The battle for the throne in Kowloon starts with the steady prince

Chapter 184 First Encounter with Calamity (Seeking monthly votes and continued reading)
Yue Chenfeng addressed the crowd, saying, "Alright, whether you know about calamities or not, calamities are very dangerous things. If you become official Golden Blade Guards, you'll be dealing with calamities every day. If you're not mentally prepared for this, you'd better leave now."

After these words were spoken, no one left.

Clearly, they had come prepared mentally for the Golden Knife Guard's assessment.

Seeing that so many people hadn't left, Qin Changge didn't dare to make any rash moves. One of his principles of caution was: never be too different; going with the flow and remaining inconspicuous was the best approach.

Yue Chenfeng continued, "Alright, since no one has withdrawn, the second round of assessments will begin."

"Now I will explain the rules of the competition. The second round will test your ability to carry out the mission. You must find the hostages trapped in the mountains and rescue them. I must remind you that there are super-grade calamities with gray eyes in the mountains and forests, which may attack you at any time. If you are corrupted by the calamities, it will be considered a failure, and the price of failure will be your life."

These words sent a chill down everyone's spines. They hadn't expected the Golden Knife Guard's assessment to be so cruel, not only to the examinees but also to the so-called "hostages."

Qin Changge didn't care, since the hostage was likely a death row inmate or prisoner, probably not one of their own.

The next moment, Yue Chenfeng said, "Now all you can rely on are the swords in your hands. These are specially made divine weapons that can kill calamities. You can only rely on them. Alright, I've finished speaking. Now you will begin the second round of assessment."

Upon hearing this, everyone entered the mountains and forests.

In fact, Qin Changge hadn't fully grasped the content of the second round of assessment. He pondered carefully; there were many hostages in the mountains and forests, who were likely imprisoned in caves or underground, certainly not in the sky.

Qin Changge didn't rush into the mountains to search aimlessly. Instead, she went to Yue Chenfeng and asked, "I want to know what's going on with these hostages. Are they simply hostages captured by the calamity, or is there some other reason?"

Seeing this, Yue Chenfeng nodded and said, "You really are the most talented among this group. The others are all idiots. They went in and searched blindly without even understanding the mission. They are the worst group I have ever seen."

Qin Changge was speechless; he didn't want to be so conspicuous.

At this moment, Yue Chenfeng pointed to someone beside him and said, "The people who were captured are villagers from nearby villages, including this brother's relatives. They were captured by bandits, not by the calamity. The calamity appearing in the forest was just an accident. So you can't just search randomly for hostages; you have to use your brains."

Qin Changge nodded. No wonder Yue Chenfeng made it clear from the beginning that this test assesses individual ability. The Golden Knife Guards wanted outstanding individuals, not "robots" who only obeyed orders.

Qin Changge looked at the people beside Yue Chenfeng and said, "I have a talisman called the Bloodline Tracing Talisman, which can find his relatives through bloodlines. Could I borrow a drop of this brother's blood?"

Yue Chenfeng's expression turned strange upon hearing this.

The other person nodded and said, "Of course I can. How could I refuse to find my family?"

This man was named Qin Hanyue, and his smile looked rather strange at that moment.

Without much thought, Qin Changge took out a Bloodline Tracing Talisman and said, "Drip your blood on it now, and you will soon be able to find your relatives."

Without hesitation, Qin Hanyue dripped a drop of blood onto the talisman. The Bloodline Tracking Talisman quickly brightened, but after hovering in the air for a moment, it vanished completely as smoke.

Qin Changge was stunned when he saw this.

Qin Hanyue and Yue Chenfeng both looked at Qin Changge with strange expressions and asked, "How is it? Did you find it?"

Qin Changge said, "The hostage is probably not your relative; you are just pretending to be in a relationship."

Qin Hanyue rolled his eyes at Qin Changge and said, "Of course, how could I possibly leave my family in the deep mountains for a small assessment? There are so many calamities in there, wouldn't that kill my family?"

Qin Changge said, "So the Bloodline Tracking Talisman can't be used, it's not my problem, it's your problem."

Yue Chenfeng said, "Young man, regardless of whose fault it is, your inability to bring out the hostages is your problem. Now, what other questions do you have?"

Qin Changge shook his head speechlessly.

Yue Chenfeng said, "Young man, let me remind you, there are only fifty hostages inside, while you have over a hundred. If you continue to waste your breath here, then we can only say sorry, we can't be colleagues anymore." Thinking of this, Qin Changge immediately entered the deep mountains.

Qin Changge arrived in the deep mountains and found many examinees running around like headless flies.

Qin Changge thought for a moment and began searching for the hostages. He figured they were usually hiding in caves, so he started looking for caves. He quickly discovered that many of the examinees had already found the caves, so it seemed the others weren't stupid either.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Changge used his divination abilities to locate the hostage. He tossed out three copper coins and obtained a hexagram, which he used to pinpoint the southeast direction.

Qin Changge ran southeast and found a cave. There should be hostages behind the cave.

Qin Changge saw a stone door in the cave, with a lock on it, meaning he needed to find the key. Finding the key would take too long, so Qin Changge simply punched the stone door.

With a loud bang, the stone door, seemingly made of a special material, remained completely still.

Qin Changge looked at his fists, somewhat speechless. He was a master of perfected body refinement, at the peak of the first rank. However, in the True Martial Continent, the peak of the first rank was the weakest. He had to start all over again.

Qin Changge could only start by finding the key.

Generally, the key is either on the person who closed the door or nearby. Since it's an assessment, there's no such thing as a robber who closed the door, so the key should be nearby.

Qin Changge racked his brains, searching the door from all sides, but couldn't find the key. Later, he found it under a large rock near the door.

Qin Changge nodded in satisfaction and opened the stone door.

After the stone door opened, he saw a figure, a person who was ragged, disheveled, and with disheveled hair.

Qin Changge approached and said, "I've come to save you. Now come with me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure walked out of the cave. Then, Qin Changge noticed that the person's eyes were gray, and a thought flashed through his mind: This person is not human, but a calamity.

Almost simultaneously, countless thorns pierced through Qin Changge Cave like javelins.

Qin Changge dodged the attack with a swift movement.

Qin Changge thought to himself, "This is a calamity. If I don't avoid it, it might turn into a calamity, and then I'm doomed."

Qin Changge was incredulous; this calamity was far too insidious. Without hesitation, he immediately unleashed hundreds of explosive talismans that flew towards the calamity.

Bang bang bang bang bang, a series of explosions rang out, and the calamity was instantly reduced to half its original size.

However, just as Qin Changge drew the Blood Shadow Blade, preparing to completely annihilate the calamity, it ran into the cave.

Qin Changge frowned, not in a hurry to enter the cave, after all, he didn't know what was inside.

After a while, two ragged and disheveled people came out.

Qin Changge was stunned.

The two spoke at the same time: "I am the hostage, he is the calamity."

Upon seeing this, Qin Changge realized that the calamity possessed the ability to transform others.

(End of this chapter)