For the next minutes, Wu Guang shot down another four beasts that came one by one from the passages. The beasts were the same and exited from the same passage as their first brethren, so there were no unexpected changes.

Wu Guang did not let himself think that everything would be easy as until now, and this was confirmed when two beasts appeared simultaneously from the passages. These beasts were of a different type, one being a pangolin covered with a rock armor called 'Crushing Rock Pangolin' while the other one was a wolf similar to the striped dogs but far more dangerous called 'Full Striped Wolf'.

Making an instant decision, Wu Guang aimed at the wolf beast and let an arrow fly while instantly nocking another one. The wolf was starved as well, but it had better intelligence and senses than the dogs so right as the arrow was shot, it jumped to the side. The striped wolf did not manage to evade the arrow fully, but the jump saved its life as the arrow did not hit its head, leaving only a shallow glancing wound on its body. Unexpectedly for the wolf, another arrow arrived shortly and entered its heart before it could even start moving again.

Wu Guang had expected that the wolf would evade so shot another arrow to the most probable location. It turned he was correct and so the wolf only managed to extend its life for a brief moment.

Turning towards the pangolin which did not move at all after exiting the passage Wu Guang carefully examined it. "The armor fully covers its body except for the eyes and belly. The belly can't be reached and this one is intelligent enough to maintain its eyes closed. The rock-covered lids and cheeks give me no chance to wound it. Should I try to provoke it so it moves or at least opens an eye and gives me a target?" With this thought reached, Wu Guang aimed carefully and shoot an arrow towards the right eye of the pangolin. The beast did not move from the spot or react to the arrow at all. "Continue!" and made several attempts, but they all had the same result.

"At this pace, I will run out of arrows before it moves!" Angrily spat out Wu Guang after counting and finding that he only had six arrows left in the quiver. "If not for the fact that I cannot leave the plate, it would be easy to provoke it, but like this?"

Only after a pair of minutes Wu Guang formed a plan that could work and started to realize it.

First, he took out one of the hunting knives he had strapped to his ankles and threw it in a wide arc above the pangolin. The latter did not open its eyes, but a small reaction could be seen to the sound that came from behind. Noticing this, Wu Guang repeated the action with the other knife and at last, the pangolin reacted by starting to turn around.

It did not open its eyes until it was safe from the arrows, showing an intelligence already comparable to a spirit beast. But Wu Guang had another target in mind for his arrow so he waited for the beast to turn fully before aiming and shooting an arrow a bit below its tail.

Normally the beast would have its tail lowered, and by such its rear would be protected by the armor and would not be considered a weak point, but to be stable after the turn it had to use the tail to balance its extremely heavy body. Wu Guang's strategy worked and although not a mortal wound, the effect of wounding it and by such angering the beast worked. "Now I hope it does what all enraged beasts do and roars" This was the only thought Wu Guang had when the enraged beast turned around again. But again the beast surprised him and was fully silent while starting its rush towards him. A rush of this extremely heavy beast wasn't in any manner slow as one would expect, actually it was not slower than the speed Wu Guang could show right now if he decided to run.

Wu Guang had no opportunity to run or evade, so he was racking his brains to find a way to both pass the test and remain alive. His Body realm cultivation gave him nothing that could be used in a situation like this, so he had to resort to using something he did not want to. He activated his soul and sent a small amount of compressed aura towards the beast. He had scanned the room before and was sure that nobody could observe the test but he wanted to pass the tests by relying only on his current strength, regretfully the situation did not give him any choice. This 'Rock Crushing Pangolin' was a common beast, so it did not have a spirit core like the spirit beasts and was instantly knocked out by the compressed pressure of an advanced Sage realm cultivator which was the maximum Wu Guang could project without overtaxing his soul and body.

When the beast lost consciousness and started slowing down while falling towards its right side its mouth opened and Wu Guang landed three arrows one after another inside its upper mouth, piercing the flesh and arriving at the brain. Right as the beast died, the last closed gate opened and the runes on the panel deactivated, showing that he had passed.

Although he used the soul power carefully, he still felt wrung out as all of the qi in his meridians had been used. Wu Guang took several minutes to recuperate before going around the room while collecting the arrows that could be reused. While walking around he extended his senses fully to see if the aura could be tracked and only when he made sure that it would be not left the room through the newly opened passage.

Several hours later, Wu Guang activated the rune plate at the last room and after retiring his plaque noticed that several small words appeared below the number, their contents were simple 'Disciple-in-Waiting' and confirmed that he had passed the test.

Overall except for the beast room, the test was easy and Wu Guang passed it without relying on any of his cheat-like abilities. In total he had cleared five more rooms apart from the one with beasts, from them, three being a puzzle and two were obstacle ones. The corridors between them always had a pair of simple traps, but seemingly were not intended to really be an obstacle for the test.

Finishing the only matter in the last room, Wu Guang backtracked to the first room he had arrived into and left the area via the now visible and open door. The reception room wasn't empty as expected, with two people present. Seemingly the foreigner applicant had finished before Wu Guang.

Simply nodding towards him, Wu Guang's eyes moved towards the other person present in the room, which was someone he had already met; outer elder Di.

The Elder noticed Wu Guang's stare and quickly explained

"I will be the one in charge of you during today's entrance ceremony. I need to confirm with everyone if they will take part in the 'Nascent Pride' and explain the special rules that disciples-in-waiting need to follow"

"Understood" Was the only word Wu Guang gave as an answer before sitting down in one of the chairs strewn alongside the room.

He calculated that the time he took for the test was seven hours, plus the hour to leave, so Lang Juan and Duqi had about four hours left.

The former appeared about an hour later and after getting the same explanation from elder Di imitated Wu Guang by sitting silently on one of the available chairs.

Duqi appeared in the last minutes and different from the other three he was covered in blood, dirt and had a disheveled look. But even so, he had a smile on his face indicating the fact he passed as well.

"Congratulations everyone on passing the test and becoming inner disciples-in-waiting. I will now briefly explain the special rules meant for you and also a bit about today entrance ceremony" Said Elder Di and after noticing that everyone present was listening started a long explanation. It was extremely long, but everything could be surmised into three sentences; Their lodgings and food expenses would be covered, they would enter the inner circle without any examination after reaching the Spirit realm and they had only until the 'Three Hills Tournament' to do so or the status would be revoked so they become normal outer circle disciples.

Finishing a very extended version of this, Elder Di asked if they understood, and receiving a positive answer continued

"Now I need you to confirm if you will take part in the 'Nascent Pride' tests or skip them. It will not affect you in any way except the opportunity to win more contribution points. The matter will be explained fully during the ceremony, but as you can guess the points are the only accepted currency in the sect"

The four present people answered affirmatively and Elder Di sent a message glyph right after receiving their response. Then he added some more information before informing them that the ceremony would start at midday so they should return to the camping area and rest for some hours.

The group silently left the tower and started walking towards the camping area. Wu Guang separated himself from the rest after saying that he will go buy some food first and did so before returning to his place. He noticed that there were only some applicants remaining and guessed that all the failed applicants had left. After responding to the greeting of several people that stayed near him or he had seen during the tests he confirmed this by asking them about the matter.