Seeing over a dozen beams of light flash at once, the Elder in charge of receiving the candidates was stunned. He hadn't expected so many candidates to crush their Help Stones and arrive in this area at the same time. Generally, this was a very rare event.
Even when they encountered danger, there was always some staggering. No matter how much of a coincidence it was, it was impossible for so many candidates to crush their Help Stones and forfeit the examination at the exact same moment.
Unless, these people had forfeited voluntarily!
This Elder's name was Wan Sibo. He had overseen many sessions of the House Entrance Examination and served as the Elder in charge of the elimination zone numerous times. Yet, in all that time, he had only encountered a situation with more than ten candidates arriving simultaneously three times.
One time, a group of candidates had run into a Level 5 Demon Beast. The beast unleashed a wide-ranging Skill, forcing the candidates to crush their Help Stones at the same time to save their lives.
The second time, two groups of candidates got into a fight. The weaker group was defeated and collectively crushed their Help Stones to forfeit the examination. That was the largest group yet, with over thirty people.
However, this was now the third time. Elder Wan Sibo never thought he'd live to see this happen a third time.
After being teleported out, the dozen or so candidates looked completely dejected. Their expressions were awful—a mixture of indignation, resentment, and helplessness.
Of course, Elder Wan Sibo had seen such expressions many times. Every candidate who ended up in the elimination zone wore one.
Elder Wan Sibo paid it no mind and went about his duties, beginning the process of dismissing these candidates.
His work went smoothly. Of the dozen or so candidates, only one was injured and sent to the Elder in charge of healing. The rest were not just fine—they were completely unharmed and ready to be dismissed immediately!
Seeing that the candidates who had appeared in the elimination zone together were completely unscathed, Wan Sibo was somewhat displeased.
'Kids these days can't handle the slightest setback,' he thought. 'They give up at the first sign of trouble. They're so different from the candidates of my generation. Even if you run into a stronger opponent, you have to at least put up a fight, right? How can you expect to get ahead if you're not willing to risk it all?'
'Who gives up without a single scratch on them, like these candidates?'
'This year's batch of candidates is just pathetic...' After grumbling to himself for a moment, Elder Wan Sibo arranged for a few West Mansion Disciples to escort the uninjured candidates out of Jiuji City.
However, he had just sent that group of candidates out of Jiuji City and hadn't even finished his internal complaints when—BUZZ!—another dozen beams of light flashed within the yellow-lined elimination zone. Another group of over ten candidates had crushed their Help Stones at the same time and been teleported to him.
'Huh? Another dozen or so candidates just crushed their Help Stones and forfeited the House Entrance Examination at the same time?'
Elder Wan Sibo froze. He had just witnessed a rare event twice in one day, back-to-back, less than ten minutes apart. This was truly bizarre.
What's more, just like the previous group, these candidates were also completely unharmed. Some of them didn't even have a speck of dirt on their clothes, yet they had forfeited the House Entrance Examination!
Frowning with displeasure, Wan Sibo found it all too coincidental. 'How could two separate groups be in the exact same situation?'
'Are candidates these days really this fragile?' But he didn't dwell on it. No matter how strange the situation was, his job had to be done. After a moment's pause, Elder Wan Sibo again arranged for the West Mansion Disciples to escort the eliminated candidates out of Jiuji City.
BUZZ!
After that group of simultaneously eliminated candidates was escorted out of Jiuji City, the number of arrivals in the elimination zone finally returned to normal. One or two candidates would appear, the intervals were as expected, and each one was covered in wounds, looking as if they had crushed their Help Stone only after giving it their all.
'Finally, back to normal. It must have just been a coincidence after all.'
Elder Wan Sibo breathed a sigh of relief. With two consecutive batches of candidates being eliminated at once, he had thought something terrible had happened. It was good that things had returned to normal.
However... Just as Elder Wan Sibo breathed that sigh of relief and began to relax, a new wave of lights appeared simultaneously. This time, it wasn't just a dozen or so—it was more than forty!
This surpassed the largest number Elder Wan Sibo had ever seen at once!
More than forty beams of light flared at once within the yellow-lined elimination zone, a sight that was as dazzling as it was shocking.
Wan Sibo was completely dumbstruck... This... 'What in the world is going on? I've seen a situation that's normally a rare sight three times in one day? And each time it gets bigger?'
'First, it was groups of a dozen or so, and now it's more than forty. Is this for real?'
And most importantly... These forty-plus candidates had also crushed their Help Stones and teleported out without a single scratch!
'Are they treating the House Entrance Examination like some kind of game?'
'Is no one willing to even try?' 'Quitting without even getting hurt?'
Elder Wan Sibo couldn't stay put any longer. He had to go over and ask what was going on.
But before he could even reach the eliminated candidates... BUZZ~! Within the yellow-lined area, yet another multitude of lights flared up at once...
This time, it was another group of more than twenty people! A fourth time!
He had now witnessed this rare event a total of four times today! And all in a row!
Adding this new group of twenty-plus, the number of candidates now standing in the yellow-lined area was sixty!
What the hell was going on? Elder Wan Sibo strode over to the group of forty-plus candidates, grabbed one of them, and demanded, "What happened to you all? Why did so many of you forfeit the examination at once? And none of you are even hurt! What in the world is going on?"
The candidate he questioned was taken aback at first. 'A West Mansion Elder is actually this concerned about eliminated candidates?' he thought. 'How thoughtful. This is the West Mansion, the strongest power in the Western Domain, after all.'
'You probably wouldn't find an Elder this compassionate anywhere else, would you?'
A warm feeling spread through the candidate's chest. He then said respectfully to Elder Wan Sibo, "Elder, we were robbed by the candidates from the North District. They forced us to crush our Help Stones, threatening to kill us otherwise. We had no choice but to crush our Help Stones and forfeit this House Entrance Examination."
"R-Robbed? By candidates from the North District? And they forced you to crush your Help Stones? Are you sure they were from the North District? You're not joking, are you?" Elder Wan Sibo asked, incredulous.
"I'm absolutely not joking. Every word I said is the truth. If you don't believe me, you can ask them."
As he spoke, the candidate gestured toward the others around him. The candidates he indicated all nodded at Elder Wan Sibo, confirming his story.
"Alright. And you candidates over there? What about you? Why did so many of you forfeit at the same time?"
Elder Wan Sibo then asked the group of over twenty candidates.
"Uh, we were also robbed by the candidates from the North District. They forced us to quit, or they'd kill us. They had already killed some of our people before, so we were afraid of them and just crushed our Help Stones together to forfeit."
A candidate from the group of over twenty people stepped forward and replied.
"You were also robbed by the North District candidates? Forced to crush your Help Stones?" Elder Wan Sibo said, astonished.

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