Boom!

A muffled boom echoed out, its faded power barely scattering the water of the gentle stream.

Splash!

Startled by the boom, the fish in the stream scattered in all directions. John frowned as he watched the fish swim away from his fishing line, as he had just nearly caught one. His eyes shifted towards the center of the testing area, where the muffled boom had come from.

"Seems like the fighting has started. That attack sounded quite powerful as well. I wonder who was on the receiving end?

"

John thought about it for a moment before his gaze shifted to the waters before him once more as he cast out his line once again. He sat back in a chair he had taken out of his spatial realm, and relaxed as he started to fish the day away.

The sound of parting brushes behind him sounded out, before a commanding voice entered John's ears.

"You there...give me your badge, or don't blame me for being heavy handed.

"

John turned to look over his shoulders and spotted a boy who was in the Mid Meridian Forging Realm. He appeared to be one of the stronger youths in the test, and had managed to stumble across John's fishing oasis.

A soft sigh escaped John's mouth as he put away his fishing rod and stood up from his chair. His body blurred forward, which was followed by some loud bangs and horrified screams, before he quickly sat back in his chair and took out his fishing rod once more.

The bag attached to his hip, which contained his identification badge, now included one more.

…

In a different area of the testing ground, Chase was walking through the thick forest, several pills in hand. The pills each emanated a unique fragrance and aura, and at a quick glance, one could tell the pills were not for consumption.

Chase suddenly dodged to the side, as the ground was upheaved where he had just been standing. A boy appeared in the small crater that had just been formed, and quickly turned around to look at Chase who had barely dodged his attack.

His face scowled slightly, and he pointed to Chase in an overbearing manner.

"Give me your badge, or face my wrath,

" the youth yelled out confidently. His cultivation was at the Early Meridian Forging Realm, the same as Chases. However, he did not feel an overwhelming combat prowess coming from Chase.

Chase remained silent for a moment before he replied to the boy.

"You know, you should really pay more attention to your surroundings.

"

"What?

" the boy replied with a confused expression, before he looked down at his feet after feeling something below him. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed tree roots had already circled around his ankles and had started creeping up his legs.

"What the hell is this?

" the youth cried out as he tried to kick his legs out of the root shackles but was unable to. His power suddenly flared as he attacked the roots with great might, which broke under the power of the attack.

However, new roots instantly took its place, wrapping up the youth once more. Some of the roots pricked into the flesh of the boy, breaking the skin and drawing a small amount of blood.

"Fuck off!

"

The youth exploded with absolute power, as lightning danced off his body in every direction. The roots holding his legs shattered, and the youth looked at Chase with an angry expression.

Chase looked back with a relaxed expression, before a small smile crept up on his face.

"Too late,

" Chase said to the youth, who suddenly felt his head grow heavy.

"Wha...what the hell is happ-

"

Before the youth could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Chase stared at the boy for a moment before walking forward and taking the identification badge off his body.

His other hand, which had been holding the various pills, now contained one less pill. Chase quickly replaced the pill with an identical one as the one which was missing, before he continued walking deeper into the testing area.

…

"Gah…

" a panicked cry echoed out loudly from Adam as his body sped forward at incredible speeds.

Behind him, a young girl, who had a cultivation at the Early Meridian Forging Realm was chasing Adam. Adam, who only had a cultivation at the Half-Step Meridian Forging Realm, was too far behind in power to contest against the girl that was chasing him.

As such, he had elected to run at his fastest speeds away from the girl, who frowned as she unleashed attack after attack on Adam, but none seemed to do anything to him. Another lightning beam pierced forward towards Adam, which seemed to veer to the side at the very last moment, barely missing him.

The girl frowned as she saw this, as she had not directed her attack to veer to the side like that. She had unleashed many other attacks towards Adam, which all seemed to veer to the side at the last moment and barely miss him.

Adam sped behind a large boulder, disappearing from the girls vision for a few seconds as she raced to catch up. The girl quickly rounded the large boulder, and stopped in her tracks as her eyes searched in every direction. However, she was unable to any traces of Adam, who had seemed to disappear into thin air as soon as he went behind the boulder.

Her divine sense flared out, but it too was unable to detect anything.

"Tch,

" the girl sneered as she realized she had lost her prey.

She had no idea what was going on, as her power was far beyond Adam's cultivation level wise. She should have been able to easily catch him and take his badge, but Adam was like a slippery fish, too devious to catch.

Not only was his speed far greater than a Half-Step Meridian Forging youth should have, but the strange ability to make her attacks miss also baffled her. Lastly, he had simply vanished, baffling her even more.

Her foot stomped down on the earth below in an agitated manner, which shook the nearby area with its power, before she sped off in another direction.

The area remained silent for some time before a soft sigh sounded out from behind a nearby tree. Adam walked out from behind the tree, and his expression quickly turned from one of fear to one of confident pride.

"Hahahahah, I knew my formations would be far too profound for these simple youths to handle. The Elder said I only need to ensure I keep my badge. With these powerful formations of mine, that will be an easy task to achieve. I truly am a genius hahaha!

"

Adam's laughter echoed loudly through the valley, as several others heard it and sped towards him.. His laughter quickly ceased as he spotted a powerful youth speeding towards him, and he screeched out in panic and fear as he once again began to flee through the valley.