Wu Guang's team was the third to enter while Lang Juan's team was the tenth to do so after the straws were drawn.

When Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu passed through the invisible wall the forest indeed did not change at all. Wu Guang's memories had enormous amounts of knowledge about forests, especially as his original plane was called 'Four Forests' and as the name implied had four enormous forests. Scanning the area he quickly found where the previous teams walked towards to and after indicating Yuan Taotu the tracks quickly choose the opposite direction and they both started moving.

They encountered a rune set after walking for a very brief time, it was a simple plate half-hidden into the trunk of a tree, but the light coming from the runes and the small qi current formed by an active rune plate were fairly easy to notice. After the plaque touched the plate the glow diminished slightly and the number 1 appeared on both.

"We have 4 full days and when the time ends the Plaques will deactivate showing it, so we need to find out 30 plates each day to get the maximum score. Let's get going" Wu Guang said and after noticing Yuan Taotu slight nod started walking while scanning everything around them.

***

When the plaque stopped working and the test ended, Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu did manage to find the 120 plates and score the maximum amount of points. As interactions were forbidden, they only saw the other teams from afar sometimes and did not talk even with Lang Juan and Duqi. Wu Guang used his senses to find most of the hidden plates but surprisingly Yuan Taotu was also hiding some secrets as he managed to find a pair of plates hidden underwater in one of the streams almost instantly after arriving near it.

If someone would have followed the pair during these four days, they would be surprised that they only exchanged five or six words in total between them, but seemingly were working along extremely fine. Asking Wu Guang about it would reveal that as he found his partner's manner of being silent pleasant, so he did not try to speak as well.

Finishing with no danger and with only a pair of arrows broken while hunting the small beasts that remained in these cleared areas, the test was actually extremely boring for both of them, and when it finished even Yuan Taotu expressionless face had a semblance of a smile.

Wu Guang actually was surprised by the extent of preparation that was done, after all, eliminating all dangers from a zone inside a forest was extremely hard but what was even more surprising was the Martial Palace Elder who did not elaborate on this and even implied this zones to be hard. But judging from the fact he also hid that they would be easier to score in, Wu Guang surmised that the Elder mainly wanted to test the resolve and courage of the participants.

Leaving from the area was a procedure that Cui Li had explained beforehand, so they walked towards the nearest edge of the zone, which was demarcated with a set of rune-covered poles. They not only served as an indication of the boundary but also prevented wild and spirit beasts from entering, at least during one week from their activation. Wu Guang guessed that the rest of this time will be also used for some kind of test as the poles could not be moved without deactivating. This conclusion was confirmed after he asked the inner disciple tasked with recovering and escorting them out. The answer was that for the next two days this area will serve as an inner circle battle zone.

When they arrived on the plaza they found out that scores were hidden, only said personally to the participants after the plaque was turned in and the badges recovered. Lang Juan and Duqi were already present and after they all got their badges back the group decided to return to the tower to rest. Cui Li had said that they could sleep there during these three nights of the week as well.

Wu Guang as the one with the most points decided to treat everyone to dinner, so before returning they bought food from one of the restaurants on the plaza.

Before eating everyone took a long time to wash and only while eating did they, well, excluding Yuan Taotu started speaking.

Lang Juan and Duqi managed to find 116 plates, which was a very good result and so they were not surprised when they found about the 120 that the Wu Guang team found.

The next test was supposed to be a knowledge test from the Wisdom Palace, but as it was in pairs no one could really guess how it would be applied, so after eating everyone decided to sleep. They also discussed finding a mentor, but Wu Guang had already decided to ask Xiao Feng. While for the Clansmen, Lang Juan mentioned that there was someone from the Clans in the inner Circle, so her uncle had sent her a message that there would be no problems with their mentor.

The next day they rose early and found that not only breakfast was served but also an outer disciple was waiting for them. The disciple explained that he was a part of the Mission hall so he did not take part in the 'Nascent Pride' tests but spent it accompanying groups like theirs.

The knowledge test location was the opposite of what anyone could expect, being a dungeon similar to the one they had passed for the disciple-in-waiting test. Wu Guang found later after some questions that it was actually the same underground building, with this simply being a different part of it.

The Elder responsible for explaining the rules was someone that Wu Guang had met during the questions entrance test and when the former saw Wu Guang he sent the latter a small nod accompanied by a smile. Noting the surprise on the face of the outer disciple serving as their guide, Wu Guang explained that this Elder was one of his examinants.

When the rules have been explained the question of how a knowledge test could be undertaken in pairs and why it was inside a dungeon was solved. It turned out that both members would advance on parallel paths and every question or puzzle solved by the participant would open the next room for his pair.

There was a similar amount of people present and only about twenty different doors, so the Elder announced that they would first be separated into groups for each door and then enter one by one, taking a pause of two incense sticks which was double the allowed time to pass any of the blockers. Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu did not hurry, and so, in the end, took their place as the 7th team for the third door from the right. As Lang Juan and Duqi were quicker they were the 3rd team for the 2nd door from the right.

With everyone formed, the Elder explained that the maximum score would be 20, which meant that each team member passed ten test rooms. Anyone who failed will be recovered via side doors, so they will not encounter anyone during their test. Speaking with or seeing their other team member was impossible except for the last test room that was supposed to be undertaken by both at the same time.

Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu turn arrived after an hour and they entered the door right away. Taking the left while Yuan Taotu took the right the pair advanced until the path was fully separated and after nodding to each other both walked forwards until reaching the first test room. For Wu Guang, it was a simple question room and the answer would have to be selected by inserting the stones with answers inscribed into the correct holes. The question was of medium difficulty for any Body cultivator, being about the correct order for the first three levels of the Spirit realm. Quickly choosing ethereal, solid, and expansion in order Wu Guang finished and neared the closed door that would let him advance. Yuan Taotu did not disappoint and the door was opened a moment right after he neared it.

Advancing like this Wu Guang cleared another 7 question rooms and one puzzle room, while Yuan Taotu seemingly did the same as the path forward always opened without delay. As for the last room, it was as explained a point where both of the team members met up. Right after entering and noticing each other, both proceeded to scan the room without any words or greetings. The room had a puzzle meant to be completed by two people at the same time and was actually based on cultivation knowledge.

The puzzle was dependant on timing, as a person would need to activate a rune plate that unblocked another one that the other one would need to activate, and like this, it went successively for 18 plates. And then the last two had to be activated at the same time.

Apart from timing, there was a correct order for activating them. Thankfully a full explanation was provided, so except for good coordination, there should be no issues.

Wu Guang took the side marked as 'Spirit' while Yuan Taotu moved to the other, the 'Body' one. The order was simply to activate the plates containing the names for these minor realms levels in opposite. Starting with the first (Qi) of the Body followed by the last Spirit (Dantian as world) and so on.

As every one of the plates would remain active for only a breath of time, the timing and coordination were really important indeed.

All this information came for the explanation and there was no need to double-guess it, so Yuan Taotu activated the first one right after Wu Guang nodded in confirmation.

Some moments later both of them simultaneously pressed their respective tenth one and successfully finished the test.