Death... and me

Everyone had been teleported to a field outside the Sacred Land. At some point, a woman appeared at the entrance gate that was slightly elevated, followed by a few other people. Everyone immediately went silent, waiting for her to speak. It was a little hard for those far away to see her, though. The field had to fit the hundreds of thousands of cultivators that had come, after all.

The woman then used her Divine Sense to talk with everyone at the same time. "349 regions, 2131 countries, each country with at least 150 slots while some got up to 1000. In total, we have 780850 participants for this recruitment, and that doesn't count the guardians who came with them. It seems like we're down a few tens of thousands compared to last time."

She continued, "Anyways, some of the old people here probably remember me from the last recruitment. For those who don't know, my name is Cassia Ditan. I'm the one in charge of this recruitment. If you have any questions, you can ask the other elders who came with me. Use Divine Sense so that everything can be finished quickly. Of course, no information will be given about the tests before then."

The elders close to Cassia then took flight and positioned themselves above the people in the field. Obviously, they were at least in the Transition Realm. Many of the countries' guardians could fly as well. However, in the Sacred Land, none of them dared to do so without the Sacred Land elders allowing it.

As those who wanted to make questions did so, Cassia continued her speech. "Not all tests will be carried out in the Sacred Land, though. As big as the Sacred Land might be, it doesn't have all the environment types we want to use this time around. However, the first one will happen here, in this field."

Those words elicited a few raised eyebrows. As far as everyone remembered, there had never been a test that was carried right in the entrance of the Sacred Land. However, everyone knew how it changed every time, so no one paid too much attention to it.

"Alright, it seems like we're done with the preparation," Cassia said soon after. "Let me request all the guardians to come behind me and leave the participants where they are."

Fabio then looked at Rean's group, and they nodded in response. "Use this chance well. Don't worry if you get disqualified in the first test. After all, I'm not expecting anything. Just make sure you don't die."

Milina couldn't help but ask, "Wait, we can die here?"

Rean, Roan, Gulia, Regio, and Samanta looked at Milina with weird expressions. As for Fabio, he could only shake his head. "What did you expect? That everyone would participate in a friendly competition for the chance to enter the strongest power of our continent?" In the end, he sighed as he continued, "Whatever...do you want to give up right now? Just come with me, and you will be considered disqualified."

Milina immediately shook her head after hearing that. "No, no, no! It's fine, it's fine! I can survive this, I'm sure. If things go south, I'll do something."

Fabio surprisingly seemed to believe that the girl wouldn't die at all. "Well, if it's you, I think you can definitely make something happen. Alright, I'm leaving."

Rean's group didn't know what to say about that, even Samanta, who was friends with Milina herself. In the end, they simply decided to leave it as it is.

Rean then looked at his group before asking, "So, how will we do this? Should we stick close, or are we taking care of ourselves?"

Samanta didn't know Rean and Roan. She only could see their cultivation. "Do you think you can take care of yourselves with that level of cultivation? You better stick close to me, Gulia, Regio, and Milina."

Sure enough, she knew nothing about the twins' real power. Gulia bitterly smiled after hearing that before sending Samanta a Divine Sense Message. She told everything about Rean and Roan and their real strength.

"What?! Is that true?!" Samanta found it hard to believe, though.

Nevertheless, Gulia and Regio nodded as Gulia replied, "Yes, that's the truth. Both of them are at the very least as strong as us and definitely stronger when they do that unfair elemental exchange."

"What elemental exchange?" Samanta asked soon after.

Rean was the one to explain it to her. There was no point hiding it, as every time the twins used that, it became quite obvious that something was happening. Besides, the Realm of Gods was full of weird things, so their ability was a lot easier to be accepted here.

"I see..." Samanta nodded. "To think such a thing is possible. Alright then, let's stick together. Milina, you stay in the middle."

"Sure!" Samanta knew Milina, so no one said anything as Samanta should have an idea why she said that.

Eventually, all the guardians came out of the field, leaving only the participants behind. Only then did Cassia begin to explain the rules. "In our Sacred Land, you won't find things like side occupation tests. We have the cream of the crop of our Huring Continent here. With that being said, quite a few of you have some side occupations you excel at. There's no need to look for those types of cultivators as they will automatically join our Sacred Land once they pass our tests."

Cassia continued, "Now then, the first test is... to not fall!"

The moment Cassia finished her words, suddenly, the ground below everyone disappeared! No one there was in the Transition Realm or above. Naturally, they couldn't fly! However, no one fell straight away. Everyone stayed afloat due to the formations present.

Of course, since the test asked them to not fall, the power that kept everyone afloat was bound to disappear. The only question was how to prevent that from happening.

Cassia then continued to explain, "It's very simple to stay afloat. All you need to do is follow the Divine Energy Currents!"

Those words immediately puzzled everyone. What currents?