As Qin Ruqing approached the cave entrance, she was excited and quickened her pace, feeling relieved that she had passed without injury.

However, she suddenly stopped and jumped back, her brows furrowed.

There was someone guarding the cave exit…

No, not a person.

After sensing carefully with her spiritual sense, she realized it was a puppet—lacking consciousness and aura.

Relieved that it was just a puppet, Qin Ruqing thought, “That’s not too bad.”

But then she sensed something else and became tense again.

Wait, this puppet’s cultivation level… It seems to be at the Golden Core stage?

Qin Ruqing’s spiritual sense had recently advanced to the Golden Core Formation Stage, allowing her to detect the puppet’s level.

Seriously?

The Hundred Clans Conference only has cultivators up to the Core Formation stage, and now there’s a Golden Core Stage puppet guarding the cave?

Is this a joke?

Qin Ruqing forced a smile, swallowed, and tried to speak calmly, “Senior, could you step aside a bit to let me pass…”

This was clearly wishful thinking.

As expected, the puppet’s eyes flashed red, and it swung a large blade to block her path, firmly obstructing her way.

A mechanical, stiff voice said, “To pass this cave, you must first get through me.”

Qin Ruqing was momentarily stunned and cursed inwardly.

Seeing the situation, she knew she had drawn the toughest challenge.

She was aware of her bad luck, but it shouldn’t be this severe!

And besides, since you’re already cultivating, why test luck? Isn’t this against the principles of martial arts?

Qin Ruqing was so frustrated that she completely forgot her earlier statement that “strength is also a part of luck.”

All she wanted to say was: “What a joke!”

As she fumed, the communication jade slip on her body suddenly rang.

It seemed to be Qirong’s.

Thinking he might be in trouble or having similar bad luck, she quickly checked it.

To her surprise, Qi Rong’s voice came through, sounding puzzled: “Sister, I finished my test. The cave here… seems empty, just some hidden weapons. It didn’t seal my senses, so I got out easily. This final stage test is too simple!”

Too simple.

Qin Ruqing’s mouth twitched as she listened to his second message: “Sister, are you okay over there?”

Qin Ruqing: “Haha, I’m not okay!”

….

In the Soul Cave, several talented individuals began to wake up.

The first to awaken was Guangyuan.

He looked around in confusion and then, as his consciousness returned, realized what had happened.

As the special effect aura reactivated, Guangyuan muttered, “So, Buddha is still watching over me.”

Otherwise, how would he have been protected to wake up first?

He conveniently ignored the fact that his Buddhist cultivation inherently included defenses against evil spirits.

After Guangyuan left, the next to wake up was Dan Qing.

He pushed himself up and glanced around, then blinked hard, feeling soreness in his eyes from crying so much earlier.

“This is the Soul Cave? Yes, that vengeful spirit in human form was extremely dangerous and its power was hidden. It must have been the one who knocked us out?”

After understanding the situation, Dan Qing placed a hand over his heart.

The emotional turmoil from the vengeful spirit had made them all cry uncontrollably, with those in love suffering even more.

Dan Qing, whose heart was filled only with love for his wife, felt particularly affected.

Feeling empty after crying, Dan Qing muttered to himself, “My Dao heart has actually wavered…”

His expression suddenly turned fierce. “I need to practice more.

From now on, I’ll swing my sword three thousand times a day and repeat the basic sword techniques three hundred times!”

With that, he quickly left the area.

Next to wake up was Fairy Ming Ying.

Her only thought upon waking was: Oh no! The backup plans are in chaos!

During her earlier crying, she had mentioned things that led her backup plans to start messaging her, questioning her!

They were questioning her as if she wasn’t their one and only!

Ming Ying’s expression shifted dramatically.

She couldn’t respond to the questions, so she decided to play dead.

Those who stayed would stay, and those who left… well, she’d find new ones!

The test was more important!

Ming Ying scanned her surroundings and quickly left.

The last to wake up was Fang Zhiming.

He lay on the ground, his movements having formed a peculiar human-shaped indentation in the yellow earth beneath him.

Fang Zhiming raised his head, then immediately buried it back into the ground as he recalled everything!

If he could, he wouldn’t want to participate in any more tests! It was too embarrassing!

What he had said earlier, though no one else heard it, was certainly overheard by several competitors!

Especially those from the Qin family!

They were his enemies and rivals! If they spread… that matter.

Fang Zhiming’s body slumped, and he lay back into the pit he had previously made.

One by one, the talented individuals arrived at the final challenge on Destiny Island.

Dan Qing looked at the ten cave entrances without hesitation.

He threw his sword into the air, and when it landed back in his hand, he followed the direction it pointed.

In the end, his beloved sword pointed to Cave No. 3, and Dan Qing resolutely entered it.

Guangyuan had already gone in ahead of him, choosing the neighboring cave.

The Buddha’s disciple, following his aura, also made his choice without much hesitation.

“The true path is the Buddha’s way. Naturally, I choose number two.”

Ming Ying followed closely behind.

When it came to choosing a cave, she frowned.

She also liked to ponder over such decisions.

After much indecision, Ming Ying had a sudden idea and decided to let her backup plans decide for her.

If her backups broke up with her, it would be a good thing, as it meant she could find new ones to replace them.

So she would see how many backups messaged her with break-up news today.

If there were more than ten, she’d choose the last few.

Ming Ying took out her communication stone, checked it, and frowned, “Only one? And it seems to be about reconsidering the break-up.”

“Forget it, I’ll go with this one.”

With a look of disdain, she entered Cave No. 1.

Cave No. 1 was an illusionary cave that created false images.

Ming Ying’s illusion showed her falling in love at first sight with someone, willing to marry him and never seek backups again, staying with him for life.

Ming Ying frowned deeply and used her silk cloth artifact to shatter the illusion.

“I’m a daughter of a prestigious family, an elite cultivated by my clan. How could I fall in love at first sight with some random person and agree to marry him? And giving up an entire forest for him? Absolutely impossible!”

Confused, Ming Ying walked out of Cave No. 1, still not understanding what this test was meant to measure.

In Cave No. 2, Guangyuan, the Buddha’s disciple, faced a similar challenge.

Guangyuan entered an illusory realm. However, the illusion involved the Buddha himself teaching him Buddhist doctrines.

Although Guangyuan knew it was an illusion, he sat cross-legged and attentively listened to the entire teaching.

He even engaged in a debate with the Buddha in the illusion, ultimately refuting the Buddha’s arguments.

He then calmly stated, “The Dharma is boundless. You still have a long way to go.” With that, he left Cave No. 2 with composure.

In Cave No. 3, where Dan Qing was, the situation was more intense.

Dan Qing encountered a Core Formation stage demon, which he had to defeat in order to pass through the cave.

He didn’t quite understand what this challenge was testing, thinking it was a measure of combat ability.

He thought it was perfect timing because his Dao heart was unstable due to the vengeful spirit, so he decided to use this battle with the Golden Core Formation demon to hone his sword skills and stabilize his Dao heart!

Dan Qing fought vigorously, and when he decapitated the demon, he felt his state improving and left the cave satisfied.

By the time Xiao Fenhua arrived at Destiny Island, it was quite late.

Some people ranked behind her had already reached the island.

She had been knocked out by the human-shaped vengeful spirit, and since she was one of the weaker participants, she was the last to wake up.

After waking, she had to kill more vengeful spirits to make up for the ones she hadn’t defeated earlier, which further delayed her.

Worried about her poor performance, Xiao Fenhua was anxious when choosing a cave entrance.

She didn’t care much about which cave to enter, thinking it shouldn’t matter much.

So she chose a nearby one.

Not liking No. 5, she picked No. 6.

Xiao Fenhua entered Cave No. 6 with a heavy heart and came out looking confused.

She hadn’t encountered anything at all.

It was just a straightforward cave with nothing in it, not even hidden weapons. Xiao Fenhua walked from one end to the other and came out bewildered.

When she checked her score, Xiao Fenhua was shocked!

She had received a perfect score and even an additional ten points!

The examiner explained that Xiao Fenhua had triggered a rare and unique situation.

Only one participant in this year’s competition could trigger such a scenario, and it was her.

Hence, she was awarded the additional ten points.

Seeing her anxious, the Maitreya Buddha examiner kindly reassured her, saying it was well-deserved.

Such a “Destiny” person surely deserved it.

Watching the scene from outside, Qi Rong couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.

He and his sister were the first to arrive, but now, Dan Qing, Guangyuan, Ming Ying, and even Fang Zhiming had all finished their assessments and received their scores.

The rankings on the leaderboard were changing rapidly as the final calculations were made.

However, Qirong looked towards Cave No. 8.

His sister, who was usually far ahead, had not yet emerged, which was unusual.

Qirong frowned, wondering if there was anything his sister couldn’t handle with her strength.

If Qin Ruqing could answer him now, she would certainly say:

Yes. For example, something two major levels stronger than her.

Qin Ruqing was once again struck against the stone wall by the Core Formation stage puppet and slid down like a pancake.

She weakly groaned in her mind:

“Come on, let the kids out… please…”