Chapter 174


    Benedict made his way forward and stood across from Brandon.


    The north wind was howling. Suddenly, it started snowing heavily, making the atmosphere deste.


    Benedict and Brandon were about to have the showdown of a lifetime.


    However, Brandon was a feeble old man, while Benedict was in his prime.


    As Jonathan watched them closely, the rest of the candidates had their eyes glued to them as well.


    At that moment, Lah announced the start of the test with an icy look in her eyes.


    Brandon swiftly made his move.


    As he moved, all one could see was his afterimage. He exuded a powerful aura and vitality. Just a


    second before, Brandon was nothing more than a frail old man. In the blink of an eye, he had turned


    into a deadly monster. The sudden change in his aura was absolutely terrifying.


    Brandon was like a tree standing strong in the winter cold. Beneath the dead leaves on the surface, it


    was still brimming with life.


    His strength could shatter one''s soul.


    It was said that when people fell to their deaths, some of them died from fear before even hitting the


    ground. Simrly, the power of an expert like Brandon was enough to scare one so much that they lost


    their guts instantly.


    It was the same reason why soldiers would turn tail and run in the middle of a battle.


    The fire in Benedict''s heart fizzled out immediately in the face of Brandon''s explosive strength. Initially,


    he had made a n so that he wouldst at least three seconds in the fight. Despite that, he


    completely nked out and forgot everything once he saw Brandon make his moves.


    Boom!


    Benedict''s vision went ck. He felt a powerful force m into his chest before he was sent flying and


    then crashing onto the ground. He didn''t evenst a millisecond, much less three seconds.


    Even though Benedict was at the middle stage of Nascent Soul, he only gained more strength. He


    didn''t have his own force field or aura.


    That was why he was so thoroughly rattled by the sudden outburst of Brandon''s aura.


    Meanwhile, Brandon lowered his head once again. It was as if he was nothing but a pathetic old man. It


    was hard to believe that the intimidating man just moments before was him.


    Lah, on the other hand, expressionlessly pointed at another candidate. “Your turn,” she stated.


    Smack! Brandon sent that one flying with a single punch as well.


    There was no trace of emotion in Lah''s gaze. Meanwhile, a few of the old men whose grandsons had


    been defeated had already left with their grandsons.


    Jonathan could tell that Brandon was at the middle stage of Nascent Soul.


    However, despite the fact that Brandon was at the same stage as the other candidates, he was in a


    completely different league. That was because Brandon had an immeasurable amount of blood on his


    hands. The wicked aura that he emanated was iparably horrifying.


    It would be hard for anyone to defeat him.


    Not everyone who had reached Nascent Soul was worthy of achieving Immortal Level.


    First of all, they would need to have a strong foundation backing them up. They needed a lot of


    experience inbat.


    Nascent Soul experts who had been trained in a sheltered environment were essentially like newborn


    babies. Despite their qualifications, they were no better than an ordinary citizen in the real world.


    However, that didn''t mean there were no actual experts participating in the examination.


    In the following matches, Jonathan bore witness to a few truly terrifying experts.


    One of them was called Simon Sandler, who had reached the final stage of Nascent Soul. He was a


    lanky and tall man who seemed to be around thirty years old. The aura that he gave off made him


    seem like a demon who had crawled out from the depths of hell.


    In his battle against Brandon, Simon unexpectedly forced the former to back off in just three seconds.


    With that, Simon swiftly advanced to the next round.


    His cultivation was simply too powerful. Thus, he left a strong impression on Jonathan.


    However, Simon was a very aloof man. He didn''t look at anyone as he made his way to the space


    behind Lah.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    He was the first person to advance to the next stage.


    The second was a man called Chester Schnee, who looked to be twenty-five years old. He had a


    refined and tactful air to him. Chester''s movement was elegant, and he smoothly advanced to the next


    round soon.


    The third person to advance was Lesley Quinton. He was around twenty-eight years old.


    To Jonathan, he seemed like an honest and sincere man.


    Lesley was at the middle stage of Nascent Soul, and he practiced the Universal Punch. His techniques


    were fierce and steady. He followed his own method of alternating between attacking and defending.


    No matter how Brandon tried to press on him, Lesley was immovable.


    Three secondster, Lesley sessfully advanced to the next stage.


    Another six people managed to advance after that.


    The tenth person was Catherine.


    She breezed through the fight with Brandon.


    At that point, nine of the candidates had been eliminated, while ten of them had advanced.


    Thest remaining candidate was Jonathan himself.


    On the surface, he seemed weak. He was only at the early stage of Nascent Soul, after all.


    Most of the candidates at that stage couldn''t even withstand a single blow.


    Other than Catherine and Simon, who were at the final stage of Nascent Soul, the other candidates


    who managed to advance were all at the middle stage of Nascent Soul.


    If Jonathan managed to advance to the next level, he would be the weakest among all of the


    sessful candidates.


    Lah''s face remained devoid of emotion.


    Stepping forward, Jonathan faced Brandon.


    Brandon then began making his move.


    Jonathan didn''t want to show too much of his power, so he used Shadow Step to dodge. He then used


    Antelope Rhythm to evade Brandon''s continuous attacks.


    Three seconds passed by in no time at all. There wasn''t a single scratch on Jonathan.


    Thus, he managed to advance to the next stage.


    Out of a hundred candidates, ten of them had made it to the next round.


    Lah announced, “This is the end of the test for today. There will be another round tomorrow. After


    that, you can officially be part of the external disciples of the Divine Realm.”


    Jonathan let out a sigh of relief after hearing that.


    Lah then got the staff behind her to escort the candidates to get some rest.


    Afterward, Jonathan grabbed Catherine''s hand and walked over to Yareth. He greeted, “Hello,


    Grandpa.”


    Yareth smiled. “Go on.”


    He didn''t have much to say.


    Thus, Jonathan and Catherine proceeded to leave.


    Yareth bid farewell to Lah as well.


    Following Lah''s instruction, the staff took everyone to the shared dorm first.


    Out of the eleven candidates there, Catherine was the only girl.


    There were six bunk beds in the dorm for twelve people. The Divine Realm hadn''t prepared any special


    amodation for Catherine.


    Considering the circumstances, she had no choice but to bear with it.


    The staff member who was in charge of leading them around was called Shane Wendell. He was a


    Chanaean Anndurn in his thirties. He used to be a department head in Anndur before he applied


    to work at the Divine Realm.


    Shane was a stern and meticulous man. He announced, “All of you have one hour to rest. After that, I''ll


    bring you guys to the cafeteria for your lunch. Please stay in the dorm until then. You are not allowed to


    wander around.”


    Then, he turned to leave.


    With that, the candidates began choosing beds for themselves.


    Jonathan chose one and instructed Catherine to take the bed above his, which she obeyed without


    hesitation.


    That was likely because of the agreement they had made before. Besides that, Catherine didn''t really


    care much about anything.


    Jonathany down. He hadn''t even closed his eyes when he sensed two peopleing his way.


    He immediately sat up and saw that it was Chester and someone called Elijah Murray.


    Elijah was around twenty-four years old. He was at the middle stage of Nascent Soul, and he was fairly


    skilled. He had a strong foundation in both Tiger''s Roar and Dragon''s Shield.


    Because of that, he was incredibly arrogant.


    However, the people around him were all exceptional, so he held his conceit back.


    Jonathan was the exception.


    As Chester and Elijah walked over, the former smiled at Jonathan before saying, “Hello, Jonathan.”


    All of the candidates knew each other''s names and backgrounds as Lah had publicized the name list


    beforehand.


    Jonathan stared at Chester in confusion. He didn''t want to be rude, so he simply smiled back and


    replied, “Hello, Chester.”


    “Can we sit on your bed?” Chester asked.


    Jonathan''s gaze turned wary. He was an experienced man who wouldn''t be fooled so easily. There was


    a possibility that the two of them would suddenly go berserk and take his life. The Divine Realm


    wouldn''t stand on his side, either. They would just say that he deserved to die.


    On top of that, it would be pointless to stand on his side because he would be dead by then.


    Thus, he stood up and said, “Sure.”


    He would stand up while the two of them sat down.


    Chester was slightly surprised by that. Still, he grinned and remarked, “You''re a smart one, Jonathan.”


    There was a fake smile on Jonathan''s face as he asked, “Is there a reason why you two came to me?”


    Since Jonathan stood up, Chester and Elijah did not sit down. Chester stated, “It''s thanks to fate that


    we''re all here together. That''s why we want to get closer to you, Jonathan. We might join the Divine


    Realm together in the future, after all.”


    A candidate named Walter Norris immediately got up after hearing that. With a cynical tone, he


    mocked, “Haha! You love to scheme, don''t you, Chester? If you guys make it into the Divine Realm, the


    rest of us will just be your background characters, won''t we?”


    There were only four slots, after all.


    Chester''s words had caused the others to feel displeased.


    Elijah swiftly turned to Walter and retorted, “What? You got a problem, brat?”


    Walter was an egoistic person as well. He wanted to refute, but when he looked at Chester and his


    gang, all he could do was sneer and stay quiet.


    Ignoring Walter, Chester turned back to Jonathan with a friendly expression. “Let''s be friends from now


    on, Jonathan. We''ll have to take care of each other.”


    Jonathan couldn''t help but rub his nose. He felt a little irritated.


    Chester was a people pleaser, and people like that loved to form cliques.


    On the other hand, the other candidates were all pretentious people who couldn''t be bothered with


    things like that.


    The thing that frustrated Jonathan was that Chester specifically chose him out of everyone else. He


    wondered if it was because he was the weakest in terms of cultivation, so Chester thought he would be


    an easy target.


    That was the obvious answer.


    Even so, Jonathan did not refuse. He didn''t want to make enemies for no reason. There were still many


    uncertainties at that moment.


    Thus, he grinned and eximed, “Of course we should help each other. I sure hope you''ll support me,


    Chester.”


    Chester was satisfied with Jonathan''s obedient response. He patted thetter on the shoulder and


    replied, “No problem.”


    Right then, Elijah leaned in and whispered curiously, “So, what kind of rtionship do you and


    Catherine have, Jonathan? It seems like she listens to everything you say. Is she your girl? Nice work,


    man. I can''t believe you managed to get yourself such a sexy woman.”


    “She''s my wife,” Jonathan uttered.


    That left Elijah dumbstruck. He clearly felt a bit embarrassed, and there was a trace of disappointment


    in his tone as he muttered, “O-Oh, I see.”


    Considering how gorgeous Catherine was, it was hard to resist her.


    An hourter, Shane brought them to the cafeteria to eat.


    It was a military cafeteria that was spacious and brightly lit.


    The snow outside was still heavy as ever. It covered the ground with ayer of white.


    In the cafeteria, a dense crowd of soldiers was eating.