After being reborn as an ugly cannon fodder, my appearance stats are off the charts!

The space that comes into view is shaped like an inverted giant bowl, with nearly vertical, smooth, and steep walls that are impossible to climb.

A few beams of light shone down from dozens of fist-sized holes at the top, but they did little to dispel the darkness. During the day, those inside could barely see anything.

Yan An lay on the ground, and one could smell dust, mold, blood, rust, feces, and quicklime...

He didn't even have time to grieve for his parents' deaths.

A figure pounced on him, aiming a sharp bone spike at his face.

In a moment of desperation, Yan An could only cover his face with his hands. When his hands were stabbed, he endured the pain and lifted the other person off him, only to find that the other person was probably just a child, even weaker than him.

Yan An dared not make a sound, and groped his way back until his body pressed against the stone wall.

The mechanism above their heads was activated, revealing a large hole. Some dry rations, a bag of salt with a torn package, several wooden sticks, iron chains, hammers, and broken swords and daggers were thrown in from outside.

Immediately afterwards, a stranger peeked in and said.

"I will return in five days. By then, there will only be one living person left in this Cave of Ten Thousand Bones..."

"If there are any left," the man chuckled, "I'll let my little darlings in! I'm sure they're already itching to get started."

The moment the mechanism was shut down.

A group of figures rushed toward the dry rations and weapons, but they were all children.

There wasn't enough food to go around, and in the struggle, they started tearing and beating each other like wild animals.

Yan An watched this cruel scene unfold.

His back pressed even more tightly against the cold stone wall.

Then I heard the sounds of snakes, insects, and rodents crawling by.

……

Qin Wu spent five days cultivating and serving the commander above him.

Five days later, Qin Wu arrived as promised and went to the Ten Thousand Bones Cave at the foot of Xiaohun Ridge in Shenwu Mountain to check how many people were left.

There is more than one cave here.

The men he brought led a dozen or so vicious dogs that were nearly starving. These beasts were clearly impatient; their pupils were bloodshot, and their saliva was becoming increasingly profuse.

One grotto after another is opened through the mechanical tunnels.

In most of the caves, there were no survivors. In a few caves, there were still a few people on the verge of death. Qin Wu chuckled and said that only those who could stand up could pass. Then, he released the vicious dogs and watched them rush in... and then he pulled out the first one who struggled to stand up.

When we reached the last grotto, there was only a disheveled, grimy child standing there.

When Qin Wu appeared, the other party just stared at him blankly.

"Very good." Qin Wu nodded. "It saves me the trouble of letting the dogs out."

He waved to the other person, "You passed, come out now..."

Yan An didn't want to recall how she spent those three days, but those memories were so clear and vivid.

With the mind of an adult and the innate beast-like physique he was born with in this world, even though he is only three years old, Yan An's survival ability is undoubtedly the strongest among other children.

He couldn't take the initiative to attack them; he could only passively resist.

The price was being covered in wounds.

When there was no food or water, he would use snakes, insects, rodents and ants as food or to obtain water.

It rained during this time, and although not much rainwater entered the cave, it was the first time he had ever longed to drink that little bit of rainwater.

Yan An had no idea what he was insisting on living for.

The suffering is getting worse every day.

It might be better to die young.

His survival instinct led him to constantly lower his standards.

He is a man who has died twice.

The first time was sudden and unexpected; the death was swift, leaving no time to even react.

The second time was different; he watched himself weaken until he died.

Before he died, he desperately longed to continue living.

...Perhaps he will indeed be reincarnated in the future and will have many more opportunities to live.

But at this moment, he simply couldn't bring himself to easily give up his life.

He wants to live!

At Qin Wu's invitation, Yan An staggered out of the cave.

The vicious dogs, which had been drooling and growling softly, letting their owner lead them even in their madness, suddenly became more agitated and struggled to lunge towards Yan'an.

Strangely, they weren't trying to attack Yan An either.

Qin Wu and the others were unaware of Yan An's specific situation, including his beast-related constitution, which naturally puzzled them.

What they didn't know was that, despite being cold, hungry, in pain, and exhausted, Yan An was still suppressing the urge to use these vicious dogs to bite them back.

He's still too young.

To survive, you must be careful about your actions.

Injuring Qin Wu and the others now is only a temporary venting of anger and will not help him survive.

It wasn't until he left the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones that Yan An realized how vast the place was, and that he had only been imprisoned in one of the caves.

Dozens of children were already waiting outside; like him, they were the last survivors in the cave.

After being taken away from the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones, the group of children lived a carefree life for a few days.

Even in a peaceful setting, after five days of hellish experience, the contrast between enjoying delicious hot food and the stark difference inevitably evokes a sense of "happiness."

He has the mind of an adult and knows that this is a matter of hitting you with a stick and then giving you a sweet treat, a means of taming you, especially in the current extreme environment where life safety cannot be guaranteed. Whether you are rewarded or punished, whether you live or die, depends entirely on the will of the evil cult. In the short term, these children may still feel fear, guilt and pain for killing others.

But in the long run, they will come to genuinely accept the cult's way of doing things, which is somewhat similar to Stockholm syndrome. They will be assimilated into the cult and will think that this is just the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, and that there's nothing wrong with it...

……

"You are the twentieth batch, and also the last batch." A woman in white suddenly appeared. "The trial is about to begin."

When the woman in white arrived, Qin Wu and the others quickly knelt on one knee, clasped their hands in greeting, and said, "Greetings, Vice Hall Master Ning!"

"...Only one of you will survive to the end." The woman continued talking to Yan An and the other children until she finished, then looked at Qin Wu and said, "Qin Wu, take them to Senluo Ridge, District 9, Bing."

Qin Wu: "Disciple obeys!"

The woman turned and left.

Qin Wu and the others immediately said in unison, "Respectfully seeing off Vice Hall Master Ning!"

Only after the woman's figure disappeared completely did they stand up and look at Yan An and the others.

………………

Seven years later.

Yan An arrived at the camp alone, looking disheveled, and placed the last peacock feather in front of the woman in white, Ning Fu.

He coughed up blood, his body trembled, and his face was frighteningly pale, gradually turning bluish-black.

Only then did he have the leisure to sit cross-legged and circulate his internal energy to expel the toxins from his body.

He is now ten years old. For the past seven years, he has been undergoing trials in the Senluo Ridge with that group of people.

This is a ring-shaped mountain range.

The Hidden Demon Sect divided it into an outer area, a trial area, a rest area, a training area, a core area, and so on.

The trial area is further divided into Zone A1 to Zone C9.

Initially, he was in District 9, where he learned to read, master basic martial arts, and learn poison techniques. He was frequently subjected to trials, including surviving in poisonous areas and collecting various poisons. He was hunted by disciples of the Hidden Demon Sect in the Hunting Forest. Trial participants fought, betrayed, and rebelled against each other. Some special trial grounds forbade making any sound, some were extremely short of food, some could induce strong hallucinations, and some served as execution grounds for traitorous Demon Sect disciples.

After each trial, the first-place winner gets to stay in a more comfortable barracks with plenty of food, weapons, and comfort.

This is the final trial.

All trial areas, including caves, dense forests, and canyons, are fully open.

Within this large area, three golden peacock feathers, each as long as a child's arm, were hidden.

Only by finding all three peacock feathers can one truly pass the trial...

Unlike other children who huddle together in groups of three or five, Yan'an, thanks to his animal-friendly physique, only kept company with various birds, beasts, snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the trial area.

But this does not mean he can rest easy.

Over the past seven years, countless schemes have been launched against him, especially in the last year, when all the other trial participants joined forces to try to eliminate him first, employing a variety of methods.

In the world of martial arts, martial arts skills are indeed a valuable thing.

Even if you are just a child, after practicing martial arts, you can have physical qualities and fighting strength that match or even surpass those of an ordinary adult.

Yan An had no time to observe and marvel at the incredible nature of martial arts in this world from the perspective of someone who had once been a modern person.

Having narrowly escaped death several times, he even sleeps with one eye open.

He knew...

If he didn't have the physique of a beast, he would probably have died in this Senluo Ridge long ago.

But he suspected that if he didn't have this physique, he might not have been kidnapped by the Hidden Demon Sect. Most of the other trial participants had forgotten their past lives, and only a few remembered how they got here. They were all stolen or robbed by the sect's disciples when they were out and about. Perhaps only Yan An had to go through the trouble of the sect leader E Feng personally going to his house to exterminate his entire family.

"What a pity." Ning Fu, as the deputy head of the External Affairs Hall, looked in the direction of the trial area. "The quality of those who survived this batch is quite good. If they all entered my External Affairs Hall, it would save me a lot of trouble."

Seeing that Yan An was still using his internal energy to expel the poison, she sighed, "But this time it's not your average disciple training..."

Instead, the goal is to select the future young demon lord of the Hidden Demon Sect from among them.

Naturally, the process will be more arduous, more brutal, and less likely to result in survival.

Having expelled the toxins, Yan An, who was already injured, became even weaker, yet dared not show his weakness, appearing quite calm on the surface.

He had learned to bluff. The weaker he was, the less he could show weakness. Even if a knife was stuck in his flesh, he had to smile and look like he had everything under control. Crying and begging for mercy were useless; they would only lead to him being swarmed and torn apart.

Ning Fu glanced at the tag on Yan An's body, which bore the new names the trial participants had given themselves. Only now did she remember this name. "Yan An, you are now qualified to compete for the title of Young Demon Lord."

She lifted Yan An up with one hand, saying, "Your batch is the last and the slowest. I think the other young demon lord candidates are probably already impatient."

Let's begin.