him had subsided, and the town seemed to be enveloped in silence.
His heart sank.
Was it because he acted too late and the other candidates didn’t last until the fiend had fallen?
If the defense line had already been broken, their situation would be extremely dangerous. In their current state, any random evil spirit could kill them.
Luo Qingqing also noticed this. However, her expression did not change. After she stopped to listen for a long while, she said in a low voice, “No… listen again.”
Xia Fan concentrated and listened again before showing a shocked expression. There seemed to be movements at the city wall. However, it wasn’t the sound of fighting or people fleeing. Instead, it sounded like cheers.
This wasn’t an illusion as the sound soon became louder and spread in all directions. More people joined in the cheering, and the oppressive feeling had disappeared.
It was still a long time before dawn, so what was happening up there?
Both Xia Fan and Luo Qingqing exchanged gazes and quickened their steps.
When they finally climbed onto the wall, a surprising view appeared in front of them.
In the distance, the dense black fog had completely dissipated and stars could be seen in the night sky. However, the “spirit fire” swaying on the ground was more eye-catching than the stars. They moved and changed color gently like a plant. Sometimes, they were turquoise, sometimes lavender. They spread from the town to faraway.
As compared to the usual fluttering and unpredictability, the light now had a sense of peace and tranquility. Under the reflection of the spirit fire, the earth seemed to have become a sea of light.
Those were the relics left by the succubus, which were also the proof of them passing the mystic examination.
The candidates remaining at the wall either raised their arms and shouted, or congratulated each other. At least for this moment, they treated the people around them as partners with whom they could fight side by side.
The Night of Great Desolation had ended.
…
A day later, all the candidates gathered once again in the middle of Qing Shan Town.
Probably because of the reason that the last battle lasted all night, the Privy Council gave everyone ample rest time. In this long-awaited free time, the atmosphere in the town was extremely cordial. From making friends to calling each other brothers, everyone seemed to forget that a few days ago they were still suspicious of each other’s backstabbing, and even fought over a bottle of spirit fire.
Xia Fan also learned a lot in the chatter — for example, the residents of Qing Shan Town were played by the Privy Council. Also, there were official invigilators hidden among the candidates. In short, the Night of the Great Desolation seemed dangerous, but the whole process was under the Privy Council’s control. The injured were also immediately treated. Except for a few unlucky ones, the loss of candidates wasn’t as great as imagined.
This somehow confirmed Xia Fan’s suspicions.
The purpose of the mystic examination was to select talents for Qi Country and wasn’t a death game. The risk was certainly present, but it was overall within control.
Of course, the most enthusiastic topic was the lightning that killed the fiend. Due to the lack of eyewitnesses, the speculation mainly focused on the head of the three families. After all, only the best of the three families were able to use the thunderstrike wood in the mystic examination.
Most of the candidates supported Fang Xiandao. This wasn’t surprising considering that from their perspective, Fei Nian was saved by Luo Qingqing and Fang Xiandao helped her.
Meanwhile, Xia Fan didn’t want to attract attention. When this topic was mentioned, he quickly brushed it off. Even if someone remembered that he had also fallen off the wall, he passed it off by saying that the scene was too chaotic and he didn’t pay attention.
After everyone gathered, the invigilator who appeared on the first day finally showed up.
This time, along with him, was a wooden board covered with a red silk cloth.
Obviously, that was the “list” used to publicize the names of those who passed the examination. It was like the roll of honor used for imperial examinations.
This caused the noisy crowd to quieten down instantly.
“First of all, I have to congratulate everyone here.” The invigilator walked up to the long table and spoke with a tone that was much more enthusiastic than when he read the rules. “After seven days of trials and tribulations, the fact that you’re still standing here and have successfully reached your examination goals has proven that you’re qualified to join the Privy Council!”
“I hereby announce the results of Qing Shan Town’s mystic examination as follows: 401 participants, 189 final qualifiers. Among the eliminated candidates, 152 violated the first article, 29 violated the second article, and 31 violated the third article. Both the process and the results are in accordance with the regulations of the Privy Council, and the results of the examination are valid!”
The crowd burst into a roar of approval.
The first and second articles weren’t controversial. They were basically for those who withdrew early and set their sights on the examination three years later. The key was the third one — the Privy Council had apparently put all those candidates who fled without a fight into the same category of murdering their counterparts, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to pass the exam even if they obtained the source of spirit fire.
Those remaining candidates were definitely happy to see such a result and praised the Privy Council’s clear reward and punishment. However, only Xia Fan was somewhat unimpressed. In his opinion, at that moment, the defense line could collapse at any time, and the will to fight was around the same for most candidates.