Chapter 65 No Longer Qualified
"If you really want to come in, get in line first. When your number comes, we'll talk."
Gu Xingzhi's expression was stiff as he watched the disciples who were once inferior to him walk into the mountain gate happily, while he... the old disciple of Qingyue Peak in the past was not even qualified to do menial work anymore.
Above the mountain gate, among the carved beams and painted buildings, hangs a newly replaced plaque...
"The clear moon returns to the clouds, its brilliance astonishing the world."
Gu Xingzhi looked up at the eight characters, and regret gradually appeared in his eyes.
As night fell and the sunset glow disappeared behind the mountaintop, a long queue still formed on the stone steps in front of Qingyue Peak, outside the misty sect entrance.
Gu Xingzhi stood at the end of the team, with a look of forbearance on his face, his hair slightly wet, it was hard to tell whether it was night dew or cold sweat.
He waited silently for a whole day, and finally, as the stars began to appear, he heard the deacon disciple call out, "Next."
Gu Xingzhi took a deep breath and stepped forward.
The deacon disciple glanced at him and asked nonchalantly, "You want to join Qingyue Peak? Do you know the rules?"
Gu Xingzhi nodded: "Choose an inner disciple, and only the winner can enter the peak."
The deacon raised an eyebrow. "Good to know. Who can I choose?"
Before Gu Xingzhi could speak, several disciples standing behind him started talking.
"Isn't this person Gu Xingzhi... He was about to leave, but now he's back."
"Yeah, it's safer to pick an inner door as a base."
Gu Xingzhi remained unmoved.
He raised his eyes, his expression somewhat cold: "I want to challenge Li Yuan, the top-ranked disciple of the inner sect."
As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding area immediately exploded.
Li Yuan is a direct disciple and has already established his foundation!"
"Where does this person get his confidence from?"
"Do you think that the one who has returned is the former disciple?"
Facing the ridicule, Gu Xingzhi's expression did not change. He was once a direct disciple of Qingyue Peak. Although he left halfway, he firmly believed that Li Yuan was not his opponent.
The arena was already set up, and the disciples gathered around. The deacon shouted, "Gu Xingzhi challenges Li Yuan!"
Li Yuan walked out of the crowd. He looked at Gu Xingzhi with a half-smile, "Are you Gu Xingzhi?"
Gu Xingzhi nodded: "Exactly."
Li Yuan snorted softly, his eyes full of amusement. "When you left, I had just entered Qingyue Peak. Now that you're back, it's just right for me to see if you're still worthy of the name of genius you once were."
Gu Xingzhi said nothing, but just bowed: "Please."
"Then I won't hesitate."
Before Li Yuan finished speaking, he pointed his toes and instantly rushed out. The sword was not even unsheathed, but the energy had already arrived.
Everyone saw a sharp sword light coming like lightning, and in the midst of wind and clouds, before Gu Xingzhi could react, he was knocked out of the ring like a kite with a broken string and fell heavily to the ground!
There was a dead silence, and then there was a burst of laughter.
"Hahaha, one move! He didn't even catch one!"
"Is this the genius from the past? He's too weak!"
"Go back to the outer gate and stop embarrassing yourself!"
Gu Xingzhi struggled to get up, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, his face pale, and every breath he took caused severe pain in his internal organs.
He lowered his head, with disbelief and shock in his eyes.
He didn't expect that Li Yuan's progress was far beyond his imagination.
Once upon a time, Li Yuan was still that outer disciple whom he was too lazy to even look at and give any instructions.
But now, he knocked himself away in front of everyone.
Gu Xingzhi gritted his teeth, clenched his hands into fists, and veins bulged on the back of his hands.
He spoke to the deacon in a hoarse voice, "I challenge another person."
The deacon disciple was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then couldn't help but chuckle: "Why, you haven't given up yet? Who do you want to choose?"
Gu Xingzhi closed his eyes, suppressed the humiliation boiling in his heart, pointed at a tall and thin boy who was returning to the team on the stage, and said, "Him."
When the man heard his name being called, he immediately turned around with a look of surprise: "Me? I'm ranked last in the inner sect."
There was a burst of laughter all around.
"He can't beat Li Yuan, so he wants to challenge Xu Chen? Could it be that he thinks Xu Chen is a soft persimmon?"
"That's because you don't understand. Although Xu Chen is ranked last, his strength is not bad. Ordinary outer disciples can't even get close to him."
Gu Xingzhi's expression was cold. He walked onto the stage, raised one hand, and said, "Please."
Xu Chen clasped his fists and smiled lightly: "I'm sorry, senior."
The boiling spiritual fire transformed into a fire snake, which suddenly pounced on Gu Xingzhi's chest and was in front of him in almost the blink of an eye.
Gu Xingzhi forced himself to use his true energy and slapped the flames with a palm, barely able to push the flames away. However, the blast of air caused by the flames still made him stagger.
Xu Chen pointed with two fingers, and a purple-red fire lotus bloomed out of thin air, as if the scorching sun was hanging in the sky.
Gu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and raised his hand to set up a defensive spiritual formation, but the fire lotus actually penetrated the spiritual formation, burning his arms to a crisp, and he instantly retreated several feet.
There was almost no warning for this third move. Xu Chen suddenly moved forward in an instant, and lightning gathered at his fingertips, striking Gu Xingzhi's dantian directly.
Before Gu Xingzhi could gather his energy to resist, he felt a shock in his chest, and a huge force crashed into his body, knocking him into the air and falling heavily outside the ring again!
He almost rolled off the stage.
There was an uproar all around.
“…even Xu Chen couldn’t last more than three moves!”
"Hahaha, this is the former genius? I'm dying of laughter!"
Gu Xingzhi was lying on the ground, half of his face buried in the dust. He could hear a lot of sneers behind him, but he couldn't hear a word.
In his mind, there was only one sentence that echoed over and over again.
... "Three moves... I can't even hold out for three moves..."
He tried his best to stand up, but a chill spread down his spine and rushed into his heart.
His heart of Taoism began to collapse.
He fell to the ground, his eyes blank.
…
The mountain behind Qingyue Peak is quiet and deep, with numerous peaks standing in a row. Occasionally, the chirping of some spiritual birds can be heard in the silence.
Gu Xingzhi was dressed in black, with his back pressed against the cliff, sneaking in quietly among the mountains and forests.
He held his breath low and walked lightly.
He shouldn't be here... As an outer sect disciple, if he were to trespass into the inner peak without permission, if he were to be discovered by the law enforcement disciples, he would be punished at the very least, or even expelled from the sect at the worst.
But he couldn't care less.
His faith in Taoism was broken, and after repeated defeats, the only remaining obsession in his heart was... what exactly was wrong with him?
He wanted to see what Yue Feng had become now, which was why he lost two games in a row.
He walked around the long steps, passed through the bamboo forest and stopped at a flat place on the mountainside.
Ahead is the night training ground of Qingyue Peak.
There was a faint light in the vast venue.
A dozen disciples wearing green robes from Qingyue Peak were forming several small circles, each of them regulating their breathing, practicing martial arts techniques, or training diligently with spirit stones to temper their bodies.
Spiritual power gathers and the rays of light flicker.
A buzzing sound was heard as the magic weapon floated.
Gu Xingzhi hid behind a huge rock and watched all this through the cracks in the rock.
His pupils gradually contracted and his fingers clenched silently.
These people... have become stronger.
Not only did he become stronger, he was completely transformed.
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