The crowd dispersed after Zhu Lang left and the group of four sat back again to talk.

Wu Qian Ren hesitated for a moment and finally spoke "Brother Shen, I don't know why you provoked Zhu Lang intentionally, but he has a lot of power currently and various noble families are trying to rope him in. Be careful wherever you go and be always on guard."

Wu siblings naturally realized Zhu Xuan is provoking Zhu Lang intentionally because they have spent some time with him and they know he is not a rash person and there must be a reason he did what he did but they still warned him.

Zhu Xuan also expected them to understand he is provoking Zhu Lang intentionally so he smiled and spoke "Thank you, I will be careful of him and his subordinates."

After almost an hour passed a group of five people came to the open ground. An old man in front followed by the other four people right behind him.

The old man is brimming with energy and his eyes shone with a cruel light.

He spoke loudly once the crowd calmed down "I'm the Outer Sect Grand elder and I will be handling the competition for this year."

"This year competition is not a battle competition between the candidates, but we will open the puppet plane controlled by our outer court. You will have to fight the puppets inside the plane and will earn points regarding the strength of puppets you defeat inside. The candidates will be ranked based on the number of points you earn in three days."

There was a commotion among the crowd when everyone heard his announcement.

Zhu Xuan turned towards Wu Qian Ren and he started speaking understanding what the other wanted to ask "Planes are small world opened randomly in this world. It contains rare treasures and herbs you can't find in the outside world, but they are also filled with enemies like demon beasts, alien life forms or their environment is different like a volcano world, underwater world or desert world."

"Every plane has its rule based on its rank. But one can acquire and control the plane if they kill all the beasts inside or reach the altar in the center and refine the altar. The academy has more than ten planes and just the outer court controls three planes, and the puppet plane is one of them."

By this time the crowd calmed down the old man's voice came again "The top twenty five candidates will receive generous prices and the top ten will get the chance to enter the marrow cleansing pond."

Before the crowd could cause a commotion again, he waved his hand and a rift opened in the centre of the open ground. He spoke unhurriedly "Now every candidate step out and enter the plane and collect the token and jade slip from the instructors behind me. They will inform you further details when you get into the plane."

He finished speaking as the four men behind him entered the Rift first, and the candidates started moving to enter the rift.

Wu Qian Ren spoke to Zhu Xuan "Brother Shen, Puppet plane had humanoid puppets with cultivation level below Qi Sea stage. So move carefully inside and you should kill the puppets immediately when you encounter once because these puppets are mysterious and can learn from their opponents."

He paused and continued "Try your best to get to the first ten ranks because the marrow washing pond will help you in your current cultivation tremendously."

Zhu Xuan's eyes shone brightly when he heard Wu Qian Ren and he nodded to them and moved towards the rift. When he was moving, he saw Meng looking at him with a cruel smile on his face, while Zhu Lang was also looking at him with a smile on his face.

Zhu Xuan realized he must face some difficulty inside the puppet plane while entering the rift in vigilance.

Zhu Xuan entered the rift and found the four instructors and the candidates waiting for everyone to come inside the plane. Once everyone is inside, one of the instructors said loudly "You will find the points allotted to kill various levels of puppets in the jade slip. When you can't defeat the puppet and found your life is in danger, crush the jade slip and you will be teleported to us. At the end of three days, the candidates will be automatically teleported by the jade slip to us."

"You should also know the points you earn in this plane will be useful for you once you enter the academy. Now collect the token and jade slip from us and move out."

Everyone hurriedly collected the token and left in different directions in excitement. Zhu Xuan also collected his token and jade slip, chose a direction and moved out with a smile on his face.

He moved and found this plane was pretty normal with grasslands and forest combined and he moved in the direction of the forest.

He checked the jade slip and saw the points listed in it. Killing a Peak body gathering grade puppet gives one point, Qi gathering initial stage puppet gives 5 points, Qi gathering mid stage puppet gives 25 points, Qi gathering late stage puppet gives 50 points and finally Qi gathering peak stage puppet gives 100 points.

He wondered how the hell someone who hasn't even entered the academy to become an outer court disciple can kill Qi gathering peak grade puppet which is equivalent to top level inner court disciples.

What he didn't know was this plane was usually used for the outer court disciples and inner court disciples to train, but higher ups made an exception to change the competition to be held in the puppet place this time.

Zhu Xuan travelled for around ten minutes and came across his first puppet which is at Qi gathering initial stage holding a wooden staff. It looked like a human made in some dark wood, with red lines all over its body. He figured those red lines must be some sort of array which makes the puppet move and fight.

He approached the puppet and started attacking it; he didn't go for the kill because he was intrigued when Wu Qian Ren mentioned that they can learn from their opponents and wanted to experience it.

The puppet easily defended and responded with its own attack. Its attacks and movements kept changing and he realized these attacks must have been learnt from others.

Suddenly an attack got though his defense and hit his shoulder and he was pushed back in shock. Once he received the blow directly, he realized the attack has far more than normal Qi gathering initial stage cultivators. He became more vigilant and continued attacking when the puppet suddenly moved just like him.

He immediately got excited and started observing the puppet's attacks and its movements. He wanted to observe it and understand if his own style has any flaws or if he can improve in any way.

The fight continued for more than thirty minutes and in this time Zhu Xuan's attacks and movements improved tremendously. He learnt a lot of battle experience and learnt to attack continuously without making any flaws from observing the puppet so far.

He thought he learned enough and immediately used his full power attack of flowing moon technique and killed the puppet in a single strike. He was exhausted but his face showed excitement after learning from the puppet to fight better and moved deep into the plane.

When he moved further into the forest a person came out from a tree shadow nearby where Zhu Xuan was fighting and followed him silently moving through the shadows.