Chapter 25: Mute Shen Changyi, go to hell!

(Twenty-five)

As expected, Li Shanglu succeeded in becoming his disciple. Elder Teng had already seen the elixirs she made. When he heard that she wanted to become his disciple, he was embarrassed for a long time before he slowly uttered a sentence.

"Even if you don't become my disciple, you will bother me every day."

He handed Li Shanglu a jade token, and from then on she officially became a disciple of Danfeng of the Mingzhou Sect.

After holding the jade token engraved with the words "Danfeng" of Mingzhou Sect and looking at it for a long time, Li Shanglu finally realized that she had come to Mingzhou Sect in the first place just to see if Shen Changyi was enjoying himself behind her back.

If she had been less lazy in her previous life and had been able to go out and see more, would the ending have been different?

She didn't know that since her parents passed away and the shop she ran went bankrupt, a wound that could not be healed had appeared in her heart. She just felt that she had no motivation to do anything and her life seemed to be like this.

Li Shanglu put the jade token into his lapel and looked at the dim morning light in the sky through the gaps between the treetops and leaves.

Dad, Mom.

Ning'er now has the energy to do many things.

*

On the day of the sect competition, Li Shanglu and other participating disciples rode on a crane-carved carriage to the venue, Taiyin Mountain.

Every year, the competition is jointly held by the six major sects and fourteen minor sects. Among them are hidden hermits and masters, as well as extraordinary and powerful cultivators. These masters gather together to serve as examiners, and at the same time provide guidance and impart experience to the young disciples of each sect.

For example, the Ming Zhou Sect originally wanted Shen Changyi to serve as the "examiner", but he was absent every time, so the sect leader had to take over temporarily.

There were quite a few examiners like Shen Changyi who were absent. They were busy with cultivation and even busier with eliminating demons. In previous years, it was considered good to be able to find two of these masters.

The examiners this year are Lord Duheng from Helaizhou, Qiu Hanyu, the Saintess of Taiyin Mountain, and Cui Buxiao, a great master of formations.

Li Shanglu didn’t know any Lord Duheng, nor did she know any formation master, but she knew Qiu Hanyu.

It turns out that the Holy Maiden of Taiyin Mountain is so powerful. Li Shanglu finds it hard to associate Qiu Hanyu, who was holding someone tightly, with the examiner. Could it be that she gave high scores to every disciple?

...It's exactly like something Qiu Hanyu would do.

After the disciples of Mingzhou Sect arrived at Taiyin Mountain, Li Shanglu had no magical powers and was so tired that he went to bed after dinner.

The next morning, as she followed the crowd to the competition venue, she heard someone talking about the rules of this secret trial.

It turns out that you can enter the secret realm in a team, with a maximum of four people, or you can go alone. However, there are many monsters in there, and you will get hurt if you are not careful.

Each player starts with 100 points, which are deducted based on the severity of their injuries. Death in the secret realm reduces the score to zero, while killing monsters adds points. The stronger the monster, the more points you gain. Of course, death in the secret realm isn't real; you'll be teleported directly out of the realm.

It seems that teaming up with others can not only reduce injuries, but also help you kill powerful monsters together to gain extra points.

Li Shanglu stood at the entrance of the secret realm, bored to death as the various sect leaders took turns congratulating their disciples on winning the crown. She yawned and looked at the disciples around her.

She had met some of these Mingzhou Sect disciples a few times, but she didn't know most of them at all. They were probably Jianfeng Sect disciples.

Who would be willing to team up with a mortal?

She hesitated for a while and walked towards the young disciples. Before she could speak, the other party had already found the last team member.

His eyes fell on the center of the noisy crowd not far away. Helan Jin was surrounded by a group of disciples, and everyone was vying to be in the same team with him.

He has always been very popular and is a genius who can eliminate demons in his mortal form. He is quite favored by the elders, so it is probably impossible to team up with him.

Li Shanglu reluctantly put the short bow on his back and was about to enter the secret realm when he heard a puzzled voice behind him.

"You actually came?"

She paused slightly and looked back, meeting Xie Du's somewhat uncomfortable eyes. It seemed that the sect leader had told him that Li Shanglu would participate in the sect competition.

He lowered his voice and called out, "Master's Wife."

Li Shanglu stared at him for a moment, his eyes fell on his waist. He was not wearing a sword this time. Could it be that he entered the secret realm and fought the monsters with his bare hands?

Oh, it would be nice if I could die in there.

She ignored Xie Du and turned to walk into the secret realm. Suddenly, she heard someone beside her muttering softly.

"That's Master Sword Immortal's disciple!"

"I think he'll take home the first-place prize again this year."

"Yeah, Xie Du has been number one for three consecutive years. I really don't know who can beat him."

Li Shanglu's expression suddenly froze, and he looked at Xie Du again.

The other person raised his eyelashes slightly, as if a little surprised that she hadn't left.

"You," Li Shanglu pointed his finger at his shoulder without hesitation, "Team up with me."

Xie Du: "...I don't team up with others."

Every year the sect leader would watch him participate in the competition, and he couldn't lose. If he teamed up with Li Shanglu, there would be too many uncertainties.

Seeing his refusal, Li Shanglu sneered and said softly, "Haven't you learned your lesson from what happened last time?"

Xie Du lowered his brows, his Adam's apple rolling slightly, "Master's wife, I was punished last time."

"What does it have to do with me?" Li Shanglu said mercilessly. "Just do whatever I tell you to do. If you dare to refuse again, you know the consequences."

She was just here to get the reward and see if she could actually exorcise the demon. With Xie Du as her teammate, getting into the top 100 would be no problem.

Xie Du looked at Li Shanglu with a complicated expression. After a long moment, he took out his sword from his storage ring and said, "As long as Master's wife is not afraid of me, that's all that matters."

"Afraid of you?" Li Shanglu sneered, took off the silver shortbow, pointed the arrow at Xie Du's eyes, and said with a smile, "Your master made me a very useful piece of junk. Let's test its accuracy."

She is always like this, her words and actions are full of threats and exploitation, just like some asshole.

But sometimes, it's not so similar.

Looking at the bow and arrow that shone with a cold light, Xie Du was slightly startled and inexplicably found it a little funny. "So you like the bow made by Master so much."

He flicked the light green tassel hanging on the short bow with his fingertips, and knew at a glance that it was a personal item that women loved.

Xie Du couldn't help laughing when he thought of her personally selecting the most beautiful ears of corn and then carefully wrapping them and hanging them up.

Such a domineering woman actually has such a soft side.

Seeing his action, Li Shanglu's face instantly turned red, as if he had suffered a great humiliation. He fiercely pulled the tassel back from his palm and said, "Get lost."

She stomped on Xie Du's foot, and Xie Du frowned in pain, gritting his teeth and saying, "It was Master's Wife who asked me to team up with you first, so where are you going?"

He is such a thin person, but he is like a nail, and it hurts so much when you step on him.

Li Shanglu issued an order, "Stand within three or five meters of me. Not even a centimeter away."

Xie Du took a deep breath and admitted defeat, "As you command."

After a while, when the disciples saw Xie Du and Li Shanglu forming a team, they came forward and asked if they could join.

Li Shanglu refused all of them. She only had one thug and didn't need so many people to share the fruits of her victory.

After a while, Helan Jin finally noticed Li Shanglu at the entrance of the trial. He squeezed out of the crowd and walked towards her impatiently. Before he got close, he was beaten to the punch by a disciple wearing a conical hat.

Li Shanglu looked at the disciple who suddenly appeared in front of him without saying a word, and asked in confusion, "What's the matter?"

The other person was silent, pointed at her, and then pointed at himself.

Li Shanglu somehow understood what he meant, "Want to team up with me?"

The man nodded like a chick pecking at rice, still not saying anything, but one could feel his happiness after his thoughts were understood.

He seems to be mute.

"No need, you can find someone else." Li Shanglu refused coldly. Just as she was about to leave, the man still followed her.

Not too far, not too close, just within three to five meters.

"You don't understand what people are saying?"

Li Shanglu was about to curse, but someone else cursed for her.

Helan Jin stepped between them, protecting Li Shanglu behind him, and said gloomily, "Shanglu, let's go."

Who said I'd go with you?

Li Shanglu looked at him puzzledly and asked, "Didn't you form a team?"

Helan Jin turned around and looked at her, saying softly, "No way, I've been waiting for you."

After a pause, he pursed his lips and asked softly, "Are you still angry with me? I really didn't know that you took my wine glass by mistake that day..."

Li Shanglu said indifferently, "No, I just don't need you."

Helan Jin suddenly choked, and the long string of explanations he had prepared was stuck in his throat. He could neither spit it out nor swallow it.

How could he be useless? He is not that useless. At worst, he can still curse with Li Shanglu, right?

After a while, there was another person within the range of three to five meters.

Li Shanglu looked at them impatiently. They were standing in a very orderly manner, with everyone standing about the same distance away from each other.

It doesn’t matter. When she encounters a monster, she will just kick one out at random to die.

When she was a child, she would compete to see who could run the farthest. The first one to run would trip the one next to her first, and the one who was closer to her would be the first to be hurt.

That's the tactic.

What's the point of forming a team? In the end, there still has to be a ranking. This time, Li Shanglu will let Xie Du taste the feeling of not being able to get first place.

*

The bell rang, and the three-day secret realm trial officially began.

Li Shanglu slowly walked into the so-called secret trial. Looking up, he saw a dense and boundless dark green jungle.

There are indeed many wild beasts hiding in such places, and sleeping at night is a hassle. Other monks may not need to sleep for three days, but she is a mortal and will die if she does not eat and rest.

The journey was smooth, no one was injured and no monsters were encountered.

Li Shanglu found a cave with vines covering the outside, which was very suitable for resting overnight. She slowly took out bedding and mattress from the storage ring and laid them out, and then took out tea and dry food, ready to make do with a meal.

Xie Du stood at the entrance of the cave with his arms folded, looking at the remaining two people with vigilance.

Helan Jin, he had heard of her, but had never met her. When did he meet the Master's wife? Why was he so intimate with her? Did the Master know?

The other person did not have a jade token around his waist that symbolized his identity, and he wore a conical hat and did not say a word. Apart from the Taoist robes of the Mingzhou Sect, his whereabouts could not be guessed at all, which made him extremely suspicious.

If necessary, get rid of these two people first, in case they do something unimaginable to Li Shanglu.

"Xie Du."

Hearing Li Shanglu's voice, Xie Du came back to his senses and turned his head to look at her, "What's the matter?" With outsiders present, he naturally couldn't call her "Master's Wife" anymore.

Li Shanglu took a sip of tea slowly and said calmly, "Does teaming up with you mean you're just sitting idle?"

Xie Du: “…”

He wanted to kill some monsters, but the current situation was that there were two men following Li Shanglu with a fierce look in their eyes. How could he leave?

Helan Jin walked over with a smile on his face and said calmly, "Xie Senior Brother, you go ahead. I'm enough for Shanglu."

This Xie is Shen Changyi's only disciple, and he is extremely talented. It would be great if we could kill him quietly in the secret realm, but unfortunately, that might alert Shen Changyi.

"You?" Xie Du looked him up and down and said coldly, "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Get lost."

Want to send him away and take the opportunity to improve your relationship with Li Shanglu? Dream on.

He hated the betrayer first, and the person who interfered second.

Helan Jin couldn't keep the smile on his face, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his fingertips slowly pinched, "You are really not polite at all."

At this point, Li Shanglu emerged from the cave, gouged out their eyes, and fixed his gaze on the man in the bamboo hat standing alone under the tree. "You two go, he stays."

This one looks the weakest, so she wants to harm it first.

"What?" Xie Du said in disbelief, "You don't know him at all."

Li Shanglu glanced at him and said calmly, "So what? I know you very well."

Xie Du pursed his lips, gradually becoming angry. Before he could speak, he heard Helan Jin say,

"Okay, Shanglu, wait for me for half a minute."

Helan Jin shifted his gaze to Xie Du, flung open his folding fan, and said with a smile, "Let's go, Senior Brother Xie, are you scared?"

Xie Du didn't care about his provocation. All she could think about was that Li Shanglu was going to be in the same room with a strange man. Wasn't she worried at all?

"Let's go." Helan Jin grabbed him and although he was smiling, he squeezed out a few words from between his teeth. He lowered his voice and said coldly,

"How about a one-on-one duel between you and me? If you win, I leave. If I win, you get out."

Hearing this, Xie Du finally set his eyes on him. It turned out that Helan Jin was angry just now. He had heard that this man had a good temper, and it turned out that he was not completely without temper.

It only took half a minute, it was easy to defeat him.

Xie Du lowered his eyes and took out a few pieces of talisman paper from his arms and handed them to Li Shanglu. "If there is any danger, just tear them up. I will come."

Li Shanglu accepted the talisman and watched them leave.

Under the tree, the mute man wearing a bamboo hat seemed to raise his head and look at her.

A mute cannot defend himself even if he is bullied.

She likes people like this the most.

"Finally, we've gotten rid of them. Let's go kill some monsters." Li Shanglu said gently, "You're a disciple of Jianfeng, right? Do you know Shen Changyi?"

The mute stiffened slightly and nodded cautiously.

"That's good to know," Li Shanglu said with a faint smile as he led him deeper into the dense forest. "I'll have him teach you a few moves after we get back. How about that?"

The mute paused and nodded.

He seemed to be able to do only nods and shakes his head.

Li Shanglu became more and more satisfied. He reached out and patted his shoulder, then applied the poison on his neck.

If she wanted to blame someone, she should blame Chen Changyi. She hated sword cultivators the most.

He practices day and night holding a broken sword, and can't even say a word. It makes me annoyed when I see him.

The poison took effect quickly. The mute was stunned for a moment and subconsciously reached out to grab her wrist.

How could you poison and harm your fellow disciples?

Li Shanglu frowned and tried to pull his hand back, but he couldn't. He couldn't help but feel a little angry, "Let go."

The other party seemed a little angry as well. He silently grabbed her and then took out the antidote from her waist pouch quite familiarly and swallowed it.

Li Shanglu looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

The mute didn't answer her, let go of her hand, and looked a little unhappy.

Li Shanglu was caught by him poisoning, and although he couldn't figure out how he discovered the clues, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

"This is how the trial works. How else can we make it into the top 100?"

She thought that using some tricks was nothing. After all, she was inherently far inferior to those gifted cultivators. If the heaven could fairly give her a body with talent for cultivation, she would also be willing to compete with others fairly.

The mute pointed at the short bow on her body, his meaning was very clear.

She has weapons, so she can win without any tricks.

Li Shanglu took the short bow and sneered, "You're too naive. Look at what kind of people they are. Disciples personally taught by the Sword Immortal, geniuses one in a million among mortals. Who here isn't a leader in the sect? You and I can tell at a glance that the three or four hundred or so people here are nobodies who are nowhere to be found. If they do nothing, they're truly useless."

Listening to her words, the mute seemed to actually start thinking. He stood there silently, looking up at the sky ranking that was changing in real time.

People have been killing monsters one after another and have joined the front row.

They have cultivation and physical strength, and do not need to eat or sleep, so they can fight non-stop. However, all Li Shanglu can rely on is the short bow in his hand and some poison pills he made himself.

Seeing him in deep thought, Li Shanglu scoffed, "If you don't even understand something like this, you're either a novice or clueless. I happen to know someone who has both of these characteristics. I'm sure you two can get along."

The mute raised her head to look at her, only to see Li Shanglu using a dagger to cut through the weeds blocking his way while cursing angrily, "As stupid as him, not saying a word for three days. He didn't even see me off when I was away for half a month."

"Go to hell."

She cursed fiercely, and the way she cut the grass was like she was chopping people.

"Go to hell."

After a while, Li Shanglu finally finished cutting the grass. He turned back to look at the mute and frowned, "What are you standing there for? Are you waiting for me to poison you?"

The mute was stunned for a long time, then came to his senses, drew the long sword from his waist, and helped her cut the weeds to clear a path.

Li Shanglu glanced at him coldly and said calmly, "Don't even think about plotting against me. If you just help me honestly, I can help you win. If you have other intentions, I will make you regret it."

The mute nodded slightly, stepped aside to make way for her, and acted as if he was following her lead.

Having gained a younger brother, Li Shanglu was in a good mood. The two of them were strolling in the dense forest, and they really encountered a few small monsters. She hid in a tree, drew her short bow, and killed them with a few arrows.

"Go pick me some peaches for dinner."

She casually gave instructions to her new obedient little brother, and he indeed obediently went to the peach forest not far away to help her pick peaches.

Her score quickly increased a lot. She really liked the feeling of seeing her ranking go up. Every time she stepped on someone, the pleasure became more intense.

As I was concentrating on looking at the rankings on the sky screen, I suddenly heard several miserable cries for help.

Li Shanglu was stunned for a moment, then walked slowly towards the sound. After passing the tangled vines of giant trees, a giant python that blocked out the sky suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The yellow and green giant python opened its bloody mouth, put the wailing little disciples in its mouth, and chewed them into pieces bit by bit.

Her breathing suddenly stopped. Even though she knew she would not be injured or die, once she thought that there might be such a terrifying beast outside the secret realm, devouring countless people every day, her whole body seemed to freeze and she could not move.

Blood flowed from the giant python's mouth, and those disciples lost their qualifications.

Seeing the giant python starting to walk towards him, Li Shanglu hurriedly climbed up the tree, covered himself with vines, and took out the ointment to apply on his body.

She couldn't run away because there were weeds everywhere. She couldn't fly on clouds or wield a sword. If she tripped and fell, she would be dead.

She held her breath and stared closely at the movements of the giant python, but saw a figure in snow clothes holding a bundle of peaches, walking towards the giant python from the path. He was not panicked at all, as if he didn't see the giant python at all.

Li Shanglu couldn't help but take a deep breath, his scalp tingling.

You are dumb, are you blind too?

Just as she was hesitating whether to draw her bow to save the man, she saw the giant python opening its mouth wide and attacking the mute.

The hat was blown off by the strong wind caused by the giant python's movement. The man slowly drew out the long sword from his waist, and in just a breath, he chopped the giant python into pieces of meat.

She stood there in a daze, watching the man turn around without dropping any of the peaches in his arms. He slowly picked up the hat on the ground, brushed off the dust on the silk, and put it back on his head.

Li Shanglu suddenly fell silent and clenched his fists little by little.

After a while, she remembered what she had just said to him, her face turned red and hot, like a burning cloud, and humiliation and anger were about to burst out in her heart.

Heavy, long, and different.

Is it fun to tease her?

Seeing her using all means to get a ranking here, don’t you feel particularly contemptuous and disdainful?

Seeing her showing off her sword skills in front of outsiders, does she feel secretly pleased with herself? I think she is just pretending to be noble!

No wonder he deliberately didn’t send her off, it turned out he was waiting here!

Li Shanglu was so angry that she had difficulty breathing. She gritted her teeth, clenched the short bow, and aimed it at the figure in the snow-covered clothes.

——Chen Changyi, go to hell!

When she was about to let go, the locust flowers that fell on Shen Changyi suddenly appeared in her mind. The locust flowers were falling all over the sky, like a biting cold snowstorm.

Li Shanglu felt a sudden pain in his heart and covered his chest in unbearable pain. He gritted his teeth in hatred and finally took back the arrow.

Don't worry, let's see what he is going to do.

She had plenty of ways to torture him.