Chapter 500: General Star
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The psychedelic formation was full of corpses, blood, and bones.
The geniuses inside it were strongly stricken. They hadn’t realized they were in a psychedelic formation and were only bystanders.
It was like a nightmare whose start had been forgotten, but the fear was endless.
And it was a very real nightmare. They could even smell blood and feel the biting wind created by the waving and cutting of those sharp weapons.
This was only the background of the psychedelic formation. The really unbearable part was the b.l.o.o.d.y killings.
They felt like they were in h.e.l.l. Everyone around them was like a madman, raising their arms as if they had a knife in hand and slas.h.i.+ng down repeatedly, imagining blood and flesh flying about.
They lost control of their own bodies, charging into enemies with blood-stained weapons in hand.
Their brains had stopped working. Their hearts were pounding extremely fast, but they felt nothing. They only knew about one thing—killing!
They would keep killing until darkness fell. They would never stop.
They enjoyed killing, but suddenly, everything went quiet, everyone on the battlefield disappeared, and those they had killed stood up again, questioning them as to why they had been killed while moving in a strange manner.
They had families and friends, too. Their wives and kids were expecting them at home.
As they spoke, they started to bleed all over their bodies. They dashed towards the geniuses in a threatening manner.
More youngsters on the square went crazy in the process, giving gut-wrenched shouts.
Although some mentally strong people made it through the traumatizing experience, the unreal shapes changed again. They weren’t afraid of ghosts or G.o.ds. They had killed tons of people. To them, human lives weren’t any more valuable than ants lives.
Over time, people with them cast them aside, regarding them as demons, and refused to stay near them.
As a result, after the horror-stricken screams, the remaining youngsters in the square sounded desperate.
Elder Li of the Infinite Sword School said nervously, “General Mu, I guess it’s time?”
Many of the disciples of the Infinite Sword School had been eliminated, too.
If the test went on, maybe only 10% of the candidates would remain.
Nevertheless, General Mu didn’t speak. He knit his black brows tightly. Putting quality before quant.i.ty, he wanted to make the most of the test. He wanted to find a star.
“General, check that man.”
Suddenly, a lieutenant of his pointed to a man at the farthest end.
No one would describe this man as star general material. He looked sick and weak. Although he was a Reaching Heaven State, he would look like an average man if he hadn’t had slowly-flowing strength in his body.
However, his performance was the best among all of the candidates. He had never screamed since the beginning.
There were changes in his expression from time to time, but they weren’t fear or desperation. The confusion on his face wouldn’t stay long before it was replaced with determination.
The psychedelic formation had in no way affected him mentally.
This was rare and commendable. The psychedelic formation didn’t aim to torture them and make them emotionless and insensitive.
Instead, it aimed for mental development, which would be the most precious quality on the battlefield.
If the election for star general had been held during the reign of the Dragon Dynasty, none of the candidates that General Mu had seen before the youngster would have qualified.
“You think he’s good?” General Mu asked the lieutenant who had spoken, without showing any sign of emotion.
“Yeah. The change of his expression never lasts for more than two seconds, even since the beginning,” said the lieutenant.
“Oh?” General Mu was surprised, since he had never noticed this young guy.
Notified by the lieutenant, he sized up the guy carefully and found it was true. Pleasant surprise finally sprang up in his eyes. However, seeing that the youngster wasn’t a disciple of the Infinite Sword School, Elder Li said, “I think he’s just ordinary. Can a sick man lead troops?”
But General Mu didn’t bother to respond to him. He said, “Terminate the psychedelic formation.”
Soon, the light pillars on the square disappeared. As the candidates screamed less and less, the psychedelic formation vanished completely.
Less than a third of the candidates remained in the square by that point.
“We’ll use a scoring system to evaluate your performance. Based on how well you were doing just now, you’ll be scored from one to ten. The five people who get the highest scores will receive the five positions,” said General Mu.
The youngsters hadn’t come to themselves yet after the psychedelic formation. They looked confused, not interested in their scores at all.
When they had finally come to themselves, the scoring was done. Everyone had a number over their heads.
People looked towards the six people with golden fight loops first and found they hadn’t done any better than those with silver loops.
All of them had a score between six and eight.
Those with copper loops were obviously worse. They’d only received fives on average.
People’s looks moved according to the level of fight loops. When they gave a quick glance at the edge and were ready to look away as soon as possible, they saw an incredible number.
A ten!
A golden ten. It looked so different, so eye-catching.
“It’s him!”
Peng Ying recognized him immediately. It was the guy who had almost had him disqualified from the compet.i.tion. He told his sister right away.
Peng Lan and the other five were still in shock at the golden ten, then she learned this was the guy she had been looking for. Of course she couldn’t restrain herself.
“General, may I ask why he got a ten?!” Peng Lan asked.
General Mu gave her a look. He didn’t speak, but his strong energy overwhelmed Peng Lan mentally.
“On the battlefield, unconditional obedience is fundamental. Military orders are imperative. No questioning will be allowed. You’re disqualified!” a lieutenant shouted in a deep voice after coming forward.
Peng Lan’s proud face grew stiff right away. There was shock in her eyes.
“General Mu—” said Elder Li.
“It’s not negotiable,” General Mu interrupted him in a cold voice.
Because of this, as one of the Double Heroines, Peng Lan was eliminated because of one sentence she had said. What was worse, her score had been the second best. She had received an eight.
Peng Lan turned red. She looked wronged and reluctant.
But apparently, she didn’t dare show it to the general. She turned around to look at the youngster who had a ten.
The youngster was Jiang Chen. He looked as though he had no idea what had happened. He sat there still, his eyes closed.
He hadn’t cheated. He had experienced the real ordeal of the psychedelic formation.
He could get through it because it was nothing compared to the killing intent of prehistoric fierce beasts that he had sensed when he had been helping Whitty develop his spiritual intelligence.
As for the mental change, he had managed to stay calm, too. He hadn’t been trapped by the designer of the psychedelic formation to fall into emotional blind spots.
It was the law of the jungle that governed the world. If he didn’t kill his enemies, the enemies would kill him. Then what would his family and friends do?
Suddenly, Jiang Chen sensed a strong wind coming at him. He opened his eyes and saw Peng Lan.
A person with golden fight loops, of course, wouldn’t accept being eliminated for such a trivial reason. Also because of her brother’s complaints, she launched an attack in front of the crowd.
“The disciples of the Infinite Sword School are different, aren’t they?” General Mu said in a cold voice.
“General, this is private. Peng Lan’s brother was bullied by that guy. She’s been holding her temper until now, when the scores were published.” Elder Li didn’t stop her. He didn’t like Jiang Chen, either.