At this moment, Young Master Lin's head was buzzing, and the villagers on either side kept chattering.

"This is an illusion, not real people..."

The weak voice of the Qilin suddenly came from within, making Lin Fei pause, then feel a surge of joy, "You've recovered?"

"Just enough strength to speak," the Qilin slightly raised its eyes, blinking but unable to move any other part.

Lin Fei immediately became dejected again, losing interest.

"This seems to be the illusion for the test. Since it's an illusion, you can only rely on yourself. I can't help you, and your every move might be watched from outside."

The Qilin weakly advised.

Lin Fei felt a chill inside, gradually realizing his habitual reliance on the Qilin, something uncharacteristic of him.

His path as a cultivator should be to suppress everything by himself, with brothers cheering on the side, women admiring from behind, and the wheels of history being kicked forward by him.

"This must be your exam question?"

The Qilin once again interrupted his thoughts, and the momentum he had just built up in his imagination deflated like a punctured balloon.

Well then! Since it's part of me, it's acceptable for it to help me push those wheels.

Lin Fei squeezed his way out of the crowd. He didn't immediately engage with the villagers, but after distancing himself, he carefully analyzed what they had said.

A moment later, he roughly figured out the exam question, which was to resolve the conflict between the two villages.

Han Yu watched with interest as Young Master Lin was lost in thought, while the exam question became clearer through the discussions among the cultivators nearby.

Is it really to have a future cultivator resolve mundane disputes? Han Yu found it unlikely, especially for a major sect like the Cyan Sun Sect; why would it bother having its future disciples meddle in such trivial matters?

"Someone has failed."

Suddenly a cultivator exclaimed, pointing at an Illusion Stone.

Han Yu also looked up, and in the image, a cultivator squeezed through the crowd and seemed to realize it was an exam question. After composing his words, he then loudly stopped the people on both sides.

Seeing the crowd quieted, the candidate smiled contently, seemingly more confident, and began to eloquently preach various truths.

"The lake is just over there and inexhaustible, and you're two neighboring villages. Maybe generations ago you were from the same family..."

The candidate couldn't continue speaking because a sudden severe pain shot through his back. He turned his head in shock, seeing an East Village villager stab a sickle into his back.

Not only that, villagers from both sides rushed up and quickly overwhelmed him.

When the candidate fell out of the illusion, his face was still a ghastly pale. Looking at the surrounding candidates with closed eyes, he seemed to realize something and suddenly became dejected. Soon, a disciple from the Cyan Sun Sect came to escort him out.

"No need to be too disheartened, little brother. Success or failure at one moment doesn't mean much. If you wish, you can try again next year, or choose another sect. Other sect representatives are here today as well," the Cyan Sun Sect disciple said politely.

The candidate's face improved slightly after that, and he hurriedly thanked the disciple.

"You can rest at the mountain foot or go watch the later tests on the stone platform. The sect will arrange for everyone to be sent back to the city after the tests."

After saying this, the disciple returned into the mountain.

As the first candidate was ejected from the illusion, around a dozen others followed, all brought out dejected and escorted out by Cyan Sun Sect disciples, and almost all climbed the high platform.

They all wanted to know why they failed.

Han Yu gradually realized something was off. It wasn't purely about resolving the conflict between the two villages, as those who tried debating were all sent out.

Not just Han Yu, but many other sect cultivators beside him also began to notice.

In the illusion, Young Master Lin suddenly took off running, leaving the villagers behind. His actions quickly caught the attention of those outside.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's running towards East Village."

A cultivator remarked.

Indeed, Young Master Lin was heading to East Village, and his run left not only the people outside but even the Qilin puzzled.

Lin Fei ran all the way into East Village, at a moment when the little village was completely empty. He chuckled, pulled out a fire starter, and under the bewildered gazes of the onlookers, set all the houses in East Village ablaze, then quickly rushed out.

The villagers of East Village seemed to see their homes on fire but stayed rooted, not moving, which amused Young Master Lin further. As expected, it's the rules here; the villagers won't move from that spot.

He rushed to West Village and similarly set the whole place on fire.

After doing all this, he clapped his hands and returned to the original spot, while villagers from both villages glared at him with wrathful eyes.

Young Master Lin laughed with his hands on his hips, "This is an illusion. If it were real, I'd compensate you for your homes. Now that neither village exists, there's no need to fight."

The villagers were instantly infuriated, mobbing towards him, scaring Young Master Lin so much that he took off running, but after a few steps, he found himself in a dense forest again, surrounded by candidates standing with their eyes closed.

Did I pass?

Young Master Lin stood there for a moment, and when no Cyan Sun Sect disciple approached him, he felt overjoyed and immediately continued on with a cheerful heart.

"Why did he pass like that? It's unreasonable. He burned down people's villages."

A dissatisfied candidate spoke up, having watched Young Master Lin's entire passing process, finding not a single reasonable part in it.

Han Yu, however, had his guesses. Thinking it over, he began, "Did you ever think that the East and West Villages and the lake were just a cover? That this test isn't from the Cyan Sun Sect but self-set by each candidate?"

The candidate seemed not to understand, but the surrounding cultivators began to ponder thoughtfully.

"So, you mean the first stage is actually without a set theme, and candidates ask and answer their questions themselves?"

A cultivator couldn't help but ask.

Han Yu nodded, looking at the remaining screens, he explained, "The first stage has various ways to pass. What you perceive from the clues, and what question you pose for yourself, finally whether you can answer it yourself."

"What he saw was division, and he realized that the environment caused the division. His way to tackle the problem was that the best way to eliminate division is to erase environmental differences, letting them merge is the solution."

At this point in the image, a butcher-like man was suppressing villagers on both sides with a kitchen knife, and then reallocating the lake's water rights.

One candidate was even more outrageous, digging a hole on the spot, intending to dig a lake for the West Village too, but as he continued digging, he was transported out.

Even that could pass? That's utterly ridiculous, such a clumsy method, every candidate had thought of it.

"Because he truly set to work, with intense determination. I imagine, if he wasn't transported out, he would've kept digging indefinitely."

A cultivator chuckled at the disgruntled candidates, but as he laughed, his expression gradually soured.

Damn it, that Cyan Sun Sect has spoiled my taste, making those ten fools unappealing now...

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