Damned Healer-Chapter 715: Could it be...

*BOOOM!*

Inside the illusory world drenched in red, Darian had eliminated the first Giant Lion…

With a single punch.

He looked at himself and smiled mockingly.

"They seriously sent me in with just my soul?"

In a pure soul battle, Darian could probably kill anyone in this universe. Let alone a pathetic, illusory beast like this.

Under other circumstances, it would've been a bit harder, since Celestial cultivation was pretty terrifying. Darian estimated that someone in just the First Realm already had the power of a five-ring Spiritual Guardian. At the peak of the Second Realm—the cultivation level of the person in charge of the test—he felt that man was as strong as a nine-ring Spiritual Guardian.

And that was only the Second Realm. At the peak of that path, while still technically mortal, their power would definitely surpass a Spiritual Sovereign. Not to mention all the techniques, inheritances, and absurd things that must exist in this universe. This place was truly magical.

That's why Darian couldn't afford to be too arrogant. He just wanted to cultivate quickly and peacefully.

He waited for another enemy to appear. But after quite a while, his surroundings remained silent. Just as he started to doubt things, that blazing aura finally emerged again.

This time, two beams of light appeared at the same time, projecting the silhouettes of two Lions that looked like they had come straight out of hell.

Darian reacted instantly, charging forward with explosive force.

The moment they appeared—before they even had time to observe their surroundings—one of them was struck in the head by Darian's fist, accompanied by a violent eruption of black power.

"ROAR!"

The Lion let out a piercing scream and was sent flying; its entire body seemed wrapped in black flames. Darian spun like lightning and attacked the next one.

*BANG!*

He snorted. These enemies were kind of "weak."

"Are there only these kinds of beasts? Or will stronger ones show up?" Darian couldn't help but wonder.

He was excited. After all, this was a great chance to practice and get used to his past power, now being adapted to the Celestial cultivation system of this universe.

After eliminating those two, he had to wait a long time again before new auras approached. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

---

Inside the Hall.

The exam inscription buzzed once more, and the second participant was expelled. Pyreus rushed forward instinctively, but soon realized it still wasn't Darian.

As time passed, more and more candidates died and were immediately ejected.

The speed at which candidates were expelled kept increasing. Sometimes, a dozen or more people were thrown out in just a few seconds.

The state they were in was almost the same. Their faces were deathly pale, all of them showing fear, sweating from weakness.

They were very young, after all. There were many cultivation talent tests in the universe, so they had been identified at a very early age. Because of that, they lived isolated lives, focused only on studying and cultivating. As a result, they didn't know how to deal with their emotions and were mentally unstable.

However, the moment they woke from the shadow of death, they realized they hadn't been torn apart. There wasn't even a scratch or bruise on their bodies. But what awaited them was another cruel reality.

Defeat.

"Move along and get out. You're not that bad, but you're still big losers! Stop taking up space here!"

The person in charge of the test said coldly, eyes half-closed: "You should be ashamed. After all, you're not special ability cultivators, and yet your combat power is inferior to mere speed and endurance? What kind of cultivators are you?"

The difficulty of the two tests was actually the same. But the first was designed to eliminate the mediocre. The second was where cultivators truly showed their strength. In other words, these youths weren't supposed to have lost so quickly… their defeat happened because of their fragile mentality.

They found themselves surrounded, alone, and injured. They didn't know how to handle it and couldn't display their true capabilities.

The losers' faces turned pale. They clenched their fists and left with heavy steps.

"How strange… why hasn't that brat come out yet?" Palace Master Baynod muttered, confused.

"No… not him again? This is weird; more than six hundred people have already appeared. Why hasn't he shown up?"

More and more people were expelled, but Darian—the one who should have failed first for being the weakest—still hadn't appeared.

The previous test could be "cheated," but this one was a genuine assessment of strength, impossible to fake. And also… it was fundamentally impossible for someone at his cultivation level to withstand even a single strike from a Purgatory Giant Lion. So how could he have lasted this long?

The person in charge of the test was completely baffled. Pyreus was stunned, and the Palace Supervisor's expression, as she watched everything, kept shifting.

As the final exam went on, more and more candidates were ejected.

Finally, the nine-hundredth candidate was expelled with a terrible scream.

*Buzz*

With a hum, the light of the inscription suddenly began to fluctuate violently, changing from deep red to radiant gold.

"!"

The nine-hundred-and-first examinee was expelled, but the difference was that his body was wrapped in a layer of golden light. That golden glow was proof that he had successfully passed and was qualified to become a disciple of the sect.

When he saw the light on his body, the young man instantly forgot the terror of death. In excitement, he waved his arms and shouted uncontrollably.

After him, more and more examinees were expelled one after another. Each of them carried the same golden light on their bodies, proving their success.

At this point, everyone still inside the test had already passed. The final competition was now about determining who would claim the number one spot and obtain the Fire Soul Pill.

But…

…no one had seen Darian yet.

"What is going on here?"

The person in charge of the test paced back and forth, brows tightly furrowed. The fact that the first candidate expelled hadn't been Darian had already left him confused. But with each new expulsion after that, his shock only deepened. By now, he was starting to question whether something was wrong with his eyesight or his memory.

"Did that brat not enter earlier and secretly use some method to escape?" he wondered to himself. He couldn't find any other possible explanation.

"Supervisor, did Senior… see whether Darian really entered the test inscription?" Pyreus had almost the same thoughts as the person in charge and asked, "He couldn't have… used some strange spatial artifact to secretly leave before the exam started, could he? Otherwise, why hasn't he come out yet?"

Even if he were beaten to death, he wouldn't believe that someone at the fifth level of the Celestial Nascent Realm could remain in that test for so long.

The Palace Supervisor didn't answer directly. She rested her chin on her hand and said with clear surprise, "It seems your Master brought back quite a talented fellow, hoho. It's been many years since I've felt this kind of anticipation."

"Huh?" Pyreus didn't understand at all.

He wasn't experienced enough to notice the dark undercurrents hidden within that woman.

Her son was the one who was supposed to take the position of Palace Master of Chrysos. After so long, that old man who already had one foot in the grave had found someone like Darian? She couldn't accept that.

*Buzz*

As they were talking, several other candidates appeared.

As time passed, the difficulty of the trial increased. At that point, examinees were being ejected every few moments.

Eighty...

Ninety...

Ninety-five...

Ninety-eight!!

When the ninety-eighth person was ejected with golden light swirling around their body, the inscription finally grew still.

A long time passed, and no other examinee was thrown out.

And with the number at ninety-eight, that obviously meant there were still two people inside the test.

Limdiss hadn't appeared, which meant one of them was her… that wasn't unexpected.

...

Thirty minutes had passed since the previous examinee had been ejected, but the inscription still showed no movement.

"As expected of Limdiss, holding out that long without dying," muttered softly a young man who had passed the exam.

All of them had just experienced the terror of that ordeal. Those Lions, when in a pack, were enemies straight out of a nightmare.

"It was expected that Limdiss could last that long. After all, she definitely has that kind of strength. But… who's the other person? Who's really been holding on without revealing themselves until now?" another one murmured.

"Could someone that strong… really have been hiding their strength all this time?"

"Humph, no need to keep guessing." The person in charge of the test snorted coldly. By now, he fully believed his own guess and said indifferently, "Right now, there's only one person in there, not two. Because a certain idiot was afraid of failing miserably and, before the fight even started, used some kind of spatial artifact to run away… probably the same thing he used to cheat in the first test."

The words of the test supervisor made the group of candidates understand. Soon, expressions of disgust and mockery appeared on their faces.

---

Almost an hour later.

A light flashed in the hall, and then a silhouette finally flew out and landed on the ground, wrapped in golden light.

"It's her… Limdiss finally came out!!"

"Incredible… Limdiss is really incredible. She managed to survive more than an hour longer than second place, that's… so amazing."

"If we'd been in another group, maybe we could've tried to compete… but we were in the same group as her… what bad luck," sighed one of the top-ranked participants.

The golden light around Limdiss faded; she was sitting on the ground, pale, catching her breath.

It was normal after being attacked by so many of those Beasts, but she recovered and stood up quickly. At that moment, the person in charge of the test walked toward her, laughing loudly:

"Hahahaha, Lady Limdiss, you managed to stay in there for so long, that's truly admirable."

His voice made her face flush quickly… out of pure excitement.

The envy, admiration, astonishment, and even shame around her made her feel like she was floating. She promptly replied in a humble tone, "Not at all, compared to Senior, I'm still far behind."

"Hehe, I can't live up to those words," he replied with a smile. "Back in my day, I only made it past the eighth wave of beasts and already thought that was impressive. Considering your time, Lady, you must've gotten through at least fifteen waves. I'm far from being as qualified as you are. At this rate, in ten years, your cultivation will definitely surpass mine."

Before, he had only been subtly flattering her, because even if she wasn't as impressive as people said, he still wanted to win her over. But now that he had witnessed her surprisingly outstanding performance, he praised her openly in front of everyone.

"What are you saying, Senior? You're flattering me," she replied, pretending to be shy, though she couldn't hide the pride and arrogance shining in her eyes. Then, unable to hold back, she said softly, "Senior, the Fire Soul Pill…"

"Hehe, was there anyone else who could possibly take it?" He gave her a look, then turned to observe the others who had passed the final exam, already gathered in a neat formation.

He announced loudly, "Very well, the exams for the first group are all concluded. First of all, congratulations to everyone. I wish all of you great achievements from here on out. Remember: our sect is always fair to those who work hard!"

"And, as the first-place finisher in this exam, as well as the most talented new disciple of the group…" He raised his palms and slowly took out the Pill. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the dreamy red glow and locked onto it like a magnet.

At that moment, the test supervisor's eyes fixed on Limdiss. "This priceless treasure naturally belongs to—"

"Wait!"

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by a calm voice.

The test supervisor's face immediately darkened, but he soon realized that the voice that had interrupted him came from the Palace Supervisor, who had been watching everything from the side. His expression instantly calmed; he turned and lowered his head, speaking respectfully:

"Supervisor, is there something you would like to… clarify to this disciple?"

She raised her hand and pointed at the runes of the inscription floating above the palace.

"Didn't you notice that the light of the inscription hasn't completely disappeared?"

She couldn't allow this to end like that, or Chrysos might accuse her of cheating. That was something extremely serious within the sect. Since the next Palace Master would be her son, this could stain her reputation and harm him.

The test supervisor looked at the runes in confusion. He seemed slightly stunned as he stammered, "What… what is going on?"

Everyone watched in bewilderment: the inscription was emitting a bright golden light toward the sky. Limdiss was also stunned.

"This isn't your first time organizing an exam. After the exam is completed, the light naturally fades. However, it's still here, still active, proving that the exam hasn't truly ended. There's still one more candidate." The Supervisor spat out sternly, a bloody glint flashing in her eyes.

The test supervisor nodded. "This disciple certainly understands that. But… but this shouldn't have happened. This disciple already counted: all nine hundred who were eliminated had already left. After Lady Limdiss finished the exam, all ninety-nine who passed are here. Not one more, not one less. And as for Darian, who ran off before the exam even started…"

He choked on his own words, his pupils slightly dilating.

"Could it be…"