In Rock City, Lord Kratos' brothel was the largest and most luxurious. It was frequented by nobles and the guards weren't bad either.
As I hurriedly left, I sensed that the person chasing after me was at least at the Monster King realm.
Thus, I quickened my pace.
Fortunately, I discovered him in time. After exiting the alley, I arrived at the busiest area of Rock City. Even though it was already late at night, there were many pedestrians on the streets. After blending into the crowd, it would be hard for the person chasing after me to lock onto my aura.
I heaved a sigh of relief. After intentionally circling the streets twice, I arrived at an alley not far from the inn's main entrance and found Nam.
He was currently feeding medicine to the women on the cart. When he saw me return, he was a little distressed as he asked me how he should deal with these women.
This was a thorny problem as these women were kidnapped by the Rat tribe members. Most of them weren't from Rock City. I would probably have to spend some money to let them return on their own.
There was still a lot of gold coins left in the pouch that I got from the pig-headed man. Spending money was a small matter, but the Monster region wasn't peaceful. They might meet with danger on their way back. I couldn't help them even if I wanted to.
After hearing what I said, Nam nodded. "That's the only way."
After taking the medicine, Tana was the first one to wake up after a quarter of an hour. When she opened her eyes and saw that we were guarding her, she immediately threw herself into Nam's embrace and cried tears of joy. "Nam, I thought I would never see you again."
The sudden hug made Nam at a loss as to what to do. After hesitating for a while, he carefully opened his mouth to comfort Tana to calm her down.
As for the other women on the cart, they quickly woke up as well.
Compared to Tana's excitement, these women had never seen us before, so they were extremely nervous.
I asked Nam to give each of them two gold coins. After explaining the situation to them, I let them leave on their own.
After dealing with these matters, we brought Tana back to the inn and booked another room. We arranged for the exhausted Tana to rest first, while Nam and I returned to our room. After dinner, Nam didn't talk much about Tana and directly started to cultivate.
Seeing how hardworking he was, I felt a little gratified.
Presumably, after what happened in the Purple Bamboo Forest today, he truly understood the responsibility he had.
We had to thank the Bearman Commander Otto for this. Although he looked fierce and his words were harsh, he was actually a warm-hearted person. He didn't look down on the dog-headed people. Instead, he secretly helped us a lot.
For the next two days, other than Nam bringing Tana out to buy some clothes, we basically stayed in the inn to continue cultivating.
Although it's just an academy selection, it's the only way for me to quickly recover my cultivation based on my current situation. I don't dare to be negligent.
Two days later, early in the morning, the announcement of the Thaad Academy was spread all over the city. Students who were applying for the exam emerged from all corners of the city and gathered together, heading towards the Purple Bamboo Forest.
Na, Nam, and I followed the crowd and headed there.
Because I had previously helped Nam open up many of his meridians and with the help of the Spirit Pill Fruit, his cultivation had directly entered the middle stage of the Demon Spirit realm. This had increased Nam's confidence by quite a bit.
As for Tana, although she was only at the early stage of the Demon Spirit realm, she was only fifteen years old and already had such a high cultivation. Her talent was evident.
As for me, although I didn't open up any new meridians after three days of cultivation, the ones that I had already opened up had already recovered. Passing the Thaad Academy's exam wouldn't be a problem. The only difficulty would be to hide my identity.
I still didn't know the exact process of the exam, so I couldn't prepare in advance. I could only act according to the situation.
When we arrived at the Purple Bamboo Forest, we saw that the stone square that had been empty a few days ago had a high platform. There were six or seven rattan chairs on the platform. Behind the chairs were rows of bearmen soldiers. In front of the chairs was a huge stone vat. Inside the vat was a yellow incense stick that was as thick as bamboo and as tall as a human. At this moment, the yellow incense stick was half-burned.
On both sides of the incense table, there were four large drums made of cowhide with four Bearman soldiers holding drumsticks on standby.
Including us, there were already a few hundred people gathered at the plaza. It seemed that Otto was right, there were quite a lot of people participating in this year's selection.
As the yellow incense burned out, the four Bearman soldiers beat the huge drums. In an instant, the noise in the plaza quieted down.
At the same time, a few orcs dressed in luxurious clothes walked out from the high platform.
Different from the normal orcs, these people didn't look much different from humans, except for their ears and canine teeth. They should have the cultivation of Monster King and above, since they had completely transformed into human form.
Soon, there was a commotion in the crowd. From what they said, these people were the elders in charge of the five gates of Thaad Academy.
They took their seats, leaving the most central seat empty. It should have been reserved for the principal.
However, when a middle-aged man wearing a golden robe with dozens of wolf heads embroidered on it appeared, everyone exclaimed in surprise. They all knelt down and shouted, "Greetings, City Lord."
City Lord?
This person was the City Lord of Rock City. Could it be that he was the one hosting the selection today?
Very soon, their guess was confirmed.
The City Lord, who was obviously from the wolf tribe, waved his sleeves and signaled for everyone to rise. Then, he said, "Principal Xi Bo has been in seclusion for many days. Today's selection will be hosted by me.
Everyone, there's no need to be reserved. Just display your talents to the fullest. "
After saying that, he turned to look at the purple-robed elder, leaving the rest to him.
The purple-robed elder understood and cupped his hands at the City Lord before walking to the front of the stage to announce the start of the selection.
Following his voice, a series of drum beats sounded.
This time, the drum beats were different from before. It seemed to be hurried, but the rhythm was very subtle, as though it was a spell to activate a magic tool.
As expected, when the drum beats entered the ears, the expressions of the people in the surroundings turned ugly. There were even some who suddenly fell to the ground with their eyes turning white and their limbs twitching.
My body was much stronger than the others, so the drum beats had no effect on me.
However, Nam and Tana, who were by my side, weren't as calm as me. They squatted on the ground and covered their ears, looking like they were in extreme pain.
As the drum beats increased in speed, many of the people in the surroundings squatted or collapsed. There were only a few people who could remain as calm as me.
After another ten seconds, the drum beats increased in speed again. Apart from me, there was only one person left in the plaza.
I looked over curiously and noticed that this person had cat ears and a cold expression. It was obvious that he was from the cat race. His cultivation was around the middle stage of the Monster Spirit Realm. He didn't seem to be anything special, but I didn't know how he was able to withstand such intense drum beats.
The cat race was considered to be a race with high talent among the half-beast race, far surpassing the Kobolds.
So, seeing that there were only the two of us left in the plaza, the gazes of the City Lord and the few elders gathered on me. They seemed to be discussing something in low voices.
I naturally didn't want to attract their attention, so I pretended to faint and collapse.
At that moment, I heard Nam's painful groans from my side. I turned to look and saw that his face was contorted with blood seeping out of his mouth and nose. Tana's condition was even worse. She was currently twitching on the ground.
Seeing this, I immediately pretended to be in pain and fell to the ground. I moved closer to Nam and Tana and softly chanted a Daoist Heart Cleansing Incantation to help them get rid of their pain.
The grade of the Heart Cleansing Incantation was very low and didn't require much Qi. However, it was extremely effective at that moment. The painful expressions on Nam and Tana's faces quickly eased and they regained their calmness.
The sound of the drum continued for half an hour. After the last hammer fell, the first stage of the competition finally ended.
At that moment, there were less than two hundred people who could barely stand up in the originally dark plaza.
The rest of the people were carried by the Bearman soldiers to the resting building to receive treatment from the Medicine Research Institute.
A purple robed elder stood up from his seat and walked to the front of the stage. He said in a clear voice, "Congratulations to everyone for passing the first stage of the test.
However, the next stage of the test will only be stricter. Only the bravest half-beastmen will be able to pass. "
After saying that, he waved his hand at Ao Tuo, as though he was giving some kind of order.