Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 132 The Way of Campaigning
Although everyone thought it was odd to have so many incense burners, no one questioned the situation, trying to absorb the rich aroma. Qiu Ci, however, found it somewhat unbearable. Her cultivation level wasn't the Golden Core stage, after all, but the Spiritualization stage. Her senses were naturally more acute than others, and now she wished she could block her sense of smell. She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but the aroma was clearly fragrant, yet it felt like a tainted odor of decay.

She couldn't help but pinch her nose and walked inside, but everyone soon discovered that there was no one in the huge hall except these incense burners. Even the elders who were thought to come for the assessment were nowhere to be seen.

There was only a long table in front of the hall, with a dozen wooden tokens neatly placed on it. The word "walk" could be faintly seen on the wooden tokens. Everyone's faces lit up with joy, and their eyes were all fixed on the long table, realizing that what was placed on the table was the walking token.

But no one dared to move forward. As they looked at each other, an old voice suddenly sounded in the hall.

"Here is a scroll of cultivation techniques. You can study them for an hour. The results will be announced afterward."

The sound was not loud, but it spread throughout the entire hall, and it also carried the faint power of a high-level monk.

Everyone was startled and clasped their fists earnestly, but they could not find the other party. It was obvious that this was just a voice transmission. When they were wondering, a white light suddenly flashed in front of them, and a magic circle appeared in front of everyone. They saw the spiritual energy gathered in the magic circle, and in an instant, golden words condensed and flew out.

In less than a moment, a text composed of spiritual energy appeared in the sky above the hall. Upon closer inspection, it was a martial arts technique that had never been seen before.

"This... could this be an opportunity bestowed upon us by the elders, who want to test our aptitude for cultivation?" someone exclaimed.

The others were delighted and thought that this was the case. After all, they were given a scroll of exercises for no reason and were required to practice here for an hour. The only possibility was that he wanted to see how they understood the practice.

For a moment, everyone's eyes began to shine as they looked at the technique, staring intently and reciting it silently. After all, even if they were not selected, this technique bestowed by the elders was still an opportunity for them.

After all, they were all cultivators above the Jindan stage. They memorized all the short exercises after just a few glances. Some of them who read quickly even meditated on the spot and practiced according to the instructions.

Qiu Ci also glanced at it and instantly recognized that it was indeed a technique, and one that cultivated spiritual consciousness. However, only those who had reached the Spiritual Transformation Stage could use spiritual consciousness, and this technique was clearly not suitable for them. Why would the Pao Shen Sect use such a technique as a test? You have to know that most of the cultivators here are Jindan cultivators, who are incapable of cultivating spiritual consciousness.

Sure enough, within half a minute everyone felt the difficulty. No matter how hard they tried, they could not practice according to the instructions. Some of them even tried to force their spiritual power, but immediately suffered backlash and vomited blood.

However, they did not think that there was anything wrong with the technique. Instead, they felt dejected and thought that they were not qualified enough. They looked up and pondered the technique in the air over and over again.

Half an hour passed, and as expected, no one could complete the practice of this set of exercises. The ones who fared better were the six Nascent Soul cultivators at the front. After all, they were one major realm higher than the others. Although they had not practiced spiritual consciousness specifically, they were still stronger than the others and had already touched the threshold.

"Fellow Daoist Chu, I have no idea what's going on here." Qu Tengfei looked at her with a dejected expression, his brows full of helplessness at not being able to comprehend the martial arts.

"I can't practice it either." Qiu Ci shook her head and didn't practice it at all. Not to mention that this technique was not a great thing. If she really practiced it, her spiritual consciousness would be exposed. Besides, she didn't want to be a walking corpse.

"Alas! Perhaps my talent is too poor." A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. "I should have known earlier that becoming a walking being wouldn't be so easy."

He sighed, took a deep breath, and fixed his gaze on the technique again, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to try a few more times, but it was still in vain. Most of the people in the hall were like him, repeatedly trying and failing. Many were injured by the backlash, but not seriously, just spitting blood or something like that, not seriously hurting the core.

Qiu Ci also mixed in with these people, pretending to be a loser who could not understand the martial arts at all. As an hour passed quickly, the formation in front of him darkened and the martial arts text in the air disappeared.

The dozen or so tokens that were originally lying quietly on the long table suddenly flew into the air, and then flew one after another towards the monks in the hall.

Is this... the chosen person?

Everyone was both delighted and nervous. They still didn't know the criteria for choosing the winners, so they could only stare at the dozen or so tokens. The first to receive the tokens were six Nascent Soul cultivators, and the tokens flew straight towards them.

Next came several Jindan cultivators, but the selection was also quite random. Qiu Ci took a closer look and saw that their cultivation levels ranged from high to low, with those just entering the Jindan stage and those reaching the full circle. There were even some who had just started their training and had suffered several backlashes. Until a wooden sign stopped directly in front of her...

Qiu Ci, who had been paddling the entire time, said: "..."

what the hell!

Is this elder of the Lianshen Sect blind?
"I... I've been chosen. I'm walking!" Just as he was thinking about this, Qu Tengfei next to him suddenly exclaimed, turning around, holding a token like a treasure, "Fellow Daoist Chu... Hey! You've been chosen too! Quick! Take the token!"

He quickly pushed her and urged her while saying ecstatically, "Great, we'll both be able to walk from now on!"

Qiu Ci's mouth twitched, and although he was reluctant, he still reached out to take the token.

I couldn't figure it out. I hadn't done anything, so why was I chosen? And what about the technique assessment just now? Was it completely unnecessary?

Before he could think about it, the door of the hall creaked open again.

The Foundation Establishment disciples who had led the way earlier walked into the hall again, still glancing coldly at the people inside, and said, "Those who have been chosen will follow me, the rest of you may leave."

After saying this, he turned and walked out of the hall, motioning the person who had received the token to follow him.

There were people in the hall who were suddenly happy and sad. The person who got the token excitedly followed the disciple out.

Qiu Ci followed silently. A careful count revealed that fifteen people had been chosen. She studied them for a long time, but couldn't discern the criteria for their selection. Aside from the Nascent Souls, the other nine Golden Cores didn't share any commonalities. Many had even suffered backlash from their previous training. It couldn't be that they were chosen for their perseverance, right? So how did she, a lazy person, choose them?