Against the vast white expanse, two silhouettes intertwined like streaks of light before separating in an instant.
A thirty-second countdown ticked away to the sound of electronic chimes, and a flash of clarity crossed Arthur's eyes.
This was only the first stage of the assessment. Under the system's simulation, "Beibei's" Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was noticeably unpolished.
It was precisely because of this that Arthur found it easier to control the rhythm and study the footwork carefully.
During the several exchanges just now, the opponent's steps seemed erratic on the surface, but each one followed a specific rhythm, simultaneously evading attacks while preserving the potential for a counter.
"Thirty seconds reached. First stage cleared."
The two intertwining figures came to an abrupt stop.
"Second stage begins. Defeat your opponent or endure another thirty seconds."
Beibei charged again.
Arthur shook his head. There was no need to drag this out any further.
Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track wasn't suited for him. He could use it as a reference, but committing to a deep study of it was unnecessary.
He raised a straightforward, unremarkable fist and met the opponent's Dragon Claw head-on.
In an instant, Beibei, who had charged in directly, was sent flying back at an even greater speed and vanished from sight.
The electronic voice seemed to stutter for a moment before continuing: "Second stage cleared."
"Advanced assessment, first stage. Prepare."
A flash of light, and Beibei reappeared, though this time the figure was visibly older. The build was more mature, and the aura several times more powerful.
But against Arthur, the outcome remained unchanged.
Again, a single straightforward punch sent Beibei scattering without any ability to resist.
"First stage cleared. Second stage..."
No matter how much the difficulty increased in the stages that followed, none of them could withstand a single move from Arthur.
Setting aside the variable of battle armor, Arthur's combat power had already reached the level of a Spirit Douluo, making him nothing short of a stat monster at this point in the story.
Once the assessment concluded, everyone gathered together to compare notes.
Tang Wulin's face was covered in bruises. He hurried over to his good friend Xie Xie and asked, "How many stages did you clear?"
Xie Xie looked equally roughed up, his expression sour as he replied, "Just one. My opponent was faster and hit harder than me.
In close combat I was completely countered. I got absolutely pummeled. What about you?"
Tang Wulin laughed bitterly. "Two stages, I guess. I only survived the second one by tanking through it. I'm pretty good at taking hits."
Xie Xie immediately went silent, fixing Tang Wulin with a deeply unfriendly stare.
Some friend you are, clearing two stages and coming over here to complain about it.
There was nothing worse than expecting a friend to have done just as badly as you, only to find out they actually did better and then had the nerve to gripe about it in your face.
Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi were also huddled together for comfort, asking each other about their results.
Gu Yue and Na'er exchanged a glance, each seeing the shock mirrored in the other's eyes. Both of them had fallen at the final stage, where a dark-haired young man with pupils flickering with a strange light had appeared. Gu Yue looked toward Arthur, as if silently asking.
"I fell at the final stage too. Don't worry. Honestly, no one is supposed to clear that one." Arthur had caught the stunned expressions on Gu Yue and Na'er's faces and offered them an explanation.
Inwardly, he felt a touch of resignation.
Tang Sect had really thrown all shame to the wind.
When he had recognized the opponent at the final stage as Huo Yuhao, Arthur had actually wanted to savor the experience of crushing a child of destiny.
In the early stages of the story, Huo Yuhao's real combat ability was genuinely average.
But then Huo Yuhao hit him with a single Spiritual Shock and one-shot him.
Hang on, you can actually one-shot me?
It was obvious that Tang Sect had never intended for anyone to clear the final stage.
Arthur acknowledged that Huo Cheat was genuinely powerful, and his Spiritual Power was in a class of its own, but he barely knew how to use it at this point. One-shotting Arthur was completely out of the question.
Swap him out for Electrolux and maybe there would be a case to be made.
In his early days, Huo Yuhao's true fighting strength was merely decent. What he mainly relied on was the lineup of elder spirits residing within him. When things got desperate, he would pull out a Heaven-tier Spirit Skill and have one of them take over his body.
Tang Sect simply didn't know any of that. They just kept stacking raw stats onto the simulated Huo Yuhao without any nuance.
Final-stage boss encountered during the end-of-term exam, defeated only through sheer desperate effort.
Actually, thinking about it more carefully, it wasn't hard to understand why Tang Sect had configured the final stage that way.
After all, the subjects of this assessment were all founding ancestors of Tang Sect.
If someone cleared every stage, it would effectively mean that person had cut their way through Tang Sect's entire lineage of forebears.
Did Tang Sect have no pride left?
Even if someone could theoretically clear it, it would only be possible by overpowering through sheer soul power level.
Tang Sect would never allow someone to punch above their weight and clear the assessment out of sequence. That was a matter of dignity.
Wu Changkong stood quietly to one side, waiting in silence as they discussed things among themselves.
Once everyone had settled down, he beckoned them forward.
The moment they stepped closer, a powerful spatial fluctuation swept through the room. In an instant, all of them were transported to an office.
Wu Changkong gestured for them to sit, then spoke in an unhurried tone. "The opponents you faced during the assessment were peers at your own level, and every one of them was a Spirit Master who truly existed in history.
Because they are simulations, what you faced was only seventy percent of their actual power. How do you feel you compare to them?"
Truly existed?
Tang Wulin and the others were stunned.
Arthur, however, was an honest child and pushed back without hesitation. "Really? I don't buy that."
What connection was there between it being a simulation and how much of their true power was actually expressed?
The data had been filled in by Tang Sect themselves. They could just adjust the numbers upward whenever they liked.
And beyond that...
"Seventy percent? If you said seven hundred percent, I might barely believe it."
Times change. Present-day Tang Sect had no real way of knowing what their ancestors from ten thousand years ago had truly been like. They could only take the geniuses of this era as a frame of reference.
But how could the geniuses of ten thousand years ago possibly be the same as the geniuses of today?
So, setting aside Huo Cheat at the final stage, the other simulated opponents were all considerably more powerful than their historical counterparts had actually been.
If not for the God Realm's disappearance, who knew how many people in this era might have ascended to godhood.
"Ahem..." Wu Changkong glanced toward the dissenting Arthur. That question was not one he could easily answer.
Because he didn't believe it either.
Back when Wu Changkong himself had taken the assessment, he had been beaten badly enough to question everything he knew about himself.
But that was what the seniors had told him at the time, and he had simply accepted it without further question.
He quickly moved past the topic and continued. "There are two reasons I brought you here. First, the Spirit Ascension Platform no longer offers any meaningful training for people at your level, beyond improving the age of your soul rings."
"The Hall of Heroes is a higher-tier combat training ground. Compared to soul beasts that have gone extinct in the real world, combat against Spirit Masters is far more valuable for your development.
It also has automatic protective mechanisms built in, making it safer than the Spirit Ascension Platform."
"Second, clearing the assessment here means you qualify to join the organization that stands behind it. That will be of great benefit to all of you in the future."
The second point was directed mainly at Tang Wulin and the others.
After learning that Arthur's great-uncle was the Dragon Sparrow Douluo, Wu Changkong had understood that Arthur was already effectively part of the Spirit Pagoda's inner circle. There was no possibility of him joining Tang Sect.
"What organization?" Xie Xie asked, caution in his voice. Coming from a major clan, he had reservations about committing to any organization.
"Tang Sect."
The moment those two words landed, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Wang Jinxi, and Zhang Yangzi all felt a jolt run through them.
Tang Sect was a legendary organization known throughout the entire Douluo Continent, one whose history stretched back tens of thousands of years. Several of the continent's most pivotal historical events were tied directly to its name.
Arthur and Na'er remained unmoved, watching from the sidelines in quiet calm. They were Spirit Pagoda people now.
Gu Yue, upon learning that this had been an assessment for joining Tang Sect, sank into silent thought.