"HUH?"

Sui Wenyan looked at Lin Xiao with a frown. "What are you talking about? There are only some people who are staying at this place. The test will only start after New Year, which is two days from now."

"Have you come here before?"

"Come here? Of course not. If you don't want to participate, you're not allowed to come to Long Yin Forest," Sui Wenyan replied. "Because of that, the teleportation circle will not be activated if you're not qualified for the examination. You'll be sent to a faraway place if you insist."

Lin Xiao nodded. He had this inkling when he saw the people who were walking around were all young men and women except for the villagers. The villagers were all elderly and they stayed just to sell items.

But their items were all valuable items, which made him certain that these villagers who looked no different than ordinary person was actually someone very powerful. However, he would need to check them one by one if he wanted to find out.

"What do you want to do, Brother?"

"Visit them."

Walking to the nearby stalls, Lin Xiao looked down. His eyes showed astonishment when he saw the weapons in front of him. Everything was in extremely good condition and had high rank. Even the weapon in his hand couldn't be compared to the weapons in front of him.

"Do you want to buy them, Young Lads?" an elderly asked with a kind smile.

Lin Xiao smiled. "How much for one?"

"Not much, just 500,000 gold coins."

At this moment, Lin Xiao's smile stiffened. He didn't have that much money. Thanks to the herbs fanatic named Lin Yun and Wenren Yu, his money was already drained terribly until there was only little bit left.

How could he afford this expensive sword?

Lin Xiao then swept his gaze on the elderly in front of him. To his astonishment, the man in front of him was only at Body Training Rank 6. While it was possible to hide one's cultivation rank, it was hard to hide it in front of someone who was stronger.

'Did he fake his cultivation?'

While Lin Xiao was confused, he chose to walk around again. The other three following behind him as he practically walked to every stalls that existed. Every elderly people he tried to scan were only at Body Training rank 6 to 7. There was no one that was at Foundation Establishment.

Lin Xiao was baffled.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

"Let's find a place to rest for the night. It's going to go dark soon," Lin Xiao replied but his expression was odd.

"Alright."

There were people who stayed there, but there was no inn. Because of that, Lin Xiao and the rest headed to the forest and then picked an empty tree was located not far from the areas of houses.

Sui Wenyan was curious. "Why are you talking with all the elderly there?"

"Because they're not participants." Lin Xiao looked at the other participants and realized that many were thinking the same thing as him. However, he knew that there was something that he must have missed.

"And?"

"And there's no instruction at all. Everyone only know that you have to come to Long Yin Forest to participate in the selection and the fact that the examination is different each year. However, there's no teacher in this place or there are teachers, but they didn't show themselves."

Wenren Yu furrowed his brows. "I thought they'll only appear on the day of examination."

"Same."

Lin Yun chose not to say anything and quietly looked at the areas where the houses existed. His expression turned slightly odd. "What if there's actually someone else aside from the elders?"

"Yes?"

"The village is just this big but it didn't mean that the people here are all the citizen who lived here. After all, the number of the houses is more than the number of the villagers."

"Oh?"

It was then they realized that Lin Yun was correct. There were only 7 elderly inside the village but there were 8 houses that was present. If one didn't pay attention, they might not realize that there was one house without stalls at the front of the house. The position of the houses made them would only think of that small one as nothing more but storage rooms.

Lin Xiao looked at the small house that looked different. "In that case, do you want to try coming there?"

"Now?"

"If we come now, wouldn't we attract the attention of others?"

Sui Wenyan furrowed her delicate brows as she straightened her seat. Her fingers slowly moved and the sound of zither rang in the quiet forest. Some people looked in their direction then turned their head around again as if there was no one there.

"Wenyan?"

"There's barrier. If we walk into the barrier, it'll make us look as if we disappear," Sui Wenyan replied with a faint smile. Internally, she was thoroughly cursing herself. She had heard that the test was unusual but to think that they would be tested even before the time for the examination.

She felt that the one who designed the examination was very devious.

"Let's try to go there."

"Alright."

Under Lin Xiao's lead, they began to walk into the village once more. The elderly had already retreated one by one because it was already night time. Only some cultivators were still wandering around the area and tried to figure out what the purpose of this place was.

Aside from buying some meat, Lin Xiao and the rest didn't really do anything.

Tep!

The moment Lin Xiao stepped into the barrier, he could sense his surroundings changed. The view of the small house that looked no different than storage house changed to a clear path with trees by the side.

"What is this?" Lin Xiao was stunned.

Behind him, the other three couldn't say anything either as they stared at the path before them.