cross-layer
Seeing this, Ruan Qingyu felt somewhat helpless but still refused to give up and walked towards the other cave entrances. Without exception, all of them emitted only faint light.
Even after Ruan Qingyu attempted to enter, the token would vibrate rapidly. Clearly, it was preventing Ruan Qingyu from entering directly, without giving her time to consider how to proceed.
An elder suddenly appeared beside him, and coincidentally, it was Mo Wen, the senior elder he had just met in the library.
"Although the sect assigns appropriate challenges based on cultivation level for the safety of its disciples, disciples with good aptitude who can skip levels can naturally skip the lower levels and enter the middle and upper levels to challenge." Mo Wen's voice was unhurried, but his eyes carried a hint of appreciation.
The emergence of such a disciple who surpasses his level within the sect is a good thing for the Xuan Tian Sect. He might very well become a top-tier expert in the future.
He remembered this disciple before him. He had met him once before in the library, and now that he saw him again at Duantian Mountain, his impression of Ruan Qingyu improved considerably.
"Greetings, Elder Mo Wen. I'll go directly to the upper-middle cave to give it a try, based on what you've said." Ruan Qingyu cupped her hands, expressing her gratitude to Elder Mo Wen, who had helped her several times.
After listening, Mo Wen nodded. A white light appeared in his left hand and headed towards the disciple token on Ruan Qingyu's right hand.
Then, he smiled at Ruan Qingyu and said, "Go ahead. The token I gave you has an inscription for passage. If you encounter a similar situation again in the future, you can enter first. Cultivate well; I have high hopes for you."
Whether it's the mysterious center mentioned in the divination or this outstanding disciple before him, Mo Wen is not one to neglect promising talents.
Ruan Qingyu was somewhat shocked to find that the senior elders of the Xuantian Sect were so approachable. In her previous life, she had only thought that these great sects were all show and no substance, but now it seemed that she had been mistaken.
Perhaps there are treacherous villains like Chen Tian who carelessly disregard human life. They scheme for a mere sliver of opportunity to cultivate immortality, only to suffer a qi deviation and become trapped in their own web of delusion.
Ruan Qingyu bowed deeply and sincerely, saying, "Thank you, Elder Mo Wen."
Then, we headed towards the middle level of the cave, which was more spacious. There were also more entrances to choose from, and even just standing at the entrance, one could feel a terrifying aura emanating from it.
Some caves are as hot as lava, while others are as cold as snow-capped mountains. Some entrances are so silent that they seem to fall into nothingness if one didn't hear the faint sound of air currents.
Ruan Qingyu no longer hesitated. Although the disciple token emitted a red light, she inexplicably had confidence in herself; there must be something within it that would be helpful to her.
In the blink of an eye, Ruan Qingyu was enveloped in the red light emanating from the disciple's token and then disappeared from the spot. Yun Yin, who followed closely behind, let out an angry roar, simply because he had not been taken inside.
The two have been together for so long and have never been forced to separate like this before. Yunyin was about to swat at the cave entrance with a claw.
Mo Wen, who had followed Yun Yin out of curiosity, saw this and his Qiankun Gua suddenly grew larger, becoming like a sturdy shield blocking Yun Yin's path.
“Although I don’t know what kind of demon beast you are, Ruan Qingyu has already gone in to participate in the trial. If you forcibly break the formation from the outside, she will not only not be able to come out, but she will also be affected.” Mo Wen spoke very quickly, seeing that Yun Yin lowered his claws after his attack was blocked by the Qiankun Gua.
He breathed a sigh of relief, but his doubts only deepened. This black panther looked unremarkable, but its aura was as deep as an abyss.
If he hadn't used the Qiankun Gua technique from the start, he would likely have suffered a loss from that claw attack. It was clearly not an ordinary Foundation Establishment stage demon beast, nor should it be something that someone with Ruan Qingyu's cultivation level could control.
Yunyin was stopped, and after hearing what Mo Wen behind him said about the consequences, he finally dared not continue to forcefully break through the barrier.
He turned to face Mo Wen and roared angrily. The ground outside the cave shook violently, and the sound of falling rocks could be heard.
Unexpectedly, even after being stopped, Yun Yin continued to cause trouble here. Mo Wen frowned deeply, his spiritual energy spreading out from his palm, further strengthening the protective formation of Duan Tian Mountain.
Although he knew that the roar just now had not caused any damage, Mo Wen still said, "If you still want to continue cultivating with that disciple in the sect, you will not be able to make a move in the Xuan Tian Sect at will in the future."
He paused, seeing that the black panther was still staring at him intently but made no further moves, Mo Wen felt a little relieved and continued, "You spend every day with her, so naturally you have feelings for her. But after all, she is not an ordinary contracted spirit pet, which is why she was blocked by the barrier formation because her strength was too great."
Yunyin roared angrily, but did not continue to destroy the surrounding environment. He did not even look at Mo Wen, but sat there with his eyes fixed on the depths of the cave.
When Ruan Qingyu was teleported in by the disciple's token, she naturally heard Yun Yin's angry roar. Only then did she realize that this time, Yun Yin had not been brought in with her.
Before she could get a clear look at her surroundings, Ruan Qingyu contacted the contract and found that although the other end of the contract could still sense some emotions, they were not as clear as usual.
However, she could vaguely sense that the other party was extremely angry, and the fluctuation was so great that even she, who was several spaces away, could sense Yun Yin's emotions.
Thinking of Yunyin's hidden strength, Ruan Qingyu repeatedly used the contract to convey reassurance to Yunyin. After repeating this process, Ruan Qingyu finally stopped when she realized that Yunyin was also beginning to convey reassurance to her.
Looking up, all I could see was darkness, with only a few lights scattered far away. And those lights were in the distance, never coming any closer.
Ruan Qingyu couldn't help but take a few steps closer to the lights; something had been added to this place. Ordinary cultivators' eyesight differs from that of mortals after cultivation.
Even in the darkest night, one can see as clearly as in daylight. But now, in this dimly lit place, Ruan Qingyu can't even see anything more than half a meter away.
Only the distant lights beckoned her forward. Considering her current situation, Ruan Qingyu didn't hesitate; she stretched out her right hand and ignited a flame.
The place, which was originally pitch black, was instantly illuminated by this ball of flame.
Following the bright flame, Ruan Qingyu quickly saw what the dim lights ahead were.
There were countless mechanical wooden figures, and the lights were their eyes. As if sensing Ruan Qingyu's gaze, the mechanical wooden figures suddenly began to move left and right.
Ruan Qingyu held her breath and focused intently, observing all the movements of these mechanical wooden figures. She grew increasingly vigilant, though she didn't know their purpose.
But now that I've entered this place to challenge myself, there's nothing useless here.
With a soft whirring sound of machinery turning, the mechanical wooden figures suddenly charged towards Ruan Qingyu. Not one by one, but a whole group of them, attacking Ruan Qingyu directly.
Instantly, Ruan Qingyu's pupils contracted, and she instinctively took a few steps back. Forcing herself to unleash a powerful Fire Phoenix Palm attack, Ruan Qingyu summoned her Wutong Qin (a type of zither).
She caught the zither with one hand and tossed it into the air. Instantly, the zither was enveloped in her spiritual power, and her mind moved as she thought.
With a series of particularly piercing sounds, the row of mechanical wooden figures at the forefront immediately collapsed.
Seeing that this method was effective, and that nothing else was there to prompt or hinder it, Ruan Qingyu's lips curled up, and her right hand trembled.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed through the dark cave. In an instant, the mechanical wooden figures seemed to have been snapped in half by some external force, and the first three rows of mechanical wooden figures were destroyed once again.
The mechanical wooden figures that had been charging forward seemed to have gained sentience; the earthen-yellow mechanical wooden figures suddenly stopped. In the blink of an eye, they sank down row by row, followed by an indiscernible number of black-armored mechanical wooden figures rising from the ground.
These mechanical wooden figures, just like the original earthen-yellow mechanical wooden figures, immediately rushed towards Ruan Qingyu upon appearing.
These armored wooden golems, now painted in a different color, had become even thicker and tougher. Ruan Qingyu's originally thunderous zither music gradually lost its effect on them, and could no longer even stop the armored wooden golems from moving.
Seeing this, Ruan Qingyu raised an eyebrow. With a palm strike, she sent the nearest black-armored mechanical wooden figure flying. With her left hand, she plucked the strings of the Wutong Qin (a type of zither), and the sound of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting echoed out.
If sound had a form, one could surely see the sound waves in the air, like a torrent of water. It flew towards the armored wooden golems, and the first to be hit were immediately destroyed, with most of them destroyed.
After the first wave of Xuanjia mechanical wooden figures was destroyed, many more were quickly added to the cave. However, they were placed at the very back, in a place beyond the reach of Ruan Qingyu's divine sense.
Those Xuanjia mechanical wooden figures were quietly replaced with meteorite iron mechanical wooden figures, the outer layer of which was made of meteorite iron and could not be easily destroyed. Many of the magical artifacts used by Foundation Establishment cultivators were also mostly made of meteorite iron.
After being carried up, the meteorite iron mechanical wooden figure did not immediately attack Ruan Qingyu. Instead, it mingled among a group of black armor mechanical wooden figures and slowly moved forward.
By avoiding Ruan Qingyu's sonic attacks as much as possible, he managed to get to the front row.
"Hmm?" Ruan Qingyu noticed that something seemed off about the black-armored wooden puppet in front of her. The sound waves that were supposed to destroy at least half an arm dissipated into nothingness upon contact with it.
In an instant, Ruan Qingyu realized that this was probably another batch of mechanical wooden dummies. After trying to attack with the same moves again without success, Ruan Qingyu immediately recalled the Wutong Qin.
Clutching the zither in his arms, he dodged the meteorite iron mechanical wooden figure that rushed up, and with his hands imbued with fiery red spiritual power, he pressed heavily on the strings of the zither.
In the blink of an eye, a fiery red, towering wave surged around Wutongqin and Ruan Qingyu, crashing into the meteorite iron mechanical wooden figures that kept crashing down, like raging magma meeting cold water.
It kept emitting a piercing 'sizzling' sound, and because the meteorite iron mechanical wooden figure was wrapped in thick meteorite iron, it turned this cave into a weapon-refining room.
Sparks and bluish-purple flames kept appearing, and the temperature in the cave began to rise gradually.
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