Chapter 181 - Appearance Of A Dark Horse

Before Xiao Lin was carried away from the illusion test ground, he was one of the very few people remaining there. To be precise, he was one of three people which included Zhao Yu and one other female that remained at the test ground. Others had been immediately carried off for treatment by the exam caretaker elder after either having their souls scared out of their bodies and then fainted, or were simply knocked out by the unreal, ferocious Spiritual Energy attacks that their illusory challengers unceasingly sent out at them, or had totally drained their Spiritual energies to form attacks which they will use to destroy the non-existent creatures before or far in front of them.

So, since Xiao Lin had been taken away, it was remaining only two people on the test ground, and these were Zhao Yu and that female. And surprisingly, these girl wasn't frightened, since a frightful expression couldn't be discovered on her face, and neither had she sent out any type of Spiritual Energy attack since the beginning of this test.

Although she clearly perceived the effects of the illusion, giving her the feeling that they were real, she however maintained the fact that it was only an illusion, and the things that she were feeling, were basically unreal. So, this made her to easily resist the illusionary attacks sent out at her by her illusionary challengers. However, she was able to easily achieve these because of strong mental power. She was able to force herself, more precisely, her mind, to strongly believe that the things occurring around her were untrue, and that the effects that she was experiencing on her body and within her body weren't real, that they were only illusions generated by a veteran or master Spiritual Illusionist.

Therefore, because of the girl's ability to instantly dispel the illusions and the near-realistic effects of the illusions that she was experiencing, the elders who didn't notice her before began to notice her.

"By the way, who is that girl, right from the start of this test, she is yet to throw out a single Spiritual Energy attack. Is her soul still in her body, or it has been silently chased out of her delicate fleshy shell?" One elder asked as he looked at her with a curious gaze in her eyes.

He could mention that because the girl never for once showed any sort of expression in her face, even blink her eyes, which then gave him the feeling that she was probably, already unconscious. Also, she never left were she was to move to another position, meaning that she just remained still there like a statue, and this has been since the initiation of the illusion test, therefore further reinforcing and affirming his thought that the girl being already unconscious was true.

However, he was forced to change his thought about her when the girl unexpectedly broke a slight smile in her face, and then nodded her head, seemingly making jest of the horrendous, hideous creature or preternatural bizarre objects that had suddenly surfaced in her vision.

"Hmm. This girl has a rather strong mental will. She is able to actually cancel off and nullify the illusion and the illusionary effects that the immense stony board is continually projecting into her mind. That's good. I never thought that someone else would be able to actually brilliantly surpass the people that we placed in the top three in this particular test." An elder said with a smile manifesting in his face, while the others simply nodded their heads in agreement to what he mentioned.

As for Zhao Yu, after sending out that attack and becoming calm in the next moment with a strong belief manifesting in her heart and the continuous, inward utterance of affirmation that she was only in an illusion, and all that she was experiencing weren't true, also began to gaze without any sort of fear, terror or wariness in her narrowed eyes at the nigh-realistic things that were unendingly appearing in her mind.

So, being only the two of them that remained there for hours without twisting or warping their faces in horror or fear at what was in their lines of sight, the illusion test was abruptly brought to an end by the anciently Spiritual Being residing in the shrine where all the examinees took their second test which was Comprehension test.

Therefore, the instant that the test was brought to an end, the stacked layers of false reality that were individually weaved around each of them, began to rapidly distort and contort before eventually crumbling into bits and disintegrating to reveal the actual, true reality around them.

So, the moment that the sturdy, overlapping layers of untrue reality woven around both Zhao Yu and the strongly-willed girl crumbled to bits, they found themselves back on the test ground. And as soon as they found themselves back on this ground, they shook their heads with 'knowing' gazes in their eyes, as right from the start of the illusion, they knew in their hearts that they were never taken away to another region of some sort to undertake their illusion test which would assess the level of perseverance of their minds to adversarial brainwashing and hostile mind infiltration or penetration to unravel or discover extremely useful bits of information.

Not long as they looked around to see who was still on the field, they were surprised to find out that it was only the two of them that actually remained.

"The hell!" Zhao Yu said as she frantically looked around in search of both Xiao Lin and Tian Xi. They had become her friends and so wanted them to be with her as they hone their abilities and develop their skills and other attributes that they possessed right in the sect.

But now, she couldn't find them and so became worried and unhappy.

She was actually able to think this because she had a feeling that if no one passed this particular test which was the last of the test, they wouldn't be able to become proud and zealot disciples of the Celestial Dragon Emperor sect, one of the top and famous sects in the city and even in other far away cities.

"Nooo! This can't be happening to me. Those guys are also good. How would they not be able to pass this simple test of illusion? Or am I still in an illusion? If that's true, then it's starting to get to me, because those guys are my friends who I totally made up my mind to befriend. Now that I would be the only one left, how I am supposed to cope with the disciples that joined this sect last year. I would be bullied and cursed at by them here and there unceasingly. This is bad." Zhao Yu said with a morose expression in her face.

She then continued, "Well, if it's true that they have been taken off the discipleship testing program, all I can say is that I wish them immense luck and fortune in whatever they would try to do next out there in this brutal cultivation world of ours."

As Zhao Yu was thinking this, the girl who had a strong mental will could also contemplate this. She was deeply, thoroughly amazed by the fact that only the two of them, she and Zhao Yu, will move on to successfully become the disciples of the Celestial Dragon Emperor sect for this year's batch.

Then once she thought this, she walked to where Xiao Bilan was and said with a friendly smile surfacing on her lips once she arrived in front of her, "Hey you, congratulations on making it to becoming a disciple of this great and illustrious sect."

Zhao Yu nodded her head and said with her lips curling into a smile, "Thank you. Congrats to you too"

She then asked before the girl could say anything, "What's your name? I am Zhao Yu by the way."

"Oh. I am Jiang Yun. It's nice meeting you, Zhao Yu." The strong-willed girl said while Xiao Bilan nodded her head.

She then said further, "We are better than the males after all, since only the two of us females can still remain here. Hehe"

Zhao Yu only chuckled and wanted to say something unrelated when the booming voice of an elder who had appeared high in the air above them, suddenly rang out saying "Congratulations to you girls with combative and enduring spirit. You have now become disciples of our sects. Very soon, in maybe a day or in two days time, the discipleship ceremony will start."

"Now, take a good look at your colleagues who have made it so far in the exams designed to test your skills, prowess and abilities, they will become your fellow disciples very soon. So, memorize their faces and auras and try to treat them with both love and respect as you would for your teachers. Congratulations to you you girls once again, see you in two days time for the disciple welcoming ceremony" The elder, who was the exam caretaking elder, said and disappeared into the horizon using his power of incredibly fast flight.

Then as soon as he disappeared from both Zhao Yu's and Jiang Yun's vision, leaving them stunned and puzzled by what he mentioned, which was; 'Now, take a good look at your colleagues who have made it so far in the exams designed to test your skills, prowess and abilities, they will become your fellow disciples very soon. So, memorize their faces and auras and try to treat them with both love and respect...', space began to warp around them, and far in front and behind them at the same time.. And as soon as this spatial disturbance occurred and ceased in the next instant, young people of opposite genders began to surface one after the other with looks of intense joy and delight in their faces.