“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun had completely destroyed the twelfth energy node in the Nine Palatial Array.

As a result, although the Nine Palatial Array was still in its original state, its strength was greatly reduced without the Demon Defying Bead’s support.

And at that moment, Song Wuchen, who was sitting in a palatial hall in the towering tree, felt that something was amiss.

“The Demon Defying Bead… ”

Song Wuchen looked at the Demon Defying Bead and he felt troubled.

Song Wuchen had previously claimed that the Demon Defying Bead was a treasure bestowed unto him by the Felicitous Rain Lord. It gave others the impression that the Demon Defying Bead had been given to him. But in fact, Song Wuchen was just an in-name disciple, so how could a treasure at the Divine Lord level be really given to him? It was just lent to him.

The Demon Defying Bead had mental imprints in it that belonged to the Felicitous Rain Lord. In order to control the Demon Defying Bead, Song Wuchen had recently infused his own mental imprints into the Demon Defying Bead. It was not very stable, and his control of the Demon Defying Bead was extremely weak.

With Yi Yun severing the energy nodes between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead, his mental imprints had suddenly collapsed. This left him momentarily baffled. He obviously refused to believe that an examinee would deliberately destroy his mental imprint. He believed that it was a result of him being able to barely control the Demon Defying Bead.

“Young Master Wuchen, what’s the matter?” The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king asked as he noticed that something was amiss with Song Wuchen’s expression.

“Nothing much,” Song Wuchen said as he waved his hands. “Just a tiny mental imprint in the Demon Defying Bead was weakened. In a while, I’ll place a few more mental imprints, so I can have more control over the assessment.”

How was it possible for Song Wuchen to tell others that his mental imprints had collapsed? He had done it at such a large scale, so if there were suddenly any problems, wouldn’t he be embarrassing himself?

“I see. Young Master Wuchen has been controlling a treasure at the Divine Lord level, so it’s only normal for the mental imprint to weaken after a period of time.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said with a smile. He knew how to read the cues from the countenance of others.

Placing additional mental imprints in the Demon Defying Bead was not an easy task. Song Wuchen began to producing dozens of seals, but only a tiny number of his mental imprints managed to seep into the bead.

And at that moment, the difficulty of the Nine Palatial Array had turned nearly trivial. With about nine thousand people attempting to crack an array formation that was created by a Dao Manifestation realm warrior, there was already not enough strength for the array formation to hold itself together!

Instantly, all the participants in the assessment felt energized. They gathered all their energy and began forging ahead. Many people even began running.

One palatial hall after another was left behind them.

“So it’s a psychological battle. The beginning is very difficult, but once it’s cleared, the later stages become trivial.”

A participant was very pleased with his performance.

“I made my first public appearance after intense training, but Master said that I’m too weak and that Chi Zhuiyun is many times stronger than me. He thought that I would suffer a setback if I were to be eliminated in the beginning. Ha! I already said that it was impossible for me to be eliminated in the beginning. I really should let Master have a look at this. I’m already at the eighth hall. I’m indeed a genius. The trial is very easy!” A young man confidently muttered to himself.

In the vast world, there were all sorts of people. Although Chi Zhuiyun was publicly considered to be the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, it did not mean that every young warrior was convinced of his strength. There were always people who believed that they were the strongest and that they would be able to trample on Chi Zhuiyun once they made their public appearance. Now, with the ease of clearing the array increasing, they were convinced of their viewpoints.

Soon, quite a number of people had reached the ninth palatial hall.

They initially believed that as the last hall of the Nine Palatial Halls, there would be some difficulty to it, but they were surprised to find that the ninth hall was the easiest!

…

At that moment, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was eating spirit fruits outside the Nine Palatial Array as he looked at Song Wuchen.

“Young Master Wuchen, there’s no need to rush the mental imprints. The assessment has only gone on for eight hours.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said deliberately when he noticed that Song Wuchen was struggling to condense mental imprints.

“It’s fine.” Song Wuchen frowned. After his mental imprint had collapsed, he did not know what was happening inside the Demon Defying Bead either. However, he believed that the Nine Palatial Array was interfaced with the Demon Defying Bead, so even if certain nodes were not stable, the twelve nodes combined would reduce any possibility of error. It was likely that the assessment would continue on as expected.

“In a while, when a new mental imprint is established, I’ll definitely increase the difficulty greatly and make those fellows suffer.” Song Wuchen secretly thought to himself as he wished to vent the anger in his heart.

He knew that Felicitous Rain Lord was most likely watching the in-name disciple recruitment with his perception. As the owner of the Demon Defying Bead, Felicitous Rain Lord definitely knew about the mental imprint collapsing in the Demon Defying Bead.

This would affect Felicitous Rain Lord’s impression of him!

As an in-name disciple for so many years, he had always been yearning to be promoted to a personal disciple. If he failed to run the assessment properly, how could he be promoted to a personal disciple?

Song Wuchen took a deep breath and said, “Eight hours isn’t too short either. It’s better that I recreate imprints. The first assessment would last about three to five days. I cannot let the assessment period exceed my control.”

“Hahaha, Young Master Wuchen is truly a serious person. By saying that, I’m truly worried, afraid that my Oracle Fey Kingdom’s disciples will have terrible results!” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king joked. And at that moment, the hovering Demon Defying Bead suddenly emitted a faint beam of light.

“Oh? What happened?”

In Brocade Spring Court, many people saw this scene.

“Could it be that someone has cleared the array?”

“How can that be possible!? Didn’t you hear what Young Master Wuchen said? It’s extremely difficult to clear the Nine Palatial Array and it would take at least three days before the first participant would clear it!”

“It might be Yi Yun or Chi Zhuiyun since it might be possible for them to clear it ahead of time… ” A disciple whispered.

And at that moment, Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were in the crowd as well. Upon hearing that person’s statement, they sneered, “Chi Zhuiyun? Yi Yun? Hmph, with their strength, they are only relatively stronger in the alliance. Amongst Master’s disciples, they are nothing at all! They are facing an increased difficulty in the Nine Palatial Array. It would be Senior Brother going easy on them if they can successfully clear it in five days. Clear it ahead of time? Stop dreaming!”

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi detested Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun to begin with. Upon hearing someone tout the two of them, they could not help but pass off snide remarks.

When the people around them heard this, they were stunned. So it turned out that Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun were facing higher difficulties?

Before they could say anything, the flickering light from the Demon Defying Bead suddenly grew more intense.

“Oh? That is… ” Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were puzzled as well. They did not notice that up in the hall in the towering tree, there was an extremely ugly expression on Song Wuchen’s face.

Swish!

A beam of light burst down from the Demon Defying Bead as a figure appeared!

The person wore a long robe and he held a three-foot-long sword. His black hair was fluttering in the beam of light, making him look distinguished.

The first person to clear the Demon Defying Bead had appeared!

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were immediately left dumbfounded. It had only been eight hours, so how could that be possible!?