In the Mahayana mansion test, half an hour passed quickly.
Under the eyes of Aotian and his companions, who chewed large chunks of white, juicy giant shrimp meat, the battle continued intensely.
All the Dragon Peak cultivators who were still fighting, at this point, had many wounds, panting from exhaustion. Their defenses were faltering and their spiritual energies were running out.
They seemed about to be killed by the shrimp soldiers.
Of the roughly 110 cultivators who had arrived before Aotian and the others, in fact, 50 died miserably in this first test alone.
Although such a result seemed shocking, it actually wasn't. Everyone was fighting a total of ten opponents of the same level at the same time, and they were still beasts, who had an advantage in strength compared to humans.
So, 60 people still resisting for half an hour under such circumstances was what was truly impressive, proving that those present were true elites of Dragon Peak.
But even for such elites, such a challenge was extreme, and they seemed not far from reaching their own end.
However, luckily for them, a thunderous roar sounded once again.
ROOOAAAARR!!
With that roar, the sea churned, and then an immense pillar of water rose to the sky once again that day.
When the pillar receded back into the sea, a tsunami swallowed the island again, until, when it passed, both the shrimp corpses—which, until the end, only Aotian and his group managed to kill theirs—and the corpses of the dead humans disappeared, along with the living shrimp.
Thus, once again, only the cultivators remained on the island, but with only half of the previous numbers, now exhausted and wounded, with the despair they felt earlier still accelerating their hearts.
With the retreat of the raging sea, everyone could once again see the head of the enormous dragon before them, who observed them calmly.
Many of the Dragon Peak disciples, upon seeing that the first stage had truly ended, collapsed to the ground in shock, some even crying in fear, regretting having participated in the test, even though the elders had implied that it was quite dangerous.
If the first test had lasted just a few more minutes, they were certain they wouldn't have been able to endure, just like their companions before them.
Even Young Master Chun—the same one who had caused trouble for Aotian—was also in a terrible state, falling to the ground, covered in sand and gasping with wide eyes.
Before the combat even started, he had already been injured by the flood dragon for trying to dictate who would participate in the test. In the subsequent frantic battles, those wounds only worsened, leaving him at a great disadvantage.
The mere fact that he remained alive under those conditions already indicated that he wasn't just an arrogant and foolish young master, but someone who truly possessed some talent.
Meanwhile, Aotian and his companions looked like they had taken a completely different test, as they were all composed and even stretching as they got up from the rocks where they had been sitting.
But Aotian had a strange look toward the skewer in his hand, which previously had a piece of meat, and toward the place where the grill was, where shrimp had previously been roasting.
Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he looked at the enormous blue dragon staring at them, and quickly noticed a slight movement of the beast's jaw, down and up, as if… it were discreetly chewing.
The flood dragon, sensing that gaze, unconsciously turned his attention to Aotian and, upon seeing his narrowed eyes, slightly froze the movement of his jaw.
'Uhhh… was I discovered?' the beast wondered, its eyes trembling, sweating lightly. 'No, he must just be looking at me. I was too fast for him to even not—'
"Hey, don't you have any shame stealing other people's food?"
Aotian's indignant voice suddenly sounded, as he pointed with the skewer in his hand at the dragon, with a displeased look, which immediately froze the entire scene.
Whether it was his companions, the beast, or the Dragon Peak disciples, everyone widened their eyes and looked incredulously at the fearless Long Aotian.
"Y-You, you ungrateful humble worm, how dare you speak like that to the dragon king?!"
Young Master Chun, spitting blood due to his internal injuries, finally woke from his stupor, and quickly struggled to stand while pointing a trembling finger of rage at Aotian.
His face even twisted from pure fury.
It was as if Aotian had offended him and his parents, instead of the beast that had just beaten him earlier.
Unfortunately, the young man didn't know who he was talking to.
"Please, stop spitting blood before talking to me, it's very ugly and pitiful." Aotian rolled his eyes at him. "Besides, I'm talking to the big guy here, not to a useless guy like you, who can't even defeat 10 opponents of the same realm. It's truly pathetic."
As Aotian's mocking voice sounded, the more distorted the young man's face became, alternating between red and white, with thick veins appearing on his forehead, looking like they were about to burst.
Finally, he could no longer suppress his injuries and spat out a large mouthful of blood.
Seeing the scene, Aotian became extremely excited, even forgetting to sneer at the man. He quickly grabbed his wife's arm with his left hand and shook it, while pointing at Young Master Chun with the other.
"Look! Look, Rihai! I made him spit blood out of anger! How exciting! If I keep provoking him, can I make him faint?!" he shared his happiness with his wife, even proposing other ideas, with a big smile growing on his face.
Aotian almost wanted to open a diary to note down every time he made someone spit blood in the cultivation world. At that moment, it seemed like a great idea.
Rihai, in turn, looked helplessly at her husband, while everyone else was stunned by Aotian's strangeness.
The dragon, meanwhile, seeing him arguing with other people, quickly took the opportunity to chew faster on the shrimp he had stolen, almost narrowing his eyes in pleasure.
He had already eaten his poor soldiers before, but although they tasted good, they didn't come close to the delicious barbecue Aotian had made.
When he finished swallowing, lamenting that it was over, he quickly interrupted their argument, which truly prevented Young Master Chun from fainting from powerless rage.
["Let's begin the second test."]
Speaking in a regal manner, the dragon immediately drew everyone's attention.
'Better I speak quickly, taking advantage of the fact that that kid forgot I stole the barbe—'
"Hey, I didn't forget you stole my barbecue!"
Upon hearing the complaint, the dragon almost choked, wondering if the damned kid really knew how to read minds.
But as he continued being stared at, he shifted uncomfortably and quickly pulled one of his claws out of the water, which caused a massive wave that flooded the island again, leaving everyone speechless.
"Cough!" he coughed into his claw, almost deafening everyone there, before rolling his eyes back toward Aotian, trying to regain his authority.
["Kid, those are my shrimp soldiers that I cultivated with great difficulty, and I'm not charging you for killing them, so why are you charging me for eating them?"]
He spoke while snorting through his nose, immediately creating a gale that pushed everyone on the island a few steps back.
Aotian even had to run to hold Hui Lang and Cang Song so they wouldn't be blown away.
But he wasn't intimidated.
"Bah! With difficulty? Marine creatures reproduce very quickly. Third and fourth level shrimp soldiers are seen in huge numbers. If they were fifth level ones, then you could say that, after all, the racial level of these shrimp isn't that high and those with that much talent are rare."
Aotian shamelessly exposed the dragon's lie, looking at him with disdain, and also with a small smile growing on his lips.
Despite that dragon looking frightening—and in fact being frightening—he was actually also very friendly.
No matter if Aotian was rude like this, the level of danger still remained safe, which made him like this dragon's apparently calm and gentle personality quite a lot, and that was why he was being so playful.
The beast, on the other hand, was left open-mouthed and helpless, not knowing what to do. He had never dealt with anyone like this… except his big sister, who actually seemed to have a very similar personality to this boy.
Rihai and the disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect, on the other hand, were equally speechless before Aotian. Why the hell was he provoking such a strong beast?
Upon seeing their faces, he simply laughed and winked mischievously at his wife before turning to the dragon and waving his hand.
"Well, I'm just joking. If you want, after the test I'll roast another mountain of meat and make a huge banquet. We can eat shrimp, crab, and turtle meat. I cook those very well and it should be delicious."
Aotian laughed while inviting him, making the dragon swallow hard as he imagined that flavor again, and he couldn't help but agree unconsciously.
But when he thought it over, he felt that something was wrong. That was when his eyes widened and he stared at Aotian, speechless.
["Y-You… kid, you're not targeting my Dragon Palace people as a menu, are you?! My shrimp soldiers are one thing, but you even want my crab generals and turtle ministers in a pot?!"]
He shouted helplessly, feeling a massive headache, even more so when he realized he was drooling at the suggestion. The poor dragon could even feel his big sister holding her stomach and rolling in laughter underwater, which only made him more helpless.
Trying to ignore the problematic kid, he could only awkwardly forcefully change the subject.
["Ahem! Well, let's begin the next test."]
He spoke quickly, and then opened his mouth and, with a movement of his throat, suddenly spat out a stone that, compared to his body, was small. It immediately fell at high speed toward the beach, impacting and lodging itself in the sand with a bang, raising a small cloud of dust.
["The second challenge consists of you learning this spell in ten days."]
The beast transmitted, and then suddenly retracted his head, returning to the sea, which immediately raised another wave that swallowed the island.
When the water lowered, Aotian looked helplessly at his shoulder, where there was still a fish flopping, letting out a bitter sigh.
"Uh… could that guy stop doing this? I've already taken five baths just today," he grumbled irritably, grabbing the fish by the tail and throwing it back into the sea.
"Pfff!!" Rihai couldn't help but laugh in amusement upon hearing this complaint, which immediately made Aotian regain his spirits with a smile.
Putting that aside for now, he turned to the stone slab and studied the patterns written on it, ready to master a new spell in seconds.
But when he saw what was written there, he was truly startled and quickly rubbed his eyes to see if he wasn't hallucinating.
Staring at the slab again, he confirmed he wasn't going crazy.
'Taboo-Tier Technique! It's a Taboo-Tier technique! I finally saw another one.'
Aotian thought extremely excitedly and quickly studied the content.
'Weather control technique?' he murmured the name, and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed as he read.
Just by the name, it didn't seem like it would be another incredible technique with synergy with his avatars, like the Enlightened Mind technique, which disappointed him a little.
But Taboo-Tier techniques were still very good.
These were techniques that weren't limited by any realm, and any cultivator could use them, but the higher the realm of the one using them, the more expressive their power became.
'Well, I'll accept it. It's already very good to have a Taboo-Tier technique. I'm about to reach Nascent Soul, and then my ancestor-level avatars, by consequence, will reach Tribulation Transcendence. With this Taboo-Tier technique, I can at least play with that realm, for which I still don't have any synthesized spell.'
With that goal, he immediately focused all his free minds on learning and dissecting the spell.
His companions also didn't waste time and focused on learning.
Aside from Rihai, this was the first time Cang Song and Hui Lang had gotten their hands on a Taboo-Tier technique. Until now, they had only heard of the existence of such a tier during Dao-preaching lectures given by the elders of the Heritage Pavilion.
Because of that, they were very excited and focused on this opportunity.
But, while they were learning, the Dragon Peak disciples didn't even look at the stone slab and, casting looks of disdain toward Aotian and his companions, moved a little closer to the waters where the flood dragon had dived, cautiously.
Young Master Chun, now considerably recovered after quickly taking a healing pill, stepped forward and smiled humbly, trying to hide the pride in his gaze, while speaking in a loud and respectful voice.
"Dragon King, we have already learned the weather control technique, please allow us to display our clumsiness."