After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

Huo Yu put away the seven-leaf hibiscus that he had only absorbed half of, and felt that his soul had returned to its original reborn state. The damage to his soul caused by his previous forced battle with Huang Xiao had been completely repaired.

It is expected that after complete absorption, the strength of the soul will be restored to the Golden Core stage, after which another method will be needed.

Therefore, Huo Yu was determined to obtain the subsequent mental techniques of the Soul Refining Chapter and the more advanced methods for refining Soul Banners.

However, two years passed in the blink of an eye. The incorrect estimate of the time required to refine the Seven-Leaf Hibiscus completely disrupted Huo Yu's original plan, and now he can only take it one step at a time.

Fortunately, he could sense that Long Yucheng was still alive through the Heart-to-Heart Jade. If Long Yucheng had died during the two years he was in seclusion, it would have been a real loss.

Huo Yu closed his eyes to calm his thoughts.

Not long after, a deep bell rang in the ears of all the outer disciples of the Yellow Springs Sect, announcing the official start of the outer disciple assessment.

For the disciples of the Yellow Springs Sect, the outer sect assessment was the real entrance examination, far more challenging than the insignificant test they underwent upon entering the sect.

The assessment results determine whether one is nourishment for other disciples in the Yellow Springs Sect, or whether one uses other disciples as nourishment for oneself.

As the first melodious bell rang out, hundreds of figures sped out from the secluded cultivation area, like arrows released from a bow, heading straight in the same direction—the summit of the fourth peak where the outer disciples resided.

As the third bell rang, all the outer disciples had gathered around the massive martial arts arena atop the fourth peak, whether they were seasoned veterans or newcomers who had been there for less than four years.

Although the latter do not participate in the competition, they can learn about the potential opponents in advance by watching the matches. Some even directly select their prey from the outer sect during the assessment.

Huo Yu also stood on the outer edge. He arrived relatively late in order to stay away from the center of the crowd.

Most disciples rushed forward to get a better view of the battle, but a few, like Huo Yu, chose to stay away from the crowd and watch from the sidelines.

Of course, some people closed their eyes and regulated their breathing, indifferent to everything that was about to happen on the martial arts stage.

Long Yucheng wanted to push forward, but because he arrived too late, he had already lost the opportunity and was forced to stay on the outermost edge.

However, it was precisely because of this that he spotted Huo Yu, who was also lounging around on the edge of the crowd, and he was overjoyed, so he came over and called out "Senior Brother".

Because of the existence of the Love Heart Jade, Huo Yu knew Long Yucheng's location even before he landed.

Given Huo Yu's personality, even if Long Yucheng were standing right in front of him, he wouldn't take the initiative to greet him.

Therefore, Huo Yu simply nodded expressionlessly in response to Long Yucheng's enthusiastic smile.

Long Yucheng was already used to his senior brother's aloofness and didn't take it to heart at all. He simply stood beside Huo Yu, looking at the stone martial arts platform, which was about the size of two football fields, with a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but more so with guilt.

"I wonder what this assessment is about. Judging from the way it's being conducted, it's not going to be a one-on-one battle, is it?"

Clearly, this person also signed up for this outer sect assessment.

Upon hearing this, Huo Yu glanced at Long Yucheng. The other party's cultivation had improved again in the past two years, and he had broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Although his progress has slowed considerably compared to his initial rapid pace, Long Yucheng's cultivation speed, as a mixed spiritual root with four attributes, is still considered exceptionally gifted.

However, with only the cultivation level of the seventh level of Qi Refining, he was definitely not considered outstanding among all the outer disciples present.

Nearly a third of the people around were Foundation Establishment stage disciples, and among the remaining Qi Refining disciples, after removing those who were just watching the excitement, probably less than half were actually participating in the assessment.

Even among this group, most were forced to come and fight because their time in the outer sect had expired.

Huo Yu had already experienced Long Yucheng's mysterious confidence before, and now he felt that it was normal for him to be like that.

Actually, Long Yucheng hadn't initially planned to sign up, but after returning from the cultivator's ruins, the system seemed to finally realize he was a demonic cultivator, clearing all the side quests about eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path, and giving him a new one:

Side Quest: Pass the Outer Sect Assessment of the Yellow Springs Sect

The reward was a Foundation Establishment Pill!

Speaking of the Foundation Establishment Pill, Long Yucheng couldn't help but curse this garbage system in his heart several times.

Although the system's points mall theoretically has everything and you can buy anything, the purchase privileges will only be unlocked after Long Yucheng reaches a certain cultivation level.

Long Yucheng, who was in the Qi Refining stage, could not buy cultivation techniques, pills, and magic weapons for the Foundation Establishment stage.

The most ridiculous thing is that the system actually categorized the Foundation Establishment Pill as a Foundation Establishment stage pill!

In other words, Long Yucheng couldn't buy Foundation Establishment Pills without establishing his foundation, and he couldn't establish his foundation without Foundation Establishment Pills—he had a fairly realistic understanding of his own talent—and thus fell into a vicious cycle.

What's worse is that Long Yucheng has been consuming the Qi Refining stage pills sold in the points mall like food every day, and he has developed a resistance to them. Their effects on him are visibly decreasing, otherwise he wouldn't only be at the seventh level of Qi Refining now.

After much deliberation, Long Yucheng realized that his cultivation efficiency was decreasing, so he might as well sign up for the outer sect assessment and give it a shot.

The reason he arrived late today was because Long Yucheng knew that his cultivation level was only average among the outer disciples, so he spent a lot of points to exchange for a lot of talismans from the system. He exchanged a bunch of attack, defense and support talismans. Although the grades were all very low, they were cheap.

One point for one ticket, honest and fair, large quantity and unlimited.

When he heard the bell today, Long Yucheng was still practicing how to use these talismans, which is why he was a little late.

Unaware of the many twists and turns in the story, Huo Yu's thoughts were simple: with him here, Long Yucheng would at least not be beaten to death by others, so there was nothing to worry about.

As the last bell tolled and faded, a streak of crimson light rushed from the summit of the first peak, hovering above the martial arts arena, and transformed into an old man in red sitting cross-legged.

Thus, the outer sect assessment officially began.

Strangely, the old man in red did not read out any rules; he simply called out names randomly, ordering those called to come up on stage to compete.

There was no explanation of the evaluation criteria, nor any rules for winning. Yet, everyone present had no objections, clearly indicating that they all understood the evaluation rules.

The old man seemed to be pointing at whoever he thought of. The first battle was between a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in black robes and a early-stage Foundation Establishment masked female cultivator.

Although the two cultivators differed by two minor realms, the female cultivator possessed two Hundred Soul Banners, which could unleash nearly a hundred wandering souls with a single strike, almost covering half of the martial arts arena. The scene was quite spectacular, and the two fought back and forth.

After ten moves, the masked female cultivator was ultimately defeated due to the difference in their cultivation levels.

However, the red-robed elder announced that the masked female cultivator had become an inner disciple of the Soul Refining Peak, while the black-robed cultivator had failed the test.