Apotheosis

The facial expressions of all outer disciples reflected the curiosity they felt.

Why did Master Su summon all the outer disciples to the plaza?

Another 15 minutes passed before all the outer disciples who were at Drizzle Peak gathered in the plaza.

Aura anxiously searched the faces of all outer disciples. Relief glinted in her eyes when she spotted Zen standing at the back of the crowd. Then she said slowly, "I have asked all outer disciples to assemble at the plaza because I have a task to give you."

"What task?"

"It must be an important assignment. Otherwise, she wouldn't have called us to the plaza."

"Don't we usually claim a task voluntarily? Why does she need to do in this way?"

Many outer disciples were confused and talked with each other.

Aura waited patiently till the outer disciples had stopped speaking. Then she announced slowly, "Your task is to chop the demon."

"Demon?"

"Chop the demon?" "Really?"

"They actually ask outer disciples to chop demons? Do they want us to die?"

The outer disciples continued to whisper among themselves. Some of the older disciples had to share a little history with the newer disciples.

Most warriors in the Burning Sky Empire had heard of the phrases, 'chop the demon' and 'kill the ogre' when they first started to learn martial arts.

It was uncanny that after hundreds of years, the demon was still human beings' greatest enemy, while the ogre wasn't.

Everyone knew that aside from humans, the continent was also home to demons and ogres.

The three races had many conflicts with each other, which led to endless war and much killing...

Over the ages, the humans and ogres had gradually become the weaker races while the demons had grown stronger. Finally, they had reached the stage where the demons were set on annihilating the humans and ogres.

The humans and ogres were naturally unwilling to await their doom. It is said that an enemy's enemy is a friend. The humans had no choice but to ally with the ogres.

This was why the ogre Princess Qi married someone from the Burning Sky Empire.

It was also the reason why Princess Yvonne from the Burning Sky Palace would marry some ogre far away.

Thus, the intermarriages of the princesses had allowed the humans and ogres to ally against their common enemy, the demons.

"Your task will be to follow the trail in the Sky Forest and find and slay demons. We are not asking our disciples to hunt down demons on the Shura Battlefield. We're testing you, not sending you to war. Five inner disciples and five outer disciples wil

concentric circles; each bigger than the previous circle.

"Over the next three days, we will be testing the disciples to see who can get the closest to this demon. The disciples who can manage this task will be qualified for the trial to chop the demon!" After speaking, Aura reached out with her hand and removed the yellow cloth.

A collective, terrified gasp could be heard from the outer disciples as they saw the demon.

At the same time, a strong evil spirit spread from the demon. The outer disciples who had been the closest to the demon began walking backward at once. The crowd didn't stop until they were more than 70 feet away.

The demon looked like a human being, but it was much fatter and grotesque looking. Its body was covered in brownish-yellow skin. Two ugly eyes rolled on its head continually. Occasionally, it would focus its eyes on the outer disciples.

"It is looking at me. It is looking at me!" An outer disciple screamed before falling to the ground unexpectedly. He kicked his legs in fear as he scampered back. The disciple was so terrified that he had involuntarily wet himself.

Others were not that scared. However, when the demon glanced at a disciple, the normal reaction would be for the disciple to scuttle away in fright.

Aura looked coldly at the disciples that had run away or screamed in terror. Then she shook her head and said, "This demon is unable to fight. If you want to qualify for the trial to chop the demon, you must try to get close to it!"

As soon as Aura stopped, an outer disciple stepped forward, saluted her and said, "Master Su, I want to try!"

The disciple was named Johnson Qiu, and he ranked 4th among the outer disciples at Drizzle Peak.