I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense

869  Chapter 870: All His Feelings Are In His Gourd!

At the mountain summit, everyone looked at each other with wide eyes.

Not only the cultivators from the Enforcement Team but also the dozen or so cultivators who came to report and hand over their tasks were stunned. Initially, there had been over a thousand cultivators who came here to accept tasks, so how come only these few remained now?

"What's going on?"

"Where is everyone?"

"Why are there only so few people at this time?"

A cultivator with the air of a dominant woman asked with some confusion, looking around to confirm that indeed, only this small number had come.

"Hiss! Something isn't right. In past years, there have always been quite a few cultivators who voluntarily left when they realized they couldn't complete the tasks, but today's situation is truly unprecedented. Could it be that all of them gave up midway?"

The cultivator named Wang Yan from the Enforcement Team frowned and said.

"That shouldn't be possible. Could it be they rashly intervened in the strife between the Blade and Sword Sects and incurred the wrath of a powerful being, leading to their collective slaughter?"

Another cultivator asked, feeling that today's situation was just too strange. Over a thousand people participated in the examination, and only a dozen or so returned in the end? Even in the most brutal slaughters of previous years, the ratio wasn't this extreme, right?

"Let's wait for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. If no other cultivators arrive by then, we'll just go ahead and conduct the examination for these ones."

The leading cultivator instructed.

"Understood!"

A few minutes later, a rumbling hum came from the mountaintop, the ground trembled, and roars echoed.

A golden chariot slowly made its way into the crowd, atop of which a young man held a sword in his arms, his expression indifferent.

The crowd stared blankly at him. After such a long wait, only one person arrived?

The dozen or so disciples participating in the examination were ecstatic in their hearts. Although they did not know the reason, in the end, only the few of them managed to arrive at the summit to submit their papers. Didn't this mean they were set?

Although the acceptance ratio of the Enforcement Team was pitifully low each year, their few numbers worked in their favor. With only a dozen or so people, taking them all in wouldn't matter. Naturally, there was no longer any trace of despair. Hope shone in their eyes; they could join the Enforcement Team!

"Only one person?"

"Sect Master Li, I recall there were over a hundred cultivators following you that day; where are they?"

The female cultivator with the aura of a dominant woman asked with a slight frown. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I wouldn't know. I have always been a loner, never one to travel in packs or form cliques,"

Li Xiaobai replied indifferently.

"So be it, since we're left with only so many, let's begin the review. Please hand over the Qiankun Mirrors so that we can inspect them,"

"Furthermore, even though there are some unforeseen circumstances, the difficulty of the examination will not be reduced because of it. If anyone fails to meet the standards, our Enforcement Team will still not accept them. If all of you fail to meet the standards, then this year, our Enforcement Team won't accept a single person."

09:45

The crowd handed over their Qiankun Mirrors, anxiously awaiting the results of the cultivators' inspection. Their hearts were uneasy, and the words of the Enforcement Team dashed their newly kindled hopes.

Leaning against the chariot with his sword in hand, Li Xiaobai was not the least bit worried. Given his achievements, joining the Enforcement Team should have been well within his reach. After all, he had managed to tie up the cultivators from all three dynasties, including the aggressors. If that wasn't enough to get promoted, then there really would have been a serious issue.

On the open ground to the side, members of the Enforcement Team were carefully examining the Qiankun Mirrors held by the cultivators.

The Qiankun Mirror had a recording function that could record all the actions of the cultivators during a certain period, and the Enforcement Team would judge whether they met the criteria based on their behavior.

As they scrutinized each mirror, their brows knotted like twisted ropes. The records in these mirrors were nothing out of the ordinary; they showed how the disciples participating in the assessment merely scraped by, skirting the edges of the major powers, occasionally saving a few cultivators by sheer luck—none of which was particularly impressive.

The woman cultivator with a mature charm shook her head repeatedly, "These people are too mediocre; they haven't properly completed this mission at all. The one or two cultivators they incidentally saved were also stumbled upon by luck. Such people do not deserve to join our Enforcement Team!"

Other members of the Enforcement Team also sighed, "Alas, could it be that this year's Enforcement Team assessment truly ends up with shaved heads? Not a single recruit, how are we supposed to explain this to the Helmsman? Damn it, what on earth happened to those disciples?"

"Don't get emotional over this; treat everything with an ordinary mindset. If the Helmsman knew about the special nature of this incident, I believe he would understand our position. There's still one last Qiankun Mirror, belonging to Sword Sect's Peak Master Li Xiaobai. With his ability, joining the Enforcement Team shouldn't be a problem. Let's all watch together."

The footage started with Li Xiaobai receiving his mission, followed dashingly by over a hundred cultivators running wildly behind him—a majestic scene and the most normal footage recorded by the Qiankun Mirror.

"Humph, he claimed he was a loner and didn't know these people—what an act!"

"Indeed, those hundred-plus cultivators were clearly his followers, but now they have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace. Something must have happened that he has concealed!"

"We'll ask him about it later, keep watching!"

After a brief exchange, they dove back into the scenes displayed in the Qiankun Mirror.

But the upcoming scenes gradually left them stupefied.

If the initial scenes with Li Xiaobai commandeering the golden chariot and charging with over a hundred cultivators could still be considered normal, everything changed the moment they entered the first village.

What did they see?

This group of cultivators acted lawlessly, capturing anyone they saw upon entering the village, regardless of whether they were good or evil, and whisked them all away. After finishing with one village, they immediately rushed to the next—were these the actions of humans?

The source of war and strife is the cultivators and resources? Was Li Xiaobai trying to solve the problem at its root?

What kind of twisted logic was this?

So for this, you directly tied up the cultivators from over ten villages?

"Holy shit, look, he's emptied out the Great Flame Dynasty!"

"Even the Supreme Emperor of the Great Flame Dynasty's techniques couldn't harm him in the slightest—how strong is this guy? What is his cultivation realm?"

"Quick, continue watching!"

"I'm freaking out; he's emptied out the Li Dynasty and the Sword Dynasty as well, except for a few old ancestors in the Heavenly Immortal Realm, he's captured everyone, even the cultivators participating in the assessment. No wonder only a meager ten-plus cultivators came to report, turns out they were all in his gourd!"

"How could the Sword Sect have such a formidable person, suppressing over a hundred thousand cultivators with a single sword? What kind of cultivation does that require?"

"Villain's Guild, terrifying indeed!"

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