Legendary Beast Cultivator

The ugly door slowly shut behind Lin Yuan.

For a few seconds, none of the remaining disciples moved an inch. Everyone stared frantically at the ugly, crooked door.

Then they slowly turned to look at one another.

"What the hell just happened?"

"He went inside that ugly thing?"

"Why that door out of a hundred?"

"Did he discover some kind of hidden formation?"

"Maybe the ugly door is where the win is hidden!"

"But there are many ugly doors, why did he choose only that door?"

The confused questions lingered across the circular chamber, echoing loudly against the stone walls.

Elder Luo Jianfeng remained standing in the center of the hall, his hands tucked inside his gray sleeves. His expression was calm.

He said nothing. That deliberate silence made the candidates ten times more nervous.

Chen Ming scratched his head, his face frowning slightly. "That bastard Lin Yuan didn’t even bother telling us."

"No, we need to think on our own..." Lian Nichang folded his arms, frowning deeply. "Maybe he noticed an energy flow that the rest of us missed."

"He might have," Xiao Yanrui locked his gaze onto the ugly wooden door.

Huo Ren immediately stepped up, pointing a finger toward the doors. "Then why can’t we do the same thing?"

Chen Ming looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Lin Yuan walked right through a door and nothing bad happened to him," Huo Ren muttered, his eyes darting toward an enormous, majestic door carved with a blazing Phoenix. "Why can’t we just pick one and step through it?"

The academy disciples fell silent. It sounded reasonable, perhaps Lin Yuan had simply cracked the logic of the examination early or the first people to take the initiative and enter a door gained a massive advantage.

Or every single door was just a different trial path leading toward the same final destination. Nobody knew for sure. And that uncertainty began eating away at their minds like venom.

The time is slowly ticking and forty minutes remaining, but the disciples don’t know how much time is remaining.

The nine disciples from Green Hollow Academy formed a circle before the Phoenix carved door.

Chen Ming stared up at the magnificent bird soaring upon its surface. It looked almost alive, its massive wings stretching across the door, surrounded by elegantly carved golden flames.

"If Lin Yuan chose a door without a second thought..." Lian Nichang adjusted his robes.

"Then we should choose one too," Chen Ming continued immediately.

Xiao Yanrui gave an approving nod. "Standing here waiting won’t give us any new information."

"Then let’s move." Huo Ren grinned with anticipation.

One by one, the academy disciples approached the Phoenix door.

Chen Ming placed his palm against the cool wood.

"Well..." He looked back over his shoulder at the others. "If this turns out to be a massive trap, blame Lin Yuan."

Lian Nichang chuckled softly. "Why blame him?"

"Because he started this madness."

Chen Ming pushed the door open.

Chen Ming took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

He stepped across the door. Lian Nichang followed right beside Chen Ming, then Xiao Yanrui, and then the remaining academy disciples.

One after another, all nine disciples disappeared into the Phoenix door. The majestic door immediately swung shut.

The remaining outside candidates stared at the door again in silence. Nothing happened.

There is no announcement boomed from above., no golden light flared, and nothing like ancient formations activated.

A few tense minutes ticked by, and there are only 20 minutes remaining!!

"Why hasn’t anything happened yet?" One candidate with long, black hair frowned, stepping back.

Another short boy with orange hair whispered nervously. "Maybe we’re supposed to wait for a signal."

A third candidate nodded in agreement, stroking his chin. "Yes. If that door was the correct one, the elder would have triggered an announcement for the rest of us."

A girl with a pony tail and giggling boobs while she clutched her chest, stared frantically toward the closed Phoenix door. "Then let’s just wait and see."

The atmosphere in the massive chamber grew slowly suffocating. The hushed, frantic whispers slowly lingered in the hall.

Some candidates stared at the ugly door Lin Yuan had taken. Some watched the Phoenix door. Others desperately analyzed the remaining ninety-eight options.

"Maybe those academy disciples knew something we don’t."

"Of course they did!"

"They probably received insider hints before leaving their city!"

"Those academy bastards..." A tall boy from the western provinces gritted his teeth in bitter anger. "They came here on direct recommendations. They’ve probably practiced this trial."

"Then why did they rush into the Phoenix door?" A slim girl with blue hair asked, her eyes squinting slightly.

"Because they saw Lin Yuan move first!"

A few candidates cursed under their breath.

"Damn academy brats."

"They didn’t share a word with us."

"They’re probably already sitting in the inner sect laughing at us."

Meanwhile, Elder Luo Jianfeng remained standing still in the center of the hall. He simply observed, and his sharp eyes darted from one candidate to another.

He saw the ones overthinking every minor detail. He saw the ones falling into panic. He saw the ones trying to copy others. He saw the ones desperately waiting for a leader to make the choice for them.

He quietly had every reaction in his mind.

Another few minutes passed, but not a single sound came from the closed doors.

The Phoenix door remained silent, and then a few candidates began losing their composure.

"What if there is no announcement?!"

"What if we’re just standing here wasting precious time?!"

"Then pick a damn door!"

"Which one, smartass?!"

"You’re the one complaining, you pick first!"

"I don’t know which one is safe!"

The arguments grew louder and more aggressive. Finally, a few candidates broke away from the crowd and approached different doors.

One selected a pitch-black stone door. Another picked a blue door engraved with sea serpents. Another chose a plain wooden door. One after another... they stepped through.

But the vast majority still stood frozen on the floor, paralyzed by the simplest question. ’Which door is the right one?’

Only ten minutes remained, the circular chamber was almost unrecognizable. Only a fraction of the remaining hundred disciples were left crossing different doors.

The candidates who had entered earlier had vanished without a trace. There was still no reward, no confirmation, and no explanation.

A muscular boy suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. "Enough of this shit!"

Everyone turned to stare at him.

"I’m choosing right now!" He pointed a shaking finger at a massive crimson door. "I don’t care what’s behind it anymore!"

He strolled forward and stuck the door open. Another candidate immediately panicked and followed him inside. Then another. The panic crept through the chamber like wildfire.

"Wait!"

"Don’t just pick blindly!"

"I guess we only have a few minutes left!"

"I didn’t travel a thousand miles just to fail here!"

A few candidates scattered in all directions, frantically lunging toward doors.

Some chose based on colors. Some chose based on their own beast affinities. Some picked whatever looked the least dangerous, while others simply sprinted behind whoever moved fastest.

In those chaotic minutes, twenty-one candidates lunged forward into various doors. The chamber slowly fell silent once more. And seventy-nine candidates still remained, their faces pale.

Only five minutes remained, and the candidates remained stranded in the center of the hall.

They stared at the surrounding doors with pale, hollow faces and exhausted minds.

One candidate whispered, his voice cracking.

"What if..." He swallowed hard, stuttering slightly. "...what if there never was a correct door to begin with?"

Another candidate snapped instantly, his eyes frowning. "Then why the hell did they tell us to choose?!"

"I don’t know!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!"

Slowly the minutes passed on. A few candidates made a desperate walk toward the nearest wooden slabs. But, they remained frozen right at the door, pulling their hands back in hesitation.

They had spent far too long overanalyzing, waiting for any hints, and relying on the actions of others.

Elder Luo Jianfeng slowly raised his right hand into the air. The chamber instantly fell quiet.

Then, a massive, resonant bell sounded throughout the chamber.

DONG—!

The remaining candidates froze in sheer terror.

"Time’s up!!" Luo Jianfeng’s calm voice cut through the silence.

"Those who have not stepped through a door..." He continued, his sharp eyes darting over the frozen crowd. "...are disqualified."

The remaining candidates turned pale.

"What?!"

"Wait! Elder!"

"I was literally about to push the handle!"

Luo Jianfeng’s expression didn’t change even slightest.

"I gave literally one hour, brats," He beamed, clicking his tongue. "I never told you all to search for a ’correct’ door."

The candidates stared at him in stunned disbelief. The elder’s voice remained cold.

"This examination was never designed to test whether you could decipher a puzzle," Luo Jianfeng grinned slightly. "It was designed to test whether you possessed the courage, resolve, and judgment to make a decision when forced to act with incomplete information."

"You hesitated," his piercing gaze locked onto the shivering disciples. "You waited for others to lead. You desperately searched for certainty in a world where certainty does not exist. And by the time you finally gathered the will to act, it was already far too late."

The disqualified candidates stood utterly speechless, their legs trembling.

Luo Jianfeng turned his back on them, facing the sealed doors.

"Twenty-one candidates from the outside provinces had the guts to step forward," Luo Jianfeng announced, letting out a calm smile. "The nine recommended disciples from the academy in the Green Hollow city entered without hesitation."

A faint, mocking smile touched the corners of his lips. "Those thirty candidates have successfully passed the examination."

The hall instantly erupted into furious outrageous murmus.

"You’re failing nearly eighty of us just because we didn’t walk through a random door?!"

"That’s bullshit!"

Luo Jianfeng ignored the shouting.

"The remaining seventy-nine of you..." He casually waved his wide gray sleeve. "...may pack your belongings and return down the mountain."

Many disciples looked like they had been struck by lightning, collapsing to their knees in despair.

One young man stepped forward, his fists clenched hard. "Elder! We didn’t even know what the instructions for the test were!"

Luo Jianfeng turned his head, staring at him with cold eyes. "Exactly."

The disciple’s face twisted in sheer shock.

Luo Jianfeng walked toward the exit without having another glance toward the disqualified disciples.

"Red Talon Hall has no use for cultivators who need every answer handed to them like feeding with a spoon," His voice echoed from the shadowed corridor. "To the thirty who passed... their true journey as disciples of Red Talon Hall begins right now."

The elder vanished into one of the doors. The grand chamber remained suffocatingly quiet.

For a few seconds, no one dared to breathe. Then, from the middle of the disqualified crowd, a candidate snapped his head back and screamed at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The desperate shout lingered against the hundred doors.

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