Chapter 6: The Little Dragon Aotian Gets Caught Red-Handed at the Start of the Assessment...
A hand with distinct knuckles gripped his wrist. Yin Lisheng looked up and met those beautiful peach blossom eyes.
"You were being naughty first thing in the morning, and I caught you." Fu Yunshu's voice was lazy, as if he had just woken up and it was still a little hoarse, tickling like a feather.
Even after being caught red-handed, Yin Lisheng showed no remorse. He pointed to his cheek and said without changing his expression, "There's hair here. I just wanted to help you tidy it up."
"Is that so?" Fu Yunshu smiled faintly, but didn't delve into it. "Get up quickly, or the cafeteria might not have any food if you go late."
With Yin Lisheng's thin and frail body, he needs to eat more and not go hungry.
Yin Lisheng seemed to have slept very well last night, as the cafeteria was already full when the two of them arrived. Just as they were looking for seats, a familiar voice came from behind them.
"Brother Su, Lisheng, come here!"
The two turned their heads at the same time. Qiu Nan was waving to them excitedly, with the girl from yesterday sitting next to him.
The girl kept her head down, her long bangs obscuring most of her face. Upon seeing the two, she simply greeted them briefly, then silently continued drinking her porridge.
"This is Miss Yan, Yan Shuangwan," Qiu Nan cheerfully introduced the three of them to each other. "This is Brother Su, Su Yun; and next to him is Young Master Yin, Yin Lisheng."
Yan Shuangwan's voice was soft, but she answered very seriously: "I...I know, hello."
"Greetings, Miss Yan." Fu Yunshu spoke in a low voice. Yin Lisheng didn't say anything, but simply nodded as a greeting.
Neither of them were particularly outgoing, but fortunately Qiu Nan was there, so the atmosphere didn't get too cold.
Shortly after they sat down, Pan Tianlei and his gang of henchmen arrived. However, after yesterday's incident, although these men were still arrogant and glared at the group with hostility, they didn't come over to invite trouble. It seemed that Yin Simiao's silencing spell yesterday had indeed taught Pan Tianlei a lesson.
After the meal, everyone gathered in the open space in front of Huayang Courtyard.
A large crowd had gathered in the open space, with heads bobbing around and a cacophony of noise, probably numbering in the hundreds.
However, the number of people is not that many. After all, it is the Qingyuan Sect, the number one sect in the cultivation world, that recruits new members only once every thirty years. It would be considered good if a hundred people could stay in the end.
About half an incense stick later, Yin Simiao arrived late with several disciples, and the crowd automatically made room for him.
"Sorry, something came up on the way and I was delayed," Yin Simiao said apologetically. "Let's get going without delay."
He raised his hand and cast a spell, creating a huge magic circle centered on himself, enveloping everyone within it.
"pass!"
At Yin Simiao's command, everyone felt a blur before their eyes and soon appeared at the foot of a mountain.
The towering mountains stand majestically, with steps upon steps that seem to stretch endlessly. At the entrance stands a stone tablet inscribed with the three characters "Ascending the Heavenly Ladder," the characters vigorous and powerful, like a dragon soaring through the sky, each stroke exuding grandeur.
Yin Simiao introduced with a hint of pride: "This was personally inscribed by Immortal Venerable Huaiwei hundreds of years ago. The Immortal Venerable used his natal sword Hanqi as a brush and sword energy as ink. The three characters 'Ascending the Heavenly Ladder' contain endless mysteries and Immortal Venerable Huaiwei's expectations for his new disciple. It is said that when Sword Peak Master Gu Zhinan entered the sect, he only glanced at this stone tablet and gained some insights, and immediately established his foundation. At that time, he was only twelve years old."
Fu Huaiwei Immortal Venerable's true form, Yun Shu: ...
What could Fu Yunshu say? He really hadn't thought that much about it back then. He just asked his master to write the question, and since there wasn't any suitable paper or pen on hand, Fu Yunshu simply used the Cold Cry Sword to carve it onto the stone tablet.
In his opinion, this was just a small matter. He never expected that these children could make such a connection. Gu Zhinan even achieved Foundation Establishment because of this. Is this reasonable?
Fu Yunshu looked at them from left to right, but he couldn't see anything special about these stone tablets. At most, they still retained a bit of his sword energy.
Yin Lisheng frowned. Just now, when Yin Simiao mentioned the origin of this stone tablet, Su Yun and Qiu Nan both had slightly strange expressions. What had stirred up their past memories?
"Ahem—" Yin Simiao coughed lightly twice beside the stone tablet, and everyone immediately quieted down. "Quiet! Next, you will begin your first test—mountain climbing."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in chatter and began whispering amongst themselves.
A hint of schadenfreude flashed in Yin Simiao's eyes, but he maintained the image of the upright and dignified second senior brother of Qingyuan Sect.
"There's no time to lose, you guys should start climbing now. The first hurdle has a time limit, you can only count if you reach the top of the mountain before dark."
Upon hearing this, another chorus of complaints arose from below, but no one dared to delay any longer and began to take action.
On the other side, inside the main hall of the Qingyuan Sect's main peak.
Song Wenzhuo raised his hand and waved, and a huge water curtain appeared in the air, clearly reflecting the scene inside the Heavenly Ladder. Several men and women sat on either side of Song Wenzhuo, who were the peak masters of Qingyuan Sect.
In previous years, the peak masters and elders of the major peaks would only come to the main peak to watch the entrance examination during the final trial of the secret realm, in order to select suitable disciples to take under their wing.
However, due to the unexpected turn of events involving Yin Lisheng this year, and the fact that Ancestor Fu Yunshu had also become involved for some unknown reason, Song Wenzhuo summoned several peak masters in advance.
When Yin Lisheng and the others appeared in the water, Ye Xiuzhu's eyes lit up and he said, "This is it, this is it, the child who caused the explosion of the Heavenly Stone yesterday."
Upon hearing this, the other peak masters all turned their gazes over. The child was indeed beautiful and adorable, but he was a little too thin.
"So, the young man next to him is his grandmaster uncle?" the woman diagonally below Ye Xiuzhu asked with interest.
She wore a plain white brocade robe, her features exquisite: phoenix eyes, a delicate nose, and pearly white teeth. Her appearance was extremely refined, and her demeanor was slightly aloof. Despite her ethereal and otherworldly appearance, she was more down-to-earth than anyone else, and her posture was the most relaxed among those present. This person was none other than Ning Xuexi, the only female among the several peak masters of the Qingyuan Sect—the peak master of Dan Peak.
"Yes." Ye Xiuzhu glanced at Ning Xuexi's spineless appearance and looked away, unable to bear looking at her.
"Tsk tsk tsk—" Ning Xuexi exclaimed, "I never imagined that my grandmaster uncle would have such an extraordinary moment."
"Ahem, Junior Sister Ning," Song Wenzhuo's voice came from above, "be careful with your words and actions."
"I understand," Ning Xuexi sat up straight, but she was an impatient person and was soon distracted by other things.
"We agreed to watch the entrance exam together. Du Zhun went to the Northern Territory and hasn't come back yet, but where is Gu Zhinan? Where is he?" Ning Xuexi complained.
The man in black next to Ning Xuexi opened his fan with a "whoosh," waved it slowly twice, and said, "Don't you know his situation? He's probably looking for that damn Mirror Moon Flower again. He's been searching for it for hundreds of years and still hasn't found it, but he hasn't given up."
The man's name was Wen Xun, the peak master of Fu Peak, who consistently topped the Qingyuan Sect's list of "whom one most wants to become a disciple of." The reason was simple: his face was simply too deceptive.
Whether it was the menial disciples of the outer sect or the elders of the various peaks, he always appeared gentle and polite, humble and reserved, with a warm smile always on his lips, captivating the vast number of Qingyuan Sect disciples with his charm.
However, the people present had known him for hundreds of years, so they naturally knew that although he appeared to be a gentle and refined gentleman, he was actually ruthless inside. When it came to scheming, no one present could outwit him.
“What good would it do to find it?” Ning Xuexi sighed. “My master has been gone for many years. Even if Gu Zhinan finds all the rare and precious materials needed, I’m afraid no one in the world can refine the Nine-Turn Condensation Pill. What is it that has kept him going for so many years? Is it really that important?”
Ning Xuexi has always adhered to the philosophy of enjoying life while it lasts. She joined the Qingyuan Sect in her youth and was accepted as a disciple by the then Danfeng Peak Master. Her master was kind and approachable, and her fellow disciples were polite and supportive of each other. Ning Xuexi herself also had extremely high talent in alchemy, so she almost smoothly rose to her current position.
She simply couldn't understand Gu Zhinan's self-inflicted suffering over the past few centuries.
"This is like drinking water; only the person drinking knows whether it's hot or cold. Only Gu Zhinan knows the true taste of it. Why should we care so much about other people's affairs?" Wen Xun closed his fan and gently tapped Ning Xuexi's head with the fan rib.
Ning Xuexi rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, and was about to retort when she heard Ye Xiuzhu say:
"here we go."
The two stopped bickering and immediately turned their attention to the water curtain.
"The real test of climbing the ladder to heaven."
A note from the author:
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