"Cai Yan..." Asher called out in a tender tone.


    "Hmm?" She hummed as her eyes remained shut, savoring the moment while their bodies stayed in a firm embrace.


    "Can I call you Yan-Yan from now on?"


    Cai Yan''s eyes fluttered open in surprise upon hearing his request, and she stared at him in a daze for a few seconds before letting out a chuckle.


    "Of course." She answered while shing a radiant smile at him, causing Asher to be enchanted by her beauty.


    A heartwarming smile also spread across his handsome face, and he responded, "Alright then, Yan-Yan it is." Then he nted another kiss on her lips before adding, "Now, how about you tell me about this ce? If I''m not mistaken, this isn''t real, is it? I can tell that what I am experiencing now is an illusion of sorts. But I''d like to know where this is, if possible."


    Hearing him ask such a question, Cai Yan let out a light sigh before replying, "Yes, you are correct. This ce is a dream world that exists between reality and fantasy. It was created using the innate skill of my Spirit. This skill allows me to enter people''s dreams and manipte them in any way I want.


    With enough strength, I can even harm others through their dreams without hurting their physical bodies. But this kind of thing takes a huge toll on my soul, so unless I reach the Nascent Soul Realm or higher, I won''t be able to use it often."


    "Wow, that''s pretty amazing. It sounds like you can be an invincible assassin with such a terrifying ability." Ashermented while stroking her long hair with one hand and her head with another.


    A gentle smile formed on her face as she continued, "Although that may be true, this skill doesn''t work against cultivators whose souls are stronger than mine. So even if I tried to kill someone in their dream, they wouldn''t die in reality. All I''d be doing is wasting a lot of energy for nothing but giving them nightmares that they might end up forgetting when they wake up the following day.


    The most effective usage of this ability would be to spy on others by entering their dreams and extracting information from them, which I can use against themter. As long as I don''t reveal my presence or attack them, they won''t notice anything unusual happening within their subconscious."


    "But that means you can use it against cultivators with simr strength, though." Asher interjected with a grin, finding the thought of seeing this adorable beauty engaging in espionage quite intriguing.


    "Correct." She nodded in response.


    After a brief moment of silence, he spoke again, "I see. So that''s how it works. It''s pretty incredible, if you think about it. Who knew that there was such a powerful technique capable of invading another person''s psyche? Just imagining it makes my skin crawl, haha!"


    Cai Yan smiled and ced her head against his chest, enjoying the soothing rhythmic beat of his heart before mumbling, "Don''t worry, I will never hurt you. You are precious to me after all."


    "I trust you, Yan-Yan. So, how about we return to reality?" Asher suggested with a chuckle, knowing full well that the longer they remained here, the harder it would be for him to control himself from ravaging this beauty right now.


    Upon hearing his suggestion, Cai Yan opened her eyes and gazed deep into his blue orbs as she smiled at him. "Alright. Let''s go." She agreed as she snapped her finger, breaking the Dream World and returning them to the reality of the hall where they first met.


    As soon as he returned, Asher realized that not even a second had passed in the outside world, and everyone was still in the same positions as they were before Cai Yan pulled him into the Dream World.


    At that instant, Cai Yan looked at him and shed him a sly wink, causing him to smile in return.


    However, this scene didn''t go unnoticed by someone in the room as the Matriarch of the Cai n, who had been watching the whole thing unfold, furrowed her brows in confusion, ''What was that?''


    She was sure that she saw her daughter winking at the young man, but it was too sudden for her to figure out whether she imagined things or not.


    ''Did Yan''er just wink at him? Impossible! She has never shown any interest in men before. Could she be interested in this young man?'' Cai Xinyi thought before shaking her head and dismissing the idea as absurd, ''No way, that can''t be right. I know my daughter better than anyone else. She wouldn''t fall for a stranger like him.''


    She was aware of her daughter''s personality and understood her well, which is why she was unable to ept this possibility. But something inside her told her that she had missed something crucial regarding her daughter and this young man, leading her to be unsure of what to do.


    In the end, she concluded that she must have seen something wrong and put the matter aside for now.


    "Elder Harrius, shall we head for the disciple recruitment trial now? I don''t think there is a point in waiting any longer." Asher dered with a nonchnt expression on his face, ignoring theplicated stares sent his way by the people in the room.


    "Ah, yes. Of course. Right away. Everyone, let''s proceed to the trial grounds, shall we?" Elder Harrius announced with a smile, signaling everyone to follow him.


    "Indeed. We have spent too much time standing around doing nothing. Please lead the way." Cai Xinyi concurred with a nod of her head as she walked beside Elder Harrius.


    With that said, Asher took Scarlet and Cecil by the waist and led them outside as well.


    Following this, the rest of the people exited the hall and headed towards the testing area, where all new recruits would undergo a trial before being admitted into the Twilight Mist Sect.


    After walking for a couple of minutes, they arrived at a spacious area located within the mainpound of the Twilight Mist Sect, where thousands of disciples could be seen gathered around arge stone tform, waiting for the trial tomence.


    The ground beneath their feet was paved with white stones, and a clear sky stretched above their heads, dotted by dozens of fluffy clouds floating across the horizon. There was a gentle breeze blowing through the air, creating an idyllic atmosphere that calmed everyone''s nerves and eased their minds.


    This tranquility helped to relieve some of the tension that had built up within the crowd throughout the morning. Many of these youths had traveled for days or even weeks just to have the chance to join this sect. It was a significant step towards fulfilling their ambitions, which was why they needed to pass this trial. Failure meant not only wasted effort but also disappointment.


    For these young men and women, failure was uneptable.


    At first nce, the ce seemed like an ordinary courtyard with nothing special about it except for therge stage erected in its center, surrounded by a number of wooden pirs with carvings of various symbols adorning them.


    However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that these pirs contained numerous intricate formations etched onto their surfaces, which emitted subtle traces of spiritual energy. Furthermore, hidden beneath the stage was a vastwork of ley lines, in which immense amounts of spiritual power flowed from the air like invisible currents, enveloping the entire space.


    Furthermore, if one concentrated hard enough, they could detect a faint trace of an aura radiating from the topmostyer of the wooden pir, where arge High Rank Spirit Stone was embedded in its center. This stone contained enormous reserves of spirit essence, which circted within its structure and served as the source of power for the formations engraved within.


    Such a massive quantity of raw spiritual energy was not something that ordinary mortals could withstand for long periods without suffering severe repercussions, resulting in serious damage to their bodies or worse. Even most cultivators would struggle to withstand exposure to this level of concentration, requiring extensive training and preparation beforehand.


    This made cultivators invent formations at the beginning of history. With the help of formations, they could harness and utilize vast amounts of spiritual essence without exerting too much strain on their physical forms, allowing them to use it for their own benefit instead.


    Afterwards, as cultivation advanced, the formations were improved, and the formations were used for various purposes likemunication, protection, etc.


    Now, formations had be amon sight everywhere in cultivation society and were considered an essential part of life for all practitioners.


    They had been used to enhance cultivation speed by providing abundant resources, and they were even used to create weapons that could pierce the heavens and destroy the earth itself.


    And right now, Asher could sense that the formations had been designed to serve a particr function. It was meant to judge potential cultivators and determine whether or not they deserved to join the sect.


    These formations had been created by experts from the sect centuries ago to assist the sect in choosing suitable disciples. With such a vast array of tools avable to them, no matter how talented the candidates were, it was impossible for them to fool the assessment process.


    The formation would expose all of their ws and weaknesses, which meant that there was no way for them to hide any defects from the eyes of the judges.